A LITTLE OF THIS AND A LITTLE OF THAT - CALGARY PHOTOGRAPHER

Yesterday we let Ella skip school in the morning to go to COP and see the Olympic torch on its way out of Calgary, we thought this was something that doesn't come around everyday and she should see it. She was so very excited when the boy who was taking the torch to get ready to run out let her hold it for a photo! It was a pretty neat experience and we are so glad we made sure she had the chance to do it!

On another note the wonderfully talented photog, Kathy and I have been chatting photography of all things lately and I was telling her I wished I had more natural light in my basement because I would set up a little studio down there and she laughed and told me I didn't need windows, just lights! So today while Miss. Maya Jillian was over for the afternoon I set up my backdrops and bribed her with gummie bears to sit for me..we had lots of fun and I love the pictures I got with her, using only flash!!   Maya's Mom is one of my very good friends and constantly reminds me of the old story the shoe makers kids never have shoes because the photographers friends never get their photos! I promise Shel, if you want some of these I will get them to you ASAP (but ASAP may not have the same meaning to you as it does to me)

The last two are of course Oliver and Ella! I love Oliver's long full eyelashes, he inherited from his Daddy! and Ella at her parents day at Dance...the photo is not the best I was/do struggle with those type of lights but with those kind of photos its more for the memories then the photography perfection!

Ella leaving her and Oliver's best wishes for team Canada! This huge card is being sent to Vancouver!

Having a little fun at the end...Oliver wanted to get in on it too and had to have his picture on the pink backdrop in his hawaiian shorts while it was snowing out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANNIE!

Today is Nannie's birthday and we are sad we can't be there to give her a big hug and spend the day with her...we miss her very very very much! So because we can't be there for Nannie's special day we have compliled the following list.....

10 REASONS WE LOVE NANNIE!

10. She lets us swim in her and Papa's hot tub...even cooling it down in the summer!
  9. She flies to Calgary every June to watch dance recitals and help with hair/wig dilemas...Nannie's have more experience with this sort of thing afterall she does have a number of dance hair styling years under her belt!
 8. She has a dog named Heaton (Mommy: Oli James why do you love a Nannie? Oliver: Heaton! I guess its the simple things in life when your two)
  7. Cracker Jack Cookies and Brownies...Brock's contribution to the list....he loved them so much while we were growing up that when I went to meet him for probably the first time we went out together She sent me with a tupperwear container full of brownies for him. (incase you are unaware...I have known my husband since toddlerhood!)
  6.She will read a whole Junie B Jones novel to you at bedtime, Ella thinks this is great but little does she know Nannie only wants to find out how it ends!
  5. She sews us beautiful things on her sewing machine, snuggie jammies, warm coats, blankets for our beds.
  4. She knows the names of all the beautiful flowers in the world!
  3. Her laundry is the softest sweetest smelling laundry in the whole world...no matter how hard we try it is impossible to replicate here in Calgary.
  2. She never smells bad, when she gives you a hug its always soft in your arms and sweet in your nose! and the number one reason we love Nannie....
  1. She believes we can do anything and everything with perfection...she doesn't think anyone is smarter, sweeter, cuter or funnier then  her grandchildren ( mind you she is able to send them back to their parents at the first hint of this not being true)

Have a wonderful day Nannie!  (sorry this photo didn't turn out the way I imagined it at all but its the best we got!)

GONE....

Yup everything is gone from the blog.....I don't know what I did but one second it was all there and then next it was gone!

So far this year has started off with very good intentions...but thats about it! Not much seems to be going the way I had wanted it to and the clouds are rolling in fast on what was a very sunny outlook!  But what can you do...stay calm and carry on I suppose, add a few pictures to make up for the lost photos and start from scratch.  SIGH!

My tech guy is on it..possibly he will find the problem??

