Today, I'm please to announce that you'll be seeing a number of my pieces adorning the walls of Lil Bean n Green. I met a while back with April, who owns and operates the café, and she gave me a few criteria. Some Toronto-themed photos near the front, some dress-up photos in the dress-up area. And for the rest, I'd send her a few wall arrangements.
Many of my clients like putting up photos on their walls (music to my ears, of course), and to help them determine which sizes and arrangements best suit their walls, I have a handy little app on my iPad that lets me do just that. All I need is a picture of a client's wall with a piece of 8.5x11 paper taped to it to help the app determine scaling, and the end result is nothing short of miraculous. You get a full mock-up of what your walls will look like with the photos hung on them.
Allow me to demonstrate. The first picture was one of the mock-ups that I prepared for April after our initial meeting. The second is what's actually on her walls right now. Can you say awesomesauce?
Here are the other two walls that I did for April (real shots; not mock-ups)).
If you happen to be in Leslieville, do be sure to pop in to to Lil Bean n Green for a cup of coffee, and to check out the images! And for anyone interested, I do sell prints of various sizes of the llama photos and of the Toronto photos. Just contact me for info on pricing!
Peace, love, and pics.
]]>Here's an example of a client 12x12 canvas display. And here's an example of how a client chose to arrange a set of 8x10 prints mounted on masonite.
Today, I thought it would be fun to share how I decorate my own walls. First off, my favourite way to display my photos is on a standout mount. I'm ashamed to say that until recently, I didn't have much in the way of art of any sort on my walls. I had two 20x30 framed posters on one of my living room walls, but with ceilings as high as mine, the walls still looked pretty sparse. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to finally get off my rear and put up some photos. All photos, by the way, were taken by me.
Here's how my living room walls look now:
The largest print on there is a 20x30. The square prints are 10x10, and the smallest prints (below the streetcar) are 8x12. Many people think that an 8x10 print is fairly large; however, when you look at walls like these, the 8x10s (or even 8x12s) can look pretty tiny. Of course, that doesn't mean that you should dismiss 8x10s or 8x12s completely. It just means that hanging a single 8x10 on a large wall can look pretty bare. In my display above, I chose two 8x12s to complement a 16x24 print. And I chose a set of four 10x10s instead of a single, large print.
I also have a bit of walls space near my front entrance, so I decided to put this up:
Note my daughter's interior-decorating skills on our front door. :) The top image is a 10x20. The smaller two are 8x10s.
In my kitchen, I decided to put up a set of 8x8s.
Yes, that IS a lava lamp. It's very fun to watch during dinner time. :)
Now, back to business. I originally had the left-most image, and the right-most image printed as 6x6s and in frames, but I was never happy with how it looked. I find that with square arrangements especially, the set looks more "complete" if you go for a set of 3 images all in one row, or a set of 4 images, two at the top, and two at the bottom.
That being said, offsetting images can be fun too! On my stairs, I decided to try something a bit different.
I decided to offset the snail images. I find mounting images around staircases to be rather tricky, because it looks a bit odd if they're all lined up, which doesn't look in line with the flow of the stairs. I found that off-setting them like I did above, helped with that.
Speaking of offsets, here's another example of offset images. These were hung on the wall leading down to my basement.
I have to admit that my motivation to offset these was because I originally hung 3 images, and wanted to utilize the hooks that were already on the wall. Then I decided to add a fourth image, and kept the offset pattern.
I also put up some images in my daughter's bedroom. At first, when I asked her where she wanted her pictures, she said that she wanted them in her bathroom (she has an ensuite bathroom). I'm cool with maybe one image in the loo, but not three. So i convinced her to put just one up:
This is an 8x12.
Inside my daughter's bedroom, I have a 16x24 print above her bed.
If you're wondering about the Beatles picture, that was totally her idea. She LOVES The Beatles. The other pictures on her wall were also her idea. We took her to the Guggenheim when we went to New York City back in January, and she was so taken with it, that she wanted to turn her bedroom into her own little Guggenheim. Gotta love that!
Here are two more images that we hung. These were hung on the wall just outside her bedroom:
Both of these are 11x14s.
I still have to take care of the walls in my bedroom. Right now I have a single 8x12 framed Casablanca poster above my bed, but I'm actually waiting for my photos from my August family session to arrive, so that I can order some big prints to hang over the bed. When I do get them hung, I will be sure to post a pic!
So as you can see, there are TONS of ways to hang photos on your walls. And the best part is that you can go with a combo of really large prints, complemented by smaller prints. Or you can have a set of smaller prints clustered together. Both setups work really well.
If you're keen on hanging photos on your walls, but don't know where to start, have no fear, because I can help! I have a nifty little app on my iPad that I use to show clients what their images look on their own walls when I come to their homes for their proofing and ordering session. That way, they can see RIGHT AWAY what works for their walls, and what doesn't.
]]>The way that the school holds the event is that the younger kids (pre-school and J/K) sit on the sidelines and cheer the older kids (S/K up to grade 6), as they run around the block. The older kids have a longer route than the younger kids. Here's a photo of one of the classes heading making their way over to their official cheering area:
Last year, my daughter was part of the cheering section, but this year, she got to run. And man, was she ever excited! She totally finished the run without stopping, and I have to say that I was impressed by how quickly she and the other kids her age finished the run! I'm hoping that when she's old enough, she'll be able to join me on the CN Tower climb. (Aside: I'm doing it again at the end of October!)
The run took place at 10am, and even though this time in the summer wouldn't necessarily be ideal for outdoor photos (unless you're in open shade), this time of year is very forgiving, and offered us some lovely golden light.
After the run, the children who participated in the race were treated to drinks and refreshing pieces of watermelon and orange. They also got stickers to proudly wear, to indicate that they had completed the run. Here's a photo of my daughter with her her sticker (which she didn't want to put on her shirt, for some reason):
And here are a few more photos of the event:
Overall it was an amazing event, and I'm so very happy to have been there to document it!
Peace, love, and pics.
]]>- How to avoid blurry photos
- Using the light to your advantage
- Flash usage
Workshop attendees also go some goody bags with a little wallet reference card with pointers related to the 3 discussion topics, and a couple of other exclusive goodies.
I want to once again thank everyone who came out. It was great seeing faces old and new, and I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to come spend part of the morning with me as I yap about photos!
I'll probably be holding another workshop there sometime in 2014, so keep an eye out for communications from me so that you don't miss out!
Peace, love, and pics.
]]>Not to mention the fact that the story of Terry Fox, a true Canadian icon, has been an awe-inspiring beacon of hope. If you don't know much about Terry Fox and the movement that he started, I highly encourage you to check out some info here.
Peace, love, and pics.
The party was supposed to be outdoors, but we had a heck of a rain storm that day, so instead, the party was moved inside. When we arrived at their home, you can imagine my delight to see photos that I'd taken of her and her family, all over her walls. Okay, it wasn't a surprise, because I was there when she ordered the large prints for her walls, but it is nonetheless nice to see your work proudly on display at a client's home. Cue in warm fuzzy feelings.
Anyway, I asked her if I could take a quick snap of one of her wall displays, and she agreed. I did both her maternity shots and her newborn shots for baby #2, and she ordered a few canvases from both sessions and came up with this lovely display:
Baby #2, by the way, has grown SO MUCH since I last saw him. It always blows my mind how much babies change (and I am in a business where I see said change quite often). Whenever parents ask me if they should get photos at newborn or at a later stage in life, I always say both. And I'm not saying that because I'd end up with two sessions. I say that because, quite honestly, your baby will change SO MUCH in the span of a few months, that it really IS worth capturing that change. Even now, as a mom of a 5-year-old, I'm starting to feel some serious nostalgia, as I look at my daughter, who now stands up to the middle of my chest. I still remember when she was at bum level, and gave me fabulous leg hugs. Or when she used to fit on the length of my forearm. Oh dear...I'm getting verklempt.
Fellow parents, you know exactly what I mean. And parents-to-be, you'll know exactly what I mean. When people tell you that time does go by in the blink of an eye, it really is true. Cherish you babies, and keep them close.
Peace, love, and pics.
]]>I first photographed this little man when he was about six months old. As you can see from the comparison below, he looks the same, yet different. Though one thing is definitely a constant: he sure is CUTE!
Our session took place at Kew Beach, which was picked by the family due to its sentimental value - there's a bench dedicated to the dad's grandparents near where we shot our session. How cool is that?! Kew Beach is a great location, not only because of its beauty, but because of its fabulous energy. We shot our session in the morning, and there was a LOT happening. First, there was a Yoga class taking place on the beach (slightly jealous), and then after the class wrapped up, the lifeguards did some training in that same area. Not to mention the families out for their morning walks, and in some cases, I even saw families taking their canoes or kayaks out for a spin.
Our session was absolutely fabulous, with the birthday boy being in a great mood, and totally hamming it up for me.
Here's one of my favourite photos from our session. I am naturally drawn to the water, having been born and lived in Rio de Janeiro - city where beautiful beaches are pretty much taken for granted. Let me tell you - I sure don't take beaches for granted now!
Of course, no birthday session is complete without a SUPER-AWESOME birthday shirt. This photo cracks me up every time I look at it, because it looks like he's conducting an orchestra. Mom and dad tell me that this is a regular occurrence at home, which is why it's so awesome to be able to capture moments like this through professional photography. Kids change so rapidly, and the cute thing that they were doing for what seemed to be forever, has suddenly morphed into the next cute thing. And if you don't capture these things, it's amazing how quickly they can fade from your memory! *snif*
For more fun shots from this session, be sure to check out the highlights below:
Toronto has so many beautiful outdoor locations for family photo sessions, which provide a great alternative to in-home family sessions. And with fall coming, we're getting into some of the most beautiful lighting and colors of the year, which makes it the perfect time for outdoor sessions and to get those family photos updated. Especially with Christmas around the corner (think awesome gift for grandma). Want to find out more about family sessions? Drop me a line and we can chat!
Peace, love, and pics.
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Workshop Name: Oh, SNAP! How to Avoid Being A Captain-Miss-a-Shot
Date: Tuesday, September 17th, 2013
Time: 11am
Cost: FREE
What I will cover:
a) How to avoid taking blurry photos of your kid
b) How to use lighting to your advantage
c) When to use the flash on your camera
I strongly encourage you to bring your point-and-shoot or phone camera, so that you can practice some of the techniques that I will show you at the workshop. Feel free to bring your baby or toddler with you, as they will be the perfect model for this!
To sign up, please click here!
Our session was scheduled to take place near the end of August at their home in Toronto's St. Clair West neighborhood, in the norther part of Toronto. I really like the St. Clair West area, because like many of Toronto's neighborhoods, it has a great little village feel, so it feels more like a town inside a big city. Nice and cozy!
In-home sessions, especially for newborns, are great, because with the home being a familiar place, people tend to be more calm and relaxed. Many people feel self-conscious about having their photos taken (I can totally relate), so having a familiar environment and a friendly photographer really really help! When doing in-home sessions, I scout out locations in the home that work best for photos in terms of backdrop and lighting. Some rooms may be gorgeous, but if they don't have a proper amount of natural light, I won't use it. I'd rather take no photos in a room, than have crappy photos in a room and later be asked why the photos weren't included in the final proofing set, because I just don't like to disappoint clients. Call me picky. :)
Most of our photos were taken in the backyard. The backyard had some great late-afternoon lighting, ample shade, and provided a very pretty backdrop for our photos. This is one of my fave photos of mommy and her girls. Baby girl, by the way, was a TOTAL rockstar. Seriously. No fuss.
Here are some shots of daddy with his girls. Such sweetness.
We also took some indoor shots, as Renee and Sean have a lovely upstairs area in their house that had some seriously gorgeous light. It was nice and soft, as you can see from the photo below.
For more highlights from their session, check out the images below!
It was a great way to spend an afternoon - taking photos of friends, and seeing them enjoy the newest member of the family. What a way to spend a summer! You guys just spoil me!
Peace, love, and pics.
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I arrived a bit early, so being a sucker for pretty scenery, sunsets, and water, well...I grabbed a quick snap with my DSLR.
Brian and his partner arrived not too long after that photo was taken, and we were off! We started off at the Simcoe Wave Deck. If you're wondering why that looks/sounds familiar, it's because I shot a family session there recently.
Here's one of my favourite images taken at the wave deck.
After a few shots at the wave deck, we made our way west. We ended up stopping at the Spadina Wave Deck for some additional photos because, even though it's not nearly as wavy as the Simcoe Wave Deck, I actually found the backdrop to be nicer, as there weren't rows and rows of boats cluttering up the background.
After our brief stop at the Spadina Wave Deck, we continued to head west, towards the Music Garden. The Toronto Music Garden, which was again one of the locations from the family session at the waterfront, is not only a gorgeous backdrop for photos, it also fit in well with the fact that Brian is a composer. I think that the Music Garden was probably my favourite of all three locations. The sun setting, coupled with the great, big willow tree, and the elderly couple nearby practicing T'ai Chi just added to a wonderful overall mood that just can't quite be adequately described in words.
So here's a photo instead. And by the way...wouldn't this make an AWESOME location for wedding vows?
Here are some additional highlights from our session. I couldn't have asked for a better session, and a more easygoing couple. You guys rocked it!
PS: After the session, I stopped for a quick snap of the CN Tower. Because, as you know, I am a sucker for CN Tower photos. And I am a super-sucker for photos of the CN Tower taken at night.
Yesterday I showed the guys their photos at their home for their proofing and ordering session, and it was just such a lovely time. As an aside, I really love proofing and ordering sessions because they always feel like I'm hanging out with friends. These sessions are just so calm and relaxing. Of course, yesterday's as extra-special because I got to meet their awesome dog, Mason, whom I probably spoiled way too much by scratching the backs of his ears, and showered with attention. I even got a quasi-handshake from Mason on the way out. Awesomeness.
Peace, love, and pics.
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Last Saturday, I was joined by family and friends at the ÜmlaPrime gallery closing party at Playful Grounds. For most in attendance, it was their first time coming into Playful Grounds, and their first time seeing my non-portraiture work. Although I've grabbed a bite at Playful Grounds before, this was my first experience in doing a party with them. I had actually first heard about Playful Grounds through one of my clients, who had thrown a first birthday party for her daughter last year, and well, the rest is just history!
I will be taking down my work after the Labour Day weekend to make way for the next awesome artist who will have his/her work on display at the café, so if you haven't had a chance to pop by to see my work, I do have a few photos to share with you. Some photos were taken by me, on the day that I set up the gallery, and some photos were taken by my parents. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)
The nice thing about Playful Grounds is that they have a LOT of wall space. Before I put up my photos, I popped into the café to take photos of the walls, so that I would have a better idea of the space that I'd be working with, along with having a feel for the number and sizes of the photos that I would need to print.
I chose to print all of my photos as standouts. A standout-mounted image is basically a photo printed on professional photographic paper, and backed onto 3/4-inch foam core. The foam core has sleek, black edges, and has holes at the back, so the images are ready to mount. Standouts are part of my regular product offerings, and I love them because they have a great modern look. Here's a photo that I took on the day that I set up my gallery. It took me about 4 hours to put everything up. Playful Grounds has some really awesome big walls, which was great for displaying my work. My challenge, however, was the fact that there were booth-style seats lining the two big walls that I was using, so I had to put my rock climbing upper-body strength to good use to prop myself on the wee ledge at the top of the booth seats, so that I could put up the velcro hanging system that I used to secure my images to the wall. And on that note, I'd like to give a big shout-out to my awesome client Sophie, who used these to hang 8x10s from her session with me on her own walls. AWESOME suggestion! PS: It's a good thing that I'm not superstitious at all, because I lost count of the number of times that I walked under that ladder! :)
I ended up going 9 separate mini-themes as part of ÜmlaPrime. Below are some photos that I took of the collections with my iPhone before I carted them over to Playful Grounds.
Toronto
Beginnings
Masked (top) & Word on the Street (bottom)
People
Snails
Music
Sunsets
Mish-Mash
The food and the service were phenomenal, by the way. (Thanks, Davina!!!) I ordered some bruscetta, a cheese and olive platter, coconut shrimp, fruit, and some AMAZING beef/mushroom/pepper skewers that were to die for. I'm still dreaming of those...
I'd like to extend a HUGE thanks to everyone who came, and to everyone who couldn't make it, but still contributed to Second Harvest. We raised a total of $200, which translates to 400 meals for Toronto's hungry. Thanks also to Second Harvest, for promoting the event, and to Playful Grounds, for promoting the event, and giving my photos a place to call home for the month of August, and for throwing an AWESOME party! :D
PS: If any of the photos that you saw at the ÜmlaPrime Gallery tickles your fancy, be sure to contact me. Most of the photos are available for sale at various sizes. Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness!
]]>Below is a comparison of the little guy from last November, and him again in August. What a difference 9 months makes! Though he's still as handsome as ever, don't you think? :)
We had our session originally scheduled for June 1st in the morning, outdoors. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for us, and we made the executive decision to postpone June session due to the threat of rain. And THEN Mother Nature totally threw us a curveball and decided that it would be funny to skip the rain in the morning and instead have it come in the afternoon. If only I had a crystal ball... (har har)
Well, the silver lining is that our rescheduled session took place over the Civic Holiday long weekend, and the day was GORGEOUS. Our session took place along Toronto's waterfront. Ken, Kerry, and their little boy living near the waterfront, and with it being such a prominent part of their lives, it seemed only fitting for them to choose this location for their session.
We hit up three major locations for our session:
The roundhouse is lots of fun because its fun shape. Plus, there's the added fun of the Toronto skyline, with its office buildings and condos, to serve as a fabulous backdrop for the photos. Ken and Kerry came prepared with an arsenal of fun for their little guy, including bubbles, which are of course an all-time favourite of mine to use for outdoor sessions (I always keep some in my backpack for emergency purposes).
The Simcoe Wavedeck proved to be a lot of fun as well. If you've never been there, it's basically a wavy boardwalk. And I'll bet that it is every skateboarder's fantasy to be able to board there. The only thing that probably prevents them from doing so is the inconveniently-placed rails at the wave troughs, which I'm guessing were placed there as a skateboarding deterrent.
Here's one of my favourite shots from the Simcoe Wavedeck:
And finally, we ended our session in the Music Garden. As you would expect from its name, you can, the Music Garden is used in the summer for outdoor musical performances. A few summers back, I attended a violin ensemble performance there. It took place in the early evening, and it was wonderful to set there in the garden, watching the sunset, and listening to great music.
Check out some more highlights from this session below!
A lovely session for a lovely family! And I am very honored that they have chosen me for their photos three times.
August's "Paying it Forward" donation went to the World Wildlife Fund, as part of a fundraising campaign for my daughter's fifth birthday this year. Last year, through one of my daughter's classmates, we discovered a great free service called EchoAge. They are basically a crowdfunding birthday party invitation service. Which basically means that you use them to send out birthday party invites to your child's birthday party (which is independent of where you may be hosting the party). When clients RSVP to the party, they are prompted to make a gift donation. Half of the money donated goes to a birthday present fund, and the other half goes to a registered charity of your choice (there are quite a few to choose from on the EchoAge site). This year is the second year that we've used it, and we absolutely love it, because a) it teaches our daughter about giving to charity, and b) instead of receiving more gifts than we know what to do with, we use the money to buy her one large super-awesome birthday gift. Win-win! I highly suggest trying this service, if it sounds like something that tickles your fancy!Do you have a cause that you care about? Share it with me, telling me why it's near and dear to your heart. I will feature your story on the Ümla-Blog and newsletter. PLUS, I will make a donation to the registered charity!]]>
Are professional prints really better? Why can’t you just print all of your professional photos at the local grocery store? And what’s the big deal about getting prints from a professional lab? These are all great questions which I hear quite often. So here are a few reasons why you shouldn't print your professional images with just any old lab, and why professional photo prints are better.
- Better skin tones. The look of skin tones on your images is very important to the picture. I've found that many times images printed on lower quality machines can make the skin look either too orange, or too much like zombie skin. Think self-serve kiosk at Shoppers. Or even printing photos on your home photo printer. Something just looks a bit off. When you’re getting your images from a professional lab, however, the skin tones on your photos will look exactly like the photographer edited them - healthy, alive, and real! This is because the professional labs calibrate their machines multiple times per day to make sure the colors are just right. Other printers don’t.
- Better paper. When ordering professional prints, the paper used for printing your images is a much higher quality paper. Plus, professional labs do everything they can to get the most color out of the paper they can. This results in more vibrant true colors in your prints. If you've ever ordered prints from me, you'll also notice that the prints just FEEL nicer. All of my gift prints and standouts are printed on lustre paper with a linen texture for a more professional feel, and for added durability.
- More options. Most printers that can be found at grocery stores will only offer a few print options, and a few sizes to choose from. When working with a professional, however, you will find that if you choose, you can choose gift prints, standouts, or canvas, and these come in a variety of sizes and aspect ratios, from square prints to very large 20x30" standouts.
Now, five months later, I had the pleasure of photographing this little lady and her family, at a park in Toronto's Annex neighborhood. As with Gavin, I cannot believe how much babies change in a few months. When you see your child every day, the changes are so subtle that they're barely noticeable. To an outsider, however, you can definitely see a HUGE difference.
I can tell that this little darling will grow up to be a very beautiful young lady. What a doll! And she was in a great mood for the whole session, which made it even more awesome.
Since this was a family session, we also had daddy and big brother in the mix. Like most little pre-school boys, big brother was full of energy, and it was totally contagious! Big brother is really into baseball, so mom and dad thought it would be fun to bring his bat for the photo session, which I thought was awesome. The whole point of lifestyle sessions is to capture families doing what they do, so if baseball is part of what they do, then I want to capture it! Here are a few highlights from the session:
As a final image to leave you with, I thought I'd share this fun capture below. One item that I always carry with me is a little camera keychain. This keychain as a tiny little shutter button, and when you press it, it makes a camera shutter sound, and flashes a little LED "flash". All of my toddler and pre-school clients LOVE this, and it makes for great photos. Check it out!
Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness.
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The park session was a ton of fun. I love Trinity-Bellwoods Park, because it's so full of activity. I spent a Sunday afternoon there recently with my hubby, daughter, and some good friends of ours, and it was heavenly. We sat on a picnic blanket and shot the breeze, while the girls played in the playground and splash pad. What a great place to just chill and enjoy city life!
One of the recognizable features of Trinity-Bellwoods park is the beautiful gate located at the park's entrance on the north side of Queen Street. Naturally, it is a photographer's dream, and I had just to photograph it. Here's a favourite of mine of Becky, Eric, and Gavin at the gate:
Since our session started in late evening, just before sunset, we were treated to some seriously soft, gorgeous light. Pair that with the green grass, tons of trees, and nice flowers, and we were pretty much set. Becky and Eric are just wonderful with Gavin, and it made our session go very smoothly. Check out some highlights below:
Having been a part of Becky & Eric's journey into parenthood, starting with her pregnancy, has been an absolute treat. I am always amazed by just how much babies change over the course of just a few months, and it's wonderful to be able to capture a baby's first year to freeze these special moments in time, and to look back on them with fondness. Becky, Eric, and Gavin have one final photo session scheduled with me in 2013, and I cannot WAIT to see how their family will have evolved by then!
We had originally talked about doing her session close to her place, but then after getting to hang out with the Pinkletoes Toronto Workshop gals for a beautiful maternity session on Friday after my own family session, I thought it would be cool to do some maternity shots there. So I suggested that to Emily, who politely told me that that wasn't really her style. Nor was it the style of daddy-to-be. And since the whole point of my style of photography is to capture you and your personality, I obliged. And man, am I glad that I did, because Emily was totally right. The session we had TOTALLY captured momma and daddy-to-be perfectly!
To start with, daddy-to-be brought a slackline. If you're wondering what slacklining is, find out here.
As you can see from the photo above, baby-daddy is quite good on the slackline. And let me tell you, it looks easier than it is. Consider Exhibit A below, whereby Yours Truly tries her hand at said slackline and requires the assistance of daddy-to-be. What you don't see is me trying it sans assistance, and my legs shaking uncontrollably.
It's freaking hard, but I am so getting one. My birthday is on Thursday. Maybe the birthday fairy will get me one. Actually, the birthday fairy just got me a new monitor, so probably not happening. :)
Here's another fave. I have to say that both baby-daddy and baby-momma were cool about me asking them to do funny things. And this was one of them.
She actually said that it was pretty relaxing. I totally believe her. She looks pretty chill.
Of course, since this was an outdoor session, I brought bubbles. Bubbles are awesome. And they go very well with slacklines.
Now, one of the OTHER requests that I got for this session was to bring my daughter's face paints with me, because momma-to-be wanted to paint her belly. Now that's MY kind of client! You may also recall some other awesome maternity clients who did some belly-painting at their session. Not only did baby-momma have her belly painted, but baby-daddy was totally cool about having his painted too. And they weren't shy about showing off their works of art, either!
And finally, I should mention that I brought some assistants with me. Both my hubby and my daughter were on-hand to provide entertainment, bubbles, fun company, and behind-the-scenes photos. My daughter will also be Emily's son's third cousin and she is TOTALLY psyched about it!
Thanks guys for such a fun session! I need to find more ways to incorporate slacklines and facepaints into my future sessions!
So, where am I going with this? Well, yesterday, I was the one behind the camera, as my family and I had the AMAZING privilege of being one of the "model families" for Michele Anderson's PinkleToes Photography workshop in Toronto. How big of a deal is this, you might ask? Well, kind of a HUGE deal, because Michele is an amazing photographer and a genuinely lovely person to be around. I have admired Michele's work from afar for a couple of years now, and in June, I had a chance to attend her Charlotte workshop. During said workshop she asked if my family wanted to be one of their workshop models. Um...HELL YEAH!!!
As I've said before, I feel REALLY self-conscious when photos are taken of me. My hubby and daughter are used to having me stick my various cameras in their faces, so they probably weren't as daunted. And while I was SUPER-excited to have our family photos updated, having 12 photographers in your house is kind of overwhelming. Fortunately, Michele is a pro, the workshop ladies were wonderful, and we were all right at ease! In case you're wondering what it's like to have 12 photographers at your house, consider the scene outside my house on Friday:
One of the things that was great about the session is just how well Michele worked with my daughter. My daughter is a TOTAL HAM, LOVES attention, and LOVES having photos taken of her (I'm sure that I've contributed to this). If you're wondering just how much of a ham my daughter is, consider Exhibit A, taken today. This kid LOVES dressing up. She put this on to go to a birthday party today.
Michele made my daughter feel comfortable around her from the start (even with 11 other photographers around), and by the end of it, the two were total BFFs. (Big thanks to Melissa of Simply Said Photography for taking this pic!)
One of the AWESOME things about our session (beside the fact that we will soon have updated family pics - YAY), is that I will be getting a couple of headshots to use on my site. I am beyond excited to see how the photos will turn out. Now, since one of my "trademarks", if you will, is that I go pretty much everywhere on my Kick scooter, Michele incorporated that into the shoot as well. There will be headshots of me on my scooter (YAY!), and there will also be pics of my daughter and me on our matching pink scooters. Here's another photo from Melissa of Simply Said Photography - a pullback of the shot that Michele was taking. I love how this looks!
Extra bonus of our photo session was that I got to take a couple of shots too. This is a photo my daughter taking a photo of me with my very first DSLR (she's my little photographer-in-training). And Michele is in the background, taking a photo of my daughter and me taking photos of each other.
And here are a couple of other snaps that I snuck in...
At the end of our session, I snapped a pic of Michele and the workshop gals, taken from my patio. Michele shoots with Nikon (whereas I shoot with Canon), so she set up the shot for me. Here's a pic of her setting up the shot.
After our session, I was invited to tag along for dinner and for the maternity session in Yorkville! For those unfamiliar with Toronto, Yorkville is a very posh posh commercial pocket of Toronto, full of fancy little restaurants and expensive boutiques. You tend to see a lot of fancy cars parked on the street (think Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus), and celebrity sightings are plentiful (especially when TIFF used to be held in the area).
I should also mention that at the beginning of the session, there was a wedding shoot going on at the same time, and one of the workshop attendees noticed that the wedding photographer recognized Michele. So we were wit our own celebrity. BOOYAH!
Although I didn't bring my fancycam with me for the maternity session, I had a great time watching Michele at work, and chatting with the workshop attendees. Now, between the session location, the horde of 12 photographers, and the fact that the model couple for the maternity session looked like movie stars, we got several looks and inquiries from passers-by. At one point, one random guy popped in from behind to take a quick snap of the maternity model, thinking that she was some sort of celebrity! I really wish that I had gotten a photo of that!!!
Here are a few quick snaps that I took of the shoot with my iPhone:
After the maternity session, we all went for frozen yogurt. A very fitting end to the day indeed. I am so grateful to have had this experience - to have been in the photo session, to have gotten to work with Michele again, and to have met the wonderful ladies who attended the workshop. Thank you ALL for a lovely time, and I can't wait to see the photos and to share them with you!!!
PS: Thanks MeeMaw (aka Michele's awesome mom who comes to help out at her workshops) for snapping this photo of Michele and me. :)
I wanted to share my love of reading with you, and thought it might be fun to post a weekly book recommendation on my various social media sites. So, every Wednesday, keep an eye out for my Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ feeds, to see which book I'll be recommending. And while most of my reading is non-fiction, I recognized that it's not for everyone, so I am alternating between non-fiction and fiction reads every week. For the non-fiction titles, I've chose fun titles, that will hopefully be as engrossing for you, as they were for me.
Also I am ALWAYS up for new book suggestions, so if you have a book that you loved loved loved and want to share it with me, please feel free to post a link to the book in the comments section of the weekly social media posts, or even in the comments section of this post! Happy reading!
