Marlene’s Designer Portraits bio picture

About Marlene Fast

I photograph children, families, high school grads, fine art, pictorial, scenics.

I love photography; working (playing) in Photoshop; the rain; my clients; winter (if it would last only 2 months); spending time with my friends and family; learning about the latest in photography trends and styles; Tim Hortons coffee (large, black, please); my cat; Christmas; people; travel; Africa; elephants; Disney World; making people laugh; spring; flower gardens; listening to the amazing music of Matt Anderson.

13 days overdue and she’s here!

On January 23, 5 lb. 10 oz. Brooke Faye arrived.  Her parents were waiting and waiting….. but Brooke decided to make her entrance on her terms!   What a gorgeous little girl!   Look at those lips.  She’ll definitely be a heart-breaker one day!

Thanks Jared and Sandi - for bringing little Brooke in when she was just just 5 days old!   Here are some of my favorite images from the session.

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Ohhhh - she’s smiling!

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And very alert!

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“It was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into.” ~ T. Guillemets

February 2, 2010 - 10:10 am Inge - Gorgeous photos of a gorgeous young lady! How cute can you get? :-)

February 3, 2010 - 9:56 pm Auntie Bev :-) - Wow! Marlene, gorgeous pictures of the Peters family as always! I'm somewhat partial to my grandnieces and nephews from Sylvia's family. thanks for posting these shots, as I won't see Brooke until the spring. (Sylv tipped me off about your blog.) Bev Reimer

Maternity loveliness…

Last October I received an email from one of my photographer friends, Tobi Ann Baumgartner.  She does some fabulous treatments to her photography.  You must check out her site!   Tobi Ann said she loved my portraits and asked if I did maternity portraits.  Yes!!!    Early January she came in for a consult - we booked a session for the 20th of January - she was in her 8th month.   What fun we had.  She is absolutely gorgeous and just glowing.  Tobi Ann had given me some idea of what it is she was looking for.   Yesterday, she came in for her Premiere Showing and we narrowed our favorites to just under 30 images.   Since I can’t post all of them, I will post my favorite images.

My favorite from the entire session…

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Another favorite… it doesn’t show her beautiful belly clearly - but I loved the artsy feel of this image and her hand in her hair…

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Love the window light!

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Tobi Ann brought in several scarves - I especially loved this blue one!  We had fun with it!

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Gorgeous and I used another one of her scarves, draped over the door…

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Another one that I love - wrapped in soft fabric… looks so angelic.

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Okay… another favorite!

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Somewhat reminiscent of  Botticelli’s birth of Venus…

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Don’t know what it is about this one… but I really love it!

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Pretty, pretty, pretty…

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Tobi Ann - thank you for choosing me to capture this special time of your life!

Helping Haiti

Helping the Haitian Earthquake Victims.

Just a few short months ago, my 16 year old nephew went down to Haiti as part of his church’s youth ministry.  There were many youths that went from his church, Cornerstone Bible Church and several adults as well, so my brother-in-law went as well.    The Northwest Haiti Christian Mission is a holistic ministry and development organization committed to the people of the Northwest region of Haiti.  For 30 years, they have been touching lives in the name of Jesus.  Every year, hundreds of travelers come to Haiti to partner with them in their work.  Colton and Dick and quite a few others visited several orphanages and got a chance to interact with the people of Haiti.
They reported back of the over 80% of Haitians that are unemployed and live in poverty with many of them not eating regularly.  And now the earthquake happened in a country that seems to be in so much need.

But out of sorrow often comes hope.  It was inspiring to see Canada and the rest of the world assist with rescue missions immediately.  The Canadian government says it will match every donation, dollar for dollar.

So I urge you to join me and make a donation that will help provide fresh water, food and shelter for the people of Haiti.

There are several worthwhile charities out there.  These are some of my personal choices.

logo1 Mennonite Central Committee

wvi_logo World Vision International

redcross Canadian Red Cross

Every little bit helps.  Thank you.

Happy New Year 2010!

I hope that the New Year came in with a bang!   I wish all my clients and blog readers a Healthy and Happy New Year!  And I hope to see many of you in 2010.  Watch for some changes happening at Marlene’s Designer Portraits!

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Christmas Blessings

I’d like to take this time to wish all my family, friends and clients a wonderful, blessed Christmas.  I appreciate your friendship, support, laughter, joy and continued business!

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All the best to you in the New Year!

Thank you to Inge Skliros for taking this photo of me at Walt Disney World!