Year-In-Review | 2025 | Calgary and Banff - Artful Documentary Wedding Photographers

Apr 27

A Decade of Storytelling in Banff and Beyond

We’re writing this as a late-April snowstorm blows through Calgary (Spring where are you?) As winter drags on, it’s time for another year-in-review post. Perhaps the last (in this format anyhow).

2025 was another busy year full of beautiful celebrations, amazing people and incredible travels. Banff continues to explode in popularity and we’re not surprised. Despite having it be in our backyard, we’re constantly in awe at it’s beauty. We feel grateful to get to work in such a stunning part of the world.

We also have deep gratitude to the people that surround and support us. The very end of 2024 brought some painful developments as Kendal’s father received a terminal brain cancer diagnosis. Within this dark news, there have still been moments of light. Quality time spent together throughout the past 12 months has been a reminder on the importance of doing so. Of course, it’s impossible to know what the future holds, and so we simply continue moving forward, enjoying what we have in front of us. Life is short. A cliche for good reason. Whatever matters to you, act on it now. Small or big. Waiting might just mean not at all.

In respect to our company, 2025 was a milestone year. 10 years finished. 300+ weddings photographed together. At the start of 2015, Kendal was an Account Manager at a Marketing Firm, while Kevin was a Professional Biologist at an Environmental Company. Our first season full time, we shot a grand total of 11 weddings. Momentum built in the next few years and we caught our stride, finding our voice within our work and the bookings followed. Then covid. A couple years of chaos and we made it through to the other side with a stronger offering of photo + video. 2022 was the year of catch-up and almost broke us. 2023 taught us about balance and made us reassess our goals. 2024 + 25 were both a pretty good reflection of the lessons we learned along the way. All-in-all, what a wild ride. From being published in numerous places, to travelling the world, to connecting with so many amazing people. It’s pretty cool to look back at where we started and where we’re at now. Our old corporate office job selves wouldn’t believe it.

Finding "weight" in a Digital World

We recently returned from a family trip to Portugal. We originally took Brighton when he was 10 months old to Porto, and almost 9 years later we figured it was time to return (hard to fathom that the time has passed so quickly!) This time round we visited Lisbon and the Algarve. If you haven’t been, highly recommended! While in Lisbon, we wandered into a little book store and picked up ‘The Social Photo’ by Nathan Jurgenson. Admittedly, this isn’t a perfect book, but it brought upon a lot of meangingful reflections and discussion.

Change is constant, and this is no truer than in technology. There’s always shifts. Film to Digital to Smartphone Cameras to Generative AI. The effort one needs to take a well exposed photo is laughably small, almost nonexistent. Hell, we don’t even need a camera to create an image, just type in a prompt of whatever you’re looking for (AI is a whole other topic…) Social media and algorithms dominant our lives. Content is everywhere. Have photos and videos lost their artform and effectively been rendered meaningless?

This is a fair question in 2026. Just as history has taught us, we believe the fearful sentiment for the downfall of these artforms is warranted, but not entirely accurate. You can think of the concept of something holding weight vs weightlessness. There’s nothing wrong with a quick snapshot sent to a friend chat or selfie posted to socials, but they’re disposable by their very nature. We view once and then scroll past. It’s weightless content. Contrast this to the original idea of an artful ‘traditional’ photograph. There’s basic elements that define the traditional photo; timing, intentional use of light, colour and textures, framing/composition, subject matter/focual points, contrast, etc. In theory, a skilled photographer is putting all of these together to capture their photo. The intention is to be viewed over and over, repeatedly. An artful photograph has the power to make you return, not disimilar to a painting or sculpture. These all hold weight.

Our belief is that the power of a photograph is still valid. A contradiction to the fleeting feeling of scrolling through a feed. In the ongoing digital sea of noise, a photograph still has the power to stop one’s gaze, to communicate what words cannot, to give feeling, emotion, to resonate a little something magical in each of us. Perhaps this is nostalgia of an analog past winning out, or simply romanticizing our own craft. But we believe this desire to feel, to relive and to savour a moment in time is innately human. It’s in all of us.

Believing in photography is the foundation, but there’s also the question of how to grow and evolve, while staying true to your voice. Over the past decade, we quickly came to realize that trends come and go. Finding a style uniquly ours and staying current to whatever the trend was at that point in time was like swimming upstream. It became clear to us that aiming for a timeless look was what made sense. Even still, there’s a temptation to follow the lead of others. If a certain aesthetic is trending, it makes you question if you should make a full shift, to not be left behind. Thankfully, we have each other to remind ourselves that we’re not here to chase vibes, to chase engagement, to produce content. Instead it’s best to focus on the core of what we’re hoping to achieve.

“We are here to speak to the true self, not the actor”

With the onset of AI, the question of what’s ‘real’ in a photo is important now more than ever. That said, the reality of a photograph has always been a slight ‘recreation’ of the truth. The photographer has the power to manipulate their scene to their liking. With that admission, it’s still important to retain authenticity in our work. Photographing a wedding is always a collaboration. There’s nonstop interplay between us, our couples and their guests. There’s a spectrum between true documentary/candid moments and directing a performance for the camera. We inevitably use both but favour the former. This is where we believe the true power and weight of photography is found. Where you will see yourselves in the end result. Where it will truly resonate as a piece of art. Each artist has their own ‘truth’ to follow, this is ours, and one that we want to abide by in everything we do. The Kendal + Kevin ethos is to speak to the true self, not the actor.

Life, Lessons, and a New Chapter

As touched on with our own personal trials, the nature of life is ever fleeting. This only adds to the importance of capturing these moments. It’s an incredibly honourable position to be in, and we are so thankful to our clients that put their trust in us. With these themes paramount, we’re looking forward towards a new future with a refreshed brand coming soon (for real this time!)

Newly engaged and looking for a photographer? We’d love to tell your story. Connect with us here.

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