Dylan at Grand Beach

Had just a wonderful time at Grand Beach today! After 3 days of serious rain, it was nice to spend a beautiful fall day amid the sand dunes, water, Colourful fall leaves, blue sky and the white sand of Grand Beach. My Subject today was a beautiful Saluki Champ named Dylan. I have had Dylan into the studio before, but Katherina, his owner wanted to see if she could get some pictures of him outdoors to place in ads in an upcoming magazine. When we saw how great his coat looked amongst the sand, fall leaves, water and sky we knew we had picked a great location!

Thanks Dylan and Kat for a relaxing, fun couple of hours!

Flash from the past!

I was so excited when the phone rang a couple of weeks back. The voice on the other end I knew immediately. As a child you tend to spend day after day, weekend after weekend, hanging out around the block with the other kids in the neighborhood. As you get older you may forget a face (Let's "face it" our bodies do change with time!), but not a voice! It was Kim a good friend of my sister's. She was on "the end of summer holiday wind-up" list and had yet to accomplish her goal of getting the kids pictures taken.

We arranged a studio time and she came down with her mother (Who, by the way, still looks like she always did-disproving my previous statement- I wonder what her secret is...). Alex, Anna and Logan were so much fun. It is great to not only see the characteristics of a parent passed down to their children and feel like you were transported back in time, but also to experience the wondrous interaction between the siblings.

I loved the above photo of Logan and Alex as you can just feel the patience Alex had for his younger brother and the brotherly adoration Logan had for his older brother.

Anna is just the image of her mother as a child...

And yes... sometimes it's hard to sit still- but I just go with the flow.. a little fun editing technique to capture the moment... Children having fun while having their picture taken always produces natural smiles!

Logan discovers he likes my cow bucket!

EVERYBODY (Stuffed animals included ) onto the bean bag!

Dragon Boat Races 2010

I happened to be on Facebook this afternoon and noticed a posting by my cousin Sara, saying she was participating in this years Canadian Cancer Society's Dragon Boat Races on the Red River at the Forks National Historic Site. One of my favorite locations, favorite cousins, beautiful afternoon and a worthy cause, what more did I need to get up out of the chair and out the door!

I had never been to this event before and wondered what I would encounter there. As I arrived I was very surprised to see a galaxy of smiling faces and crowds that surged with excitement. Where I may have expected some sadness, faces etched with hardships and worry, families and individuals facing the stark and cruel realities of cancer in their everyday lives, I only saw smiles, joy, humor, team work, and hope.

I was so impressed by the teams put together by businesses and alike to raise funds for the Cancer Society. The event began with a flower memorial where petals and flowers were tossed into the river and then the racing began. I was a bit mesmerized by the zeal and uniformity of the teams who obviously practiced to coordinate their paddling efforts, but it was truly the faces of the people attending and participating that caught this photographer's eye. This is what I saw....

Cousin Sara and her team-3rd Place way to go!

Aymee and Stephen Engagement

It's Wedding Season! Meet Aymee and Stephen the first Engagement photo session of year! This couple had a whirlwind Engagement in February. I say Whirlwind, because Stephen flew in from another continent and surprised Aymee with himself as well as an engagement ring! They had just a few days together to plan for their wedding in October before Stephen had to fly back to work. I was thrilled to be asked to share in their special day and their precious few days together included an engagement photo session at the Forks. We had a blast! For these two it's all about fun and colour. Their love for one another really shone throughout the session-Thank-you guys for being such great models! I am sure looking forward to photographing their wedding in October! May time fly quickly for you as a couple until you get to see each other again!

Make-up Magic

Jackie

This week Tuesday was an awesome fun time with a great group of ladies all willing to pull together to do a "make-up" "shoot. The goal to create great images that mimic make-up and magazine ads and of course build the portfolios - photography, make-up, and model related, which I discovered isn't necessarily one in the same.

I as a photographer may look more at light and composition . The make-up artist would be looking for lighting as well as make-up features, and the model may just be looking to see if the right "look" was captured. But I am always amazed how much make-up application, regardless if it is more "natural" or "theatrical" can really help with an individuals features in an image.

The make-up was done by associate make-up artist Andrea Baer (who has worked with me in commercial jobs and does make-up for events such as weddings, Grads, etc.. She is featured in my associate section on my website) Also featured is the work of make-up artist Karla. Both ladies used Mac cosmetics to create the different looks.

