Hello! I’m Erika; a Toronto wedding photographer for almost 10 years. I’m a firm believer in images that are timeless. It’s important for me to create images that I know my clients will love 5, 10 and even 20 years from now. A significant amount of my inspiration comes from my surroundings and from my clients and their relationship with one another; not from what’s trendy. I create timeless stories for my clients that are personalized to their event; a documentation of their day. The exception to that is when it comes to the “posed portrait” part of a wedding day; if you’re worried about being awkward or shy in front of the camera yet you still want a documentary style photographer then you’ve found yourself in the right place. My approach, and the approach of our whole team, is to provide gentle direction while evoking real emotions from our clients.
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IT'S PAID FOR ITSELF
A worthwhile investment
The detail I got from Erika was more than I ever expected. She really listens and cares about you and is able to understand your business and what you need to do to help yourself out. She was really open about everything and wasn't afraid to say what I needed to hear. My bookings are up, I'm getting clients that match me and I'm so confident in my brand now. I'm so glad I worked with Erika!
EVERYTHING YOU COULD WANT
Communication, artistry, passion and more
Bree Rody-Mantha
PILLAR OF STRENGTH
LIKE WORKING WITH AN OLD FRIEND
Erika and her team are so professional. Everything from quick answers to our questions to helping us through some of the more stressful parts of our wedding day. It didn’t feel like we were working with just another “vendor”, it felt like we were working with a friend.
HONEST + PURE
A TRUE REFLECTION OF THE DAY
We didn’t want to look too posed in our photos but we also wanted someone who was comfortable working with people who needed some guidance too. We feel like “us” when we look at our photos and we were so comfortable the entire day. I’m so happy with my wedding photos!
ERIKA: TORONTO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
INTERVIEW
Q: How long have you been a Toronto wedding photographer?
A: I started my journey just over 9 years ago with my first Canon “Rebel” dSLR camera. I formed my business in 2008 and have continued strong ever since. In 2015 we formally expanded and brought on our awesome associate photography team and it was the best decision we’ve ever made.
Q: Do you specialize in any particular types of weddings?
A: No, I don’t specialize in any particular type of wedding. When you’re a Toronto wedding photographer, you have to be versatile with that you do since our city is so incredibly diverse. I’ve been at this long enough now that I can adapt to any new situation or location quickly; that’s the very nature of photojournalism (documentary style photography).
Q: What’s the most important thing you need from your client?
A: I need trust. I need my clients to trust in how I see the day, how I document and how I tell their story. I need them to trust when I say “I know this sounds weird, but let’s do x,y,z – it’s going to be a great photo!”. I need them to trust in the fact that this is going to be about them, their story and their unique experience and not about creating cookie cutter images.
Q: Is there a key piece of advice you wish you could give to any bride and/or groom out there?
A: There are 2 things that matter so much: location and trust. Large locations with plenty of natural light are a photographer’s dream! So many of the images that you fall in love with on our website and on other wedding blogs are taken in natural light conditions. While I’m more than comfortable with artificial lighting (flash), you simply get a different result with flash and my preference is toward natural light. Planning your wedding day with light in mind would be ideal for every couple. Finally, trust is very important – a client must trust in the photographers vision and approach and feel confident in their artistic abilities.
Q: How many weddings do you shoot per year?
A: The most I’ve ever shot in a year for 35; but now that I have a child, I will be scheduling more family days into our calendar to ensure that we have time together as a family since I tend to be a workaholic. Since we book consistently year round (including the off-season) my preference is to shoot no more than 20 weddings per year.
Q: What are the benefits of hiring an associate instead of Erika?
A: This is a no-brainer, the associates are some of the most fantastic Toronto wedding photographers out there. They’ve trained with me since they came on board and are just as dedicated to their craft as I am. They aren’t “lesser” than me; we’re equals. I’ve always said “If I could clone myself, I could shoot more weddings!” While I haven’t figured out the physical cloning thing yet, the associates are the next best thing. They stand for everything I stand for and do an incredible job executing their skills. The only real difference between us is that I’ve been in the industry a wee bit longer and have had the opportunity to publish more work and win a few awards. But all that is just frivolous, really. When it comes to raw talent – we’re all equal.