Rob and Lauren Blog

Here we go. We’re getting into our wedding season in Edmonton. There’s a lot to catch up on, but as you can see we’ve been blogging EVERY SINGLE DAY so there’s tons of fun coming your way really soon.

Way back in the day we met up with Angeline and Dean at the University of Alberta to take some wicked fun engagement photos.

Ok, so Angeline works for Starbucks doing awesome stuff. That means that both of these guys are totally addicted to the ‘Bucks. Dean pretty much couldn’t put his down! But it worked out well for us. Rob learned of a new type of drink that he really likes. It’s a Double Tall, SFV, NF, ICED, Latte. That’s how Angeline wrote it down for us, haha! More shorthand than weddings!

Anyway, we had to incorporate the coffee into a shot.

I’m gonna throw two names at you, and just wait for your head to explode. Helen Hunt and Richard Gere. BAM!

Such cool stuff going on at the U of A.

These guys were such naturals, it was a blast.

We LOVE finding little pockets of colour to shoot our sessions with. This spot was killer.

Yummy blue.

Oh, and why not throw some huge ass coloured dots into the mix! All sorts of fun!

Yeah. That’s awesome.

I LOVE how snuggly they are here.

Angeline is such a goof.

They brought it like there was no tomorrow.

On the menu for tomorrow, their super fun wedding!!! See you then!

Lauren :)

Ten Bonus points to the first person who names him.

Well, we finally got our butts in gear and have decided on a date for our next Chill Session! Here are the deets:

When: Sunday, April 26, 2009

Where: Our home on the south side of Edmonton

What: A day of learning and shooting with Rob & Lauren. This time we’ll be focusing heavily on live shooting and post processing, with lots of one-on-one time!

Included: Snackies, bevvies, and din din

Cost: $250 + GST

We will be limiting the session to 10 people, and I have a feeling it will book up rather quickly, so get in touch with me right away (lauren [at] robandlauren [dot] ca)  if you’re interested. I’ll send you an email with all the details of what we’ll be talking about, and how to book your spot!

NOTE: As of Wednesday morning there are only 3 spots left! So if you’re wanting to come get in touch ASAP!

And a lovely little shot from our last Chill Session:

Hope to see some of you soon!

Lauren :)

Happy Monday everyone! We haven’t had a wedding the past couple of weekends, but I thought I’d share some Monday morning photos with you anyway!

It’s not easy to get us to go out and shoot in the snow for extended periods of time. We really hate the cold! Combine that with the need to manipulate small buttons on the camera and it’s just all sorts of annoying. But Jen & Wade were awesome enough to convince us to go out! We found a perfect winter day to shoot with them, and had way too much fun!

 P.S. I’m getting my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday, so emails might slow down a little bit while I’m recovering!

Lauren :)

Romy and Joyce are such a fantastic couple, we’re pretty much out of our minds with excitement for their wedding next weekend! The weather was really trying to prevent us from shooting their e-session (we were rained out one day, and when we were shooting these images we were nearly frozen and actually saw some snow!). But that didn’t stop the four of us from having so much fun, and getting some amazing shots. I’m so excited for this season to start, we’re loving spending time with all our couples!

Here are some of the shots we got with them. We also did a concept shoot that I’ll be sharing in a little while, once I’ve had time to fully process them all!

 I love the light we found here! So nifty. This totally reminds me of a couple of secret agents, lol.

 Romy is a fantastic photographer in his own right, and was able to borrow a 4x5 field camera for us to play with!! What an amazing piece of equipment! We’d never seen one before, and it was soooo cool! I guess you could call this shot a meta-photo, couldn’t you?

 Hope you all have a killer weekend! Our Chill Session is tomorrow so check back in on Monday for some shots from that!

Lauren :)

Happy Monday my friends!

Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to chill with 10 uber cool photographers! While we were all chatting in the morning I had a perfect view out the window of the blizzard that had taken over the city. But I knew that wasn’t going to stop us, and we were going to shoot no matter what! So everyone bundled up, and followed us out to an industrial area for some fun. To be honest, Rob and I were pretty worried as we were driving out there, and figured our shoot would be cut short. But we were having way too much fun, and were getting some mind-blowing shots, that I think we ended up shooting for well over an hour and a half in blizzard conditions!

