I am extremely grateful and thankful for great friends.  I have some really great friends I must say.  But there are three that have impacted me the last few weeks.

Most long-weekends of the year you will find me driving for 3 hours to get to Brandon, Manitoba to visit my best friend, Inge and her husband Michael and their two beautiful dogs!  This photograph was taken in March 2009.  On the sofa to the left is Hunter.  Sitting on Inge’s lap is Grissom.  I love this image!

A few weeks ago I drove down again and I had the most amazing time.  We laughed, we relaxed, we ate (Inge’s a fabulous cook), we drank, we spent time outdoors in their beautiful garden, we soaked in the hot tub, we synergized, we talked about photography, we inspired each other.  We did a bit of photography in her studio using her gorgeous “Dream Spinner” background.  She’s a great photographer and does some awesome grad photos, has some unique family portraits, and I can’t forget to mention she’s fabulous at photographing pets – especially dogs  I am so grateful and thankful for these wonderful friends!

Then a week ago, I headed up to Stonewall and spent much of the day with another great friend and fellow photographer, Carmen.

Carmen and I try to get together every few months to catch up and to inspire each other and to help each other out in our businesses.  I believe our styles are quite similar and our clients love and value the same thing – beautiful, timeless, storytelling portraits!  I have known Carmen for years and we’ve gone to numerous conventions together.   What I love most about Carmen is that she lets me talk!   And, I must say that’s one of the things I do best!  ;-}   Spending time with her is always a joy.

Another friend I’m grateful and thankful for is Bruce.

I’ve known Bruce for at least 15 years.  Bruce is another amazing photographer and I enjoy assisting him when he photographs weddings.  Doesn’t happen too often, but at least once a year.  Because I run a full-time studio, most of my time is spent here – but every once in a while I close up and assist him – it’s a great learning experience – and I never stop learning!  Bruce just celebrated a milestone birthday – I won’t mention the number,  and last evening I treated him to dinner at a Sushi Restaurant.  I guess I’m grateful that he doesn’t tell me to shut up – as I recall talking the entire time!  But it was a relaxing evening – all  ’shop’ talk I must say – but then most photographers are passionate about their career and we just feed off each other – again – inspire and help each other.

So now, that I’ve shared that with the world, I feel content.  And ready to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!  Hope you all have a great weekend!

I have found that when people are in their own environment they tend to be more relaxed!  These portraits also showcase their home – their personality in furniture and decor and they also have their wardrobe handy to change if they wish!

Here is a session I did this past September.  I photographed Cheryl & Jeff for the first time in November 2005 for their engagement portraits (you’ll see their portrait on display in their home!).  I then had the privilege of photographing their wedding in January 2006.  Now there are a few reasons that Cheryl and Jeff are special people.  One is that Cheryl is my niece and one of the best Massage Therapists around!  Cheryl is an outgoing bubbly person and Jeff is this serious man – but with a great sense of humour!  They make a perfect couple and I love photographing them!   I would say that 3½ years after their wedding they look as much in love as they did on their wedding day!

What fun!   There were so many areas to photograph in and around their home!  Cheryl was a bit reluctant at first as she said they wanted to paint, replace baseboards, flooring, etc.  But I told her that this was the first house that they bought and these would bring back great memories of what it looked like!   When they viewed their images after the session she exclaimed, “Wow – our home looks pretty good!”      Thank you Jeff – for being a good sport in allowing me to invade your home – especially since you’d just come back from several days on the road and were hungry and tired!  You don’t look it!  Cheryl – keep smiling!  I LOVE your smile!

Originally Desmond booked a session at my studio, but due to unforeseen circumstances, and the Open House that he and his wife had on Friday, March 27th, featuring some of his outstanding African images – I called him to ask if it would be more suitable for me to head out to Brandon.  I told him I was starting to photograph in client’s homes and would he be interested in that option?  He thought it was a great idea and I headed out to Brandon for some business and pleasure.  I did attend his Open House event (I’ll be posting a few images from that soon) – and the next day I headed back to his home and was introduced to Tobias for the first time (well, I had met Toby before – but he was too little to remember me!).

Before I had been there a minute, I was down on the floor with Toby and we were playing with his cars (the two he doesn’t seem to ever part with I’m told!).  But before the beautiful window light started to fade, we went to work!   I started off photographing in their light and airy front porch.

We then went to the second story and I saw this beautiful window light and knew I had to use that area as well.  I love this series of images…

I love it when children want to ‘kiss the baby’ – little Tobias had to stand on his tippy-toes to reach the baby! 

After that, we went to the third story and did some photographs on Desmond and Rebecca’s bedroom.  By this point Toby had decided that he didn’t really want to be there…but we did get some great shots of him on the bed…

Tobias decided to go watch “Barney” on TV and I then photographed just Desmond and Rebecca.  I love this series of images!

Awwww – just so moving (and yes – the baby was letting us know that he (or she) knew what we were doing!  ….