***EDITED TO ADD*** Hmmm its all back!! Is Oliver some kind of two year old computer wizard???

A NEW LOGO!!

pI finally got my new logo! Its nothing fancy I wanted to keep it very simple and easy and I love how it came turned out!  I have some really neat ideas for new business cards with this logo and looking forward to getting rid of my website and having a new custom website blog made which I hope to get going early this year!  Stay tuned for more fun changes!!

THE HARVIE AND KRAMP KIDS

We love going home to the island to see our niece and nephew, we love them soooo very much and miss them everyday, they are so very very cute and sweet!

Nannie tries so hard to get good photos of the kids together and it never really pans out..they are a hard bunch to make sit still, but bribed with gummie bears they will do almost anything....and we almost got them all looking and smiling!! Now a new baby with arrive in a few weeks and we will start the process all over again!!

I wanted to blog some of our christmas photos, but this computer is giving me a run for my money and not doing anything I want it to..so doesn't look like christmas photos will make the blog this year!

The fourth photo is Oliver, you can tell by the lack of smile ;) it was taken in Brock's truck at the ferry terminal in Vancouver around 7am when it was still very dark, the light on his face is from one lamp on the roof of brock's truck! I LOVE IT!

A DAY FOR NEW STARTS.....

Today Leslie will marry Kelly and they will start a new life together....today I will photograph Leslie marrying Kelly and take a right turn on my  path through photography.

I spent most of last night on the internet looking at all my favourite  wedding photographers, looking for inspiration.  I love to read Jasmine Star's FAQ section, she always says she is an open book and she really is! I found a long ago posts about the day she quit photography, how she booked her first wedding with a Cannon 20D and one lens, a 24-70 and I felt a small sense of comfort knowing that I have three lenses going into this wedding ;) But really I thought, one day a few years from now I am going to look back on today and remember and think about just how far I've come and giggle about how nervous this has made me.  I shut the computer around 7 to discuss outfit choices with my very fashionable Sister-in-law, had some pizza, unwound with my kids and double checked my bag and notes and of course changed my facebook status, where I found much needed encouragement from friends and a fellow photographer!

Today isn't only the biggest day in Leslie and Kelly's lives, it ranks pretty high up there on my list of biggest days along side my own wedding day, and the birthing two children!

Now as I prepare to shower and get ready I pray for the foggy skies to take a hike and for the sun to stay out until 6pm tonight...neither of these will happen but positive thinking gets you everywhere negative thinking doesn't.  Good Luck to you Les and Kelly and thank you for forcing me to challenge myself and grow.

Because this wedding is on the island, and I unexpectedly got a new MacBook for christmas and had to order CS4 in the Mac version that will hopefully be in the mail when I get home, I wont be able to blog any photos of the wedding until I get back home to Calgary and get some edits done...unless by some miracle I get some amazing out of the camera shots, but stay tuned they will come soon!

but because a post is nothing without a picture or two here is a taste of my christmas joy!!!

my new Shootsac!!!! and MacBook!

A SPECIAL DAY FOR ELLA - CALGARY PHOTOGRAPHER-PERSONAL

Oliver was NOT impressed that his sister was having ANOTHER special day!! When you have an older sister that dances, musical theater, plays piano and violin, is in grade one and numerous other activities he hears "Oli its Ella's special day!" ALL THE TIME!!

Yesterday was a very special day for Ella, her class performed at the Christmas Liturgy at the Church!! Oliver, having been brought along to many a special day thought differently....he thought maybe just once it should be his special day! so when I sushed him and "said Oli be quiet, its Ella's special day!" he yelled out in the midst of a silent congregation " NO Mommy, IT MY SPECIAL DAY! MY SPECIAL DAY TODAY!"

Ella was a star as she always is, a performer reveling in her craft!! She smiled big, with her bouncy curls, diamond clip, perfect black cardigan and shiny polished black heels looked out into the crowd, found us and gave a big wave and tiny giggle and gave it her all. Belting out the song with hand actions bigger than life itself! Could she have been any more excited?? maybe...could Brock and I have been any prouder?? Not a chance! As for Oli, well he'll be heading over to Shelley's where he is so loved that everyday is Oli day!

