2019 has come and gone and all that’s left are the memories and photographs to bring me back to the moment. Boy, what a year it was. I can start with the obvious highlight, travelling to Los Angeles for an epic wedding and getting to take a sun filled vacation in the middle of our busy wedding season. It was an incredible and unforgettable experience that has left us lusting to get back to the California coast ever since. Having the opportunity to photograph in the stunning venue that is the Grass Room in DTLA and also heading out to Malibu to explore and create work at the Frank Lloyd Wright Ranch were dreamlike experiences. My memories feel like a nostalgic music video where everything was beyond expectation and imagination. We were also able to spend a lot of personal time in LA, documenting our travels in both film and Super 8 (which is most likely what has influenced my memories to feel like a music video). As artists, we were able to fulfill some visions and explore scenes we had never even conceptualized.
On top of going to one of the most gorgeous wedding venues in Los Angeles, I also had the opportunity to return to some of my long time favourite venues here in Toronto; The Gladstone Hotel, Madsen’s Greenhouse, The Drake Commissary, and The Broadview Hotel, to name a few. Each one of them have their own unique aesthetic, and I always get excited when I get the chance to revisit them to capture a wedding day. I think the coolest thing about shooting in a venue more than once is to see how my couples really infuse their own personalities into the space and into the events of the day, things never feels repetitive or overdone. The uniqueness of each wedding is something to take notice of and something I definitely focus on documenting as a wedding photographer.
I also got to shoot at some venue and locations for the first time. Ricarda’s for a gorgeous restaurant wedding with modern vibes, Hotel Ocho which is super cool and trendy, and Archeo which is a quaint little restaurant in the heart of the distillery.
After Los Angeles we headed out west to photograph a gorgeous wedding in the mountains of Canmore (which you can check out in Brian’s best of the best over on his blog). Being able to work in Alberta is extremely special for me as it gives me the opportunity to visit and spend time with my family. I’m extremely grateful to have a career that allows me to travel, especially when that travel takes me bak to my home province. On top of that of course, Canmore is absolutely breathtaking and I will never ever get tired of photographing weddings in the mountains. Even though it was 12 degrees in July, I still love the province I’m from and am planning many trips back home in 2020.
As epic as those locations were, it was 100% the amazing people that we got to share these experiences with that made them so perfect. 2019 represents the most couples Brian and I have ever worked with and it was a whirlwind year. I feel like I’ve honed in on my craft and that I’m able to explore the world of wedding photography through my own eyes and tell stories in ways I’ve always envisioned. I’ve been refining my editorial approach to weddings and have been able to find a balance between the editorial and documentary elements that make up an entire wedding day. The way I see it, a wedding needs a photographer equally skilled at capturing the narrative elements of a wedding day and the ability to capture beautiful atmosphere that we see in our mind’s eye.
Another 2019 win that I don’t feel like I should go without mentioning, is that I hosted my first workshop on Albums. With Album x Print I want to be able to share my knowledge to help other photographers make albums a real, viable part of their business. The workshop covers everything from how to sell albums to how to design them, and everything in between. Since the first workshop that took place February 2019 I’ve had the opportunity to refine the curriculum and am hosting the next workshop on March 29, 2020 in my home studio in Toronto. For more information you can check out the Album x Print Workshop under Education and I look forward to making albums and education a core part of my wedding photographing business going forward into the new decade.
2020 is already off to a great start and I have so much to look forward to for this exciting new year. Here’s hoping that 2020 is as good to me as 2019 was but in the meantime, here’s a brief look back on this past year for Ryanne Hollies Photography.
