Hey, everyone!  We are so very excited to officially announce our **newly launched** Sam and Mary Photography blog and website.  It was time to update both with a fresh new look featuring larger images and a cleaner design. 

We have lots of wedding and engagements sessions which we will be posting in the coming weeks, so it will be an all new start to our blog!  As well, we will have to start over with all the comments as we were unable to move them over to this new blog along with the past year's posts.  Believe me, we tried! 

Thank you to all of you --our blog readers, friends (whether online or in person) and clients, who read and follow us here on our blog.  Thanks for the comments and words of encouragement you have left with us over the past few years.  It means a lot to us.  We are totally grateful for the chance to share our work and lives with all of you!

Thanks again for checking us out and while you're here, please let us know you've stopped in by leaving us a comment.  We'd love to hear from you, don't be shy!

Here's to happy bloggin'!
Sam and Mary

...and your one-arm-bandits crashin'

Whew what a rush.  4 days in Las Vegas at the WPPI convention and I managed to make it home alive and up $10!  The annual gathering of wedding and portrait photographers is a great place to talk shop, share ideas and just plain party.  It was awesome to meet up with old friends and make new ones.  Of course, it wasn't all wild parties, high stakes poker and go-go girls.  I did manage to do some "work" at the DQ Quikeys Booth with Dave and Quin Cheung.

Some pics from my trip!

We stayed on the 27th floor of the MGM Grand with a view of New York New York and enjoyed a splendid Japanese dinner at Shibuya right in the MGM Grand.  Beef sashimi and mushrooms laced in truffle oil.  Absolutely devine!

This was taken while goofin' off at Becker's party.  His parties are always a hit during WPPI.

Later at the Rouge, I ran into the crew from Colorati who were buying the drinks! By the end of the evening, their calling cards could be found all over the casino.

WPPI would not be complete without the much anticipated Bludomain party - featuring the Mammoth Men

On the very last day, we treated ourselves to a ride on the rollercoaster at New York New York.  This is also where I got busted for pulling out my camera!

Among the many, here are just a few of the friends and fellow photographers I ran into while in vegas: Dane Sanders, Britney Gardner and Joe Rumore, Ken and Stan and the crew from Renaissance Albums, Leon Sandoval from Colorati, of course Dave and Quin, Harold Jankowiak, Matt Sloan, Jasmine Star, The Becker, Joe Photo and Spiderman,  and Mel Barlow.  Oh, and guess who I bumped into at the Washington airport! My good friend, Barack Obama.

To all the folks I bumped into at WPPI - thanks for a fantastic time, for inspiring and for the cool friendships and connections.  I'm already looking forward to next year's show!

Big hugs all around, Sam.

Just some exciting news we wanted to share! We have been chosen and published in Weddingbells, featuring Alania and Brett's backyard "Garden State" wedding. You can read up on Alania and Brett's full wedding story online as well. Here's a glimpse of the Real Weddings feature, along with an editorial feature on our work and our ad (top left and right photos):

The magazine is now available in stores, so go pick up a copy today!
Thanks for all our brides and blog readers for your continued support and for cheering us on :)

This week, Stacy Price and her crew at Marry Me Productions put together a fun night of appreciation for all of us who has worked with her this past year. The swank celebration was held at Lago down at Dow's Lake in their newly renovated reception hall! There was plenty of drinks and good conversation.

The best part of the night was to connect real faces to the names of vendors who had worked from florists, to make up artists, caterers, and even officiants! Although we had tried to mingle and meet everyone, there's always a few we missed this year, so we hope to catch up in the coming year!

Funny, the largest group of us there, was the wedding photographers! It was great to chat with everyone and hang out that night. They are such a warm and fun group of people and we couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of this community of photographers and to share our passions.. and tech talk! haha.

So... if you're wondering who's who, here we are from left to right: Frank Cava, Suzanne, Miv Fournier, Derrick Rice, Stephanie (wife to Andrew V), Moi, Andrew Geddes, Sam, Andrew Van Beek, Ron Zeitlan, and Bonnie Findley .

photo by the lovely assistant from Miv Photography

A special thanks to Stacey and Marry Me Productions, as well as the folks at Lago for hosting this event and your warm hospitality!

Much love,
Mary ( & Sam)

After a canceled flight back and returning home a day later, I (Sam) have finally been able to recuperate from all the hard work at the DQ Quikeys booth, the late night partying and singing karaoke until I lost my voice, and all the friends, old and new, that I was able to meet up with. New York was a blast.

Here are pics of some of the people that made my trip so memorable:

(and some I didn't get a picture of, like meeting Jesh De Rox, Jerry Ghionis, Becker and Jessica Claire, to name a few amazing photographers that I've been honoured to finally meet and chat with.)

Here we are enjoying lunch at Gray's Payaya, a hot dog restaurant and the place to go if you want to grab a quick bite to eat in NY. They had amazing all-natural exotic fruit drinks, but of course that was washed down by their greasy hotdogs!

Mike Dickson, from Photos for Life showing us how to eat a New York hotdog, with onions fried and simmered in ketchup, of course!

The uber-cool and talented, one and only, Dave and Quin from DQ Studios hailing a taxi cab:

My favourite shot of the trip

Here is the gang hanging out on our last night in NY. From Left to Right is Dave Cheung, Jesh de Rox, Jason Leon, and Quin Cheung.

My most memorable night (ironically due to my cancelled flight!) was all of us just sitting with, listening and talking with Jesh about photography, life and love - how all of it flows into one another. It was really scary how it really resonated with all that Mary has been sharing with me over the past year (and she wasn't even there!).

This is me the day after, waiting for my flight and walking the streets of NY on my own.

My friends were long gone and all had flown back to their respective cities. I had realized just then, how lonely New York really was with no money (long story!) and no friends. The city became a different place. I roamed around taking pictures one last time of the city (which we'll post later this week!) and soaking all of it in. The good times, the laughs, the conversations, and now the quiet, but yet bustling dirty streets, the experience of this alone-ness.

Here is a fitting quote I found on my Starbucks cup, as I sat to have my coffee and breakfast.

"The Way I See It #141 I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside. Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stumped by this for many years. And then I realized, you just say "Hi." They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word. -- Augusten Burroughs, Author of Running with Scissors."

I think it sums up the city for most of those who live here quite well, whether they know it or not. New York or any where else you live, regardless of how lonely it feels, is really a city full of hope, change and possibilities.