Galberg family portrait | Imajing | Oakville family portraits

I’ve already ruminated in a previous post about the privileged point of view us photographers have into the lives of others. My story with Katia goes way back to before I considered or realized that photography could be more than just a weekend hobby. We’re talking about first year at the University of Toronto Innis College Residence. Five girls, total strangers, assigned to the same suite simply because (as we later discovered at our first frosh pub night) we had each answered in our questionnaire that we listened to ‘anything but country’. Fifteen years later the roomies (this also includes Heather, another story) still gets together every Christmas and the six of us have added spouses and children and grown to nineteen.

Along with Colin, another photographer they are friends with, I’ve had the pleasure of adding to Katia and Mark’s family visual history. Last time I shot them Perun had just turned one, you can see some of the photos on my old blog. Katia called me to capture some images of the entire Galberg family as they gathered to celebrate their parents 40th wedding anniversary! With an infant, a toddler and a preschooler amongst the group I had to keep the session moving at a whirlwind pace and was almost a bit disappointed when I managed to get all the combinations of people done in 45 minutes! But even then, I was pushing the limits of the kids. As you can see little Odin decided that it was a good time for a nap.





Ima-not-Jing | Toronto Wedding Photographer

“Ima-not-Jing”, or how I let go and shot for someone else.

I had the pleasure of pinch-hitting for Dave Abreu Photography on the weekend and shooting the wedding of the lovely Helen and Daniel. For whatever reason the original photographer couldn’t shoot so I accepted the gig on the Wednesday leading up to the wedding.

And then I began to question my decision immediately. Of the many thoughts running through my head I was first and foremost not sure how I could spend all day not being “Imajing”, and just being “Jing shooting for Dave”. In fact I wasn’t even sure if I would want to blog about this. Was I taking on too much with an upcoming family roadtrip that I hadn’t packed for yet? Are Helen and Daniel nice? Cute? Personable? These are things I would normally know about the couple after meeting and shooting them months before the wedding — luckily Helen and Daniel were all of the above. All I had was a simple itinerary with addresses and phone numbers and the knowledge that the couple would be easy to work with. This must be how substitute teachers feel.

Well as it turns out, weddings are weddings, people are people and I am Jing so everything came out sunny-side up! I’m just sharing a few photos from the day. The rest will be posted on Dave’s website.

As a fun sidenote, I did see a familiar face at the reception venue. Fantasy Farm (50 Pottery Road) is now owned by Jimmy and Sakie, who back in my varsity rugby days ran O’Grady’s pub on College. Good to see you Sakie!

Now back to Imajing.

In the boudoir with Heather | Imajing | Toronto boudoir photographer

Remember that episode of Sex and the City when Samantha decided to hire a photographer for her own nude photo session? She was doing it simply so that she could look back as an old lady and admire how hot she was.**

Heather, who as a wedding guest once bought some prints from me, contacted me again recently to ask about doing a boudoir session. Her motivation wasn’t to give to a significant other (although it would make a great gift for the person who has everything), it was simply a gift for herself. How cool is that?!

And while my entire job revolves around making people, specifically women look good in photos, I was inspired by the added challenge of working in such an intimate setting and teetering the line of good taste. In our pre-shoot consultation I visited Heather’s apartment (which was later transformed into our studio) and talked about hair, makeup and wardrobe. She had already splurged on a great looking corset in a bold purple satin so I knew I wanted to keep the setting light and playful.

The next task was bringing out Heather’s inner kitty-cat persona. We had the music going and with some gentle encouragement she was soon hitting poses I could snap away at. Here’s one that jumped out at me from the back of the camera right away and it still remains my favourite after reviewing and editing all the photos. I’m only releasing one image from Heather’s session. If you want to see more you’ll have to ask Heather!

**Trivia: the actor who played the gape-jawed photographer’s assistant later appeared on a TV show playing George Michael’s uncle. Name the actor, his character name or the show!