This is home...

Hey everyone! The new, scrubbed up Pelaez Photography website is now LIVE! We would like to send HUGE, HUGE thanks to all our lovely couples who entrusted us with their momentous occasion. The images we captured from your weddings are what makes our new website and we couldn't be happier!

There are more changes to come! But in the meantime, we hope you enjoy the new http://www.pelaezphotography.com!

Peek-a-boo! I see you!

Tee-hee! Here's a sneak peek at what's coming "home"! Sit tight, my friends. It won't be long now...

Dwight + Louisa Engaged

I can't believe it's been 5 months since Dwight and Louisa booked us for their wedding in November. Back then, the days were dreary and cold and the main event will be in late fall when days will be short and the skies gray. So for this e-shoot, we made sure that we scheduled it in the summer.

Before Granville Island woke up with its usual weekend flurry of activities, we walked Dwight and Louisa through the area starting from the Emily Carr Institute of Arts and Design.
I love Louisa's expression on this shot... hot!

A shot on a grand staircase outside Emily Carr.
Can you hear me now? Good!
Louisa's mom was really on the phone on this shot.
I was wearing really comfortable shoes and my feet needed rest at the end of our session while Louisa was wearing 4-inch heels (at least!) and she looked like she could walk on them forever.
Of course, we had to take a photo with the art deco bridge Burrard bridge.
Playing with post processing to produce an artistic print.
Trying to be kids again?
Dwight continued getting cozy but this time with another lady in black.
Thanks for spending a great morning with us and thanks for the coffee! We can't wait to shoot your winter wedding. We hope it won't be too cold to shoot outside!

- gracci

Excellent Indeed!

We finally had a chance to learn from the masters and pioneers of modern wedding portrait photography at that - Bambi Cantrell and Jerry Ghionis. Vancouver was the last stop on their wedding and portrait photography seminar on the road Bam and Jerry's Excellent Adventure and let me tell you, man, I was like putty in their hands. Now this was just a full day seminar but I still learned a lot from the photography side that throughout the seminar, I kept thinking "oh, I wish I've been to the seminar before we did so-and-so's wedding, etc". Not only that, I also found nuggets of gold on the business side of photography that I left the seminar really inspired and couldn't wait to share with Rico (he was supposed to go to work but our precious one got sick over the weekend and he pulled a muscle on his back, poor guy!). It was excellent indeedy! Bambi and Jerry were great as teachers. Jerry was so hilarious and his Borat impression is right on the money... very nice!

Now, get this, as if I wasn't star struck enough (I walked around the room with a sort of glazed look on my face) when Jennifer and Stephen Bebb of the Bebb Studios came walking through the door. These guys are Canada's representative on The Top 10 Best Wedding Photographers on the Planet (American Photo). I was a bundle of nerves when I walked up and introduced myself to Jen and she was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice!!! Oh and have I mentioned that Jen and Steve are a smokin' hot couple? No wonder Jerry kept calling on them to demonstrate tips and tricks for bride and groom poses.

Ok, so my jaw was already dragging all over the floor, right? And I really felt like I was the only one star struck by seeing these celebrities (in our wedding photographer's eyes) but the list didn't end there, other people in the audience were Jesh de Rox, Dave and Quin Cheung of DQ Studios and another up and coming wedding photographers from Vancouver, Ral and Danelle Nicanor of RaD Studios.

All in all the day was so worth it. Rubbing shoulders with these big hitters, I hope some sliver of talent would rub off on me. Sigh...

Revamped!

Since we officially launched this business last February, we have built everything from the ground up. Slowly but surely, we're hitting the goals we've set out to accomplish working with the resources we have at hand. As some of you may have noticed, about a month ago we changed the look of our blog to showcase our images better. While we don't believe this is the ultimate look we want to go with, we're living with it for now. In the meantime, we have refocused our efforts on a vital part of our business that we have unintentionally neglected - our home www.pelaezphotography.com. Yes, that's right, our home will be undergoing a major overhaul. We will give you bits and pieces of what's to come so sit tight. Until then, here's a little sumthin-sumthin...

Fab Fam: Jose, Isip and Gabaldon Portraits

As in our previous post on Annie, we went out to capture the beauty, the laughter and the love evident in the Jose, Isip and Gabaldon families. Right off the bat, everybody was just so ready to strike a pose. Under the warm glow of the late afternoon sun, we herded 9 people through Garry Point Park. Here are some of our favorites.

Mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, husband and wife... The lovely Evelyn and groovy Cris Jose.
Tyra Banks and Jay Manuel, look out! We were first to photograph America's and Canada's Next Top Models in Ashley and Katrina.
The little darling, Jacquie...
After the photoshoot, she offered me this flower she picked from the field. Sooo sweet!
Cousins Jacquie, Ashley and Katrina
Annie, Josen, Katrina and Jacquie Gabaldon
The Gabaldons with Annie's mom and dad... we love how each one had a genuine expression in this shot.
Eric, Marique and their pretty daughter Ashley who is an incoming Senior. Ashley, we're serious about our offer to shoot you next year when you graduate from highschool. Come back and see us... or maybe we can fly to Cali? Hmmm....
Everybody in the shot...
It's really hard to shoot a big group so thanks to everyone for being patient and putting on your best pose for this portrait session!

If anyone is interested in booking a family portrait session with us, please contact us for details.

Proud Fan

We weren't really planning on seeing the Pride Parade this year but our students, Jenny and Young, wanted to have taste of the local culture before they head home to Fuyang, China in a week's time. However, this post has nothing to do with the actual parade (my shots of the participants are rather naughtier than nice). It's just a photo of different kind of spectator on that hot summer day - the k-9 type.

This dog obviously has two sides to his personality - good vs. evil.

And in case anybody's wondering, no, we don't have plans of getting into pet photography anytime soon. Sorry!

Gene + Tina Wedding

Garden City Park
July 28, 2007

Tina was one bride who had no problem with time prior to the ceremony. She was so relaxed that morning and in fact, she had to find ways to stall to arrive a little late to the ceremony as it's said to be bad luck to be early or on time. Well, she got to the park in time and by the time Etta James finally cooperated and started belting out the first few words of At Last, Tina started walking towards the funky apple tree with an eagerly waiting Gene, a few minutes after 1pm... as planned.

As usual, we started at the bride's place for her preps and some detail shots...

Tina's dress with a pop of navy blue color.
The rings
Big boys need to pretty it up, too.
No pain, no beauty...
Ashley, Tina's daughter as a junior bridesmaid.
Our lovely bride...
During the ceremony, a special guest made a surprise appearance... a spider!!! We can't say Tina was too thrilled. This was Tina after shaking off the spider from her dress...
Gene could not hold back his tears.
The exchange of ringsWhile this was the hottest day we've gone out to shoot so far this year, Gene and Tina were a couple of troopers to pose under the high noon sun at Minoru Park
The couple's first dance

Gene and Tina, thank you for allowing us to capture the love evident throughout the day. We hope you had fun in the sun in Mexico.