New Toy!

I have a confession...I love snow globes. I probably have ever since I was a fresh-faced young student and saw Bill Pullman  give that oh-so-sentimental-and-romantic gift to Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping. (Permission to roll your eyes just a little bit!)

Well, I follow several Photographers who develop and sell editing actions, (they come in handy occasionally, when having a "creative block" or speed things up when I'm running on a tight deadline!) and a few of them have made snow globe templates, this year. It's an old concept, but seems to be enjoying a sudden revival, thanks to these Photographers.

This was one kind of template I just couldn't resist... and I've spent the last 24 hours happily playing! (These particular templates are courtesy of Stacie Jensen of Rock My Edits) Ahhh, if only I'd have had them a month ago to make our Christmas cards. Oh well, next year maybe...

A few more family memories... | Chilliwack Family Photographer

Wow... it really is Family Photo Season, as the requests are still coming in!

I had the great pleasure to shoot another lovely family, last week... and their girls were absolutely adorable! The youngest has had quite a rough spell recently, with an extended hospital stay, so Mom decided they should celebrate her recovery with some family pics - good call, Mom! Of course, Big Sis was a total superstar too, doing absolutely everything I asked straight away and with a smile at all times - a future model maybe?

A few for the family.. | Chilliwack Family Photographer

With Christmas fast approaching, Photographers everywhere are finding themselves firmly in the midst of "Family Portrait Season" (kinda like Duck Season, but our shooting is a little safer for the targets!). I have had the pleasure to shoot a couple of awesome families lately, who are not only great friends, but are fantastic models at the same time!

Of course, this time of the year can present some challenges weather-wise, and these shoots were no exception... the first was pouring with rain, the second was freezing cold. But, I have to salute both families for braving the elements with no complaints and "turning it on" at the right moment!

 I'm now kinda scared to see what Mother Nature intends to throw at me for the next session!

When a Wedding becomes my Birthday...

I had the great pleasure of being invited to second-shoot a wedding with Lori, of Lori Johnson Photography, in August.... and I must say that this gig kind-of became a bit of a birthday for me. Why? Because I was given the rare chance to shoot with lenses that I usually just drool over in my catalogues.

Shooting with Lori is always a pleasure anyway, and she is fantastic about giving constructive feedback in a way that doesn't crush my soul(!)... but on this occasion, since the results needed to be as tack sharp as possible for printing purposes, she allowed me to shoot with whatever lenses she wasn't using at the time. My inner voice was singing and whooping with every single lens change! (My outer shell remained calm and professional, of course!)

The 3 new lenses I shot with were the 105mm, 24-70mm f2.8 and the much coveted 70-200mm f2.8 (all Nikkor). My favourite? Well, I loved them all, and I am now definitely saving harder for that 24-70, but the clear winner had to be the 70-200. If this glass was a dessert, it would be a triple-chocolate & fudge death-by-chocolate layer cake, drizzled with chocolate & caramel sauce made with real Belgian chocolate. Mmmmm...

Here are a few of my favourite shots from that day...

Walking with Mr Kelby... and a few thousand others! | Chilliwack Photographer

The kids are in bed... and the rain kept away the over-estimated hoards of trick-or-treaters.... so I am sitting here, desperately looking for ways to occupy my hands in a way that doesn't involve the small pile of unwanted chocolate bars sitting a few feet away from me. It is to my blog that I turn! So... where has my camera taken me lately? A few places actually - and it's quite a relief after the little break I unwillingly took.

One of the recent highlights involved 2 hours of uninterrupted selfish shooting, courtesy of a guy called Scott Kelby. OK, he wasn't actually there, as such... but he is the brains behind a worldwide event, where groups of photographers gather together on one particular day, share their love of the lens and just shoot to their hearts' content.

It is called Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk, and our local meet was at the Blue Heron Reserve, just down the road from us. Now, many of the Walk Leaders chose urban (usually downtown) settings, so it was actually a really nice change to have a more rural location... and a chance to practice more of those bird shots that I have wanted to do, this year.

Here is a little taster of my day's efforts...

  So... what did I learn from my day?

1. Don't forget your coat on a rainy day! (Yes... I put mine out ready to take but it didn't make it to the car. Thankfully a VERY nice fellow shooter had a spare!)
2. Carry a waterproof camera cover in your bag. (Mine has sat in my bag unused for months... until this day. It was very wet and that $7 purchase probably saved me $$$ in repairs!)
3. Other photographers are not that scary! (Who knew?!)
4. Every photographer should give themselves a little "me and my camera time" occasionally. (Shooting 100% for yourself is the best therapy ever!)