Before I continue it’s essential that I give a huuuuuuge shout out to our models, Andrea and Mike. They drove all the way from Red Deer to hang out with us, and we truly couldn’t have had a better couple to work with! They were probably freezing cold the whole time, but never showed us anything but pure enthusiasm. We were so honored to create these images for them!

Check out the snow!!! In a normal situation we probably would have resheduled, but I’m SO pumped that we didn’t because it adds such a killer element to the photos.

 To get this shot I made all 10 photographer tramp through huge amounts of mud. We were all pretty dirty after that, but I maintain that it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

 Again, we can’t thank Andrea and Mike enough for their amazing model skillz. They totally made our day!

And to all our Chill Session participants, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for an amazing day. You guys were fantastic!!!

Tons o’ love,

Rob & Lauren

Rob & Lauren Portraits!

Over the years we’ve been really fortunate to get to photograph some beautiful families, adorable babies, playful couples, radiant moms-to-be and straight-up awesome people. And the more we do these shoots, the more we just adore them.

So we’re beginning a new stage of our business with a strong focus on portraits. Weddings will still be a big part of our business but hopefully with many, many more portraits!

This direction is especially exciting now that so many of our wedding couples are starting little families of their own! I can’t tell you how sappy we get when we hear one of our clients is expecting…*sigh* It’s so fun to see them going from figuring out how to plan a wedding to figuring out how to change a diaper, haha!

Anyways, I’m sure you’re just waiting for all the details so here they are!

Our new portrait portfolio site is here: www.robandlaurenportraits.com

And to celebrate this new direction we’re offering a fantastic discount on our portrait sessions! They are normally $350 for weekday sessions and $500 for weekend sessions, but for all bookings in May and June they will be only $150 for weekdays and $300 for weekends! Zoinks! Did you catch that?

$350 -> $150!!! for weekdays

$500 -> $300!!!! for weekends

Hooray! If you’re interested make sure to drop us a line right away since our weeks tend to get pretty full pretty far in advance! We will also be offering gift certificates of our sessions, which is kind of like the best present EVER!

Send us an email at love [at] robandlauren [dot] ca and we’ll hook you up with more details. Make sure to let any friends know about our special, since it won’t be around for long! And now, for your viewing pleasure, a few portrait favs. For more make sure to check out the new site!

P.S. These sessions are also perfect for engagements or even getting dressed up in your wedding dress again and having some fun!!!

 Tons o’ love,

Rob & Lauren :)

Well, we’re pretty much all booked up for portrait sessions in May and June. Unfortunately we are merely human, and shooting 10 sessions a day isn’t physically possible (although believe me, we’d love it if we could do that!). And since we are still getting tons of awesome people looking for some killer photography, we decided to extend the offer to include July as well! YAY!!! And we have a  bunch of dates available so give us a shout ASAP before those all book up as well!

Session fees are normally $350 for weekdays and $500 for weekends, but will be an amazing $150 for weekdays and $300 for weekends! Yahoo! Hit up our contact page if you’re interested and we’ll hook you up with the details.

*New posts will be below this one, so keep scrolling to see some awesome photos!*

Rob is a guy full of ideas. He has lists all over the place; some on paper, most on his multiple computers in several different programs…

Needless to say he spends a lot of time thinking. Some of his ideas are admittedly pretty “out there”. Stuff about robots and such. But many of his ideas are pretty amazing, and we just jump on the opportunity to try them out. They don’t always go exactly as planned (well, they almost never go exactly as planned) but they always result in something totally new. And that’s exactly what we want.

Rob had an idea for a photo shoot, but we needed the right couple. Enter Romy and Joyce. A totally gorgeous couple who loves to have fun together. And yes, they are already married, and I already blogged some wedding photos, and I’m totally going out of order here, but I don’t care!

What made them absolutely perfect was the fact that Romy is a photographer himself. That meant not only that some of Rob’s planned shots would have special meaning for them, but also that we knew they would be up for whatever crazy ideas we dreamed up.

