Meagan and Kelly

Photography is about relationships, and relationships are based on trust. So, I always feel so honoured when someone I know in another area of my life asks me to photograph their wedding.

Meagan taught my sons at their preschool, and they ADORE her - because she, (and her fiance Kelly) are pretty cool.


Meagan is camera shy, so lets just get out of the way right now how gorgeous she is and how much the camera loves her. One of the reasons I include engagement photography in my wedding packages is to build our trust. When the wedding day comes around, I want my brides (and grooms) to know how beautiful they are and just relax when I'm there.

Meagan and Kelly's wedding is in Ardrossan, on his parent's acreage. There will be lots of beautiful nature background there, so we wanted to get some contrasting images for their engagement session - still using their wedding colours though - silver, blue and black - so off to my favourite graffiti wall in Edmonton.

We started with the graffiti (by the way, I am looking for a graffiti artist - drop me a line if you know someone) and started heading to Edmonton City Hall. On our way, we found this uber-cool sign, hidden by an electric box.

Sexy!

Off to the new Art Gallery of Alberta. I cannot wait until this is done - its going to be one of my favourite places to shoot, I can tell. We had an awesome discussion about architecture, and would just like to give a shout out to whoever commissioned and approved this design.

Perhaps the people at Edmonton City Hall? We found this beautiful walkway.

This is my favourite picture of the day. Gorgeous sunlight, beautiful people.

I can't wait until your wedding!

And, a big thank you to Renee from Shaun and Renee Photography who came out to second shoot with me. Check out her shots from our e-session on her blog.

Look Mama, I'm a Man

Waaaaaaa. My baby boy is growing up. That's good right? That's what they are supposed to do. But, I'm all nostalgic and teary too.

We went to the barber. That's the kind of thing we do for family days. Weird, I know.

Here are Gabe and Isaac checking out Mike as he's getting his hair cut.

And my dear, wee baby boy decided he did in fact want a hair cut too. In fact, he look thrilled out of his mind at the prospect.

I love, love this picture of Isaac with his dad.

Ahhhh. There it goes. I want to cry. Naif kept asking me if I wanted to save "this piece". I saved the whole damn lot.

Although Isaac looks really solemn in this picture, he's actually really happy. When he's pleased about something, he gets a really serious look on his face, and you have to watch closely for the smile to shine through.

In this picture, he couldn't stop checking himself out in the mirror long enough to look at me. He's so stinking CUTE! He's got a gorgeous head under all that hair, and now he looks like he's actually related to his father instead of being spawned wholly from my loins :). Actually, one of the first things I noticed about him after he was born was his hair. He's got exactly the same cowlicks (about 3 of them) as his dad. It almost looks like someone scalped Mike and transplanted it onto Isaac.

Also in this picture, Gabe was dancing up and down demanding that he also have his hair cut. Lucky for me, there were three customers waiting behind us. I now have three weeks to convince him that wearing braids and twirling his hair at night are essential to his mental health. Or not. In the end, I do actually let my kids make up their own minds.

Isaac's starting to look slightly less-selfconsiously pleased.

Calling home to tell me he's a man now and all grown up.

So grown up, he can go to the pub if he pleases.

Sit at the bar, and order a drink.

Love this picture (look above his head). When I was little, I lived in England, and we used to go to the pub with my Aunty and Uncle, Granny and Grampy and my dad. I remember sitting up at the bar and ordering a gin and tonic. I used to think maybe they gave me just tonic water with lime, but I'm wondering now if they actually gave me the gin. What better way to mellow out your kids :)

Long hair hippie kids

I get lots of comments about Gabe's hair. Its beautiful, and I am very attached to it, but we also get lots of comments about him looking like a girl. He's started getting really chatty with strangers and starts out with This is my brother Isaac, and I'm Gabe and we're both boys here. No girls. Except my mom. She's a girl (and sometimes they get an anatomy lesson too, while I turn slightly red). I have long hair and I'm a boy.

Apparently, I come by my refusal to cut his hair honestly. This is my dad, who also had long hair until he was 4. He and my mom just returned from England, where he took this picture of himself as a boy.

And no, that doesn't mean I plan to cut Gabe's hair now that he's 4 :), just in case you were wondering. I've told Gabe he can get his hair cut when he's ready. He said he'll do it when he's a man like his Papa.

Isaac on the other hand wants to get his hair cut like his dad's. I'm so sad. We're going for a field trip to the barber tomorrow. I don't know that he will actually follow through, but if he does, I might cry a little, or a lot.

We're Famous!

Check me (and Jacob, Gemma with Bernabe, Caitlin and Scott, the sweet Nay littles, Olivia and Neil (and her boys), Jay, Pam and Kylie, Ryan and his boys, and Jessica) out on The Bokeh Pot, and a big thanks to Crystal Genes for sharing her love!

Mandy Stewart

Mandy came to see me for some headshots for her acting career.

Au-natural:

A little glamour:

Black and White:

Mandy's not just a pretty face - she's funny too.

The out-takes. Or, Mandy teaching me to dance.

Thanks!