And you know what? It was the best decision that I could have made. When I was a software developer, I'd find myself stuck on a coding problem that would just drive me nuts. You know...the kind that consumes you. That you can't get out of your head. That you MUST solve, OR ELSE...(dun dun dun) Then I'd force myself to step away from it (either because I had to eat, it was time to go home, or my brain hurt), and guess what? Time and time again, this proved to be the best thing that I could have done. By the time I got back to my computer, the problem would often practically solve itself, because my sub-conscious mind was working on it. (As a total aside, you should check out this book on sleep, and the mysterious workings of the sub-conscious mind.)
When I decided to re-start Project 365, it was because I wanted to, and not because I had to. I missed capturing everyday moments, and I missed sharing the photos with my Ümla-fans. Before I started posting again, I was trying to decided if I should blog the other weeks that I photographed but hadn't posted, or if I should just go ahead and post the new photos. In the interest of not being paralyzed by the task of writing back-dated posts, coupled with my current client work, I opted to just start shooting and sharing, which worked out great, because I was back to doing what I loved.
For those who have been wondering if/when Project 365 would return, you don't have to wait any longer! Because I started taking Project 365 photos mid-week, I have fewer photos for my first week back. I also started at Week 22, even though the last post was for Week 17, because I still do plan on going back and posting those other "lost weeks" that I photographed, so keep an eye out. One final note. I have discontinued the weekly themes for the time being. That doesn't mean that I won't resume them; it just means that they're on hold for the moment. And without further ado, here are the photos for Week 22!
This first picture, taken on a Tuesday, best describes how I feel about resuming Project 365. Whoopee! :D This was taken in the morning, after breakfast. My daughter was throwing play money up in the air.
Wednesday's picture was supposed to be of an abandoned globe that I found near my house. I took a picture of it with my iPhone, but by the time I went to grab my fancycam, it was gone. FORTUNATELY, I caught site of this as I walked home. It was a pretty good substitution.
On Thursday, my daughter woke up feeling icky, so we kept her home from camp. You can see that she's still in her PJs at breakfast. I love this capture because of the unique angle, and because I get to shoot through glass.
Friday's photo is my personal favorite. I love silhouettes, and I LOVE the light that comes through our kitchen window in the morning. I saw this scene, and I just *had* to take a picture of it.
Saturday's photo captures one of our favorite summertime activities: drawing outside with sidwalk chalk. We don't really have a driveway that we can draw on (it's a common driveway), so we do most of our drawing on our walkway and front steps.
I'm actually doing a better job of keeping up with the FB posts of my 365 photos, so do be sure to check out the Project 365: 2013 album on Facebook. I also post photos on Google+, Twitter, and Instagram. Just follow check out the #project365 hashtag under my profile! I look forward to continuing to share more Project 365 photos in the coming weeks!
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She was fresh out of the oven, and my hubby's hair was waaaay darker back then. :) Doesn't this capture a moment? Can you not see the unconditional love in my hubby's eyes for his new daughter?
While we were at the hospital, there was a pro photographer roaming around, taking photos of the newborns, and we decided to get some pro photos done. Our most precious resource, barely a day old, immortalized in photos, which we would cherish for years to come. Yeah. And then we got the photos back. The photo below was the "best" of the set.
Pretty disappointing, but sadly, you get what you pay for. The photos were inexpensive, and the photographer spent maybe 5 minutes taking the photos. If you've ever had your photos professionally done, you'll know that when it comes to photographing kids, 5 minutes won't suffice. I often tell the story of my daughter's not-so-great-hospital-photos-done-by-a-supposed-pro to prospective clients because I really lament not having invested the time and the money into proper newborn photos. If I had to do it all over again, I would've hired a pro for either a Fresh 48 or a regular newborn session in a heartbeat.
For the sake of comparison, check out the photo below, which I took during a Fresh 48 session in early April:
There's something very magical about the little boy's expression. Something that just wasn't captured in that quickie done-by-a-supposed-pro photo of my daughter.
And now my daughter is 5. FIVE! Did I just blink? This birthday, more than any of the birthdays she's had before, was a BIG DEAL. I think she's been planning it since she turned four. And so, I wanted to make sure that we captured the excitement of it.
And with a birthday, comes cake. I made a carrot cake (my grandmother's recipe) with pink cream cheese icing, to celebrate the occasion. You'll have to imagine the pink, seeing as the photo is black and white and all...
With her birthday being in August, my daughter doesn't have the benefit of celebrating it with her classmates and friends at school; however, she goes to summer camp, and I'd promised her that I'd bake her mini chocolate cupcakes for her to bring to camp and share with her friends. She even helped me ice the cupcakes (leftover pink cream cheese icing from her b-day cake).
And what birthday isn't complete without presents? We decided to get her face paints for her birthday, which totally made her day. This is one of my face-painting "masterpieces", thanks to the handy-dandy little guide book that came with the kit.
Is a career change in store for me? Har har...just kidding!
The moral of the story? As many of my clients can attest, kids grow up faster than you can say, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (I totally Googled the spelling). Before you know it, they've gone from teeny newborn to feisty five-year-old in the blink of an eye. And having those nice photos to remember them by is pretty priceless. But then again, I'm kind of a bit of a photo freak myself.
If you've got a little one's birthday coming up, you might want to consider a pro photo package to celebrate the milestone. Or, if you're expecting, contact me, and we can chat about having a Fresh 48 or Newborn session.
Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness!
]]>June and July of this year have been a bit hectic for me. It started in mid-June with my travelling to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the PinkleToes Photography workshop (posting about that really really soon), followed by one week "off" with my family (I use air quotes because it was a semi-working vacation for me). And then, a couple of weeks later, we were off again (for real!) for a week in Alaska. Between the trips, vacations, Father's Day photos at Baby on the Hip, talking to the mommies of MumNet, summer mini-sessions (part 1 and part 2), and MommyConnections in June and July, and of course, my regular sessions, I guess you could say that things were quite hectic.
When mommy contacted me about scheduling her family photo session following her baby girl's birth, my schedule wasn't looking pretty, and so I suggested a couple of dates in late July, when all of this scheduling madness was expected to be over on my end. Unfortunately, that didn't jive with her schedule, and she was very eager to have fairly fresh pictures of her baby girl following birth. As swamped as I was, I also recognized, as a fellow mom, that these early days in a baby's life are so fleeting. That freshness. That new and overwhelmingly powerful unconditional love that you have for this tiny person whom you have just met. So I offered to her in early on Saturday over the Canada Day long weekend, and the rest is history.
Though this baby girl was just about 3 weeks old when I met her, she was a teeny little thing.
But don't let her size fool you. She was a teeny package, but a HUGE bundle of joy to her mommy and daddy, who were obviously very smitten with her.
Mommy and daddy were awesome during the session. They even let me borrow their step-ladder for the photo session. With me being on the shorter side, it's often difficult to get a good shot when your subjects are taller than you are, and when standing on your tiptoes still doesn't help. I have yet to figure out how to lug a step-ladder around on my scooter, so I am grateful that they had one to lend me. Otherwise I would've had to resort to climbing on furniture (with their permission, of course).
Here are some additional photos from our session:
I'm so glad to have worked with this family, and to have squeezed in some session time for them. They were an absolute delight to be around. I can see from their easy-going nature that they will be wonderful parents. Just to put things into perspective, daddy got peed on right after that shot taken on the bottom-right of the collage above, and he was perfectly relaxed about it. How very awesome.
- MommyConnections of East Toronto
- Lil Bean N Green
- Belly Bootcamp
- Wholeplay
- Precious Moments Babeez
- ÜmlaPhoto
Here's a photo of the fabulous ladies behind the above businesses. From left to right: Laura (MommyConnections of East Toronto), April (Lil Bean N Green), M.E. (Wholeplay), Dara (Belly Bootcamp), and Debbie (Precious Moments Babeez). If you're wondering where I am, I'm behind the camera. :) As you can see, two of the ladies are expecting babies (both having their 2nd) of their own. Laura actually had her baby boy on June 15th - just FOUR DAYS after the baby shower event!!! :) 
Baby on the Hip was gracious enough to offer up their great store space to host the event, and most items in-store were available to attendees at 10% off. Refreshments were provided by Lil Bean N Green, and I was on-hand to take some photos during the event. I snapped the photo below before the event started. Check out the awesome room setup!
The turnout was great, and it was lovely to see so many beautiful bellies in the room!
Debbie from Precious Moments Babeez gave a great talk about basic infant care. This included swaddling, bathing, and feeding. Here's Debbie in action:
She even had a fabulous prop as a visual aid. Can you guess what it is? Feel free to leave your guesses in the comments section of this post. :)
And here are a few additional highlights from the event.
As you can see, everyone was very engaged. My own daughter will be 5 next month, and I was surprised by how much I had forgotten! This was definitely very informative, and I'm sure that the mommies-to-be were more than happy with the info and fabulous swag that they came away with!
Thanks again to everyone who popped in, and a big thanks to Laura of MommyConnections of East Toronto for organizing this, and to Baby on the Hip for providing space for the venue! I look forward to the next one!
]]>Okay, so what DOES one wear to a lifestyle family photo session, you ask? Here are a few color tips which you may find useful:
- Wear similar hues: soft or dusty colors, vibrant colors (avoid for tops - see below for more), neutral colors.
- Complimentary: Colors that are opposite on the color wheel, such as blue-orange, red-green, purple-yellow
- No Correspondence: This doesn’t mean have one child in a fancy dress and another in a swim suit. The idea is for everyone to be dressed in a similar style. So this means that you either all go for a dressy look or all casual. The trick here, however, is to go with lots of color variation
As a little aside and caution, be careful when wearing overly-bright and vibrant colors as tops. When you wear a brightly-colored top, the color tends to bounce off of your shirt, and onto your face (or your fellow family member's face). This means that if you wear a bright red shirt, your face might end up glowing red!
With these simple rules in mind, you'll be sure to get a great, timeless look for your family photo session, which you will cherish for years to come!
This was taken in 1989, when I was 10 (quick, do the math to figure out my age!), at Niagara Falls.
Fast-forward to 2013, and our recent Alaskan cruise. One of the things about this cruise is that there were photographers EVERYWHERE. I'm sure that this is true of most cruises, but I suspect that photographers are even more prevalent because every, there were scheduled times in which children (and adults) could line up to take photos with their favorite Disney characters. In addition to the character photos, you could have your photos taken before boarding the boat, before dinner, at dinner, after dinner, and on deck in front of the beautiful scenery.
One of my sister-in-law's goals for the cruise was to have formal family portraits done, with a dress code to boot: blue tops and khaki-colored pants. It is no secret that this isn't my style, but I still rolled with it. :) And since we were already all dressed up after taking our big family formal photo, my hubby, daughter, and I also got formal portraits done of the three of us. The end result...
It's cute and all, but something bothered me about it. And it wasn't until I posted it on my personal FB page that a friend pointed out what had been nagging at me all along. The smiles were fake! And I ultimately ended up taking this down from my personal FB page because this photo doesn't represent my family's style, or my own photographic style, for that matter. That and there's a total lack of genuine emotion. For all you know, we were all pissed off at each other and were pretending to be happy. (NOT the case, by the way, but I'm just trying to illustrate a point). Anyway, I respect the fact that different people have different photographic preferences when it comes to family photos. And that's why it's great that there are many different types of photographers out there to meet peoples' needs.
Yet, even for those of us who like the candid and relaxed nature of lifestyle photography, I, as a photographer, have to keep in mind that people still like their "everyone-looking-at-the-camera" pictures. Or, what I like to call the "grandma-and-grandpa" pictures, because many (not all) grandparents EXPECT family photos to have a certain formality to them, and in many cases, that means having everyone looking at the camera. Which is why I will always take a couple of family shots with everyone looking at the camera.
And speaking of looking at the camera, check out another family picture that we had taken while on our cruise.
I actually prefer this one a lot more, because a) it's not at a studio, and b) it's a little more relaxed. Sure, the smiles are somewhat "forced", but they look a lot more natural to me than the formal portrait above, don't you think?
And now, to further illustrate my point, I present you with Exhibit D below, taken with my little point-and-shoot.
It is by far my favorite photo from the entire cruise, and man, does it ever capture emotion! No amount of posing can ever capture this. Can you see the absolute, unconditional love between father and daughter? THAT is what I'm talking about, my friends. I rest my case.
This vacation, however, was different. I was cut off from the world, and it was FABULOUS. Not only that, but I'd made the executive decision early on that I would NOT be bringing my DSLR with me on the trip. Instead, I would rely on only my iPhone and my point-and-shoot camera for photos. I'm pretty sure that some people will read this and think that I'm nuts, but, as much as I love taking photos, I love my family more, and I know that had I brought my DSLR along, I would've been busy taking photos, rather than spending time with them. Which is what this vacation was all about.
This trip has been a year in the making, and my little family of three was accompanied by hubby's side of the family - i.e. mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and my 2 nieces. There were 9 of us in total, and the trip was made possible by my in-laws, who treated both children and their respective families to the trip. My sister-in-law did a lot of planning and research beforehand, for which I am hugely grateful. I am generally a very organized person, but I do find trip-planning to be rather stressful, and prefer to just ride it out when it comes to family vacations (very unlike me, because I love to plan EVERYTHING).
We began our trip by flying out to Vancouver on Saturday morning. Due to the time difference, we wound up enjoying approximately 2 days in the city. Last time I'd been to Vancouver was when I was about 11 or 12. My family had been living in Edmonton at the time, and we drove down to Vancouver through the Rockies in one sitting one summer. How my dad managed to do that in our 1992 2-door Honda Civic with a family of 4, sans AC is beyond me. Still, I lived to tell the tale. I have to admit that I'd forgotten a lot about Vancouver. Now, having revisited the city at 33, I had the chance to see it through fresh eyes, as a photographer.
The hotel that we stayed at overlooked Vancouver harbor, and that meant that for two mornings, I was treated to beautiful scenery for my morning run. I think I ran about 6 or 7km, from our hotel to Stanley Park. I normally run 4 or 5km per day, but I kept wanting to see what was next, and then next thing I knew, I found myself on the other side of the harbor, looking across at our hotel. Having 6 adults plus 3 kids in tow meant that we didn't get to do a TON of stuff during our day in Vancouver, but we at least got to check out the Vancouver Aquarium, and see part of Stanley Park. Here are some highlight shots from the Vancouver portion of the trip.
We boarded our cruise ship on the Monday, not far from our hotel in Vancouver. In fact, we walked there while my father-in-law and brother-in-law took a cab with our bags to where our ship was. This was my first cruise experience, and I have to admit that I was a little reluctant about the whole thing. After a week on board, however, I have to say that I came back with a very positive experience. Did I mention that this was a Disney Cruise? Maybe that's why. Between the bountiful food (OMG, I just about exploded every day), the amazing amazing amazing staff, the awesome evening shows (think Broadway à la Disney), the fun kids' activities, and, of course, Disney chacaters galore, it was certainly a very fun time.
We spent 2 days at sea, and with the second day spent going through an amazing fjord called Tracy Arm. Words can't even describe how beautiful the scenery was. The passageway is pretty narrow, so we were flanked by mountains on either side of the ship. The pièce de resistance was the Sawyer Glacier (see my photos below). The ship did a 360-degree turn so that no matter where you were on the ship, you could see it. Our room had a balcony, so we spent the majority of the trip enjoying the sights from there. Although we never saw any huge icebergs, we saw smaller ones, called "bergie bits", tons of gorgeous waterfalls, and, closer to the glacier, we saw TONS of seals lounging around on the ice (see second photo from the left, bottom row, below).
Our first port of call was Skagway. Skagway was our northernmost point, and probably my favorite port of call. We signed up for an excursion which took us up the mountains, through the White Pass, which was a very important route during the Yukon (or Klondike) Gold Rush. We ultimately ended up in northern BC, in this TEENY (as in population of 46 people teeny) town called Fraser. Back in the day, the railway used to go all the way from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon. , and after a brief stay (i.e. 5 minutes), returned to Skagway. We didn't return to Skagway by train, but instead, returned by bus. On our way back, we stopped by this little down called Liarsville, and though the stopover was super-boring, we did get to pan for gold. We made out with 2 flecks of gold. Check it out!
And here are some of the highlights from Skagway:
The next stop was Juneau. Of all of our ports-of-call, Juneau was the largest. Juneau was a really cool city. For one thing, it's Alaska's capital. Secondly, there are a TON of bald eagles flying around. In fact, we saw one perched at a light post along the freeway. There are no roads in or out of Juneau. The only way to get there is either by boat or by plane. We had one excursion booked in Juneau, and that was whale-watching. This was probably the only time during the trip where I lamented not having my DSLR with me, since I"m sure that I would've scored some great while pics. Instead, I had my 12x zoom Panasonic point-and-shoot, which was better than nothing. We did get to see humpback whales during this excursion though the most we saw were their backs/dorsal areas, and their tales. My best whale photo is of a mom and calf pair, with the mom's tail peeking out of the water, and the calf's back sticking out. The resolution isn't the best, but I'm glad that I got the shot (see below). We also got to see a TON of sealions, all perched on some rocks on shore. My hubby joked that they sounded like a herd of zombies. I'm inclined to agree.
Our final port-of-call was Ketchikan. It's smaller than Juneau, but larger than Skagway. The "excursion" that we signed up for was a lumberjack show which, I'd say was very lackluster and very boring. I mean, I'm impressed by the strength of the guys in the show and all, but the presentation was very meh. Before our excursion, my hubby and I had a chance to walk through the town a bit. There wasn't a whole lot to see. There were a few totem poles (which were only replicas), and there was a little river. I'd say that the coolest thing about Ketchikan was that we saw a TON of salmon there, jumping out of the water. I didn't get a great picture of one, given my slow point-and-shoot camera, but this is what I managed to get (near bottom of the picture).
I actually bought some Alaska smoked salmon in Ketchikan, as we'd been told that it was okay to bring it in our suitcases. What they'd neglected to tell us is that Canada doesn't allow you to bring in Salmon, unless it's canned. So I had to leave it on the ship. *snif*
Speaking of wildlife, Ketchikan did offer some great bald eagle sightings. At one point, one bald eagle came really close to the ship, while we were docked. I wasn't fast enough with my camera, but was happy at the sighting nonetheless. The collage below features a bald eagle pic on the bottom left.
And of course, no trip is complete without a collage of awesome sunsets. I am a HUGE fan of sunset pictures, and I have to say that this trip did not disappoint. Below is a collage of sunsets that I captured on various days.
Although the trip was wonderfully relaxing, I am happy to be home, and ready to tackle the remainder of July and August. Once again, a big shout-out to my in-laws for the awesome vacation. It was a blast!
Before I bid all y'alls adieu, I will leave you with this final image. It WAS a Disney Cruise, after all, so I was bound to have at least one Disney picture. :) QUACK!
I have to admit that I've always wanted to own a scooter. After my 3rd year of university, I spent the summer working in Munich, Germany. If you've ever been to Munich, you'll know that it is a VERY outdoorsy, nature-oriented city. People often spend their weekends hiking in the alps, going to one of the local lakes, or doing whatever outdoor activity tickles their fancy. It's awesome, and it's so different from life in Toronto. Anyway, long story short, the kick scooters were popular with kids and adults alike, and I really fancied one. But after looking at all of the local sporting goods stores that I could find, I had no such luck.
Fast-forward 11 years later, to 2012. For my daughter's 4th birthday, we wanted to upgrade her from a 3-wheeled scooter, to a 2-wheeled one. I found this company online called Kickboard, and after digging around, I noticed that they sold scooters for adults as well. Cue in angels singing. Next thing I knew, we were ordering a scooter for daughter, and one for me. Hers was pink, and mine was blue.
The first time I rode the scooter, I looked like a kid trying to ride a bike with no training wheels for the first time. It was pitiful. I'm sure that my hubby got a good laugh out of it. Fortunately for me, I got the hang of it, and next thing I knew, I started using my scooter as a supplementary mode of transportation. For me, the scooter is perfect, because:
- I hate driving in the city
- We only have one car, and my hubby takes it to work
- Toronto transit sucks (don't get me started)
- I'd love to ride a bike in the city, but I'm too damn scared of sharing the road with cars\
- The scooter folds up nicely, which makes it great for taking on the TTC
Have you seen my scooter? Check it out below. I love the color. Such a bright blue. AND, it was in the original Ümla-colors!
My friends are all very amused by my scooter. Below is a picture that I took of my friend Joe, earlier in the year. I think he secretly wants one. :)
Unfortunately, over the course of the year, I rode the crap out of it. In the rain, in the sun, and even in a little bit of snow (I don't recommend riding in the snow). Eventually, all of that riding caused it to wear. By the end of the year, my scooter has seen its fair share of wear and tear:
- Lost 2 screws from the front, just about launching me off of the scooter on my way to old office job from dropping off my daughter at school
- Lost the peg holding one of my handlebars in place, just about launching me off the scooter on my way to a client proofing & ordering session. Subsequently used duct tape to remedy the situation
- Folding the scooter became a chore, as parts were starting to stick with grime
- Lost the replacement screws that I bought after I lost the original 2 screws, and subsequently used duct tape to remedy the situation.
My fancy-dancy Swiss Army Knife came in handy earlier in the year, when I noticed that my replacement screws were coming loose. Unfortunately, they fell out anyway.
This is the end result:
Um, yeah...time for a new scooter, don't you think? So, finally, after humming and hawing, I finally ordered a new one. On my daughter's very wise advice, I ordered the new one in pink. Partly because it's cute that she requested the color, and partly because it's the new Ümla-color. I picked up the new scooter yesterday. I can tell you right now that folding it is like night and day. And the ride is very smooth. I will still keep the old one around for spare parts. I'm sure that I will need to pillage some screws and maybe a wheel or two at some point in the future.
I'm sad to see my trusty blue scooter go, but it was time for a change, and I'm looking forward to the coming year with my new pink scooter. So watch out, world! Ümla's got a new scooter, and she's not afraid to use it!
Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness, y'all!
This group of MumNet moms was out of Central Toronto, in the Yonge/Eglinton area. Technically, MumNet is on summer break, but this group still met through July, and they were super-excited to have me come to talk photography and take some pictures! I met with them at Manor Road United Church, right after their fitness class. In this setup, their children are with caregivers during the fitness class and during the allocated speaker time.
I did my little intro to photography presentation, which was very well-received; I was met with a lot of questions, and we had some great discussion going on. After my little presentation, we headed outside for some photos! The location was great for photos, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Below is a little collage, highlighting the mom and child micro-sessions!
I got the "I've had the baby" e-mail from Samara in the week before I was to leave for the supremely-awesome and über-informative PinkleToes Photography workshop in Charlotte, NC (more on that at a later date). Between the workshop and being off the week after the workshop to look after my daughter, who was in limbo between finishing school and starting camp, scheduling her session was tricky. With it being a Fresh 48 session, we can't really schedule the session until baby is born, and even with that, I like to give a bit of leeway with scheduling the session, because, depending on how the birth went we may not necessarily schedule within 48 hours of birth (so far, clients seem to like it at around 5 days or so). Anyway, to make a long story short, I managed to fit Samara in between the workshop and my week off. And I'm sure glad that I did, because her little guy was just a doll.
I love this shot, partly because I'm so jealous that he looks totally cozy (I'm sure he'll appreciate this someday, when he's much, much older), but mostly because he looks freaking adorable. Can't you just eat him up? MWAH!
Part of the fun of doing a Fresh 48 session, especially for larger families, is getting some shots of the other kids, like that of Samara's eldest, Stella, who was full of energy and love for her little brother.
But my favorite photo of the day has got to be the one below. There's something about the awesome serenity of it. The mommy-baby connection. PLUS, I am a total sucker for black-and-white photos. Also, notice the art hanging on the wall just above mom and baby. Is that not awesome juxtaposition or what? Plus I got to use "juxtaposition" in a sentence. Me. Nerd.
For more photos from the session check out the collage below. BTW, big props to daddy too, because he was awesome with both kids. In the business of life, it's so easy to forget that we have wonderful dads in our lives and in the lives of our children, so let's take a moment and thank the amazing dads who make our lives as moms just that much better.
And remember, if you or someone you know are expecting a little one and would like Fresh 48 photos, be sure to give me a ring!
My daughter enjoyed setting up some of the toys that we borrowed from Baby on the Hip for the occasion, opening and closing the gate to the little patio area that we used for the sessions, and she even took some fake pics with my little keychain camera. My hubby held an umbrella for shade from the strong afternoon sun, and, as an extra-special treat, he took some behind-the-scenes photos of me. Here's a little compilation that I put together of some of these photos.
If you have an upcoming session with me, I invite you to whip out your camera phone and take some behind-the-scenes photos for me to post on social media. In return, you'll receive a special gift from me as thanks!
]]>Lucky for me, everyone was able to re-schedule their sessions for the backup date. (As an aside, a BIG THANK YOU for doing so! It really made things quite a bit easier for me!!!) For the backup, I decided to go with a little change of scenery and try a different park - Taddle Creek Park.
And here's a little fun fact about Taddle Creek Park (thank you Google and Wikipedia): the park was built on the site of what had been the home of Frederick Banting. As in the insulin guy. How cool is that?
I have to admit that the change in venue was self-serving, as the park is quite close to my house. That being said, the park was renovated back in 2010 or 2011, so it still looks fairly new. In addition, the park has a few great shaded areas thanks to some awesomely huge trees. Considering that we were starting our sessions at 10:30am, having a shaded area was a must, in case the sun decided to peek out and cast its harsh, photographer-unfriendly rays upon us.
All three sessions went really well. All kids in attendance were very well-behaved, the weather co-operated, and the location was great! (I think that I will definitely be using this park more often for my mini-sessions!) We didn't get rained on, and in spite of the fact that we did get some patches of harsh late-morning sun, the large trees at the park came to our rescue, providing just the right amount of shade that we needed!
And remember how I told you about the client who opted for a re-shoot due to the bad weather on the 22nd? Well, I'm happy to say that we got the variety of shots that we were lacking during the downpour that hit on June 22nd. We were both happy and relieved to have re-shot their session.
Well, enough talk. Let's see some photos! Check out the little collage that I put together of the three sessions at Taddle Creek Park.
Thanks again to all who came out for the photos on June 22nd and on June 30th. I'm really really happy with how the photos turned out for both sessions, especially in spite of the crazy weather that we had on the 22nd! Now I get to take a little break from mini-sessions until October, which is when I'll be hosting my annual Halloween minis. Stay tuned to the blog, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and my newsletter in the coming weeks, for the announcement with the sign-up details for those sessions!
Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness!
]]>I have aptly named this collection ÜmlaPrime, as it is the very first gallery that I have on display! The collection is rather eclectic, and features a number of small themes. Photos in the gallery have been taken with a variety of cameras, including my iPhone, point-and-shoot, and DSLR.
My photography will be on display Playful Grounds, located at 605 College Street, from August 1st through 31st. If the name rings a bell, it's because Playful Grounds is where I held An Ümlarific Mother's Day, back in April. Playful Grounds is a cool little café, catering to both kids and adults. You can get fancy coffee and unwind, while the kiddies play in the little kids' play area. The café also hosts a number of kid-centric activities by day AND, grownup events by night, including awesome events jazz nights, parties, comedy nights, and art openings/closings!
So if you happen to be in the College & Ossington area in August, make sure you drop by for a snack, and to check out my work! A selection of prints will be available for sale, so if you like what you see, be sure to contact me about purchasing prints! Aaaaaand, here's the most exciting part...I will be hosting a gallery closing party on Saturday, August 24th, 2013, from 7pm to 10pm. There is a small cost to attend the party, as I will be doubling this as a gallery closing and fundraiser for one of my favourite charities, Second Harvest! Tickets cost only $15, with $10/ticket sale going towards Second Harvest. Second Harvest does amazing work, so be sure to check out their site to see what they're all about! To purchase a ticket, go here.
Hope to see you on August 24th!
Last Saturday, I returned to the park for An Ümlarific Summer mini-sessions. These minis are the last set that I'll be holding until the fall, when I have my Halloween and Christmas/Holiday minis scheduled.
I was a little worried about the weather, since the forecasts had been threatening rain on Saturday, but I remained hopeful. Still, to be on the safe side, I bought a big clear plastic umbrella at the Shoppers near my house, just before I headed off for the sessions. I also decided to bring some protection for my camera. Even though it's supposedly weather-sealed, I didn't want to find out the hard way.
My heart sank as I was greeted by some heavy raindrops as I scooted back home from Shoppers. Still, with only 20 minutes before my first session started, I figured that I might as well show up to my session and take my chances. I actually got through two sessions before the rain picked up. My third session was pretty cool about taking photos in the rain. They huddled under my clear umbrella, while I snapped away with my camera covered by a plastic bag.
Unfortunately, the weather was so crappy that we pretty much ended up with a bunch of the same shots. As a result, both the client and I came to the same conclusion (independent of each other) that it would be best to try to take the photos on a non-rainy day. Things started to get really soggy, so I hid under a tree for some shelter (and don't worry...there was no thunder or lightning).
You can tell by the photo that things look pretty soggy. What you can't see is the crazy pouring rain going on at the time! Check out the plastic bag that I used for my camera, and my handy-dandy clear umbrella. I myself was wearing a raincoat, which, by the end of the session got pretty drenched.
The next two sessions were postponed. Ironically, just before my fourth session of the day, the weather started to clear up, so I e-mailed the client and asked if she still wanted to meet up, and she did! I was really happy that she was able to make it, just because I know how disappointing it is to plan to do something, and then have those plans thrown off due to something like the weather.
I had an hour to kill between sessions, so I just sat on a nearby bench and answered work e-mails. Check out my trusty scooter keeping me company.
In the end, I got through half of my 6 sessions. Not too shabby at all, considering the craziness of the weather. Check out some of the highlights below!
