MagnaSona Photography | Edmonton Wedding Photographer

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See you there!

Ryan and Beth

Having to wake up at 3:30am on a saturday would normally not put a person in a very pleasant mood, but when that alarm clock went off I was up, out the door and on my way down to Calgary with a smile on my face! What the heck is with this guy, you ask? Well, I was heading to Race City Motor Sports Park for a day of high speed race track action at the AADS BMW Driving School, and needless to say it was huge fun. Here’s some pics

Well, it turned out that the BMW’s were a bit out numbered this year! It was such a fun time, and it looked like everyone in attendance had a great time as well. Unfortunately the city of Calgary is looking to close the doors on Race City, and replace it with a garbage dump, which is a shame because from what I’m told the next closest race track is in Spokan Washington… a bit of a drive, to say the least.

When Beth and I met up with soon-to-be-newly-weds Brandon and Jacqueline the day of their engagement shoot we had a bit of an idea that they were going to do great in front of the lens, but wow… it’s like they were reading our minds with every little pose and look they gave! Great stuff.

We decided to start shooting just as the sun started setting so we could capture the already lovely river valley scene with the added glow of the setting sun (this short period of time is also called “The Golden Hour” for all you photo nerds out there). Things went so good that Beth and I couldn’t narrow our final selections down anywhere past 250 shots or so….for a two hour photo shoot. Here are some highlights.

A couple weeks ago Beth and I headed out on the streets with Nic and Dana to get some fun engagement session pics and we had a blast! We started the session right in the heart of the downtown core and ended up on a huge outdoor skating rink right beside the river, busy day. Read on!

It’s magic, pure magic.After running around downtown for a while, it was time to lace up the skates and hit the ice! So it turns out that Nic is a hockey player and Dana is a speed skater which only could mean one thing…it’s race time.It’s always great when we get to hang out and photograph such an easy going fun couple like Dana and Nic, we didn’t even know about that fantastic outdoor rink till they showed us(I knew all that Ice Racing photography would come in handy eventually:-). We’re looking forward to shooting their wedding this coming august!

For wedding photographers, things usually slow down a bit during the frosty winter months in Edmonton. We have a chance to work on our websites (or build completely new ones), try out new gear for the upcoming season, and meet with wonderful engaged couples to plan out their big day photography-wise. This winter has been a bit different though, while we are still going about all the things we normally do before spring hits, I have also been spending a few weekends standing on a big slab of ice, getting shots of ice racing for the NASCC (Northern Alberta Sports Car Club). We can assure you, this is a far cry from wedding photography!

Here are some pics from two of these photo shoots;

I found myself a fantastic corner to get some good power sliding shots and here is a couple great examples

The driver of this car really put on a show coming into corner one. Maybe not the best way to win a race, but it makes for some great shots!

This car was bumped, causing it to go completely sideways down the entire front straight. He managed to keep it together all the way to turn one!

There was plenty of excitement at both events and as the day went on, the drivers started taking more chances through the corners, which led to some spectacular (but non life threatening) crashes!

It’s always great to be asked to photograph something that’s maybe outside of my usual “comfort zone”, and this definitely falls into that category! And hey, if we ever have to photograph the wedding of two race car drivers… we’ll be prepared :-) Keep an eye out for more racing events being covered by MagnaSona Photography throughout the year.

Aside from the wedding photography we cover all year round, we also get the chance to do a fair amount of one-on-one portrait photography in our studio and on locations all over Edmonton. This session with musician Mark Berg was done in our studio so we could get the lighting just how we wanted. Here are a couple of choice pics from the session:

We decided to go for a very real and up close perspective for Mark’s shots to match his music and writing style. Our portrait studio set up allows us to hand craft just how the light hits his face for the desired effect. 

Near the end of the session we did a couple “Yes ladies, he’s single” kind of shots!

Mark really wanted to get a shot of him shaking his head side to side as fast as he could. Who are we to say no! It turned out pretty awesome.

I was so tempted to photoshop someone's fist coming in from the left..

It was a beautiful fall day and what a better place to stage a photo shoot than Kinsman Park in the Edmonton river valley. MagnaSona Photography was there capturing some family portrait shots for the Holmes family during their annual get-together. They were loads of fun to work with, and I think their easy going nature really shines through in these photos;

Here is an alternate of the first one, they were just getting set up for the next group shot and didn’t realize I was still snapping away! This ended up being one of my personal favorites from the entire day.

After a few group shots, I split off with some of the family’s and found some more nice areas to get pics. I like how the afternoon sun is catching the sides of their faces so nicely.

