Allan Brunke

Re-Establishing my work, my brand, and my mind.

A long overdue Hello, lads and ladies. 

I have not posted on this blog in about 7 months, because I have been focusing on making myself better, making my content better for all of you. At the end of 2014, I hit a very stiff wall, a wall that made me feel like I just wanted to pack everything up and go become a plumber. 

Personally and professionally, I felt very stuck, I felt very unhappy with everything I was producing. I genuinely hated everything I was putting out, and I was angry with myself because of it. 

So in March 2015, I decided to take my first ever out of province trip. I decided that I was going to go to the opposite end of the country, I went to Vancouver. I reconnected with some people whom I had lost, and I met a handful of awesome new people. It was during this trip that I realized that I am one lucky son of a gun to be able to do what I love, and have people who admire and enjoy the work that I do. It hit me that, no matter what I am producing, at least I am creating something. In the short 10 days that I was on the west coast, I realized that I am so blessed, and so absolutely crazy for beating myself up about feeling stuck. We all get there, and it's nothing new. 

I have been so focused on finding new avenues, and new photography projects, so focused on making awesome content, and meeting brand new, amazing people. Jeff and I have been working tirelessly on the wedding photography business, and also just launched a website completely devoted to the business! (www.weddingsbyallanandjeff.com) We have a ton of weddings coming up this season, and for next year already, so there is TONS of new content going up over there. I am working on a film project with a crew of wonderful and talented people, and I am trying to squeeze in a few personal photoshoots every week.

So with that, I would like to say thank you all, and I am 100% back on track. I am going to be posting to this blog at least once a week with new projects, new thoughts, and new ideas for all of you to check out. The blog isn't necessarily always going to be photo related as I am working on a few different projects this summer. But I hope you all enjoy it and I thank you for continually sticking with me even when it seems like I'm losing my mind. 

 

I love you all.

Brea and Adam Fall Session Sneak Peek!

After having photographed these two about 200 times in the past year, one would think that I would run out of locations and ides for them, but we seem to make gold every time we get together to shoot something! 


We were greeted with gloomy skies, cold wind and a lot of the colour had already been stripped away from our beautiful October trees! But we still managed to pull our socks up and get some great images of their great little family. 


In the next two weeks, Jeff and I are going to be planning for our upcoming super secret project! It's going to be a huge endeavour and one of the biggest productions I have ever done. I am extremely excited, and I am hoping that you guys will love the finished product. 

 

Until next time! 

Lawrence/Grexton Family Sneak Peek

This past weekend I had the opportunity to photograph both The Lawrence Family and The Grexton Family, I love when a family comes for a session and they are all ready to go and things go smoothly. I couldn't have asked for a better and easier going group of people to work with!


Unfortunately while location scouting for this session, I was subject to a pretty ugly accident in which I fell into the river we were shooting on! I bruised my ribs, a bone in my arm and most of all my ego. I'm okay, but I did ruin my phone! I'm just glad that I wasn't carrying my camera or any of my equipment when this happened. All in all it was worth it because we got some great shots, and some that I hope their families will be hanging on their wall for years to come! 

Until next time! Hopefully I don't fall into anymore rivers between now and then!

Gregg and Amanda Engagement Session Sneak Peek!

This weekend, Jeff and I had the pleasure of photographing an engagement session for Gregg and Amanda who are an absolutely adorable couple! We had on again - off again showers all afternoon, but it wasn't enough to keep us indoors! We found a beautiful field location out by the airport, as well as using their camp on the lake to capture the beautiful fall colours that have encompassed our little city this year.

The entire team is extremely excited to shoot their wedding next year! Such a beautiful couple, such a strong bond, and I am so excited to see and capture all of the moments for these two on their special day! 

Wirta Wedding 6-Month Revisit

Hello there again Everyone!

 

So as some of you know, I shot the wedding of Brea and Adam Wirta. The wedding was amazing, but the only down side was that they had the wedding in the beginning of January, when it was almost -40 outside. Now, I've lived in Canada my entire life, so I know that it gets cold, and I accept that fact. But none of us were prepared for the wind-chill that came off of the lake the day of their wedding. 

So as brave and foolish individuals, we decided to do some of the bridal party photographs outside, in knee deep snow, with a -40 windchill. Needless to say, we took about 6 photographs and everyone gave up and went back to the reception. So with us all wimping out, I felt the need to give them another shot at some beautiful Bride and Groom portraits, just in warmer weather the second time around. 

So we settled on July, and we settled on a location in Bruce Mines. Without the pneumonia inducing weather, and the rush to get back to their reception, we made magic, and I was so happy with what we were able to put together. I honestly feel like this is the best wedding image I have taken to date. 

I present to you, Brea and Adam, a 6-month Wedding Revisit. 

I'm sorry!

Hello there Bloggy type people!

 

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've posted and you've been anxiously awaiting it! My apologies, I took a week long stay-cation and haven't even picked up my camera! Spent the majority of this week catching up on movies that I hadn't had a chance to watch, and eating a lot of banana bread. 

But alas, I still need to make a blog post, and I also needed a way to share the following images. So I present, my work baseball game from the starting of the month. As you can probably guess, I don't really sport at all. So I decided instead of playing, I would bring my camera and I would photograph the game instead. I managed to get some great shots, and it gave me a chance to try out some new post-processing that I have been trying. 

