Archive for June, 2010

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Michelle & Greg – Downtown Edmonton Engagement Photos

June 22, 2010

This was my favourite engagement shoot of the year so far. As I walked back to my car afterwards I literally did a fist pump in the air because I knew it had gone really well. Michelle & Greg are like a lot of couples – not much experience with have professional photos taken, not sure how to pose/act in front of the camera. But man oh man, did they ever knock it out of the park. I tell my clients just to relax, and trust me, and have a good time. We always make the best images when they do just that.

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Posted in Engagements | 13 Comments »

Free Family Photography Contest – Finalists

June 20, 2010

We had SO many entries and it was SO hard to choose the finalists for our free family photography contest, so we’re presenting you with 6 finalists.  It was just way too hard.  We want to thank all of our contestants for entering.

Just a reminder of the prize:  A complimentary family photography session with us, a 24×36 canvas, and 2 11×14 prints (over $1100 value!)

Without further ado…here are your finalists (in no particular order).  Please vote at the bottom of the post for the family you feel most deserves free family photography from Shandro Photo.

#1 Nepper Family

This family was nominated by their friend Jennifer.  We were touched by the story of Holly Nepper, an eco-conscious mom (who uses cloth diapers like us!) and her husband Rob who work way too hard and need this prize to spend some family time together and celebrate their beautiful family.  One of their children has needed to be treated at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, which is something we support as well.  Jennifer spoke very highly of the impact the Nepper’s friendship has made on her life.


#2 Vanwart Family

This sweet engaged couple recently added a member to their family: puppy Paisley!  They have never had professional photos done, and would love to have family photos of their new little family.  I love that Breanne entered the contest because families come in all shapes and sizes, and theirs is a great example.

#3 Elliott Morrison Family

This is one busy little family!  Mom and Dad are high school sweethearts who have been together 15 years. They have devoted their time to their two children, and are soon going to take time out of their busy schedules to plan an intimate wedding for the two of them.  They would love to have a family portrait to send to family friends after their wedding, and they have no family portraits of all of them together.

#4 Van Buren Family

We met Stirling and his beautiful fiance and daughter at his brother Foster’s wedding this May.  This family was nominated by Foster’s wife Amanda.  Stirling works very hard in Fort MacMurray.  Being away from his family is challenging and they have no photos of the entire family together.  Especially when long distance is a factor, it would be great for this family to have professional photos to enjoy while they’re apart.

#5 Hopkins Family

Lindsey and her husband need family photos to make sure they can cherish the moments of their son’s life.  They don’t want to miss this important stage in their family life and let their son’s childhood go by without some beautiful pictures of the three of them together.

#6 Craig Family

The Craig family was nominated by their friend Kerry.  This family hasn’t had family photos for 10 years, and now their daughters are both teenagers.  It’s time for an up to date photo of this family. Kerry couldn’t say enough about what a warm and fun family the Craig’s are.  They have extended family across the country, and it would be great for them to have photos to share with their family.

Please vote below. You can only vote once per household. The polling closes on Thursday, July 1st, at 11:59pm.

Who do you think should win the portrait prize package?

  • #5 Hopkins Family (48%, 351 Votes)
  • #1 Nepper Family (38%, 277 Votes)
  • #4 Van Buren Family (4%, 33 Votes)
  • #3 Elliott Morrison Family (4%, 28 Votes)
  • #2 Vanwart Family (4%, 26 Votes)
  • #6 Craig Family (2%, 22 Votes)

Total Voters: 737

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Good luck to all of our finalists!

Note: Please vote in the poll above, and not in the comments area.  Only votes from the poll will count towards the contest.  Thank you!

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Posted in Family, News, Portraits | 6 Comments »

Merlin has Graduated! – Edmonton Grad Photography

June 18, 2010

We’d like to congratulate Merlin on her graduation from the University of Alberta, and thank her for choosing us to capture the special day for her. Graduation photos are starting to change – you don’t need to have the stiff posed studio portraits anymore – have a bit of fun with it! We have another grad coming up on the blog soon, and we hope to see many more next year.

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Posted in Graduation, Portraits | 3 Comments »

Rusnak Family – Edmonton family photographer

June 18, 2010

Michael photographed the Rusnak’s beautiful house in Riverbend for Independent Bath Products, who had remodelled the home. He was happy to work with them again, this time for family photos!

First, check out this amazing kitchen, and two luxurious spa bathrooms.

And here is a sampling of the family photographs.

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Posted in Commercial, Family | 2 Comments »

Terwillegar School Needs A Playground – Giving Back to our Community

June 17, 2010

We have been residents of Terwillegar Gardens for a year and a half now, and we absolutely love the neighbourhood. There are two new schools opening in Terwillegar Towne (one of which will be Andrew’s elementary school!) These days, the new schools are developed without playgrounds, and the community needs to come together to fund-raise and develop their own playground.  An amazing group of parents in Terwillegar is doing just that, and you can find more about the initiative here.

