Elsa + Edith

Here's a little film i made... along with the help and talents of my beau JAMES LISTON and some marvelous others including the richly imaginitive WENDY WILLIAMS-WATT and RENEE RECHTSCHAFFNER of GRACE who provided us with production design, styling, accessories, a location to shoot in and endless creative suggestions and ideas.

Makeup & Hair by SONIA LEAL-SEREFIM at THEY Representation (THEYrep.com)
Nail Art by CHRISTINA CULVER at THEY Representation (THEYrep.com)
Lighting Assistants ANDREW MACLEOD, BRUCE BORLAND and  PETER HAGGE
Production Assistant SARA RAD
Song: Life On Mars? Written by DAVID BOWIE
Model: Alex of NEXT MODELS (NextModels.ca)

This film is meant to feature a beautiful line of scarves by Elsa+Edith, created by Wendy Williams-Watt. 

This is my first attempt at directing motion. I hope you enjoy it.

Elsa and Edith from Leanne Pedersen on Vimeo.

Natural Gas... a commercial

A pretty little commercial:

And the making of:

Zoe & Tai's Easter Weekend Wedding

Just a few portraits from one of the weddings we photographed last weekend....

As you can see, Zoe+Tai are a perfect pair... completely in love and totally adorable together. We still have thousands of images to get through, but i couldn't wait to post just a few of my favorites so far!

Tai sees Zoe in her dress for the first time:

Little Dragon

This band is playing tonight at the Biltmore Cabaret. If you're lucky, you can still get tickets at the door. Look for me there... i'll be in the front row.

Ella's Belly

This is my sister Ella. She is very beautiful. Soon she will have another very beautiful baby... whom i cannot wait to meet!

Jessica & Luca in Wedluxe

A box containing copies of the latest Designer Issue of Wedluxe Magazine was delivered to my studio on Friday.
I have to say, this is one really beautiful issue. And as usual, it features 8 of Canada's luxiest weddings... photographed by a few of the best in the west including Bebb Studios, Chris+Lynn Photographers, Jana Vackova, Jasalyn Thorn Photography, John Edgar, Jonetsu Studios, Josh Bowie and Tickel My Heart.
We're pretty proud to be among them with six shiny pages dedicated to the wedding of Jessica and Luca! Photographed by myself and Kyoko with the help of our assistants, Tamara and Amy.

This couple threw a stunning event at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel on May 9, 2009. This was one of my most fun weddings to shoot in 2009 and I’m happy to have had the opportunity to get to know this gracious couple and their beautiful (and enormous) families.

Here are some of my favorite images from their wedding day:

Jessica’s Wedding Gown by designer Manuel Mendoza. Jewelry by Jeweliette and earings by Elsa Corsi:

My fave:

Jessica is a creative perfectionist with impeccable taste… evident in the many tiny details she planned and nurtured for her wedding.

She also happens to be a crazy talented graphic designer running a successful stationary/card company called Kardz Kouture, so it’s no surprise her wedding invitations were also totally gorgeous:

Décor by Colin Upright of Upright Décor:

Flowers designs by Darlene Jackson of Boquets Floral:

Wedding Cakes by Peter Fong at Ganache Patisserie:

The candy station:

And the last two images of the night, lit with the headlights from Kyoko's car:

As featured in Wedluxe:

Wedluxe is on stands Dec 14th. The striking blue cover image and fashion editorial was photographed by a talented Toronto based Babar Khan:

Make It Reggae

Jamaica... i love you.

More specifically, I love The Caves Resort in Negril, Jamaica. If you're looking for the most romantic getaway in the world... look no further. This place is it! And it's not a bad place to get married either;) Vanessa + Andrew did... and they did it well! For the last couple of days, I've been pouring over the wedding photos we did for them back in January. These two were a beautiful treat to photograph and i've been happily arranging their images into a new portfolio I'm readying for the new year.

