Autumn & Family

Business After Hours...A good time!

(Note to readers : if you still have the Advocate that my display was pictured in, (Thursday) could you please save me the page? I'd like a copy...and I don't get the paper anymore. Short on time, you might say. Thanks!!!)

Business After Hours was, as usual, a great time. Canyon Ski Area is really well set up for hosting events like weddings, big parties, etc. ...I had no idea.
I had my camera out, thinking I should get a shot of my own display, because I always forget, when who should come up the stairs but Jeff Stokoe, photographer for the Red Deer Advocate, and Uber athlete.
Why is he blurry in this picture? Because he's SO fast. He's also sticking out his tongue - I think that's the natural photographer reaction to finding someone elses camera pointed in our general direction. He got to talking to Jim, the Chamber Ambassador, about running, and insane distances. Anyone who can run for 24 hrs must have an extra set of batteries stored somewhere. I might have mentioned something to Mitch Thomson (in the nice black suit) about feeling like a sissy at all this talk of a FIVE hour training run. If I ever run for five hours, it's because we are out of coffee..either that, or I just drank a pot. (I will run for a bit longer than Two hours next week in Kelowna, but that's totally different!)
Jeff's wife will be teaching one of my kids this year, and she's a really cool woman, so I'm looking forward to that.
The nice kids from Traptow were out to B.A.H for some visiting, so I got to say a quick hello to June, and meet Jonathan's wife. She is a cutey pie, and she looks beautiful pregnant.
Sharna Mulligan helped me take my goodies back down to my van. She is the TOTAL sweetheart and Chamber Ambassador I met at the very first Business After Hours I attended last year. I can't believe I didn't get a pic of her...She's lovely, and fun! The sunset just as we reach the gate is posted above. It's SO beautiful outside right now.

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Tomorrow is October 1st, and the With This Ring Bridal Gala. Sadly, Purolator DROPPED the BALL on my Thursday delivery...and it's not here yet...meaning no appropriately sized Wedding images. I had a couple of 30 inch prints on the way, which are not huge, but they have more impact and beauty than a little wee 11x14. So, I'll get them with the Monday delivery.
Happily, I still have several Ladies images, and engagement couples. Then, there is always the slideshow. So, all in all, folks will be able to view the work, and that's really all I care about. It's the only reason you should book your photographer at all. You LOVE the work.
Come introduce yourself if you're there tomorrow!

A little Birthday

Our youngest daughter is 8 this month. Her 10 year old brother made her breakfast in bed, and her 11 year old sister bought her a troll doll without me even knowing! They are SO nice to eachother. It's a little weird, but I like it. Glow Bowling was the official party.

5 minutes of ....Nothing!

Holy old crap, I had a busy week. Unfortunately, Friday's Engagement session will have to wait for Mid October, on account of the weepy weather. The sun looked so strange and foreign when it finally came out today. I wonder if that's what it's like for my Mom & Auntie out in Abbotsford during the freakishly dreary winter.
Sunday and Monday were seminar days in Edmonton. Half the fun of these events is simply being with other photographers I SO love. The greatest surprise I got was Tyla Lippai, a friend of mine from Esterhazy SK.
I was sitting in my seat chatting away, and then she turned around - so of course, I screamed that happy scream! It was SO cool to see her.
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After a Chamber lunch on Wednesday, I was accidentally interviewed (they ask you if you're a business owner, not if you actually belong on camera - and I don't!!!) by CH news. I didn't stay up late, so I have no idea if my sad bit made it on. I just turn into the wooden, chatting Mannequin with a mic in front of me. The worst part is that the camera man is also asking a couple of questions (all of which I staggered though with mortifying ineptitude) and because I am SO used to answering the person who asks me a question, I keep looking toward him. I HATE that when the person on the news can't stop looking at the camera. So, If you saw me, and I looked a bit...uh...dorky...that's because I was a bit dorky.
I only feel better because after the Annual General Meeting of the chamber, the yummy lunch, and the grand bufoonery on camera (I"m sure they had a good laugh back at the station and promptly deleted all footage of me) I got some meeting time at the Chamber office. They had asked me to be the photographer at the annual Business of the Year Awards, and we got our details all laid out. I'm really excited about it! I love event coverage, and you don't just trip over a room full of smart, super-cool movers & shakers every day. These are the people who raise the bar, and make Red Deer such a great place to do business.
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Taryn & Andrew have a slideshow up.
Again, I've bypassed the album design in favour of individual images...even though I like the album design format better.
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Tuesday night is Business After Hours at Canyon Ski area, and it's open to all Businesses who want to come out and see what it's about.
It runs from 5-7 pm.
I'll be there with my display, but mostly, it's about the food. There is
always great food.
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Sunday, October 1st is the With This Ring Bridal Gala.
Come visit me if you are looking for your wedding photographer.