We want Andrew and all of the other kids in the Terwillegar to have a great playground, and we want to help make it possible. We were going to simply make a donation, but we thought we could do better than that.

What we decided is that we are going to donate 25% of every photography session that we do with Terwillegar Residents to the development of the playground. We hope this will encourage our neighbours who may have been thinking of having family photos done to visit our studio and help build an awesome playground in the process.

If you are a Terwillegar resident, please contact us before the end of August to arrange your session – all of the details are below. We look forward to working (and playing) with you!

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Posted in Kids and Teens, Portraits | 2 Comments »

A few trade secrets

June 11, 2010

OK, so last week we had a small quiz

#1: Where was this photo taken?

The answer is….Amanda & Foster’s stove top.  Yep, we will shoot anything, anywhere.  Sometimes you just have to try the unexpected to get ‘the’ shot.

#2: What makes this photo unique?  If no one gets this right then Michael has done his job perfectly.

This one’s a bit of a trick.  He actually took it like this:

And here’s a different version.

We love a good reflection, what can I say.

At every wedding, we’re always trying to improve, create something new, and push ourselves. It doesn’t always work, but sometimes it’s perfect. It doesn’t mean that all the photographers out there should start running out and taking pictures of rings on stove tops, but it is always a good idea to thoroughly examine your surroundings, and try something new.

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Posted in Weddings | 3 Comments »

It’s time for a really huge contest – Edmonton family photographers

June 8, 2010

<keep scrolling for the latest posts>

I love contests. (I never win, but I love them.) So we’re going to have a big one!

Here are the details:

The prize: A complimentary family photography session with us, a 24×36 canvas, and 2 11×14 prints (over $1100 value – that’s huge!)

How to enter: Email info@shandrokids.com.  To enter, simply tell us why you need family photos, why you should win the prize, and include a picture of your family.

The contest: We will pick the top three entries, our blog readers, will vote for the winner!

The deadlines: Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm on June 15th, and the winners will be announced on June 23rd (my birthday!)

Who knows, maybe you too will end up on our studio wall someday!

And finally, a couple of announcements:

As most of you have gathered, we are celebrating the grand opening of our studio this month!  It’s pretty perfect timing – we started Shandro Kids one year ago. At that time we pledged to donate a percentage of our profits from Shandro Kids to the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Thanks to the wonderful babies, kids, and families that we worked with over the past year, we donated $250 to the Stollery.

We’d like to thank the following sponsors for donating fantastic prizes for our Grand Opening:

Zaika Bistro, Stella & Dot Jewellery (Stylist Lesley Johnston-Woo), J’Adore Dance, Studio Bloom, Mommy Connections, Jacqueline Laine Makeup (jax_laine@hotmail.com), Photography Concentrate

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Posted in News | 3 Comments »

Anna & Dave – Strathcona Presbyterian Church and Fort Edmonton Park – Edmonton Wedding Photographer

June 7, 2010

We’ve known Anna & Dave for a few years now, and if I could use one word to describe them it would be: hilarious.  This is going to be a good post.

Dave got the most amazing gifts for his groomsmen: hockey jerseys.  Anna got her girls custom Tiffany pendants.  They both have such incredible groups of friends, and have known some of them since childhood.

Dave is a complete ham, and it was hilarious editing down this wedding. There were so many bloopers and outtakes, I think I’m going to have to make them a whole other disc.

And Anna, well, she’s just incredible.  We did some boudoir pictures with her before the wedding, and I’d like to congratulate her on such an amazing body.  She works very hard, and it absolutely pays off.

The ceremony was at the Strathcona Presbyterian Church.

I really want to thank Anna & Dave’s friends for being so fun to work with.  They trusted us, weren’t afraid to make fun of us (which we always appreciate), and generally just made the whole day great.

And now, let’s get to Anna & Dave.  Amazing, incredible, hot, model-esque….I’m running out of adjectives here….

We did a few of the photos around Churchill Square, which was a really cool location considering that Dave helped design it. So awesome!

And did I mention they are hilarious?  This was the last shot, when Anna declared she was done.  Which was good, because we were all ready to party.

I’m going to be totally honest here, when Anna said that the reception was in Egge’s Barn at Fort Edmonton Park, I really didn’t know what to expect.  I’d never shot there before, and was thinking it would be, well, barn-like. When I walked into the barn, my jaw dropped.  It is a beautiful space, and Anna & Dave decorated it so well.  For weddings with a smaller guest list, it’s a beautiful venue, with the added bonus of the amazing atmosphere of Fort Edmonton Park all around you.  We took a short walk outside during the dance, and felt like we were in the middle of the country.

I barely have any pictures of Dave at the reception where he’s not killing himself laughing.

