As professional wedding photographers, Summer is a CRAZY time of year. Although Charlotte and I photograph weddings all year, in Toronto the bulk of our commissions take place from May through October. This often means we may only spend a few days at the cottage all Summer. So this year we made a plan – book two weekends off and see some more of the world.
We’ve both been dying to see some more of Europe for a while… and as we began planning our adventure, we realized that some photogra-friends of ours – Jerry & Georgina Ghionis – were going to be in Paris during our vacation period. We’d attended one of Jerry’s workshops in Washington DC last year and had an absolute ball, as well as being totally inspired. So we dropped them an email and were very excited when they asked us to model for Jerry in Paris! Of course, there’s nothing I love more than modeling (ahem), but to be photographed by Jerry is an amazing opportunity – both to learn what it’s like to be on the other side of the lens as well as to have some absolutely incredible images of us in the city of love.
So we planned the first 10 days of our vacation in Paris. Upon touching down we quickly felt at home in the city… the people were very friendly and the workshop attendees were a lot of fun and a very down to earth bunch. We felt very blessed to get to know Alex & Hazel, a sweet couple from Miami who like ourselves run a wedding photography business together. They were fortunate to have their wedding photographed by Jerry last year (they’re in this promo video on Jerry’s Ice Society site), and I kid you not, their album will probably win best wedding album of the year at WPPI and PMA this year.
We will definitely post some of Jerry’s photographs of us when we’re able to, but in the meantime we’d love to share some of our travel photos with you… mum, please forgive me for not taking more photos!!! It’s a vacation after all!
We spent a full day at The Louvre and only scratched the surface… Check it out.
Isn’t this a cool shot? Charlotte saw it before I did! She’s a sneaky one!
The Nike sculpture was spell binding – we spent 15 or 20 minutes circling it and enjoying it’s power and majesty.
Charlotte took those very pretty shots!
This next painting was another wonderful work, and we felt inspired to do something similar with future photo shoot… Which is where the concept for this watery engagement session was born.
I know you probably don’t want to see Charlotte and I kissing, but I loved this shot so much that I felt compelled to share it.
We had such an amazing week in Paris. We made some really cool new friends – like Alex & Hazel – and thoroughly enjoyed the amazing food, wine and deserts… then we jumped on a plane and were off to Greece!
We landed in Athens and caught a ferry to the quaint little island of Naxos. The island is known for the famous doorway to a Apollo’s Temple, called Portara. You can’t miss it as you hope off the ferry. Apparently it faces the birthplace of Apollo… All I know for sure is that it faces west and we had the pleasure of watching a full moon rise over the horizon through it! We spent several sunsets there enjoying the beauty of the spot and also loved our charming little hotel that faced the gorgeous St. George beach!!
We created a panoramic image by taking about 10 photographs and stitching them in photoshop. Have a look.
Doesn’t this look like a toy boat?? So cute.
One one of our days, we rented this little beast and cruised the island (we did it in a dune buggy another day!). How cool is this white marble mine? It looked so beautiful.
There were tonnes of cute villages along the way where we got out and acted like real tourists, snapping away like everything was about to vanish!
There were some mind blowing vistas along the drive… this temple below was well worth a long drive on dirt tracks to get to.
We created another beautiful panorama when we found a lookout that couldn’t be passed up…. Check it out.
Signing off for now… Our destination wedding in New Delhi, India post is almost ready… will post it tomorrow 
