Guilty Pleasures December 14, 2009

Before moving east, I had the pleasure of meeting Brandy Anderson, owner of Fresh Sugar Photography in Calgary.  She is such a sweet person and very generous with her knowledge.  She also introduced me to Danna Bowes of Bowes Photography (also in Calgary and equally sweet).  Well, this dynamic duo have really outdone themselves this time.  They’ve created another company called Two Photogs.  They are educating photographers on various topics pertinent to the business and they are also going to provide online mentorship in January.  As an introductory offer, they put together a little photo challenge called guilty pleasures…the winner gets a seat in their mentorship program…um, yes please!

So, after much soul searching (boy do I have a lot of guilty pleasures ), I chose:

bubble bath + candles + purdy toes = my guilty pleasures…

Let me tell you, self portraits are no easy task.  But hey, I’m always up for a challenge, why not include electronics, water, lit candles & the potential to expose a little more of oneself than anyone needed to see!!  I had a few humorous outtakes, a couple of almost falls on the wet bathroom floor & by the time I got to the toe shots, they were prunes!  BUT, my camera gear was unscathed, so that’s the main thing! 

So without further ado, my guilty pleasures:

Good luck to all who took the challenge…there are some amazing submissions!!  And ladies, keep up the good work!  Wish we still lived closer

Shona

Moooo! :: Ottawa Child Photographer December 1, 2009

Cows was a must this summer when we visited the beautiful island of PEI…yummy, yummy, yummy!  It was great to see not only how the ice cream was made, but also the t-shirts and award-winning cheese (which I didn’t even know they made).  It feels funny to blog this on December 1st, but why not!?  Enjoy…and sorry for making you hungry!

Stylin’ :: Ottawa Child Photographer November 26, 2009

I had the pleasure of photographing a couple of cuties over the weekend and man, their Mom’s got style.  I mean serious style!  I knew she was on the ball, but she had the kids dressed like something straight out of a Gap ad!  Luckily the weather held, although it was pretty chilly for the little tykes (and their photographer!!).  They were super troopers though and lasted way longer than I thought they would!

I hope you enjoy your sneak peak!!  I sure enjoyed learning some hockey moves, Beaver songs, about Fancy Nancy and all the other cool stuff that’s out there!

I wonder if they make these boots in adult size?  Seriously. Cute.

And this hat!  Oh this hat!  We had literally packed the kids up into the car when Mom realized she forgot it…so we dragged the poor girl back out for a rapid fire succession of shots! 

I’m so glad we did!

Shona

I’m Not Ready For This :: Ottawa Photographer November 17, 2009

Why do kids have to grow up so quickly?  Really.  All of a sudden my daughter’s singing songs from the radio, wanting to wear girly clothes and generally just plain old growing up.  Excuse me?  She’s FIVE!  She’s even decided that she’s going to have a boy and girl and has even drawn a family portrait.  At least she still thinks that she’s going to marry her brother which gives me some solace in the fact that she isn’t interested in boys (however, I gather from my sources that there are a few that have crushes on her…again, she’s FIVE!).

Here’s her “family” including Nicholas and Holly (don’t ask me where she got those names from):

And a photo that reminds me she’s still my baby who can pout like nobody’s business!

Sigh….

I Shot My Mum :: Ottawa Photographer November 9, 2009

With my camera people!  Sheesh!  Mum’s been out visiting and kicking my butt into gear.  We did a quick mini shoot yesterday for her Christmas cards and here are a few of my favourites. 

Thanks for all your help

Fall :: Ottawa-Gatineau Photographer November 7, 2009

While the leaves were still on the trees we beetled over to beautiful Gatineau Park to enjoy the trees, views, and well, crowds.  Boy there’s a lot of people out and about at this time of year!  Ah well, it was beautiful none-the-less.  Here’s a few storyboards that I’ve created of the kiddies.

Enjoy!

Remember that orders for Christmas must be placed by the 14th of November and all payments must be received prior to placing orders.  Thank you!

22 Minutes of Weather November 6, 2009

Ah yes, the chill is in the air.  Mittens are out, toques are on, snowsuits are just around the corner.  I have to say I’m a little less than happy about this.  I used to love winter…I think that was bk (before kids) when the long process of getting everyone out the door became a mammoth task of malto-meal proportions like the poor kid in “A Christmas Story”.

This “news” clip pretty much sums up my feelings.

And what makes it worse is I used to be one of the “chosen few” on the west coast.  I used to love it when my family would call me in February and tell me about the daffodils blooming when I was chin deep in snow in N. Alberta…sheesh.

At least we’re supposed to have a warm snap this weekend!  Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts!!

Spooktakular Night :: Ottawa Hallowe’en Photographer November 2, 2009

After a lot of rain, the skies dried up and the kids were able to go trick or treating…We weren’t quite sure what was going to happen, but boy were we happy to see the rain go and the warmer weather remain!  Here’s a few images from the day!

My cake pop attempt wasn’t quite as successful as last Easter as my pens were dry, but they were eaten so fast it truly didn’t matter!!

My little ham was all excited to have her nails done, hair curled and make-up applied as she was a princess this year…well, she’s a princess everyday, but she actually got to wear make-up to go with the title!

Ma Belle…

And lets not forget my little dragon who takes every opportunity to roar any old day of the week!

A little before and after for the pumpkins as well!!

I hope you had a great weekend! 

Longing for Summer… :: Ottawa Family Photographer October 30, 2009

Well, all of my images from PEI are all over the place and long overdue to be blogged…My goal is to get them done sooner than later (I think I may need to be more specific on that!!).  It was a fantastic vacation with mostly incredible weather (except for that one storm where I honestly thought the trailer was going to flip over!!!) and with loads of beach time.  Unfortunately my “models” weren’t too cooperative in the image making department, but what can you do?

So here are few and I mean a few of the images that were captured…I’ll post more as I finish them.

These few sets were taken at Basin Head…It’s a BEAUTIFUL stretch of beach that, well, squeaks!  It’s because of the high silica content and we had a ball just squishing it in our hands and toes and trying to see who could make it “sing” the loudest

The beach really is this beautiful…you can walk for miles and miles and miles.  I was trying so hard to get a bunch of pictures involving the grass, but I had to cut it short.  The ONLY drawback to this beach were the horse flies!  Oh man, did they ever take large chunks out of my behind!!

More images to follow, but until then, enjoy

Old News… :: Ottawa Family Photographer October 22, 2009

This really is old news as this happened in September…Our darling daughter decided she’d had enough of her training wheels and wanted to go without.  I coached her a little on how to get started while she still had the wheels and that boosted her confidence enough to give it a go.  I was actually rather shocked as in the spring she road her bike like a little granny who was afraid of her shadow.

Here’s to you Baby Girl!  Way to set a goal and accomplish it without even blinking an eye!