Anna has been taking Bollywood dance classes with some of her girlfriends, and they did a dance performance for the guests.

I love this shot of Dave singing the first dance song to Anna.

We can’t wait to show you two the rest of the photos, especially the bloopers!

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Posted in Weddings | 11 Comments »

Amanda & Foster – Love in the Snow – St. Albert and Edmonton wedding photographer

June 4, 2010

Amanda & Foster are the epitome of a calm bride and groom. Their wedding day (keep in mind this was the last weekend in MAY) had not only rain but snow that didn’t let up the entire day.  What would have spelled disaster for a lot of couples didn’t matter to Amanda & Foster.  All they cared about was ending up married to each other, and having a great day.

Amanda got ready at Raw Beauty in St. Albert, a beautiful salon.

I was probably more excited than I should have been to work with twins – I kept making stupid jokes about them being twins (at one point they were on either side of Foster and I said it was like a ‘Foster Sandwich’) and they were cool with it (sorry guys!).

The next two images are a bit different – and if you can correctly answer the questions you’ll win something really cool! (Answers will be posted on the blog in 1 week)

#1: Where was this photo taken?

#2: What makes this photo unique?  If no one gets this right then Michael has done his job perfectly.

The ceremony was at Holy Family Parish in St. Albert, one of the most beautiful churches we have worked in.

So, the snow made us think on our feet. Luckily we were able to find some beautiful light indoors. Amanda & Foster were so easy to work with, we had such a great time finding different spots to shoot and trying new things.

I love this angle Michael saw: across 2 sets of windows, 3 stories up.  And you can really see how much it was snowing!

We had the pleasure of working with Maria from Flawless Couture Event Planning for Amanda & Foster’s wedding. Maria – thank you so much for making our jobs so easy. Your scheduling and thinking on the fly helped everything run so smoothly! We can’t wait to work with you again.  Look at the beautiful décor she planned for the reception!

The reception was very special for us – it was at the Edmonton Petroleum Club, where we were married just over 4 years ago.  I have to admit I got very emotional listening to Amanda’s dad toast to his little girl.  It reminded me of my dad, who is no longer with us, and the speech he gave to me at our wedding.  It made me appreciate my career even more: we are invited to these incredibly intimate moments in our clients’ lives, asked to celebrate and rejoice with them, and ensure that those memories are captured and safeguarded.  It’s an important responsibility, and one that we take very seriously, and enjoy tremendously.

Congratulations Amanda & Foster!  You are a perfect match for each other, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for you together.

Florist: Funky Petals
Cake: Whimsical Cake Studio

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Posted in Weddings | 10 Comments »

Laura & Joe – Hot Pink Wedding at Blue Meadows – Wedding Photographers in Edmonton

June 3, 2010

Laura & Joe’s wedding has a really cool small-world subplot to it…we’ll get to that in a minute.

Meet Laura. In a word: stunning.

We met Laura through her friend Stephanie, who’s remarkable Trash the Dress session has graced our walls for months.

So here’s where our subplot starts.  I wasn’t actually at Laura & Joe’s wedding – Michael and one of our second shooters did the honours.  The reason I wasn’t there, is that one of my oldest friends Queenie was getting married on the same day.  We went through awkward junior high hair styles, high school drama, and making it in Univeristy together, so there was no way I could miss her wedding.

I did go to hang out with Joe and his boys getting ready, which was SO much fun (thanks guys!) I can’t quite explain how much fun it was, but let’s just say there were omelettes, a little bit of South Park, and a guy with his own hair straightener.

While I was there, I got a phone call from Michael, who was at the salon (Beauty Lounge on Jasper Ave) with Laura.  And who was with him?  Queenie!  As fate would have it, she was getting ready at the same salon as Laura!  It was really cool for me because I got a chance to talk with Queenie before her wedding, and Michael (who was going to miss it) got to wish her well for us.

Here are the two gorgeous brides getting ready, and the amazing downtown salon.

You can see Queenie’s wedding photos on Perspective Eye’s website (great to meet you Gabe!)

I love this snap Michael got of Laura stepping out of the car.

Laura & Joe’s ceremony and reception were at Blue Meadows, and I love the strong colour theme and decor that transformed the venue.  The bridal party strolled down the aisle to the ‘Pink Panther’ – fun!

Laura & Joe made the fabulous decision to book the Art Gallery of Alberta for their photos (a good choice because the weather was a bit sketchy) – Michael loved working in there and would recommend it to anyone looking for photos with really awesome light and cool architecture.

Everything about this wedding was unique – from the decal on the dance floor to the belly dance performance that wowed the guests.

Congratulations Laura & Joe!  Your wedding was beautiful, and you have been such great clients.

Florist: Kuhlmann’s Greenhouse
Cake: Flirt Cupcakes
Dress: Bridal Debut – Sherwood Park

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Posted in Weddings | 3 Comments »

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