A beautiful mother and daughter picture.

This little guy was a lot of fun, he loved the leaves so his parents made a big pile all around him to play in. Needless to say he was having a pretty good time!

It was a full day of family fun and I was really pleased with how many of the pics turned out. When you get a group of fun loving, easy going family members together all in one place, it makes our job of capturing nice photos almost too easy! Thanks again to the Holmes family for inviting us out to our annual event.

In recent years family portraits have grown dramatically in popularity. It isn’t surprising because portraits often become one of a family’s most prized possessions. As the years go by, they family photo albums become irreplaceable.

MagnaSona likes to change up from the regular routine of wedding photography and get out in the middle of the action. One thing we can say for sure is that we have never had a photo shoot quite like this one! Steve (the bike owner) had just recently finished building his custom Harley Davidson basically from the ground up, and he wanted to get some nice portrait style shots to document and show off his work of art (which is what it really is). So the day started off nice and early in a local Edmonton grassy park that was really great for some posed shots and to get a few detail shots of all the custom parts that make up the bike.

One of the parts of the bike I liked the most was the fuel gauge, because it’s not where you think it might be. Take a look at the two chrome circles on either sides of the gas tank, one of them is the actual fuel cap that pops up and out of the way, but the second chrome circle becomes translucent when the bike is turned on and it shows a lighted blue digital fuel gauge right where you swore it was solid metal. Pretty cool.

I had a bit of fun with this pic in Photoshop.

After getting a few pictures in the park, it was time for the main event of the day… the truck shots. Steve had pre-scouted a back country road where we would get all the “action shots”, so along with a videographer (who was also getting in the back of the chase truck) we headed out to the country. Very soon I found myself leaning over a tailgate of a small pickup truck going highway speeds, attempting to get some smooth shots of Steve roaring down the road. Here’s some pics that I liked from the session.

Here’s a shot of the truck we were riding in the back of. If you look close you can see Steve driving down the main road.

This one has a very cinematic look, which I really like.

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Everything went really great, we managed to get some fantastic shots and Steve was awesome to work with. Before this shoot I had never done anything quite like this, but I would definitely do it again!

MagnaSona Photography was honored to photograph the the wedding of Steve and Felicia Saunders. It was a beautiful sunshiny day in the city of Edmonton with no rain clouds in sight, so the scene was set just perfectly for a gorgeous outdoor wedding!

The bridal party started off their day at the salon. Felicia decided on an up-do and it looked fantastic!

At the Salon

Looking good!

After hanging out with the girls at the salon, it was time to head on over to one of the groomsmen’s houses to get some pics of Steve and the guys getting suited up! From checking Google for how to make a pocket square, to making sure Steve’s two brothers hair looked identical to each others, it was an entertaining time to say the least!

Getting ready for the big day.

I love this wonderfully classic shot of the bride moments before walking down the isle.

They held the ceremony at one of their friends acreages and everything looked great. It was over 30 degrees that day so sunscreen was a pretty hot commodity for this outdoor wedding!

What a cutie

The first kiss as husband and wife

One of the great things about having a wedding in a beautiful country setting is not having to go far at all to get great post-ceremony pics. This shot was taken about 20 feet from where the ceremony took place.

After some formal shots, we took a short drive down the road and headed over to an old barn and a canola field which was the perfect backdrop for some bridal party pictures.

This is another one of our favorites of the day.

We headed out of the heat and into the reception hall for an evening of fine diner and dancing. The first thing I noticed when I walked into the building was this incredible cake with a custom made wedding couple perched on the top of it. Cute!

The first dance of the evening.

It’s events like this that make MagnaSona proud to be wedding photographers and we’d like to thank Steve and Felicia again for including us in their special day.

Taking part in an event like Canada Day is always a lot of fun for us. Providing commercial photography services for the occasion, MagnaSona was asked to capture all the excitement of the evening for the town of Spruce Grove, which made it all the more entertaining! Here’s a couple of our favorite shots from the night.

The live band was a real crowd pleaser. Spruce Grove went all out and brought in a full stage set up with great sound and lights. I managed to get myself back stage and right behind the drummer for a ‘bands eye view’ kind of shot. You can almost feel the heat of the stage lights!

A nice behind-the-stage photograph

Everybody was having a blast and there was certainly no shortage of fun things to do. Spruce Grove put on a Canada Day celebration that no one in attendance is soon to forget!

If you are interested in booking commercial photography for your event, contact us at info@magnasona.com or visit our photography pricing page for more information on our photo packages.