Steven dips Emma into a kiss on the granite rocks at Crystal Crescent Beach, Nova Scotia, as a large wave crashes behind them beneath a colourful sunset sky.

Twenty photographs, two very different evenings, and one champagne bottle that had absolutely no respect for my camera.

“A Day at the Beach,” my collection of Emma and Steven’s engagement photographs around Halifax, has been recognized in Inspiration Photographers’ Best Wedding Collection Award 53 for 2026, in the pre-wedding collection category.

The photographs bring together Harbour’s Reach in Ketch Harbour and Crystal Crescent Beach, from soft coastal fog to granite rocks, crashing waves and the last colours of the evening. You can see the collection in the official Inspiration Photographers award announcement.

I’m seriously happy about this one. Looking through these photographs brings me straight back to spending time with Emma and Steven: the laughing, the trust, and all the little things that happened while we were figuring out what to make next.

What I Love About These 20 Photographs Together

A collection gives me room to show more of an experience. The big coastal portraits have their place, but so do the quieter photographs: a small gesture, a close moment, or a reaction that lasts about half a second.

That mix is what I love about this set. There are photographs where Emma and Steven fill the frame, and others where the coast takes up almost everything around them. Some feel calm. Others have water flying through the air and absolutely nobody keeping a straight face.

The surroundings change quite a bit across the collection. What connects the photographs is the way these two are together. Even in the wider, more dramatic frames, I want you to notice them first and stay interested in what is happening between them.

Working With Fog, Space and a Very Different Kind of Light

The Harbour’s Reach photographs gave the collection its quieter side. Fog softened the water until the horizon almost disappeared, leaving the wharf, its textures and the two of them to carry the frame.

The dark doorway gave me another way to work with that pale background. Moving between those views changed how much of the surroundings appeared in each photograph, even though we were working in one small waterfront spot.

I love having that shift within the collection. You can move from something close and sheltered to a photograph with open space around the couple, without losing the feeling that the images belong together.

The full story of that unexpected evening is in Emma and Steven’s Harbour’s Reach engagement session in Ketch Harbour.

The Wave, the Kiss and the Champagne Reactions

At Crystal Crescent Beach, the photographs became bigger and more energetic. The granite, ocean and changing sky gave us room to make portraits where the landscape was a huge part of the composition.

One of my favourites is Steven dipping Emma into a kiss as a wave breaks behind them. We found the angle and waited for the water. There was direction involved, but their connection is still what holds the photograph together.

Then the champagne gave us a completely different kind of frame. It sprayed over them, over me and over the camera, and I kept photographing through the reactions. Apparently, being in the splash zone was part of my job that evening.

I love seeing those photographs alongside the more carefully composed portraits. Both belong to the same experience: making something creative together and leaving room for whatever happens along the way.

For the beach, trail and sunset story, see their full Crystal Crescent Beach engagement session.

“A Day at the Beach”: The Awarded Collection

Here are the 20 photographs that make up “A Day at the Beach.” Take a little time with the quieter frames as you move through them. The small reactions and changes in pace are a big part of why I love this collection.

Thank you to Inspiration Photographers and the judges for recognizing the work. And Emma and Steven, thank you for trusting me, sharing these places with me and being so much fun to photograph. I’m very happy we get to celebrate this together.

Let’s Make Something That Feels Like You

If you’re planning a wedding or engagement session around Halifax or elsewhere in Nova Scotia, I’d love to hear what you have in mind. I’ll help with the direction and the photographs, and we’ll leave plenty of room for you to enjoy being together.

Explore my Halifax wedding photography or tell me about your wedding or engagement plans.