5 Awesome Reasons to go to the Spring One of a Kind this weekend in Toronto

As you may know, I never miss the One of a Kind show at Christmas, and I especially love the Spring show :) Why? Because most years it's the first sign of Spring we see, and what better way to celebrate all those little buds on the trees and the tulips starting to pop up than to spend a day surrounded by all the beautiful colours, textures and designs at the One of a Kind show!

Here's a little sneak peek of some of the very talented designers I've been working with recently, who can all be found at the OOAK show this weekend (show runs March 28-April 1 this year, for hours and directions check here)...

Melanie LeBlanc (booth i37) - Melanie grew up on a little island "up north", and her love of rugged natural beauty can be seen in all her unique pieces of jewellery - this is Melanie's first time at the One of a Kind so we hope she has a fantastic time!

Tiny Modernist (booth J23) - designer Cheryl McKinnon uses such amazing fabrics for all her adorable and chic little girls' dresses - this is one of my favourites in her award-winning Overall Dress..

Erin Tracy Designs (booth G9) - Erin will be unveiling her new "Navajo" collection at the Spring show - I love the way these feathers flutter as you move! (I realize this is hard to see in a still picture, so just go get some and see for yourself!)

Mena Dragonfly (booth G21) - ceramic artist Melanie Mena creates a line of clean and simple pieces in the most amazingly perfect shapes. She and her partner have just moved to Prince Edward County where they have bought a B&B, and look forward to serving up many a tasty breakfast on these yummy dishes!

 Jenny Greco (booth L43) - Jenny uses the most exotic nuts and seeds I've ever heard of to create her bold and colourful jewellery - this one has a tagua nut - you have to hold them in your hands to really see  the amazing textures (better yet, try one on!)

I'm so proud to work with all of these lovely and talented designers and look forward to seeing them at the show today :)  If you're in Toronto this weekend, make sure you come check it out too!

{and if you're a designer looking for an awesome photographer/new friend, email me now and we'll get together for tea and a chat about your work!}

The Original Wedding Soiree Bridal Show in Toronto - April 15, 2012

I hope that all of you have been taking time out from your busy lives to enjoy the (somewhat freaky) mid-March summer weather :) We have been keeping really busy lately with some awesome commercial jobs, and are now starting to get really excited for our next wedding show - The Original Wedding Soiree - coming up on April 15th at the gorgeous 1 King Street West in Toronto.

Always a fan of a good theme party, I'm so thrilled that the lovely Renee of Weddings For Her has planned this event with a 1920's Parisian theme! It's going to be such an amazing event, and there are so many fantastic boutique wedding vendors who will be there, including Blair Nadeau Millinery, CurlyGirl Flowers, Love, Paper & Ink, Sara Baig Designs, and many more. We're talking about some serious beauty here - so if you're planning a wedding or know someone who is, be sure to mark April 15th on your calendar and come down to say hi and check it out!

In celebration of spring and all things beautiful, we'll even be extending our amazing offer of a FREE 16x20 custom piece of wall art while we're at this event - come see us for details and be sure to have a look at this post to see what the heck I'm talking about ;)

Looking forward to seeing you there :)

xo Jessica + Norman

Jane & Luis - Beautiful finished album

From the first time I met them, I knew I really liked Jane and Luis. They are quite simply awesome. We had a great time shooting their engagement photos, and their wedding last summer at the Gladstone Hotel was fantastic :)
So it was with great joy that we presented them with their finished album last night - and they loved it! This is a relatively new (to me) album company that I'm working with - Finao - and they make the most beautiful hand-crafted flushmount albums that I've ever seen. The choices for cover materials are nothing short of fantastic. And the attention to detail in the craftsmanship is above and beyond anything I imagined possible. Here's a peek at the album I designed for Jane and Luis...

The cover material they chose is called "Green Room".. I wish you could touch it right now!

Instead of being press-printed (like a coffee table style album), these are actual archival photographic prints flushmounted to board to give not only fantastic quality in terms of colour-matching and richness, but an incredibly solid and sturdy album..

I love how this style allows for an image to flow across the centre of the spread - it made it a very fun album to design :)

Jane & Luis thought a keyline to match with the cover material would be great - I couldn't agree more! (love those rounded corners..)

I had a custom studio die made up; they were a bit concerned about the fine details around the edges, but it turned out so beautifully!

I must admit, I was so in love with this album that it was a bit hard to see it go! It really makes me so happy to know that Jane & Luis will love and share it for many years to come :)

Thanks again to you both Jane & Luis for inviting us to share in this amazing celebration of your lives together!

xo

Jessica + Norman

{we love shooting weddings at funky venues - email us now if you're planning an awesome event and need awesome photographers to capture it!}

Tanya Kirouac at The Artist Project show in Toronto March 1-4

February is normally a very slow time of year for us, but this year seems to have been non-stop! I've already had the good fortune to work with three amazing new clients - all very talented and inspiring women - one of whom will be exhibiting at The Artist Project show this weekend at the Queen Elizabeth Building at Exhibition Place. Tanya Kirouac is an amazing artist :) Over the years, she has built her technique of using encaustic wax painting to incorporate many layers (both physical layers and layers of meaning) into her pieces. I spent a day and a half staring at her work, and still kept finding new things! I loved talking to her about art and her process while we were shooting her work.. I think it's really awesome when you find out that the reason she's got so much bird imagery in her pieces is that she's enamoured with all the birds she's seen on her property in Prince Edward County. And that the pieces of sheet music embedded in her designs are chosen specifically because the songs are about gardens and flowers (as well as being visually lovely). I LOVE that kind of stuff - the added depth that a painting takes on as you speak to it's creator and learn where it all came from :)
If you're in Toronto this weekend you should definitely stop by the show to check out Tanya's work in real life. You may just find (like I did) that you need to bring one of these beautiful little gardens home with you!

Here's a sneak peek:

up close you can see the amazing detail and all the layers... 

(this one is mine now - so you'll have to come to my place to see it!)

If you can't make it to the show, be sure to visit Tanya in her studio space in the Distillery District!

And if you also happen to be a visual artist and would like your work shot for your portfolio, please email me now for more information :)