Not too shabby, if I do say so myself, and everyone had a blast! I'd like to thank everyone who made it out last Saturday, and I'd like to thank to everyone who didn't make it for making my life easy by being able to re-schedule your sessions all for the same day. Part 2 of the Ümlarific Summer mini-sessions will take place on Sunday, June 30th, so stay tuned for the highlights! Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness!
In case you didn't know, Baby on the Hip's Queen Street East location has a fabulous little patio area on the west side of the store, which is where the sessions took place. I scheduled my sessions to run from 3:30pm to 5pm, so that we wouldn't have the hot hot summer sun beating right over us. Remember that while we all love a bright, sunny date, overcast days are actually ideal for photography.
Mother Nature was kind enough to us to have held off on the rain forecast, so I am grateful for that. Unfortunately, the sun at 3:30pm was still quite strong, so we had to be creative in order to make the lighting conditions work in our favor. Fortunately, I had my lovely assistants on-hand that day: my hubby, who was awesome enough to let me share a slice of his Father's Day with my awesome clients, and my daughter, who I'm sure will one day be taking over Ümla-photo, as she is very eager to learn about photography and loves being helpful. My hubby held an umbrella over my clients when the sun was really bright, and we also took advantage of the awesome shade that presented itself across the street from the patio area.
Those two things combined saved us from the evils of direct sunlight, made for some really awesome photos. Check out a little sample:
I also got my hubby to take a few behind-the-scenes photos of me in action, so that you can get a feel for how my sessions go. It's a tad late right now, so I'll likely be posting them next week. Keep an eye out on the blog for these!
I'd like to once again send out a BIG thank-you to Baby on the Hip for inviting me to take part in this event, and for providing the toys for the children to play with during the photo sessions! I look forward to more events with them in the near future! I'd also like to thank the families for coming out on Sunday afternoon for the photos. It was lovely to meet all of you, and it was awesome to see so much Father's Day love!
]]>Although my day-to-day focus is on lifestyle family photography, this gallery will be slightly different, as it will feature my more artsy photos. I have already selected the photos which I will include in the gallery, and now I have the fun task of figuring out sizes and display arrangements.
The gallery will feature a few themes, and although there will be some images of people, none of the images will actually feature peoples' faces. This was done deliberately, for artistic purposes. One of the cool things about this gallery is that it will feature some photos that I've taken with my DSLR, some taken with my point-and-shoot camera, and some taken with my iPhone.
I have always been a firm believer that, although having a fancy camera can be a great asset when you know how to use it properly, you can also get some wicked shots with a point-and-shoot and/or a phone camera. Which is why I've chosen to display photos from three different types of cameras.
The iPhone photos have been processed using my two favourite iPhone photo apps: Instagram, and Hipstamatic. If you've been following me on Instagram, you know that love love love posting my iPhone photos on Instagram. I love taking photos, and having a phone camera certainly helps feed my photo cravings.
I am really excited about the August gallery, as it will be my gallery début. For those interested in my work, I also plan on selling prints of the work that I will be displaying at Playful Grounds. I don't plan on having any pre-printed beforehand; rather, they will be made-to-order.
At the end of August, I will be hosting a little soirée at Playful Grounds - a gallery closing party. The party will be taking place on Saturday, August 24th, from 7pm to 10pm, and you are invited! My birthday is on August 22nd (extra points if you guess my age :P), so I guess it doubles as a little birthday fiesta too! And as part of this celebration, I have decided that I wanted to turn the evening into a little fundraiser for one of my favourite local Toronto charities, Second Harvest. They do some amazing work in helping to feed Toronto's hungry and I thought that this would be a great way to give back to the community. Although I haven't sorted out details yet, I do plan on selling tickets to the event (it will be a small charge). Details re: purchasing tickets will be posted in the coming weeks. The majority of the proceeds of the ticket sales will be going to Second Harvest. I will also be inviting a speaker from Second Harvest to come talk about the work that they do.
I really hope that you can come join the party! There will be food, drinks, great company, and art - all for a great cause!
So, I am now officially launching my gift certificate purchases into the 21st Century by allowing you to purchase the gift certificate online. Yay! Happy dance! Gift certificates start at $75, and go up to $350. If I end up with demand for higher amounts, I will definitely add these to the offerings. All payments will currently be processed via PayPal. If PayPal is an issue for you, please contact me, and we can make alternate arrangements. I do have plans for fixing things up a bit more, but for now, this is a starting point!
Once you've made your purchase, please contact me, and let me know some additional details about the gift, so that I can craft a gift certificate for you. We can also make arrangements for delivery - I can either mail it to you, or we can meet up somewhere for in-person delivery, if schedules allow for it.
The gift certificate will work as follows: Once the recipient of the gift certificate contacts me to book a session, I will use the gift certificate as a credit toward any type of regular session that they book with me. Alternatively, they can opt to pay full-price for the session and choose to use the gift cert as a credit towards the purchase of any additional à la carte photo products not covered by their session package. For any questions on how gift certificates work, please please please contact me!
Gift certificates make a very awesome gift for family and friends who wish to get professional photos done, but can't necessarily afford it. Or they can make a very awesome Christmas, Hanukkah, birthday, anniversary, Festivus, or just-because gift for that someone special in your life! Here's the link to purchase a gift certificate. And you'll be able to access the link at any time from the main menu, under Pricing.
Don't you just want to capture awesomeness like this?
Thought so. :)
I actually knew mommy Camille from my past life, when I worked as a software developer, and I was oh-so-very excited when she contacted me about doing her very first family photo session, which included hubby Pete and their ADORABLE twin girls. We had our pre-session consultation at a local café, which was awesome. I tend to meet with most clients over the phone or via Skype/Facetime, so it's always an extra-special treat to meet with a client in-person. Plus the café we went to was awesome - as in Nutella hot chocolate awesome. Camille wanted the session to take place in High Park. I absolutely love High Park, because it's big, beautiful, and there are always tons of things to do there. If you have kids and haven't checked out the Adventure Playground at least once, I highly recommend that you do so. I guess you could liken it somewhat to New York's Central Park, with its big-park-in-the-city feel.
We arrived at High Park at around mid-morning on a bright, sunny day (makes me long for that day, given the crappy weather that we've been having lately). Bright sunny days can pose quite a challenge for photographers. A bright overhead sun, can make for some very harsh shadows and stark contrasts. Instead, we prefer even lighting on skin, which is why photographers will always seek out shadows as much as possible when taking photos on very bright, sunny days. Fortunately, High Park has a TON of trees, so that was no issue at all.
The session went very well, and we covered a lot of ground during our two hours together. The twins will be turning two very soon, but you'd never tell, by the amount of ground that they covered on foot! And like every two-year-old, they were full of energy and delight. Now, I've said many a time that I'm totally not into the posey posey types of pictures. And I definitely don't use props like in traditional portrait photography, which means that you'll never see and old oversized Muskoka chair in an open field with a kid in it. That being said, I do use some props. But my props are used more to enhance the lifestyle aspect of a session, more than anything. And my weapons of choice for this session were BUBBLES!!! The bubbles were a total hit with the girls. I had both a bubble wand and a small bubble container, though both girls preferred the smaller container, probably because they got to try to blow bubbles themselves.
These are probably some of my favourite shots of the session. They are so wonderfully candid, and they totally capture what the essence of being a kid at this age. And mom and dad seemed to agree, since they ordered these two as 11x14 standouts! Definitely a great choice.
One thing I also love doing is capturing couples' shots. While children are a wonderful part of our lives, there's nothing wrong with showing a little romance and remembering the love that brought the couple together, which ultimately helped create a family. This shot was staged in the sense that I got Camille and Pete to sit on the grass, but I waited for the right emotional moment before hitting that shutter button. I think that this image really captures their love, don't you think?
The fun thing about photographing young children is that you just never know what they'll do. And pretty much everything they do is awesome and is worth documenting (you know I'm right - think of how many pictures you have of your kid on your phone). Of course, toddlers are drawn to mischief, and one of the girls ended up slipping and falling behind a park bench during our session. She was okay, but was frightened more than anything, and totally wanted to be in her mommy's arms.
As a mother, my heart wrenched to see her fall and cry. As a photographer, I whipped the camera out as soon as I knew that she was okay (with mom's permission, of course). Sometimes the best photos are the ones full of emotion.
Mommy will always be there to wipe away the tears to make it all better (and daddies - you guys are awesome too).
All in all, we had a lovely session. Everyone had a ton of fun, and I not only got a workout, but I also had a major dose of twin toddler cuteness. Not a bad way to spend a morning. Before I sign off, let me leave you with one more image from our session. This is one that I snuck in while mom, dad, and the girls were just hanging out. I think it's a lovely lifestyle image that really captures the casual nature of the family.
Thanks guys for a fun session!
All of my 8x10s are backed in either masonite or matboard (think of a 2mm thick cardboard type of backing), for additional durability. When prints are as big as 8x10s or larger (for example, 11x14), the print becomes too flimsy to not have a backing, so I never sell my larger prints without one. The nice thing about prints with a masonite backing is that you can still pop the prints in a store-bought frame, have the prints custom-framed, or just stand them on a piece of furniture, such as a table, leaning against a wall. And now, thanks to the ingenuity of my clients Sophie and Craig, there's yet another way for you to display your masonite-backed prints!
In their own words:
"Just wanted to send you a quick pic of our photo collage of your photographs from our time together. We hung them in our upstairs hallway and they look fantastic!
I found a great velcro hanging system at home depot that is perfect for this type of mounting - super easy to use and they apparently don't peel off paint when you take them off the wall. We'll see!
Thanks again for the great shots as I'm sure they will be the center piece for our second floor for years to come."
Here's what their wall display looks like:
Thanks Sophie and Craig for sharing! You guys totally rock!
If you've purchased prints, standouts, or canvas from me, I invite you to send me a photo of your wall display. I love to see how clients arrange their photos at home!
]]>I waited anxiously. The weekend came and went, and I was worried that there may have been a problem, as I hadn't heard from her. Then, I finally got the e-mail with the great news, announcing the birth of her son Brayden. We scheduled a session for that week, when Brayden was 5 days old. Still fresh enough for me! :)
Brayden was an absolute sweetheart, and stayed pretty calm and quiet for the whole session. Here is one of the first photos that I took of him. I don't pose newborns, as it's not my style. As you can see, though, Brayden managed to pose himself!
Although I think that no matter how many kids you have, their birth is always special, there is something to be said about the birth of your first child. Feeling that flood of love for this tiny person that you helped to create is like no other feeling. And I think that you definitely see this first-time-parent-love in both Claire and Ryan for their precious little boy in these photos:
Brayden was remarkably alert for our session. Traditional newborn photographers prefer babies to be asleep, since they often pose the babies in various ways, using different props. Since my style is more candid and documentary-like, I'm happy whether baby has his eyes open or closed. In fact, I always love the photos of the newborns with their eyes open. They spend so much time asleep that I find it a real treat to be able to see their eyes at this stage of their lives. Which is why I totally love this photo:
Wide awake, and not fussy at all! Besides, who would be fussy with such awesome kisses and cuddles from mom and dad?
One thing that I love about lifestyle sessions is that you really do capture candid, spontaneous moments. Like the one below, where Claire is taking a photo of Brayden in his car seat, as they prepared to take him out for a stroller ride. In our digital age of camera phones and Facebook, this totally captures what 21st century living is all about. I love it!
Brayden was my second of three newborns in the month of May. I feel so lucky to be able to work with such great families and their cute babies. This family was no exception. Welcome to the world, Brayden! You are one lucky little man to have such loving parents!
]]>During this event, you'll have exclusive access to Baby on the Hip, and will be treated to:
- 10% off of all in-store merchandise
- Coffee provided by Lil Bean n Green
- Baby gear must-haves from the owner of Baby on the Hip
- Learn about newborn care, including swaddling, feeding, burping, bathing, and sleep, from doula Debbie of Precious Moments Babeez
- Super-awesome photos taken by me
AND, as if that wasn't enough, there will be door prizes from
- MommyConnections East Toronto
- Wholeplay
- Belly Bootcamp
- Lil Bean n Green
- Precious Moments Babeez
- ÜmlaPhoto
You definitely don't want to miss out. To register, be sure to e-mail Laura from MommyConnections at [email protected]. Space is limited, so hop to it! :) Can't wait to see you there!
Leah first contacted me after hearing about me from a friend who'd recently done a mini-session with me. Leah was looking to get some maternity photos done, when she stumbled upon my Fresh 48 special. So she and hubby Mike ended up booking me for two sessions - one maternity session, and one Fresh 48 session. I have to say that it is such a treat to be able to photograph clients before and after baby is born. I love the anticipation of becoming new parents, followed by having their little one in their arms!
Leah and Mike were really easygoing, and it made for two very fun sessions. When I first met them at their home, they had just finished doing some renos. I don't know what it is, but everyone always has the urge to renovate their home when they're expecting, and I was no exception. We gutted our kitchen when I was pregnant with my daughter, and ate barbecue and salad all summer long, and washed our plates in the bathtub. Anyway, the house was newly-renovated (very beautifully done, I might add), and they were just putting up their coat hangers when I came.
In the subsequent times that I've been to their house, I always joke that it's still holding up. Maternity lifestyle sessions can always be a bit tricky, since I want couples to feel at ease and go about their daily lives, without feeling too conscious about the camera being on them. Of course, that's easier said than done! Still, Leah and Mike were pretty awesome, and we got some fun lifestyle shots.
This shot is one of my favorites. It's a total glam shot. I was taking silhouette photos of Leah in front of the bathroom door, but then I noticed Leah laughing at Mike with one of the baby's books. I think that it made for a fun scene, so *snap* I went.
I also really love this one. It's so casual. I was taking a few slightly more directed shots of Mike and Leah, and he actually lay down on the bed and put his hand on her belly. I just had to take advantage of that.
Towards the end of the session, Mike thought that it would be fun to draw little hearts on Leah's belly with some paints. We took these photos in their porch. It was lots of fun, and made for a very lighthearted end to a great session.
Leah was due on the Friday before Mother's Day. Her due date came and went. Then, on the Wednesday after Mother's Day, I got the good news in an e-mail from Mike, while I was en route to a newborn session. Their baby, a girl whom they named Ellie, had been born that morning. I was told later that Leah had been in labor for 36 hours, delivered naturally, and with no epidural. What a champ!
I got to meet little Ellie on a Sunday morning, over the Victoria Day long weekend. It was a great way to start off my Sunday!
See what I mean? Just look at that angelic face! Mwah! Ellie was a great little model, and hardly fussed at all during our session. We did have a little bit of excitement, however, when, just as Mike and Leah were sitting down in the nursery to read some stories to Ellie, they noticed that Ellie had had a bit of a pooplosion, which had seeped through her sleeper and onto Mike's shirt. The result was an emergency bath in the bathroom sink, which, I might add, was perfectly-shaped for a newborn.
Leah and Mike handled the emergency bath like champs. They kept their cool, kept things moving, and raced to clean Ellie as fast as possible so that she could be all warm and cuddly again.
This is Ellie post-bath. Looking very cozy, I might add.
Before we wrapped up our session, Leah and Mike suggested that we take a couple of photos of Ellie with a big stuffed butterfly that Mike's mom had bought. The resulting photo is one of my favorite of the session. It's a great family moment, and Ellie looks super-comfy, fast asleep on the butterfly, with mommy and daddy taking in every moment.
I visited Leah and Mike yesterday to show them their, and they were absolutely thrilled with the end result. As if that wasn't enough to make my day, Leah let me hold little Ellie for a bit. And Ellie was a total champ; she didn't even fuss in my arms.
Thanks to Leah, Mike, and Ellie for two wonderful sessions! It has been a blast!
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Yesterday, I saw clients Mike and Leah for the proofing and ordering session of their newborn photos (blog post to come soon). The session went great, and I am happy to report that they loved their photos. As we wrapped up, Mike went upstairs to change baby Ellie, and I was chatting with Leah about weekend plans. Leah mentioned that Mike was doing the Ride for Heart for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, on Sunday, June 2nd. She'd mentioned that this would be his first cycling event, and that he had a very personal reason for undertaking this amazing challenge. I'll let Mike put it into his own words. The following excerpt is taken from Mike's fundraising page for the event:
"...I lost my Father to a Heart attack late December 2012. As most of you also know, I may be the world's worst athlete, but am always interested in pushing my personal limits. Add in the fact that this ride falls on my Dad's birthday and entering really becomes a no brainer. I'm trying to raise $1000, but really I want this effort to kick-start a series of commitments to the Heart and Stroke Foundation to help them tame and beat the disease that ultimately took my Dad's life."
I can't tell you how touching it was to hear this. It's a beautiful tribute to Mike's dad, and it's a lovely way to keep his memory alive. I knew right away that I wanted to contribute to Mike's fundraising campaign. Although I posted the last Paying it Forward contribution story last week, I didn't want to wait a few weeks to post the next contribution story (I usually post them after I send out my monthly newsletter). Especially since the Ride for Heart takes place on Sunday, and Mike only has $40 more to reach his goal! Will you help him reach his goal? Again, here's the link to Mike's fundraising page.
Mike, good luck on Sunday. I know you'll have your dad's memory to give you strength to kick some serious ass!
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Mike & Leah are a young urban Toronto couple who recently entered the wonderful world of parenthood! I had the pleasure of photographing them at home for their maternity shots, and again for their newborn shots. Mike is a local entrepreneur and runs his own business, Brand Heroes, so be sure to check them out!
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April's Paying it Forward donation goes to Cystic Fibrosis Canada. This donation is very near and dear to my heart, as I knew someone who suffered from Cystic Fibrosis. Back in my previous life (i.e. pre-photography), I used to work in software development. My very first job out of school was at a large consulting company. When I was still a student in my fourth year, I interviewed with this company, and the first person to interview me (out of 3 total interviews) was Ken Flint. We hit it off right away, and if it weren't for him, I would've never gone to work for that company, where I subsequently met my husband. Over my four years with that company, my interaction with him was very minimal, but I always remembered him as the guy who first interviewed me for my first job. My husband actually had a chance to work with him back in 2009, and it was then that I learned that Ken suffered from Cystic Fibrosis. In late 2010, my husband and I added him on Facebook, and we learned that he was up for a lung transplant. We both followed his posts both leading up to the surgery, and the posts following the surgery. I think that all who knew him held their collected breath, as we waited for another status update from him.
Then, in April 2011, we received the sad news of Ken's passing. Thinking about the day we got the news still brings tears to my eyes. I didn't even know him that well, but being in the know of what he was going through, even if it was through status updates on Facebook opened up his world to me. I think it also hit me extra-hard because earlier in the year, I'd watched the CBC documentary, 65 Red Roses. I highly recommend that you check out the film. It is very moving. After watching that movie, knowing someone who actually lived with the disease just somehow made it that much more real.
So I'd like to dedicate this donation to Ken's memory, and to those still living with Cystic Fibrosis. Incidentally, I just found out that May is Cystic Fibrosis month, so there's no better time than this month to donate to such a worthy cause.
]]>Unlike full sessions, mini-sessions take place at a designated place and time. Although the sessions are shorter, you walk away with some great lifestyle photos at the incredibly low price $70 (normally a $600 value)! Mini-sessions only take place a few times per year, and An Ümlarific Summer will be the last mini-session that I will be holding until my fall/Halloween sessions October, so you definitely won't want to miss out on this great deal!
Space is limited, with only SIX spots available. Sign-up is hassle-free, and is done online by following this link.
For more details, check out the poster below. I look forward to seeing you on June 22nd! Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness!
Sunday's photo was the inspiration for the week's theme. This is a photo of the washroom that's just off of our kitchen. I was in there one day when I noticed the pile of papers under the sink. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that they were my daughter's drawings/school work, and she'd decided to deposit them in there for some reason. And she adds to the pile, too! One day, I caught her trying to sneak more stuff under the sink. She gave me this delightfully mischievous giggle when I caught her. Still makes me laugh when I think about it!
I missed taking a DSLR photo on Monday. :( But I did take a photo on my iPhone, and which I totally think embodies the week's theme. This is a photo of city workers replacing a traffic light. It's not an unusual occurrence, I'm sure, but it's definitely not something that I've seen too often.
Tuesday's photo is of my bandaged hand. I injured it while rock climbing on Sunday afternoon (scraped against a hold). Since I'm fairly accident-prone, I put a couple of bandaids on my hand, to keep the cuts from getting worse. And for the hell of it, I used my daughter's Muppets bandaids, just because I can. :) And in case you're wondering what the cuts look like...
Because I'm a weirdo, I took this right after I finished the climb that injured my hand.
Wednesday's pic is of my daughter sitting on top of a plush globe (you can see the blue of the globe sticking out a bit to her left). I stood on top of a chair at our kitchen table in order to take this photo (because I'm really not that tall). And of course my daughter lectured me about safety.
Thursday's pic was a bit ill-timed. I had bought my daughter some Life Savers gummies as a "reward" for letting me drag her to the drugstore while I waited to talk to a pharmacist about medication for my allergies. (I love trees...tree pollen? Not so much.) She thought it would be fun to wear it as a ring. I ran to grab my camera, and by the time I got there, she was not very amenable to having her picture taken, and you can see that the gummy ripped. Le boo. I still love her expression, though!
My hubby was nice enough to pick up some Mother's Day flowers for me on Friday (a very awesome surprise, I might add). This is a photo of her holding the flowers that my hubby got me, taken just as we got home from school.
Saturday's photo was taken at a client friend's home. I took her maternity photos a month or so ago, and I was back to take newborn photos. We made a photo session/playdate out of it. My daughter and her friend George have known each other since they were one, having attended the same daycare for nearly two years. Although they live outside the city, we still get together a few times per year. It's awesome to see that they're still good friends.
Well...I'm finally all caught up on blogging/photos. In case you're wondering, the theme for Week 18 is Lensbaby. In case you're wondering, a Lensbaby is a creative lens that gives a very funky effect of making your images look focused in one spot, and smeared everywhere else. It's a completely manual lens, which means that to change the aperture, I actually have to use aperture rings, which restrict the amount of light going into the lens. And the lens is manual focus. So although the photos themselves don't have a theme, the theme is the photos taken with the lens. I find this to be a very challenging lens to shoot with, so I'm looking forward to playing around with it this week. To see what I did on previous weeks, check out the weekly roundups here!
Sunday's photo is a bit of a cheat, because I took it with my iPhone I know...I slacked off again! :( Still, it's a photo, and it's a Spring photo at that, so it counts! In case you're wondering why I unicycle counts as a Spring photo, my answer to you is that you don't see anyone riding unicycles around the city in the wintertime! This unicycle, by the way, was spotted at the climbing gym that we go to. It was just lying around by the bleachers, so I just *had* to take a photo. Good thing I did, because its owner (a boy in his teens) retrieved it just minutes later to go home.
Monday's photo was taken in my front yard. The lovely thing about my front yard is that it's full of pretty plants, none of which I take care of. That's the beauty of living in a townhouse condo and playing condo fees up the wazoo. There was some fresh rain on the leaves, so of course I took a picture. I really like these types of photos. That and snails. We have a TON of snails that come out to play after a rainfall. I was going to post a snail pic, but I have so many that I thought that this would be more fun. It's a wonder I even made it out that day, considering that I was busy the entire day doing taxes. Very last-minute, I know. Also very unusual for me. I don't tend to slack off like this for taxes.
Tuesday's pic. It's spring, after all, so it was only fitting to take a photo of the new growth in the garden!
Wednesday's pic marked the first BBQ of the year for us! Many folks around here will BBQ in the winter, but we prefer doing our BBQ in warmer, sunnier climates. You can see that my hubby is hard at work flipping burgers. This was after he stuck his tongue out at me, trying to ruin my photos.
Thursday's photo couldn't embody my daughter more. I mean, really. Dressed in a frilly Gap Kids dress with matchin butterfly wings, magic wand, and headband. All her doing. This tomboy takes no credit for her girlie-girl daughter. I happened to catch her as she was giggling after our neighbor picked a daffodil and whatever that other plant is from the garden. Made my daughter's day.
I had originally wanted to take a photo of my daughter riding her glider bike for Friday's photo. I actually have a few photos of that, but I thought it was way cooler to show a photo of her jumping between benches. The mother in me was saying, "Stop that! You're going to hurt yourself!" The photographer in me was saying, "Do it again!"
Saturday's photo was taken during a gap in my schedule in the May the Fourth Be with Yoü mini-sessions, which took place on Saturday, May 4th. I brought a bunch of my daughter's Star Wars gear to the park, in the hopes that maybe a client or two would want photos with a light sabre or the big Yoda backpack. Although nobody took me up on it, my daughter had a blast dressing up as Obi-Wan and Darth Vader, and having light sabre fights in the park with the little boys. Awesome day.
Whew! i'm almost caught up on my 365 posts! Yay! Week 17's theme is "Ordinary". The point of the theme is to try to capture ordinary quirky aspects of life. To see what I did on previous weeks, check out the weekly roundups here!
]]>Sure, I'm constantly doing laundry. And not putting it away...
And between my daughter's desire to "decorate" our house for a party (and there's ALWAYS a party going on, according to her)...
And the daily scavenger hunt that takes place after my daughter goes to bed whereby I find her stuff strewn all over the house...
I wouldn't change it for the world.
Check out some of the beautiful mommies and their children that I've had the pleasure of photographing over the course of 2012 and 2013!
Happy Mother's Day! May your life continue to be filled with joy and happiness by the little people in your lives!
Sunday's photo was a total cheat. Yes, I took it, but I took it with my iPhone. Although ny goal here is to post photos taken with my DSLR, I also do want to stick to the exercise as much as possible, which means taking a photo each day, and sticking with the theme. This photo is of the late afternoon sun. I took this using Instagram, and over-did it on the filter to really bring out the sun. Every time I look at this, I keep thinking of those "artist's renditions of pulsars" that I used to see in astronomy books when I was younger.
Monday's photo was taken a breakfast, when the sunlight hitting my kitchen is awesome (we face east). My aim was to capture the sun flare, and, of course, get a lifestyle shot while I was at it. If memory serves me, my daughter was showing something to my hubby as he sat down at the table for breakfast. Note my daughter's hair style. Pig-tails (one of them braided) plus a ponytail. This was all her idea. And my hubby willfully executed. I don't know what's cooler. The fact that my daughter comes up with crazy hairstyles and wears them to school, or that my hubby does her hair!
Tuesday's photo was a bit of a fluke in the sense that I hadn't intended on this one being my photo of the day. I had actually taken a couple of photos of my hubby showing my daughter how to use the abacus. But after that, we came down to the living room and she wanted to show off one of the poses that she recently learned in Yoga. This is the resulting picture. Light per se is not prominent in this photo, but the resulting lighting is what made me choose this for my photo for the day. I love the shadows in this photo, and I really think that they make the photo.
I've got a story to tell about Wednesday's photo. In my previous life, I worked at a bank, doing software development. I got this paperweight on my 2-year anniversary with the bank. At the time, I'd just finished taking a photography class at George Brown College, and was just in awe of the world around me. That class just made me see everything differently. So when I first got this paperweight, I remember looking through it and thinking how it would be really cool to take a photo of someone standing right in front of it. Since the paperweight stayed at my office for so long, I never had a chance to take my DSLR out to take the photo. And, as the years passed, I'd forgotten about it. Then, when I challenged myself with this light project, I had the idea of using the paperweight in one of my photos. The resulting photo is an image of the paperweight sitting on my coffee table, placed in front of my fireplace.
I am giddy over Thursday's photo, because every time I see a rainbow, I never have my fancycam (i.e. DSLR) on me. This photo was taken in the middle of a rainstorm. We were all sitting in the living room one evening, when I looked out and noticed the beautiful light across the street. So I grabbed my camera, put my shoes on, and started looking for that gorgeous light. Of course, by the time I got there, it was gone. But I noticed that in spite of the light, it was raining. And my first thought was, "I wonder if I'll see a rainbow". No sooner than I had thought that, than a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky. It was a big, beautiful arc (I have photos of the larger arc, but I like the composition of this one best). I was so excited that I called my hubby and my daughter to come outside to see it. My daughter had never seen such a gorgeous rainbow, and was beside herself with excitement. That totally made my day.
Friday's pic was an, "Oh crap, I forgot to take a picture during the day and I need a photo NOW" photo. In spite of it being a last-minute shot, I quite like the resulting photo, as it looks like the clock is floating. In case you're wondering, this is a photo of my daughter's alarm clock, which sits on a nightstand next to her bed. The silhouette just to the right of the clock is a Garfield Pez dispenser, which she somehow found in her room and has decided to keep it on the nightstand.
Saturday's photo was again a bit rushed, but again, I like the resulting photo, as it very much captures a typical evening before bed for us: i.e. watching Netflix in bed. I can't make out what was on the TV, but you can see that my hubby ended up falling asleep.
Stay tuned for Week 16 photos coming soon. The theme is "Spring Has Sprung". To see what I did on previous weeks, check out the weekly roundups here!
]]>Back in January, in what must have seemed like a moment of sheer madness, I went ahead and signed myself up for the CN Tower Climb for the WWF. Although I had done the climb over one year earlier for the United Way, this was the first year that I had done it for the WWF. It is no secret that I am a HUGE fan of the WWF, and I donate to them every year. One of my good friends, David, climbs every year, and I always make a point of supporting him. In early March, I asked Ümla's awesome friends at Bebo Mia if they would like to join in on the fun, and much to my delight, they said yes! In fact, Bianca Sprague and Heather Jones, two of Bebo Mia's three owners, joined me. AND, as if that wasn't enough, Heather is also expecting baby #2! How freaking cool is that?! I also managed to enlist two other friends to join me: my friends Kyle and Sarah (Sarah also brought a friend).
