byDesign Visuals Blog

Engaged & In Love: Curtis & Leticia

Mark Wikkerink — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:42:41 +0000

I am getting excited – this coming weekend I get to spend the day with Curtis & Leticia and celebrate their wedding day! It is going to be a great day, they are great friends and we have a LOT in common!

We went out to the Calgary Corn Maze to shoot these images a few weeks ago. Somehow I managed to survive 4 years of college in Iowa, the corn capital of the world (some may argue it’s Nebraska, but they would be wrong) without stepping foot in a corn maze. Lo and behold, 4 years after I left the land of corn, I find myself shooting pictures in it – and they turned out AMAZING! The weather was perfect, and as you can see, the shots turned out great!

Stayed tuned for images from the wedding!

Mark

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Life Portraits: Elyanna & Madeleine – Calgary Portrait Photography

Mark Wikkerink — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:55:44 +0000

I think something is changing around here. After a few years of fighting and saying things such as “I don’t like doing portraits”, or “portraits are no fun”, I am excited to admit that I actually like shooting portraits! Not the kind of portraits where you have your subject stand and say Cheese! but the kind that I can actually come into someone’s house for a morning or afternoon, and experience a small sampling of what life is like, through their eyes.

Lori had gotten in contact with me earlier this spring to inquire about some portraits of her girls, as Madeleine would be turning 1 at the end of July. Madeleine was pretty shy to start off with, but as she got to know me as we explored the back yard together she started to warm up and be more inquisitive about the camera. As you can see from the later images, she has some gorgeous blue eyes, and while it was a challenge to keep her attention long enough to grab a shot, I think I captured her personality pretty well!

Elyanna on the other hand isn’t a shy little girl at all, and she has boundless energy! She became quite the ham in front of the lens, and had a great time running around and going down the slides. Drinking Mom’s homemade iced cappuccino drink didn’t help much either;) Despite the energy, Elyanna is a very polite little girl, and it was a lot of fun trying to keep up with her!

I hope you enjoy the shots, and God Bless!

Mark

Wedding – Bradford & Liza

Mark Wikkerink — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:13:04 +0000

On June 26th, 2010, Bradford and Liza were joined in marriage in Okotoks, Alberta. They were blessed with a day that couldn’t be more gorgeous, and as they are both gorgeous people (inside especially!), of course only gorgeous images could be made! I am so honoured to be have been chosen to spend the day with you two, and I’m so happy for you! God bless you both as you begin your life together, He has plans bigger than either of you know!

Mark

Many thanks to the awesome Brittany Esther of Brittany Esther Photography for helping me out that day, and running the Photobooth! Stay tuned for the fun shots from that!

Can you believe that her mother made her dress? She is amazing!

I love the white tux in this shot:)

And they are great dancers too! It was a fun night!

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Wedding Polaroids – Bradford & Liza

Mark Wikkerink — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:39:00 +0000

2 weeks ago I had the privilege of taking part in Bradford & Liza’s wedding, and watching these two join together in Holy Matrimony. It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, not too cold, and a perfectly blue sky with a few clouds.

I took a lot more shots than these few, but these ones are a little different. These little ditty’s are Polaroids – remember those? The cameras/film are making a resurgence, and I am lucky enough to be the owner of three different polaroid cameras. The prints aren’t your regular prints either, they have more tones and they are actually textured!

This shot is taken with the Polaroid Blue film. Pretty sweet, eh?

Another blue shot – their first kiss as husband and wife!

This one is my favourite – it’s on Chocolate film!

Engaged & In Love: Dustin & Tracy

Mark Wikkerink — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:54:17 +0000

Over the past few months of wedding planning I have had the privilege of getting to know Dustin & Tracy, and it has been a blast to get to know these two! We share a lot in common, and I can’t WAIT for the wedding – the engagement shoot was almost too much fun already!

I hope that you guys enjoy these shots – it was soo hard to choose just these few, and like I said already, I can’t wait to do it again, this time in dresses & tuxes! (you, not me lol!)

Blessings,

Mark

This shot was lucky enough to grace the cover of the wedding invitations – so cool!

I think this last photo simply shows the joyful anticipation of marriage:)

Bradford & Liza – Engaged & In Love

Mark Wikkerink — Sun, 30 May 2010 04:35:33 +0000

Recently I had the privilege of heading out with my friends Bradford & Liza to take some engagement shots. Liza approached me quite a while ago about being her wedding photographer, and after Bradford popped the question, we met up for coffee and made it official! I’m pretty excited about their wedding, we had a lot of fun getting these great shots – there were so many great ones, I had a very hard time picking these few for the blog! And this is still going to be a HUGE post!

I hope you guys enjoy these shots, I know I did and I can’t wait for your wedding day!

Blessings,

Mark

Aren’t they cute together?

Haha the twigs…Liza could barely keep her’s on!

So they decided to climb a tree instead.

I LOVE this shot!

These next two shots show you the scale of their relationship – having fun one second, to falling for each other the next! So awesome!

lol yippee!

Gorgeous eyes! Can’t wait for the wedding!

Bradford also has some stellar eyes…maybe I should have turned him away from the sun lol

Of course, I saved the best for last!

52photo # 16 – Jason

Mark Wikkerink — Fri, 28 May 2010 05:54:06 +0000

Hey everyone

Just wanted to post another shot to let you know that this challenge is still in progress!

This is one of my best friends, Jason.

Enjoy,

Mark

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52photo #15 – Angelina

Mark Wikkerink — Fri, 14 May 2010 06:32:13 +0000

Continuing on with the family theme I have going, as I was visiting my sister at college we were walking to a restaurant for supper and we stumbled this awesome little lighting situation! The sun was getting lower in the sky, and it was reflecting off of a garage with a big white door on the front – a 20 foot reflector if you might! It was aligning perfectly with this tree in the background, so I asked Angelina to pose for me and I was able to get the shot that I wanted. I think Angelina did great!

Taken with my 5D and 50mm 1.8 lens – all natural light.

Enjoy!

Mark

52photo #14 – Clare

Mark Wikkerink — Fri, 07 May 2010 02:58:54 +0000

It’s been a few weeks (too many in fact) since I’ve updated my 52photo project. I’ve been falling a little bit behind with all of the busyness that is happening around me, but I am here to say that I am working on getting caught up!

This past week I went on vacation to Chicago to meet my new neice, and I had lots of time to shoot. I brought along the simplest of setups – just my trusty Canon 5D and a 50mm 1.8 lens. It was nice and light to carry, and a lot of fun!

When I pulled up this shot though, I knew that I was going to be changing some gear in the near future - I love prime lenses!

This is my first neice, Clare! We had a good time playing on her swing, going to the park, and also to the zoo! I think I need to go and visit more often!

Blessings,

Mark

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True Love – Evangeline

Mark Wikkerink — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:56:08 +0000

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of doing some shots for a this family, and to get to know them a little bit better! Mike & Leanne are very active members of my church, so it was nice to be able to actually meet them in their home, and to get to know them and see what daily life is like for their family of now 5 – too bad one son was away! Mike & Leanne we’ll have to do this again some time, it was soo much fun!

Mike & Leanne have such a great relationship with their children. You can tell just by the way they interact with their children and the love they shower on them – just like their Father showers on them.

I hope you guys enjoy these images and treasure them for a long time to come!

Blessings,

Mark

Really? Is it possible to make a baby any cuter than this little girl?

Mike & Nate like to play a little game called “chase”. It’s pretty simple, Mike basically chases Nate around, catches him, and tickles away until his gails of laughter echo throughout the house. Then they start again:)

You can also definetly tell they have big dreams for each and everyone of their children.