Since there is no photographing at the Church I only got a couple images of Ella before and one after.  Here is Ella and her good friend Keegan

and Ella after the concert.

OLIVER - CALGARY PHOTOGRAPHER

For the past two and half years all Brock and I hear from people is "oh my gosh, he's soooo serious"
When Oliver was born he was five tiny pounds of serious! I thought he possibly didn't like me too much he NEVER smiled, we didn't even really get those baby gassy smiles from him.  At four months old we noticed that he didn't react to ANY sounds, we could stand behind him and scream as loud as possible and he didn't flinch, we set the smoke alarms off and he didn't flinch, my heart litterally stopped the day the Dr slamed the door of the office and he just layed there, she looked at me and said "we are going to have to have his hearing tested"  Two weeks later we were told "your son hears perfectly fine" and from that day on I have known Oliver takes life with a grain of salt, nothing shakes him up, he is a serious boy!!
Now when people say "oh my gosh, he's so serious" I just smile.  Oliver likes to smile on the sly....he gives big chessy grins when you are giving up and putting the camera away..sometimes I get lucky and catch one.

I took these pictures this morning when the sun was coming up and the snow was bright, I love them because they are Oliver, some people might look at them and wonder why I would love a picture that seems as though my son is giving me dirty looks, but he's not......and I caught a big cheesy grin when he thought I was done!!

ELLA....CALGARY PHOTOGRAPHER

I can't believe Ella is going to be SEVEN this February......I never imagined that Ella would become the very talented, sweet girl she is today.  We decided to not have school pictures done this year, when your Mom takes as many pictures as I do is there really a need to pay $60+ for a run of the mill school picture.  So we decided we would take some photos of her with her beloved Violin!
I love the shot of her with her eyes closed and wish she wasn't having so much trouble with her eyes right now, believe it or not I did edit them and there just wasn't much I could do to fix the purple bruising they were that bad that day...thankfully one day with a new cream seems to be working wonders!!

Now to get Oliver out of his skates and into the feild for some sweet shots of him!! Maybe Kathy, an amazing photographer of http://www.photoliciousphotography.com/ ! will get a great one of him tomorrow! We are so excited for her to take some family shots of us....she has helped me so much on this photographic journey answering question after question...I really do appreciate all her help and think she is one very talented lady!!

A FUTURE PHOTOGRAPHER??

So one of the things Becker stressed was that you should always have a picture of yourself for the people who are hiring you to see....I wasn't a huge fan of this idea, mostly because I am not a fan of pictures of myself, but thought I would go ahead and look through some past photos and see if I could find a decent one when I came across this, taken by Oliver at age 2.

Back towards the end of the summer, might of even been September because Ella wasn't around, I was playing with my camera and Oliver said "me too Momma" so I gave him the camera, which was too heavy for his tiny hands to hold up with the Nikkor 24-70 on it so he held the camera and I held the end of the lens while he pushed the shutter, and got the biggest smile on his face....I eventually just layed the camera on the floor and he layed behind it telling me what to do...he would say "chessey smile Momma, move her on your tummy" it was so much fun and he took a ton pictures of me.

I am still not a fan of myself in photos..but I like how I got these!

MADE MY FIRST [B]ECKER CHANGE....

Its not much and honestly I doubt that anyone will even notice it! But I went to see the [b]ecker yesterday and I founnd him to be so inspiring...just the way he is inspired me! It was awesome and I feel lucky I got to go! I also got the chance to meet a whole whack of photographers that were full of great advice and things to try....one of them even lives but 5 seconds away from me and her son is the same age, grade and in the same school as Ella!
I can't wait to start changing things...and think the first thing on my list is going to be a new custom blog along with a logo and new business cards all very very exciting!

Well I can't end a post without a few photos.....this was our day today.....

I love this picture...people always tell us Oliver looks like Brock...today I kept looking at this photo and thinking thats not Brock but its someone, well it just hit me...this is my brother, in this photo Oliver looks just like my brother, James!

Yes, Elise, thats our cake.....