We decided to make team T-shirts, and so as a lead-in to our climb, we held a t-shirt slogan contest, and an Earth Hour contest. Janet, both a Bebo Mia and an ÜmlaPhoto fan, came up with the winning slogan, "Baby Power Climbs the Tower". The result was this T-shirt, which I designed (and am modelling - har har):
Bianca, Sarah, and her friend were first-time climbers. Kyle had climbed the Tower with me before, when we did the climb for the United Way, and Heather had done the climb twice before. Sign-in for the event was from 6am to 10am, and on Heather's advice we went in for 6am. (Aside: When I did the climb the first time, it was the corporate climb, so it was much less busy.) Although I don't think anyone was a fan of waking up a the buttcrack of dawn for the climb, nobody complained. I think that the thought of being stuck in line all morning probably had something to do with it. The timing worked great for me, because I would still be home in time to accompany my daughter to ballet class with my hubby.
Since subway services don't start until around 6am on Saturdays, I had to take the streetcar. It wasn't too bad, as the Spadina streetcar is very close to my house. I have to admit that, as sucky as it was to wake up at 5am, I did love the stillness of the pre-dawn air. As I ran to the station, I noted the moon high in the western sky. And of course, I had to take a picture!
As I continued running to the stop, I passed by a frat house, and noted that the Friday night party was still going on. I have a feeling that exams were probably done... I'm pretty sure that I rolled my eyes as I ran past. I must be getting old...
Check-in was at the Skydome , and I was surprised to see so many people already lined up that early. I guess we weren't the only ones with the brilliant idea! Things went pretty smoothly. As an aside, it was kind of cool to be at the Skydome and realize that I was looking out at the baseball field. After a quick trip to the coat-check, we were ready to climb!
There were two security checkpoints at the Tower: one before you get inside (security guards with metal-detecting wands), and then the usual one that they have for visitors to the Tower, on the inside. The CN Tower Climb is a hands-free climb, and unfortunately I forgot that I still had my cell phone on me when we walked from the Skydome to the Tower. Which meant that I had to run back to the coat check to tuck my phone into my backpack, or risk getting the stinkeye from one of the security guys waving around the metal detectors. Public embarrassing moment averted. I felt kind of bad for my group, as it was a bit chilly out there, and they had to wait for me as I sprinted to and from the Skydome.
FINALLY, we got to climb. My friend David, who always volunteers, was at the start of the climb, and I got to say a quick hello. If you've never done the climb before, the stairwell of the CN Tower is basically all concrete, with metal stairs. There were EMS workers every few landings, to take care of folks who ran into any physical issues while climbing the Tower. I heard from my fellow teammates that apparently someone had puked on one of the landings, for example. All that aside, one of the nice touches at the climb was that the walls at the landings were decorated with artwork done by children. The artwork was full of encouraging messages, and of course, had an environmental theme. I have to admit that the artwork ended up being quite motivational.
I had found the climb itself to be much tougher than when I did it the first time. The first time I did the climb, I trained by going up and down the stairs of my house (I have 3 floors plus a basement), for 20-minute stretches, every few days, for a couple of months, and ran outdoors on non-stair-training days. Unfortunately, the training screwed up my right knee, so I was afraid of re-aggravating that injury this time around. So I instead opted to run every morning for 20 minutes, and did 20 minutes on the aerobic step in the evenings. As Heather pointed out to me after the climb, however, you really do have to do activity-specific training in order to be fully-prepared. About 1/4 of the way into it, I was getting tired. I'd started out by running up every step, and there was no way that I could keep up the pace. So I changed strategies, and did what worked for me last time - I slowed down to a steady pace, and double-stepped on the stairs. It made a huge difference. Although I thought that my heart was going to pop out of my mouth, I somehow made it up, without stopping. I'm really glad that I never stopped, because I seriously think that it would've killed my momentum.
My friend Kyle was the fastest of our group, making it up in just over 15 min. His secret? The Insanity workout program! That program sure paid off, because he just zipped up those stairs! I was next, clocking in at 18:10 (beat my time from last time, which was 18:50 - a decent improvement over last time). Heather was next, followed by Bianca, and then Sarah and her friend. We all made it up within 20 minutes or so, which was AWESOME, considering that the average person takes 30 minutes to climb all 1,776 steps! WAY TO GO, TEAM!!! I should note that you don't clock your end time right at the top of the main observation deck level. It's actually about 10 or so floors below that. I *think* it's done that way so that you can cool down from your climb, but it's absolute torture, knowing that you've "finished" the climb, but still aren't done.
After grabbing some water, cooling off a bit in the outer observation deck, it was time to head down. Fortunately, by elevator! There was no lineup for the ride down, thankfully, and soon, we were back at the Skydome, collecting our prizes (you get prizes for raising certain amounts of money), and our T-shirts with our official times written down. And finally, we topped it off with a photo with the WWF Panda, as the ladies showed off their awesome T-shirts:
Left to right: Sarah, me, WWF Panda, Bianca, Heather. Photo by my friend Kyle. It was around 8am by the time we left the Skydome. The sun was up, the lines were looking busy, and I was off to ballet class.
What a way to start out your weekend! Thanks to everyone for coming out. It was lots of fun! The 6 of us collectively raised \about $1,000 for the WWF. The overall amount raised for the WWF was $1,238,920, or 95% of its fundraising goal of $1,300,000 from the climb. I'm so proud to have been a part of this, and bonus: I even got a great workout out of it!
The weather had been absolutely GORGEOUS all week long, as Spring came out of hiding, and fortunately, Saturday kept with that trend. My daughter was really excited about this photo session, because, unlike my regular sessions, she got to tag along. She LOVES being a part of this type of thing. To prepare me for my photo session, she drew us a picture. The picture was a drawing of each of us holding a camera. She then cut us out, and turned us into kites. This is the result. For some reason, I look unhappy. I was told that she didn't have room for a smiley face. So then I asked her to try to correct it, since I was happy to be taking photographs; not sad! The result is her correction - a smiley face AND a sad face. Sadly, the sad face seems to stick out more. Too funny.
The mini-sessions focused on family lifestyle photos; however, since Saturday also happened to be Star Wars Day, I opted to bring some of my daughter's Star Wars paraphernalia along for my sessions, just in case any of the families signed up were closet Star Wars fans. These included: a Darth Vader costume, an Obi-Wan costume, three light sabres, and a Yoda backpack (throwback to Star Wars Ep. V). I also brought some bubbles, a ball, and a kite, which made for a really fun time at the park, both for my wonderful clients and for my daughter. Check out the Yoda backpack.
The sessions themselves were a ton of fun. One of my client couples was a return mini-session client! These clients were expecting their first baby back in October 2012, when I first photographed them for An Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween, and they returned for some family shots. What a real treat!
Just look at this handsome face.
I also had a couple of brand-new clients, who were new to the Ümla mini-session experience. I got to photograph both babies and toddlers, which was a real treat. Both are a ton of fun, because they basically run the show. It doesn't matter what they say or do; it all looks cute, and I feel privileged to get to capture it all. Check out a few highlights:
This little gal was such a treat. She and her parents were completely relaxed, and just rolled with it. Look at her beautiful little expression, complemented by her parents also being very photogenic. Melts my heart!
The next family was also a new Ümla-family, and they were just as much fun to photograph. Whereas my first couple of clients had babies, this next set had a lovely 2-year-old.
Mom and dad were pretty easygoing too, as you can see from this next shot.
This little gal was a joy to work with. Although she was only two, she was so incredibly articulate, and LOVED playing with the dogs hanging out at the park. I was amazed by how gentle she was with the dogs. I wouldn't be surprised if she grew up to be a vet! Her parents were also just wonderful, and totally embraced the fun and casual aspect of the photo session.
And, in the spirit of Star Wars Day, things wouldn't be complete without a light sabre fight. I got to capture this in-between sessions, as my hubby and daughter did a Star Wars babble scene re-enactment atop this ledge. My daughter is dressed up as Obi-Wan for this photo. Later on, she dressed up as Darth Vader.
I also got in on the fun, in-between sessions, having a light sabre duel with my camera stuck to my face.
My daughter was also the hit of the park with the little boys, who came up and happily had light sabre fights with her throughout the afternoon. I just love the sense of community that this created.
Overall, it was a very fun and very successful day filled with sunshine, great clients, awesome family moments, and lots of Star Wars!
]]>Baby Gavin was born at home on April 1st. For details on Gavin's birth, check out Becky's blog post here. I highly encourage you to read this post, as it is very moving. It made me all teary-eyed! Although Gavin was born at home, he did end up having to go to the hospital for a bit (and in reading Becky's story, you'll see that he's doing great). With all this commotion, a "true" Fresh 48 session was not in store, as Becky and Eric wanted to settle back in at home with Gavin, before scheduling our photo session, which made perfect sense. With Gavin having been born at home, it was understandable that Becky and Eric wanted their "Fresh 48" images captured at his place of birth.
Our session was scheduled for Friday, April 5th. Still pretty "fresh", as far as I'm concerned, and the wait was certainly worth it. Oh. My. Goodness. We had the most wonderful session. I'm pretty sure that the love between Becky and Eric that I witnessed during their maternity session must have doubled or tripled. And then expanded to encompass baby Gavin. If you're wondering what I mean, you can see it for yourself.
With having done the lifestyle maternity session in their Liberty Village condo, and being there again for the Fresh 48 photos, we decided to take advantage of this and take some similar shots this time around. The end result is best expressed in photos.
You may remember Becky's awesome belly shot. Getting to meet the little cutie who lived there for 9 months was awesome. And look...I even got a shot of him with his eyes open! Score!
You may recall that during Becky's maternity session, Eric was reading stories to Gavin in utero. For the Fresh 48 session, Gavin got the same story, this time on "the outside". What a treat!
And here's a baby-wearing shot. In the maternity shot, Becky was doing the baby-wearing. This time, Eric did the baby-wearing. Doesn't Gavin look nice and cuddly in there? :)
I must admit that we had a bit of fun with this one. Whereas the first shot was of Becky and Eric working away on the sofa, Becky's work focus shifted from her laptop, to the baby. My guess is that Eric's focus was on the baby too.
And finally, we re-visited the silhouette shot.
This was such a fun session, and I am so glad to be a part of Becky & Eric's journey into parenthood. Our next photo session won't be scheduled until summer or fall. Gavin will have changed so much by then, but I know that Becky and Eric's love will remain a constant in his life.
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Sunday's photo was the first photo that I missed, but I posted it as a Sunday photo, because I'd had the idea, but just forgot to take the photo. So I'm posting the photo "in honor of" Sunday. :P So, photo backstory: my hubby and I purchased two lava lamps when we first got married, with the idea of having a lava lamp in each room of our teeny little condo. When we moved to our house, we kept the lava lamps, but never used them. Until last week, when he decided to turn on our bedroom lamp. This lava lamp was the inspiration for the week's theme. And thanks to his lava lamp revival, we've had the lamp on in our room a few days this week. We have another one in the basement, but unfortunately its power cord is trapped behind a heavy wall unit. I will have to plan a rescue operation sometime soon...
Monday's photo was actually taken on Monday. Score. In case you can't quite make out what this is, it's a USB aquarium. The fish are fake, but it IS filled with water. The aquarium plugs in to the USB port on a computer, which causes it to light up, and blow some bubbles. The bubbles subsequently make the fish move.
Tuesday's photo is of my contact lens. It seems fitting, since I wear contacts every day, for 10+ hours. We've been inseparable since I was 14. I am super near-sighted (-8 on both eyes), which means that I can an object clearly if it's about 20cm away from me. After that, it looks like a fuzzy blob. I have Coke bottle glasses, which means that they make my eyes look teeny when I wear them. Hence, the contact lenses.
For Wednesday's photo, I asked my hubby if I could take a photo of his face in the shower, and I was met with a "WTF" kind of stare, and a resounding "no". So he suggested that I instead take a photo of him washing his hands. I can't complain, as I quite like this one.
By the time I hit Thursday, I was running out of ideas. And by the time I got around to taking a photo, it was late. Fortunately, Mother Nature provided me with a little bit of help via form of a rain storm. I took this photo from my window at night, so it doesn't look great, but you can sort of see the rain and the wet ground.
I completely missed Friday's photo, so this post is "in honor of" what I would've done on Friday if I'd actually remembered to take a photo. I found this on my kitchen counter on Saturday, and I thought it was kind of funny. The first thing that came to mind is that this looks like a union of Coke and water, and that their lovechild would be a can of Pepsi. :P
Saturday's photo was taken on Saturday. Thank goodness. I would've been annoyed at myself if had missed THREE days out of the week. Bad, bad me. My hubby was still not into the wet-face-in-the-shower photo, so this is what I ended up with. I actually like how the juice looks, as it gets poured in the glass. Hubby was a little annoyed at him, as I told him to stop and start pouring, to get the perfect shot. All he wanted was a drink. He is such a good sport in putting up with my photography craziness. :)
Week 15's theme is either light or sunlight. I haven't quite decided. It will depend on how many photos I manage to take during the day. I've already started, though my first photo is a quasi-cheat, as I took it with my iPhone, and not my DSLR. Still, I took it on the day of, so it counts!
You can stay up-to-date with the (sort of) daily photos by checking my Facebook page! And in the meantime, if you haven't already checked the previous 365 posts, you can check them all out here! Peace, love, and Ümla-happiness to y'all!
]]>Spring has sprung, so why not take advantage of this AWESOME deal to get your family photos done? Get ÜmlaPhoto's renowned lifestyle family photos for a low, low price of $70! This type of package would normally cost $600. This also makes a great gift for Mother's Day or Father's Day! Sessions take place at Leslie Grove Park in Leslieville. AND because ÜmlaPhoto loves giving back to the community, $10 from each session will be donated to Lil Bean N Green for their awesome fundraising campaign to serve YOU better!
There are only SIX spots, so don't miss out! To sign up, please follow this link. Session details can be found on the poster below. I look forward to seeing you on May 4th! Peace, love, and über-Ümla happiness!
The best part about this type of session is that I got to tell moms to play with their children. Easy-peasy! Check out some of these awesomely playful mommy-child moments:
And of course there were some wonderful tender moments too!
And here's a lovely moment captured with three generations of family members: twins, mommy, and grandma:
A big thanks once again to everyone who came out, and of course, to my lovely hosts Tera and Davina at Playful Grounds!
Although my 365 Project is certainly a lot easier to handle with a weekly theme, I must admit that coming up with an interesting enough theme is starting to become challenging. Ah, but I do welcome the challenge! The theme for Week 13 is a little different from the others that I've done so far, since it does not focus on people. Instead, I've decided to focus on the inanimate objects in my life. The objects in this week's photos have been included due to some sort of significance in my day-to-day life. After all, the purpose of this 365 Project is to capture aspects of everyday life! So here goes!
Sunday's photo is of ballet shoes. My daughter's ballet shoes, to be precise. This is her second pair of ballet shoes. She went ahead and grew on us this year, so next thing we knew, her old shoes were too small, and we had to get her some new ones. She started taking ballet class on Saturday mornings, starting in September of 2012. Since her class is such an integral part of our weekend routine, it's only fitting that I should include them.
Monday was a busy day, as I'd had my Ümlarific Mother's Day event in the morning/early afternoon, and then was busy editing pictures in the afternoon. This pic was the result of (yet another) one of those moments where, at the end of the day, I realized that I had no photo of the day, and had to scramble. Fortunately for me, this was lying around in my living room/foyer area. It's a sword that my hubby made for my daughter out of a wrapping paper roll and two toilet paper rolls. He'd originally just used duct tape to attach the two toilet paper rolls to the wrapping paper roll, but after the longer roll started to unravel, the channeled his inner engineer and decided to wrap the whole thing in duct tape. Makes this engineer feel proud!
Tuesday's photo made me laugh. We were talking about The Lion King at the dinner table, and I remembered that I had a stuffed Pumba that ended up in my daughter's room (feels like all of my stuffed animals migrated there). So I went up to grab it. My daughter was also playing with a little wind-up penguin at the table (yeah, we kind of goof off at dinner), and my hubby had the bright idea of putting the penguin in Pumba's mouth. Behold the end result. Very photo-worthy, isn't it?
Wednesday's photo is of an hourglass. BTW, extra points if you get the Star Trek: The Next Generation reference to the title of the photo. I never claimed *not* to be a geek. So, anyway, the hourglass. It used to belong to my mom. I remember it well when I was growing up in Brazil. Somewhere along the way, it got left at my grandmother's house when we moved away from Rio, and then a couple of years back, when we'd returned for a visit, there it was, in my grandmother's apartment (she passed away in 2008, but we still keep the apartment). So I brought it back with me, as a reminder of my childhood.
Thursday's pic is of a glass of water. You might be wondering why this glass of water is so special. Well, I always keep a glass of water on my nightstand every night. And every night, just as my husband gets into bed, I ask him to get me a glass of water. He's nice enough to do it, but I know that it annoys the crap out of him. This picture is a tribute to my hubby, for putting up with me.
Friday's photo made my hubby laugh when I showed it to him. I mean, there's this creepy Emperor Palpatine Pez dispenser next to a Kermit Pez Dispenser, "overlooking" a Hello Kitty bowl of Oreos. What's there not to love? And now for the back-story. First off, I've mentioned a few times that my daughter attends a Montessori school. One of the big things around Montessori is that kids are empowered, and are therefore encouraged to do things for themselves. So this past week, my daughter started preparing after-school snacks for us. She gets out the bowls, the cookies, and the Pez, and brings them down to the living room, where we enjoy our snacks to a game of Go Fish or Crazy 8s. She even gets us drinks. We've placed the juice cartons low enough on the fridge so that she can grab them and pour them herself. It's really quite endearing. Plus I get Oreos out of it. Win-win.
Saturday's photo was *totally* expected, n'est-ce pas? I actually have more than the ones shown here (oh, crap...I'm starting to sound like a camera snob), but these are my go-to-lenses. It seems only fitting that I'd have a photo of my lenses, with being a photographer and all.
In case you're wondering, Week 14's theme is Liquids. I want to get out and do some more outdoor-themed shots at some point, but right now, indoor shots are proving to be more convenient, given how I don't get my photo-of-the-day shot done until the end of the day.
You can stay up-to-date with the (sort of) daily photos by checking my Facebook page! And in the meantime, if you haven't already checked the previous 365 posts, you can check them all out here! Peace, love, and Ümla-happiness to y'all!
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Part of the new Baby & Me Fitness logo. Doesn't this just make you want to work out? Well, if that doesn't then you should check out the next set of photos. The Bebo Mia/Baby & Me Fitness team put together a three-minute demo of all of the Baby & Me Fitness classes being offered. Demos were done by COO Natasha Marchand, Director of Pregnancy Heather Jones, and Lactation Counselor Taya Griffin. CEO Bianca Sprague watched on, cheered, and held up signs to indicate which class was being demoed!
Afterwards, there were cupcakes and loot bags for all! The cupcakes, by the way, were VERY yummy!
And some great candid moments too!
And finally, a picture of the whole team at their booth, having a little bit of fun!
Thanks for a great party, ladies, and for having me tag along with my camera!
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And then, in March, I got to come to Jessica's home for a lifestyle photo session. What I loved about this session is that Jessica was totally on-board with my photographic style, and was very keen on making sure that I captured daily life at her home. And if that involved messy toys in the living room, then so be it! Awesomesauce. This time, added to the mix were her hubby (who couldn't come for the holiday photos because he was sick), and their two AWESOME dogs. The result was a fun, relaxing, and memorable session! Here are some session highlights.
This rocking horse used to belong to Jessica. It's so wonderful for parents to be able to pass on these toy heirlooms to their children. And I think that Owen just totally rocked it on this shot. (Pardon the pun!)
I must say that this photo had me smiling when I was editing. I just love this dog's expression. Can you resist that look? I sure can't!
Here's another favourite of mine. I love it because it so simple, casual, yet captures the family as they are. Truly the essence of Ümla!
This image makes me smile every time. Look at all this love! This moment was totally not staged, which is why I am always ready with my camera!
And speaking of capturing spontaneous moments, I had actually wrapped up the session and put my camera away when Owen started climbing up the stairs. When I looked up, I saw the scene above, and just had to pull the camera out again. I'm so glad that I did!
All in all, it was a wonderful session, followed by an equally-wonderful proofing and ordering session, as Jessica and her hubby were thrilled to see their photos. I know it sounds corny, but seeing my clients happy with their photos truly makes my day. Thank you guys for a wonderful time, and for making me love my job more with every passing day!
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I've got chocolate here, and I'm not afraid to use it! With Spring taking its sweet time to come, I thought that my Ümla-fans needed a little pick-me up! Which is why I'm giving away chocolate. Because chocolate makes just about everyone happy! Just enter below, for a chance to win one of THREE chocolatey prizes! a Rafflecopter giveaway
First prize: a $25 Godiva gift card
Second prize: a $15 Laura Secord gift card
Third prize: a $10 President's Choice gift card to go towards the purchase of M&Ms
Good luck! Contest ends at midnight, on Friday, April 26th, 2013. Valid in Canada only.
]]>The idea for the "Paying it Forward" initiative came about as a way to teach my 4.5-year-old daughter about charity and compassion. Since my daughter is an only child, it's easy for me to be tempted to give her everything that she wants, as she has no sibling to compete with for mommy and daddy's monetary resources.
January's donation was made to the World Wildlife Fund, as a kick-start to my campaign for the CN Tower Climb in support of the WWF, taking place on April 27th.
February's donation was made to the Sick Kids Foundation. My daughter chose this charity, because she personally benefited from the care and attention that she received at Sick Kids when she had croup a couple of years back.
Today, I'm happy to announce March's donation to the Princess Margret Cancer Center via the Weekend to End Womens' Cancers event, taking place on September 7th and 8th, 2013. I first became aware of this event via one of my clients, Lisa, who had e-mailed me to support the cause, and I was happy to do so! Here's more on the event, in Lisa's own words:
The ‘Weekend to End Women’s Cancers’ is a two-day, 60 km walk through the streets of Toronto with the focus on raising awareness and funds for cancer. The event specifically support those cancers that commonly target women – breast and gynecological research, treatments, and services.
I am joining my good friend and her mother in the team ‘Chicks for Charity’ this year for my first time walking in this event. I’ve been lucky not to have had any close personal losses from these diseases, but they still scare the life out of me. Every time I hear of a friend or co-worker dealing with the sickness, treatments, or loss I am scared. When I hear that in Canada approximately 23,400 women will be diagnosed this year with breast cancer, and another 8,000 will be diagnosed with ovarian, cervical, or uterine cancer I am terrified! As a woman, a mother, a partner, a daughter, a sister I want to get ahead of this disease, and do my part to fight for awareness and for a cure.
Please consider joining in the effort. We’d love to welcome new members to walk with us on our team, or if that’s not possible, consider making a donation. Go to www.endcancer.ca and search for ‘Chicks for Charity’ or ‘Lisa Bean’.
http://www.endcancer.ca/site/
I think that what Lisa is doing is absolutely wonderful, and I hope that you can support the cause too!
If there is a registered charity that is near and dear to your heart, contact me! I will not only donate $50 to the charity, I will also feature the story on my blog and newsletter!
Sunday's pic is a reflection of my hubby replying to e-mails on his iPhone. I wonder how many people actually noticed that this was a reflection photo, and not a photo of sunglasses on a table...
Monday's pic. It was late at night. I had no photo. I took a picture of my reflection on the kettle. Hubby photobombed it. Awesomesauce.
Tuesday's pic was a total case of right place at the right time. I am so glad that I was able to get a photo of the sun setting against my kitchen countertop. This is definitely my favorite of the series.
Wednesday's pic is another case of "Oh crap, I need a photo for my 365 Project!" I was up late working in bed on the post for my May the Fourth Be With You Star Wars-Themed Mini Sessions, and my hubby fell asleep in the middle of watching a TV show. Doesn't he look comfy? For the record, we don't keep mirrors on our nightstands.
I feel like Thursday's pic is a bit of a cop-out shot, since I'd done the photo of my hubby's reflection on the mirror. I took this picture in my daughter's room. We still have the glider in her room from when she was an infant. It's a comfy glider, BTW, and very stylish. Of course, nobody sits there, because a big, giant stuffed Santa takes residence there. I can thank my mom for that lovely gift.
Friday's pic speaks for itself. It was taken of my daughter's reflection off of my Macbook. The first thing she does when she gets home is put on a princess dress. On that particular day, she also had her face painted as a butterfly at her school's aftercare program. She kept asking us if the paint had come off yet. :)
Saturday's pic felt like another cop-out, since I'd done the reflection of my daughter off of the laptop screen. That being said, I think that it captures totally my daughter's personality. This photo was taken at a client's house (we were there for a playdayte/maternity photo session). They have a nice, big flatscreen TV, and my daughter was having fun showing us the spin on her fancy dress. Though she's not allowed to wear princess dresses outside the house, she makes up for it by showing up to playdates in fancy party dresses. It's cute.
I've already started Week 13 photos. This one's a bit of an interesting theme. I'm going with the theme of inanimate objects of importance in my life. I'm sure that it will involve a photo of my lenses at some point. Tee hee.
You can stay up-to-date with the (sort of) daily photos by checking my Facebook page! And in the meantime, if you haven't already checked the previous 365 posts, you can check them all out here! Peace, love, and Ümla-happiness to y'all!
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This time of year is a bit tricky to photograph, because, while the weather is warming, up, you typically get snow melt mixed with mud. It definitely doesn't make for the nicest of outdoor photos. Fortunately, I'm a lifestyle photographer, and indoor lifestyle shots are part of what I do!
I have to say that of all of the sessions that I've done so far, this was definitely the most unusual. In a VERY good way. Rochelle and hubby Mark had an AWESOME sense of adventure, and were up for having fun. And fun is what we had! Talia gets along GREAT with Rochelle and Mark, and it shows. I think that this picture speaks for itself.
And remember how I said that they were into having fun? Well, see for yourselves!
I don't think I'd have too many clients willing to squish themselves under a coffee table. This one was my idea. But check out Rochelle's idea here. Talia was a little hesitant, but she want along with it! This is definitely one of my favorites from the session!
And her's a final one to leave you with. I really love this one. It's very artsy.
It was so much fun to hang out with and photograph Miss Talia again, and to meet her awesome aunt and uncle. They sure added some kick to my Saturday afternoon!
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Sunday's pic was a very last-minute thing. I had decided upon my theme, but didn't know what to photograph. So my hubby threw his pillow in the air. Snap. Done.
Monday's pic was another homage to my love of popcorn. And how perfect was it to take a picture of popcorn popping? Oh yeah!
Tuesday's pic does not have anything that flies per se. I took a bit of artistic license, as you can see. My daughter LOVES both the Superman and Supergirl movies. The old school movies. We bought this shirt at Gap Kids, in the boys' section, which fortunately did not seem to phase my daughter. This photo represents the outfit that she wore to school on Tuesday. My little superhero!
My daughter was super-excited for Wednesday's pic, because I told her that she got to jump on my bed for it. I think I made her day. I even pulled out my wide-angle lens for this shot.
I'd love to take credit for Thursday's pic, but this one was totally my hubby's idea. Notice how most of the shots for this week were taken in my bedroom. For good reason. I have been procrastinating. Even though though this shot was staged, I think it really represents just how much my hubby HATES folding laundry. Don't you just love seeing the flying socks everywhere?
Guess where Friday's pic was taken? If you guessed my bedroom, then you'd be right. This is Gepenguin (pronounced "Guh-pen-gwon"). He is German. He is also our go-to stuffie when one of us is sick. Nobody was sick this week, but we decided to hang out with him. My daughter has really taken to him, and is obsessed with trying to make him fly (for pretend, not for real). It was only fitting that he be featured in one of my shots.
Saturday's pic was NOT taken in my bedroom. YAY! Although there's nothing technically flying, it's something "in flight". That something being my daughter.
I hope that Week 12's pics don't all end up being taken in my bedroom. I'll try to make that my goal. I have picked a theme for the week. Are you ready? Reflections! I'm going to try to get creative with this theme, since I've done a few reflection shots already for previous weeks. This will keep me on my toes!
You can stay up-to-date with the (sort of) daily photos by checking my Facebook page! And in the meantime, if you haven't already checked the previous 365 posts, you can check them all out here! Peace, love, and Ümla-happiness to y'all!
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When Adriana first approached me about a photo series, I was almost a bit hesitant. This seemed a bit too good to be true. As a photo nut, who spends way too much time on Pinterest and photography blogs looking through amazing maternity and baby photos, to have the opportunity to get these photos of ourselves and our little pea was incredible! I asked Adriana what she had in mind for a maternity photo session, like where we should go, what we should do. She made it pretty easy on us by saying that her lifestyle photography focuses on a “Day in the Life”, so we should just go about our day and do the photos in our condo! At 37 weeks pregnant, not having to leave the comfort of our own home was music to my ears, but I also wondered what we could do to make our daily routine a bit more photo-worthy. While trying to figure out dates, St. Patrick’s Day was fast approaching and with ambitions of cooking a cute, festive breakfast, we booked the session for the Sunday morning of St. Patty’s day.
Dressed in green (apparently not intentionally!), Adriana arrived as I was scrambling to get everything ready and make our “day in the life” look a little more put together. With dishes drying in the sink and breakfast supplies on the counter, I gave up and embraced the fact that if we were really going to capture our daily routine, this was it! We settled comfortably into mixing up pancakes while Adriana snapped away with her camera, chatting away the whole time making it almost unnoticeable that this was a photo shoot. At first, it was hard not to think about “posing” but Adriana’s laid back approach made us all but forget that a camera was on while pouring pancake batter into the shape of a shamrock. Of course, it had to be caught on camera that my husband’s pancake art turned out better than mine...
