Us

Growing up a twin in a concrete jungle bought Julia and I some freedom at a slightly younger age than our friends. There were two of us, a second conscience if you will, if one of us dared step beyond the boundaries of or agreed upon limits the other would chirp up warning of the consequences. I remember being 6 years old playing with Julia in the park across the street from our home, we were not directly visible to our parents, so we had rules! We had to be in before dark, we had to check in every half an hour to let our parents know we were alright, we had to stay together and we were not to venture past the park. The punishment for breaking anyone of these rules was a long boring week grounded to our bedroom! No toys, no friends, no TV. Being grounded sucked! Still we would push the limits of our freedom! Having too much fun to run home before the sky grew dark met us with an angry mother and awaiting punishment... Man we would run... our 2 minute walk home would take us about 35 seconds in hope of squeezing in just in the nick of time, hearts pounding with visions of being stuck within the four walls of our bedrooms for a week! Like all kids pushing the boundaries is a part of life. Every opportunity we got we would push just a little to see what we would get. Be it bed time or curfew or any other opportunity to present itself. The difference with us was that we were polite kids, we never approached any situation with confrontation. We learned very early humour was the way to go. Hearing us come up with some kind of Witty reason our bedtime should be pushed back or why we didn't make it in before sunset was a regular occurrence.




Being a twin is a gift to us. We have always been very close, Julia has always been my best friend and I have always been hers. We spent countless hours dreaming of our futures and how we would spend it together. We had decided when we were about 10 years old that when the time came for us to move out on our own we would get apartments in the same building or live in houses right next to each other. At one point we bought into the "wouldn't it be cool if... we married twins and had a double wedding!" We spent so much time talking about the possibilities. If we married identical twins than our children would be cousins but biologically they would be siblings! To us this was a thrilling concept.




It is funny how the path of life goes. Julie and I are still very close although we never did get adjoining homes, nor did we marry twins. Juila has had two children and somewhere along the way I decided I don't want any children of my own. Yet life handed us similar passions. Both of us have a passion for photography! We worked on our crafts individually for years, Julia would be taking pictures of the people in her life while you could find me on a hiking trail somewhere searching for wildflowers, animals, amazing landscapes among anything else that caught my eye. One of the reasons I was not known to take pictures of people is because adults have a tendency to pose, to throw themselves into some awkward position with big fake smiles on their faces, I would develop the rolls and cringe at the results. The moment that changed all of that was during a street festival in Toronto, I was enjoying myself, taking pictures of all of my friends, I put a zoom lens on my camera and stepped back, snapping shots of my friends interacting, relaxing and playing. For the first time in my life I had the results I had always longed for when photographing people. I made copies of the pictures for my friends and was met with positive reviews. Friends that hated having their pictures taken were surprised by the images of themselves, they had no idea I had been photographing them and they loved the results! Now I had it! I was hooked! Suddenly people were asking me to photograph their weddings, their children and their families. I began photographing weddings as gifts for friends and family, I love the rush, the pace of the day. I was drawn in by the happiness the day brought to everyone involved. More so I loved being able to provide the couple with images that they love, the tears of joy streaming down the brides face when she views the images and loves them!




I have heard to "do what you love and love what you do" This was it! I love this job! I asked Julia to join me in my photography venture. Julia takes great pictures and loves doing it as much as I do. Together we bring a unique experience to our clients. We are able to offer our clients a free second shooter for their event, we are able to focus on the Bride and Groom while capturing their guests simultaneously. We work perfectly together, being a twin makes working together unbelievably easy. Being able to finish each others sentences and having an inherit ability to know what the other is thinking or needing. Often you will hear me say "Jul can you shoot from... and she will reply "over here... I was just thinking that!" Having shared everything and being so close has enabled us to photograph people together with unbelievable ease. There is no room for selfishness when you are a twin, nothing is ever about "you" "you" are part of a "we" from the moment you are conceived. We have an uncanny ability to understand and empathise with others. When we are photographing people our focus is on what the client wants from the experience. When we are photographing a wedding it is not our time to shine, it is our clients time to shine we are there to capture that shine, we never forget that!