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Meet Us
We fell in love with photography long before we fell in love with each other…
For the past 11 years, Topher has been strolling around the world with a camera, both for work and just for the love of it. Working first as a photojournalist for two news publications and now documenting meaningful moments for our clients. Rae’s interest in photography originated from her love of drawing the human form. Around 7 years ago, she picked up a camera to combine photography, sketching, and poetry with the intention of creating art to embody the individuality of her subjects. Today, she still embraces the uniqueness that each client brings.
Together, we have been photographing weddings, people, places and events for 4 years. In January of 2014, Topher & Rae Studios became our full time gig. Topher loves documenting our clients’ candid moments and Rae enjoys creating authentic and artistic portraits. Our complimentary styles provide clients with a wonderful mix of images and art to cherish during their lifetime.
Why Topher & Rae Studios?
There is so much beautiful imagery being created out there but we strive to make our images authentic to you. How do we do that? We work to build relationships with our clients so you trust us enough to just be yourself. That way when our cameras are pointing in your direction, YOU shine through… not as just another pretty or handsome face. Our biggest compliment has been “Wow, you have really captured who we are!”
Building a connection is important to us because we hope to photograph you and your loved ones throughout your life. We encourage our clients to exist in photographs for future generations. We would love the awesome job of being your personal visual storyteller.
Your love story shouldn’t just be about the beginning.
Our Life & Love Story
We went looking for ourselves and found each other…
We weren’t fishing for love when we hooked each other. Neither of us believed in fate, yet there was a bit of kismet in us meeting. We were both in Halifax for schooling and for a fresh beginning. At the time, Rae had just arrived and Topher was arranging to leave the country very shortly. Through a lovely friend (Thanks Anj!), our paths crossed and on our first coffee date, we opened up about everything… our past, the present and what we wanted for our future. Three weeks later we knew that we wanted to build a life together. Needless to say, Topher’s plans to leave were forgotten. On the one-year anniversary of Rae’s move to Halifax, we tied the knot in a small intimate DIY ceremony outside Peggy’s Cove with our closest kin (See our photographer, Erin Woodgate’s Blog about it HERE).
Since then, we do pretty much everything together. We finished our undergraduate degrees in psychology while taking every class together (We believe that since our relationship could make it through us both writing our thesis at the same time, we can make it through anything!). Four years ago as a part time summer gig, we started our photography studio. Now, Topher & Rae Studios is full time for us. We feel so lucky to have found each other. We help each other grow and keep each other grounded. At Topher & Rae Studios, we share a passion to build genuine relationships, create unforgettable experiences, and capture beautiful artistic images that our clients will cherish as keepsakes for years to come. We would love to hear your story!
Topher is
learning what it means to “get out of his own way” in life, and is recovering from too much schooling and not enough wonder, and is getting a bit chubby but trying not to be too hard on himself, is in love with photography, psychology, peanuts, philosophy, and Rae (not in that order), and is usually grammar-conscious but is indulging in this one run-on sentence, and is a workaholic with more than enough curiosity about what’s around the corner.
Rae loves Topher’s
sweet sincere eyes, rockin’ kimchi fried rice and spaghetti dinners, wooly beard & brows, infectious smile, obsession with peanuts, boundless vocabulary, childlike curiosity, endearing determination, omelette perfecting, technical saavy, guitar strumming face, ability to bring out the best in me, alligator hands, supportive and nurturing nature, adeptness to make me laugh without holding back, simplicity, knack for teaching the unteachable, kisses, snuggles and cuddles, goofy artsy-fartsy interpretive dances, and his gemini duality of seriousness and complete silliness.
Rae is
a wanderlusting, beard admiring, quirky half Korean, Kentuckian, bright coloured vintage dress and red lipstick wearing, psychology studying, thrift shopping, yoga, chakra, & authenticity practicing, Andrew Bird, Little Dragon, Ane Brun, Feist, Fiona Apple, Damien Rice, The Civil Wars, City & Colour listening, feline fancying, owl collecting, crafty seeking, skittle addicted, sewing pattern hoarding, flowers, pickles, photography, and Topher Lovin’, funny face making, dancing to the beat of my own drummer tomboyish girly girl.
