What’s the staple in every guy photographer’s wardrobe?  Yes, black pants.  Boring.  Black.  Pants.

I was excited to find at H&M this weekend a neat alternative to the *blah* black pant.  Actually, these are jeans, but of a material that has a ton of structure to hold all those wrinkles, and bit of sheen in the thread to bring out even more texture.  You can now happily exclaim “Good-bye ironing!!!” along with a happy dance because you only spent $49 CAD.

Wear it with a plain black tee, or button down shirt, and the jeans will hold it together.

If you’re going casual, say for an engagement shoot, rock it out with some color.

A green windbreaker.  $32 at Forever 21.

Or if you’re in a kinda blue mood.  $32 at Forever 21.

Or perhaps go with a light tee ($12 at H&M), but dress it with a skinny scarf ($4 at Aldo).

My biggest relief was that I bought all these items for Dave without him there, and everything fit perfectly!!  Yay for shopping days with no returns!  )

Would you believe that cute, chic and versatile bag is actually loaded with a laptop, camera body, extra lens, flash, wallet, iphone AND makeup kit?  Everything you need as you walk out the door for a day’s shoot.  Best of all you can follow up your shoot with drinks or dinner at a restaurant without stares and glances at your “professional” camera bag.  )

I stumbled upon *emera bags while surfing the web and fell in love with their newest addition to their line of stylish City Totes: The Quilted Camera Bag.  It speaks to me of classic, yet chic and versatile.  It’s especially useful for any photographer-ess, pro or amateur, who wants to keep up her style points and doesn’t wish to look like a tourist.  Who does?

And oh, those blue suede shoes?  Yes, I picked those Jeffrey Campbell Costales up at Little Burgundy: regular price $110, on sale for $50.

Loving the quilted material.

A peek inside.

And of course, the perfect spot for my iPhone.

Stay tuned… I’m working on a fashion blog post, just for the boys!

I always look forward to receiving a new publication of Rangefinder Magazine each month.  It’s pure eye candy to see all the beautiful imagery and read about other photographer’s journeys and experiences.  So it was with great surprise that as we flipped through this month’s issue, we came across our own images… and a full 5 page writeup on DQ Studios!

Thank you to our wonderful, beautiful and inspiring clients who have worked with us to fill these pages.  We are so ever grateful for the opportunity to create and be inspired by your love.

When Kacy first came to meet with us, I was blown away, not only by how truly beautiful she is, but also at how smart and sharp as a whip this girl is.  While she pursues a career as a physician, Nigel finds his love in teaching high school kids.  It is through people like this that we are able to see true passion come alive and our world change to be better.

Kacy & Nigel, we absolutely loved our time with you, and we look forward to getting to know you more over the years to come.

And now, I’m SO excited to show off Kacy & Nigel’s Us Session and our final wedding shoot of 2009!

Chic:

We had the awesome opportunity to do an Us Session for Kacy & Nigel on New Year’s Eve.   It was the actual day of their wedding, and they hired us to create some extra special images of just the two of them on that special day.

A few months prior, we had eaten at this very chic tapas lounge downtown Calgary, called JAROblue.  We loved the overall experience of the Spanish inspired bites, the swank design and decor, and especially the gorgeous wall photographs of Sable Island wild horses that adorn the walls. We loved it so much we wanted an opportunity to shoot a fabulously fun and gorgeous couple there.  Kacy & Nigel were PERFECT.  They are not only drop dead gorgeous, but have a knack for pulling off goofy faces, hilarious stunts and rocking out every moment with laughter and jokes.  I couldn’t think of a better couple to spend the end of the New Year with shooting.

Keep you eyes peeled for more from Kacy & Nigel’s Us Sesh… coming soon!!

It’s Friday, so let’s talk fashion… for the photographer.

I get asked all the time about what outfits I wear when I shoot.  Please understand, I will not claim to be a diva when it comes to fashion, but I do love shopping and finding great pieces and outfits (at great prices!).  In particular I love finding pieces that look great and function well when shooting a wedding.

The number one item I get asked about are what shoes I wear when I shoot?  Well, the above are my latest find in “shooting boots”.  They are mid calf boots with an open toe AND open heel.  It’s great because they are breathable on hot summer days and easy to slip on and off when entering brides’ homes to shoot the prep time.  I like the chunky heel, verses a thin heel which tends to get caught in elevator and sidewalk grates.  People often ask how I shoot in heels… well I find that flats end up making my lower back sore by the end of the day.  And besides, being barely 5′4″ I need all the height I can get! LOL!

