Union Photography Blog » Wedding, Portrait, Maternity and Lifestyle Photography by Jon Thorpe

For many years, black and white photography took a back seat to the advancement of color imagery, along with the vibrancy and excitement that it brought along. Some will say that B&W was never left far behind, but it is also true that much of the art in it’s processing was lost to the “Convert to B&W” tool found in many photo editing programs.

Hand finished black and white photographs can give your moments an nostalgic feel by simply removing the distraction that color can sometimes bestow on an image. You can feel the emotion, the romance and timelessness of the subjects. The effort of dodging (brightening) elements of a photo can bring out life and energy in a subject, while a light burn (darkening) can provide a needed separation from the background, enhancing texture and balancing the tonal relationships within.

Each photograph ordered through my studio receives this loving and detailed treatment. If a picture is worth a thousand words, those words should be spoken with clarity.

For 2011, every photo that leaves the studio will be receiving a hand finishing that includes retouching, tone adjustments and more. It’s my dedication to quality service and to the art that photography is.

Below is a selection of imagery from this past season, showing how proper, subtle editing can further enhance great imagery.

Be sure to come by the Carlu for The Wedding Show this weekend to view the photo booth, which will be on display in the Sky Room.

The Wedding Show is Canada’s premiere wedding show and features some of the best vendors out there.

Need a little more incentive? Print out the coupon below to save $3.

The Wedding Show
The Carlu, 444 Yonge Street, 7th floor
Friday, January 15, 5-9pm
Saturday, January 16, 10am-6pm
Sunday, January 17, 10am-5pm

I have to say that I am extremely excited to be sharing this ’spilling of the beans’ with you right now!

For the past 6 months or so, I have been working on a secret project which has consumed nearly every spare second of my life and today is the day that I get to share the first tidbits of information with you. It all started off as a simple idea and skyrocketed from there. I wanted to create a classic photo booth with a very modern flair and not only did I want it to look sexy, but I also wanted its design to be influenced by my background in professional event photography.

And thus it was born – A photo booth created by a photographer. Simply and affectionately called ‘booth’.

There will be more information coming soon and the website www.getthebooth.com will be the place to find all of the details as I release them. The booth is, as of today, available for pre-bookings for the Holiday season and it will undoubtedly be very popular with both weddings and corporate parties.

So stay tuned and please let me know what you think of the booth!

My oh my, how time does fly! It seems as if it were just yesterday that I was laying down flooring, painting, moving furniture and getting ready for the grand opening of the Union Photography Gallery, here in Downtown Toronto. In reality, it has been one full year since I signed the lease on my space and things have been moving at warp speed ever since! Of course, none of this would have even been possible without the support of my amazing couples, friends and family. You have been the main pillar of support for me!

Recently, I had been thinking of how I could improve on my studio space as well as well freshen up my online presence in order keep fresh… But thinking is never enough, so in keeping with my “Just Do It!” mentality (which may also include a little bit of OCD), I went ahead with some renovations!

So after taking out a wall, repainting the entire studio from floor to ceiling, adding in some fancy trim, rebuilding the website and implementing a snazzy new blog, I am finally done! Take a look and tell me what you think!

Now back to editing!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot the “Big Gay Wedding” which is an annual event that is organized by local radio station Proud FM. Shooting from atop of the world at one of Canada’s most famous landmarks, the CN Tower, was quite an experience and not only because of the panoramic vista!

Kathy & Keena were the first couple to walk the isle to be legally united, followed by a ceremony for Steven & Byron. The ever inspiring Brent Hawkes, was minister to the wedding and shared stories of what it was like to unite the first gay couples in Toronto, under the protective armor of a bullet proof vest while being flanked by bodyguards. Needless to say, things have changed quite a bit since then and I am extremely proud to be a citizen of a nation where equality and the right of marriage is granted to all couples, regardless of their orientation. Love has no boundaries.

Both ceremonies were very boutique and intimate affairs, with close friends and family at hand to bear witness. It has to be said though, that even though these were smaller ceremonies, the room was absolutely filled with positive energy!

And here are some of the photos!

A big thanks goes out to Ryan and Erika of Rowell Photographer for inviting me out to this event and also to Proud FM for putting it on!

Lifestyle Portraits, Just for Fun, or Just Because… Whatever you want to call this loosely defined session, they are a great way to capture some casual to semi-intimate shots of you and your beau while having a fun time!