Topher loves Rae’s
post-accountant, tattered type-A personality (which is now bursting at the seams with artistic fancy), the earnestness with which she lives, her courage to stay true to herself, the genuineness of her heart and the softness with which she snores when she has a headcold, her receptive eyes, her patience, her exquisite good looks, her head-scratching obsession with unicorns, drag queens, and owls, her out-of-the-blue periods of totally inspired ramblings, and her inclination of explaining everyday stuff with reference to the chakra system.
invest
exist in photographs
Our style of photography is a mix of storytelling documentary and what we like to call authentic portraiture. Our posed pictures are more about helping you feel comfortable in front of the camera and capturing images that “look like you.” Of course, we also like to throw in some fun, quirky, and artsy posed shots as well. Have a look at our galleries and blog to get a feel for our style of photography. Still have some questions? Check out our FAQ page.
All of Our Wedding Packages Include:
• Two Photographers (you get both of us…Topher & Rae – it’s quite spiffy)
• All-Day Coverage (No time limits… yep, we really mean ALL DAY!)
• Engagement Session (Great way to build rapport before the wedding + epic images to add to your collection.)
We also have a myriad of other wedding services and products available including: Custom Designed Wedding Albums, Digital & Print Photobooths, Boudoir, Rock the Dress Sessions, Engagement Guestbooks, Thank you/Save the Date Cards, and Heirloom Quality Wall Art. We put a lot of research behind the products we carry because we want them to be of the highest quality and in the case of our albums…to last for generations. We want each one to be a personal art piece that holds your history within the pages.
Setting up an initial consultation with us is a great way to get to know each other, to talk all about your big day, and to see if we would like working together (because we will be spending a lot of time together on one of the most important days of your life). You also will have the opportunity to experience our products first hand. We believe that wedding photography is an investment. As cliché as it sounds, it is one of the few things you will have when it is all over. That is why we take our jobs very seriously and most importantly, love what we do.
We are delighted our work has caught your eye…
We look forward to getting to know you.
Frequently Asked Questions
While we completely understand wanting to know our pricing, each wedding and couple is unique so we do our best to tailor our services and products to you. Additionally, there may be travel costs depending on location or a pricing difference depending on our availability and the season and day of your event. We feel it is best to sit down over a cup of coffee (or tea if you prefer) or on Skype and discuss your needs.
We provide ALL DAY coverage for our wedding clients. We are documentary-style photographers so we like to capture every moment and detail. We can even wake you up the morning of the wedding… with a cuppa joe in hand if you like!
Both Topher & Rae will be there to document your entire day. Having each of us ensures we get both sides of the couple’s prep and we can capture different angles of all your magical moments from beginning to end.
With all of our wedding packages, we include the Classic Engagement Session. Engagement sessions have evolved to be more than just wedding announcements like they used to be. We feel it is such a vital part of the process for many reasons. Most importantly, it allows us some time to get to know each other. We believe in authentic photography, capturing the “real” you (opposed to the “I hate having my photo taken” you). By working together prior to the wedding, we get a chance to connect and create a level of trust and comfort with our clients. We are going to be spending A LOT of time together on your wedding day… much better to do it with someone you’ve worked with before in a much more relaxed setting than your wedding day. It also allows you to shake off the camera shyness and have time to get comfortable in front of a camera and get a sense of how we run our sessions. We do a mix of candid and posed images and you will experience how our process works. Lastly, you will have beautiful images of you dressed in everyday attire for your Save the Date Cards, on a wedding website, in a guest book for the wedding, or as art around your home.
Typically we shoot around 4000-6000 images on the day of your wedding and narrow those down to the Crème de la Crème of the day. We promise to deliver a minimum of 500 fully edited high-resolution files via USB drive and Online Gallery. However, we typically deliver between 700-1000 images depending on the event and how much time we spent shooting on the day.
