2015 was a great year over here at Pebble & Pine Photography! We had a year full of great clients who were willing to go whichever crazy places we asked them to, and with a smile on their face. The weather cooperated for the most part, and when it didn’t it still made for some awesome dramatic rainy day photos. Between Sayde and I, we shot over 53,000 images this year. You can imagine then, how difficult it is to choose only 15 images each to sum up the year! The images I’ve selected are just a handful of my personal favourites. I’d like to extend a massive thank you to all the clients who put their trust in us this year, whether they are pictured below or not; I wish I could have included everyone!

So without further adieu, and in no particular order, here are 15 images that I love from 2015!

^ The clouds and rain chased us throughout this engagement shoot for the better part of two hours! Charlene and Josh were troopers though, and it’s a good thing because their patience and determination culminated in this image near the end of the shoot.

^ Rob and Darlene’s wedding day was one of a kind! With an unexpected medical issue keeping the groom in hospital until near dinner time, we lost pretty much all of the allotted portrait time that we had set aside! With them living in Grand Prairie, and us in Vancouver, and the wedding being in Kitimat, it was nothing short of a miracle that we were able to fit in a quick portrait session before we all departed to our respective homes.

^ I’m a total sucker for silhouettes, and this is one of my favourites that I’ve ever shot. I love the tones of the sky, the little hint of the sun popping between them, the reeds, the love in Jimmy & Esther’s pose. Just perfect!

^ We started 2015 with a personal mandate to shoot closer, capture more smiles, more love. One of the most intimate parts of the day is always the “first look”. We shot more first looks this year than ever before, and there was always great emotion to be captured! Kyle and Heather’s first look had such big smiles and excitement, I love this adorable moment between the two of them.

^ This image from Travis & Kaylee’s wedding has just about everything that we love at Pebble & Pine! Mountains, trees, ocean, a rustic red dock, thick cloud cover, and a couple that’s crazy about each other. So glad that we found a little time on their wedding day to sneak off to this remote spot. Location scouting pays off!

^ Kim & Kyl’s engagement shoot was another example of not letting the rain scare you off! We love to embrace a little sprinkle from above, as it can turn into awesome pictures like this. With the city in the background for a touch of soft blurry highlights, the rain really sets off the image.

^ As photographers, we are always chasing light! Searching out the best spots, yearning for that beautiful backlit sunset goodness. Darren and Lindsay’s picnic engagement shoot had a beautiful golden sunset that lit them up in pretty amazing ways.

^ This image comes from Lindsay’s bridal prep portion of the day. Her makeup had just been completed and she was checking it in the mirror. I was out on the patio of the suite, shooting through the window, experimenting with reflections of the world behind me. I was pretty excited with how this came out, with the wash of blurred colours. Definitely a favourite of the year. It’s images like this that help me feel like I am still pushing my creativity to new places.

^ The cool thing about this image from Lindsay & Darren’s wedding, is the ambiguity of the blurred background. Most people that I’ve asked have been unsure about what exactly they are looking at, which I love! The reality of the image is that we were inside a barn, and the speckled background is light spilling through cracks between the angled slats of the wall. With Lindsay & Darren being some-odd 50 to 60 feet or so from the wall, the blurred effect blends together the wall itself and the light spilling through into this gorgeous image.

^ Another from Lindsay & Darren’s big day…what made their day unique was that it took place during record-breaking windstorms which knocked out power to hundreds of thousands across the Vancouver mainland and Victoria area. Many couples were unfortunate enough to have their weddings cancelled due to the wind, and while L & D’s venue did lose power, we were still able to capture some awesome images! The wind created drama with Lindsay’s flow-y Truvelle gown, and I actually created an awesome gif from multiple frames shot in sequence.

^ Anton and Natasha got married in Mexico, but contacted me with the hopes of having a portrait session done here in Vancouver with some of the well-known Vancouver landmarks. Sometimes shoots like these can be particularly challenging, as the popular spots with visible landmarks are not always in the best light, or the most accessible, and it’s tricky to find new and original ways to shoot them creatively. For this image at Stanley Park’s Siwash Rock, I love the sliver of light across Natasha’s face from the last moments of sunset, with the large rock framing them.

^ Most of the weddings we shoot tend to be in outdoor natural spaces (which we love), so when we get the opportunity to shoot a wedding in the downtown core of Vancouver, it’s a bit of a change of pace for us! For Pegah and Kyle’s wedding, we pulled out the lighting equipment for some post-dinner sunset portraits. I love the tones of the city behind them in this one, the leading lines, and their intimate moment.

^ One of my challenges for myself this year was finding more unique and interesting angles on the “first dance” part of the night. For this image at Pegah and Kyle’s wedding, I was shooting from behind the guests who were watching them enjoy the dance, and I love the way they ended up being framed in the gap, along with being able to see three of her bridesmaids’ faces as they look on while Pegah and Kyle dance.

^ I mentioned it above, but I’ll say it again…I’m a sucker for silhouettes! During Aaron and Ramiza’s engagement shoot at Iona Beach, we were gifted with just a ridiculous sunset with awesome dark clouds and bright colours. I asked them to walk up onto the grassy ridge and watch the sunset, and this was the resulting photo.

^ Tanya & John were one of our most fun-loving couples this year, so it was only suiting that we did their engagement photos at an amusement park! The story behind this image is that the amusement park we chose was a very small mobile park in the parking lot of a mall, and PACKED with people! It was challenging to find angles that didn’t show the mall or parking lot but still had a lot of colour and fun. This was my favourite from their shoot, and one of my faves of the year overall.

So there we have it….15 of my favourite images shot in 2015! Thank you again to all of our awesome clients, and here’s to hoping 2016 is just as fantastic. Stay tuned, tomorrow is Sayde’s favourite 15 images of 2015!

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