So here we are. Romy & Joyce’s concept shoot. We need a better name for that, but essentially what we mean is that we have a concept, and that drives how we shoot, rather than just shooting whatever comes to mind as we usually do!

This concept took quite a bit of prep work to execute. Here’s what it was.

When a couple books us, we often say that they get something special: two unique viewpoints for their big day. But what would happen if we took that idea, and went as literal as possible….

Well, you get this:

 That would be two images taken at the EXACT same time. One by Rob, one by Lauren.

 You see, Rob devised a way to trigger the two cameras at the same moment. I would set up my shot, as would he, and then he controlled when both cameras would fire. The result is two images of the exact same moment, taken with completely different viewpoints. I think what’s amazing about these images isn’t the photos themselves, although they are pretty nice. I think it’s so fascinating to see how different two people can see the same scene!!

 This is what I meant when I said these images would have meaning. Here you can see Romy holding one of the cameras, and taking a shot of Joyce. Rob is again controlling when both images are made.

  And as always, we have a lot of fun, even when doing something all artsy and whatnot!

I really hope you guys enjoyed these! We have always made it a point to keep pushing ourselves, and doing something totally new. And we loved getting that opportunity with this shoot. Thanks Romy and Joyce for really making this all happen, and braving the cold weather for all those hours!

Lauren :)

Wow, that’s a long title! But so much to share this morning. So much that we’re going to share some teasers from Saturdays wedding tomorrow! That’s how much we have going on, it’s crazy!

Let’s get to it right away. This is a Moving Portrait that I’m so excited about. Talya & Richard are a very dynamic and snuggly couple who also both happen to be amazing hip hop dancers! Photos alone just can’t quite get all those little nuances of them, since they move so much together. We hope you enjoy this Moving Portrait we made of them.

Talya & Richard // Edmonton Couple Moving Portrait from Rob & Lauren on Vimeo.

And now, a couple points of news.

We just want to let everyone know that we are DEFINITELY shooting in EDMONTON for 2010. We admittedly were a bit overenthusiastic about our move to Vancouver, and didn’t quite consider housing markets and all that boring stuff. We still will be moving there, but within the next few years. So Edmonton, you’ve got a lot more Rob & Lauren coming your way! And if you’re a Vancouver bride, give us a shout since we have extremely discounted travel rates for you!!

And we’ve been getting lots of emails asking when the next Chill Session is. Well, here you go:

Chill Session 2009 2.0

When: Sunday, August 16, 2009

Where: Our home on the south side of Edmonton

What: A day of learning and shooting with Rob & Lauren. We’ll be focusing heavily on live shooting and post processing, with even more one-on-one time!

Included: Snackies, bevvies, and din din

Cost: $300 + GST

We will be limiting the session to 10 people, and I have a feeling it will book up rather quickly, so get in touch with me right away (lauren [at] robandlauren [dot] ca)  if you’re interested. I’ll send you an email with all the details of what we’ll be talking about, and how to book your spot!

Wow, so much going on in this post, but I hope you all enjoyed it! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of our Moving Portrait!

Lauren :)

Today I wanted to share another Moving Portrait with you, and chat a bit about the project, since we kind of just threw it out there without much discussion.

This is our loveable little cat, Scooter. Last time we traveled we had a photo of him on our laptop and looked at it every single day. Next time we go, this will be on our iPhone and we’ll be watching it all the time.

Scooter // Edmonton Pet Moving Portrait from Rob & Lauren on Vimeo.

So what exactly are these moving portraits, and how do we create them? If you’re a nerd-tographer like us, all we need to say is they were made with our 5DMKII, and you’ll understand. But if you’re not, then here’s a quick explanation.

Our still camera that we use to shoot our images can also produce high definition video. Essentially we have all the abilities in terms of the *look* of our images, but now with video. This isn’t something a Handicam from Best Buy can do. Trust me, we’ve been looking for this for over a year now! We’re able to create a very cinematic look to the video, and we’re absolutely loving that!