Here is her bio:

Mandy is a Theatre Artist and over the last 10 years has worked
as an actor, director, producer, technician, teacher, film extra and voiceover performer. She has a diploma in Theatre Performance from Red Deer College and continues to
attend workshops with talented professionals to learn and to improve her craft. Past performances include "The Wicked Witch of the West" in The Wizard of Oz, "Woman" in The Bundle, and part of the Ensemble for the 2009 Vagina Monologues. Next up is a reading of the play Mr. Twiddles for the Walterdale Theatre's Footlight Festival from May 27 - June 6, 2009.

I'm in love with your baby

One of the best parts of my job is hanging out with new babies. Cole was particularly sweet, and I had a hard time narrowing down the images I'd taken of him.

I love this one - his sweet pouty lip, and Jodi's expression as she comforts him.

And just so you don't think it was all crying . . .

Here is one of the whole family.

And in colour. This is sort of a standard family pose, but I love how the boys are turned towards their parents - my goal in photography is to document the relationships my clients have with each other, not just how people look.

I bought some new actions (post processing tools for photoshop) this weekend, and these pictures were perfect for trying them out.

Alec and Cole were so easy to photograph - this was a great session for me. Wonderful to meet you all!

Single Mamas rock

Mother's day is coming out, and I just have to give a shout-out to all the single mothers.

While I am a glass-half-full kind of person, focussing on the positive and keep telling people that being a single mama is in many ways easier than being partnered, its still a tough gig.

So, with mother's day coming up, please remember the single mothers in your life. I would suggest that one person in your circle of family/friends be responsible for making sure that your mama is taken care of for mother's day - from here on out. Take her child(ren) shopping for flowers or something lovely, every year, so she never has to send her kids to the store with $5 so they can buy her a card.

I also have to give a note of gratitude to my boys' dad. Every year for mother's day (and my birthday), he takes Gabe and Isaac shopping, brings them over and they (very excitedly) give me my gift. Thanks Mike - I really appreciate it.

And now I will introduce Liezl and Carter, who are both delightful and lovely.


A duplicate of the above picture. I was playing around with different post processing. Let me know which one you like better.

Liezl's brother came with her to our session, and had no intention of having his picture taken, but I'm wily with my camera and couldn't resist getting pictures of Carter with his uncle. They already have a great, loving relationship. And they look great in their hats.

So sweet!

Beautiful.

My absolute favourite - Liezl looks like the Madonna in this picture. I love it.

Here, Carter looks like he's about to kick me. Stop taking my picture, already. It is very un-him, as he was an absolute dream during our session.

It was wonderful to meet you all.

I almost forgot! As an added bonus, Mohammed said, all single mamas go straight to heaven. I sometimes remind myself of that at 3 am.

Jessica and Dustin - engagement session

I've known Jessica since she was born (that makes me feel so old!), and I was honoured when she asked if I would photograph her and Dustin's wedding.

Dustin is studying engineering at the U of A, where we went to take pictures. It was freezing cold (I pulled out my down-winter jacket for this shoot) and I was so worried about Jessica and Dustin being cold, but they did great.

Having known Jessica her whole life, I have a slight proprietary interest in who she is marrying. After getting to know Dustin, I'm good :) He's awesome. Funny, energetic, thoughtful, engaged. I dig him. Good job Jessica!

And, he clearly adores her.

They are so sweet together.

We went inside to warm up for a few. This is in Convocation Hall (where I have a couple other weddings this summer.)

Congratulations Jessica and Dustin, and I look forward to your wedding.

A big thank you to Renee, who came out to second shoot with me. Check out her photos on her blog.

Me and My Boys

Dear sweet Isaac, licking a dragonfly. I'm sure he would be horrified by this picture, as he seems to be a little sketched out by bugs.

That's my Gabriel - and why yes, he is pant-less while hanging out in the woods (with Meme). I'm not sure how that happened - I think he fell down and got wet and took them off. I'm just lucky they didn't decide to go swimming in the pond.

We were hanging with girls all weekend, hence the pretty hair things - but I do think he looks a little Rambo-esque (despite the pastel colours).

These were taken by my lovely friend Lana. I don't often get photos of me with my boys, so I'm pretty happy about these.

The slight look of terror on Isaac's face is due to the dogs Lucy and Gypsy. Isaac has been terrified of all things with fur ever since he was very small. (He's totally fine with having a turkey stick its head in his stroller - at Fort Edmonton - but, if its got fur, no way.) This weekend really helped to cure him of his fear though. By the end of the weekend, he was saying "I LOVE Gypsy. I LOVE Lucy." And since then, we were at a park and he willingly (without any prompting from me) approached several dogs to within 3 feet. This is a huge change from when he would see a dog half a block a way, turn and run toward me and scramble up my leg and body and try to sit on my head, shrieking bloody murder. I'm so proud of him.

What a family picture looks like in our house. Tongues sticking out, trying to get away. Lots of wiggling.

And this.

This is what happens when you give children markers on a road trip. "Look Mama, I'm a cat." Isaac started this one. Usually its Gabe with the tricky plans. They're so cute!