Shinsedai Cinema Festival - countdown to Japan trip!

As you may or may not already know, I've wanted to go to Japan for over a decade now. I can't entirely explain why, I just love Japan in my mind and it's been a dream of mine to one day go there. When Norman and I were talking about this 6 months ago, he said "let's go then" - and somehow something that I'd been putting off for years was something I was booking flights for as I dusted off my Japanese language CDs. {At this point I should admit that my whole life I thought I was a romantic-dreamer sort of person.. and then I met my lovely husband, for whom the notion of "can't" doesn't seem to exist. He makes me look like a pessimist. I guess that's what happens when you grow up in the land of Lepprechauns and Fairies :) }

Anyways - we've booked our flights, have so far learned how to introduce ourselves, count to 10 and discuss our hobbies. I've been devouring books about Japan, both memoirs by other foreigners who've visited and translations of Japanese literature (currently reading "Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan" - awesome!). We've been trying to talk to everyone we know who's ever been there. So even though I know that the Shinsedai Cinema Festival showcasing Japanese films wasn't planned especially for us, the timing was perfect :)

It was a four-day festival at the Revue Cinema and included 12 main films and a selection of shorts that were shown before the main ones. (Three of the "main films" where actually collections of shorter pieces as well, and one was a double-bill of two hour-long "Pink Films"). I'm sure there will be loads of proper film critics out there writing about these films, so I'm just going to mention what were my personal favourite moments from the weekend..

I got the Deluxe Festival Pass, and went to everything. Norman had a 5-film pass. Here's what we saw:

Ringing in Their Ears - this was Norman's favourite. It was half documentary about a Japanese indie band about to break out into major lable stardom, and half imagined stories about a handful of fictional fans of the band. It was preceded by one of the best shorts of the festival, Back. This followed two kids in reverse as they walked through the streets, with all sorts of excitement around them.

Enter the Cosmos: Takashi Makino Special - This was a collection of three shorter pieces of "experimental filmaking". I'm going to be honest, I'm not THAT arty. I did fall asleep in part of the middle and last films, which were incredibly abstract and a bit psychedelic. I - more than once - wondered "how much longer?". But here's the crazy thing: watching something that isn't actually demanding anything from your brain as far as paying attention goes, allows your mind to sort of float around. At first it was my never-ending "to-do" list very vividly presenting itself. And then my mind wandered in a way that I don't normally have time to let it do. By the end of the movies I was a bit bored and a bit relieved to be going home - but after leaving, I felt really awake creatively.. it was sort of like exfoliation for whatever part of the mind is in charge of "possibilities" and "ideas", the part that gathers dust as we worry about paying bills and meeting deadlines. So these three films were not something I would say I enjoyed as films, but I would say I enjoyed the experience they gave me - which was a very unexpected and great one.

Ghost Cat & The Mysterious Shamisen - this was cool because it was an old (1938) black & white horror film, with all the women running around in kimonos.

Zero Man vs. The Half Virgin - really funny, loved the foreigner speaking bad Japanese (that will be us!) and a great ending. It was preceded by a short called Dark on Dark about a very busty woman going around placing her breast on men's heads to cheer them up - a good pairing :)

The Naked Summer - a documentary about butoh dancing. It follows a group of around 40 people at a butoh dance retreat, leading up to an awesome final performance where everyone wore not much more than gold paint and danced by torchlight. This was beautiful and was one of my favourites.

{in between these films I met my awesome friend Amanda for ice cream and a walk down Roncesvalles - this strip has changed a lot since I lived near it 7 years ago, and has some fantastic little shops and places for ice cream!}

From the Great White North: Yubari Fanta Special - this included three shorter films: Hole and Pole, The Student Wrestler, and Mrs. Akko and Her Husband. All were really good; I especially loved the humour of the first one (where highschool students are taught to overcome their enemies by out-pleasuring them), and the second one was also really funny (a documentary about the lives of student wrestlers and their lack of girlfriends).

End of the Night - I didn't really like this one as much as many of the others, although it ended up getting an honourable mention as the film that very nearly won the audience award, so obviously other people must have really liked it..

Battle Girls & Bondage: a Pink Film Double bill - both these movies were entertaining (the first one had a great low-budget mid-80's hilarity factor), but for me the highlight by far was the live performance right before the films. A dancer in a sexy-tized kimono wielded two gauze-wrapped fans in such a way that it literally looked as if she was dancing with jelly fish. It was so beautiful. There was also a short documentary about the history and making of Pink Films, which was really interesting and funny.

