Steve Skafte: Berserker Photography

Michelle and Christopher / June 2019 Kentville, Nova Scotia In the 12 years since I first started shooting weddings, I've done everything from full days at high-end venues with crowds of hundreds, to small private events like this. The ceremony was held out back of the Kentville courthouse, in a park called Miner's Marsh. It was just me, the couple, two witnesses, and the justice of the peace. Good reminder that being happy is by far the most important part of the day. Everyt...hing else is secondary. Perfect little afternoon. Looking for a wedding photographer? Give me a shout! Prices start at $500.

Gabby and Friends / April 2012 Mount Rose, Nova Scotia Young folks in old places, something seems appropriate about it. I really loved this old home, took lots of folks to visit over the years, until it finally got torn down. Whenever I can, I'm always taking portraits out in the tumbledown corners of nature, where the light and personality of a place really shines! If you're looking to hire me for grad photos, I do most small photoshoots for $100. Just drop me a message with any questions.

Fall is a fantastic time for family photos! If you're looking to hire me, I charge $100, plus travel expenses. Take a look at this album of my work through the years.

Susy R. / October 2011 Valley View Park, Nova Scotia One of the very first weddings I photographed was my own! With a timer and a tripod, I did all the group shots myself. It was a perfect day, with the low chill of bright colour of autumn all around and quickly blowing away. She was beautiful, and I was as much in love as I still am now. Never known anyone with more depth of heart and soul than her. Te amo, Susy.... I'm currently booking weddings for 2021. Prices start at $500. Drop me a message with any questions, and to confirm availability. Looking forward to working with you!

Flashback to the two stormiest weddings I've ever photographed!

AWEC Prom / July 2020 Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia The river is a good metaphor for going someplace, and I've been watching it rolling past all my life. Here in the Valley, we grow up going east and west along it, rarely far from the tidal flow. When we get old enough to leave, it's the same current that carries us home to visit. Along the winding banks and down to where the water is wide, always feels like coming back to something.... If you're looking to hire me, I do most small photoshoots for $100. Just drop me a message with any questions.

State of the heart! The biggest challenge for a wedding photographer is the speed of life, rushing past while we slow it down to microseconds. In my 10 years as... the fly on the wall of weddings, I've been surrounded by some of the most energetic and passionate moments you could imagine in a true love story. I look for the warmth, the gentle humanity of the moment. All of my heart, all of the time. I've got the experience to be aware of every little thing as it happens, and the artistic passion to capture the feeling. Experience means confidence you can be confident that I won't miss a thing, and I can be relaxed while doing it. Over the past decade, wedding photography has taken me to every corner of Nova Scotia, capturing a wide and wild range of incredibly beautiful days. I go for honest and natural, but gentle and dreamlike. Deep depth of field and vibrant, true to life colours. No photoshop, no flash photography this is life as it was, in all its beauty. Telling the truth about your memories. My work has been shared, loved, and featured widely over the years, both online and in traditional media like CBC and Global. Sometimes you'll find me deep in the forest, hiking out some forgotten trail or exploring abandoned buildings. Or maybe you'll find me in the center of a wild wedding, documenting the present moment! Wherever my camera takes me, I want nothing more than to capture the energy of life in motion. I'd consider it an honour to do it for you. Now taking bookings for 2021! Drop me a message with any questions, or to confirm availability. You can also text 902-312-1312. Prices start at $500.

AWEC Graduation / June 2020 Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia Evident closeness is hard to come by. Most folks keep at arm's length the older they get, because something is exposing about staying near. People can see what you're hiding, all your best and worst qualities under the surface. Who were are without division means a lot to me, the shape love takes when you think there's no one watching, and how you hold your heart. It's a good time to have someone you can touch.... Looking to hire me? Most small photoshoots are $100.

Susy R. / December 2018 Melrose Park, Illinois Getting ready to go out on New Year's Eve with the woman I love. I've never been a party person, but it's incredible how strong the draw of company can be. Before I met Susy, I'd do anything to avoid a crowd. She has a way of making me at home when I'm not, finding a way to fit in with a world unfamiliar to my own. The cultural difference with her family, and the language barrier, taught me a lot about how humanity can bridge the... gap. I've spent Christmas with the Cubans on five occasions, and it's always been a heartwaking experience. I do most small photoshoots for $100.

Eden Tooker / July 2020 Upper Granville, Nova Scotia The prom night for the Annapolis Royal graduating class was held at Windgate, a weather-beaten barn brought back from the brink and back to life. While we're still young, it just seems right to be hanging around in old places, early souls set contrast to buildings built long before we were born. Before anyone living was living, another golden evening with the blue light breaking through. It was a pleasure to be the one reme...mbering these times for these kids. We're standing in the center of a history the whole world will remember. Who were you, and where were you when? If you're looking for a portrait photographer, just give me a shout. I do weddings, graduations, proms, families, bands, actors, models, businesses, and headshots. Whatever you need me for, I'm here.

