Beaches, Beautiful Skies and a Movie Recreation.

Megan and Ryan contacted me last fall for their wedding coming up this August. We met earlier this week to do their engagement session.

They are the sweetest couple and just adore each other. Their energy is so calm and they have an amazing connection.

We did the session near their home in south Edmonton. I never thought I would have the opportunity to do a beach session in Alberta!


The weather was looking a little iffy that day (and it was freezing - poor Ryan had a short sleeved shirt and got the worst of it. Brrr!) However, the clouds gave us great skies.

This time, my groom to be was more nervous in front of the camera than the bride, but he's got a great sense of humour and Megan knows how to get him focused.

Megan is so beautiful. She knows how to work the camera.

In the park was a playground, with a boat. We had to get a re-creation of that super romantic moment from the Titanic. :)

One of my favourite pictures of the day.

Megan and Ryan are so connected (I said that already, but have to say it again.)

Megan and Ryan, you wonderful to work with and photograph. I'm looking forward to your wedding.

Please check out Renee's blog, from Shaun and Renee Photography who came out to second shoot with me. Her shots from this session are on her blog. Thanks for coming Renee.

The lovely Nicola

I can't believe Nicola is 18 months old! I have had the privilege of photographing her since she was a baby inside. Check out her earlier pictures here.

Nicola is at the running-busy stage now. She chatters adorably and her favourite word is "ducky" - which stands in for pretty much anything yellow. She was obsessed with dandelions.

As you know, June in Alberta can be cold - which it was. Poor wee thing was shivering, but the dandelions took precedence.


She has got the cutest expressions.

I can't decide which one of these three is my favourite.

We headed inside to warm up and get Nicola in this super-cute pink outfit. Luckily, I have a yellow chair, which was the perfect backdrop for her, and her yellow obsession.

Her silly monkey outfit.

And finally, some with her amazing mama, Reshawn.

Kim and Sean

I love when people say - do whatever you want - when they book me to photograph their sessions.

Kim and Sean found me when they booked their wedding at Convocation Hall at the U of A. We talked via email for a couple of months before meeting and I knew we would be a great fit. They like non-traditional photography and together we came up with a bunch of great ideas.

For their engagement session, we headed downtown to a great graffitti wall - their colours are green, black and white for their wedding, and this green fit in perfectly.

This is the lovely Kim, being adored by Sean.



And the handsome Sean.


I love this pose and the picture.

Across the street from the graffiti is this awesome old garage. I've loved this place for ages and was really happy to be able to use it as a background.



The less savoury parts of town have so much character, and I love it when other people want to come along with me.

How sexy is this picture?!

We headed to the Shaw Conference Centre, where there are giant letters that spell out DREAM. The green one has the E, which is what Sean's last name starts with.

Sean's favourite time of day is in the hour or so before the sun sets - lucky for us both - awesome lighting.

We were getting some silly pictures (the ones previous in the session had Kim and Sean with their sun glasses on the back of their heads) when I realised photographing them from behind was an awesome pose.

Kim has such beautiful hair, so I had them step up on a platform and got her to shake her head so I could catch the sunlight shining through it.

You guys were so much fun!

Congratulations to you, and I'm really excited to photograph your wedding.

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 :)