NEW BLOG!

Hi friends!

Please update your link because I have a new blog!

http://jbsmithblog.com

(all future posts will be made there.)

Oh hello there, new sample album!

I FINALLY got my new sample album to show off! Luscious matte pages bound so the pages lay flat. Vibrant colours. Blackest blacks. Dreamy full page spreads. I {puffy heart} this album.

It's that Time of Year - Gift Certificates!

It's that time of year when I get frequently asked if I offer Gift Certificates. The answer is, yes! Basically any product or service that I offer can be given as a gift. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in getting a gift certificate for that someone special!

Happy Friday

What a miserable day in Toronto. Here's hoping we all find a little bit of sunshine this weekend!

[from Ella + Rhett's October 3rd Wedding]

Holiday Cards!

I am really sorry to say the words "Christmas" and "Holidays" but a girl's got to! The time is nearing and in a mere two months we will begin celebrating the Holidays. Now is the time to be thinking of ordering your own personalised cards! I have a variety of templates that can be modified to suit your family. Click below to see the templates and please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in ordering some cards.

2009 Templates
2008 Templates

Cheers,
Jessica

Happy Friday

Happy Friday! No, seriously, have a happy one!

[from Elana + Navin's October 8th wedding]

Life is Precious

Everyday we are reminded of how precious life is. Flip on the news and you will see devastation everywhere. Everyday that the sun rises, we should be grateful for the day. The importance of recognizing and enjoying the present is immense. Photographs capturing these moments are invaluable. Moments are lost, life changes and all that is left are the images. These images become heirlooms to be shared for years to come.

In June I photographed the beautiful wedding of Nienke + Derek. They chose to spend their big day with only their very closest family members, including Nienke's grandparents who flew in from South Africa for the event. I am sad to say that Nienke's grandmother passed away this week. I am grateful that I was there to capture the special, quiet moments that happened on that day between Nienke and her grandmother. Photographers, please never underestimate the importance of what we do and when you go out there with your camera, do your absolute very best to capture it all.

Happy Wednesday!

[from Cheryl + Danesh's wedding, July 3rd, 2009]

After photographing two weddings this past weekend and then taking a couple of days off to catch up on sleep + sanity, I am back at it working hard in the studio. Happy Wednesday!

I'm Wild

This past week has been a wild one for me and will continue to be until Saturday. In the past seven days I photographed seven portrait sessions, a wedding and a Boudoir Marathon! Somewhere in between those I managed to catch lots of live music at NXNE and of course, the MMVA's. I am up to my head in images to say the least and am working as quickly as possible to get everything complete! In the meantime, here is a sneak peek of Katie from the event "Katie + John's Wedding" that took place on June 13th! I am very excited to show more images from this great wedding!

Happy Tuesday!

Sarah Bowden, Travel Agent Extraordinaire!

As you all know, I love to travel. I live to travel! 2008 was my "Year of Travel" with trips to Las Vegas, Mexico, Italy-England-Greece and Trinidad-Tobago. This year is a little "slower" in that I have only been to Mexico, twice. In this day and age, I cannot recommend enough that you book all travel through a Travel Agent. With travel companies and airlines going bankrupt weekly (it seems!), it is best to book your trip through an expert. These people know the insides of travel and can always recommend the best! Having said that, I HIGHLY recommend using the lovely Sarah Bowden! She works at the Flight Centre at St. Clair & Bathurst and she's great. Her contact info is as follows. (And yes, all Jessica Blaine Smith clients get a little discount! Just mention my name!)

Sarah Bowden
503 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto
416-516-7362 / sarah_bowden.on@flightcentre.ca

Sarah loves to laugh almost as much as I do!

The team at the St. Clair & Bathurst location.

Plastic Bag Bylaw in Toronto

If you are a resident of Toronto you must be aware that as of today, there is a minimum five cent charge on every plastic bag provided by retailers. I love that the City is making an effort to reduce waste, especially waste as harmful to the environment as plastic bags. You can read about the new bylaw on the City of Toronto's website.

In my own effort to reduce waste, I have had the fabulous ladies at Bring Your Own Bag make customized bags adorned with my logo. This year my wedding clients (and very special friends!) will be receiving one of these. In case you missed the original post about it, you can view it here. Every little bit counts!

Last Boudoir Marathon of the Summer - July 26th

Here are some images from recent Boudoir Marathons that were held in my studio! My Boudoir Marathons have been quickly booking up! I currently have only TWO sessions available on my final summer Boudoir Marathon which is on July 26th. Please click here for more information and do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in booking a session!

