“Praying for the good weather,” she said. The morning of Paul and Sharon’s big day was nothing even close to ‘good’ weather. That day I opened my eyes, the gloomy sky greeted me. Great! It was going to be one of those days… It rained and rained, and then rained some more and when the time came for the celebration it was like the sky didn’t have any water left in it. The sun came out just in time and gave way for a glorious evening.
Sharon was simply glowing with happiness in her adorable little dress, flowers in her hair, and seriously gorgeous ‘bling’. Paul was just handsome, period! “Nine years, I’ve been waiting for this nine years” I’ve overheard Sharon’s mom say. These two have been dating for a loooooong time and it shows! They have this comfort level that only people who know each other very well have. They fall into quiet conversations, exchange knowing glances, and just flow so well together. In the venue filled with family and friends they celebrated their love and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
Sharon and Paul, thank you so much for letting me capture your special day. You two are just adorable together. Best wishes in your new adventures!
I’m like a kid on Christmas when it comes to receiving things in mail. Let me just put this out there, I LOVE GETTING MAIL, and I’m not talking about bills. I sit around and wait and wait then run to the mailbox to check if there is anything. Once I get the package I carefully cut the top off with scissors and shake out the contents. That’s exactly what I did yesterday with my new Moo business cards. I love Moo and how cute they are. I love their business model and customer service, and I’ve been stalking them ever since they came out on the market. Amazing branding + Good marketing = LOVE. Let’s just say that I was more than excited to replenish my cards once again.
If you’ll use the coupon please leave a message so others won’t try to order the cards with an expired code.
This started with nothing more than me joking that Calvin needs a new Facebook photo. He took me up on the offer and did he ever deliver! Maybe it was the suit, or the setting, or the desire to get ‘Ari Gold’ look, but friendly and slightly shy Calvin that I know turned into a manly man. He gave so much handsomeness to my camera that I think it would have melted if we were to shoot longer. Calvin you’re awesome! And the only guy I know who can pull off a pink shirt!
One of the more practical things that a science major taught me is to pay attention to all the chemicals that are being added to food and everyday products. I like reading labels on absolutely everything from clothes to shampoo bottles. Over the past ten years I’ve become increasingly sensitive to all the ‘smelly’ things like Bounce sheets, perfumes, and don’t even mention Glade plug-ins! During that same time frame companies started to add all kinds of things to their products that weren’t there before. With me being a chemical conscious ‘freak’ and all, I usually pay close attention to new literature that comes out, and when I heard about this “Slow Death by Rubber Duck” book, I knew I had to get it. Whaaa, was it ever an eye opening read: some things I knew, and others I didn’t. Like brominated flame-retardants in children’s pajamas and practically all of the furniture and carpets. Things that we use daily, many of which are known carcinogens and have many adverse health effects. Good thing I switched to all natural, health friendly products due to my ‘allergies’. Still need to step up my game and pay even closer attention. Get the book, read it, I’m sure you’ll like it, and you don’t need a BSc to understand it. David Suzuki also wrote a number of great books on everyday chemicals in households, cosmetics etc. Here is quick link to some common gross chemicals in personal products.
A good reference book on Food additives.
There are a number of iPhone apps that also list all the food additives for a quick reference.
“Workshop with Jasmine Star” you say? Well, that got my attention, so much that I made my very first video. I even got a Vimeo account! Look ma, I’m all grown up! This is my entry for the workshop in Seattle. It’s so dorky that I couldn’t NOT post it here! You’d think one minute video would be easy to make. Nooo, it’s not! Good thing I didn’t forget my name cause that could have happened! Watch the Outtakes cause they are for the history books!
I am a horrible actress! I’m so bad, that if you’ll open the dictionary you’ll find, well, a definition of the word ‘bad’ in there, and will think of me… acting! On a plus side, I can talk into the camera for hours.
I don’t mind being a complete dork in the video. I think years of being a ‘class entertainer’ (I bet that was in my job description too) in the Japanese school worked ‘wonders’ for my public speaking!
I want to make more videos! They are contagious, even in the cheesy iMovie format they are fun. Get ready for me chatting about nothing, cause now I’m ‘armed and dangerous’ with iMovie skills!
I really want to go to Seattle for Jasmine Star’s workshop! I watched that girl blog and photograph her way to success from the time she was on the Blogspot. If that’s not some amazing stalking skills, I don’t know what is! Maybe I was just too bored and wanting to learn everything while working in the above mentioned school!