Hiroshima Nagasaki Download - this was awesome. It was a documentary about the survivors of the atomic bombs who are now living in North America, and also ended up being about the emotional and psychological journey that the filmmakers experienced while travelling around and interviewing their subjects. We both really loved this film, and it won the audience award. It was preceded by one of the best shorts, called On This Side, about an elderly couple struggling with illness. I don't think a single word was spoken from either character, but the visuals and the music beautifully showed a heartbreaking story. I cried. And then after the feature documentary there was an interview on stage with a Hiroshima survivor which was also nothing short of amazing.

Good For Nothing - also not one of my favourites..

Beyond Anime: The Outer Limits - this was a collection of animated pieces curated by festival co-director Jasper Sharp to showcase the vast variety of non-Anime animation being created in Japan.. a lot of it was a bit dark in theme, most of it was very good. Also due to the lack of subtitles it was another time during the weekend when I felt my mind was free to just absorb and enjoy.

{I actually went for a short walk after this screening and took some amazing photos in the neighbourhood :) Three of these images ended up being part of my 7-image submission to my first ever photography competition that was completed on Monday.. here's one of them:

Plus, I somehow had time to find the best kid's book ever (called "Go the F##k to Sleep") in a great bookstore on Roncesvalles, which I brought home with me because everyone should have a copy of this book.}

Tentsuki - I had a couple of moments when I wondered what the heck was going on in this film, and did it matter, and was I enjoying it even if it didn't make much sense..? There were some really beautiful shots though, so I enjoyed the watching of it (if that makes sense). And at the very end, I suddenly thought of Kafka. And how in the end none of his work really went anywhere or made any sense, but you somehow loved him in spite of it. That's how I felt about this film :)

Phew! It was a marathon that involved much planning ahead with snacks and meals, much stretching between screenings, much adding and subtracting of clothing layers due to the extreme heat outside and air conditioning inside, and much smiling :) I can't thank co-programmers Chris MaGee and Jasper Sharp enough for a fantastic experience and a great launch into the planning of our trip! If you missed the festival this year and have any interest in Japan or independant films, make sure to catch it next year!

Nathalie + Rich - Gorgeous Maternity Session

I first met Nathalie when she and Rich started dating, and she became my first ever client-who-turned-into-a-good-friend :) That was over a decade ago now, and lots has happened. They had a beautiful fall wedding almost 6 years ago (which I had the honour of photographing), they bought a house, and now... they're having a baby! We got together this past weekend to capture this exciting time for them :)

 Something I've always loved about Nathalie + Rich is how sweet they are together - how kissy and cuddly and fun and giggly..

I'm so in love with this last shot! 

Not only did we have a great time shooting this maternity session, but we then met up a couple of hours later to go see Ghostbusters in Riverdale Park! It was such a great evening, and we can't wait to meet and photograph Nathalie + Rich's tiny newborn in a couple of months :)

You guys are awesome!

xo

Jessica + Norman

{if you're expecting a tiny new addition to your own family and would love gorgeous maternity and newborn portraits of your own - email us now for more information! We also do gift certificates and registry - inquire for details!}

Happy Times at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

Just a quicky post today to pass along some of my favourite finds at the TOAE (on July 6-8, 2012 at Nathan Philips Square) - the show was amazing and worth braving the weather to walk around it! We met so many great artists, and all of them also turned out to be really lovely people :)

I'm pretty sure if I'd had an infinite budget, I still could have spent it all! With a far-from-infinite budget, we made a very hard decision and chose this little beauty by Charlene Serdan to come home with us:

It looks awesome in our kitchen in this old golden frame we had!