Here's a selection of photos I took of the Annapolis Royal graduating class on July 18, 2020. Down on the boardwalk, on the grounds of Fort Anne, and in the beautiful barn of Windgate Weddings. Another perfect evening in the golden light. If your local high school is planning a mid-summer pandemic prom event of its own, just let me know! I'd love to be your photographer.

AWEC Grads / June 2020 Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia There was an incredible golden light that night on the hills of Fort Anne, breaking through the layers of cloud before being swallowed by the North Mountain slopes. I've been rolling around the hills of Fort Anne my whole life, but rarely at a time more perfect than this. I stumbled headlong down the slippery grass while everyone laughed, made me happy in a way I hadn't in a while. Some smalltown evenings are perfect reminde...rs of all the reasons worth loving, even though you know you can't stay. Moving away one by one, slowly fading, daydreaming about the times that pass from what is to what was. I blinked once, and they were gone. See more photos from that night in the album: https://www.facebook.com/pg/BerserkerPhotography/photos/?tab=album&album_id=3403288299704224

Here's a small selection from the hundreds of photos I took on the evening of June 25, 2020. The graduating class of Annapolis West Education Centre, together for the first time in four months. I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day than this, the light and weather had a kind of magic that I never could've planned for or expected. The energy of it was wild and without restraint. I tried my best to get across the reality of the moment, exactly how to felt to live it. Now is a good time to be honest about the past. Wherever you wander from here, you only have what you remember.

In the sinking evening light with Eden Tooker, telling a story from the derelict wilds of Nova Scotia. If you want to hire me for portraits, I do most small photoshoots for $100, plus travel expenses. Just drop me a message. Where I live by the water, there's a world as dark as dreams. The small town girls and boys are strangers, looking out and leaving, and never looking back when they go. The divide is wider than ever, life starts somewhere out there. Crowded in the city wi...th our wider horizons, new politics and causes and friends to replace the ones we left. I stayed behind, when everyone I ever knew went away. Haven't seen a familiar face in years, haven't spotted someone from my memories since I can't remember when. You've got to be loner as a rural survivor, at peace with nature defining your days. What's happening now is wild, the mood of woods and wind and water, shaped by the ever-changing, never-changing light. The human heart of this place might be heavy and tired, but what's left behind digs deeper than I ever imagined. Under tide-strewn rocks and rotten history, under rusted hulks of ships run ashore. Somewhere in the wastes of what's next, we learn to hold fast. Steve Skafte

Eden Tooker / June 2020 Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia Moody and mystical light with Eden Tooker, by the Annapolis Riverside in the falling evening. Golden daydreams behind bright eyes, summer heat and a fiery heart. Some folks have got that irrepressible energy, the intense desire to be completely alive, and prove it every day. Whoever we are and whatever we do, nothing less should be enough. It's a real joy to get a heartwaking personality across in pictures. If you're looking to hire me for grad photos, I charge $100 plus travel expenses.

Huge thanks to the 1,000 folks who now LIKE Berserker Photography! It means the world to me. I couldn't make a living without you!

I thought I would take a minute to share some of my personal work with you! Photography is much more than a job for me. It's been the deepest, more meaningful part of my life for the past decade. Nothing is more significant than the freedom of blinking once, and taking my memories home for you. I've kept an uninterrupted daily photo-journal since 2007, all of my life in pictures. Never missed a day, never will. Follow my personal work here: facebook.com/berserkerpoetry instagram.com/steveskafte

As you'd expect with the pandemic, all of the weddings I had booked for this coming summer have been rescheduled for next year. So if you're looking to get married in 2021, now is the time to book! Dates are disappearing fast, so best not to wait. Drop me a message with any questions, and to get an exact quote. Prices start at $500, plus travel expenses. Take a look at my portfolio to see examples my work through the years!

Moody and mystical light with Eden Tooker, by the Annapolis Riverside in the falling evening. Golden daydreams behind bright eyes, summer heat and a fiery heart. Some folks have got that irrepressible energy, the intense desire to be completely alive, and prove it every day. Whoever we are and whatever we do, nothing less should be enough. It's a real joy to get a heartwaking personality across in pictures. If you're looking to hire me for grad photos, I charge $100 plus travel expenses.

Check out my adventures in the wild, abandoned roads and buildings, and nature taking over on the Steve Skafte page here: https://www.facebook.com/berserkerpoetry/