So please take a look, let me know what you think about the processing I did, let me know what you think about the images, and let me know who your favourite superhero is, just for fun!

I am shooting an amazing wedding session this coming Sunday with my good friend Andrew, and he is going to do some video work so I will hopefully have a neat little behind the scenes video to post next week! 

 

Until next time, 

 

Allan Brunke

Connie and Ash Prom Sneak Peek.

The Irwin family purchased a package from me almost a year ago and we had been trying to arrange a date to shoot for quite some time, so when Connie approached me about shooting these images I assumed they were going to be family portraits, or just headshots for Connie herself. When Connie and Ash arrived at Bellvue park I was taken by surprise that they wanted prom photos, but I was ecstatic because it's something I don't get to do often, and something that can be really fun to shoot! 

I enjoyed shooting it, I hope you guys enjoy looking at the final product, and I hope to hear any and all feedback! 

 

Allan Brunke.

Wirta Family Sneak Peek!

I have been photographing The entire Wirta clan for about a year now. Brea and Adam have been amazing to work with on every session we've done, and they are always a blast to shoot with. Today we shot the family around Hiawatha park which is always a favourite location of mine mostly because I don't get to step into nature as much as one probably should. 

Today's shoot went specifically well because Jeff and I were completely in sync and barely had to communicate to know what the other was thinking. I made Jeff do the posing today because I wanted to try and work with someone else posing and picking frames. I was blown away by how fast and perfectly each of our sets went, everyone involved was just on point. 

Even though today required me to scale a waterfall and to get knee deep in a muddy river, it was worth it for this shot, I am so happy with it and I hope that you all enjoy it as well. 


All the best, 



The Smell of Sawdust and a Lost childhood.

Ever since I have been really young, my fathers workshop has been a place that I was told not to go into. I was always told that I was going to hurt myself, and that I would be in a lot of trouble if I went wandering inside of it. Much like any child, I listened... until my father left for work, or went outside to fix something. I rarely ever touched anything, but I always had a fascination with all of the tools, and the machinery, never quite understanding what it all did. 

My teenage years, I didn't take much interest in the tools or the machinery, I actually didn't take much interest in the shop at all except for a few 'Budweiser Girls' calendars that were hanging on the walls. I never took an interest in making and creating things with my hands, and it is something that I regret to this day because it never allowed me to bond with my father. I never took the steps I needed to take to learn from him and be interested in his life. 

Now that I am a bit older, I have taken council from the most important people in my life, and I have realized that I need to be more involved in my fathers life, because all of us are only here for a short period of time, and I don't want to have our last memories together being a three minute conversation at Christmas asking how his dog is. I have realized that I need to make more of an effort to be a more involved, more understanding person with everyone in my life, but mostly with my father. 

I've spent the last two weekends taking the time to spend with him and trying to be more active in his family. This weekend I decided to step back into his shop for the first time in many years, and being the shutter addict that I am, I had to take some photographs because photos tell your eyes, what I can't say with words. 

His shop can be messy, and dirty, and sometimes have cigarettes and blood on the floor, but my father has made some of the most amazing pieces of woodworking I have ever seen, and it completely blows me away how a man who I always feared and who I always saw as rough and rugged, can craft and perfect such beautiful and delicate pieces of work. I have such a grand respect for my father now, that I wish I would have had when I was younger. 

Behind the rough hands and gruff voice, there is a beautiful heart and soul, and I never realized that until I moved away and tried to find myself. 

Until next time,

 

Allan.

 

My obsession with the abstract.

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Hello there Everyone!

Welcome to my blog, where I will be posting about new projects, gear that I want to acquire, upcoming projects, finished images, personal interests and a handful of other things. 

Since I began my journey as a photographer, I have always had an interesting obsession with abstract artwork and photography. I think it is a fantastic measure of self expression, and I also don't understand it at all, and I think that's why I have become so entrenched in wanting to learn about it more and more. Some of the minds I have come across throughout my journey so far are able to seemingly pull a beautiful abstract piece out of thin air as if it were something that was painted inside of their skulls. I on the other hand, have much difficulty being able to understand what makes a good abstract photograph. 

I have been to many an art exhibit that has had abstract images/paintings, and a lot of it is mesmerizing, but in a completely bewildering way. I find myself wondering if a lot of it is just random, un coordinated bullshit that people pass off as a deep and moving piece, or whether the artist had some grand scheme all along and picked every stroke, or in my sense, completely controlled the frame, aperture, shutter and composition. I for one have gotten every abstract image I've done from simply winging it and hoping that something interesting would come of it.

I believe that it's not the images themselves that I am enthralled with, but the meaning behind the images. I have been studying the thought process behind abstract imagery for a while and I am still puzzled as to whether there is some deep, soulful meaning behind certain brush strokes, certain composition choices. Does the deep blue mixed with the diffused orange mean two completely different things if they are on different coloured backdrops? Do the long elegant lines represent a calming? I am not sure I will ever understand 'Abstract Art,' but I am going to attempt to keep trying and try to have a deeper understanding of just what it all means. 

 

I am going to try and do these blog posts once a week, but I'm terrible with scheduling time to do little things like this, so I don't think there will be a specific day of the week that I post. Mostly just when I'm feeling inspired or perplexed.