Here, in no particular order, are some of the artists I loved the most:

Mark Gleberzon - had these amazing multi-media pieces full of vintage finds, really beautifully put together. He also has a gallery in Cabbagetown that I can't wait to check out..
Soyeon Michelle Kim - makes beautiful whimsical dioramas that reminded me a bit of my Alligator Pie book from when I was a kid..
James Wardhaugh - glass artist, beautiful colours and nice clean shapes
Adam Colangelo - makes these fantastic "quilted" pieces out of copper - amazing textures in the turquoise and orange pieces
Silvia Taylor - arabesque-inspired shapes in glass, with copper fused onto them
Julia Hepburn - fairytale-ish (and somewhat dark) little sculptured scenes in boxes
Pamela Mingo - awesome paintings on archival maps of Toronto, using really beautiful colour combinations
Pauline Thompson - at first glance her worked seemed deceptively simple, but the longer I looked at the  layers of "scribbles" ("love" and "joy" written millions of times) the harder it was to look away...
Will Ruppel - amazing glass pieces, especially loved his little sprout with all the roots showing underground (and we had a lovely chat with him and his mom - all artists should bring their moms to shows with them!)
Patti Harris - has been collecting vintage watch-makers cases, and filling them with vials of treasures and themed collages in the lids (also had a lovely talk with her about art)

We also had the pleasure of seeing lots of artists we've already met at other shows, but always love to see again :)

Tanya Kirouac - does beautiful encaustic paintings, layered with secret bits of music and full of garden imagery
Lori Klassen - juicy and sensual paintings, mostly of women, flowers, and fruit
Maureen O'Connor - amazing photographer, really beautiful and graphic images of beautiful derelict and abandoned spaces
Charlene Serdan - another great photographer, soft and dreamy images of flowers and farm scenes (and the artist responsible for the lovely magnolia image we bought a print of, above)

Anne Renouf - lovely semi-abstract landscapes and seascapes

Suzanne Ernst - photo-based multi-media, her whole booth feels like an ideal daydreamy Sunday
Clayton Haigh - amazingly textured glass pieces
Laurie Skantzos - beautiful paintings that I can't even describe full of life and colour (looking forward to photographing them in the near future!)
Michelle Mendlowitz - gorgeous ceramic pieces with awesome hits of bright orange to surprise you

It was such a great day and I smiled all the way home :) The world seemed suddenly like a much more beautiful place than it had seemed only a day before - I love how great art can do that to you, can lift your heart and put a skip in your step :)

Thank you so much also to all the lovely artists who were so generous with their advice about transporting, packing, displaying, and protecting artwork for outdoor shows - I am currently knee-deep in preparation for my own first show at the Queen West Art Crawl at Trinity Bellwoods Park this September 14-16! A special thanks to Suzanne Ernst for the advice to "just go ahead and apply" in spite of my doubts about being "ready enough" :)

xo
Jessica + Norman

Tiny Sweet Newborn Olivia Jane

A couple of months ago, we met up with Caroline and Graham in Kensington Market to do an awesome graffiti maternity session - they are really such a lovely couple and a pleasure to photograph :) So it was with great anticipation that we waited for the day we got to meet and photograph their beautiful new addition to the family.. introducing Miss Olivia Jane:

 It was a hot day when we came to visit, but this tiny girl was very co-operative through multiple changes of outfits and locations (I think this purple dress with the orange bows was my favourite!)

 Caroline made this amazing quilt (above) with the help of Graham's talented Aunt - I love the little owls! One of the best parts about photographing newborn babies is watching the new parents' expressions.. I love these next shots :)

 How perfect is she!?

Thank you Olivia for being an absolute princess, and thank you Caroline & Graham for allowing us to share in this special time in your lives! We can't wait to see what she'll look like in a few months.. :)

xo
Jessica + Norman

{If you are expecting your own perfect new addition to the family and would like to talk to us about creating memories of this priceless part of your lives - email us now for more information :) }

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 9)

Part 9 - Galway to Sligo, by way of Knock and Westport


{If right now you're thinking: "Part 9?! Where the heck is the rest of the story?", don't panic! Here's where we started, and here's where Part 8 left off in case that's all you've missed..}

After leaving Galway, our first stop was Knock. If you've never been there, Knock is to Ireland sort of what Lourdes is to France. I wanted to go because I'm fascinated by how cultures celebrate and practice their religions and beliefs - one of the best pieces of television I ever saw was a British show called "Around the World in 80 Faiths" which I highly recommend if you ever have a chance to see it. I have loved all the various Virgin representations I've seen in places like Mexico, France, and even a few days before this in Cork, and have actually sort of collected her from various countries to decorate the walls of our house, although I'm not Catholic.

