Perfectly Payton

I had the opportunity to take pictures of Payton this afternoon. She is as sweet and nice as she is pretty! I have been wanting to get together with her all winter, but with her gymnastics and our hockey we were having a hard time getting together. However, school was closed today so I took the opportunity to have her over for a little photo shoot. Thanks for coming over Payton - I had a great time - hope you did too!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

So my middle son Dylan, the one who provides us with the most laughs, is turning seven today. For those of you who know my son Dylan, you'll know what I mean by the laughs part! I swear Dylan started talking when he was nine months old - LOL. I don't remember a time when he wasn't cracking jokes, being charming or talking up a storm.

I woke up this morning all prepared to get my boys off to school and then have a photo shoot with a little four year boy and then get ready for the party after school. All that changed. I logged into my Facebook account and saw that school was cancelled! Not again! This same thing happened last year on Dylan's birthday. After going back and forth with the parents (and rescheduling my photo shoot) I decided to proceed with the party this afternoon. Within half an hour, the grader came and the Blight's (our wonderful neighbours again) came and cleaned out the road and yard.

So, the party is on.....it will be lacking a few balloons and decorations (that I had planned to get this afternoon), but do little boys even notice such a thing? Only the Mom does I think!!

Happy 7th Birthday Dylan. Thank you for all the laughs.....you light up our world.

Love, Mom.

Dylan - Almost Seven!

My son Dylan turns seven tomorrow....took a moment and bribed him to let me take a couple pictures of him in celebration of his birthday!

Oakville Squirt Tournament

Well, we hosted our Annual Oakville Squirts tournament yesterday at the Oakville Arena and it was a huge success. It was a long, but rewarding day with each and every one of the parents kicking in and helping out. Unlike many other arenas, the Oakville arena survives soley on the help of volunteers. In order to run a tournament, we are in charge of the canteen, ice cleaning, auction prizes, cleaning of the arena, etc. We literally open & close the arena and everything that takes place from tournament start to finish is the responsibility of the parents. Many other rinks have a caretaker, someone working in the canteen on a contact basis, etc. Not Oakville, and quite frankly, we are proud of that. There are so many volunteers that keep the Oakville Arena going and for that we say THANK YOU! Thank you as well to all the Squirt Parents for yesterday's awesome tournament. Events like that don't happen without the contribution of all the parents.

Tough Guy

So, I wanted to try out my new white backdrop, but could not convince Jackson to pose for me, so I figured if I dressed him up like a boxer and told him he was a tough guy he might be more willing to cooperate....and it worked!

Happy 1st Birthday Maddox

Wow! Where does the time go? Honestly, it does not seem like a year ago that our little Maddox was born. My younger sister and I are very close so when she called to tell me she had a baby boy I was thrilled. A second son for her and her husband Clark and a little brother for her oldest son Reese. I really wish we could be home to celebrate "Mad-Man's" 1st birthday but we're tied up here with hockey all weekend.

Happy 1st Birthday Maddox. I love you so, so much! Aunty Jodi

My Boys

I was making a Memory DVD for my nephew Maddox and was looking through some older pictures from the Fall. I completely forgot about these pictures the boys made me take by this old orange care in the bush by my place. I think they turned out kinda cool.....

I do OR I don't.

So, I turned down a great opportunity to do a fabulous wedding in Portage la Prairie this June. The bride and I had been going back and forth about it and I had expressed my concern that I wasn't ready to take on a big wedding such as her's. I am booked for a few weddings already this summer, but they are smaller, more informal affairs where they've hired me for a few hours during the day to capture some great shots. Have I made the right decision? I think so. Would I love to do weddings? Absolutely. Ask anyone - I absolutely love love love weddings. I'd be a wedding crasher if I didn't have three kids to tow along on weekends. There is something so beautiful about a bride and groom on their wedding day, and to be able to capture that love on film would be a dream come true for me. But where does one start? I think I'm doing the right thing by easing into this....just doing smaller weddings to start and build my way up to a bigger wedding. Ideally, I would love to tag along and be a secondary photographer at a larger wedding. You know, the pressure is off....and let the main photographer do the service, etc. My dream would be to meet up with a bride and groom in between the ceremony and reception and capture those pictures. As you can tell I have struggled with this decision to accept the challenge of this wedding, but I think I made the right choice. I suggested some amazing photographers to her in the area so I hope she finds someone to capture her day for her.

The pictures I have attached are from a wedding I did last July. It was so much fun - I was the "secondary" photographer and had a blast!

Little Beauty!

This is a picture of Payton, my girlfriend's beautiful daughter. I really want to squeeze in a session with her this winter and do some fun, outdoor stuff. The problem is trying to find a time when both our families aren't running with hockey, gymnastics and all that other stuff!

Still Archiving

So, I decided while I was home this weekend I would re-organize all my photos. Wow, what a job! My policy with clients is that I will store their photos on my system for a year after the photo shoot and at that time they will be notified that they will be deleted. Well, I haven't done a very good job of that because everytime I go to delete a file, I just can't do it! So, I've been storing on external hard drives and they are getting very full. I guess it's time to stick true to policy and actually delete the files.

One good thing about this big job is that I was able to go down Memory Lane a bit and discover old photos of clients, and my children that I truly love. Here is one of Jackson when he was only about nine months old!

JL