Great Quote...

Yeh, yeh... I know... I should be blogging something with "more content"... but I've been collecting a few awesome quotes lately, felt like sharing... and at least I spent time making it pretty!! LOL! (You gotta give me something for effort here!)

Enjoy...

**P.S. This doesn't mean that I don't still want the gadgets... oh, I still do! He he he...

Thought of the Day

Just a little thought of the day...

Happy Birthday Nikkor!

First up... I will confess that I am a Nikon girl. Nikon or Canon? Who is better? In my opinion, it's really a stupid question. I've seen great photos produced by people shooting with both brands. A quality paintbrush helps, but does not make the painting...

After testing at the 2012 Olympics,
Nikkor also launched their brand new
800mm, last week!

OK... now that that is out there, let's move on... as a Nikon user, I feel that I have to sing a wee verse of "Happy Birthday" to Nikkor! (He he he... I bet you are glad this is a silent medium... a singer I am NOT!) Nikkor is Nikon's brand of lenses, and 2013 marks their 80th Anniversary.

To mark the occasion, they have added another couple of nice lenses to their collection (the AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR Telephoto and AF-S NIKKOR 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G ED Wide-Angle)... and for those of us without an immediate spending budget(!), they've made a wee movie to give us a wee glimpse into their production process. Pretty fascinating, and makes me feel pretty bad when I whine I have to clean just 1 or 2 lenses...

Moving forwards...

So... here we are in 2013... well, actually we are already a month in... EEK! Can you believe it?! Where is my life disappearing to?

Anyway, I entered 2013 with many thoughts on where was I going to take my photography, this year. Those thoughts were mostly questions rather than answers, of course, but I have ended up forming a plan ... and one that has been far more structured than ever before.

First part of my plan was to find a new way to get tuition. This part was was actually solved for me by my awesome husband... who, for Christmas, bought me a year's subscription to the Kelby Training site! I now have access to tons of great online courses from some of the best photographers in the world! Boo Yeah!

The second part involved finding a focus to work on. I will always want to shoot anything and everything I can, but I really wanted to find my niche... my speciality... an area that I can really love and become "kick-ass" at. The answer to this sprung itself on me, and I would never have predicted it a couple of years ago - I have decided to specialize in Newborn Photography.

Why Newborn? Well, the reason is actually 2-fold. First of all, I (surprisingly) had a great time shooting newborns last year. I really didn't expect to. I did it just for experience, but found the sessions so fulfilling and rewarding, that I just couldn't wait to do it again! The obsession slowly grew... and I found myself "following" a number of amazing newborn specialists with much envy... and one specialist and trainer, Rachel Vanoven became my new hero & inspiration.

The second reason - a couple of personal experiences in 2012 made me feel that I really need to "give back", and since we have the finances of your average young family, volunteering my time and abilities are the way to go. My ultimate goal in this regard will remain personal for now... but to get there means practice, practice, learning, practice and a better portfolio.

So... here we are... my plans are already underway... transformations have been made to my home(!) and my new journey has begun. Of course, I will still continue to work with the other areas that I was blessed to work so well with, last year... namely the commercial, family & wedding 2nd shooting... but I am really excited about my new specialist direction. I would love you to stay with me on this ride!

Top 10 of 2012 | Fraser Valley Photographer

This post is probably a couple of weeks overdue, but my excuse is that I had a hard time picking my top 10 of 2012... and I'm sticking to it!

So, yes... picking a top 10 is a great way of seeing how far you've come, as a photographer, in the past year (or not!)... and you can see where you want to go. After all, they do say that the only photographer you should compare yourself to is ... yourself.

Here is my top 10...