Wild Weekend - Weddings, Boudoir + Contest Winner!

This past weekend was INCREDIBLE but boy, am I exhausted!

Friday my baby sister, Abby, got married! It was a fabulous intimate wedding and now I finally have an official brother! The ever-so-excellent John Edgar photographed the wedding so that I could actually experience it (but yes, I did do photos later on!). He has already posted a sneak peek of the images on his blog. I have to admit that they made me cry because they are so beautiful. Check them out!

Saturday I photographed the amazing wedding of Denise + Tyler and Sunday I had a Boudoir Marathon! What a wild jam-packed weekend. I have a TON of images to work on! For now, here is one from Abby + Anthony Justin's wedding. Congratulations, you two!

By the way, I also found out on the weekend that one of my images won 7th place in the ISPWP (International Society of Wedding + Portrait Photographers) Spring Contest! You can see it here. The photograph is from Andrea + Ravi's Trinidad wedding that took place this past summer.

My Sister's Getting Married!

My baby sister's getting married... TODAY! We are all very excited for her and Anthony. Congratulations, you two! And don't you worry - I will have my camera in tow to capture it all but we also do have a photographer friend coming along to really be in charge. Stay tuned for the images!

Photography + Wine Auction - Come Support Houselink!

I am extremely pleased to say that I am participating in a fabulous event this week that I would love to see you all at! On Thursday, April 23rd, my pal John Edgar and I will volunteering our photography services for a worthy cause - Houselink's Double Exposure. The evening will consist of a photography and wine auction, live jazz and of course, a fabulous photo booth! Tickets for the evening are only $50!

Houselink is a fantastic organization that provides housing and support for psychiatric survivors in Toronto. To see more information about the event, please visit the Double Exposure website. For more information about Houselink, please click here. I hope to see you at the Palais Royale on Thursday night!

Weeee! Holidays Notice!

I am currently on holidays until April 16th! While away, I will not have access to my phone and access to email will be limited. I appreciate your patience in waiting to get a response from me.

Stay tuned for photos from Mexico! And don't you worry, I have left you with plenty of posts for while I am away so that you do not get bored! :) (See below this post.)

Cheers,
Jessica

Stop Using Plastic Bags!

There's a big movement on in Toronto right now about using plastic bags. They are terrible for the environment and most grocery stores are now charging you for them. My goal is to always be more environmentally friendly and if we all do our part, we can make a more beautiful place to live in.

With that, I present to you my new custom tote bags! I have been working on the bags for the past couple of months with the lovely ladies at Bring Your Own Bag and my graphic designer Jim Paterson at Non-stop Design. I must say, I could not be happier with the end result! These bags are proudly made in Vancouver (yeah - Canadian!) and are 100% Organic Cotton! All of my 2009 Wedding Clients will be receiving one when they get their proofs. I hope that you all enjoy using them!

John Edgar at Pikto

Attention Photographers! The fabulous John Edgar will be doing another workshop hosted by my favourite lab in Toronto - Pikto! The workshop takes place on Tuesday, June 16th and Wednesday, June 17th. I highly recommending attending it and learning everything you can from this fantastic photographer. For more information, check the Pikto site.

Now, what is a post without an image (useless for a photographer's blog, if you ask me). Here's one of mine of a castle in England from this past summer. Happy Monday!

And the winner is..

Some of you may recall a recent posting I had about the upcoming Art Auction to benefit Durham Epilepsy? I had a tough time trying to pick an image to donate to the action so after posting some options on my twitter and with the help of many people, I have got a winner! The above image was shot on a Holga whilst I was in Monza, Italy this past summer. Here's hoping that it brings lots of money for Durham Epilepsy!

ISPWP Welcomes Me!

I'm happy to announce that I have been accepted into the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers (ISPWP)! It is an honour to be accepted and I am looking forward to being a part of this fabulous community of amazing wedding photographers!

Calling All Artists!

I wanted to do a post about this to get the word out any artists that may be checking out my blog. My friend, Susan at Moments that Shine is volunteering her time at this awesome event.

A Dream Inspired
Cocktail Reception and Art Auction

CALLING ALL ARTISTS

On Thursday, March 26th, 2009 Epilepsy Durham Region will host the first annual ‘A Dream Inspired’ Reception and Art Auction.

