Recently, I had the privilege of doing a mini session with new mum Mel and her two week old daughter Stella. It was such a wonderful experience for me since it’s been quite awhile since I’ve cuddled a little newborn. She’s SO sweet and teeny tiny!
It made me want to turn back the clock and have my children as babies all over again.
Here are a few pictures from the session. It’s not hard to see why I love my job so much.
Oh how we love our Alfie! The Ottawa Senators captain and now an NHL 2012 All Star team captain did not disappoint this past weekend as Ottawa, Canada hosted the annual NHL All Star Game at Scotiabank Place. Alfie had a couple goals that brought the fans to their feet chanting his praises,including this ‘Goal of the Game’ that he got past Team Chara’s Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens.
Alfie was quoted after the game that it was “all a bit of a surreal experience”.
I believe the fans felt the same way. I saw a few people wiping away tears during the standing ovation.
There is never a shortage of interesting landscapes to photograph when you have such extreme climate changes as we do in Canada.
Sixteen more days! That’s all that’s left of this bizarre year. We’ve had so many highs and lows, the kind that make you feel so incredibly blessed and then so sad in the blink of an eye. The recent loss of our dear mum was hard on the whole family. When you’ve lost your family matriarch you feel orphaned. Who do I call when things get tough? The one who will always give you the straightest of talks and biggest hugs all at the same time.
As hard as it was, dare I say it was a blessing for a woman who had lost her husband of 55 years, best friend and soul mate just a few short years ago and whose health never recovered from that loss. I am always so thankful for my big family who rally together to support each other when life takes a twist such as this.
So, after going through all of the sadness, the holidays are upon us. It’s been difficult to get in the spirit but now I think we’re getting there. The tree is up, the shopping lists written, the parties planned and I think we’re all going to be trying extra hard this year to enjoy a Christmas as we have done for so many years, with lots of love and laughter, family and friends.
Here’s to ‘getting there’!
I’m finally getting around to updating shots from my summer sessions and weddings. It’s been a bit crazy for me this fall but I’m taking time now to focus on updating some of my more recent work to my website.
This is a little session I did with model J. this summer. She was a star and I got the look I was going for in these pictures. I didn’t even have to coach her as she had the moves down pat. Gotta love it when the model makes your job easier!
It has become a right of passage in the local high schools. Every year students in grade 9 are given an assignment to go to their parents workplace and experience first hand what mum or dad do all day while they’re slaving away in school. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being ‘shadowed’ and it was really fun to be able to share some of my photography knowledge with my daughter.
We had a really full day together; sharing more information than I’m sure she could digest in one day. I know she came away with a better understanding of the amount of work involved running a photography business and techniques to help her be a better photographer. Camera settings, light, lenses, composition, and processing were just a few of the areas we covered and we actually had to stop early because it was getting late and we were starving!
It also seems she has a fondness for the art of photographing things in nature. Hm-mm. I wonder where that comes from?? These are a couple of her favorites from the day and a couple I took of her. I think we both look forward to doing it again real soon!
The last month has been a really busy one. I graduated from the Harry Nowell Pro Program www.harrynowell.com/blog and I’ve gone back to Algonquin College to take additional Arts courses. I also decided to do a 30 Day Flickr Project to challenge myself a little more. Go outside the comfort zone. I felt I came away from the experience a better photographer which was my goal and I received such nice comments on my photos, it encouraged me to continue. I’m trying to decide which theme to focus on for my next attempt that will help me develop even further.
I’ve posted some pictures on this blog but the full grouping can be seen here. www.flickr.com/photos/52244266@N02/sets/72157627551272781/
My next big job will be to update my website as it’s taken a bit of a hit recently. Wedding requests for 2012 are starting to come in and I need to have my portfolio ship shape.
This is one of my favorite recent pictures which can also be seen on Flickr. I still have all my fall work yet to be loaded on my website so stay tuned!
As I near the end of the Pro Program with Harry Nowell I decided I wanted to use the skills I’ve learned and undertake a project where I photograph something different every day for 30 days.
Once I got into it I could see a change in the way I took pictures. I wanted better results and I was happy that was what I was getting.
As difficult as it was to add another thing to my daily schedule it became a means to an end which was to see improvement in my pictures and challenge myself.
I’m proud of the results I’ve had, which can be seen on my Flickr site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52244266@N02/
I’ve had wonderful responses to my pictures and made some new acquaintances along the way.
So, that was fun. Now I’m prepared to take it even further with a new challenge.
Stay tuned.
The weather is getting cooler and very soon we will be experiencing the beauty of fall in a kaleidoscope of colours as the leaves change to beautiful dark hues of red & gold.