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!!

THE SINGH'S

Whew!! These guys made me work this morning!! Three of the most adorable kids ever, but only one was interested in having her photo taken by me....I had to tell them I knew Santa and even that didn't really work too well!  I did get a few good shots....looking for a great family one still..but thought these were pretty cute and hope they are what you wanted Deb!                                                                                                  

OWEN

Here is a sneak peek for you Elise, I know you will check it out as soon as you wake up!!  They are so cute.

I might have to spend all day editing these images of Owen, When he first got to my house I thought "oh CRAP! this is going to be so hard" he wouldn't sit still, I was trying to take pictures in the house by the christmas tree with a flash and with the delay in flash by the time it took the picture Owen was LONG gone! But then we took things outside...I was dissapointed in the overcast day as I was so excited to use the 8 am light which normally is so pretty right now, but I still think these are super cute!

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.....

In keeping with my commitment to one blog post per week...here is what I have for this week...not a whole heck of a lot! Ella was sick this week, Oliver is now in a big boy bed and has been getting up for the day between 4-5AM! and has decided that he no longer needs to nap either...Momma is tired...Oliver seems to be going strong!

I did spend a fair amount of time in the house this week and have been trying to better my relationship with my Nikkor 24-70.....this lens seems to not like me very much..we're working on that.

I love that once halloween is over Starbucks comes out with their Christmas Cups! Who doesn't love a Venti Tea Measto in a christmas cup!!!  This is going to be our first christmas in Calgary..I really never thought the day would come that we didn't venture home to BC but it has and we are looking forward to it! We are keeping the decor simple with a vintage flare! I love the little birds Ella and I found, and our Advent calendar we made..we kept it really simple but I think its kind of elegant looking, I got a vintage santa stamp that we might stamp on a few of the envelopes but for now I love the simplness of it.  I also love Style at Home and was elated when it came in the mail this week!! I wish I had the house on the cover.....one day!

Now running out to a hockey fundraiser where i have donated a session for the silent auction and off tomorrow to see the [b]ecker!!!!!! Super excited...this is supposed to be one of the best seminars for photographers...I seen last week Fresh Sugar was giving away a ticket so if she thinks its good it must be!!

BLOGGING......

I have a friend who is also testing out this whole photography thing who sent me a message the other day telling me that I should try out 365 blogging...when I read the message I thought "hmm sounds neat I wonder what it is" see this friend is always coming up with fantastic ideas so I thought this must be some fancy blog that I must look into...well upon further disscussion I find that she is talking about blogging 365 days a year!!! same old boring blog but a new post daily!!!! I have been mulling this over for a week now, not wanting to start unless I am going to go through with it and thinking this just is not going to happen for me, when today upon stalking some of the other photographers blogs that I stalk I seen one who blogs something family related every Friday...well this I *think* I can do, and I know Nannie and Grama will appreciate it and possibly said friend will find it a good compromise??????

So here is my first weekly family blog post!

This is my handsome boy Oliver James, he is 100% obbessed with hockey much to his Mommy's dissapointment! I hoped with all my heart that my boy wouldn't want to be a hockey player, I hated watching my brother play, thought I was through when I grew up and moved out only to discover I had fallen in love with someone who loved the sport and wanted me to watch him, but my boy was going to be different until my heart melted the day he said "Momma I a hockey boy too" and proceeded to watch an entire game on TV all the while saying "Daddy thats you!! There you are Daddy!" and "Thats me right there, there I am!" and I changed my mind my son will be a "hockey boy" and I will be the proudest Hockey Boy Mommy there ever was!!