Akosua, Dale, & Kwesi
Home Smith Park, Toronto
I’m so excited to share this beautiful Fall family session with all of you! These two lovely people, Akosua and Dale, are some of the coolest around, and I am so thankful for their friendship, frivolity, and great taste in music. Because that’s how we became friends.
I was very fortunate to be the second photographer at their wedding in 2014, alongside the wonderful Jennifer Ballard. I remember Jen being so excited for this wedding: the style (it was lightly 1920s themed with some beautiful clothing to boot), the food (Daniel et Daniel), and the officiant (wedding industry favourite, Jeremy Citron.) With all this in mind, I was intrigued by what the day would bring.
The venue, St. Lawrence Hall, was beautiful and charming and the ceremony was lovely. Throughout dinner, Jen and I sat giggling as each course was presented to us first, a rarity as a wedding photographer and simply occurred by being seated at the end of one of the longest banquet tables I’d ever seen!
During a brief break as the evening transitioned from dinner into the reception, I was chatting with one of the guests and expressed to him how impressed I was by the Daptone Records music that had played throughout dinner. He informed me that Akosua and Dale were big fans and that Dale had actually danced on stage with Sharon Jones just a month and a half earlier during her concert at Massey Hall. I laughed, as this was something I had, in fact, witnessed myself, and Dale had shown off some impeccable dance moves.
The guest went on to tell me that Miles Francis, the leader of the NYC band EMEFE that was about to get us all grooving on the dance floor, also played drums with Afrobeat band Antibalas, another member of the Daptone Record label. Consider my mind officially blown at this point and Miles and the rest of EMEFE went on to perform an incredible, high-energy show for the wedding guests that night.
A few months after Akosua and Dale’s wedding, I headed out to Hamilton for the annual Supercrawl festival, as the music lineup included numerous bands from the Daptone Record label, so naturally, I had to be there. Lo and behold, there was Miles up on stage behind the drum kit with the rest of Antibalas- it was awesome! After the show, I introduced myself to him and told him I had seen his band play at the wedding, so we started following each other on Twitter so we could keep in touch.
Six months after that in March 2015, Miles tweeted at me saying that he would be in Toronto performing with Will Butler who was promoting his new solo album (of Arcade Fire fame. You can see Miles playing the drums alongside Will on Late Night with David Letterman here.) He offered to put me on the guest list and Eugen and I quickly obliged and headed to the Horseshoe Tavern that night for a noisy and rollicking good time (watch the video I linked above, you’ll get what I mean.) Well, well, well, who should we bump into at the Horseshoe but the original cool cats themselves: Akosua and Dale. We reconnected, took a cute pic together, and began to follow each other on Twitter. Following that night, I would bump into Akosua and Dale at their friend’s wedding, at a bar where they were cheering on the Winnipeg Jets, and naturally, our friendship grew.
Fast forward to Summer 2020 and Akosua and Dale have purchased a vintage Westfalia van to get out of the city, drive around beautiful Lake Superior, and see family in Manitoba. Inspired by their cool new home on wheels, I quickly messaged Akosua suggesting we do a family session centred around the van and the outdoors. Their son, Kwesi Miles, had been born in July 2019 (we, in fact, share a birthday) and I loved all the photos Akosua shared of their adventures in the van. Akosua loved the idea and we planned the shoot for when they returned to Toronto in the Fall.
In October, we finally met in the beautiful Home Smith Park and picked the perfect spot to settle the rumbly old van. Crowds of people gathered around the Humber River anxious to get a glimpse of the migrating salmon while we walked around soaking up the sunbeams, tossing some leaves, and getting snuggly in the Westfalia. It was so much fun to see a shoot idea I’d had for 3 months finally come to life!
Thank you, Akosua and Dale, for the beautiful, care-free afternoon. It was wonderful to be able to capture you and Kwesi during this unique time and I hope you treasure both these photos, and the memories of your travels in your little van, for years to come!