All artists are invited to submit an item of their choice which represents, hope, inspiration and courage. Artwork must be presented in either a frame with matting or presented on a proper canvas frame, include shades of purple and must be original. Artists will supply easels and model displays to showcase their piece. The deadline for submissions is March 25th, 2009 and must be delivered to the event's venue in Pickering.

Each item will be auctioned to the highest bidder. Proceeds will be shared 50/50 with the agency and the artist. Art and artists will be featured on Epilepsy Durham Region website.

Background:
On March 26, 2009 Epilepsy Durham Region will host Purple Day events, which are dedicated to promoting epilepsy awareness worldwide. The campaign founded in 2008 by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, who had a dream to create an event where she and other children living with epilepsy could relate to one another. Remove stigma, mystery and fear of the unknown that surrounds epilepsy continues to be her dream.

Epilepsy Durham Region along with epilepsy agencies coast to coast have joined Cassidy to ensure that her dream is continued, ‘not another moment lost to seizures’. The Dream Inspired campaign endeavors to heighten awareness locally about epilepsy and to raise funds to ensure that a sustainable future is in fact possible to carry forth Cassidy’s dream. All funds raised throughout the campaign support local community programming and family support.
For detailed information about the event, please visit, www.purpleday.org and www.epilepsydurham.com.

TO REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT CONTACT BY FEBRUARY 12TH, 2009
Melissa McBride, Event Co-ordinator
Epilepsy Durham Region
850 King Street West, Unit 20
Oshawa, ON L1N 8N5

Tel: (905)571-2099
Email: epilepsy3@epilepsydurham.com

Updates!

My website was long past due for an update so this week I finally tackled that task! I focus all of my attention on my blog and often forget about my actual website. I am happy to say that all of the galleries in my main site have now been updated! Please check it out and let me know what you think.

I have also updated my Fine Art site to include my ongoing project Mexican Holgas. To see these images, please click here.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I can hardly believe that another year has passed. It has been fun for me to look over the last twelve months of this blog to see all of the photo shoots that I was lucky enough to be a part of. As I predicted at the end of 2007, 2008 was definitely the year of the baby! It seemed as though everyone (and their sister!) had a baby and I had a lot of fun photographing them all. Already 2009 is shaping up with the promise of being a great year. I have so many great weddings and portraits to look forward to. Thank you to all of my fabulous clients - you make my life that much brighter!

Cheers,
Jessica

[Here is one of my favourite images from a recent session with L'il K. This was me practising with my new baby - Canon 5D Mark II!]

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you much laughter + love this holiday season.

Cheers,
Jessica

[Main image taken at the Temple-in-the-Sea, Trinidad. Overlay image taken at the Basilica of St. Archillius (10th c.), Greece]

Wedding Bells Feature!

Have you seen the new Spring & Summer issue of Wedding Bells yet? If not, pick up a copy and check out my photos featuring Caroline + Vav's fabulous wedding! Roseanne Dela Rosa was also kind enough to give me a shout out on her blog. Thanks Rosie! To see the whole story on Wedding Bells, please click here.

Holiday Cards!

T'is the time to start thinking about holidays cards to send out to your friends and family! I have designed a few layouts that can easily fit any photo. Please inquiry for more details if you are interested in ordering some cards.

Typical Timing

My Beautiful Clients,

Since we are into one of my busiest times of the year, I wanted to remind you of my timing and policies for things. As you know, I am currently an one-woman operation. This is why you like me right - everything has my personal touch! I work as fast as humanly possible on my photographs, however, I still must maintain regular human life that includes eating, sleeping and spending time with my family and friends.

• For Weddings: within a couple of weeks of your wedding, I will post a "sneak peek" of your photos on my blog. Within a couple of weeks of this, you will then hear from me that your photos are ready for pick up.
• For boudoir sessions: within a few days of the session, you will receive a link to an online gallery of your photos. From there, you need to choose your top twenty favourites. Once you make this choice and tell me it, I need approximately two weeks to do the additional retouching and burn you a disc.
• For print orders: Once you have requested any prints, I will have them made for you within two to three weeks of the order date.
• For Thank You Cards orders: Once you choose the photos and specifications for your cards, I need approximately one week to create the layout. Once the layout is approved, the cards typically arrive within three weeks of the approval date.
• If you are unable to pick up your prints/cards/albums from me, there is the option of having it shipped. If you would like it shipped, your prints/cards/albums must be paid in full before anything is mailed. For this, I will email you an invoice, you can send me a cheque and once I receive it, I will ship your package.
• I require a retainer to reserve any date of photography. For this, I will email you an invoice. Once I receive the payment, we are all set for your session!