This weekend I had to choose only ONE store to do my shopping (I was on a timeline with the kids), so I went to Forever XXI to see what I could find.  I picked up the following pieces that I know will come in handy this shooting season.  The prices on these babies were also very reasonable.   Rice points for me! )

First find, a Crinklette Military Jacket CAD$47.

Next up, a cute mint spaghetti tank CAD$21, paired with black belt CAD$8

I should mention that I ALWAYS wear a belt when shooting.  This allows me to wear my QuiKlips which holds my flash on my belt.   Our mantra is: WEAR your flash!  It’s not going to be any good to you in a bag or off to the side on a stand.  Keep it on your belt and always accessible.

Third up, cute dressy shorts for only CAD$17!

I love wearing shorts when I shoot because it keeps me cool and mobile.  Besides, I don’t need to worry about scuffing my knees the way I would if I was wearing black pants.

And finally, my genuine Italian leather boots were bought at Arnold Churgin for around CAD$200 (on sale from regular price CAD$500).  Besides loving to get a great deal, I believe in spending more on shoes of good quality, especially if you’re shooting long wedding days in them and they make your feet happy!

Happy shooting and happy shopping!

This is  our boy, Tobi.  He’s 7 years old, and his passion is hockey.  He’s been memorizing hockey stats since he was 4.  He can tell you an unbelievable amount of information about individual players, teams and records.  Every day, his motivation to hop out of bed, get changed, and brush his teeth is so he can check the hockey scores and stats on NHL.com before he leaves for school.  He never could get the hang of skating until, finally, a hockey stick was placed in his hands.  It’s no surprise to hear he wants to be a hockey player when he grows up.  If given a choice of any show to watch on TV, he will choose Sports Centre for the hockey game recaps.  This is what I call passion.

This past weekend we had the extraordinary opportunity to share about living out our passions at a retreat in Camp Nakamun, hosted by the church we used to attend, South Edmonton Alliance Church.

We spoke to and challenged others to live out their passions.  It’s often easy to see what a 7 year old’s passion is.  Sometimes as we get older, we live more to put food on the table rather than for the passions and ideals that fueled us when we were younger.  It becomes harder to put a finger on what exactly our passions are…

The retreat got me thinking about how blessed Dave & I are to be photographers, able to pursue an art that not only fills that creative cavern inside of us, but also speaks directly to the hearts and lives of those we capture.

It also got me thinking that it is SO important to carve out space in our lives to feed our passions.  It doesn’t have to be called our vocation, but it needs to have some room in our life to grow.  I hope we never lose the passion for what we do, and I hope Tobi never loses his passion for hockey.

Thanks for sharing in my thoughts.  I’d love to hear about how you live out your passions in your life.  Leave a comment below and share what inspires you!

Thanks to all who came out to see us this past Sunday at Calgary’s Bridal Fair!  We had a blast seeing everyone’s reaction to our images and meeting so many new faces.  2010 is going to be an amazing year: we’re pushing our art to new levels and our clients are all SO AMAZING, we can’t wait to see what we’ll be creating together.

I’m also happy to announce we created a DQ Studios Fan Page!  If you’d like to follow us on facebook, click to join the DQ Studios Fan-mily. 

We’ve only got a few openings for weddings left for 2010 so please contact us to set up your personal consultation!  Don’t forget to ask about our 2010 Bridal Fair Promotion.  Happy wedding planning and we can’t wait to meet you in 2010!

D+Q

]]> http://blog.dqstudios.com/calgary-bridal-fair-2010/2010/feed/ 0 http://blog.dqstudios.com/victoria-jason-geek-chic-sneak-peek/2010/ http://blog.dqstudios.com/victoria-jason-geek-chic-sneak-peek/2010/#comments Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:48:12 +0000 Quin http://blog.dqstudios.com/?p=875 Geek:

Chic:

Victoria & Jason are a fun lovin’, super hip, sweet as chocolate pair.  As you can see in the above pic, Jason has a love for trendy kicks that *almost* matches his love for Victoria.  And Victoria, though she may look teeny-tiny, she plays (of all things) football and even came to our first meeting with her fingers all taped and busted up.  I have a feeling we’re going to find out many more gems about this pair at their upcoming wedding this summer, and we can’t wait!

And now…we’re excited and proud to share with you a glimpse of our 2009.

Turn up your speakers, play and enjoy!

Click here for an iPhone friendly super-duper sized version.