Amanda & Russell

June 16th is soon...very soon. We just made it before the rain. It was THIS close.

Stettler Grad!

This is the Stettler Grad Ad for the next couple of weeks.

There are sessions available all summer long for all grads whether you're interested in Formals, Casuals, The Surreal Sessions, or a mix of all three.

I am accepting Ambassador applications for students going into grade 12 next year. You get portraits and treats for bringing your friends! Three per school.

1940s Fun Night, Sunday the 15th in Winnipeg

This is Me, Amanda from Nikon, and my friend Melissa Kelly, a super Photographer from Saskatoon Photo by Craig Minielly
These crazy 1940's Housewives are some of the Saskatchewan gals. There's a LOT of talent stalking around in those dresses. They cleaned everything, but mostly men's bald heads. Amanda took this pic.
This is me, Two Nikon Fellows - Robert and Brian, and Brent Edwardson, our PPOC Past President. Photo by Craig Minielly - who is btw, one of the BEST photographers I've ever met.
He took this with a point & shoot by leaving the flash off. That little on-camera flash makes ghastly images.
This dodgey looking area is in the bowls of a very OLD bank. The upstairs is opulent, the basement has cool old vaults and scruffy sections...we were eventually kicked out. Craig noticed that it looked a whole lot like a slasher flick. We did kind of expect to be picked off one by one.

Wednesday Afternoon

The last BAH of the year...til September.

This is Dan. See Dan plot World Domination. No word on Pinky's whereabouts. (Dan's also pretty smart with money) This is Sharna. She won the 'Grad' package from my table, but Brenda Johnson wanted to make sure I called it something else...We all love Sharna...and she can use the package for whatever she wants. Sly girly.
This is just me...touching the pretty motorcycle. Thank you Jennifer for taking this picture of me. It's a dirty job....you know the rest. Jennifer has Sweet Celebrations, which is a nice way of saying KICK ASS CAKES.

The Harley Davidson store is Gas Alley is full of stuff! I thought it would be full of bikes, but you could spend all your loot on baby clothes and Do-Rags and still not have the bike. They also have Nice Bikes.

I spent a little time with my camera...ok, the whole time...

Slide show of well mannered frivolity here.

Don't forget Mother's Day!

Gift Certificates can be ordered by phone and be gift wrapped...delivered if you like.

I will once again be set up in the Capri convention lobby in conjunction with their Smashing Mother's Day Brunch. Ironically, I get shut out on brunch on account of the taking pictures thing.

Baby on Board

Just another mindblowing week.

Maybe this is the norm...I'm not sure.

I took some photos with my phone because I didn't bring my good camera. Phone images are not nice. (ok, they're crap, but it's all I had) The second one is Melissa Kelly, a photographer from Saskatoon. She is my friend, and used to be my neighbour in Saskatoon. It was she who helped me learn enough about photography to get started.

The top is obviously just one more bad airplane window shot. Sunset over Manitoba. The weather is, by the way, MUCH better in Winnipeg right now than it is here. ...Hella windy, but no snow!!!

The bottom one was taken on a proper camera - the Nikon D2Xs. That's Amanda, the Nikon service girly who is SO used to being the guinea pig for cameras. She let me use one of Nikon's cameras. Very cool.

Anyway, the whole week, convention and all were mindblowing. My prints did not hang in competition, but I took advantage of the critique session and my more experienced friends to learn how to improve my images. Happily the flaws that kept the prints from being accepted are minor and easily fixed. I'm looking forward to entering next year.

Our speakers were really enjoyable and informative, and all the goings on after hours are just as informative. I still have so much to learn, so I just soak it up.

Winnipeg has a GORGEOUS downtown area with old buildings. I LOVE that! Our fun night had a 40's theme and was in an old bank, complete with marble walls, a giant glass dome in the ceiling, and old, scary vaults. We toured the frightening basement before the staff started rousting us out of the 'out of bounds' stuff. That's me...misbehaving!

I got heck for not posting....

But here I am. Sorry, Cara. The last month has been surprisingly full. The work I've done in the past month has been the kind I don't normally post up. There were a couple of home staging before & after projects - that's an art all by itself. The people who know exactly how to make a home show it's value really do their homework and make beautiful spaces shine. They probably make not so beautiful spaces shine too.
There were also Corporate jobs -portraits of directors and groups, annual general meeting type stuff. This is where being a portable studio comes in very handy.
Our son had his DARE grad, which is the final cap on a substance abuse and awareness program sponsored by the Piper Creek Optimists. All the grade fives go through it.
Last week my husband managed to pull a surprise out for me. I didn't think I was that easy to spring anything on, but apparently, I'm pretty trusting/oblivious. He drove the family down to Calgary on Friday with some 'business' reason to be at the airport. I don't suspect a thing, because he's mentioned going downtown for Chinese food once we're done. This is quite in character for him. I was mildly annoyed about having to go into the airport just to drop this thing off, but he assured me that he had to meet the person to give it to them.
I didn't even suspect anything- I mean not a whiff - when I saw that an Abbotsford plane was just arriving. I did say something about it, because that's where my Mom lives. My husband stops and suggests that we wait and see if anyone we knew was getting off. Do you think I clued in then??? No. I just asked him WHAT he was doing. About 16 seconds later, when I saw my Mom, that's when I got it. HA! We had a very nice weekend with her, including the 'big dinner' on Saturday.
Tomorrow I leave for Winnipeg and the Professional Photographers of Canada Convention. Four of my prints are in national competition, and the judging is tomorrow...I'll know almost as soon as I get to the hotel how I did. I'm very excited to see if any of them are accepted.
I will be returning calls while I'm gone if time permits, and will be back on Thursday.
I'll take care of anything I miss Thursday afternoon.
Have a great weekend!