Its sale time!

Christmas is coming and I know I am terrible at buying presents until the last minute. Seriously, I have been out shopping on the 24th, and people have received boxes of oranges (I'm sorry!) or liquor (you're welcome) as presents.

So, for those of you like me - I'm putting my products on sale for one week.

Your order must be made by October 26th. Please email me or give me a call if you need help selecting sizes/need suggestions with ideas, etc.

Prints
5x7 regular $15 sale $10.50
8x10 regular $25 sale 17.50
11x14 regular $75 sale $52.50
16x20 regular $100 sale $70

Canvases
8x10 regular $180 sale $140
16x20 canvas $250 sale $200
3'x3' quad panel $1000 sale $700
2'x3’ regular $600 sale $420
3'x4’ regular $1000 sale $700

Books
Small regular$40 sale $30
Large regular $75 sale $55
Large (leather) $90 sale $65

Announcement cards (design and high resolution file)
regular $75 sale $50

or FREE with any order over $200.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so freaking happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Alberta government has finally decided to start covering midwifery services. Its been a long, long battle for midwifes, mothers and fathers, and their wee babies.

Both my children were born at home under the care of the incredible Barbara Scriver. I could not have asked for a better birthing experience than I had with them.

This will not affect me in the slightest - I am sure that I am done having children, but I am so happy for those families who might not have been able to afford midwifery care and now can.

Go make a baby!

After public pressure, the Alberta government announced it will cover the
costs for expectant mothers who choose to deliver their babies using a midwife.
Starting April 1, 2009, midwifery will be added to the maternity services
covered by the public health system in Alberta, the province said on Thursday.
The average cost of using a midwife is about $3,500.
Midwives provide care
to women throughout pregnancy and during the birth, and for six weeks after.
They visit mothers at home or in the hospital to provide support and care for
the newborn.
Many women in low-risk pregnancies choose midwives for a deeper
personal relationship, and hope that there will be fewer medical interventions
than in conventional deliveries.
The province is allocating $4 million to
the Alberta Health Services Board to implement midwifery services in the
2009-2010 fiscal year with the help of the Alberta Association of Midwives.
"This decision will provide better access and more choice for expectant
women and will relieve pressure on doctors, nurses and hospitals," said Alberta
Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert in a news release.
"Expanding the
use of midwifery services will also help address the pressures on family
physicians and obstetricians."
In May, midwives and their supporters held
rallies across the province calling on Alberta to cover their services.
British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Northwest
Territories already have midwifery legislation. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
are both moving toward regulation.
Expectant mothers can use midwives in
hospitals, community birthing centres or their own homes.
But midwives in
Alberta are scarce because they must complete a two-year licensing period and
run a private practice. According to the Alberta Association of Midwives, there
were 29 registered midwives in the province in 2006.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/10/16/alberta-midwives-costs.html

Behind the Scenes

I thought I would share what goes into making your pictures.

Here's Nicholas - who's 2. There are a lot of shots of the back of his head, which I've discovered it totally typical for a 2 year old. Consequently, when he (or any other child) is facing the camera with a decent pose and interesting expression, I press the shutter. (I usually take between 300-500 pictures during a 1-2 hour session - although, the longer I do this, the less I need to take to get the good ones.)

This is what the picture looked like straight out of the camera. Nicholas, with his brothers' arms. The exposure is ok, but the lighting in the back is a bit dark, making the picture flatter than it should be.

Here is the run-through I did on the first computer program I use. I cropped out one brother's arm and used the fence to frame Nicholas. I adjusted the lighting, including the shadows and highlights a bit to make Nicolas "pop" a bit from the background.Finally, I ran the photo through Photoshop, removing the second arm, a few spots and tweaked the colour a little bit more. I knew I'd love this shot of Jakob and Stella - this is so THEM. Full of energy and on the move. The sun was behind them in this shot (note their shadows), so I metered off their faces to get the exposure right.

Nothing particularly wrong with the picture, but it doesn't do justice to the fall colours and the great light.

I popped the colours when I batch-edited this picture, bumping up the yellows, reds and blues, but Jakob and Stella's faces are still too dark. I also added a bit of vignette to the edges of the photo. I love the line in the pavement, but it needed to have a clearer ending.

In this final version from Photoshop, I bumped the colours a little bit more and brightened up their faces.
Here's my sweet baby sister. She got all the melanin in the family :). This shot is a tad underexposed, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it and didn't want to lose the detail in her dress. I also could have made a better background choice :)

When I downloaded the picture to my computer, I knew I wanted to focus on her face, so I increased the exposure a bit to bring out her eyes. After taking this picture into Photoshop, I got rid of the distracting background elements. As I was doing that, I overexposed the picture even further (which at first I was going to correct), but then realised how it made her glow - which is a much more accurate representation of my sister than the picture I first took.
The first pictures are what comes out of my camera, the second are what you get in your DVD that's included in all of my packages, and the third is what I do when I print the photos (a couple of these are also included on your disk.)