We typically quote a 4-6 week turn around time for delivery of your images. However, the exact turn around will vary depending on the season and our workload. During peak wedding season, normal turnaround can sometimes run 8-10 weeks or longer.
Album delivery will depend on the time it takes for clients to pick their images and approving the album design. After the final album approval, there is an approximate 4-6 week turn around time for it to be made and delivered from our printers.
Yes, we do. All of our images are individually edited and lightly retouched when necessary. With approximately 10 percent of the edited photos, we add our special touch with artistic editing and coloring.
Digital negatives are provided in some of our packages and for individual purchase. Clients can make prints from their purchased digital negatives in accordance to our print release. Topher & Rae Studios will retain all copyrights to our images and require credit (watermark or link to website) for any of our images shared online.
We do not provide our RAW, unedited files to our clients for a couple of reasons. Raw images are data files that require professional photography software to view the data as images. These files are purposefully less sharp and dynamic than a jpeg would be to allow for professional editing. As artists, we have a certain aesthetic that we maintain with our brand and our editing style is a vital part of our services. For that reason, we do not give out unedited files because we want our images to reflect our vision. We hope that the reason you are hiring us is because you love the way our images look! Our photography is an art to us, so we ask for our images not to be cropped, edited, or altered without our permission.
Another reason we don’t release RAW images is that in order to stay bold and fresh, we always push the limits of ourselves and cameras and mistakes are sometimes made. Not releasing the RAW files allows us the freedom to be creative and try new things. With our professional eye, we will narrow down your images to provide you with the best images that tell the story of your wedding. Anyways, would you really want to look through all 6000 images?
We love to travel… we have a serious case of wanderlust! We are available for weddings WORLDWIDE as long as we can legally obtain permission to shoot in another country and have availability… count us there! Of course, we would work out all the service, travel, and accommodation details and fees before you book with us.
Our typical payment schedule starts with a nonrefundable retainer fee to secure the date of your wedding with the balance due a week prior to your wedding. In special circumstances, we also are willing to work out other arrangements (like a monthly bill) to make the payment a little less daunting during the months approaching your wedding. However, we do require the initial retainer and that your balance is paid in full one week prior to your wedding.
Unfortunately, we cannot hold any dates without a retainer. We book our services on a first come/first serve basis.
We understand that things happen but unfortunately we do not refund retainers because by holding a date for you, we have given up any other opportunities of commissions for that date
If one or both of us were unable to attend your event due to illness or unforeseen events, we have a network of photographer peers that we would contact to ensure that you have coverage on your wedding day in a similar style to our own at no extra cost to you.
Why yes we do! We carry $1 million dollars of liability insurance and equipment insurance to cover all of our gear. For added coverage, we carry equipment backups as well.
Authentic.
Photojournalistic.
Artistic & Edgy.
Modern meets Nostalgic.
These are a few words we use to describe our style. It’s a mash up of how we both see the world. Topher loves capturing the candid moments… tears from mom or dad, sweet glances between a couple, and friends busting a move on the dance floor. Rae loves to cultivate a sense of who you are as a couple and as individuals in artistic portraits by guiding you through posing to ease you into being comfortable just being yourselves. We think together our visions capture all the details of the story of your day and give you beautiful artwork to cherish and share for generations to come.
For any formal shots you want (usually the old school shots Mom & Grandma covet- think prom photos), we actually provide a form prior to the wedding that includes a section for your formal shot list. Outside of “formals”, we are happy to see any inspiration you have for photos to get a sense of what you like but do not work from a provided “shot list of photos.” We hope you hire us for our vision and style and trust that we will capture and create beautiful, inspiring, and unique images of your wedding!
Give us a shout out and we’ll set up our first coffee/SKYPE date and go over all the details of your awesome day. We look forward to meeting you!
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TOPHER & RAE STUDIOS
4-965 McLean Street Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2V2
(T) 902.818.5813 (R) 902.880.3601
