A Winter Morning with Alicia, Rob, and family!

Alicia, Rob, and Elliott came up from Calgary to visit Elliott's grandma and grandpa in St. Albert one weekend, so Rob arranged a photoshoot with us!

It was a cold, snowy morning, so we set up a makeshift studio in the basement (after moving the big treadmill).

Elliott took a minute to warm up... hahaha he's so cute!



Here's the four of them! (Alicia was pregnant at the time of the shoot)





Elliott does his best to show off his belly too.



Getting ready to be his little sister's bodyguard. (Claire was born March 1. 6lbs 12oz, and absolutely adorable!)



Grandma and grandpa's turn...



...right before Elliott squirmed too much and lost his balance! haha he's so funny.



Every kid loves a rocking horse!





Belly!!



Love that beautiful smile, Alicia!



The happy couple





And I somehow convinced them to get outside for a couple of shots, despite the knee deep snow. Those of you who know me, know I'm ALL ABOUT shooting outside no matter what the weather is. Hahaha.



Elliott was done with pictures at this point and just wanted to play in the snow.



These were taken in the backyard. I tried to make it look as non-backyardish as I could.

Wow it's been two months already!

So wow, it's been two months for Simon! I can't believe how fast time goes when hanging out with this little bologna loaf. (That's one of the many things I call him LOL)
He's been keeping us WAY too busy to do another formal shoot, so we're just gonna upload some snapshots.


THANK YOU Stefanie and Jim for this cute little sleeper! We love it now that he can fit into it, and it's definitely one of our favourites!



He was in pain one morning and he wouldn't relax unless held. So apparently I fell asleep while holding him, but he was still happy.



Right after after bathtime!



Something Merry tries to do everyday is go out on a walk with Simon. On this day, he didn't want to be bundled in. Rather, he wanted to 'hang out'. =)



Peek a boo!



Chillin' one morning... and he made a funny expression that made me LOL.



He's learning the GQ poses already.



It was my birthday recently. Simon was helping me celebrate, while looking as uninterested as he could.



Merry found this outfit. How funny yet how very true... sadly enough. haha



Taking a snooze.



And for his two month birthday:



Merry made me wear the post-it note too because it was my (insert sarcasm) "bright idea".



We've been getting countless well wishes, so thank you to all our clients and random visitors stopping by to say hello!!

Simon will say hello again in another month!

Awards and Inspiration with PPOC

For the past few days, I've been attending the PPOC (Professional Photographers of Canada) Exposure Symposium put on by the Alberta and Saskatchewan regions. I had finally decided to join and got my membership about two weeks ago. The Symposium was absolutely fantastic for a couple of reasons.

The first reason was the awards. You can submit four photographs for the print salon and one album. When the dust settled, two of the images and the one album I submitted received (accepted) awards. I was told this is really good, especially for someone who's never experienced a PPOC print salon. The two images are below:

Lyndsey who is "Caught in the Wind"


Cheryl and her "Circle of Friends"


In addition, here is the album design for Kathyrn and Andrew's Mountain wedding in Canmore that also was honoured:

Kathryn and Andrew's Album

The photo of Cheryl and her friends was also a top three finalist for the best in class wedding group of the year. I was quite happy with that.

So thanks to all of you out there who helped us grow since we started wedding shooting 11 years ago. Mentors, colleagues, family, friends, and most certainly, our awesome brides and grooms!

The second awesome part of the Symposium was the speakers. They were all awesome, but the two that stood out to me was Scott Robert Lim and Dane Sanders.

Here's me and Dane LOL! (sorry, it's a phone picture)



Scott gave me clues to discover within myself what direction I should grow my photography, and Dane gave me a concrete plan of action to achieve it. The two presentations together really hit it for me and fell into each other. Both are really good speakers and you should jump at the chance to listen to either one.

So also a big hello to my new PPOC friends. I hope I can rely on you for help when I need it, and the door is always open for you if I can help *YOU* out in any way.

Here's looking to an awesome 2010. Rock on!