I want to meet Chase Jarvis again! Remember when I did my “Oh Eeem Geee, I went to Chase’s talk” blog post? Well, Chase is working with Creative Live to bring free education online, which is an amazing idea! I’ve already spent three days watching Zack Arias creating magic with off camera lighting. I even did p90x in front of the computer cause I wouldn’t dare to leave the room. The past weekend David duChemin was talking about creative vision, which was great. Yes, that’s how I spend my weekends… in front of the computer… learning things. This time around I want to be there, watching everything as it happens and not over the internet!
Anyways, fingers crossed, this dork might go to Seattle and learn new things from some very creative people!
When I’ve heard that Lorrie and Andrew were engaged, I’m pretty sure I said “About time!” These two have been dating what seems like forever and they make such an adorable couple! Before photography time (did that really exist?) Lorrie and I were tackling all kinds of genetics in university. And since genetics core wasn’t exactly big we had almost every class together. Meanwhile Andrew was always around Lorrie and was known as “the boyfriend.” Fast forward a bunch of years, Andrew moved up on the ‘relationship scale’, Lorrie calculates what your children will look like, and I get to photograph their wedding! All is well!
We got together in Burlington for an engagement photos session and the weather was ‘interesting‘ to say the least. We had everything from clear skies and sunshine, to strong gusts of wind and downpour. Andrew and Lorrie were a good sport about it and managed to look fabulous wet hair and all. I can’t wait for their wedding in October, getting giddy just thinking about it! Oh and guys, thanks for not having an outdoor wedding! Will never forget that poor bride in the park with all the lightning and downpour right at “I Do’s”!
One minute before the rain!
Oh yeah, it’s raining! Favourite photo of the day!
I love doing family photo sessions they are always so much fun. I photographed this gorgeous family a while back. All can say is that if I’ll ever live to 90 years old, that’s how I’d like to be!!! Simply, WOW! Mrs. D is amazing, so full of life and character! Her grandchildren are hilarious, I even had to stop photographing at one point; they were making me laugh so hard, I could barely hold my camera. Here are few photos that were printed. I had a great time getting to know the family and capturing these precious photos! My best wishes for Mrs. D’s Birthday!
Drove all the way to Barrie for a photographer meet up and ended up taking a few photos at the parking garage of these guys. All I can say is that boys will be boys and ‘serious’ shots turn into goofy ones in less than a second. Fun. Fun!
Told you they can’t keep a straight face!
From GQ to … I don’t know what that is! Pffttt Boys!
Remember when you were a kid there was this definite separation between spring and summer. For me it was warm weather, the end of school year, and spending days on the beach, good thing lake was right outside the door. Nowadays seasons just blend together, days pass by and I catch myself on “Wow, it’s July already” thought. So to kick off summer properly this year, and not some time in August, trampoline, soap bubbles, and a beautiful grass field were involved. Happy Canada Day and Happy Summer everyone!
The way I ended up on the boat is not that important, let’s just say it involved waking up way too early and standing in TO traffic for two straight hours. Sailing was not on my ‘must do’ list, but it always fascinated me [correction, I just checked and sailing WAS on my MUST DO list. Wow!] The love for open water runs deep in my veins.
I got a few instructions before the set date, like “wear something warm and comfy in case it’s cold out there, bring running shoes, sunglasses, etc. We’ll supply you with whatever you need.” So there I was in my Nike pants, panda t-shirt and a windbreaker, definitely ‘styling’ and having not a clue of what to come. Must confess I don’t like the ‘first day’ of anything, they always make me uncomfortable and leave me feeling useless at first.
The boat had to be lowered down and I had an amazing task of pressing the lift crane button, but that was after the boat was in the water already. Oh yeah, I was ‘important’, but super excited never-the-less. Yes, pressing buttons makes me happy! Time for a clothes change. What? Change into what? I thought I was already dressed! The girls were completely awesome and supplied me with waterproof sailing gear, and ‘ninja’ booties. I was even more ‘styling’ than before! So off on the boat we went. I have never thought that sailing was so complicated, with all the different colour ropes, it’s own completely different language, and so much excitement. I spent more than two hours with my bum hanging out of the boat, leaning back, and switching sides. The ultimate leg and abs workout! At first I was just sat there clueless, listening to chatter about gusts of wind, and directions. Girls translated their sailing language to “Get your butt out of the boat, NOW” and “Duck, and watch your head” just for me when the time came. The experience was amazing! I think they have started a very expensive addiction to sailing. I’m even considering taking sailing lessons, so I won’t be just extra weight on the boat. Thanks to the ladies for such amazing opportunity, and anytime when you’ll need me to hang my bum out of the boat again, I’m so up for it! Good luck in Montreal on your Regatta.
Oh yeah, no pretty pictures, since capsizing was an option and bringing expensive equipment on board was not!