I had planned a few of our baby prep chores that I thought might be fun to photograph, so we ventured into baby’s room and Adriana did well to squeeze into the tiny space to capture us putting on the crib mattress pad and change pad cover.
Baby’s laundry still needed to be folded, which made for some really fun photos!
Some of my favourite shots are definitely the ones outside on our balcony. Though it was chilly, the sun was out and I didn’t mind the need to cuddle close to my baby daddy for warmth!
When Adriana first proposed the “day in the life” idea, I said something along the lines of, “we’ll have to make things a bit more interesting than us sitting around on our laptops!” Turns out, that photo of us (and of course my bump!) with our laptops is probably one of my favourite shots of the day, because it really is typical US. It was so fun to have these photos of the two (almost three) of us in our own environment. We were definitely anxious for a first peek at the photos!
I was a little surprised when Adriana told us to find a date for her to come by our place to personally show us a slideshow proofing of our photos, as part of the full ÜmlaPhoto experience. This was definitely above and beyond my expectations, as I figured she’d just send along a link to our photos and that would be it! Exactly one week later, Adriana arrived with her iPad and showed off our photos which had been compiled into a stunning slideshow with integrated quotes and music. Putting music to photos completely enhances the experience and made it that much more special seeing the photos for the first time. Thinking back to how many different things she had photographed at the session, I was curious to see what ended up being the best of the best. I was really pleased that we ended up with photos of pretty much everything we had done that day, really giving a snapshot of our “day in the life”. Adriana provided us with many ways of sharing the photos with our friends and family, and I can’t wait to show them off!
Stay tuned....soon enough we’ll be ready for photos of our little pea outside of the belly!
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Becky is Bebo Mia's Business Development Manager. She and hubby Eric are expecting their first child in early April. For more on Becky's journey into the wonderful world of parenthood check out her personal blog!
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Being a new parent is a really special time in a person's life. There is truly nothing quite like it. Experiencing pregnancy for the first time, whether you're the mother carrying the baby, or her partner, accompanying her in her journey, is magical. Being there for your child's entrance into the world, and holding this tiny little life in your arms for the first time are probably some of the most exhilarating moments of my life. I'm getting warm fuzzy feelings all over!
Which is why I'm so excited to experience Becky and hubby Eric's journey as first-time parents through the eyes of my camera lens. Becky is Bebo Mia's Business Development manager, and is no stranger to the world of birthing, working daily with the lovely doulas of Bebo Mia.
I began to document Becky and Eric's journey on St. Patrick's Day, when I came to their downtown Toronto condo, for a lifestyle maternity photo session. Becky is due in early April, and I will be there with my camera on-hand to photograph their baby for a Fresh 48 session, plus two more sessions in the next year. I am looking forward to capturing Becky and Eric (and baby!), as they evolve as a family. To spice things up a bit, Becky will be writing session blog posts for me, so you get to experience photo sessions through the eyes of a client! I will be posting Becky's thoughts on her maternity session in the coming days. But first, let's start with her journey into motherhood. By the way, you can also follow Becky on her personal blog. It's lots of fun to read, and makes me wish that I was that organized when I was pregnant. Way to go, Becky!
Without further ado, here is Becky's journey, in her own words...
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Becky's Journey into Motherhood
If I had to start the story of my Journey to Motherhood, it would probably begin around my first Christmas when I was given my very first baby doll. The very creatively named Doll-Doll was a very cooperative first baby, as I practiced dressing, changing, feeding and taking my “baby” for walks. My love of babies began early, and from then on, I have always dreamed of the day I would become a mother.
Through the years, I was always the first in line for holding, feeding, or even volunteering to change diapers for my younger cousins. As soon as I turned 12, I registered for the Babysitting Course and started babysitting for family friends in our small hometown. When it was time for a real job, what else was better suited than becoming a Youth Camp leader and swimming instructor. Interacting with kids day in and day out could get tiring, but I loved it. Having kids of my own was a given, it was just a matter of time.
The time became more and more of a reality after graduating university and marrying my perfect man. Who just so happened to confess his dream of wanting kids as well.....SIX of them.
Ok, seriously? I love kids, but a HALF DOZEN? That’s not upgrading to a mini van, that’s a mini BUS.
Quantity aside, I loved our newlywed talks about starting a family. In the first few years of our marriage, we took as much time as possible to enjoy being together, just the two of us, taking a few very memorable trips, always talking about cherishing the moments “before we have kids”.
When the time came to start trying for a baby, I tried to make sure I stayed optimistic that things would happen at the right time. With the reality of fertility struggles on both sides of the family, it was sometimes hard to keep the “everything happens for a reason” mindset as the months went on. Having been a part of bebo mia, a fantastic fertility, pregnancy and parenting service, for the previous year, I definitely had information on my side. I was surrounded with resources and spent hours browsing articles about pregnancy and babies....now it was just a matter of getting there myself. In June, Natasha, one of bebo mia’s founding partners, invited me to participate in the Fertility Yoga program. I wasn’t too far into my fertility journey at that point, but knowing that it could potentially be a long road ahead, I was eager to get involved and do something positive for my body and mind.
Fertility yoga provided a very open environment for discussion, as well as a fantastic, relaxing yoga practice. Being more of a Type A, practical, competitive person, I had never really been able to embrace yoga classes in the past. This time was different. I knew that my usual habits of stressing and worrying were not going to be of any help in this situation especially, so it was important for me to shift my perspective and spend the time in yoga focusing on myself and my body.
Turns out, IT WORKED.
Three days after our last class, I found out I was pregnant. I’ve never felt such disbelief in my entire life. I seriously could not believe this had really happened. I’m still not sure the reality had sunk in by the time Eric got home and I presented him with a pair of baby shoes with “Guess What, Daddy?” written on them. We were both so excited.
Sometimes when I think about it, these past 9 months have flown by. Other times, it seems like a lifetime ago that I was holding that pregnancy test with tears in my eyes. I have been so fortunate to have had a wonderful pregnancy, which has allowed me to completely enjoy and embrace every pound I’ve gained and every inch my belly has grown. Feeling our little pea’s first kicks was unbelievable, and this little one hasn’t slowed down since, giving us lots of belly-watching entertainment, wondering just what he or she is up to in there. My husband has been so supportive, attending hours of bebo mia classes, reading books like The Birth Partner (for himself) as well as The Very Hungry Caterpillar (to my belly!). He has given me the sweetest compliments, constantly telling me how well I’m doing, how much he has enjoyed this pregnancy along with me, and how he can’t wait to meet our baby. When he tells me I look beautiful, I believe him, because I feel so amazing, belly and all!
With just over a week until my due date, I feel a little bittersweet knowing that I will definitely miss being pregnant and keeping my little pea safe inside, feeling his/her stretches and hiccups. But after 9 months of waiting, we are so ready for our journey into parenthood and can’t wait to hold our little one for the first time.
Little Miss Annabelle was born nearly two weeks past her due date, and upon looking at this little angel, you could see that she was just taking her time to make the perfect entrance into the world. Just look at this face! MWAH!
My own daughter is 4.5 now, and I can barely remember what it was like to hold such a small person in my arms. Seeing little Annabelle just brought back a flood of memories. It was lovely to see mother and daughter bonding. Can't you just feel the love?
Annabelle is little sister to Nathan, who was very excited to be a big brother. Just look at him interacting with his sister. He's already got the makings of a wonderful big brother. You're one lucky gal, Annabelle!
And of course, daddy was super-excited about the newest addition to the family.
With so much excitement, it was tough to get everyone together for a family shot, but I managed! Obviously not a typical shot for me, but it's fitting, don't you think?
As I wrap up, let me leave you with one final image. This is to prove to you that I DO take my scooter everywhere. And most people think that it's my daughter's Nathan was very intrigued by my scooter, so I took a photo of him with the scooter. Dun dun dun...
I am so grateful for the opportunity to take this family's Fresh 48 photos. I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like it as a photographer. To be present to capture a family's love for such a tiny little person was an absolute honor. I got to visit with mom and little Annabelle this week for her proofing and ordering session, and it was wonderful to see how much she has changed in the last couple of weeks. For one thing, here eyes were open! It was great to be able to visit with mom and to see how things were going, and it was awesome to let her relive those awesome moments at the hospital, barely a day after little Annabelle was born. And for me, one of the highlights was being able to hold little Annabelle for a few minutes. It was lovely. She was so tiny and light, and she was totally cool about being held by a stranger (it probably helped that I sang and rocked her). At least she wasn't put off by my singing voice!
I'll be seeing this family again in June for a photo session, and I can't wait to see how Annabelle will have grown and changed by then. How exciting! :D
And now time for my little PSA! Are you expecting or know of someone who is expecting? If so, here's a great opportunity to win a FREE "Fresh 48" session with me! Click here for more details!
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Sunday's photo features my daughter in front of our kitchen window. She is dressed in a white dress that I bought her at Gap Kids, and my wedding veil. I'm pretty sure that, despite the fact that both of her parents are extreme computer geeks, she will likely end up on Broadway. If she does, she'd better get me front-row seats!
Monday's photo is of a floral arrangement put together by my daughter. She attends a Montessori school. Traditional Montessori schools feature a life skills module, and one of the modules in her school is floral arrangement. Last week, she asked my hubby to buy her some flowers at the supermarket, so that she could arrange them for us. This is the end result. I just love that she takes enough interest in her school work to want to practice it at home.
Tuesday's photo is so me. I LOOOOOOOVE popcorn. I'll take popcorn over sweet stuff any day. Except pie, that is. I make exceptions for pie. My hubby makes me a bowl of popcorn almost every night. He makes awesome popcorn. I think we were sitting down to watch the latest episode of "The Walking Dead" that night..
Wednesday's photo is a bit of a cheat. It was a "Crap! I didn't take my picture yet. Stand by the window and look pensive!" Doesn't he look deep in thought?
Thursday's picture shows my daughter's playfulness before bed. I swear that most days she gets an energy injection just before she's supposed to go to sleep. At the bottom of the picture, you'll find her Hello Kitty light. She was trying to use it to hide her face. Actually, it was to hide one eye, so that she'd be Hello Kitty Pirate. That didn't work out quite as she'd planned, and I ended up capturing this instead.
Friday's photo was technically taken on Saturday morning, but I figure that since I hadn't gone to bed yet when I took this picture, it's still fair game. It truly captures the stillness of the night in my kitchen.
Saturday's picture was taken during Earth Hour. My daughter didn't quite get why we had the lights off. She was quite disturbed by the fact that she was eating and drinking in the dark (bad mommy moment: dinner at 8:30pm, and eating in the living room). She actually remarked that it was unsafe, since she might knock her glass down, since she couldn't see very well. This girl cracks me up! The light that you see in this shot is from the outside lights. Clearly the City of Toronto wasn't in an Earth Hour Mood. Neither were our neighbors across the street. I actually think that they make a point of turning all of their lights on during Earth Hour each year, just to spite the movement. Bleh on them.
For once, I'm actually ahead of the curve and have decided to blog before the start of the photo week. It feels weird. I wonder if the poles will reverse because of this. I'm not entirely sure what my theme will be for Week 11. I'm toying with the idea of doing shots of the sky, working with shadows, or taking pictures of inanimate objects. I'll have to think this one through. I'm leaning towards either the first or the last theme. I guess you'll just have to keep checking my Facebook feed to find out! And in the meantime, if you haven't already checked the previous 365 posts, you can check them all here!
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Max was really into his books, and loved being read to by his Mom and Dad.
After reading was done, the family went to the kitchen to make some pancakes. A perfect Saturday treat, if I do say so myself!
And what better way to top off a fun photo session than to play some road hockey? We were in the midst of a bit of a winter melt at that time, so the streets had big puddles. Which OF COURSE is awesome when you're 3, and even more awesome when you've got a hockey stick to slap the water with!
It was such a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, and I am very grateful that this lovely family let me spend a slide of their day with them, so that I could capture their beautiful moments.
This is sometimes a typical Sunday morning for us. My hubby was taking photos of the protesters who were setting up just outside our house. They weren't protesting us, FYI. We happen to live near a consulate, which gets its fair share of protests. Sunday seems to be an especially popular day for this.
I decided to have a little bit of fun on Monday. We have lots of sock monkeys. They normally sit in our den, but I brought them up to my daughter's room for this shot. And they all have names. From left to right: Lulu, You-You, Mimi, Humphrey, (damn, I forgot his name), and Miko. I made Lulu, Humphry, and Miko. Humphry was the first first sock monkey that I ever made, and he's got really big, strong arms. Lulu was made for my grandmother, and Miko was made for my hubby's grandmother. After they each respectively passed away, the sock monkeys made their way back to our house, where they enjoy a full life with other sock monkeys.
Tuesday's pic was taken was my hubby was taking my daughter upstairs for her bath.
Wednesday's pic was taken after dinner. My hubby was showing something to my daughter on the phone. I'm guessing it was something to do with The Beatles. She LOVES The Beatles.
Thursday's photo was taken was I was on my way out to a client proofing and ordering session. My hubby had just gotten home, and my daughter was telling him about her day. I was rushed to leave, but just couldn't resist this scene.
Friday's pic was taken in our living room. We were having a family sleepover in the living room, and my daughter was already sound asleep. My hubby was up late, because he noticed an issue at work, which he was trying to resolve. So of COURSE, I had to pull out my camera!
Saturday's photo is a bit of a cheat. I mean, yes, I took it; however, it's a photo that I took at a client session that I had that day. Still, it fits in with the theme. And it's a perfect transition to the theme for Week 10: Silhouettes! If you've been following me on Facebook this week, you'll notice that I haven't posted too many photos. I had 3 photo session over 3 days last weekend, and there's still a lot of work in getting photos edited. I did, however, take pictures every day; I just haven't had a chance to edit and post them. I will for sure post them on FB soon, and of course, there will be a blog post coming up as well. In the meantime, feel free to browse the previous entries of my 365 Project! Until next week!
]]>Well, here's a little incentive for you to participate. (Besides your love for the planet, of course!) To enter our draw for a chance to win a $15 Starbucks gift card, you must do TWO things:
1. If you haven't already done so, LIKE ÜmlaPhoto and Bebo Mia on Facebook!
2. Send in a picture (or more) of how you spent Earth Hour! OR Send us your story of how you spent Earth Hour! Just reply to this post with your photo entry or story!
Post your entries no later than Thursday, March 28th, 2013 at 11:59pm. Stories and photos will be shared by both ÜmlaPhoto and Bebo Mia by Friday, March 29th. Winner will be announced on Friday, March 29th.
Good luck, and we look forward to hearing your stories!
** Contest open to those living in Toronto only.
Ümla loves Pi AND pie! So to celebrate Pi Day on March 14, I will be offering a special Pi Day discount of 20% off any session package AND any à la carte products ordered with your session. You will also receive a $15 President's Choice gift card to buy PIE! This offer is valid only on March 14! To redeem the offer, simply contact me anytime on March 14th until 11:59pm to book a session in the next 4 months, and mention the discount code EAT_MORE_PI.
**This offer cannot be combined with any other offer.
PS: If you're wondering why you've never seen a Care Bear with the Pi symbol on it, it's because it doesn't exist. When my husband and I spent our first Christmas together in 2002 as boyfriend and girlfriend, I wanted to give him a special gift. So I bought him a Care Bear and painted the Pi symbol on it (his nickname for me at the time was Pi Bear, because I was a bit obsessed with the number Pi after reading a book about it). This special little bear is lovingly referred to as Pi Bear, and has since been claimed by our daughter as her own.
]]>Thank you to all who participated in the Spread the Love Contest in February! The most popular picture of the February 365 project was the Valentine's Day pic, with 10 likes! It was definitely a favorite of mine too, if I do say so myself!
Per my original post, the contest winner was supposed to have been announced on March 5th, and unfortunately I didn't get to it until today. My sincerest apologies. To make up for that, the winner will be getting a $50 Indigo gift card, instead of a $25 gift card! See? You can benefit from my tardiness. Anyone who liked ÜmlaPhoto and liked a February 365 photo on my FB page was eligible to enter. The contestants are listed below. Each contestant was assigned a number.
- Evelyn C
- Kathryn S
- BJ B
- Deepika U
- Rogie P
- Peter L
- Sandi FH
- Sarah B
- Julia C
- Fawn F
The winner was selected by generating a random number between 1 and 10 from random.org. And the winner is...
#9 - Julia C! Congratulations!!!
Now that the contest is over, I did want to make a quick note to let you know that I won't be running this contest past February, as I had originally planned, since I've got other contests lined up for the coming months. Thanks for participating, and looking forward to the next contest!
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So here we have it. Week 8: Hands!
Sunday's photo is of my Iron Ring. For my non-Canadian readers, Canadian engineers wear an iron ring on the pinky of their working hand as a reminder of their obligations and ethics associated with being an engineer. Engineering students get their Iron Rings in their fourth year of university, in a super awesomely secret ceremony that I'm not allowed to tell you about. Ever. This ring is by far the most expensive piece of jewellery that I own, mostly due to the fact that it's equivalent to 4 years-worth of university tuition. As you can see, I'm a leftie. Bonus.
Monday's photo was taken at breakfast. My house faces east, which means that I get a TON of light in my kitchen in the morning. It's augmented by the fact that my kitchen windows are huge. Needless to say, the sunlight is amazing, during spring and summer. I loved Monday's sunlight so much that I just had to take a photo. Can't wait for more funky light photos through spring and summer.
Tuesday's photo was taken after school. I bought Fudgee-Os for my daughter as an after-school snack. I'm a big fan of Fudgee-Os. Sometimes moreso than Oreo. (I know...blasphemy!) BTW, I just had two Fudgee-Os after lunch today. Are you jealous? :)
Wednesday's photo makes me laugh. Want to know a secret? My hubby was half-asleep when I took this photo. It was taken at bedtime, and he was super-tired and was nursing a cold. I have to say that he was a good sport about it.
I bought my daughter butterfly wings on Thursday. They were fore sale at Gap Kids. She loves butterflies and fairies, and she was home sick that day with my hubby. I figured that she needed some cheering up, so I bought her the butterfly wings. They. Made. Her. Day. Mommy win!
Friday's photo was taken very quickly. I needed something, it was approaching midnight, and so, I ended up with this photo. The photo was a bit difficult to take because I had to keep my camera lens far enough away from my hand so that I could keep the hand and phone in focus. The problem is, my arms aren't that long, and my camera is friggin' heavy. I had a serious cramp on my right hand after taking this photo. Still, I think that it totally captures an aspect of my daily life. I use my phone a LOT, mostly for work stuff - mostly for social media and replying to e-mails.
Saturday's photo was taken in the evening. We'd had friends over, it was late, and I didn't have a photo for the day. Lucky for me, my daughter loves "playing" her harmonica. Done and done. (Look out Bob Dylan!)
Stay tuned for Week 9 photos. The theme for week 9 is "Photos Without a Face", in which I strive to capture people without capturing their faces. As usual, you can check the previous 365 posts, which I've grouped nicely here. Or keep up-to-date with daily pics on my Facebook page. And don't forget to follow the blog for promos, events, session summaries, and more!
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Are you expecting a baby? Are you interested in having photos done right after your baby's birth? ÜmlaPhoto is currently looking to expand into birth photography, and YOU can help with the expansion! From now until September, ÜmlaPhoto will offer ONE expectant family per month a FREE "Fresh 48" photo session. Fresh 48 photos are taken 1-2 days following your baby's birth, either at the hospital, or at home, if you've had a home birth. That's a $350 value!
You get:
- A photo session taken at the hospital or at your home 1-2 days after your baby's birth
- A gallery of 20 hand-edited images for proofing and ordering
- A personal mobile e-album of all session photos. This is perfect for sharing with family and friends via e-mail or social media. For an example, check out this link. Try it on your phone or on your computer to see what it looks like!
- Two 8x10 or three 4x6s of any session image
An extra bonus, if you book your next full session with ÜmlaPhoto at the same time, you will receive $60 credit for any ÜmlaPhoto session. This offer is valid until September 30th, 2013. This offer is not valid with any other offer.
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It's always a treat to photograph moms and babies. I can't get enough of the über-love between mommies and babies, and let's be honest...who can resist a cute little baby face? Not me! Just look at these cuties! Mwah!
After Kristin and Jennifer's presentation, I gave a little presentation of my own, providing the mommies with a brief introduction to basic photography concepts, along with some tips for getting better point-and-shoot and camera phone photos. After my presentation, I did a little mom and baby photo session. Here's a little sneak peek!
It was a lovely way to spend my morning. I am one lucky gal, to be surrounded by such cuties and their lovely mommies! You guys make my job so easy! Once again, thanks to MommyConnections East Toronto for inviting me to present and to take photos! I'll be back with MommyConnections in May, for their next round of classes, so stay tuned!
]]>- 20-minute session
- 5 digital images
- 1 - 8x10 print (from set of 5 digitals)
- personal mobile e-album for sharing photos with family and friends online
- photo print release
This package is a $600, and you can get it for ONLY $70!
The sessions will take place from 10am to 1pm at Playful Grounds. Each session is 20 minutes long, and there are SIX spots available. Spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis. A non-refundable $15 deposit is required in order to secure your spot. Sign up online in order to secure your spot!
Sunday's picture reflects a recent family tradition: game time! A couple of weeks ago, I bought my daughter a copy of the game Trouble! She immediately took to it, and we now play almost daily.
Monday's photo is another typical family happening: the "running hug". My daughter loves running towards us at full speed, and collides into us with a big 'ole hug that just melts your heart.
Tuesday's pic is all about the unwind. My hubby loves to unwind with a Guiness. I, on the other hand, am hopelessly addicted to this brand of iced tea. Who needs beer when you have apple-flavored green tea?
Wednesday's pic is back to game time. My daughter and I play Go Fish just about every day after school. I must say that playing games is way more fun than playing dolls.
Thursday's pic was taken through my coffee table, which is why you see the wood on top and the glass on the bottom of the photo. Both Wednesday and Thursday were REALLY slushy days, and as a result, even my winter running shoes, which are supposed to be waterproof, got soaked through. Wednesday was so bad that I had to turn back early in order to avoid my feet freezing. Thursday was better, but my shoes still got pretty wet. Wet enough that they required drying by the fireplace in order for me to run in dry shoes the next day.
Friday's pic marks the beginning of a little theme that I'm sticking with for the next week or so: hands. I'm trying to come up with interesting hand pics, and this is the first one. I have to admit that the timing kind of sucks and that I should've started it at the beginning of my photo week, but heck, nobody's perfect. Spoiler alert: my plan is to follow this theme through to the end of Week 8, and then I'll pick another theme for Week 9, just to spice things up a bit. I'm getting ahead of myself here. :)
Saturday was date night, but I needed to take a photo before we went out for dinner. This picture perfectly captures my hubby's playful sense of humor and zany drawings. Yo. Talk to the hand!
Stay tuned for Week 8 photos. As I said before, I'm sticking with the hand theme for the rest of the week, and then will be switching to a new theme for Week 9, just to spice things up a bit. As usual, you can check the previous 365 posts, which I've grouped nicely here. Or keep up-to-date with daily pics on my Facebook page. And don't forget to follow the blog for promos, events, session summaries, and more!
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So come join the FIESTA!!!
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Babies were cuddled...
Babies were lifted...
And they even got to fly like Superman!
After an exhausting Yoga class, the babies got to relax with a nice massage from mommy. What a perfect way to end the session!
It was so much fun getting to be a fly on the wall, and taking pictures of the gorgeous mommies and their adorable babies. Looking through the photos just made my heart melt!
After the Cherrie's presentation, I got to give a little talk of my own - a brief overview of DSLR photography. My talk featured an overview of DSLR cameras, the exposure triangle, and a brief intro to camera lenses. After fielding a few questions from the mommies, I had a mini photo session with each of the moms and babies. Here's a quick little sneak peek!
There were so many gorgeous babies, that it was hard to choose pictures for this post!
To see the full set of photos from the session, be sure to check out the album here.
Thanks to Laura of MommyConnections East Toronto for inviting me to be a fly on the wall, and to the beautiful moms and their adorable babies, for letting me take their photos! I'll be back at Lil Bean N Green on March 7th, for another photo session and presentation. I'm very much looking forward to meeting more mom and babies!
]]>Enough of that rant. Time for some photos!
I really wanted to get a good capture of my hubby kissing my daughter, and to me, this one was the "IT" shot. His weekend stubble of course adds to the whole scene.
Monday was the Family Day holiday, and I'd promised my daughter that we'd make something out of clay together. We were supposed to make mugs, but then she decided that she wanted to make a crown.
Tuesday's photo was taken after school. If it looks like my daughter is in her PJs, it's because she is! Tuesday was pajama day in her class, and she was totally excited about it! When we got home from school, she had a mini-chocolate-cupcake as a snack. I'd made some colored icing the day before, and we iced cupcakes together. Unfortunately, hers got messy. She hates it when her hands get gooey and sticky like that. Out comes the camera!
My daughter is getting into games now (Chess, Snakes & Ladders, Trouble, and Go Fish). This was taken on Wednesday evening, after we came home from her yoga class. She wanted to play Go Fish. My hand even made it into the photo. (Does that count as a selfie?) If I recall correctly, she whooped my arse.
This shot was taken on Thursday morning, though you'd never tell by looking at the edit. I'm having fun experimenting with different editing styles. A little easier to do with my own photos, as opposed to client photos. :) My daughter was showing me how to surf, and was singing her own rendition of "Surfin' USA".
I decided to use two photos for Friday. I was at my daughter's school to take pictures of her class' Chinese New Year celebrations. We celebrated it about 2 weeks late, but I hear that there is an acceptable celebration threshold, and we just managed to squeak in. With it being a Montessori school and all, her teacher wanted the children to be involved in the food prep, rather than in just eating it. So we had 4 parents come in with ingredients and the children helped to assemble them into various dishes. This is a photo of my daughter and her friend making rice paper rolls. The children had more fun making the food than the had eating it.
This is another capture from that day. There was a mirror across from the table where I was sitting, and I caught my daughter's reflection. Artsy-fartsy shot, if I do say so myself!
I took Saturday's photo after returning from a family photo session. The session was lots and lots of fun, and it was lots of work too! Although I don't find my camera to be particularly heavy, its weight becomes more apparent once I've been holding it and squatting with it for a couple of hours. Even though I wanted nothing more than to collapse on the sofa when I got home, I just had to take this picture. My hubby was cuddled up to my daughter on the sofa, telling her a story.
Stay tuned for Week 7 photos. As usual, you can check the previous 365 posts, which I've grouped nicely here. Or keep up-to-date with daily pics on my Facebook page. And don't forget to follow the blog for promos, events, session summaries, and more!
We couldn't have asked for a better day for photos. Our session was on a Saturday, and it so happens that we got a good amount of snow the night before. Since we met relatively early in the morning, the snow was still very fresh, and very untouched. The location decided upon was Toronto's Coronation Park, which is just east of Ontario Place and the CNE, along Lake Ontario.
I was a little worried that it might be too cold for shooting outside; however, my worries were soon laid to rest as we started our session. The session was so much fun, and grandparents Tom and Wanda were great to work with. And 13-month-old Holly was in great spirits the whole time, despite the cold. A true Canadian, EH? In true Ümla style, I just followed them around, and let them do their thing, while I snapped away. I would occasionally give some direction, if there was a shot that I was trying to get, but that was very minimal. The three of them made for very awesome models.
Since I do like to capture genuine and natural moments, I thought I'd share the photo below. Grandma and Grandpa brought a camera along, and snapped a few pics, which was totally fun. I love taking pictures of people taking pictures.
Check out all that fresh snow! I also wanted to capture some special grandma/granddaughter bonding time, and grandpa/granddaughter bonding. Just look at those smiles, and that love!
The grandpa/granddaughter one makes me smile, because of the giggle fit that Holly is having. Daddy, grandma, and grandpa were trying to Holly's boots on so that she could walk in the snow, but they kept slipping off. For some reason, Holly thought that this was funny. And so, here is the resulting capture.
Here's one of the three of them having lots of fun by a neat sculpture (I *believe* that this is a war memorial sculpture).
One of the most striking things about our surroundings that day was the sun peering out from among the clouds. Couple that with the snowy backdrop, and you can get some pretty neat photos. In this photo, I was having some fun with silhouettes. The funny thing about this photo is that it was probably taken at 10:30am or 10:45am. Yet, it looks like it's pretty late in the day.
I have to say that Holly was a total trooper, but after so much shooting, she fell asleep in her daddy's arms. I followed grandpa, grandma, dad, and Holly back home for some photos of Holly napping, and got this lovely capture. The total embodiment of daddy love.
The end to a lovely session on a lovely day.
Week 5 starts off with 2 photos on the Sunday. The first is of icicles melting over my front door. This was on the heels of the big, giant snow storm that hit is a mere two days earlier (recall the pics of my hubby taking my daughter to school by sled from the week 4 post). So just as I needed to capture the crazy snow, I felt equally-compelled to capture the crazy meltdown. That being said, we got so much snow on the Friday, that not even the above-zero temps throughout the week were enough to melt all of that snow.
Here's another pic from Sunday. It's actually a crop from a larger pic of my daughter enjoying a Sunday morning Starbucks hot chocolate at home. But I was so smitten by her eye, that I decided to zoom in. You can see the reflection of the hot chocolate cup, of me, and of the fireplace in the background.
Monday's pic cracks me up. I went to MEC to buy my daughter a new winter jacket, since the zipper was dying on her current one. I was actually surprised to find a winter jacket in February, considering that the GAP is selling spring clothes. While I was at MEC, I noticed that they had bike helmets. My daughter was in dire need of a new one (she's got a big head for a 4-yr-old), so I snatched one up too. My daughter, being a total girlie-girl, wanted to try on all her new loot. And of course, she had to look at her reflection. Mommy + camera = moment captured!
