Lindsey & Christian Engagement (featuring Vance)

Lindsey and Christian are getting married this August and I have the honour of making photographs of their wedding day. Even though I had first met them this past winter we wanted to hold off shooting their engagement photographs until the weather was a little bit more bearable. It took a while for Saskatoon to commit to some Spring weather, but we eventually got there.

I met Lindsey and Christian near the South Saskatchewan river where we would spend most of our evening capturing their engagement photos. Lindsey really wanted to incorporate her son Vance into some of the shots so I had the pleasure of meeting this young chap. It wasn’t too long into the shoot before we realized the mosquitoes had mobilized and were launching an assault upon all of us. Lindsey, Christian, and Vance were all troopers and they powered through the ordeal.

After we had taken all that we could of the mosquitoes we headed to a downtown location to get a few more shots. Since we were now out of the tall grass and into the concrete jungle the mosquito situation was no longer a problem, and we could enjoy the last bit of the shoot.

Here are some of my favourite photographs from the evening, and be sure to also check out their high definition slideshow.

Note: for the best quality make sure HD is set to on along the right side of the video player. Scaling should be set to off.

Saskatoon Fashion Shoot – A Local Business Collaboration

A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to collaborate with three other Saskatoon businesses – Mint Fashion Company, Chop Chop Salon, and Lifetime Productions. None of us had worked together before, but we hoped that the four of us could leverage each of our specialities to make some stunning photographs. Mint Fashion Company was kind enough to provide three outfits for Katrina Ham of Lifetime Productions to model, while Jennilee Cardinal-Schultz and Amanda Dreis from Chop Chop Salon styled her hair and worked their magic with the make-up.

Even though it was the end of February, I was really hoping to do the shoot outside. We were getting unusually mild temperatures during the lead-up to the shoot, but when the day finally arrived things had returned to normal and the great outdoors was no longer an option. I knew that some of the newly renovated buildings at the University of Saskatchewan were promising for indoor locations so just as a precaution I had scouted the area a few weeks prior.

Fortunately it was February break so there was barely anyone at the University. This gave Katrina and I the luxury of just taking our time and using each location to its fullest. We spent a couple hours together wandering around campus taking advantage of the bountiful light flowing into so many different areas.

I must say that it was a pleasure working with these other local companies. All of them were class acts and I would highly recommend stopping in and connecting with them – you won’t be disappointed. I hope you enjoy the photographs that I captured.

Clothing – Mint Fashion Company
Hair/Makeup – Chop Chop Salon, Jennilee Cardinal-Schultz and Amanda Dreis
Model/Coordinator – Lifetime Productions, Katrina Ham

The Cey Family

Melanie and Ryan welcomed their son Alistair into the world seven months ago. And with his personality really starting to come out they thought it was a great time to get some photographs of him. I love doing these types of shoots in the family’s home so I can create images of them in a natural setting where everyone can just be themselves.

It has become a normal thing for me to take my wife along as an assistant when the shoot involves a youngster. She proves to be invaluable in getting the kid’s attention, and has no qualms about dancing or making funny faces. We headed to their downtown Saskatoon loft on a Saturday morning which proved to be an awesome space for the shoot. A big window provided all the natural light we needed.

Alistair was a pleasure to photograph, and I just loved this crazy breakdancing wave thing he did with his arms when he started getting tired. We were able to get a good hour of shooting in before Alistair was fed up with a camera in his face. But that was long enough to get some great shots.

We ended the morning with an delicious brunch that Melanie and Ryan were kind enough to make for all of us. That was pretty awesome of them. Here are some of my favourite photographs from the morning, and be sure to also check out the high definition slideshow to see even more images of this great family.

Note: for the best quality make sure HD is set to on along the right side of the video player. Scaling should be set to off.

Help Portrait Saskatoon 2010

December 4th was Help Portrait day around the world, and Saskatoon was not going to miss the opportunity to participate. Help Portrait is, “a global movement of photographers using their time, gear and expertise to give back to those in need.” A group of seven photographers and ten volunteers spent that last few weeks planning Help Portrait Saskatoon. Check out this short videos to get a better idea of what this awesome movement is all about.

We set up our two studios in the downtown Salvation Army and planned to shoot between 10:30am and 4pm. Since this was the first year for Help Portrait Saskatoon we had no idea how many people we’d get that wanted their portraits taken. The morning started off with a nice steady flow of people, and as the day progressed our waiting area became jam packed with people excited to have their individual, couple, and family portraits taken. And as a bonus, none of them laughed at my ridiculous shooting stance. The Help Portrait team was not so forgiving.

The experience was incredible and it wouldn’t have been possible without a great team of volunteers. Very few of us knew each other outside of Twitter and Facebook, but being strangers didn’t stop us from pushing to make this great cause a success. By the end of the day we had taken photographs of 105 fantastic people, most of whom were in family portraits. And as an early holiday gift, each person will be able to pick up their prints at the Salvation Army next weekend.

This is only the second year since Help Portrait started, but judging by the incredible participation of cities around the world and the extensive media coverage, it’s only going to get bigger each year. We’ve already started talking about Help Portrait Saskatoon 2011, and we’d love to see more photographers, make-up artists, and volunteers join us next year. Help us get the word out. This is an fabulous cause and we need all the help we can get.

And if you’re interested in more information about the origins of Help Portrait, here’s a short video by the founder Jeremy Cowart.

Welcome to the Internet Interview

Last week I had the opportunity to be interviewed for the podcast, Welcome to the Internet. The discussion between host Chris Enns and I focused on how I got interested in photography and the challenges and rewards involved with starting Naidu Photography. I had a great time discussing these topics with Chris and really look forward to listening to upcoming episodes that he has lined up.

It was a little strange talking about myself for almost an hour and not be in a job interview. It was equally weird thinking that anyone would even want to listen to me talk about this stuff. Either way it was an awesome experience and I’m confident that if you listen to it you will learn some stuff about me that you probably didn’t know.

Welcome to the Internet is a new podcast based in Saskatoon that will be airing episodes focusing on local talent as well as talent from all over the world. You can check out my episode page here where you can listen to to the interview. It is also available on Apple iTunes here.