a wedding I did not attend

I am in the midst of catching up with the edits from a very busy wedding season. Seems getting married is back in fashion. Either that or couples have decided to stop rebelling and keep parents happy. Keeps the office busy.

I edited this one. Dan Galic and Rob Leslie shot this wedding. 

The music is from Plants and Animals off their Parc Avenue album. I am particularly fond of this album because it is such pretty music and it happens to feature a panoramic photo of my old neighbourhood in Montréal as seen from the roof of our apartment or one just a couple of doors over. 

We never plan on living in trendy areas. It just happens.

my dream job

From Schmidt & Weston blog

I'm so getting this job.

Thanks Craig.

postcard returned

From Schmidt & Weston blog

From Schmidt & Weston blog

This is the first postcard I've received as a result of my postcard project. It is from Erin of the Oh Honestly Erin blog, which is very good and worthy of your attention.

Carrie has always wanted to go to Dolly Wood. I am not a huge fan of amusement parks, which I know would disappoint Erin. I've just never liked rides. Partly this is due to my father not liking them, despite being more than willing (as I am) to jump out of an airplane or jump into an aerobatic plane. Something about rickety roller coasters run by carnies gives me the willies. 

Also, when I was about 10 or so, I lived in the shadow of West Edmonton Mall and remember the Mind Bender roller coaster disaster. 3 dead kids solidified a healthy fear of rides.

But I do like birds, other than parrots which are pretty, but terribly annoying and not at all pleasant.

Thanks for the postcard Erin.

training wheels

From Schmidt & Weston blog

When I was less than 5, two things seemed impossibly adult to me; drinking coffee and losing those precious training wheels off of my bike. I remember how painful it was to learn to ride a two wheeler. It was an experience full of deceit, pain, screaming, and blood.

Drinking coffee was an acquire taste, but much easier overall. 

Now I drink coffee several times a day and bike to work on a two wheeler. I suppose my less than 5 year old self would be duly impressed.

my lunch spot

I have recently joined modern times and found myself an iPhone - Hand Computer. Here is my first video during yesterday's lunch break at one of my favourite spots downtown. I like boats and planes and helicopters and dogs and strange people. This park has all of that.

street art

From Schmidt & Weston blog

Street art is almost never publicly funded.

Penny

From Schmidt & Weston blog

fight

I did not shoot this. My friend Jason shot it with his iPhone. Though it is hard to tell, I'm the one in the green shorts. This is what I do to balance out the hours of sifting through wedding footage.

Watching myself and Joseph sparring, I can see a few mistakes on my part. What didn't get captured was me getting the wind knocked out of me by two back to back kicks in the exact same spot. Possibly not my best day at the gym. I was a bit grumpy this morning, but a healthy Krav Maga session always improves my day.

what I did this weekend

I realize that I've just put two wedding highlight videos back to back. That just the way it is these days. My working life is all weddings (and a steady and hated diet of Bruno Mars and Black Eyed Peas).

The wedding was on Saturday, my co-worker drove home from Whistler while I organized the footage and handed it off to the boss, Eric, to edit for the following morning. Not the whole wedding. That takes far more time.

I grew up in French immersion, all the way through to finishing my underused university degree, and though all that French learning was largely unappreciated in Québec, these very attractive and friendly Québecois did take a liking to me.

I should thank my parents and Pierre Trudeau for being bilingual. This isn't the first time knowing just one other language has come in especially and unexpectedly handy.

UPDATE The bride sent the office the following testimonial:

We would recommend Urban Wedding to anybody. We had the most perfect experience with Geoff and Tom - they were with us all day but they were so discrete and professional that we instantly forgot about their cameras which gave place to natural, real images. The Same-Day-Edit was for us a big plus and we still can't believe how great the video produced in so little time was. It allowed us to share with family around the globe our special day almost live. The quality of the images taken is breathtaking - it looks like a real movie. The video is fresh and creative which was exactly what we were looking for. Thanks a million for capturing the best moments of our amazing day...we will keep watching the video again and again!

what I've been up to lately

For the last several months, I've been working in the wedding industry as a video editor. Currently in the midst of wedding season, I've added the role of videographer, photographer, diplomat and tamer of angry brides to my growing list of jobs. This is why I haven't updated my blog very much lately.

Here is the latest upload; Jade and Erik's wedding. I'm pretty happy with it. It was a pretty happy time and the first wedding that I was the lead (and only) videographer. Everyone was nice to me. Everyone was quite drunk, except for us media types... and the only real heart stopping moment was when some well intending inebriated lady tried to focus my camera for me while I tended to my other camera.... all this happening within 5 feet of the pool.