Taryn & Andrew

It was Freezing!!! Happy thing that they don't look like it. After all that cold, it's the smiles, and the thanks and kindness from the family and the couple that TOTALLY make it worth the effort.
HUGE thank you to The Capri for allowing us to use their Great Indoors on such an inhospitable day outside.
When I'm back in town, I'll post up some of what we got there. It was super!

Oooh, ooh, a slideshow!

This is not the album design I normally like to post after a wedding, but a bundle of favourites. It makes for a longer slideshow since none of the images are collaged, but come one by one. (You can click the images if you need to go more quickly)
Nicole & Orrin

This weekend is full. Saturday is Taryn & Andrew's wedding....and there is TOO much Rain. I have a couple of locations picked out as well as backup from the FANTASTIC people at the Capri. Coming out of the rain..in Style! I'll try and post up a couple of those Saturday night.

Sunday I head up to Edmonton for a two day seminar put on by a couple of Photographers I met out on Vancouver Island. There is no end to the learning for a photographer, and that's pretty exciting! I'll be returning calls and e-mail on Tuesday, so if you don't hear back from me on Monday, don't fret.

The sidebar (at right) will also begin playing host to the 'Booked' and 'Destination Portrait' dates next week. Right now I post those dates on the What's New section of the main website, but that will become the main area for client previewing links in addition to New products, features, or goodies.

Have a great weekend!

There is no such thing as 'just another day at work' for me.

Oh, sure, go ahead!

That's how comfortable she is. 'Ya, you can use my face,' she said!
Cool. Unfortunately some of my very favourite images are a bit too compromising for people viewing from work, so I kept it pretty PG for this posting.

How many words are there for WOW?!

Wow. Not nearly the right word for another Kickass day with Nicole &Orrin (yesterday's Bride & Groom) and their amazing friends and family. Everyone is just SO fun, and SO kind, and SO go with the flow.
I got to see Amanda & Scott again; still Gorgeous. (They're on my Jone's Soda Bottle - they get a couple along with their soon to arrive wedding goodies)
Amanda can even dance the man's part for two stepping. She's a good lead! (That's right, I get to dance!)
Their younger sister, who goes into grade 12 this year, is a total sweetheart, and their Mom & Dad are two of the most gracious people I've ever met.
Orrin's family is also amazing. I heard so many cool things about his Mom, and enjoyed her sunny personality. She made hanging willow stars to hang in the giant tent.
We got to go up to Cline Lake, and out to Ya Ha Tinda Ranch for our photography. More Wow.
Lenore, who helps me out from time to time, was awesome to work with again. Knowing we were tight on time, she began arranging and shooting the ladies while I did the same with the fellas. She's always got a good idea.
I'd love a wedding like this one every week if I could handle that much fun, and being up so late on such a regular basis. At my age, a girl should pace herself!

What is home, anyway?

The kids & I went home to Sakatoon during the last week of August. I don't know why it took me so long ot put up some images from the trip...maybe I just needed the 'debriefing' time. I'm so torn about 'Home' now that we've been here in Red Deer for over 4 years. Leaving was hard. I grew up there and feel so connected to places there. Things that feel so part of me like the University grounds (where I shot Jeff, my brother, and his girlfriend, Annalyn), or the vast and gorgeous river trail system. So much has changed there, although driving ANYWHERE during the rush hours has only gotten worse. As I was growing up, Saskatoon was no bigger than Red Deer is right now. The road system sadly reflects that 'small city' past. Now there are over 200,000 people there. It's really a thriving place with construction around every corner, entire new subdivisions sprining up. One HUGE difference between there and here is the drive - you can leave here, drive for an hour or two, and BE SOMEWHERE you actually want to be. The Mountains and major cities were definitely motivating factors for moving out here.
Back home, you can drive for an hour or two and still be on bad roads, with little or nothing to do but find a place to go to the loo. As a matter of fact, I had to stop on the road - there are no shoulders for the first couple of hours into Saskatchewan- and use the ditch. It doesn't matter though, because I'm the only vehicle on the road for MILES! There's a lesson in all this...and I think it's that I was right to wear a skirt on the drive out.
After the big sigh over the shortcommings of where I'm from pass, it's still a place I love, with people I love.
We stayed with Cathy and Brad, two great friends who tied the knot nearly five years ago and had their first beautiful baby last year.
I took reckless advantage of her tastey cuteness to create playtime portraits of her.
Josi is Beautiful!

Home is also where one of the kids favourite parks sits on the river bank. We used to stop off there in the canoe so they could play. After going to lunch with my Granny, that's where we went.

On our way back here, we stopped in Lloyd to see a nephew and his wife and their new baby (I'm a GREAT Aunty....hm.)and the Pysanka in Vegreville(crazy toursists, that's us!), and we might have enjoyed some Ikea time.