I must say I'm still a fan of pictures by the lake, can't get tired of it. Whenever I can, I try to persuade couples into splitting their shoot between wherever they want and somewhere else w/ sand, water and, if we're lucky, a nice sunset. And I'll tell you they never regret it.

5 minutes away from Cherry Beach is the Distillery District. Even though they were holding a festival on that day and the place was completely packed with tents and people, we managed to get some great shots over there as well.

Let me share my favorites with you! :)

Thing is, after you have kids, your priorities change quite a bit. I'm always working on weekends and then, on weekdays, I also have to stay on my computer editing photos. When I'm done with the editing, I just want to spend as much time as I can with my daughter and this blog, unfortunately, is not a priority anymore. I do post some new work on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/YukiNodaPhotography); that's the place where you should go to check out my newest work.

This is Francesco and this photo session is celebrating his 100th day, a special occasion in Chinese culture. It was such a pleasure to meet this cute little baby and his older brother, Matteo.

Our shoot started with just Francesco and his mom. A few minutes later, Matteo and his dad arrived from swimming lessons. First thing Matteo did was go to his brother room and hug him! Cutest thing EVER! It was incredible to see such a young boy caring so much about his younger brother.

The amazing light and super cute couple were a great finish to a very busy Sunday! Hanaa and Asher were really good at posing and being comfortable around each other. Our shoot was such a breeze that Hanaa was able to change THREE times. :)

Congrats on your engagement, Hanaa and Asher. Can't wait for your wedding this summer!

Dora went home with over 30 bites on her legs! I went home with a bunch of images filled with bugs to photoshop. Next time I'll remember the bug spray. :)

Loved starting my wedding year with Erin and Mark. I had tons of fun during our e-session last Fall and I was counting the days for their big day at Archeo, a really cool venue for intimate weddings inside the Distillery District.

I remember shooting weddings in March and it was never this freezing cold. I really don't know how Erin was able to walk around Distillery with no jacket at all. Bravest bride I've had so far! We even tried some sparklers photo during the night, but the wind and cold didn't help us at all - well, at least we got one cute clumsy heart drawing to remember (which you can see at the end of this post).

The highlight of their wedding day was the Pyebaek, a Korean wedding custom. It's a beautiful ceremony where the parents share some wisdom on marriage. They also throw jujubes (I've seen chestnuts at other ceremonies as well) at the bride and groom, which represent their wish for lots of grandchildren. I'm really lucky to live in a country where I can shoot so many cultures and traditions.

Erin and Mark, congratulations! You suit each other perfectly. May your every day together be a joyous ride. ♥

From all the shoots I've had last year in this place, this one is my favorite! Loved shooting this cute little family! The kite sequence was quite hard since the wind was not helping at all, but in the end we did get great images out of it.

I won't even start to talk about weather - I lost count of how many times we had to reschedule this shoot. Hopefully will have a sunny 2014. :)

This past year I was really impressed with the number of couples that get overwhelmed by my huge (and heavy!) 12x12 wedding book I bring to meetings.

Even though I still think that book is classic and timeless, I felt that the brides I work with were looking for something lighter and maybe more modern/current. So I finally came up with a wedding book that is lighter, modern, without losing its great quality that my original album has. And the best thing is: it costs 30% less than my original wedding book.

This 9.5 x 9x5 wedding book still has all the good things about my older book: pages layflat, photographic laminated paper, leather cover (16 colors to choose from! - exclusive feature of this new book) and the option of having your names embossed on the cover.

Both are great, it's just up to you to figure out which album is the right one for you! Please contact me for more info.

The bride looked stunning! Loved loved her hair style - she looked like one of those movie actresses from the 50s. This couple wanted to spend as much time as possible with their friends and family, so we had very little time for their portraits (15, 20 minutes tops!). They wanted a classic feel to their photos and I'm really proud of the results. I'm usually not a fan of just doing classic poses, but I do think this venue in particular is perfect for that.

Let me share some of my favorites with you!

p.s.: Even though I'm still working every single weekend (and it's already December!), I will take some time off this blog for a bit. It's really unfortunate, but I didn't have time to post all weddings, families and engagement sessions I'd like to. I will keep posting new work on my Facebook page - so make sure you check that out every now and then. See you all next year! :)

Some weeks prior this wedding, as we were talking about maybe not having enough time for wedding party portraits, I said to the bride that I'd just stick to the classic shots (everybody looking at the camera, boys to one side, girls to the other, etc). For my surprise, she couldn't care less for these kind of photos. I was over the moon about that, because, in fact, I'm not a fan of those as well.

Shooting this wedding just took me back to when I first started, when I used to be 100% photo-journalistic driven. Then, years went by and I just noticed that some couples missed the classic posed shots, so I decide to incorporate that to my work. Of course I will still be doing those because I know most people would like to have them anyways, but it was so good to capture the whole day the more natural as possible.

Let me share some of my favorites with you.

Our shoot started over there, then we headed to the amazing scenery you see up there ↑. Weather was pretty bad while driving to Caledon - raining on and off. Luckily it didn't rain throughout our photo session and now I'm really proud to share these images with you.

Congrats on your engagement, Amy and Matt! Can't wait for your wedding next year! :)