At the same time.... getting very excited and inspired for the wedding we'll be shooting at The Caves again next week! Can't wait to meet you Raquel+James!

My personal fave:

Rome If You Want To

 

Dirty Pretty Places (and Machotaildrop)

A year ago, my beau James went to Budapest to shoot a movie called MACHOTAILDROP – a film James describes  as a surrealist adventure comedy. I’ll say it’s a quirky skateboarding movie with not a lot of actual skateboarding, but a fun film nonetheless... displaying great style, production design and featuring a fantastic soundtrack. It’s a weird little film that I highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance. For those out east, I hope you were able to catch it earlier this month when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

For more info visit here.

I traveled to Budapest, not just to visit James but to shoot some still photographs for the film… mostly behind the scenes stuff. When I arrived the crew were shooting nights, so my 2 weeks in Budapest were spent sleeping all day and working all night. I guess it’s not surprising then that my feeling of this city is that of a dark, moody, creepy and beautiful place… dirty and pretty. I’d  love to go back one day to experience it during the daytime, but I'll always love its first impression on me:

 

And some behind the scene photos from the film MACHOTAILDROP:

MACHOTAILDROP is written & directed by Corey Adams & Alex Craig

producers: Oliver Linsley & Jared Valentine

dp: James Liston, Craig Trudeau and Peter Hagge

production designer: Jeffro Halliday

Alex & Danny - Better Together

No words today... just images :) 

Here are a few favorites, taken during Alex+Danny's wedding at Cecil Green in Vancouver, BC:

Backyard Bliss

I think it's so fortunate to be able to host such a personal event like a wedding on a beautiful private property like this one. If i was going to do it....this is how i'd like to do it;)

Christine + Sam enjoyed their beautiful backyard wedding at Christine's grandmother's beachfront house in Kelowna BC.

So pretty.

Behind the Scenes of a Wedluxe Editorial

Well, the magazine's been out now for months! But i wanted to post the fashion editorial we did for Wedluxe Magazine's Spring 09 issue. I just love photographing this stuff! I feel so in my element pulling these kinds of fashion shoots together. From casting the talent and pulling together a great team of talented people to handing over the final retouched images and finally seeing them in print.... I find the entire process so fulfilling!
Also, I get to work with my friends! A nice perk;)

Photography by Leanne Pedersen
Photo Production Assistant: Rachelle Simoneau
Photo Assistants: James Liston (my lovely beau;) and Mark Brenham
Makeup, Hair and Styling: Sam Jocelyn
Makeup + Hair Assistant: June Jocelyn
Model: Crystal from JC
Also on set that day, representing Wedluxe Magazine, was Angela Desveaux (Editor-in-Chief), Carolyn Clarke and Bruce Patterson of Cloud Nine Creative.

And let's not forget all the boys at The Canadian Museum of Flight. Thanks for your hospitality and letting us use your beautiful airplane!!

I thought it might also be fun to include a few of the images we gathered from Behind the Scenes!

Here are Sam and June prepping the gorgeous Crystal:

We do many, many, many camera and lighting tests throughout the day...to make sure we get it right:

And Rachelle, making sure to capture a few self portraits...cute:

That's me, showing Crystal how it's done..ha ha!

Angela and Carolyn taking a break while Bruce finds an interesting angle:

Mark and James gathering props from the museum:

Sam gets down to work again with yet another makeup and wardrobe change. Her and June worked fast that day, producing 7 incredible looks for us before the sun went down:

Sometimes it just looks better from down there:)...and June making some final adjustments:

The boys from the Canadian Museum of Flight along with security from Birks...guarding all the beautiful (and expensive) jewlery:

Mark helps block some flare while Rachelle gives a thumbs up:)

We needed all hands on deck to move the plane around as the light changed.... Angela is supervising;)

James is pretending to check the light...but really I think he's just trying to have his photo taken with our supermodel;) ...who btw, in high heals stands almost eye level with him... and James is 6'6"!