I think we’ve suprised even ourselves with how powerful these short videos are. If you saw Richard and Talya’s video, that was was especially moving for us. So many things happened during that shoot, that happen during most shoots, that stills just don’t quite capture. I’m thinking especially of their dancing, as well as when Richard gave Talya about 8 kisses in a row. Trust me, that looked weird in the stills, but unbelievably adorable in the video! The first time Rob showed me what he had put together, I actually started crying. It’s so powerful! We can’t wait to start creating these for more clients!

And we’re intending to create these for more than just newborn sessions, so if you’re interested in having us create a Moving Portrait for you, make sure to drop us a line and we’ll give you more details!

And finally, I just want to mention that as special as these Moving Portraits are, we strongly strongly believe that still photography is, and will always be, the core of our business. The video is beautiful, but still can’t do something like this:

 Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Lauren :)

Wow, this is truly somewhere I never expected us to be, but all of a sudden we find ourselves at the beginning of this project, and it seems like the perfect place.

Before I get going, I’ll warn you that this might be a long post. But I strongly urge you to read it all through, since there are contests and giveways involved :)

On Thursday we went out to Pigeon Lake to do a family session. We expected nothing out of the ordinary, but instead walked away with buckets and buckets of inspiration.

You see, this family session was scheduled to start with a few portraits of the grandparents. Typically we would end up shooting these portraits in front of everyone else, and have about 5 minutes to do them. That’s when you default to very stiff, formal posing. Not too fun. But we were left alone with these two wonderful people, and given half an hour to create some images.

I’ll be totally honest, I was so nervous! This was something I’d never done before; posing an elderly couple. But instead of trying to change my approach because of their age, I just did exactly what I do when I pose one of our wedding couples. I asked them to snuggle, to kiss, to look at each other. I asked them questions about their wedding, their marriage, and just enjoyed chatting with them. When we came home a few hours later, after spending the rest of the evening with their kids and grandkids, we took a quick peek at the images. I sat there and was just stunned. Let’s let the images do the talking for a little bit…

 These two have been married for 44 years and are truly truly in love. When we realized the importance of that, that’s really when this project started.

 I asked them what their “secret” was to such a long and happy marriage. She paused, thought about it, and gave me such a simple and poignant answer. “Stay alive”. Loving for these two is easier than breathing.

Rob asked her if her husband was still as good looking as when they got married. She replied “He’s even more handsome than on our wedding day”.

This one almost reduces me to tears every time I see it. I mean, think about it. 44 years. That’s almost twice as long as my whole lifetime, and they still cuddle and snuggle and kiss and just truly enjoy being around each other. Their connection has grown stronger since they were married, and we want so much to be able to capture that.

I want to share a couple sentences from an email I received from their daughter when I shared one of these images with her, and told her of this project:

What you captured in that picture, is what I’ve grown up with all of my life—that love…that connection that was there on their wedding day and has just grown stronger and stronger and stronger through the years.  They have always expressed their love with deep affection…growing up on the farm, it was never a surprise to see him hugging her in the kitchen or her sneaking a long kiss from him out in the barn.  We got used to it, and that was our version of “normal”…

When you photograph a couple on their wedding day, you photograph the beginning of hopes and dreams.
 
When you photographed my parents 44 years after their wedding day…you photographed the fulfillment of hopes and dreams that went beyond the scope of anything they could have imagined on that wedding day…it’s definately an inspiration to those who follow in their footsteps.

And now finally, the project. We think it’s so important for this amazing and lasting love to be documented. It’s a cheesy parallel, but it’s like fine wine. Love gets better with time. Thus the name: Aged Love. Love that has time to settle and grow and sort itself out. We want to shoot these couples, talk with them, understand their life together, and create some real, natural and beautiful images that show that strong connection between them! At a time like this, when divorce rates are frighteningly high, I think couples like these two are such an incredible inspiration for all the young ones like ourselves. Who knows, we may even create a short film with all their advice!

Contest:

To kick off this project, we’re holding a wonderful contest. We want our readers to write in and tell us about their parents’ or grandparents’ love story (we’re looking for the age group of 60+, but we’re flexible). If possible, you can also include a photo of them so we can put faces to names!