We needed a couple of "models" to help out, and were thrilled when student Kristyn and Dance/drama instructor, Jackie, agreed to help out. Special thanks to them all!

Kristyn

Near miss with Easter Dinner-The magazine made me do it!!!

I'm blaming it all on Style at Home Magazine. Okay, maybe it's not fair to lay ALL the blame at it's front door. In hindsight, I believe it was a combination of a number of elements that led to the near disaster of Easter Dinner being super late. All right- my "photoholic" tendencies took over at some point that afternoon in combination with my propensity to wander from one action to the next. My creative juices had been stirred by the magazine cover-plain and simple- it was a cosmic chain of events leading to the near disaster.

I guess I should begin at the beginning...(always a great place to start!) It was this past Thursday, a busy day in the grocery stores, everyone buying "stock piles" of food before their holiday weekend feasts. Therein lay the first "catalyst". Me in a grocery checkout line is never a good thing. My eyes wandered from heaping cart to heaping cart and then rested on the cover of Style at Home. The beautiful soft hues of blue, pinks and creams seemed to call to me.."Pick me up! Pick me up!" (Enough with the theatrics. ) Like every second person in line, waiting for their turn at the cash resister hoping for some sort of reprieve from the noisy chaos, I leaned over to the magazine rack, grabbed the magazine that promised me some sort of feeling of "calmness, relaxation with a breath of Spring" and began to flip through the pages. I then found myself placing it beside my pile of groceries, chalking the purchase up as some imaginary "health and well-being" expense.

The magazine spent the night resting comfortably on my kitchen counter. Every now and then I'd glance at the cover and sigh. Why was I sighing??? I thought about it quite often the next day as I prepared to have my extended family of 10 over for dinner that evening. As I wrapped the potatoes and made the salad I began to think about what to do as a table setting. That's when it happened-I'm sure of the moment now- Dinner had just taken a bit of a detour!

The cover of the magazine seemed to inspire me-Hummmm- pink, blue, and creams..... I don't have a lot of the "fancy" items showcased in a lot of the magazines, but I did have a few nicknacks that could pass. I took out my cream linen tablecloth, and a faded plaid blue and green relic of a tablecloth from a few years back. I had been given a beautiful bouquet of bright pink colored Gerbra's just a few days before and I had a collection of "flea market" inexpensive milk glass vases hiding in a pantry. They would do just nicely for what I had in mind. As I arranged the table and stood back to observe the room I was instantly "struck" by how beautiful the side light from the patio doors were illuminating the milk glass and the flowers. That's when the "photoholic" tendencies kicked in!

Yes, sad to say, that's dinner on the counter, (Above), sitting ontop of the stove, sadly forgotten over the next couple of hours that afternoon.

The next couple of hours were not only an experimentation with lenses, light, angle, and still photography but a self-realization that as much as I love this type of photography -it's excruciatingly painstakingly, detailed and difficult to do. Since January, I've been on my own as a photographer and not in the constant shadow of a mentor to whom I can constantly barge with photography related questions and glean valuable "how to" information from tagging along with on shoots. I've had to search out other avenues of learning. The best I've found - Just try it and learn.

The following day as I edited through the images I learned a lot. I was a little disappointed with the results. I learned I need to look for details as I photograph. I got sloppy- focusing on light, not the details filling my camera's frame. Details like, ripples in the tablecloth, crooked lines on mirrors and picture frames, etc. all went unnoticed till I edited. Ultimately the goal is to give the client the perfect Full Frame resolution file.

Most important of all, I realized what the "sigh" was all about. I remembered that not two years ago in a photography class -when I was asked what my dream photography job would be- I said I'd like to work for Style at Home/House and Home and do that type of photography. LOL. I have a lot of practicing to do till I get it right!

Don't worry- Most stories end well-and I'm happy to say I came to my senses and did remember at the very last second to get the potatoes into the oven, off of the stove. Supper was a bit delayed - I didn't say why. No one knew or would have guessed. Well, alright- maybe those who love and know me the best would have clued into the "tell tale" tripod sitting in the corner of the room. If they did, they didn't say.

Thank you to "Style at Home" for putting together a beautiful publication that can inspire individuals both personally and professionally! Special "Hats off" to the photographers that do commercial work for magazines such as this! Oh, by the way, I did look into one photographer's work, Virginia MacDonald (she was mentioned in the magazine.) I enjoy her work-click on her name and check it out!