Julian and Londyn

Early in November, I had the pleasure of photographing two beautiful children. And to say that I got my exercise that day is a major understatement.
Julian and Londyn, along with their mother Cassie, met me and my sister-in-law/assistant, Jennifer, at Lakeview Park for their portrait session. Julian was instantly friendly and quite the little chatter box, asking me about my equipment and other things. Londyn, however, was glued to her mother's side and seemed very shy. I wondered how long it would take me to coax her out of her shyness................ not long at all as it turned out. After the first couple of photos, we were having quite a lot of fun! Running along the beach, playing peek-a-boo, and only stopping long enough for Cassie to wipe some very runny noses. I think they had had their photo taken a few times before. Every time they knew I was about to take their picture, what do you think they yelled? "Cheese!" I've heard from many other seasoned photographers to never have your subject say "cheese", but I'm inclined to let my subjects just be themselves. But I have to admit, after hearing "cheese" for about the hundredth time, I convinced Julian and Londyn to say some other foods that they like to eat. "Rice cakes!" "PISTACCHIOS!"
We ended the session on the playground (the part that Julian had been anxiously awaiting) and I got to be a passenger on the toy train. Julian was the conductor and Londyn blew the whistle. It was a great way to end the photo shoot. Here are some of my favorites from our fun filled day:

This beautiful family was truly an inspiration to me.
To Cassie: You have an amazing story and I know that your testimony will bless many lives. It blessed mine. Thank you for being a model for what it means to truly have faith in God. I pray the Lord continues to bless you and your family.

Breana and Janelle

Ok, so as you may have noticed, I've gotten pretty behind on my blogging. Sorry readers! So, I'll be getting caught up within the next couple of weeks.
First, in the line up, is Breana and Janelle Church. Their session was late in October and the lovely Canadian weather had decided to give us a preview of what we had to look forward to in the long winter months ahead. Yes, It. Was. COLD!!! I felt awful having to ask these girls to take their coats off for some of the photos. But they braved the cold without complaint, and in spite of our numb fingers and runny noses, we got some very nice shots.

Hey everybody, that's it for me today! Don't forget to go to the contact page on my website and sign up for the free VBP newsletter! Have a great week!

Urban Family Session - Robin, Seth, and Shea

Last week I had a really fun family session with the Walsh Family... well, the Walsh family minus 1 (unfortunately, Luke had to work late). We planned an urban/industrial style shoot for them. The weather has been pretty yucky lately and it was kind of touch and go for a while on the day of their session, but it stopped raining and turned out to be perfect weather for pictures.

We headed out to an area of Oshawa that has many different warehouses and found a couple that had some interesting structural features. The second warehouse had many large pipes at the side of it and we had a lot of fun getting some shots in and among those.

When we were finished at the warehouses, we then went to the local skate park to gets some action shots of the boys on their skateboards. Turns out that the GO station that can be seen in the background of those photos was one of Luke's first construction jobs, so I guess in some small way he was in a few of the photos. hehe. 

I wrapped things up with the boys at the skate park and decided to let them continue skating while I got some more single shots of their mom. Robin was a lot of fun to photograph. She and I are both fans of America's Next Top Model so she knew exactly what I was talking about when I said she had the "wind in the hair" look and when I told her to "smize" and do the "booty tooch." HAHA

Here are some of the photos from their session:

Hope everyone is staying warm during these cold rainy days. Catch you all later! :)

Off The Computer, Onto The Wall

Well, the temperatures are starting to drop, the shops have brought out their fall merchandise, and I've even seen some leaves changing colors and falling off the trees. You know what that means. Yes, fall is here, and winter is fast approaching. I'm sure many of us are already beginning to think about what to give our loved ones for Christmas. Those of us who are more ardent than others probably already have a few gifts stashed away. (I am usually not among those folks) As much as I love summer, I always look forward to and enjoy the holidays. It's taking every bit of my self-control not to break out the Christmas music in the middle of September! I'm not sure how long I'll last.

I don't know about all of you, but I like to try to buy gifts that are unique and that will really mean something to the recipient. One thing that I love to give as gifts, obviously being a photographer, is portrait wall art. I don't mean just a 4x6 in a frame either. There are so many possibilities for displaying your photos. Canvases, collages, even metal prints!!! Many people don't even think about these possibilities.

So many people, when they talk to me about having some portraits taken, they ask if they can just get a CD with their images on it. While I do offer it, I really try to encourage people to purchase prints because, let's face it, what happens with almost all our pictures that are on our computers? They stay right there, on our computers. Sure, we have good intentions, but most of us probably procrastinate until the clothes we were wearing look dated and our kids are about a foot taller than they were when the photos were taken. Wouldn't it be better to just order the prints right after they are taken when there is an expert there to help?

One service that I offer to my clients is to have a pre-session consultation in their home where I can see the color scheme of each room and make suggestions on the type of wall art that will look best. I can also make suggestions on the color and style of apparel for the portraits based on the color and style of the home.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of the kind of wall art you can have in your home. These are not my photos. They are just examples.

Wall art is a great way to reflect one's personal style. You can display your photos in an elegant and classy way or they can be modern and funky. Talk about killing two birds with one stone; you can have beautiful art to put on your walls AND get those cherished portraits off the computer and on display!

Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!

A Beautiful Mess

So, for the past couple of months my laptop has been out of commission. I have to use Daniel's laptop until we get mine fixed. So, because all my website stuff was on my laptop and I wasn't able to get it moved until yesterday, I haven't been able to blog in a while. But I'm back in business now... and even have a new and improved website.

Last week, I had the privilege of doing a couple photo shoots, both with some very beautiful ladies. The first one I did that week was with my lovely sister-in-law, Jennifer and the second was with Macy and Savannah Church and Marissa Breedan. These were the first real photo shoots I was able to do with my new lighting kit. Julie, my sister-in-law and little intern, was helping me for both.

Jennifer's shoot went pretty well. We had scoped out a few locations ahead of time and planned her outfits for the day. It ended up that some of the places we really wanted to go to were closed. I guess that's a sacrifice that has to be made if you want to shoot at the "Golden Hour" (the hour after sunrise and before sunset where the light is perfect for pictures) We got some AMAZING shots. Here are a few of my favorites:

For Macy, Marissa, and Savannah's shoot we headed out to Parkwood Estates. I love taking pictures there! It's a gorgeous location! For those that didn't know, here's an interesting bit of information about Parkwood. Several popular movies have been filmed there. Billy Madison, X-Men, and The Tuxedo, just to name a few. I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, this particular photo shoot turned out to be an eventful one. First, we started to set up the lighting and I don't know how, but the umbrella got opened too far and then would not close. We had to carry it around open all day, which is really awkward and inconvenient. But we worked through it and the umbrella still served it's purpose. While, I was shooting some pictures of Macy, all the sudden Savannah started screaming bloody murder... poor girl was viciously attacked by a bee. I told her it must have liked the smell of her hairspray because it flew straight into her hair.
Parkwood closed at 5, so we went to a 2nd beautiful location to finish out the shoot. Got some really gorgeous pictures there. I was just taking the last few pictures, when Julie, my assistant, said, "Ok, I think I'm gonna pass out now." I look over at her and she's white as a sheet. I made her sit down and put her head between her knees and then gave her some water. She managed not to pass out and we packed up and headed home. I got home, and Daniel was able to fix my umbrella (I think I may be buying a better one soon anyway) So, it was kind of a chaotic day, but we still got some gorgeous photos. I'll leave you with the highlights:

Hope everyone has a blessed weekend!