But somehow Knock didn't feel "spiritual" to me, it actually felt kind of weird. I don't mean to offend anybody of course, and I'm sure there are lots of people who would say it's not spiritual to me because those aren't my beliefs, but of all the religious sites and churches and cathedrals I've been to in my life, only the one in Seville compares to Knock in the way it unsettled me (in the case of Seville, I couldn't quite get over how someone at some point had spent about a jillion dollars on 5-foot tall gold statues adorning one wall about 10 statues wide and stacked 6 or 7 high..). Knock seemed like a really big parking lot surrounding a few small buildings with a couple of plaques and statues, and then a street full of very touristy shops selling plastic containers (to fill up with Holy Water), clocks with Jesus on the cross, beads for every Saint known to man, and a million other things. I have to admit to bringing home a small card showing Saint Lucy - who is the patron Saint of our street, and so seemed fitting.

Anyways, I'm still glad we went to see Knock. It was an interesting contrast from Brigid's Garden (which had much more Celtic origins), especially since we visited the two very different locations within two days.

Back on the road, we continued north along the western part of Ireland until we came to Westport. Norman had said ahead of time that it was a picturesque town, and it lived up to all expectations :) After a quick scouting trip through the very hilly core of the town, we found a place to park the car and a place to change (that's right, we didn't actually drive around wearing these clothes all day!)

Sitting in my sunporch on this very sunny Saturday, I am reminded not at all of the weather we had when we were in Ireland ;) As my lovely husband pointed out to me - you can't expect a place to have 50 shades of green without a lot of rain.. The upside to a country that sees more cloud than clear sky is that the light is great for shooting almost all the time - as long as you can miss the rain! We picked a few of our favourite locations in Westport and managed to get some pretty great images before the rain started :)

 If my house could be made from these gorgeous blue-grey and pale rust-coloured stones, that would be perfect! (who do I talk to about that..?)

 I love colour - as you may have noticed ;)  - and I especially love it when great colour combinations come together. The town of Westport will always hold a special place in my heart, for the simple reason that it seemed to me as though the people there had been kind enough to paint some of their buildings in the perfect colours to go with what we were wearing :)

Just after these last shots were taken, it started to pour rain - we didn't even have time to change back into our "normal" clothes before scurrying back to the car and continuing our trip to our final destination - Sligo. The best part about that is that when we tried to check in to our hostel by the beach in Sligo, the man there took one look at our fancy attire and upgraded us (at no extra charge!) to the classier B&B owned by the same people nextdoor :)

After settling in to our room (which I LOVED and will show you why in the next part..) we went for a quick walk to the beach and then to the pub :) To scout it out for our photos the next day, of course ;)

Sligo is so beautiful - I can't wait to show you the pictures we took in the pub, and on our much longer walk down the beach the next day... stay tuned!!

xo
Jessica + Norman

p.s. as much as we'd love to shoot every wedding in Westport, we're actually very happy to shoot weddings pretty much wherever they happen! Email us now for more information if you're looking for a team of passionate wedding photographers (and lovers of life!)

Dress: Cabaret Vintage
Headband: Oh Dina!
Photography: Jessica Lin Photography

Gabriel Turns One!

I'd only met Gabe once before being invited to photograph his first birthday party - he was a very smiley and active baby, bouncing away in his jolly-jumper while his Mom and I discussed business and art. Since she's a designer, I had high hopes for how "pretty" this party was going to be - and my expectations were surpassed! For starters, check out this amazing cake display.. the beautiful (and yummy!) cake was made by Savera of Pretty Sweet Cakes..

 Is this (below) not the most creative invitation you've ever seen?! It helps when your Mommy is Naushin of Love, Paper & Ink - designer of custom stationary :)

Gabe was very busy at his big party - getting some birthday tickles from a friend, being picked up by everyone over the age of 5, and still finding time to fit in some walking practice!

These are by far the classiest loot bags I've ever seen! I really loved how all the details came together, and also loved how many smiles we saw at this party - everyone really seemed to have a great time :)

We had so much fun with Gabe and his family and friends, and hope to see some of them again soon for their own family portraits ;)

Thanks so much to Naushin and Andrew for a fantastic afternoon :)

xo

Jessica + Norman

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 8)

Alright - I'm slightly embarrassed at how long it's taken me to blog the story of our overseas wedding + honeymoon that happened a year ago (!) SO I'm going to step it up a bit and aim to complete the story by the end of July. It's been so nice re-living all of the amazing memories and there's a big part of me that never wants it to end, but I realize that you, the reader, may eventually want to get to the end ;) If you are new to the story and would like to start at the beginning, here it is :) If you just want to refresh your memory of what happened last, here's Part 7 - Cork to Killarney.