Our favourite entry will win a free Aged Love session from us (valued at $500), which includes half an hour of shooting, all the edited files on a disc, and a print collection of our favorite images. At this time the winners will have to be from Edmonton (or the surrounding area) but hopefully we will expand this project to include the whole world!

So send in your entry to love [at] robandlauren [dot] ca. You have a week to send me the stories, and then we’ll announce the winner! It doesn’t need to be long, just a short little outline of their lives together. I can’t wait to hear these amazing stories!

Do let us know what you think of our new personal project! We’re so excited about it, and truly think it’s such a wonderful way to spend our time, learning from these couples, and creating such beautiful images of them! The beauty has very little to do with our photographic skills, and everything to do with the honest love just eminating from them.

Ok, I’ll leave it there for now. But send me your stories!! Right now!

Tons o’ love,

Lauren :)

Can’t believe I never shared some of these! A lot of our sessions in the peak of the summer never made their way to the blog because we were just so busy! But here’s one frame from Steph & Justin’s maternity session. We were crazy lucky to have some gorgeous light that night, and also the coolest parents-to-be as our subjects!

 Lauren :)

Hi friends!

Man, it is COLD here in Edmonton! This Saturday it might get down to -37C with the windchill. To my American friends, you might wonder what on earth that means. Well, -40 is the point at which Celsius and Farenheit converge, so think of it that way. Either way, it’s not fun at all! So today I’m posting some images from the summer. *Sigh* 

If it’s warm where you are, enjoy it! And if it’s cold, I hope you’re keeping warm!

Lauren :) 

I hardly know how to write this post. This whole experience has been incredible for us, and filled us up with so much love. I suppose I’ll start at the beginning, and see how things unfold :)

Just over a month ago I received an email from Tesa, a photographer from Rocky Mountain House. She had a request of us, and one that I imagine was a bit scary to write. She knew of an incredible family who desperately needed family portraits, but could not afford them.  So she asked if we would be willing to shoot them for free.

You might wonder what I mean when I say they desperately needed portraits. Well, this beautiful family is going through a very difficult struggle right now. Kortlandt, a energetic and happy 5 year old boy, is fighting for his life. They don’t know how much time he has left. And yet they didn’t have a family portrait of all of them together. 

We immediately agreed. This profession of ours is unique in that we can give something very meaningful to others by simply being present and pressing a button. There is clearly so much more to it, but when you boil it down it takes so little from us to do so much for someone else. We were thrilled that Tesa contacted us and gave us such a wonderful opportunity to help.

So we were introduced to Patty Wiens, the mother of Kortlandt. She and I corresponded for a month, setting up details, and just chatting about the session. She took some time to write a short bio of each of her 7 children. It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone just by paying attention to how and what they write. Patty clearly was full of love for her little ones. We were so excited to meet each and every one of them, and see those distinct personalities that Patty has described.

Finally the day came when we were scheduled to shoot. Lionel, the father, and half the kids had driven all the way from their home in Saskatoon for the occasion. And of course, it just happened to be when Edmonton was experiencing some very ugly weather. It was cold and rainy, and downright unpleasant outside. But that didn’t stop a single person from smiling, having fun, showing love to their family, and just enjoying being together.

So here is the wonderful Wiens family. I hope you enjoy the images, and can see just how much love and happiness there is here, despite all the hard roads they’ve been down together.

And this is Kortlandt. 

Luckily his best friend, Terrell, was able to join us for the session as well. These two met at Ronald MacDonald House, where Patty and the kids have been staying for a long time as Kortlandt has treatment at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. We were so glad to be able to capture these two strong boys together.

All those kids, just being kids. The way I like it.

And a last image of Kortlandt and his brothers.

We want to thank a few people here, if you’ll indulge us.

Firstly, the Wiens family for letting us into their world and showing us their strength and love. You inspire us so much. 

Secondly, Tesa, for contacting us in the first place, and being such an amazing friend to the Wiens.

