The fabulous Miss Meme and her beautiful Mama

Meme is my best friend's girl, and Gabe's first love. She rocks.

Here she is being Santa (I don't get it either, but I'll go with the program).

Meme is a girlie-girl, who knows how to use a "gun".

Taken by Lana.
Here is my beautiful Lana, full of light and life.
Lana with her baby girl.
And, all of us in the car.

Serina

How gorgeous is she?

Easter Cards

I made these awesome Easter cards for Luisa. They are so pretty!

Introducing Jagger Nash

Whenever I go to Jay and Pam's house, I feel so honoured. They have a ton of my photos on their walls. I've know Jay and Pam since I lived in Red Deer, eons and eons ago, and we've managed to maintain an orbit over the years.

But, on to more important things - Mr. Jagger Nash.

Does this child not have the coolest name on the planet?! His middle name is in honour of Robin Nash, one of Jay's dear friends, of the Schematics.

Here are Mom and Dad. Poor Jay was so sick the day I did these photos, but I managed to catch a couple before he had to lie down.

Big sister Kylie, giving her brother some lovin'.

Love this one. His little forehead makes him look so serious.

And he's obviously clever - imitating Mom.

A bunch of blondies here. Gabriel and Isaac adore babies, and considering how they beat the crap out of each other, I am so impressed with how gentle and loving they are with little ones. Isaac in particular seemed very taken with Jagger. He even asked to hold him. There was much Jagger loving and kissing going on this day.

Peace, love, rock and roll, little dude. Welcome to the world. We are glad to meet you.

Why the logo?

All my clients receive a disk with their pictures to print 4x6s (some packages also include the high resolution files, which can be printed as large as you like - I've done up to 3'x4' with no pixelation).

I am also going to start including a web-ready file folder on your disks, which will include the Dragonfly Logo.

Two reasons - first, copyright.

But second, and more importantly, in this age of right click and copy, microstock, and on-line theft, having the logo on your pictures protects you as well. The last thing you want is your breast-fed baby selling formula or your wedding pictures promoting viagra!

(disclaimer, I am sure those companies pay for all their pictures. I'm just sayin' :) )

Maui

The biggest question I had before I had children was will I be able to travel? Mike and I made a deal (ok, I insisted) that I would get a week to myself every year. I start saving for these trips the second I return from one. This year, I went to Maui with my sister.

It was much different than I'd expected. Much more laid back and rural. Not very developed (like Oahu).

This is the 40 mile/3 hour drive to Hana on the far east point of the island. It was an amazing drive. Unbelievably green, rainforest, hills covered in African Tulip trees, with red flowers, hair-pin curves in the road (you can see the road carved into the hill in this picture.


Then of course, the beaches. I was surpised at the variety. Where we went surfing, it was fairly shallow and mellow. This beach (big beach) is on the far west side of the island. The waves were really strong, but the water was amazing. (sorry for the spots!)

We had to go whale watching. When else do you get to see the biggest creatures alive in the world, just hanging out with their babies? We went with the Pacific Whale Foundation because their profits go back into research and protection. We got up at 4:30 am to do the sunrise tour, and it was totally worth it. (I fell in love with the black and white prints various photographers sold of the whales - so lovely!)

Here is Georgina on the beach, on our last day. Luckily, we stayed at an awesome place, Peace of Maui, where the owner let us come back and use the room before we had to get on the plane. (Its a great place to stay and one of the cheaper - but nice - places on Maui.)

This was the most amazing flower I saw. Its called a Jade Vine. I love the colours - aqua and purple.

The Islands have a colourful history, most of the post-colonisation based around sugar plantations. There are some beautiful old buildings. I could spent a lot more time photographing than I did.
Whenever I am with my sister, she has grand adventures planned out. This is the Haleakala Crater. We walked into it for about a mile and a half, before I said I needed to go back up. Never-the-less, I had to stop 10 times on the way back up. I'm blaming it on the altitude.

Sunset, and Georgina on the phone. It makes me feel really old when I am amazed that you can be half way around the world in 8 hours, and still pick up a telephone to call home. That's a long way from when I first travelled, and phone calls took several operators and a lot of money.
I'll put a bunch more up on Facebook, if you want to check them out.

Beautiful Eyes

I had the pleasure of photographing these beautiful girls late in March. Maya is 1 and a half, and Adeleine is 5 months. The were so sweet and easy to photography. Of course, they live in my neighbourhood!

Five-month old babies are the easiest to photograph. They haven't learned to crawl yet (usually), but are at the push up stage, where you can get great eye pictures.

Maya is very independant and likes to do her own thing. Luckily her mom told me she likes explainations as to why she's being asked to do things. I've got one of those too, so know the lingo. She was so co-operative.

Don't they have amazing eyes?

Adeleine loved that flower.

Maya and Adeleine's mom is Italian (and only speaks Italian to them), and I thought this picture (totally unscripted) was perfect. It made me think of the guy with the rose in his teeth.Just about sitting (with a little help.) How cute is she?!?

Maya was more interested in being naked (well really, who isn't?) but we got her into this dress, which went perfectly with the green chair.
It was a wonderful to work with you Luisa, and I look forward to our outdoor session (more back alley pictures - yeah! ) when it warms up a bit.

Surfer Girls!

First, I cannot believe its been a month since I blogged. I have a good excuse though - I was on holiday (not for the whole month though!)

So stay tuned, this week will be picture heavy as I catch up.

Onto the fun stuff. I can SURF. I am so excited about that. I read Agatha Christie's biography a few years ago, and she went on an around-the-world tour with her second husband, and while in Hawaii, learned to surf. I though, if she could do it, so can I. So, I did.

This is the first time my sister and I have travelled together (despite the fact we've both been travelling for the last 20 years). It was great to explore Maui with her. At first she wasn't sure about the surfing, but after our first lesson, convinced me to sign up for more.

We look a little up-tight in this shot.


But not so much here!

Look how happy she looks! I love it.

Me too.

If you'd like to see the full set, including wipe-outs, check out my Facebook page.

These pictures were taken by Doris Maran, shooting for Na Ka Oi Photo, Surf Photography. If you're looking for pretty shots of yourself while in Maui, check her out.