Tuesday's pic was somewhat staged. Can't really expect a pic to not be somewhat staged when you're doing a selfie, mind you. I wanted to get a pic of my daughter kissing me, so I set up the camera on tripod, turned on the self-timer, and got lots of kisses. I love that I was able to capture this moment. Melts my heart.
Wednesday's pic is Yoga-themed. My daughter takes Yoga every Wednesday, thanks to her awesome school teacher, who offers a weekly after-school program to kids ages 3-6. When I tell people that my daughter does Yoga, they kind of look at me like I'm one of those snobby parents who over-programs their only child. But let me tell you that my daughter absolutely LOVES going to Yoga with her school friends, and she loves showing off her moves to me. She can even do a sun salutation (well, a 4-yr-old's version, that is). You can tell that my downward dog needs a bit of work. My excuse is my ACL injury, which hasn't quite healed yet.
Later that evening, we REALLY had fun with the camera on the tripod and self-timer, and got a couple of gems. These aren't officially part of the 365 Project, but man, did we have some fun!
Funny faces!
I totally photobombed this one. My hubby was so focused on helping my daughter with her coloring, that he didn't even notice me on the table. Until I showed him the pic later that evening, that is. I still laugh when I think about it.
Thursday's pic was so fitting for Valentine's day. I planned this one a week in advance. I just HAD to do it. If you're FB friends with me, you'll know that my hubby and I do this pose every year on New Year's Day, usually in the kitchen, at the end of our annual New Year's Eve bash. This year, we didn't have our party, and we didn't have our pic, as we were packing for our NYC trip. I'm glad that I finally got the kissing pic in this year. And what a perfect day for it. We also both took the day off to spend some quality time together sans kid, which was extra-special. It wasn't a fancy day. It was just a day of hanging out, and that was one of the nicest V-days in our 10 years together.
We spent Friday at my parents' house. I worked away, while my mom looked after my daughter, who had a day off from school (jealous). This pic is nothing spectacular photographically, but it has something that is rare with my mom: a candid moment! My mom ALWAYS poses for photos, and it drives. me. nuts. Except for the fact that my talent lies in getting candids even from people who are dead set on posing. I emerged victorious! My daughter is (much to my horror) dressed in her favorite dress-up outfit at my parents' place: a bridal dress and veil. Who comes up with this crazy crap for kids? *sigh*
Saturday's pic totally cracks me up. We had a lazy afternoon after returning from my daughter's ballet class (9:30am class...grrr). Enter bad mommy and daddy moment here. We decided to hang out in the living room and watch a movie. We'd introduced my daughter to the Beatles' movie Help! on Friday, and this was her second viewing of it. She is now obsessed with the Beatles. Her favorite Beatle is John Lennon, and she spent the whole movie asking which one was John. I laugh at this, because I used to not be able to tell them apart when I was little too. I don't believe that she was reacting to anything scary when I took this pic, but you can tell that she's really into the movie. And I just love how my hubby is fast asleep right behind her. Mwah!
I'm already well into Week 6 pics, and am excited by the pics so far. I don't have any selfies planned for the week, but you never know. As usual, you can check the previous 365 posts, which I've grouped nicely here. Or keep up-to-date with daily pics on my Facebook page. And don't forget to follow the blog for promos, events, session summaries, and more!
]]>I ended up posting two photos for Sunday in Week 4 of the project, because both pretty much embody stuff that's going on right now. And both are very different.
Well, it so happens that I live next door to a consulate, and this consulate is a very popular location for protests. They happen on a weekly basis. And they seem to take place primarily on Sundays, which is beyond my comprehension, because quite frankly, nobody is around. Except maybe the Consul General. You can't see them terribly well, but the protesters are waving around a blue flag, just right of the tree. I decided not to focus too much on the protesters themselves, but rather, wanted to capture what I see when I look out the window. This was taken from my kitchen. Never a dull moment when you live in downtown Toronto!
This next image is one of my daughter sewing. She goes to Montessori school, and they teach her all sorts of super-cool life skills stuff, along with the usual reading writing, and math. Sewing is one of them. I'm by no means good at sewing, but I know enough to be able to sew on buttons and whatnot. She'd been begging me to sew something, so I cracked open my sewing kit, found her a thick (and not-too-pointy) needle, some thread, and a scrap of material. If you can believe it, I think this material used to be tights that either my sis or I owned when we were tweens or something. And somehow I kept this scrap of material all these years. I see where my daughter gets her love of crafts from now. Tee hee...
I have to admit that I feel a bit bad about this image. The night this was taken, my husband was giving my daughter her bath. I was downstairs photographing something for my 365 Project. Then I heard them head back downstairs for dinner. Followed by a thump, screams, and cries for me to head upstairs. I was in a bit of a weird situation, because, my camera strap had gotten stuck to my necklace, and I was hoping to race up the stairs to my daughter's rescue sans camera attached to me, but alas, that was not to be. Anyway, hubby had the situation under control by the time I got up there, with my camera literally stuck to me (he did a crazy dive to catch her, and wound up hurting his tailbone in the process - both are okay now). We made our way down to the kitchen, and my hubby grabbed an ice pack for my daughter, as she'd smacked her shin against one of the wooden steps on our many sets of stairs. Since my camera was attached to me anyway, I snapped away, trying to capture the moment. I should note that I am not posting this pic for its artistry, because it's full of weird shadows and whatnot, but I wanted to capture this "day-in-the-life" moment. I still feel bad though, because my daughter was so clearly miserable at the time. She did get lots of kisses from mommy later.
I took Tuesday's photo just after my morning run, around 7:15am or so. I was really struck by the crescent moon nestled in the tree, so out came the camera.
This is one of my favorite images of the week. I took this after school on Wednesday. My daughter and I were doing crafts in the living room, and I asked her if I could take some photos of her doing crafts. I think she got bored partway into it, and started throwing this pom-pom around. Lucky for me that I had my camera on me. My daughter is a HUGE "Star Wars" fan (seen all 6 movies multiple times), and I thought that this was the absolute embodiment of the "Jedi-in-training".
This image is one of two for Thursday. I included this photo because my daughter is ALWAYS doing crafts - drawing, gluing, cutting...you name it. And her preferred place for crafting is usually the kitchen floor, on her stomach. Just another day at our house.
The second image for Thursday was included because we were starting to get part 1 of the massive snowfall that hit Toronto on Thursday evening/Friday all day. I dimmed the kitchen lights, and my daughter stood by the window watching the snow fall.
By Friday morning, we had a TON of snow. Hubby worked from home that day, and the only practical way to get our daughter to and from school was by sled. Which made her day. What kid wouldn't love that??? This photo was taken at around 8:20am.
This image is also from Friday. I really wanted to capture the snow on a tree. I took this while returning home from an errand. Lucky for me I had my big-girl camera on me.
And since we're documenting that massive snowfall, I thought that it would be fitting to show a picture of the road by 10am.
And naturally, after the massive snowfall from Friday (we got 25cm!), we just HAD to go sledding the next day. We went to Christie Pits Park, which was AWESOME. I didn't bring my camera along, because, quite frankly, I wanted to slide down the hill.
Week 5 is coming along very nicely, and I've even got some Valentine's Day-themed pics posted/planned. As usual, you can check the previous 365 posts, which I've grouped nicely here (thanks to post-tagging - w00t). Or keep up-to-date with daily pics on my Facebook page. And don't forget to follow the blog for promos, events, session summaries, and more!
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I'm really excited to share with you a guest post that I wrote for our wonderful friends at SeekParents.com, a great networking site for parents by region. They are awesome if you're looking for location-based events, products, services, nanny share, or even connecting with other parents/children in your area. You can check out my article here. Be sure to also check out the SeekParents Facebook page!]]>
It's time for an awesome new photo contest from ÜmlaPhoto! As you may or may not know, I've been posting one photo per day (or sometimes more), as part of my Photo-a-Day: Snapshots of Life in Toronto 365 Project. It has been lots of fun so far, as it not only keeps me on my (photographic) toes, it's also a great way to document my family life throughout the year. To spread the love, I thought it would be fun to launch a monthly contest, starting THIS MONTH. All you have to do is LIKE a photo on my Photo-a-Day Album Facebook album, for a chance to win a $25 Indigo gift card. Here's what you need to do to be entered:
- LIKE my Facebook Page, if you haven't already done so.
- Check out my Photo-a-Day Album on Facebook.
- LIKE any photo posted during the month, from my Photo-a-Day Album.
I plan to run this contest every month until at least until June. I may extend it past that, unless I come up with another cool contest in its place. February's contest starts on February 9th, at 12:00am. Contests for all other months will start on the first day of the month at 12:00am, and will close on the last day of the month at 11:59pm. I will announce the monthly winner on my blog (i.e. here) and Facebook page on the FIFTH day of the following month. This means that February's winner will be announced on March 5th. I will also re-post the winning pic on the blog, along with your comments.
This contest is open to Ümla-fans in Canada. Sorry, but folks in other countries don't have Indigo.
Best of luck, and spread the Ümla-Love!
]]>- When I put my vision into practice, it sucked. Total letdown. It happens. That's why you try new things!
- I was supposed to be getting dinner ready while my hubby was giving our daughter a bath, so *technically* I wasn't supposed to be taking any photos. Shhh...don't tell him...
So, here we go! WEEK THREE! The week starts on the Sunday.
I took this photo of our boots on the Sunday, to show that we are indeed having a real winter in Toronto this year (YAY). There was even real snow and everything outside! For real! And well, since we wear these boots day in and day out, they are a part of our day-in-the life. All hail winter footwear!
This was taken on a Monday after school. My daughter came home from school excitedly telling us about how one of the parents from her school did a presentation about China during her music class, and that she got to wear a traditional Chinese dress. Well, it so happened that my sister and brother-in-law bought her a traditional Chinese dress when they went to China 2 years ago. And it still fit. When she got wind of that, my daughter insisted on putting it on (won't argue there), and out came my camera!
I made crêpes for dinner on Tuesday. I had my camera out, because I was trying to think of something to photograph. I started trying to photograph my husband doing something or other in the kitchen. And then he does this whacky pose. Thanks for my photo of the day. Mwah!
Wednesday's image makes me laugh all the time. I don't know if it's the fact that my daughter is dressed up like a bumblebee, or because she's looks guilty, with my husband crouched on the floor, looking like he was punched in the stomach, or all of the above. Either way, I'm glad that I captured the moment! Now, to give you some context, what actually WAS happening is that my daughter wanted to wash my husband's hair in the sink. He was crouched down so that she could pass a wet cloth over his hair. And if you don't believe me, check out the bowl on the counter.
This is by far my favorite image of the week. We came home from school on Thursday, and my daughter wanted to play in the snow. To be honest, I wasn't in the mood. And then I thought that it would be perfect for my 365 project! And away she went. If you're wondering what she's doing, she's throwing snow onto the interlock bricks so that we can use her sled on that part. Smart cookie. I love the fact that I've got the action shot, and that you don't see her face; only the bunny hat. One person on my personal Facebook page asked me how I got the bunny to pose with a snowsuit on. Best comment ever. :)
Friday's image is a typical scene at my house. It's pizza and movie night. That night, we were watching "Tangled" (for the umpteenth time, I might add). My daughter doesn't just watch movies; she studies them with great intensity. Over and over. Hence the expression on her face. For the record, the beer is not hers.
Saturday's image was also a fairly typical scene at our house...on a Saturday morning. Why she has ballet class at 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday is beyond me. I think that her ballet school picked this time just to torture parents. I do love taking her to class and seeing her dance, so it's all worth it. With class being at 9:30am, it means that we are always late. Last Saturday was no exception. But I wanted a picture. So I asked my daughter to get her skirt on while I took pictures, even though I'm sure that if my hubby caught wind of it, he would've lectured me about how I dilly-dally. Guilty as charged. But wasn't it worth it?
I've already started into the Week 4 pics. It has been eventful so far, and we're only into Tuesday. As usual, you can check the previous 365 posts:
Or keep up-to-date with daily pics on my Facebook page. Looking forward to the next post!
]]>- Receive a $100 ÜmlaPhoto voucher for anyone who signs up for the Baby & Me Fitness 6-month unlimited package during the month of February
- Receive a $50 ÜmlaPhoto voucher for anyone who signs up for the Baby & Me Fitness 3-month unlimited package during the month of February
This offer cannot be combined with any other offers from ÜmlaPhoto. Clients must book a session with ÜmlaPhoto by May 31st, 2013 in order to take advantage of this offer. Please mention promo code B&MFEB2013 when contacting ÜmlaPhoto about this offer.
I've found that on some days, I have my photo-a-day pic first thing in the morning. Then on other days, I realize that it's 10pm and I have nothing, so I'd better get my butt in gear. Or I have my photo all done, but realize at 11:30pm that I haven't edited and posted the pic. I have to admit that sometimes I end up posting my pic past midnight, but in the very least, I can assure you that I have taken the picture on the stated date. And though it IS tempting to cheat and grab a pic from another day, I have been faithful to the project and have not done that.
And now, the moment you've been waiting for: week 2 photos!
I have a pic of my daughter putting on lip balm from last week, but I just had to post yet another lip balm picture. She was very adamant about posing for me. Hence the image title!
This pic was taken a week ago Saturday. We were over at my parents' for lunch. Try as I might, I CANNOT for the life of me get a candid of my mom (okay, I did manage once). She has camera-dar. As soon as she snifs a camera, she poses. Posing aside, I do like how this image turned out. My daughter really loves my mom. :) Also notice the bridal dress that she's wearing. Not my doing. I don't know how toy companies come up with this crap. Honestly...
I took this on a Sunday morning before my daily run. I had the camera set on a tripod and my 10-second timer while putting my shoes on. Weekday runs usually take place at 6:40am, right before the rush to get out the door for school and all that fun stuff. Definitely an easier shot to do on a weekend, when there is no rush.
Here's another self-portrait. Again, it was a tripod with 10-second timer. It took a few tries to get the composition just right. Don't I look productive here?
I took this after a Tuesday morning run. When I left for my run, there were teeny flurries in the air. By the time I got home, the street was covered in snow. After catching my breath, I opened my front door to catch this image. I love the stillness of the scene. Especially since it was still dark at that time.
This image was a bit of a pleasant surprise. I was wanting to capture something at dinnertime, but didn't know what. Then my daughter hurt herself, and went to get an ice pack from the freezer. I happened to have my camera on me, and *snap*. There is something so magical about this scene!
The Thursday photo is a typical scene at my house: my daughter and husband doing crafts together. My daughter always has a project on the go.
This is another typical scene at my house. My husband and I love playing backgammon, and my daughter loves pulling out our backgammon boards and making an elaborate game of it.
The Saturday photo is of my daughter having a playdate with one of her good friends. My daughter was upset that her friend wouldn't put on a princess dress, but all was well after they started playing Barbies.
And that's it for now. Can't wait to share the photos with you again next week! To see what I've done so far, check out my initial post about my 365 project, and the album with all photos posted so far. And of course, you can follow the daily photo posts on my Facebook page.
]]>I have to say that getting started was tough. After all, I didn't start to really consider this project until we were a week into January, and didn't actually start seriously until last weekend. My first photo is from January 10th, and the next one after that is on the 12th. Since then, I have been all in. Three-sixty-five photo projects come in all shapes and sizes. Photographers can choose a theme, and stick with it for the year. Some people, for example, might choose to do self-protraits for a year. For those looking for inspiration, there are guided 365 photo projects out there. For my own project, I was pretty set on capturing a photo (or two) of my daily life. Since I specialize in lifestyle photos, I viewed this as a wonderful way to develop my craft. It's tough to come up with different themes every day, especially when your life is primarily made up of routine.
As tough as it is to come up with new "material" each day (and I've only been doing this for a week), I find that this project challenges me to take my photography to the next level, which in turn provides my clients with even more awesome, and memorable shots. In fact, I am so excited to wake up every day and plan my next photo. Sometimes I have a particular moment in mind. For example, today, I wanted to get a photo of my husband preparing our weekday smoothies in the morning. I asked him to wait as I prepped my camera for the shot, but aside from that, I didn't ask him to pose. My daughter, however, has a very artistic flair, and adores posing for the shots. I have to say that she's a total natural at this, and comes up with the most adorable poses (might be some parental bias here).
I encourage you to check the blog and Facebook regularly, as I will be posting photos here. The blog will serve as a weekly digest, where I'll post all of the photos for the week. I will also post the photos on Facebook on a daily basis, in case you're too excited to wait for the weekly blog digest. Each photo has a title and the date, so that you can see things as they progress. With my daughter being 4-and-a-half, this will be an exciting way to see how she grows and changes over the past year. I can't wait to turn this into a nice photo album for family and friends. It will make a great Christmas gift for this year!
So, drum roll please...presenting the first set of photos from my Photo-a-Day: Snapshots of Life in Toronto project! Enjoy!
Me mucking around in the basement with self portraits last week on Thursday.
My daughter loves her princess dress-up clothes. You'll see her in her various dresses throughout, the year, I'm sure. Here she's coloring in one of her new princess coloring books. How fitting!
Making pancakes and waffles are a weekend tradition at my house. My daughter loves mixing the batter.
My daughter has taken to brushing her teeth on her own (with some assistance). This was taken before bedtime. No, she doesn't sleep in the princess dress.
I think that this image perfectly captures my daughter's intense look. She wasn't actually upset when I took this picture. I took this after school, when we got home. She's eating grated cheese.
I took this just before I left to take my daughter to school. My husband had already left, and she was waiting by the window to see him wave good-bye as he drove off.
I'm glad that my hubby let me post this image. He wasn't too keen on having me take a photo of him shaving at 6:30am on a weekday, but I love how it captures that still-groggy feeling.
I was going to post just the shaving photo from the 17th, but after I showed this one to my hubby and he declared, "I love this one!", well, I had to post this one too. My daughter LOVES her lip balm.
Stay tuned for the next digest post with new photos coming out next week, and of course, stay up-to-date on my Facebook page for the daily posts!
]]>If you do ever have trouble getting a hold of me by phone, you can always e-mail me at [email protected]. I have this account connected to my iPhone and iPad so I will respond to any messages/inquiries.
I do sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. This lack of accessibility is totally unacceptable, and as a result, I would like to offer you all 10% off any product or service, in compensation for this inconvenience. This offer is valid until January 31st, 2013, and can be combined with any other offer. It applies to any products ordered by 11:59pm on January 31st, 2013, and any bookings within this period (i.e. if you call me this month to book for something during another month, you still get the discount). Just e-mail me and mention the code PHONEBLIP2013.
Peace, love, and Über-happiness!
- Set a slow shutter speed
- Set a small aperture
- Low ISO
- Set your camera on a table or tripod
- Have a steady light source (e.g. LED flashlight)
To understand painting with light, you must first understand some basics of photography.
The main thing to do is to keep your shutter speed fairly slow. When the shutter "clicks", there are actually two such clicks. The first click is the shutter opening to let light in, and the second is the shutter closing to cut off the light. The longer you leave the shutter open, the longer the sensor is exposed to light. When you have a slow shutter speed such as 5 seconds, it takes 5 seconds between the first click and the second click. That means that any motion ends up looking blurry. Which is perfect for light painting.
The next aspect of light painting is using a small aperture on your lens. For those not familiar with aperture, it is the size of the opening in your lens. Think of a lens as like your eye. When you are in the dark, your pupils dilate, in order to let more light in so that you can see better. When it's really bright out, your pupils close close up. Think of how teeny your pupils look when someone shines a flashlight into your eyes. On your camera, this number is the f-stop. The higher the f-stop, the smaller the aperture. On many DLSR lenses, that number is f22. Typically a large aperture really depends on the lens. The really expensive lenses have large diameters, and typically large aperture values can be f2.8, f1.8, f1.4, and on the really expensive lenses, f1.2.
ISO is the sensitivity level. Back in the day of film cameras, this was the ASA value that you'd see on film. Low ISO values are used when you have good lighting conditions. High ISO values are typically used in poor lighting conditions. The problem with using high ISO is that you can end up with pretty grainy photos. High-end DSLRs can still produce pretty good pictures at high ISO (my camera, for example, does a half-decent job at ISO10000). Most point-and-shoot images look pretty cruddy at ISO1600, however.
Now, as for my light painting experiments, I wanted things to be as dark as possible, except for the light that I was using to paint. So I set my camera for a small aperture (f22), a slow shutter speed, and a low ISO (ISO100). For my light source, I used the LED light on my iPhone (I have a flashlight app which produces a constant beam of light). You can also use an LED flashlight, regular flashlight, or anything with a concentrated light source. Here was the result of my first experiment:
Doesn't it look like someone's signature?
I wanted to do something more fun other than randomly waving my iPhone around, so I decided to try writing something. The tricky part was writing in cursive backwards in the air no easy feat, and it took a few tries. Especially since I kept turning my iPhone inwards, thereby losing intensity on the beam. Anyway, here's my final attempt. I'm pretty pleased with the end result. Check it out:
You'll notice the arrow on top. That's my hubby's handiwork. He totally photobombed me. :P He got in on the fun too, and came up with this:
Not a bad light penguin, eh? Even my daughter got in on the fun. This is one of her works of art:
Doesn't it make you think of a Treble Clef? After getting the hang of it, here's one of my later works of art, in honor of Valentine's Day in February:
Towards the end, my hubby and I got pretty creative. He has an iPhone flashlight app that turns the iPhone LED into a strobe light. Here's what happens when you paint with a strobe:
A partial outline of my hubby (he looks like he's got stubby legs - I assure you that he doesn't). Anyway, this was a totally fun experiment, and I am totally psyched to take this to the next level. There are some pretty funky things that you can do with light painting. For your reference, here's a Google search result with some of the possibilities that you have with light painting.
To book photos for your child's party, contact me by e-mail or phone, so that we can chat a little bit about the party (venue, theme, date), along with your expectations. I hope to hear from you soon! In the meantime, check out some recent birthday party photos that I've done, and my party package info below. Please note that all prices are subject to HST.
- The WWF is an amazing charity that I donate to regularly, because I so firmly believe in their cause. In fact, I donate to them every year for the stair climb, since one of my very good friends from university always participates
- Climbing the CN Tower is so freaking cool (I did it in the fall of 2011 for the United Way)
As my Ümla-fans, I would like to invite you to join me! You can either join me by sponsoring me, or if you're up for the physical challenge, you can join me for the climb! This would be an amazing opportunity for me to connect with you, plus, I'll have an ÜmlaPhoto T-shirt made for the first 9 people who join me for the climb!
To sponsor me, go to my personal fundraising page here.
To join me, register for the climb here. Click on the link for the Public Climb on Saturday, April 27th. The cost for registration is $25, and you need to raise a minimum of $75 in order to climb.
After you've registered, post your personal fundraising link on the ÜmlaPhoto Facebook page, and shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] with your t-shirt size, so that I can have your t-shirt made!
Thanks in advance for your support! Ümla hÜgs to all!
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If you've been following my Instagram pics on my Facebook page, you will probably have clued into the fact that I recently took a trip to New York City with my family. With October, November, and December being absolutely crazy busy, it was a much-needed family getaway. We left on January 1st, and returned on January 6th. Although it was a short trip, it was lots of fun. It was the first time that we'd taken my daughter to a non-resort destination for a vacation, and boy, was it worthwhile! I plan on doing a more detailed blog post about it very soon. I got to take lots and lots of pics (thereby driving my husband insane, as I wanted to document EVERYTHING). I should point out that I left my big, hefty DSLR at home for the trip, and instead opted to snap some shots with my trusty point-and-shoot, the Fuji X10 (awesome little camera, by the way), and my iPhone, for those stealth subway photos. Just goes to show that you don't need a big, fancy cam to take cool photos.
For now, I will leave you with a couple of teaser shots.
This one's taken atop the Empire State Building at sunset. It was a total fluke that we got there at sunset, but boy, I couldn't have asked for a better time!
Looking up at Rockefeller Plaza (we were standing just by the skating rink).
No trip to NYC is complete without paying homage to John Lennon at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.
Stay tuned for a more complete post about our NYC adventures with our 4-year-old!
I also wanted to let you know that I will be updating some of my product offerings. I'm still ironing out a couple of details, but stay tuned to the blog to see what's new for 2013! I look forward to an amazing year with you guys! Keep on being awesomely-Ümla!
]]>April, the owner of Lil Bean let us use the seminar room for photos. It's a pretty well-lit room, though I did have to supplement with flash at times. Kim, the fabulous Baker of Sweet Street, made some gorgeous holiday cookies. Not only were they gorgeous, they were also freaking delicious! Check them out:
Check out some of the session highlights!
This little girl was adorable! Although she wasn't too keen on having her photo taken (she smartly determined that the stuff outside the photo room was way more fun than sitting in a room with a strange lady and her camera), I still got some awesome shots of her. Check this out:
The next couple's little girl was totally fascinated by a belt that was in the photo room (left by someone else, I suppose). She was a hoot to follow around. I love photographing really young kids, especially ones who can walk or crawl. All you have to do is let them do their thing (within reason), and you're sure to get awesome photos! This little gal was no exception!
Next was a family of four, whose two boys were so freaking cute! They were both so calm and relaxed, and were a total joy to photograph. Here's a shot of the eldest son chilling on a rocking chair. Totally casual. Love it!
This next family featured one of my youngest clients. And reminded me of why I love photographing babies so much! No matter what they do at this age, they are always cute!
The next set of clients were repeat customers from one of my Mommy Connections events. They loved the photos that I did so much that they wanted to have their holiday photos done too! It was great being able to photograph the entire family. Here's one of my repeat customers. Isn't he a cutie?
And another cutie to add to the mix. The mirror in this room proved to be lots of fun bot for me and my little client. And his mom was awesome...she picked out the cutest outfits for him to wear!
And finally, check out this little beauty! I was able to squeeze them in last-minute due to a cancellation. I was so happy to have been able to do so, because I know how much they had wanted to get their photos done!
Yet another super-fun time at Lil Bean, and another awesome holiday event. A big thanks to April of Lil Bean, and to the mommies, daddies, and kiddies who made it out on December 9th! And of course a big thanks to Kim of The Baker of Sweet Street, for the awesome cookies. OM NOM NOM!
The format of this set of sessions was a bit different from my holiday sessions. For one thing, I was piggybacking on the annual holiday party held by the Mamas and Papas of Trinity-Bellwoods Meetup group. They had a party room rented out for the occasion, though I only used the party room as my home base. I was hoping to take some outdoor photos, weather permitting, but was fully expecting mostly indoor shots, seeing as most parents with small kids probably wouldn't been too keen on standing outside in the cold, even if only for 20 minutes. Plus, it's a bit harder to show off cute holiday outfits when you're all bundled up like that! Well, it turned out that the weather was pretty rainy for the duration of the holiday event, so the shots were done indoors (except for the first few shots in my first session). Fortunately, the Trinity-Bellwoods community center has a great spot with really big, bright windows on the second floor, which served as an awesome backdrop for 95% of my photos. Here are a few of the highlights from that photoshoot.
The first family featured here is a returning family! I photographed them back in November for the (postponed) Halloween event, and they were every bit as much fun to photograph this second time around. I had brought some Santa hat props, which I sporadically used throughout the holiday event. I really love this shot, as there is so much playfulness between mother and son.
The next family were a first-time Ümla clients. Their little girl was so photogenic, and I loved capturing the parental love.
Here's another first-time Ümla family. The had an older son, and a little baby girl. OMG...such cuteness all around. Looking at this image here just about puts me in tears every time. Such a beautiful mother-daughter moment. This makes being a photographer even more awesome than it already is.
This next family is a returning Ümla family. When I photographed them for the Halloween event, I took mostly photos of mom and son, but this time, the whole family got in on the photos. Such a great-looking family! While posed photos are not my usual style, this one totally rocks!
And finally, one more returning Ümla-family. This shot has got to be one of my all-time favorites. And is guaranteed to put a smile on my face!
Thanks again to the Mamas and Papas of Trinity-Bellwoods Meetup group for letting me tag along during their holiday party!
Much Ümla-love!
1 Sharon
2 Zuraidah
3 Danielle
4 Lisa
5 Hannah
6 Sana
7 Jessica
8 Sari
9 Taryne
And the random number draw...
Winner #1: Lisa B
Winner #2: Sari M
Congratulations to both of you! You each get a 5-class gift certificate to Baby & Me Fitness. I can tell you that I took their classes when I was pregnant with my daughter, and I LOVED it! They also offer post-partum classes in Yoga, cardio, and swimming, among other things. I'll be in touch with each of you to talk logistics.
Without further ado, here's the video of her selection!
And the winner, in case you're wondering, is Jessica P, with the Santa Claus picture submission. I'll be in touch with you, Jessica, to make session arrangements.
I did promise that the runners-up would get a 50% discount off of their next session with ÜmlaPhoto. Since we had a smaller number of submissions, all of the photos submitted were reviewed by my pint-sized judge, rather than the top 5. I did, however, pick the 2 runner-up photos, who get a 50% discount on any regular ÜmlaPhoto session package:
1. The beautiful heartwarming photo from Lindsay K of her daughter and daughter's grandmother.
2. The pouty face photo submitted by Jen N, of her daughter.
Thanks to all who have submitted entries, and congratulations to our winner and our 2 runners-up. I absolutely loved all of your photos! Keep your eyes peeled on the blog and on Facebook for the next Ümla Contest!
]]>I photographed this family back in early December. I knew mom Yasmin from a few years back. Both of our daughters attended the same music class when they were babies. I ran into her early in the fall, and it turned out that she was looking for updated family photos! So we booked some time in early December to get their photos done. The plan was to go to their home for some indoor shots and take a few outdoor family shots.