Jamaica!

A two minute teaser slideshow featuring highlights from the Portrait Session of Vanessa and Andrew's Jamaican Wedding!

Stay tuned for more!

Cirque

I couldn't wait to post these!

My friend and long time creative playmate, Sam, is having a baby any day now. I don't get to photograph pregnant bellies too often, but there was no way Sam was ever going to go for the traditional belly shoot...so i was totally into it! And with only days before James and I were to head to Vegas and see Cirque Du Soleil's 'O', the theme seemed quite fitting.

Here's what we came up with...with a little help from Sam's mother June (as always;) and my assistant extraordinaire, Rachelle!

....oh ya, and we can't forget about little Minky and Smasher!.... who both sort of make it, don't you think?!

Chrissy & Bryce

A few images from Chrissy & Bryce's Wedding...as featured in the last issue of Real Weddings Magazine, just one i never got around to blogging;)

This terribly awesome down-to-earth couple were married at the UBC Boathouse in Richmond (now one of my favorite local venues:)
Designer Manuel Mendoza made Chrissy’s gown.

Bravo Barcelona

Before the fall 08 issue of Real Weddings is released, I thought it might be a good idea to post some images from a fashion shoot I did a few months back. Some of the images from this shoot were published in the spring 08 issue of Real Weddings. The shoot took place in April while I was visiting Barcelona. We shot in two locations; in the streets around our apartment in the Bari Gotic Disrtrict and in the beautiful Parc del Laberint, also known as the Lover’s Garden. This park is located in the north part of Barcelona in an area called Horta. The labyrinth garden is one of the oldest gardens in Barcelona, dating from the early 1700’s. The central piece of the iconography of the park is a labyrinth of cypress trees containing a statue of Eros in the center which represents playful and carefree love. The perfect setting for a bridal shoot, don't you think?

                                    

                                    

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

And here are the images as they appear in the Spring08 issue of Real Weddings magazine....
If you haven't already seen the current issue, you better pick up one soon! It's likely to only remain on stands for another month or two!

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                      

                                     

Model: Mina Pettersson, Fashion Stylist: Ricardo Pardo, Makeup & Hair: Sheila Serrano Roger, Makeup & Hair Assistant: Clara Pla, Photo Assistant: James Liston, Gowns from Pronovias

Summer Sun

Meet Tara and Abeir….soon to be Mr+Mrs. I had such a fun time with these two on Monday. I photographed their engagement session at Spanish Banks while they played in the summer sun (and sand)….shooting until the sun went down. Ah, summer bliss.
Looking forward to their wedding in Whistler this weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

Christine & John - Barcelona, Spain

Three days before we left Barcelona for good, i was fortunate to photograph the wedding of Christine + John. This super-sexy Florida couple, followed by an entourage of their close friends and family, flew to Spain to tie the knot in the famous Santa Maria Cathedral in the Barri Gotic on April 11.

Beautiful sisters: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This region of Spain had been suffering a drought, but for the first time in almost two months it poured with rain during their ceremony. By the time we were ready to leave the church for photos, the streets were lit with wet reflections rising from the cobblestone roads....and just in time for nightfall. so pretty.

 

 

 And finally, a few beauty shots of Christine at the end of the night:

 

 

beyond barcelona - two

The tiny medieval village of Peratallada (north east of Barcelona) is my most favorite place. Such a treat to have been able to experience it with James and mum:

  

We stayed at an incredible B+B called the Miralluna. The care to detail, the lovely breakfasts in the garden, the abundant textures and exquisit decor in this place made it my favorite place in the world to stay...so far;) I can't wait to go back.

 

 

 

 

beyond barcelona - one

After hardly venturing past the 5 block radius from our flat for almost 5 weeks, we finally decided to rent a car and travel through some of barcelona's surrounding villages. Here's what we found:

 my mom: 

 

 me+james: