Estelle, Brad, Celeste & Brett Petrick  Sarto, Manitoba

This is the first location we photographed – I enjoyed photographing on the rock wall that Brad created!

And then, the pathway into the woods – loved using this location!

And then we used the spacious, welcoming deck…

Brett is quite a character!

And then the family changed into their Jets t-shirts!

One of the last photos I took – the kids were right into it!  :)

“We kids wanted to celebrate the 30 years that our parents have dedicated to each other, and the best way to do that was by capturing their love.  It was fantastic that we could take the photographs at the farm, since my parents would be moving soon.  The portraits capture the place where we grew up and brings back all our childhood memories.

Marlene always makes us feel so comfortable, and is the only one who can make Yves smile, which as we all know, is a challenge in itself!  Eleven years after our first family photographs with Marlene, the portraits are still current and amazing.”

Anastasie, Anais, Yves and Georgina & Marcel Hacault – Niverville, MB

I loved the area by the garage and got some great images there!

When I first arrived, Marcel was polishing his car.  I’m sure with the gorgeous summer we had, he took this little Firebird out regularly!

As Anastasie wrote above, Yves is really difficult to photograph.  When I took the family behind the house and I wanted them to stroll towards me, Yves decided to shake things up a bit.  Of course I had to photograph his antics and I call these my ‘ghost’ images!   At this point, Cole joined us for the rest of the family photos.

I noticed that the area with the bullrushes had the perfect light and we hurried over there to make use of that location.

I love this this image!

I needed to go inside for another flash card, and Skoal came bounding out!  So, our last portrait of the evening before the sun disappeared was with Skoal!

But, I will end this post with my favorite image…

Love the Manitoba prairie!

“My husband would be the first to tell you he hates to have his picture taken.  He told me after our last session with Marlene that she is the only one that is allowed to photograph him.  Marlene’s ability to make him feel at ease and capture his character is truly a gift.

One of the only requests Elma made was that we photograph in front of their special tree…

And then we used the little playhouse that the girls have (almost) outgrown…

These girls look like models!!

Very hard to pick a favorite… but I’d say the following photo is probably my favorite!  I love the mystical feeling that the sun through the trees gives to the quality of this photograph.

And then the light was just right to use the fence – gorgeous lighting, once again!

And, of course, with a beautiful, winding road, we had to end the session there!  :)

Thank you Elma and family for giving me the opportunity to spend some time with you and your family on such a lovely property!

“It has been over 10 years since our family has taken a family portrait… 16 years ago our family suffered a great loss, losing a brother and six months later a sister… so taking a family photo comes with a range of emotions and is not as easy as it seems.  It comes with heartache, knowing we are not all there, but it comes with triumph, knowing that God has given us the strength to keep smiling… thanx to Marlene for capturing such a beautiful time and moment in our lives, we feel so blessed to have this portrait and make more memories…”  Analisa Hruda from the Alvina and Don Heinrichs Family, Mitchell Manitoba

On August 25th I had the pleasure of photographing a beautiful family.  Photographing several young children, who would rather play and run around and enjoy the gorgeous weather was a challenge – but, they always seem to co-operate for the perfect portrait!  :-)

The first family we photographed were Analisa, Matt and their boys…

Next it was Tammy and Charles and their lovely girls…

The children were tiring, so we went indoors to photograph the large family group…

Next we photographed mom and her daughters… hard to say which is the mom!

And then the lighting was perfect for outdoor portraits and so we photographed Jewel and Mike and their children…

I so often hear from people that they want to wait to have their portrait taken for one reason or another. “My child is missing a tooth.”  ”I want to lose 10 lbs.”  ”I’ll wait till they’re in school.”  ”We’re finishing up a renovation and our budget is going towards that.” And they miss out on how beautiful their children are at each stage of their life.

I recently chatted with a client that had her 2 year old daughter in for her portrait 4 years ago.  She told me that she absolutely loved that photograph of her – because “I’ll never have that two year old again if I wouldn’t have had the portrait taken. You think you will remember what she was like at that age, but you don’t – and the photograph reminds you.” Beautifully said!

Christine, Todd, Taylor, Zachary, Josh Sheppard Calgary, Alberta

I was so pleased to get a call from Christine earlier this year.  Once again the family was coming to Manitoba to visit family and they wanted to have an update on their family portrait!   We booked a date for a Friday evening, and with our beautiful summer weather – we lucked out and the session happened!  I laughed when Christine said that on the drive to the studio the kids asked, “Mom, do you think Marlene will remember us?” Yes, of course I remembered them – they have matured a lot since the previous portrait and were so easy and fun to photograph!  After the session, Christine and Todd wrote some wonderful comments which I’m so happy to share here…

“We’ve been coming to Marlene’s for portraits even before we were married.  She’s photographed our wedding and all three of our children as they grew up.  Despite the fact that we live in Calgary, we would never go anywhere else for our family portraits!  She’s fabulous!!”  Chris Sheppard

“Marlene has been taking photos of our family for nearly twenty years.  I first became aware of her work when I saw the wedding photos of a university classmate.  As soon as I saw those photos, I knew that she had a unique gift for composition and photographic excellence.  Since then, all our sessions have produced works of art that we treasure as a visual history of our growing and changing family.  Her beautiful portraits capture a moment of our lives that we can display in our home and look back on with pride.”  Todd Sheppard

Here is the family in 2011…

and in 2005…

I’m looking forward to our next portrait session…