Diggin' it

One of my favourite movies is Jackass. My friend told me its like I'm a 14 year old boy trapped in the body of a 3o-something woman.

Normally, when dealing with grown ups, I keep this side of myself under wraps. Occasionally however, I get to hang with people who think body functions are as funny as I do - and will let me take pictures of their kids displaying said behaviour. Whoo hoo!

Here's Connor.


The more serious side of Connor.

This is Ray and Renee - sense of humour fully evident (but check out the expression on Ray's face - is that sweet, or what?)


The newest edition to the family - Ava - obviously born with the family sense of humour.

I absolutely love this background. Its a pool at the museum that was drained for the fall by the time we got there (even though it was 25C on a late September evening.)

And, finally, Ava, with her delightful mom and dad.

Thanks for the great session guys!

Graffiti

When Gabe was a baby, and I had very little to do all day (ha, not what it felt like then, but what it feels like in retrospect!) I went on a graffiti hunting project with my camera. Dragging my baby around the back-alleys of downtown, I got asked a lot if I was ok (physically yes, mentally, well - who knows.) Anyway, moral of that story is I love graffiti.

My friends, Pam and Jay (and baby Kylie) thought the idea of a back-alley photo session sounded pretty cool and were happy to let me drag them around too.

I'll start this session in reverse order though - the more standard fall pictures first.

Here is sweet Kylie.

And the whole family - Marley and Zarah included.

(I love this one)
About half way through our session, I stopped and looked at Pam and suddenly it dawned on me "You're PREGNANT!" (Clever, aren't I?!) Congratulations.

And, here we are in the back-alleys. (This was the tattoo shop where Jay and Pam got their tattoos, a co-incidence I discovered after I suggested it).
I absolutely love this graffiti. I'm a fan in general, but this one is just hot.
Pam, looking gorgeous, and Kylie checking out the graffiti with her dad.

Thanks guys!

And, if anyone else is willing to hangout on the seamier side of town, let me know. I know places!

Colours!

I love it when people come back for more. I photographed Michelle, Chris, Matthew and Emily last year at this time, and we decided to do the same location again this year for their family pictures. The day was overcast, and kind of grey (which is actually great for photographing, because then you don't have to deal with weird shadows and harsh light.) The fall colours in this park were stunning.

Matthew has reached the ham stage. I have a lot of pictures of his cheeky grin, but I managed to get a few before I released him from posing for pictures. Then he was off like a shot to the playground.

Emily is one of those little girls who is so delicate and sweet to look at, but don't let that fool you to thinking she doesn't have an opinion to share. Cause she does!

This is my favourite picture from our session. The feeling you get as a parent when those little fingers curl around your hand makes up for pretty much every sleepless night, temper tantrum, nine-hundredth why. Its like they have some special hormone exuded through their skin that turns your brain to mush and fills your heart right up with love. And here, I just want to give a shout out to Michelle and Chris, who are incredibly active in our community and make it a better place to be. Thank you both!

Happy Birthday Desire!

This is my friend Desiree, who is an amazing person, and one of the best mothers I know (if you're looking for childcare in St. Albert, give me a shout and I'll fix you up.) She's one of the few people I let take care of my kids.

Happy birthday, beautiful girl!


Des, with her family, Mark, Jakob and Stella (who was the inspiration for baby Stella's name).

Stella is awesome! She moves like lightening. We stuck her up on a statue to get her to sit still for a second.
Another family picture.

Adorable Jakob - he was born a week before Gabe - and that's actually how Desiree and I met - we were in the same prenatal class with our wonderful midwife, Barbara. Its so cool watching Jakob, Leif and Gabe grow together and seeing what's kid behaviour and seeing their individual talents emerge. Jakob is crazy physical, amazingly co-ordinated and active. Loves hockey (when he was 2, Mark made a hockey rink in their back yard - how cool is that!?). He's kind of shy, until he's comfortable, and then all bets are off. This is my favourite picture from our session. This is just sooooo Jake and Stella. Moving fast and being freaking happy about it.

My friends

I'm so lucky - my friends keep asking me to shoot them :)

Gene and I have been friends since college - we dissected dead animals together, and he got me through Anatomy 201 - its a stinking hard class! After that, we lived together when we were in university, and I am so grateful to have him in my life. A few years later, he met and married Lily, who is an awesome, beautiful person (and I was really blessed to be a MC at their wedding.) Isaac and and their son, Keaton are the same age (Keaton is 2 days older), and now, we live down the (long) street from each other.

Lily and Gene asked me to do a portrait session for their family. (How good looking are they?!)
This is Lily's dad . . .

Who has a wonderful family . . .

With all boy grandchildren!

Lily, with her brothers. It was kind of cool (and a little nerve wracking) to realise that sibling rivalry (and beating each other up) doesn't end.

The in-laws.
Here's a few of my favourites from our session.



Thanks guys. I love you!