On Friday I received a call from a colleague and good friend (and Vice-President of the Professional Photographers of Canada-Manitoba), Ingrid Misner. She asked me to join her and her husband, Grant and 8 year old daughter, Joone for the Canada Day weekend. Since I was helping Patty Boge at her wedding on Saturday, I told Ingrid I would love to come out on Sunday!
Desi and Lucy were excited as well! Many of you may not know this, but another good friend, Daphne Carlyle, from Edmonton, Alberta is one of the best child photographers in Canada and she has a lot of ‘animal friends’ and last August when I went to visit her – she gifted me with some special friends. She suggested I name them and have them become part of my studio family. So, on the drive home I decided they would be called Lucy and Desi. Okay – long story – but Lucy and Desi go with me whenever I go on vacation – they came to Disney with me last December and of course, they were really excited about going to Victoria Beach!
And, I must add that a very special person that I met in August 2005 inspired me to take my camera with me wherever I go (which, because of the nature of my business, I had stopped doing a long time ago) – and so Lucy, Desi and my camera hopped in the car at 11:15 am and we headed to Victoria Beach. An hour and a half later we arrived at the parking lot and we searched for a parking spot. You cannot drive into Victoria Beach after June 20th. Ingrid and Grant said I could take a cab or walk to their cabin – about a 20 minute walk they said. Well, I hadn’t counted on it being +30 degrees and pulling my suitcase and bag with swimwear and my camera slung over my shoulder made it end up being 30 minutes before I got to their cottage.
It didn’t take long and we were on the beach.
This is a photo of Lucy and Desi enjoying the beach. (Desi and Lucy are stuffed little mice.)
Joone and her friend decided to cover Grant with sand. I don’t think he minded as it was, apparently, quite cool.
The view from the beach was breathtaking – the sailboat on a lake sparkling like diamonds and the seagulls and the wonderful clouds in the sky made the day and a half I spent there magical.
Joone is obviously a photographer’s child because she loves to ham it up for the camera!
But, she is a young chef it seems, as she made the dessert for Sunday night’s dinner (and it was delicious!).
There were countless things to photograph in and around the cottage. The iris flowers were gorgeous!
I was drawn to a wall hanging outside the front door (I love grill work ornaments!)…
The cottage inside had a fabulous piece of art on the wall – I just loved it and did quite a few different photographs of it.
This my favorite image of the wall art…I really enjoyed the shadows from the setting sun.
And two ‘just washed’ apricots drying on the counter drew my eye as well…
On Monday morning I helped Ingrid and Grant at two photo sessions. Because there is no vehicular traffic – we needed to bicycle to the cottages for the sessions. Oh my, what an experience! I haven’t been on a bicycle in years and my poor back side can still feel it!!!
Ingrid is a fabulous photographer (she has been Manitoba’s Photographer of the Year recently) and I loved watching her with the families. There was one extended family that had some very busy little children that Grant had to help her with – aren’t these great?
I love this shot – it looks as if Ingrid is ‘conducting’ the waves.
The first family we photographed was from California. It was a wonderful family who laughed a lot and you could see how much they cared for each other.
The husband went to pick a yellow flower and presented it to his wife and this is another one of my favorite images – who needs to see someone’s face when this tells a wonderful story!
By the way, the first person we met was “Jake” and we immediately realized he really didn’t want to be there. He said he would rather be anywhere else than there and having to put on a white shirt on a vacation wasn’t what he wanted to be doing!
At the end of the session, Ingrid took a photo of grandma and the two grandchildren – okay, I’ll say it again – I love THIS image – probably my favorite one!
Does the look on Jake’s face say he doesn’t want to be there? I don’t think so. When we were done and walking back through the cottage to leave, Jake was sitting in the family room (he’d already changed and was relaxing). He looked up at us and said “Thank you – you made my Mom very happy today.” Wow – wow – coming from the same young man that wasn’t happy to be there at the beginning of the session – it really touched me!
The next session was a larger group and this little girl was a wonderful subject. I love both of these images.
This was the first time I saw this type of color on a tree – I’m wondering if this is called a Silver Birch. The sheen of the bark and the color were outstanding!
And, of course, two images of the unbelievable sunset which we could see from the cottage. Pure bliss.
Too soon my short stay came to and end and I headed home. The time I was there was filled with sitting on the beach, taking a dip in the lake, eating lasagna and a bbq’d roast pork loin prepared by Grant and some banana pancakes prepared by Ingrid, playing Poker till 1:00 am, the two portrait sessions, playing a foursome of a game that I’d not played before – a cross between horseshoes and lawn darts. The two red-heads played against Grant and Joone – and, well – we lost both games – but it was tons of fun! Oh yes, and we talked a lot.
After another long walk back to the car I headed home. But, of course, my camera was on the seat beside me and driving through a little area called Ladywood, I saw this beautiful old yellow building with the old truck…
by admin
no comments