I hadn't seen Yasmin's daughter Talia since just before she turned 1. I swear that the girls were babies just yesterday! Instead, I was looking at a lovely and very articulate four-year-old with an absolutely beautiful singing voice! Talia was a bit shy about having her photos taken, but she got into the spirit of things in no time. The picture below is one of my session favorites. It was also one of Talia's favorites, and she convinced her mom and dad to order her a copy. The girl's got good taste, if I do say so myself!
Here's one of my favorite outdoor family photos. Many of my clients want the standard family shot, which I always do, but as you probably know by now, I do love the sneak in the candids. There is nothing better than capturing a fun family moment, and this images totally captures it for me. I love the energy in this photo, and you can tell that Talia is really cracking up at something here. No fake poses, my friend!
Here's another favorite. Talia is taking Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and I asked her to show off some of her moves for me. Can't you just see this on a promotional poster? And she's very well-coordinated as well!
And finally, I just had to include another one of my classic I-totally-snuck-this-in-while-you-weren't-looking photos. Because I think it shows just how gorgeous Yasmin is. Hello? Vogue? Here's your next model!
I am also happy to report that Yasmin, hubby Steve, and Talia were very pleased with their photos, and ordered a bunch for family and friends for the holidays. Their orders came in Wednesday and Thursday. I totally felt like Santa Claus, as I wrapping up their photo products and put the finishing touches on their packaging, before hand-delivering their items to them on Thursday night. See? Ümla takes good care of you.
It was such a fun shoot, and we captured such fun images. I couldn't have asked for a better time.
To make a long story short, we met up for a family photoshoot at their home at Bloor West Village, near High Park. I have to admit that I have a special place in my heart for High Park. When my family first moved to Canada, back in 1989, we settled in Toronto, and specifically, in High Park. We were only there for a little under one year before we moved to Edmonton (my family moved a lot when I was young, and no, my dad was not in the military), but Toronto certainly made an impression! The school that I attended for grade 5 was not too far from where this family lived, and it's always a treat to trek that familiar bit of territory and take a trip down Memory Lane, even though things have changed vastly since my days of living in that area.
Although our original plan was to have a few photos done at home, and a few done in High Park, we wound up doing all of the photos at their home. Mom and dad Cynthia and Peter have 5-year-old Cooper, who was totally excited to have his picture taken. In the spirit of Christmas photos, I'd brought some props with me, including Santa hats, reindeer antlers, and elf hat, and some fun animal-themed winter hats. I had a frog, a bunny, and a penguin with me. Cooper was excited to show me his own hat.
His playfulness was present throughout our session. Which of course is totally awesome, because photography sessions are all about having fun and making memories. (Repeat after me: "I hate stuffy studio photos.") And speaking of memories, check this one out. I would like to point out that mom Cynthia does NOT allow this to happen in the day-to-day. She did, however, agree that it made for a fun photo. As a fellow mom, I completely agree. And as a photographer, my thought was, "BRING. IT. ON." And look at what a cool shot we ended up with!
Of course, since the photos were for Cynthia's mother-in-law, we needed to have the requisite family portrait. Okay, this was posed...but notice how I totally caught them in a natural moment - HA!
And speaking of gotchas, this has got to be one of my favorite moments of the session. Unleash the fun! I just felt kind of bad for Peter, because when I arrived, he had *just* finished raking the leaves. And there I went, messing things up. But wasn't it totally worth it?
I had a wonderful time at this session, and I was especially pleased that all three of them loved the photos that I presented to them when I returned to their home for a post-session photo review. So much so that they requested a second viewing of their slideshow, and ordered a couple of additional products that weren't included in their package. Having sessions like these and wonderful clients to boot help make this the greatest job in the world.
Anyway, I digress. So this time, the TTC gods were on my side, and I arrived 40 minutes early (*gasp*)! Enough time to kick back, read e-mails, and enjoy a hot chocolate. Ahhhhh. Once Laura from MommyConnections East Toronto got in, I began to set up. I usually like to take test shots, to make sure that everything is okay with my equipment. Everything was going fine, until all of a sudden, I noticed that my camera started acting up out of the blue. I always shoot on manual mode, which means that I have full control of aperture (how much light to let into the camera) and shutter speed (how long until you hear the "click" sound on the camera shutter) settings, rather than letting the camera pick either, or both. My issue was that I was unable to change my aperture. Plus my autofocus suddenly began to malfunction. Panic set in. So I switched the camera off and on. Nothing. And then I decided to pull the lens off, and put it back on, to see if it helped. Except that as I pulled it off, *THUNK*. IT. FELL. ON. THE. FLOOR. Seriously. Panic set in. Heart palpitating. Head spinning. I quickly put the lens back on the camera, and it initially looked like the drop had done it some good. I had aperture control once again, and autofocus was working. Yay! Except...now the zoom wasn't working. It was jammed. Panic set in once again. There was nothing I could do. Yes, I could still shoot with the lens, but with no zoom. Though truth be told, who knows what else got messed up in there, and I didn't want to risk it.
I have to be honest with you when I say that I wanted to run out of the room screaming and crying, and curl into a little ball. You probably would too, if that was your livelihood that you dropped. Plus it was a $2,500, barely two-week-old lens that I had wanted to buy for ever and ever. I wanted to scream and freak out, and make a scene. But I wasn't there for that, and the mommies probably wouldn't have appreciated it either (as if anyone would - HA). I was there to take pictures. I'm a professional after all, and professionals don't lose their cool, even when they want to. We reserve that for super-famous movie star divas, don't we. :) If you're wondering what my lovely lens looks like, here it is:
Let's now all admire its prettiness and mourn the loss of my lens. Moving on...
So I took a deep breath, calmed down, and swapped out lenses. I had my trusty 50mm lens on me, which I always like to have, because it's a great portrait lens, and it's a very light lens. And so, the show went on. And I am glad to report had an absolutely lovely time today. Because, as we all know, babies are cute, adorable, and make everyone smile. A dose of babies was just what I needed, that's for sure. So, without further ado, here are some highlights from today's shoot.
In today's class, Cynthia, from Gymboree came by for a little demo class with the kiddies! And in case you're wondering, it's not Gymboree the clothing store (though I think they're affiliated). It's Gymboree the kiddie activity class (they freaking rock, by the way). You know...those guys with the colorful parachute?
Oh, THOSE parachute people! And they do bubbles too! The bubbles smell REALLY nice, by the way, and take forever to pop. They're not made of soap. Shh...don't tell my daughter!
Totally fun class. I never had my daughter in Gymboree, but it sure would've been a fun class to take! Here are some highlights of candids that I snapped of mommies and babies during the class.
Check out this little girl and her mommy. What a couple of sweeties. Who needs posing when you have genuine smiles? Melt my heart, why don't you?
And you could TOTALLY tell that this little cutie LOVES the camera. I swear this wasn't posed!
This little guy ALSO loved the camera. He kept crawling right toward it! (The little man has good taste!)
And speaking of little boys, check out this handsome fellow. Broken lens? What broken lens? Don't even remember it happening.
And finally, check out those lovely cheeks. I bet she gets lots of kisses from mommy and daddy!
I had a most wonderful time at this class, and I would like to thank the mommies and their awesome babies for putting up with me playing paparazzi during the session. I know that it can be super-intimidating to have a camera around (and a BIG one, at that), and they were totally cool about it. And a big thank you to Laura from MommyConnections East Toronto for arranging for me to come in, and to April from Lil Bean N Green for having me as well! (Aside: Don't forget to check out An Ümlarifically Sweet Holiday at Lil Bean N Green, on December 9th. There is only ONE spot left!) I'll be doing more MommyConnections East Toronto classes in 2013, so stay tuned and check the Ümla calendar of events for when I'll be around again!
As for my beloved lens, it has been sent off to Canon for repair, hopefully to return to me soon. In the meantime, I will be renting one to fill in the void.
]]>I really wanted to get the Christmas photo done this week, so that I could order my cards to send out to family and friends. We tried to get our photos done twice. The first time well...SUCKED. I had the camera set on a Gorrilapod on my dining room table, and because I wanted the whole image to be sharp, I used a small aperture. Which meant that to compensate, I used a slow shutter speed. Unfortunately, between me deciding to take something away from my daughter just as I hit the button on the self-timer, and her inability to stay still for more than a few seconds at a time, the photos were a disaster. First, we had to calm her down. Then, we had to try to convince her to sit still long enough for the shutter to fire off. Needless to say, she was blurry in all of the photos. That and the camera wobbled way too much every time I hit the shutter (even on the self-timer), which of course, did not help.
I decided to try again a few days later. This time, we were all a lot more relaxed. I also decided to hook up my flash, in order to avoid using a slower shutter speed. To avoid the camera wobble while resulting from pressing the shutter, I used a shutter release cable. Most importantly, everyone was in a great mood. We weren't dressed up all fancy, and we decided to wear funky hats. Well, at least my hubby and I did. My daughter wore a Snow White dress. We also had a friend tag along for the shot - Ollie Bear. Ollie has been a constant companion of my daughter's of late, so it only seemed fitting that he would join us for our photo.
But enough yapping. You probably want to see the picture. And remember, you get an e-card just like this one, if you book a mini session or a session for the holidays. So what the heck are you waiting for???
If you're wondering what else you can use a gift certificate for, here are some ideas:
- Gift session for your parents
- Gift session for your sibling and their family
- Gift session for a family member or friend expecting a baby
- Gift sesison for a family member or friend who has recently had a baby (and believe me, they will LOVE you if you buy them a gift session)
See? The possibilities are endless! Also, please contact me if you'd like for me to donate a session as a raffle prize, as I am more than happy to do so! My daughter's school is having their annual holiday party and silent auction, and I am donating two photoshoots for the auction. I am told that this will be a hot item (especially after parents saw my recent Halloween photos from the school - more on that later), so I am looking forward to seeing the end result of the silent auction!
And just to entice you even more, check out the super-awesomely-cool gift certificate that you would be purchasing:
PLUS, I would put it in some really cute packaging for you, with a personalized, hand-written note to you! Check it out:
So really...what the heck are you waiting for??? :)
This little gizmo lets you accept credit card (Visa or Mastercard) payments on your iPhone or iPad. It attaches to the headpone jack, in case you're wondering. How super-awesomely cool is that???
And to you, as my lovely clients, it means that I can accept card payments on the spot, when I see you in person for things like session balances for regular sessions or events like An Ümlarifically Sweet Holiday. Total awesomesauce. I'm excited. :)
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Date: Sunday, December 2nd
Time: 10:00am to 1:00pm
Place: Trinity-Bellwoods Community Center
Cost: $25 for 1 person, $40 for two, and $5 for each additional family member (+ HST) for a 20-minute photo session. (A child of any age is considered a *person*)
- A 20-minute lifestyle photo session with ÜmlaPhoto.
- FIVE hand-edited high-res holiday photos per session
- A holiday e-card, printable to 5x7 (containing one session image), which can be e-mailed or snail-mailed to family and friends!
- A single-page 2012 e-calendar (containing one session image), printable to 8x10
** This package is worth over $450!!! **
To secure your spot, a $15 (+HST) non-refundable booking fee is required. To book, please e-mail or call Adriana:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 416.273.9226
We look forward to seeing you on December 2nd!!!
Date: Sunday, December 9th
Time: 10:30am to 1:30pm
Place: Lil' Bean N' Green
Cost: $25 for 1 person, $40 for two, and $5 for each additional family member (+ HST) for a 20-minute photo session. A child of any age is considered a *person*)
- A 20-minute lifestyle photo session with ÜmlaPhoto.
- THREE hand-edited high-res holiday photos per session
- A holiday e-card, printable to 5x7, (containing one session image), which can be e-mailed or snail-mailed to family and friends!
- A single-page 2012 e-calendar (containing one session image), printable to 8x10
- A personalized holiday-themed cookie for each person signed up for the photo session.
** A $300 value!!! **
PLUS:
- Refreshments will be served!
- There will also be holiday-themed cupcakes for guests to munch on. All sweet treats are provided by The Baker of Sweet Street. All treats are nut-free.
To secure your spot, a $15 (+HST) non-refundable booking fee is required. To book, please e-mail or call Adriana:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 416.273.9226
We look forward to seeing you on December 9th!!!
At any rate, I was at Lil' Bean to photograph an event through MommyConnections of East Toronto. MommyConnections holds regular classes at Lil' Bean, and that week's class was all about nutrition, and featured a talk from registered dietician, Nishta Saxena. The talk focused on introduction to solids, which of course brought back memories. It's such an exciting, yet stressful time for parents (especially new parents)! Here's Nishta in action.
I, of course, snapped away while Nishta talked. I love candids of babies. (Heck, I love ALL candids, but baby candids are AWESOME!) And it was SO MUCH FUN seeing the babies in action! Check out some of my favorite shots of the afternoon.
This little guy was all over the place. I'll bet he'll be walking in no time! So. Freaking. Cute.
And I couldn't get enough of this little guy, sleeping peacefully, sucking at his thumb. *sigh*
Here's Lil' Bean owner, April, bringing in some drinks for the lovely mommies. I myself tried some sort of exotic berry tea after the session was over. YUM!
And check out some of the mommies hangin' out, while listening to Nishta talk...
And the babies...they just kept on being their adorable selves! Hello cuteness!
After the session was over, I offered to take some photos of the moms and their babies. Here are some of my favorite shots. I mean, how adorable is this little angel?
And check out these twins! I absolutely love how you can see their different personalities, even at this young an age.
I had such a great time taking photos at this event. I would like to send a big shout-out to Laura Wilson, director of MommyConnections of East Toronto, for having me at her fabulous event. I will be back at Lil' Bean on Tuesday, November 27th, from 11 to 12:30pm, for another session. Can't wait!
I sure am glad that I postponed, because I couldn't have asked for a better day! The third and final Halloween photoshoot took palce at Trinity-Bellwoods Park.
I had been to this park once before - about 4 years ago, when I was on mat-leave. I remember liking it at the time, and I most certainly liked it this time around. Although the sun wasn't shining constantly, we had a TON of leaves on the ground (courtesy of the remnants of Hurricane Sandy), there were some beautiful trees in the area where I set up, and the weather, while a bit on the chilly side, was just what you'd expect from a crisp autumn day. I was at the park starting at 1pm, for 4 hours (one of my clients asked for an earlier session, and I was happy to accommodate). I was busy pretty much non-stop, and was absolutely exhausted when I was done, but boy, was it ever worth it! I mean, it was a continuous stream of cute kids!
While the sessions were technically Halloween sessions, some parents opted not to dress their kiddies in costume, since it was past Halloween and all. Costume or not, these kids were CUTE. You'll know what I mean when you see the photos. Seriously. Check out this adorable little girl. She was just beginning to master her words, and she was a big fan of the word "No". And the inflection in her voice was awesome. I can still hear it in my head! She was a total sport, and I loved following her around in her very welll-co-ordinated outfit. And check out that sun flare!
Next up, I had this adorable little boy. He was only a few months old, and I swear, he could totally be the next Baby Gap model. Just look at his face!
I should also add that his daddy loved my images so much that he purchased another set of images from me. :)
This little sweetie was all dressed up for Halloween. You could totally see the love that her mommy and daddy have for her. It was absolutely infectious. In this image, mommy and daddy were playing peek-a-boo. I think someone was totally enjoying herself, don't you think?
Check out another cutie in costume. I loved chasing her around in her little lion outfit. And of course, her costume color totally matched the leaves. Bonus! I think I just about melted when I snapped the photos of her with her doggie! So. Freaking. Cute.
This next family was so wonderfully easygoing, and were expecting baby #2 - a little girl! I can totally tell that their little boy will make an AWESOME big brother. And it was so awesome to see how mom and dad were still so much in love.
My second-last client came dressed as a pumpkin, and boy was she ever a cute pumpkin! Though, as you can see from this photo, she's cute even when she's NOT dressed as a pumpkin. Can you tell that she's totally a daddy's girl? I can relate. My daughter is too. It's sweet. :)
And my final client of the day, this adorable little girl who I swear is a natural in front of the camera. Just look at those eyes! I swear that this was not posed!!!
All in all, it was a WONDERFUL day, filled with wonderful clients. Thank you all so very much for coming out, especially after having to postpone the event!
And a BIG, HUGE THANK-YOU to everyone who attended one of our Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween events. You made these events a huge success! You were all awesome and it was an absolute pleasure to work with you!
A BIG, HUGE THANK-YOU also goes out to our wonderful partners and prize donors:
- The Baker of Sweet Street for the amazingly beautiful and super-yummy cupcake treats!
- Bebo Mia for donating a $100 gift certificate to our prize draw
- Baby & Me Fitness for donating a $15 gift certificate to our prize draw
- Qapia Lima for donating a pair of baby alpaca wool scarves to our prize draw
Stay tuned for my next big event: the Holiday Event! I am still working out the details, but I will post them on this site as soon as they become available!
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And to make this as random as possible, I used a Random Number Generator for the prize draw. Here are the results:
Prize 1: Bebo Mia Gift Certificate...#20: Bethany!
Prize 2: Baby & Me Fitness Gift Certificate...#22: Kerry!
Prize 3: One Mens' and one Womens' scarf from Qapia Lima...#8: Heidi!
I will contact you to make arrangements for you to receive your prizes. Congratulations to our winners!
ÜmlaPhoto is all about capturing images that embody clients' personalities and emotions. It’s about freezing a moment in time. So in keeping with that spirit, ÜmlaPhoto is proud to hold its first-ever yoÜ are Ümla contest! The contest is open to any who live in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area.
The Contest:
- Submit ONE photo that you feel captures a special moment. It can be of one person, your family, your friends, or even your pets! Santa pics are also welcome!!!
-
You can enter in one of TWO ways:
- Post a photo to ÜmlaPhoto’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/umlaphoto
- E-mail photo submissions to [email protected]
Judging:
Entries must be submitted by Friday, December 14th, 2012. Judging will take place on Saturday, December 15th, 2012. I will select the top 5 photos. To give this a little twist, my panel of judges will consist of my four-year-old daughter and a couple of her friends.
The Prize:
The winner will get an ÜmlaPhoto session valued at $200. This includes:
- A pre-session consultation, where we get to know each other and discuss session logistics
- A photo session at the location of your choice (e.g. home, favourite park)
- A gallery of 10-12 hand-edited images from the session, for proofing and ordering. Of these, you get to select your 5 favourite images to keep as medium-res digital images. These are perfect for printing as 4x6s, 5x7s, or 8x10s
- A personal mobile e-album with your 10 favourite session images. This album is best viewed on iPhone/iPad, and Android phones (also compatible with BlackBerry via the mobile browser). You can share this album with family and friends! For an example, please visit this link: http://moblalbum.com/5mtUFP9Ujb/gallery/23617
- 50% off your next ÜmlaPhoto session. (not counting the contest prize session)
** Applies to any session package.
** Not valid with any other offer.
Runners-Up
To spread the Ümla-love, runners-up will get 50% off their next ÜmlaPhoto session!
** Applies to any session package.
** Not valid with any other offer.
Good luck to all!!!
ÜmlaPhoto will be at Lil' Green and Bean on Thursday, November 9th, for one of the Mommy Connections of East Toronto's fall session classes! The class runs 2-3:30pm and does require sign-up through the Mommy Connections of East Toronto web site.
I'll be there taking photos at the event. If you're already signed up, I look forward to seeing you there!
]]>I am still blown away by the fact that my daughter is learning Yoga. After all, she's only FOUR. But if there's one thing that my daughter's school has taught me, it's that empowering kids is one of the most amazing gifts that you can give them. And believe me when I tell you that pre-schoolers/kindergarteners are TOTALLY capable of learning Yoga. Sure, it's more chaotic than say, an adult class, but the kiddies get right into it, and my daughter, for one, loves to show me the various poses that she learns in class.
Until today, I never knew exactly what went on in Yoga class. Obviously a Yoga class for such young kids must be tailored to them, and must be interesting enough such that they stay engaged for the full half-hour (and believe me when I tell you that they wouldn't be able to handle more than that). One of the awesome things that my daughter's teacher does is play fun, engaging music to go along with the poses. Another awesome thing she does is tell a story to go along with the poses. Since I caught the class on Halloween, all of the kiddies were dressed up in their costumes. And the poses that went along with the Yoga narrative (story) were all Halloween-themed. Today's pose names included the Headless Horseman and Spider. And the kids were right into it.
I feel so privileged to have been able to attend one of the classes. I spent the whole time grinning from ear-to-ear behind the camera. It was a combination of cuteness overload and pride. These kids were just awesome.
Here are a few quick little snapshots of the kiddies during their Halloween class. You'll probably notice that the kids are in costume. My daughter is the one dressed as a bumblebee.
Last Saturday's scheduled Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween ended up being postponed by one week (November 3rd), due to the non-stop rain that we got over the weekend. With the unexpected break in my schedule, I decided to get out and get a much-needed haircut, which is where my story begins.
I don't have a regular hair stylist, but I do have a regular salon. I never make an appointment, because I just never know when I'm going to be free on a weekend to get a haircut. This past weekend was no different. I knew the exact style and length that I wanted when I walked in, and I told the stylist up front. By telling her what I wanted, I was managing expectations. Much the same way manner that I advertise services such as An Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween. Clients know that for that photoshoot, they are getting 5 photos and that their session will last 20 minutes. Simple enough, right?
The haircut seemed to be going okay, when, suddenly, the stylist started going off on a rant about how I should wait longer in between haircuts, so that I can donate my hair to charity. Not doing so, according to the stylist, was selfish on my part (she didn't say that in so many words, but it was implied). Unsolicited advice, especially forceful unsolicited advice is NOT good for one's customer experience. I doubt that my clients would appreciate me lecturing them about donating their money to charity while in the middle of a photoshoot.
More time passed. I noticed that the length that she'd cut my hair wasn't quite what I had asked for, so I corrected her. She assured me that she would trim it more once she straightened it with a flat iron. And she did. But it wasn't quite the length that I wanted, so I told her so. As she proceeded to fix my hair length, I could tell that she was annoyed, though she said nothing. Even though she didn't say that she was annoyed, her body language told me otherwise. Bad body language is the kiss of death for my line of work (you can probably say that for any other customer-facing job). Can you imagine how awkward it would be for clients to have a fun, natural, and casual photoshoot if I spent the whole time looking annoyed? Even if I didn't say anything that would indicate that I was annoyed, you'd probably be able to tell very easily. And you probably wouldn't call on me again.
And finally, the straw that broke the camel's back. Once she was done with the length (which wasn't even quite what I wanted), she moved on to the layers. Again, recall that I told her the exact length and style up front. And again, she did not listen to me. I must have corrected her 5 times or so. And each time she had to re-do part of the cut (for the male readers out there, it's the nature of layered hair). Finally, she got fed up and told me that she was tired of having to re-do my hair so many times, especially since it was Saturday and she was very busy. If I had been a cartoon, I probably would've blown steam out of my ears at that point.
I was blown away by the awful customer service. First, she ignored what I was telling her on the length and style, and then she complained that I kept correcting her crappy job! I quickly pointed out to her that I was very up front with her about the length and style. When I am being polite and up front about my expectations for a certain service, that service provider has two choices. She can either agree to those expectations and go about her job, doing the best that she can to meet those expectations. Or she can politely decline the service. Either way, there would be no hard feelings because there was a polite understanding between both parties.
Now, what if I started to pay lip service to clients a photoshoot? They'd probably walk away. And want their money back. And rightfully so. Because no client in their right mind would want to deal with a photographer who complains during a shoot. ESPECIALLY if the working parameters of the photoshoot were agreed upon in advance.
In the end, I more or less got the haircut that I wanted. I have to admit that I was so turned off by her rudeness that I just wanted to get as far away from her as possible. But before I did that, I refused to tip her, and gave her a piece of my mind about why I wasn't tipping her. With such a bad client experience, there is no way that I can ever return to that salon. Even though I usually get a different stylist each time, she represented that salon, and her representation was lacking.
But as frustrating as this haircut tale may be, there's one important takeaway from it all: there is nothing quite like a good customer experience. My clients are important to me, and making them happy makes me happy.
]]>This morning, I decided to confirm the time of the Bull Walk, only to find out that it had been cancelled, because the organizers weren't able to secure the required permits. And of course I posted about the Bull Walk on the Ümla Facebook page YESTERDAY, only to find out that the event was cancelled like two days ago. ARGH!
Alas, not all is lost. Since I plan on being downtown this afternoon anyway, I'll probably still end up snapping a few pics. The sky was absolutely gorgeous earlier this morning, in the aftermath of the rain and wind storm that we got, thanks to Hurricane Sandy. I didn't have a chance to snap any pics since I was in transit, but man, I wish had stopped for the two seconds that it would've taken to capture the beautiful sky and accompanying sunlight hitting what leaves were still left on the trees. Well, let's hope that the sky continues putting on a nice show for me when I whip out my camera later this afternoon.
(As an aside, I would like to note that it could've been MUCH MUCH worse, and I am sending out good vibes to our American neighbors, who were hit hardest).
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The park was recommended to me by a friend in the area, who said that's a great little park, where a lot of wedding shoots take place. I can see why. Between the lovely trees, the pretty houses in the surrounding area, and the fall foliage, I couldn't have asked for a better photoshoot location that day. And the light that day was just WOW!
This time of year is one of my absolute favorites, because the sky is still relatively clear, the air is crisp, but not too cold, and because the autumn sun is hanging lower compared to the summer sun, you can get some spectacular lighting and shadows complementing the fallen leaves. But enough talk. Let's look at some photos!
This shot was taken during my first session of the day, at around 2pm. Look at how awesome the sun already was at that time! The session was for a family of four, and while mom was helping her daughter change into her costume, I caught dad having some fun with his son. *click*
I had few more families come in that day, including this one, who came in with their dog, Buckeye. As an aside, I LOVE it when families bring their pets! They are, after all, a part of the family, and I think it's really nice to include them in the shoots. I was just blown away by the cuteness of their little girl (16 months old). She was perfectly happy to go on exploring the park in her awesome bumblebee costume. What I love about this shot is that everyone just looks so natural and relaxed. It captures a genuine family moment.
One thing that was different in the October 21st shoot compared to the October 13th shoot is that I had a couple of moms-to-be come in! One came to me through Baby & Me Fitness, and another through Bebo Mia. I love photographing expectant moms. Pregnancy (whether it's your first or your third) is such a special time in a person's life, and it's so awesome to be able to freeze this moment in time. After all, once the baby comes, pregnancy becomes a distant memory.
To me, one important thing about pregnancy photos is that it isn't *just* about photographing the belly. It's also about capturing the love between husband and wife. The love that made this little baby possible. Here are a couple of photos that I feel really capture each couple's togetherness, in different ways.
If you're wondering about the funky angle and curvature of this shot, it's a result of using a wide-angle lens. The wide-angle gives you a greater field of view, and it also gives the photo a bit of curvature. The wider the angle, the more curvature. If you're familiar at all with fish-eye lenses, they are nothing more than super-wide angle lenses. So basically even with the camera really close up, it still looks like subjects are far away!
Here's a shot of the other expectant mom. I've mentioned time and again that my specialty lies in getting candid shots. I have to admit that it can be tricky, when it's a client's first time doing professional shots (and/or maternity shots, for that matter), and they're used to smiling and posing for the camera. Now it's time for a confession. I do get people to pose for me. But it's not what you think! Some people really enjoy the posed shots, so I will give them a posed shot or two with their session photos. People like them, and I don't want to deprive them of that. BUT, I also find that in getting people to pose, I can then sneak in and get the candids in-between poses! HA! Sneaky, am I not?
There's something about this image that really stands out for me. I think it's the genuine looks on the couple's faces. And there's a bit of a high school shyness there too, that I absolutely love.
I should also note that reps Ines and Xavier from Qapia Lima were around last weekend to show off their awesome merchandise.
And, of course, let's not forget Kim from the Baker of Sweet Street for her tasty treats! Check out one Kim's awesome cupcake creations from last week. I assure you that these cupcakes were DELICIOUS!
All in all, I had 6 families/expectant families come out for photos. I'm really happy with how the photos turned out, and with the overall event. I am looking forward to the next and final Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween, taking place on October 27th, from 2pm to 5pm at Trinity-Bellwoods Park. I can't wait to see the kiddies in their costumes!
Our photoshoot location, Vermont Square Park, was awesome! We set up shop near a tree stump, which provided for some really awesome shots.
We had quite a variety of people sign up. Our youngest client, Baby G, was just shy of two months old. Mommy dressed her up as a bunny. I just about melted when I saw her. Holy "Awww" moment, Batman!
And speaking of "Awwww" moments, I cannot even begin to tell how how much I was melting when shooting this little boy's family. This is 6-month-old Baby J. Seriously freaking cute.
He was one of my two tigers that day. The other was 4-month-old Baby E, who was just taking it all in. Not only was he super-adorable, he was a real trooper when I had him hold a maple leaf. Have I told you know much I love maple leaves? I seriously love them. Hello fall? I love you.
This little guy, 2-year-old O was dressed as a bunny. He was adorably shy. Which of course added to the overall cuteness factor.
We had some big girls too. This is 4-year-old A. She had just woken up from a nap and wasn't much in the mood for photos, but that's the fun of lifestyle photography. You don't have to be in the mood. You just bring yourself! I have to say that the end result totally captured a great moment. You can tell that she was at least partially into it, because she's clutching one of the lollipops that we were giving out.
Moving on, I also photographed 3-year-old Miss K-R. She is awesome. Check out the mischief! I assure you that this wasn't posed. She was just having loads of fun in her totally awesome costume!
And finally, I come to almost-five-year-old S. This girl was MADE for the camera. Seriously. She can totally strike a pose. I've said many a time that I don't do posed shots. But when a kid poses for me? That's some kind of awesome. It totally shows their personality, and this little girl had sweetness, bubbliness, and spunk rolled into one. What a pleasure to photograph!
