What a whirlwind 2022 has been! Every year I put together some of my favourite images and write about what my business has been up to in the last 12 months. Of course, this couldn’t have happened without all the wonderful couples who chose me to spend arguably the most important and special day with them. So thank you from the bottom of my heart! It’s always a huge honour and it means the world to me!

This is my 6th round-up of my favourite images of the year, and the same thing happens every time! It is fun and easy to put together the images, but when it comes to writing, I’m stumped and at a loss for words! How do I accurately convey all that’s happened? Usually, I solve this problem through the hard work of my wonderful copywriter Kait from Morph Copy who helps me put my thoughts into words with all the other blog posts. However, I always write this post myself because personally it’s very special and forces me to reflect on the year as a whole.

A central thought came to mind as I sorted through the thousands of edited images. Photos are so personal and subjective, so it’s impossible to say that these photos are unequivocally the best or most meaningful to my clients. This collection won’t show you the family photos, the speeches at dinner, the locket with a picture of a passed loved one in the bouquet, or the sentimental decor that my couples took so much thought and time putting together. What I’m getting at is that all those photos are valuable in their own way and as the popular saying goes “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Over the years, this has been a space for me to write about my personal and business life--almost like my own Christmas card (I should really start doing a real snail-mail card). To be honest, there isn’t much to report. Which at first glance sounds bad as there were no big milestones to announce. But what it means to me is that I am feeling more settled while appreciating what I have. For example, instead of going through a big renovation as we did in 2020, Mitchel and I got to continue to enjoy those hard-earned efforts in our little home. We did manage to visit Costa Rica together, the first international non-work trip since our honeymoon in the beginning of 2019. It was one of the best trips we have ever taken! We also gained a new nephew, finished the big task of levelling our backyard, and saw more family and friends than in previous years due to things opening up!

I love to include some fun facts and statistics about each year, so here they are!

My equipment finally got an upgrade in December! It hasn’t fully been put to the test yet, but so far I’m happy with my new gear. Now I will be shooting with two Canon R5s and work with only two lenses: a 28-70mm f2.0 and a 70-200mm f2.8! The goal is to hopefully never have to switch lenses. You might remember the horrendous incident from 2021 when I forgot my lens on the top of a mountain in the middle of a helicopter wedding (don’t worry, I did get it back).
I shot 100% of the weddings this year solo! People often ask me “do you have the option of a second shooter?" The answer is always “yes", but with elopements, the more vendors there are, the more it can feel like a “production”. Not having a second shooter means I spend more time running around so I can get all those different angles. I was also able to do all the editing myself and not have to outsource which suited me a bit better (apparently, I am a bit particular--who would have thought?!).
This was the last year of covid reschedules! It’s so nice to have that logistical mess behind me! In 2020 and 2021, I was always scared to open my email as it seemed every week some bad news about a cancellation or reschedule would pop up.
- In terms of some fun numbers, I had the privilege of being a part of 34 weddings/elopements and 31 portrait sessions (a much better number than last year’s 42 weddings!). I also took 14 helicopter flights, captured over 150,000 photos and delivered 23,000+ edited images (although not all galleries have been edited from 2022 yet). In previous years I’ve had a hefty list of all the places I travelled for work. However, in 2022, I spent most of my time in the Sea to Sky area as well as Banff with 4 separate trips to the Alberta Rocky Mountains and a whopping 27 trips driving the Sea to Sky highway to either Squamish, Whistler, or Pemberton. I was also able to go to Palm Springs, Tofino, Revelstoke, & Nelson this year which was such a treat.
I realize listing these places and seeing the pictures in the great outdoors, it may appear that my days are all filled with lots of grand adventures. In reality, this is not the case. Most days I am at home on my computer, sitting in my PJs or something stretchy and comfy. Since there is usually some sort of show or program playing in the background, I thought I would list my favourites from this year: The Mentalist, Bridgerton (obviously), The Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Survivor, Only Murders in the Building, Downton Abbey, Wednesday, Brooklyn 99, Never Have I Ever, The Crown, and Sex Education. If you need a binge-able show, add any of these to your list!
At this point, I’m just blabbering, so let’s get to the images! I’m hugely honoured that several of these images were part of photography awards including Junebug Weddings’ Best of the Best 2022 and West Coast Weddings Awards! Can you spot them?