We then went downstairs into their living room and at this point there was very little window light – but I used the spotlights on the ceiling as well as the dining room lights to light these images.  Rebecca is such a beautiful, pregnant woman – I love the lines of her neck on this image!

Isn’t this series of images just priceless? There is always a point where a young child has just had enough – and Toby was in and out of the photographs.  I think that these show how busy a young child can be and I know that Desmond and Rebecca will be loving these images for a long time!

This is another of my favs…

Then Desmond asked me to do a few photos of just him for business purposes.  I photographed him beside one of my favorite African images that he has on display (and for sale).

While I was photographing Desmond in the dining room, Tobias kept turning the overhead light on and off and when I turned my camera on him he had this cute look on his face (at least, I think it’s a cute look!)…   The light switch is lower than most and he can easily reach it! 

We went back to the front porch and Toby followed us.  I just had to do another photo of father and son.

These are perhaps my favorite images that I took of Desmond…

And that was the end of the session.  I want to thank Desmond, Rebecca (and Tobias) for welcoming me into their home and capturing this special time of their life in photographs they will look at for years to come.  Thank YOU!

This last image is my absolute FAVORITE from the entire session.   It was one of the first photos I took … but I like to leave “the best for the last”.  Don’t you agree???

Till next time!

Inge and Michael first met on December 13th – 8 years ago.   As Inge says, “I knew from the first email that we exchanged – that Michael was the man for me!”   She was living in Brandon, Manitoba and he was living and working in Amsterdam!   They corresponded so frequently – it didn’t take long for Inge to fly out to Amsterdam to meet this English gentleman.  Well, that meeting sealed the deal – they were in love.   In less than a year, Michael came out to Canada to see Inge and meet her dogs and there was no turning back.   On March 8th, 2003 they got married in a little country church in Heathfield, UK and I had the honour and privilege of photographing their wedding!  After a honeymoon in the UK and Amsterdam, they moved back to Brandon.  Inge is a wonderful photographer and Michael is an Honorary Assistant Priest at St. Matthews Anglican Church in Brandon.  They just celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary and this past weekend they asked me to do some up-dated portraits.

I visit their home numerous times throughout the year and I knew exactly how I wanted to photograph them.   Sunday afternoon’s they usually have some wonderful music playing on the stereo – Thomas Tallis from the 16th century perhaps or Yo Yo Ma (St. Matthews Passion played at their wedding); the dogs: Hunter and Grissom are relaxing on the sofa; Inge and Michael have a glass of sherry or a glass of port and spend time together… sometimes chatting – mostly listening to the wonderful music.

I started off with some very casual and natural images and I had just finished up – when Inge gets up and goes over to Michael – and that is when I captured my favorite image!   The emotion in this image is something that can’t be captured often – unless the subject is willing to invite me into their ‘space’.  They are so happy with each other, and I believe the final image in this post shows that.  Thank you Inge and Michael for allowing me into your ‘little corner of happiness’ and for trusting me to capture these images – they are exactly how I see you both.

I really felt this last image needed somewhat a desaturation of colour – it has such a timeless feel to it – the vivid colour of their home needed to be muted for the feeling it conveys, in my opinion.

Later.

But besides that…  I just spent a wonderful (and much too short) day and a half with a great friend and photographer, Patty Boge. I always wonder who gets the most out of our time together?!    I feel that I just take and take from Patty – I always come away so energized!  But she says that she gets a lot out of our time together as well!  I must say that it is definitely a “win/win” situation!

As many of you may know, I have been talking about the concept of photographing in people’s homes – hey, why not?  Especially since I get comments from clients that tell me there are certain backgrounds that they don’t want to use because their friends have used it.  So, I thought, why not go into people’s homes to photograph?  That will make it ‘one of a kind’.  So please wait for the next post when I will show some of the photos I did I Patty alone and some with her girls in their home.  I think they’re just fabulous and I hope you do, too!     I will try to post some “Patty Day” images shortly.  Thank you so much Patty for your friendship and inspiration!  (And, if you are getting married, you must go and see Patty!  If you want to have fun on your wedding day – if you want to get a fabulous album of your day – then you MUST give Patty a call!)

Now, you’re probably wondering about the Subject line of this post.  “Share Me… Keep Me… Protect Me … and I will live forever!” As many of you know, I have been photographing for years and I often get the question “Why are you a photographer – and why did you choose that?”  And I have struggled to explain why I love photography so much – and why I’m so proud and humbled to be doing something I love so much.  And, recently, I found this clip on “You Tube”.  Following at the end of this post is the short version of a Kodak video clip that I found, and I was so moved by it… it says exactly what I feel and it describes it so much better than I can!  If you have some time – once you’re in “You Tube” watching this short version – click on the full Kodak version – it is absolutely amazing and shows and explains exactly how precious photography is!  And let me use the words in this video clip… “Share me!    Keep me!   Protect me!  … and I WILL LIVE FOREVER! Oh wow – how powerful is that!?!!!   THIS is why I love what I do!

Share Me Keep Me Protect Me

Later.