Team the photos up with one of my fantastic Little Books or a Gallery Canvas Wrap and you have a complete package that makes for a great gift of keepsake.

For this particular session, Tara had organized it as a bit of a surprise for her awesome boyfriend Matt, as they didn’t have many good photos of themselves and really wanted something that they could cherish.

We were able to wander around for a few hours, visiting a number of different sites so that we would have a decent variety of imagery by the end of the evening. One awesome find was this lovely (Well okay. It was rusting into oblivion!) classic Citron DS Wagon that was parked in a back alley. Now it may have looked really rough, but It was in running order, as it vanished by the morning… or maybe it was just towed.

I had a great time with you both and I really hope that you love these photos as much as I do! They are some of my favorite lifestyle images.

For anyone that is interested, Lifestyle Portraits Sessions (store link) are available for $350, which includes 2 hours of my time, and images posted to my secure proofing site! Deal!

I was absolutely ecstatic when the courier dropped off this little gem last week. These *new* Guest Signing Albums replace the matted version that I previously offered with a sleek and flush design that features 5 beautiful full page images paired with an adjacent signing areas.

This 7×10″ album is a fantastic alternative to traditional guest books and matted photo frames, as it gives you a heirloom that suits being displayed on your coffee table or book shelf. There is no way that these sexy and stylish albums would find their way into a storage closet!

There is enough room within this 7×10″ album for approximately 200 guests to sign with short personalized messages. It is highly recommended that you use fast drying gel pens (try them first!) to help prevent unwanted smudges. There are over 30 fabric and faux leather cover treatments to choose from, so there should be no problem in making your book suit your wedding decor or your personal style.

Another fun new product that we are now offering is the Mini Album!

These exquisite 5×5 hand designed albums are available in a range of different cover materials including both fabrics and high quality faux leathers. All that you have to do is pick a cover material and choose 20 of your favorite photos. We will color enhance and crop each image as required and then hand assemble your album.

Mini Albums make the perfect gift for those extra special people in your life!

Many people inquire about the albums that we offer here and how they differ from that of many of the other offerings out there. A lot of the time it’s also a question of “Why are your albums more expensive?”, which is a pretty honest question deserving of an honest answer, which boils down to only a few words. Quality and Creativity!

Quality is at the backbone of every album that we produce. We hunted for ages trying to find the highest quality hand finished albums for our clients and after sample orders from many of the offerings, we settled on what is now called the Vogue Album. These are hand finished, fully customized albums that can be individually tailored from cover to cover to meet your specific requirements. A wide variety of leather, metallic, glass and even printed canvas finishes are available. Many refer to this style of album as a “Coffee Table Album”.

The reason why we focus so much on creating wedding albums and why we so highly recommend them to clients is simple. Albums are one of the best ways to preserve your memories for generations to come. We see ourselves as not only photographers, but also as historians and because of this it’s critical that we provide a medium for out imagery that will last. Digital technology has come a very long way, but CD’s still make better coasters then family heirlooms – but don’t worry, we always provide images in digital format for easy sharing of photos!

Each pair of pages (or a ’spread’ as well call them) run seamlessly across the fold with no break in the image. This greatly enhances landscape imagery and also allows us, the designers, to have a degree of creative freedom that is not available with other albums. That being said, every image that goes into a Vogue Album is meticulously edited and retouched before being placed into the album layout. This is the Creative aspect, as we fully design every page to best tell the story of your wedding day through the harmonious and evocative imagery captured at your wedding.

Many photo companies offer wedding albums, but what constitutes as an “album” varies greatly from vendor to vendor. This ranges from inexpensive slip in plastic paged binders (think Blacks Photography), to soft cover books to high end, exquisitely finished hand made albums. So you really have to pay attention and make sure you know what you are receiving, no matter what photographer you choose.

We also offer Parent’s albums, which are slightly smaller versions of the main album. Each Parents Album can be customized with embossed text on the cover, image cut outs and with cover treatments, just like the main album!

If you have any questions regarding the various albums we offer (and there are many more that we will get to in the blog), please feel free to send us an email!

Have you ever wanted to have something unique and fun at your wedding? Something that guests will remember for years to come? If so, our photo booth (essentially a portable studio) is the perfect answer! As you can see from the photos below – guests LOVE it and well… get a little crazy sometimes.

The below images were captured at Chris & Claire’s amazingly fun wedding at the Berkley Church (see the wedding photos)

If you are interested in this photo booth service, just contact us! It’s an easy addition to any package and is a great way of extending your reception coverage.