‘How We Shot This’
Our work tends to have a real close up, intimate quality. We constantly have to remind ourselves to step out a little. It's not easy turning 2025 into 1965, and our bedroom into what should feel like a Hong Kong apartment, but we had a light shining from below to light this particular moment.
Coming Up with the Concept
While the couple originally reached out to book their wedding, a date conflict made that impossible. Happens! But the creative connection we had sparked something else entirely. Together, we dreamt up something new: a session inspired by the work of Wong Kar Wai and cinematographer Christopher Doyle, whose visual language of longing, intimacy, and color still haunts every filmmaker’s moodboard.
So, with hair and makeup artists Alexandra Watson and Bailey from Studio Winter, a vintage opera coat, and a Fendi gown, we transformed the quiet corners of Ottawa’s Chinatown and our own bedroom into a hazy, sensual 1960s Hong Kong.
Photographers: Joel & Justyna
It was a whole different feeling doing a shoot after dark. The light, the quiet, the empty streets, everything felt simpler and more dramatic. Great light exists everywhere if you know how to look for it.
Gear and Details
Camera Gear: 35mm 1.4 L, Canon Elan 7 (analog), Fuji X-T5 with a 30mm Sigma 1.4, Fujinon 16-55mm 2.8, Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro
Coverage: 5 hours, 2 shooters
Makeup: @alexandra_watson_makeup
Hair: @isaidstudiowinter
Creative Direction Details
Unlike typical engagement sessions that drift toward the candid or casual, this one leaned editorial. With moodboards built around lighting references, makeup palettes, and character styling, this demanded more than just showing up with a camera. Annie and Dion were open to being collaborators, not just subjects. We styled their clothing, selected the setting, and crafted a vibe that landed somewhere between memory and movie.
We wouldn’t say this approach works for everyone. You need a couple willing to trust the process and see themselves in the aesthetic. Not everyone wants a cinematic session, but for the ones who do, it can be magic.
‘A favorite on film’
We wish we’d done more of the session analog, but the shots we did get, we fell in love with. Grain and all.
The great, Leibovitz, once remarked that a photographer is responsible for every single detail in the frame. We always take that seriously, which is why the rest of team really matters to us. Alexandra and Bailey’s in the styling and make up elevated this shoot so that the world we were trying to create felt believable.
Final Thoughts
Sessions like this don’t just happen. They’re built with intention. From hair and makeup to the grain of a film photo and the shadows on a wall, every decision is deliberate. And yet, the final product still feels effortless. That’s the trick.
Joel & Justyna didn’t just shoot another engagement session. They created a visual world for their clients.
For anyone questioning whether an engagement session can be more than just a walk in the park, this is your answer.
