New baby Maddox

On a not very cold but very snowy morning I had the pleasure of welcoming baby Maddox and his family into the studio.  Blessing his family at 9 lbs and 10 oz he was such a very relaxed and happy little man.  He didn't sleep for any of his session which under a week in age is unusual but he was very happy to hang out and have his picture taken none the less. 

Christmas 2014 Mini Sessions in studio

Each year we try and set up something just a little special in the studio,

something that reflects the season so that we can just grab a little piece of time.  Our families grow and change so quickly that if we don't grab little pieces of time through photography I wonder what we'll look back on.  I don't think its just me, my memories fade all too quickly, but the photos I have taken will be with me forever.  

Patiently waiting

Every time I do a maternity photo shoot I am awestruck by the beauty that is pregnancy.  It's hard to believe there was ever a time where we as mothers and women did not have maternity photos taken.

Some spooktacular children - Halloween 2014

I love Halloween as much as the next kid.  Oh, wait I'm no longer a kid...
I guess that's why we enjoy our dress up photos so much!  Here's some of the spooks that have come to visit this season!

Yeah for Halloween! 

Now where's my candy?!

Maternity photo options

Happy October all....

I've been meaning to share some of my latest Halloween work, I'll do that next, promise... my blog post for today is to help an expecting Momma out with some maternity photo options... should we do them inside / outside ?  Posed photos / or casual crazy??  The best way for me to describe the options is to show examples.  So here we go...  (just click on the photos for larger images)

 The first photo that I've selected is from a fun maternity that we did in the studio... kind of a cute idea with all the potential baby names...

 

This photo is from a spot along the KVR trail that over looks the lake, its been a real favorite for family photos for years now... to me it just says Okangan Life.

 

 This cute belly photo was another one that I quickly grabbed as an example of in the studio.

 Or here we have the lovely Japanese Gardens down at Okangan Lake...

I thought this families photos (especially with three boys) always have that un-posed, fun family feel.  These rocks are also found at the edge of Okanagan Beach.

 A super fun angle is the looking up at the belly angle... also a good way to get rascally small people to look right at you!!!

My other favorite outdoor shooting spot is the orchard at the top of my street.  I has all old apple and cherry trees.  Of course they've been picked now for the year but the orchard is still a neat outdoor location.

And of course when we have rascally small people in the studio sometimes things end up like this.  I do think this ended up being one of Mom's favorite poses though.

So there, maternity and family photos, I think that its a personal preference and in my books if you're capturing these family milestones, however you choose will be right for you!

Low key photography for children

In photography we often talk about whether or not a set up is in "high key" or white colors or "low key" in dark colors.  The traditional go to set up for children in my experience would be the brighter lighter colors.  There's a number of reasons for that some technical and some just preference.  Today I thought I would challenge the norm and do some child photos in a low key set up.  I don't mind this at all.  I think that it accentuates the child and brings more drama to the photo that a bright well lit scene.  What do you think?

Arm knit scarf ~ fashion forward photography.

The other evening I was invited over with a neat bunch of ladies to try out arm knitting.  I had never heard of it before, but seeing as how attention to detail is something I need improvement with I accepted the offer to learn to arm knit.  Well what a fun evening.  At the end of about an hour I had this fabulous chunky knit scarf to show for my time.

And as you know any new fashion accessory is a good excuse for a photo shoot in my books! 
Until next time...

Tinker Bell Half Marathon 2014!!!

This is a bit of a departure from my usual blog post but I feel like I just have to share.  I am Run Disney's newest fan!  This past week I just returned from an amazing adventure with my family from Disneyland in California.  My sister in law and I had hatched a plan to make the Tinker Bell Half Marathon a reality and built a family vacation around it.  I knew it would be an awesome family vacation but I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy this run.  Disney runs are nothing like anything I have ever experienced before.  It was such an atmosphere of friendship and support!  Let me share with you my run.  First we got up at 3:45 in the morning to dress, feed and prepare ourselves.  Seems crazy right?  But I woke up ten minutes before my alarm ~ ready to get up!  When you have something so fun to do, how can you sleep?  Here I am at 4:30 as we prepared to head out to our corals.

 

Although it was dark out, it wasn't all that chilly.  The time passed very quickly as we chatted with a few people around us in the corals, everyone was in a great mood despite the crazy early time of day.

Before we knew it, the American anthem was playing and it was time to run. 

 

This run had sold out as it usually does and there were 13,000 registered runners!  The first few kms we worked our way around Disney Drive and over to the main gates of the park.  We spent about 8 kms running through the parks and we stopped for many character photos.  Here are a few of my faves.

 

Peter Pan and Wendy

Merida from Brave

Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean

 

After we left the park I stowed my camera in my water belt.  In hindsight, I wish I hadn't done that because there was so much to see on the streets of Anaheim.  There were the Red Hat ladies in droves, there were Cheer Squads, Marching bands and Dance teams.  The support from the community was unreal!  At times we ran down the street giving high fives to the spectators that lined the streets.  It was still pretty magical even though we weren't in the park.  The run was well supported with lots of water stops and fuel stations.  Before we knew it we were winding our way back down towards the park and the mileage markers read 11, 12, 13 miles... We were running down the chute and our magical run was over.  Even though the fun was over, getting our medals was pretty awesome...

 

 

What made this accomplishment even more Disney special was that in the days following the race, all the cast members made a point of acknowledging your run.  Even the characters in fur that could not speak would point to your medal or  your run shirt and give you the thumbs up and a high five.  That was Disney awesome!

 

Although this was my first Disney run I can say for sure that it won't be the last.  It was so much fun from start to finish.  It was a very special milestone for me!

 

 

One that I missed from December..

It's nice to finally have some time to catch up.  The new year... make sure everything is as it should be after coming through that hectic holiday season!  Here's my pretty on her 11th Birthday! 

 

Baby's 1st Birthday

This little cutie pie has been a regular behind my lens this year.  That makes me a very lucky photographer because she is so cute ! So we may have been a little late in planning this 1st Birthday photo shoot because we didn't have enough time to get her a custom 1st Birthday cake to smash but she's little so it was decided a cupcake would do just fine! Really how much sugar does a baby need anyway? Well let me tell you... Lux was quite happy to make her mark and put some sugar in her mouth... it was awesome! And then she helped to clean up at the end too!