And a huge thank you goes to Ronald MacDonald House. Their tagline says it best: Giving sick children what they need most…their families. If you feel inclined, here is a link to donate to this amazing organization. 

On that note, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and make sure to spend some time with the people you love.

Lauren :)

Well, it’s that time of year! As much as you might want to plug your ears, close your eyes real tight, and sing “Tralalala”, you can’t escape the fact that we’re over half way through the summer. Gasp!

That means for us we’re looking towards the fall and getting booked up for the last few outdoor sessions of the year! 

And just so it’s not such a hard pill to swallow, we’re having a sweet promo! Yay! Ready?

Book a portrait session with Rob & Lauren this fall (September & a wee bit of October) and you’ll receive one complimentary set of Notecards!

Note: We only have a handful of slots left, so contact us right away if you’re interested in some super fun custom artwork and we’ll hit you up with more details!

“What are Notecards?” you are asking (I know because I can hear you…). Let me show and tell you!

First up, what’s your favourite thing to see in the mailbox when you check it? It’s certainly not bills (yuck). It’s a piece of personal, handwritten mail! We want to encourage a return to handwritten notes to let your friends and family know you’re thinking of them! What would be a more wonderful and thoughtful little gesture? 

Well, if you had a gorgeous Notecard with stunning images of yourself on it, that would be extra cool! We’ve been creating custom Notecards for our clients for a while now, and wanted to share how nifty they are! Check out these two recent designs:

Birth Announcements A beautiful way to announce the arrival of a new addition!

Family Notecards These bad boys are perfect for any occasion! We can also add a holiday flair and you’re all set for the best holiday cards ever!

So, we think those are pretty snazzy, and all sessions for the fall will be getting a complimentary set to show off their beautiful new photos! Cool, right? Not cool enough, we want to have a bigger promo than just that….

Moving Portraits

You’ve likely seen all of Rob’s stunning Moving Portraits he’s been posting lately. We really feel that they capture something a bit more than stills alone, and have been loving creating these unique pieces for our clients. To sweeten the deal….

All Moving Portraits are 50% off for new fall sessions!!!!

I know, we spoil you guys. That’s ok, we just love shooting, and want to make sure we can connect with as many wonderful people before the snow hits!

Here are a couple recent Moving Portraits to jog your memory:

If that all sounds pretty neat to you, and you’d like to get more details, or set up a portrait session, just drop us a line and we’ll chat!

Hope you’re all having a wonderful day, fingers crossed that the sun decides to return in force to Edmonton! 

Lauren :)

Anne-Marie was the winner of a gift certificate that we donated to the fantastic #yeghelp fundraiser. We were very excited to meet her, and her fiance Travis, and take some fun portraits of them! It was a bonus to have Maggie, their adorable Sheltie, come along.

We admittedly get a bit too excited when pets are part of the shoot, and they usually have their own little separate portrait session with Rob! But, like our cat Scooter, Maggie is absolutely a part of this gorgeous family, and it was really wonderful to get some shots of her. We’re pretty pumped that the image of her and Anne-Marie snuggling will be going up on their wall! There’s a certain photo of us with Scooter that I should really print out to go on our wall…..

I’m getting distracted thinking about animals! As you can see, the people in this shoot were drop dead gorgeous, and fun and fascinating to boot! They are both musicians, and I’m sure you can guess what instrument Travis plays :) Anne-Marie is a classically trained singer (WOW!), which, while insanely impressive, isn’t quite as photographable as this gorgeous upright bass.

Travis is a “freelance bass player” and travels around the world touring with different artists. You should ask him some time about the food he ate in China, he completely wins the “weird stuff I’ve eaten” game! Apparently bumblebees and lotus petals are quite delicious! 

Annie-Marie has such incredible eyes, and such a fun personality that she was an absolute joy to photograph! And together they are full of laughs and happiness. 

You also might notice that we took quite a few photos of Travis and his bass, as well as the bass alone. We don’t really ever get to shoot musicians, so when we meet one with an instrument that could be considered a work of art itself, well, we just can’t help ourselves :)

Have a wonderful wedding, you guys. Knowing you two, it’s going to be a blast!

Lauren :)