So without further ado..

Part 8 - Killarney to Galway


Taking the advice of the Lonely Planet guide book, we decided we need to see Eyeries as it's meant to be one of the most picturesque little towns ever in the world. It was, as this quicky little video shows..

We drove the north side of the Ring of Beara, and the whole drive was really beautiful. The biggest problem is that you want to stop every 5 minutes to take pictures (which is why we didn't actually make it all the way around the Ring!)

This is just right around the corner from Eyeries - more beautiful scenery, more beautiful light (I love Ireland!) Norman took this one of me (below, left) while I was setting up for the one of the two of us (immediately below).. there was a fair amount of chaos running back and forth and taking that jumper off and on between shots (it was freezing!), so I was always really excited to end up with an image like this one that we were both really happy with :)

Hopped out at the side of the road for this one - seemed only fair since I had my "New Bride Street" photo back in Dublin..

 And this - drumroll please - was I think my favourite view in all of Ireland :) It was called Ladies View lookout and it was simply magical..

 After such an amazing day and with my mind full of all the sights we'd seen, I had trouble sleeping that night at Paddy's Palace.. I had this panicky feeling that somehow we were going to "miss" great shooting opportunities, and that we couldn't possibly have time to really get the most of our trip. The problem is that I think once you start thinking of your trip (and especially your honeymoon!) as a list of goals of places to see and photos to take, you run the risk of not enjoying any of it. Norman and I have very different styles of approaching projects and lists (as we learned with our renovations..), so there was the added problem that we were disagreeing and that caused a lot of stress and tension on top of it all! So while I was sitting up in the middle of the night having a slight freak-out about all this, I started to do what came naturally - I made a shot list. It's funny because with other couples' weddings I make up the shot list weeks in advance, and with our own pictures here I was a few days into shooting before I actually started to sketch some ideas and list specific things I wanted to make sure we got. And even though this sounds like maybe going the wrong way about getting more relaxed, it soothed me to have a "big picture" that I could refer to. I'm so used to doing it for other people, and I think I've underestimated all this time how comforting it is to have someone take charge. So in a way I had to learn to separate myself in my mind into "the Bride" and "the Photographer" so that the professional side of me could be prepared and organized, and the personal side of me could be happy and smiling and in love. And still speaking to her Groom ;)

The next day we drove to Brigid's Garden which was fantastic. The garden is divided into four "seasons" and planted to represent the annual cycles of nature as well as the overall cycle of life - I love that they had such a beautiful concept and they did a really great job of it. This pond was full of tiny newts, which I'd never seen before, so we watched them swim around for a while before heading over to write a wish for the wish tree..

It was a really lovely day and felt a lot more like a trip and honeymoon than like a crazy assignment we'd given ourselves, which I think was exactly what we needed :)

That night after checking in to our B&B in Galway, we drove out through Salthill to Spiddal to see the coral beach (instead of sand, it's literally all tiny broken up pieces of coral!). The light was stunning for the entire drive, and disappeared just before we got there. In my new-found state of photo-zen, I tried to just appreciate the beauty we'd seen and not be disappointed in the fact that we had "nothing to show for it". I think this was the only part of our trip that was specifically a Gaeltacht area, which means they don't speak English. Other than stopping for directions once at a shop, we didn't see anyone else while we were there. 

After the beach we headed back to Spiddal town to go to Tigh Hughes pub which is famous for having Irish music and a great atmosphere. We were two of six people there that night, and were somewhat confused by the lack of liveliness until one of the men came over to talk to us. He explained that a young man in the town had been killed on the road a few days back, and out of respect for him there would be no music. We ended up talking to this man for over an hour, and he told us stories of building a hospital in the Black Forest with three guys from Belfast who showed up to work with a banjo and a guitar - it was an unexpectedly great evening. In my journal, I noted that we "managed to get back to B&B in spite of drunk navigator" ;)

Stay tuned for next time, when we visit Knock and the gorgeous seaside town of Westport!

xo

Jessica + Norman


Dress: Cabaret Vintage
Headband: Oh Dina!