Archive for Children

Yup, it’s that time of year.  The leaves are beautiful and we’re starting to think about *shudder* Christmas!  Let me make this easier on you…How about giving the gift of lasting memories to your family and friends?  Here’s the details:

As a thank you to previous clients, I am opening up sessions to you first, but act fast as sessions will fill quickly and be on a first come first serve basis.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Shona xo

Poof!!  Aaaand September is gone.  I’m pretty sure it was washed away by all of the rain we’ve had.  Making up for the summer, I suppose…I’m just glad it’s not the ‘s’ word 😉

It has been a very big month in our home for so many reasons.  Our daughter has started Grade 1 which means full time school.  She was so excited and so ready, but as the weeks wore on and she realized how little time there was left in the day, she became a little teary eyed lamenting the loss of playtime in the afternoon.  She is, however, enjoying it immensely, to which I’m grateful!

Her first day images were pretty quick and dirty as it was a dark, dreary and pouring rain kind of day, but at least we have a record of what she looked like!

And my baby…my BABY started preschool this year.  It was a rough go with my daughter when she started, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from him.  Much to my elation, he LOVES it and cries on the days he DOESN’T get to go…go figure…I can’t win.  It’s one of those cruel jokes of Motherhood that no one bothers to tell you about!

He, thankfully, had a beautiful day so we could to take some time and get some great images of him getting ready for school…And to show off his new hair-do.  Gone are the summer blonde surfer dude locks…sigh…It grows back, right?

So as we settle into our new routines, pull out the warmer sweaters and look forward to pumpkin pie & turkey, I can’t help but look ahead to the Christmas season…It sneaks up every year and fall bookings are starting to go quickly, so if you’re interested in a session, please contact me as soon as possible.  I may also be opening up a fall mini-session date to accommodate as many people as possible.  Details to follow.

‘Till then, have a great weekend!

Shona 🙂

I lover her.  It’s as simple as that.  Her funny faces, big doe eyes and sweet demeanor had me wrapped right around {Baby I’s} finger from the moment I met her!!  At almost 8 months she’s at that wonderful age where she will sit relatively still before venturing into a leopard crawl…I had to work fast, but not nearly as fast as when photographing 2 year olds!!  lol!

I hope you enjoy your sneak peak!

I recently had the pleasure of photographing these wee lads along with the rest of their family.  The love that this family has for each other is palpable and it was such a pleasure to see them giggling and teasing each other.  It made me REALLY miss my big brother and sad that we live so far away because it’s virtually impossible to be around him without laughing.  Yup, he’s that funny.  I digress though.  I hope you enjoy the little sparkle in the boys’ eyes as much as I did!

This is the beautiful daughter of this Mom…and she scares me!  I look at her and think, wow.  I’ve roughly got less than 10 years until my “baby” looks this grown up?  EEP!  Here’s a few more from our mini session we had the day after the big event 🙂

sigh….

Shona xoxo

My ‘puter’s back, my ‘puter’s back!  I’d be a lot more excited if I didn’t have this seriously sinking feeling in my belly about the amount of editing I need to catch up on!  So for now, my son is giving me a big squeeze and telling me it’ll all be okay 😉

That is an understatement.  {M} is such a beautiful woman, inside and out and I feel privileged to call her  my friend.  For her 40th birthday (I know, she doesn’t look a day over 29 😉 ), she decided she’d like to capture herself,  her family and her friends as they are today – happy, healthy and enjoying each others company.  I was so happy to be her photographer as I KNEW the images would be beautiful ~ how could they not be with my subject matter?!

Without further adieu, here she is, the birthday girl & her gorgeous kids!

Happy Birthday pretty lady!

Shona x0x0

My baby girl is growing up so quickly and I know this fact will only be magnified by 1000 once she’s in Grade 1 next year.  She’s already reading chapter books and putting me to bed and has recently discovered “cootie catchers”…weren’t those called fortune tellers when we were kids?  I dunno.  I take solace in the fact that she still wears a unicorn necklace and most of her books are about fairies (although she is quite into her new “Children’s History of Scotland”…yup, she’s a geek).

As a photographer, I often forget about capturing our own little moments at home and freezing them in time the only way I know how.  I need to get better at this…childhood is so fleeting and their interests and expressions change so quickly it’s exciting and sad all in the same…

Here’s a few of my cootie catchin’ 6 year old that she “permitted” me to take the other night…

Enjoy your weekend!

Shona 🙂

I’ve been lucky enough to borrow a macro lens this week and, unfortunately, haven’t had the chance to put it through its paces  as much as I would have liked.  BUT, I have learned a lot about what will work for me for the type of images I would like to one day achieve.

Which brings me to my point (yup, I have one today…pretty good, huh?).  Regardless of your level in photography, I STRONGLY recommend renting lenses prior to purchasing.  Not all lenses work for all people so it’s hard to go by what everyone else says.  Really test drive it for a weekend and see if it’s something you would like.  There are many many places that rent lenses and for a rather cheap price. For example, I rented a Canon 70-200 2.8L lens for the long weekend and it was only $40.  It’s a fantastic lens and crazy sharp, but I just can’t justify a hefty purchase like that for what I do at the moment.  It was a lot of fun and I’m glad I rented it, but I’m even more glad I didn’t buy it (that sucker is HEAVY!).

Here’s a few of my fledgling attempts with a macro…hope you enjoy and TGIF!  🙂

After being in Victoria with my Mom, I had the pleasure and privilege of attending the Shannon Sewell Workshop in Red Deer, Alberta at the end of April.  Thankfully the stars aligned and I was able to spend a good chunk of time with my Mom AND get to attend the workshop!  I was one lucky girl!

Let me first say it was a pleasure meeting Shannon.  She was extremely down to earth and forthcoming with her knowledge.  She also brought Jeff Holt who is an amazing photographer from Charlotte, NC.  They packed a lot into that one day workshop and left me with more questions than answers…which is a good thing.  Vision/style whatever you want to call it has to come from within and as an artist, only you can figure that out.  It’s a process and it ebbs and flows.  And that’s okay!  They inspired me to be better, to try new things and, on some level, gave me permission to fail.  Sounds absurd, I know, but that is how we grow.

Thank you for a wonderful day!

Shona