I do my best to get everything to my clients as timely as possible. I would prefer you to get your prints/cards/albums as soon as possible rather than having them sit at my place! Please keep in mind any deadlines that you may have with my timelines and let me know as soon as possible if you have any concerns.

Cheers,
Jessica

I Have Returned!

I have returned from sunny Trinidad & Tobago after spending a lovely week photographing Andrea + Ravi's wedding! Stayed tuned for lots of photos from their awesome wedding!

I appreciate your patience in waiting for a response from me to all of your emails and phone messages!

Cheers,
Jessica

I'm Back!

I am back from my fabulous holidays in Europe! Yesterday morning I woke up in Greece, had lunch at Windsor Castle in London and then arrived in Toronto late in the evening! I'm a little jet-lagged and am slowly catching up on all of your emails and phone messages. I appreciate your patience in waiting to get a response from me!

Stayed tuned for photos from my trip - I can hardly wait to work on them!

Cheers,
Jessica

Away Notice Heads-Up!

I wanted to give everyone a heads-up that very soon I will be doing a bit of travel and hence, will be away from the office. This means that all of you wedding clients wanting to order any albums, you must get the orders in as soon as possible so that I can get rolling on the design before I leave.

On June 25th, I will be heading to Europe for twenty glorious days of traveling fun that will include ATTENDING two weddings! That is right, attending, not photographing! I cannot remember the last wedding that I was at where I did not shoot it. No doubt my camera will be in tow but from a more relaxed standpoint. I am then away again from July 29th until August 7th to photograph the lovely Andrea + Ravi's wedding in Trinidad!

Wild Week!

This past week was a pretty crazy one for me! I had so many fabulous photography sessions: a maternity, an engagement, a boudoir/maternity, a fantastic wedding and two boudoir sessions! I now have lots of post-production to get rolling on!

Just a reminder that I will be on vacation beginning June 25th and will return on July 15th. This means, that if you are looking to order any prints/albums or to book a session, please contact me as soon as possible. The summer is already quite booked up!

Happy Monday!

Cheers,
Jessica

Busy girl!

This week is crazy busy for me! With all of these photography shoots, there is tons of post-production to get done. Just look at how productive I am being! (I love my discs!)

My Photo Exhibit - Mexican Holgas

I currently have an exhibit of my work at the Queen Mother Cafe at 208 Queen Street West in Toronto. This show is of my Mexican Holgas and it has been two years in the making! If you are ever in that neighbourhood, please stop by the Queen Mother and tell me what you think!

An excerpt from the description of the exhibit:
Mexican Holgas is a project that Jessica has been working on for the past two years. Her frequent visits to Mexico have enabled her to travel from coast to coast of the country always with her Holga camera in tow. The Holga camera enables her to create images that give the viewer a sense of nostalgia and familiarity to the places in them.

Happy Monday, cupcake!

Happy Monday! The past three days have been FILLED with photography for me! Friday I photographed four families, three of which were for the tv show Save Us From Our House. Saturday I photographed Jennifer + Joe's lovely wedding. Sunday I hung up my show (details to come soon!) and then met up with Ravi + Andrea for an engagement portrait session. Stayed tuned for LOTS of new images!

Happy Monday!

I saw this sign the other day after dropping off my car at the shop a few days ago and could not pass up taking a photo. Happy Monday!

Saturday, May 10th 11am Boudoir Session Available!

I now have an opening for a boudoir portrait session on Saturday, May 10th at 11am as the bride booked for this session has had to change the date with me.

My boudoir portraits take place at my studio located near downtown Toronto. The cost of a session is $330 and includes a disc containing high resolution files of all final photographs, including your top twenty favourite portraits all retouched so that they are as close to perfect as possible! The fabulous Megan Paiswill be doing make-up. Please contact me if you would like to book this session or if you have any questions about my boudoir sessions! I am also currently taking bookings for my next Boudoir Marathon on Sunday, August 24th (details below).

Cheers,
Jessica

Trash the Dress!

It is the time of year to start booking your Trash the Dress portrait session! What is a Trash the Dress session? It is a portrait session that takes place after your wedding where you get dressed up in your wedding clothes again. Often these sessions take place near some sort of body of water during sunset. The results of the session are nice and relaxed portraits taken without all of the hectic activity from the actual wedding day! Please contact me (weddings at jbsmithphotography dot com) for more information on booking a session!