BTW, in case you're wondering about our tasty treats, check them out below. The Baker of Sweet Street totally delivered. Make sure you call on her, y'alls, because her stuff freaking ROCKS!
And, to put a face to the name, meet the lovely Kim, The Baker of Sweet Street. She totally wasn't looking when I took this pic. Tee hee!
It was an awesomely-fun day overall. I was beside myself with excitement as I pored through the day's photos that evening. There were so many great shots, and it was so hard to narrow them down to 5 apiece.
Next up is the October 21st event at Lytton Park. We only have 3 spots left, so hurry hurry, before they're all gone!
]]>- Character-themed treats (e.g. Rapunzel and Dora cakes)
- Sports-themed treats (e.g. soccer ball cupcakes)
- Holiday-themed treats (e.g. Easter and Halloween cupcakes)
- Food-themed treats (e.g. cupcakes made to look like burgers and bags of popcorn)
- Edible image cookies and cakes of your favorite photo
- Awesome cake pops (Starbucks has nothing on these!)
Kim started her business out of her love of baking, and her passion is infectious. You are guaranteed to be delighted by her products! Don't forget to say hello to Kim during An Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween. She'll be on-site with her delicious creations on October 13th, 20th, and 21st. While she won't be on-site on October 27th, her yummy treats will be there! Until then be sure to check out some of her deliciously spooky creations below!
Ghost Cupcakes! 
Jack-o-Lantern Cake Pops! 
Scary Earthworm Cupcakes! 
Tom and I met in university, and have known each other now for almost 14 years. I met Salena when she first got together with Tom, and couldn't be happier for both them! Tom is Polish, and Salena is Vietnamese. In keeping with Vietnamese cultural practices, they held a traditional Vietnamese engagement ceremony at Salena's house, surrounded by friends and family from both sides. Here's a photo from the tea ceremony. During the tea ceremony, the groom-to-be offers tea to the bride-to-be's parents. The bride-to-be in turn offers tea to the groom-to-be's parents.
There were lots of pictures taken at this ceremony. I love pictures of people taking pictures.
Salena's brother took a number of formal shots with his big 'ole fancycam. I've mentioned time and again that formal shots just aren't my thing. So I obviously took a different angle and aimed to capture the more candid, day-in-the-life moments. Like capturing photographers and videographers at work. I'm so sneaky...
After the ceremony, there was a reception. There was an abundance of food, and it was absolutely delicious. Most of the food was Vietnamese, of course! Some of it was even home-made, like the spring rolls below. They were yummy, by the way. I had three or four of them!
My hubby and daughter were there too. I snuck in this picture of the two of them goofing off during lunch.
And of course, let's not forget some photos of the happy couple. Check out this photo that I snuck in when they weren't looking. Muhahahaha...
And this one. I am so damn sneaky.
And finally, here's one of my hubby taking a photo of another friend of ours, the friend's girlfriend, and the happy couple.
All in all it was a great day, being in the company of good friends, eating some great food, and of course, taking pictures!
With our upcoming event, An Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween, taking place in various Toronto locations this month, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to get to know some of the businesses involved in this awesome event! Today's featured business is Qapia Lima Inc.
Qapia Lima Inc. specializes in scarves, shawls, and gloves made out of baby alpaca wool. Baby alpaca wool is an alpaca's first coat of wool, which means that it has never been shaven off before, and therefore is incredibly soft. All of these products are hand-made.
In purchasing one of the amazing products offered by Qapia Lima, you also help to support local industries in the Andes mountains. In their own words, "[their] hand-made products offer women in impoverished regions an opportunity to provide for their families. These female artisans work flexible hours so that they can introduce the world to the luxuries of Peru without hindering their familial responsibilities."
Qapia Lima was founded by Ines Fernandez and Xavier Tang. Ines was born in Peru, and spent much of her life there, until moving to Toronto to study Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. It is there that she and Xavier met.
Be sure to say hello to Ines and Xavier during An Ümlarifically Sweet Halloween. They will be on-site on October 20th and 21st, and their products will be available for sale at a discount on all four dates! Also, don't forget that they have generously donated a pair of scarves (one mens' and one womens') as one of our fabulous prizes. All who sign up for the event are eligible to win!
The whole school participated. The older kindergarten kids and elementary kids got to run. The younger kids (pre-school and younger kindergarten kids) were lined up along the road with their respective classes, and served as cheerleaders. Below is a shot of the parents, as they congregated at a local park, which served as a starting point for the race.
And while they wanted, the younger kiddies made their way from the school to their cheering stations along the run route. I am still amazed by how well these kids get around. They are very obedient when they walk outside the school with their teachers.
And they're off! Some of these kids were as young as 4.5. One lap of the route couldn't have been more than somewhere between 300 and 500m, and these kids were real champs.
Staff and parents were around at every turn to ensure that the children followed the correct run route. And some parents and teachers even ran alongside the children!
One of my favorite things about the run was the enthusiasm. Both children and staff alike were rooting for each other. A few teachers and parents clustered around the finish line to high-five the children as they finished a lap or finished the run. Even some of the children got into the spirit of things. This is one of my favorite captures of the day.
Such genuine enthusiasm!
Here I am hard at work. You'll probably get a good laugh when I tell you that my butt was seriously sore from all the time that I spent squatting. Seriously. Plus, in having to chase the children around to make sure that I got good shots of them running, I also worked up quite a sweat. Who says that photography isn't a sport? :)
Here's a photo of an onlooker. She had finished running a little earlier on and was now watching the other children finish their respective runs. I love the intensity of her look, even though you can't see her face.
After the race, the runners enjoyed some drinks and orange slices. It was a well-deserved break.
It was a tremendous event, which really brought the school community together. I took well over 500 photos of this event alone, and it was so hard to narrow down which pictures to present to the school for their photo album keepsake of the event. I look forward to being able to capture the next school event!
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And here’s last year’s picture of Michelle, dressed up as a bumblebee.
In fact, this was part of a photoshoot that I did of the whole L family in October 2011. Since it was just a few days before Halloween, mom Jenn had the awesome idea of dressing the girls up in their costumes as they strolled around in a local park in Richmond Hill for their photoshoot.And then there’s this year’s shot of Michelle. She is made for the camera.
This shot was actually part of a maternity shoot that I did for the L family. It was such a privilege to photograph them yet again! This time, the L family was expecting a new addition in August, and mommy Jenn wanted some maternity pictures. I was more than happy to oblige.The photoshoot was originally supposed to take place at a local splashpad. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn’t too co-operative that day. It was cool and rainy. By the time I arrived at their house, the rain had subsided, but since we weren’t sure if it was going to rain again, we collectively decided to hold the photoshoot at their house, taking shots both inside and outside.
The photoshoot was lots of fun. One of the things that I wanted to be sure to capture in this shoot was the love between Jenn and hubby Justin. So while the girls played in the backyard, I took some couple-only shots. Understandably, they were a bit shy about it at first. Who wouldn't be, with a camera pointed at them? So I just did what I always do - took lots of photos! Eventually they got comfortable, and then I got the shot I wanted! Have a looksie:
And of course, besides the fun couple shots, I I really wanted to capture the playfulness of the girls. I’ve mentioned many times that my style is very natural; very day-in-the-life. I’m not a big fan of poses. Of course, families do like posed shots, so I will of course oblige. But I do add my own twist. I think that this family shot says it all. What I love about this shot is that it’s totally not a traditional family portrait. Yes, it's "posed", but more than that, it's casual. It represents a moment in time. Which to me is way cooler than *just* a pose.
Here’s another family shot. I took this one with my fisheye lens. I absolutely love the fisheye effect, and I do try to take a few fisheye shots whenever I can. It’s such a fun way to look at the world, and a great way to portray a fun family shot:
And finally, I'll leave you with this shot. I love it because it's such a tender moment that's shared between Sarah and the baby. (She was singing to the baby.)
Baby Vincent was born a couple of weeks after these photos were taken. This photoshoot was so much fun, and I am very much looking forward to photographing the L family again.
This event is open to individuals, couples, families, and even pets! Feel free to dress up in your favorite Halloween costume! Pets are welcome!
For $25 per person, $40 for 2 people, and $5 per additional person (+HST):
- 5 hand-edited high-res images per session, which will be e-mailed to you after the photoshoot. These pictures are YOURS, to print off as many times as you'd like, in large sizes (such as 8x10) or small (such as 4x6), and to share with family and friends!
- A mini phone e-album of your session, to share with family and friends, which will be e-mailed to you after the photoshoot
- One large Halloween-themed cupcake from The Baker of Sweet Street for each person signed up
- Free Baby & Me Fitness trial passes to all who come out!
**The above package is valued at $250!**
We will also be featuring Yoga in the park, courtesy of Bebo Mia and Baby & Me Fitness.
Qapia Lima products will be available for sale on-site at a discount at all locations. Reps will be on-site on the October 20th and 21st dates.
There will be cake pops and mini-cupcakes to munch on, courtesy of The Baker of Sweet Street!
Best of all, everyone who signs up is eligible for AWESOME PRIZE DRAWS. Prizes will be drawn at the end of October, once all of the sessions have taken place. The prizes are:
- A mens' and a womens' baby alpaca scarf, courtesy of Qapia Lima
- A $100 gift certificate from Bebo Mia
- FIVE Baby & Me Fitness class gift cards are valued at $100
For more information, please see the poster below and/or contact us: [email protected]. We hope to see you there!
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I decided to follow the camp kids around on a Friday. Each week of camp was built around different themes, and that week, the children learned about a different country every day. That day's featured country was Chile. To celebrate Chile and its awesomeness, the kids were scheduled to go on a field trip to Kensington Market for some empanadas. Yum!
I have to admit that I was a bit nervous on the day of the shoot. There were a LOT of kids...at least 15 to 20! Yikes! Well, it turned out that I had no reason to worry. The kids were AMAZING. Seriously.
Visitors to my Web site will know the my specialty is in capturing very natural images. Which means that even when you think nobody is looking, I'll be there, snapping away. Here's an image of two of the children doing some coloring in the morning, before the field trip.
The kids were absolutely thrilled to have me around. This was partly due to the novelty of having another person around, and partly due to my big camera. Now, being around kids, it's almost impossible NOT to have them pose out of their own accord. I think it's something about this age group. They love to show off! Now, you may be thinking that this whole posing thing goes against the essence of Ümla. But in fact, it's not. Because if posing out of their own accord is totally natural for them, then BRING. IT. ON. My camera is waiting. Check out this picture of my daughter, as she showed off for me.
As I mentioned earlier, the kids were really curious about my camera. I brought along about 5 different lenses with me, and they were both fascinated by the camera itself (most likely larger than what they were used to seeing). Many of the kids wanted to try out my camera, to which I obliged. I kept the strap around my neck, turned on the LCD viewfinder, put the camera on auto, and helped them hold the camera, telling them where to press for the shutter. They were thrilled to be able to participate in the photography, and I was happy to see how much joy it brought them.
The morning's activities were followed by a snack at school. After that, they started getting ready to go out, by putting on sunscreen and gathering their bags. I took this snapshot while the children lined up patiently by the door before leaving.
Once everyone was ready, we were off! We took the TTC to Kensington Market. Here's a picture of the teachers and children as they walked to the bus stop.
While I know that my daughter was gallivanting all around the city for the whole summer, it is still amazing to see first-hand, how organized and well-behaved these kids are. I mean, they they roam about the city, hopping on and off of transit like there's nothing to it! Just amazing.
Once we arrived at Kensington Market, we went to a little café and had cheese empanadas. It was a nice day out, so we all sat in the patio outside. Again, I marvelled at how well-behaved the kiddies were. On a side-note, Kensington Market is an absolute dream for photographers. There are so many vibrant colors, and the street scene is just as vibrant. Here's a picture that I took on my iPhone as we walked along. Who says that the DSLR gets to have all the fun?
After our empanadas, we headed to a nearby park. The kids voted to play a little bit before lunch. I snapped this pic as soon as the teachers gave the go-ahead for the kiddies to go play. Can't you just feel the energy?
And of course, they played.
And played...
After lunch, they went to the splashpad. The splashpad was awesome. I think that it was the favorite part of the kids' day. I don't blame them. Who doesn't like running around in the water on a hot summer day? This was a perfect opportunity to whip out my fisheye lens.
The fact that the splashpad was round and had concentric circles painted on the concrete just made it all that more awesome. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and it was time for us to head back to the school. It was coming up on 3pm, and some of the yougner kids ended up over-tired. Fortunately, the older kids were around for comforting!
We headed back to the bus stop, as we made our way back to the school. The children held hands with their designated partners.
By the time we got back to the school, I was pooped. I said my good-byes, and my daughter and I headed home. We had originally been planning on going for ice cream after camp, but we were both so pooped that we just collapsed on the sofa at home. I ended up making us some awesome sundaes instead.
It was a truly amazing day, and I am deeply grateful to my daughter's school to have given me the opportunity to have a glimpse into camp life. The staff were great. The students were a pleasure to be around. And as an extra-bonus, I even got to hang out with my daughter! It doesn't get any better than this.
UPDATE: I have received very positive feedback from my daughter's school principal and from the head of her camp. I printed off a hard-cover copy of the photo album, and it was very well-received. I am so incredibly pleased to hear this, because it was a truly amazing project to be a part of.
]]>But if my core business is Maternity/Family/Children photography, then you might be wondering why I'm spending so much of my time with Instagram. And my answer to you is this: every artist - even the awesome ones - need to practice. We've all been told that practice makes perfect, and the same applies to photography. Instagram is actually a great way for me to become a better photographer for my core business, because it allows me to:
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Think about framing. Instagram pictures are square, so when I take pictures with my iPhone, I need to think about how that picture will ultimately look after Instagram crops and filters the image. In the image below, I had to make sure that I got enough height on the original iPhone picture, to still get a good shot of the CN Tower.
- Think about composition. With a DSLR, it's really easy to get bogged down by the fact that you can control EVERYTHING about your image. With the iPhone, however, it's all on auto-pilot. The only thing that I have control over is how I compose my image. So I must think of new and creative ways to make my otherwise-blah iPhone image look cool. In the picture below, I messed around with perspective and focus to get a funky effect.
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Think and act fast. I take most of my Instagram images during my morning run, which I fit in before my daughter gets up for school. So I have a limited time in which to complete the run. So if I see something cool, I stop long enough to take a picture with which I am happy, so that I can be on my way and make it back in time for breakfast with my husband and daughter. The image below is a prime example. I had to act fast in order to get this great shot.
All of these things come in very handy when you're doing a session, especially when you have a) limited time, and b) children running around. And of course, practicing my craft makes me a better photographer for you!
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**This offer is NOT valid with any other offer. Offer valid from August 29, 2012 to October 31, 2012.
]]>Feel free to call at 416.273.9226 or e-mail me at [email protected] to book a session or to find out more about our package offerings!
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Here, the llama is posing with a mask that my mom brought back for me from Venice. It also sits on the buffet in the kitchen.
This one's an experiment with sun flare. I took it using the front camera on my iPhone, which is why the image is small and grainy. I wish I'd used the rear camera. Oh well...next time!
This one's by far my favorite image. The llama is posing next to some basil that my daughter grew with her summer camp class. She's so photogenic!
For more of the Peek-a-Boo Llama pictures, check out the album here. I try to post daily to this album, so be sure to drop by often to see the latest and greatest llama pictures. Next up, I'm aiming to take the llama outside - perhaps some llama AND snail pictures? Oh, I'm in heaven! The llama also has a little friend, Momma Llama, which my mom brought back for me from Chile. Maybe some dueling llama pictures? Hell yeah!
]]>- The site claims that artists shouldn't have to worry about copyright protection, because the photos come from Instagram. Well, that's fin and dandy, except that if you click on any of my photos on Instacanvas, you can download it. Just like that. Wut. The. Fack.
- To protect my intellectual property, I watermark all of my Instagram photos. Which means that when you buy the photos from Instacanvas, they are watermarked. Which probably doesn't tickle everyone's fancy, as my husband pointed out (damn...I hate it when you're right).
I ultimately ended up deciding to just host the photos on my own Web site. I host my photos using Zenfolio (love you guys, BTW), and they allow me to do the following:
- Sell my photos online (as canvas wraps and other products) through partnered photo labs
- Set my prices (to a certain extent)
- Watermark my photos
- Ship the final product WITHOUT a watermark (that's default, actually)
Plus it's directly linked to my site, as it's just one of my galleries. I feel kind of bad though, because I really do like the Instacanvas concept. And it would've been nice to have the extra online presence, especially since I have a decent Instagram following of daily likes to my photos. Hopefully Instacanvas will fix their model, because if they do, I will totally set up my gallery again.
For now, check out my iPhoneography gallery here: http://www.umlaphoto.com/iphonoegraphy. Enjoy!
So back to the watermark. To put the watermark on, I must upload my photos to Zenfolio via my iPhone, and then download back to my iPhone from Zenfolio. If the target album is set up such that all photos are watermarked, saving the photo back to the iPhone saves it WITH the watermark. I then upload the watermarked photo onto my Facebook page via the Pages app. Very long and invovled process.
But then I did two dumb things. First off, I use Instagram a fair bit. I had gotten in the habit of posting my photos to Instagram, and then doing the Zenfolio watermark trick before uploading them to Facebook. So while the FB version of the photos were watermarked, the Instagram versions were not. Dumb thing number two was setting up Instagram to post directly to my FB page. It's a very nice feature, but it meant that I bypassed the Zenfolio watermark thing.
At first I thought that was fine. I don't know why I convinced myself of that. It really makes no sense. And then I started noticing that some people posted pictures on Instagram with watermarks. So I started wondering if there was a way to watermark pics right off of Instagram itself. I did a bit of Googling here and there, and found out that many photographers were applying the watermark before uploading to Instagram, using one of the various iOS watermarking apps out there.
So then I started researching watermark apps. Which one's the best? Which one's the most popular. I even bought a few. And you know what? They're sitting on my phone, being unused. Why? Because I realized that no matter what, I'd have to watermark the pics before uploading to Instagram, and I was already pretty much doing that using Zenfolio, so why the heck would I want to use something else? Too bad I spent the money before coming to this conclusion.
I also realized something else. I think that most people watermark the original photo before uploading to Instagram. Which probably works okay for most of the tim, except when you crop your photo, in which case you might lose part or all of your watermark. So I devised a plan:
- Take picture with iPhone camera
- Turn off WiFi and Cellular Data
- Apply filter on Instagram (photo will fail to upload, but a copy of the filtered photo will be saved to the camera roll)
- Turn on WiFi and Cellular Data
- Upload photo(s) to Zenfolio
- Download photo(s) from Zenfolio
- Upload photo(s) to Instagram
I have to admit that this workflow is less than optimal, and that if someone knows of a better way, please, let me know. Regardless, the pain of the process is worthwhile, because it protects my intellectual property. I've taken some pretty good Instagram photos, and I don't want some stranger just snagging the image and using it without permission, or worse, taking credit for my work.
Which leads me to my other point. Remember how I said that I didn't watermark my Instagram images initially? Well, I've started the extremely painful process of removing my existing images from there, and replacing them with the watermarked versions. Unfortunately, the fine folks at Instagram haven't provided us with a way to bulk delete photos, so this process is crazy slow. Plus I had to delete the non-watermarked Instagram photos from my FB page too. It was a little less painful, but equally annoying. At least I could do it on my computer, and wasn't restricted to doing it on my phone.
So, the moral of the story after this big long rant is: PROTECT YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY! Otherwise you'll be eating up your evenings deleting and re-posting Instagram photos.
]]>- Graffiti
- Discarded furniture
- Posters
- Stickers
Of course, the problem with taking the same route every day means that you get through photographing the usual neighborhood fixtures pretty quickly. Which means that I have to be extra-vigilant, and extra-creative. Even the most mundane things can look cool. Take this photo, for example:
In case you can't tell what it is, it's a post covered in staples. It tells such a story. Look at all the history. Hundreds - maybe even thousands - of people have posted their ads here over time.
So back to today's walk. It didn't happen. By the time I got home the sky had cleared up. But not just that. The snails came out too! They always come out after a rainfall, and today was certainly no exception. You may recall from a previous blog post that I am a big fan of photographing snails. Even my daughter is excited about snails. She loves pointing them out to me. And she's always extra-careful not to step on them after a rainfall.
We noticed the snails after I picked my daughter up after school this evening. There were TONS of them around. Of all sizes too. There were some teeny ones (with shells maybe 5mm wide or smaller), to some big ones, with shells that were a couple of centimeters wide. I got to photographing them right away, while my daughter started picking berries from one of the bushes on our property, to feed the snails. Check out her setup here:
I even took a shot of a snail with a berry.
I didn't bother telling her that snails don't eat berries. Why ruin her fun? :) Speaking of fun, I had fun with this shot. The snail is "posing" with my photography magazine.
And finally, my favorite shot of the day:
To see more snail pictures from today and from past iPhone shoots, check out the album here. And for more on my zany iPhone adventures, check out my Facebook page and Instagram feed (@umlaphoto). I am loving Instagram these days, by the way. I don't like the filters quite as much as on Hipstamatic (especially since you can get some really funky combos through mixing and matching), but it is a fast and easy way to spread the photography love.
I'd better be careful, though. With all this iPhone fun, my DSLR is seriously starting to feel lonely. Maybe someone will come up with a DSLR with a WiFi connection that uploads pictures to Instagram.
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If you like it, send a vote my way. If not, that's cool too - thanks for checking it out anyway!
Peace out, rock on, and photograph!
]]>When I found myself wandering NPS last week, I, as always just strolled around the fountain, looking for fun scenes, and eventually wound up in the garden. As this was not a planned photo walk, I didn't have my DSLR on me, but that didn't stop me from getting some awesome pictures, because I had my trusty iPhone on me.
The photo below is one of my favorite photos of my impromptu shoot, merely for its composition and the scene that it captures. I love the little girl's pose, and I loved being able to capture her family member (father, perhaps?) taking her photo. Since I was trying to sneak in the photo discretely, I ended up angling the phone camera, which I think made it look rather funky.
I really love this picture, as it captures a certain aspect of downtown Toronto life. Plus the arches, the fountain, and the plants just add to the scenery.
This photo was taken on the rooftop garden and shows a part of the side of one of the city hall buildings, and a view of the Toronto downtown core, looking south. You can also see part of the garden itself. Although the city hall buildings are pretty old, they are still really cool pieces of architecture, and to me, will always make cool photographic subjects.
I have to admit that fun photographing some of the people hanging around the garden. I really loved seeing the mom and baby in the photo below. It totally brings me back to my mat-leave days. And it also made me realize that this would be an awesome location for one of my lifestyle shoots!
And no iPhone shoot can be complete without some Hipstamatic photos. Here is my absolute favorite Hipstamatic photo taken during this shoot. It really captures a great moment. The woman is sitting on the bench, enjoying a little bit of peace and quiet.
After my stroll around the garden, I headed back down and walked south on Bay street, pointing my iPhone camera at whatever tickled my fancy. I ended up at First Canadian place, and took a picture of the new panelling that was installed as part of the 3-or-4-year-old refacing project. It so happens that the reflective nature of the panelling also captured the building across the street (one of the old concrete bank buildings - this one was Scotia), which added to the composition.
For the complete album from that walk, please check out the link here, and stay tuned for my next photo adventure!
I got the LX10 as Christmas present in 2011, and the camera has not disappointed. I was looking for a high-end point-and-shoot which still afforded me the ability to manually control focus, aperture, and exposure, among other things. I have to admit that when I was shopping around, I was pretty dead set on either the Lumix LX-5 or the Canon G12. I have a Panasonic point-and-shoot, which I love, because of the fabulous optical 12x zoom Leica lens. Unfortunately, the camera is pretty automatic, and didn't allow me to change many settings beyond ISO, flash, and exposure. The Canon G12 was also an attractive option, because, as my DSLR is a Canon, I pretty much know what to expect. I was all ready to get either the LX-5 or the G12 when I walked into Henry's. Then the sales guy asked me if I'd be willing to look at another alternative - the X10. Well, it was love at first sight. First of all, the body is so awesomely vintage! Plus the zoom is "manual", meaning that you have to twist the lens to zoom in and out, like you do on a DSLR. But, the real selling point for me was the fact that this camera takes AMAZING low-light photos. It even beats the pants out of my fancy Canon DSLR. Seriously.
The TS4 was a later addition to the trip. As in, I bought it 2 days before we left, and researched it briefly the night before I bought it. I bought it because I wanted a good underwater camera, knowing that we were going to spend a significant amount of water in the water, be it swimming, hanging at the beach, or snorkeling. Again, this camera did not disappoint. Being a Panasonic, it has the awesome Leica lens. It only has 4.6x optical zoom, but then again, it's about the same as on the X10, so no biggie. The underwater pics were awesome, and so were the out-of-the-water pics.
But enough camera talk. Let's look at some pics! The first pic is one of the first underwater pics that I took with the TS4. It blew me away right away. I couldn't believe how crisp the underwater photos were!
We did a variety of things while in Aruba, most of which involved time spent on a boat, in the water, or both. The photo below was taken while we waited to board a glass-bottom boat. Looks like a Corona ad, doesn't it? This one was taken with the X10.
The next photo was the true test of our underwater camera. I have to admit that taking pictures underwater while snorkeling is rather tricky. First of all, you're moving, even when you yourself aren't swimming. Secondly, the fish are moving. Lastly, it's really freaking hard to see the LCD screen when you've got a snorkeling mask on. I had a lot of dud shots on the TS4 before I got the hang of it, and even still, there were a lot of dud shots after that. This is one of the cool ones that I really like.
And of course, no trip to the Caribbean is complete without awesome sunset pictures. There's no such thing as too many sunsets. Really. I could just keep going. We went on a sunset cruise one evening, which of course fed into my sunset photo obsession. And was the perfect scenario for using my beloved X10. It did NOT disappoint. This shot is one of my favorites: capturing a catamaran, a wind surfer (Aruba is VERY windy, so there are lots of wind surfers), and the setting sun. Is this a postcard pic, or what? :)
This next sunset photo was taken with the TS4. There's a funny horizontal line coming from the middle of the sun. I'm pretty sure that it's because the lens wasn't quite clean after the camera spent much of the day underwater in the pool, but I have to say that it makes for an interesting effect. This pic is definitely one of my favorites because I happened to catch the girl was she was doing a cartwheel on the sand, to the backdrop of the setting sun.
And finally, I must also add that we visited the Butterfly Farm while on the island. The Butterfly Farm is definitely not for the faint of heart. You're pretty much in an enclosed area with netting, surrounded by TONS of butterflies. If you're remotely scared of butterflies, you probably wouldn't like this place. I loved it. And I loved all of the different types of butterflies. There were so many, and the weren't shy at all. Case in point, the photo below was taken of a butterfly that latched itself onto my husband's foot. It stayed there for quite a while before it decided that it had had enough.
Sadly, I did not think of bringing the X10 along for this adventure, so I was left with the TS4 instead. Still, thanks to Leica awesomeness, the pics turned out not too shabby. For more of the Aruba album, check out the link here.
]]>This shoot was every bit as enjoyable as the first time I photographed Anka. She wanted shots with both Maia and Gael. We set out on a Friday for our photoshoot. Gael was off at school for the day, which was perfect, since it allowed me to photograph just Anka and Maia, until Gael finished school.
We started out in Yorkville. Maia is a pretty relaxed little baby, and is she ever gorgeous. She was in a great mood throughout the shoot, and you could just see the love gushing from Anka. Very beautiful. Here's one of our shots from Yorkville.
Maia started getting a bit fussy (and hungry) after so much outdoor fun, so we headed back to Anka's apartment nearby to relax. After Maia had a good feed, we got to work. The lighting in Anka's apartment is amazing. Not to mention the fact that she has an amazing view of the Toronto skyline. I'm a big fan of natural light photography, and with the beautiful, sunny day, the lighting couldn't have been more perfect.
After school was done, Anka picked up Gael, and we headed to the local park. Most of my photos were of Anka and Gael, as Maia took a little nap while Anka and Gael played together. I did manage to sneak in this great little candid of the three of them. I love candids!
All in all, it was a great day, with nice weather, and beautiful lighting. Check out the full preview album here for more photos from that day.
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I photographed Japji for a maternity shoot back in late May. Due to scheduling conflicts, we ended up cutting it close. So close that Japji gave birth to her lovely son Lucius about ONE WEEK after her shoot! I'm very glad that we got the shoot done on time (and so was she)!
We did our photo shoot at the University of Toronto. I have to admit that the location was picked out on a whim. Japji picked almost-four-year-old son Ale, from daycare, followed by partner Mark, and finally, yours truly, from Toronto's downtown core in rush hour. Oh, and did I mention that they also had their dog, Thelonius Monk with them? While Monk is still a puppy (ack!), he's a big dog. But don't let his big frame scare you, because he is a really really sweet dog, and he and I totally hit it off during the drive to the university.
She had originally wanted a photo shoot in High Park (which would've been totally awesome), but traffic and kiddie schedules kind of cramped that style. Fortunately, UofT was on the way home for both of us, and is a totally awesome location for a photoshoot. I can vouch, because I had my wedding ceremony and photos taken there.
Ale napped on the way up to the campus, and when we got to King's College Circle, he woke up a bit grumpy. I totally understand. My daughter isn't exactly ponies and rainbows when she wakes up from a nap either. So, we had a bit of a slow start. But then Ale started to warm up to the idea of a photoshoot, and things just took off from there. Below are some of my favorite images of the shoot.
I think that the image below just captures the bond between mother, son, and baby beautifully. You can tell that Ale is going to be a great big brother. Here, he's blowing raspberries for Lucius. (Baby name already picked out - Japji is one organized momma!)
This next photo is another favorite. I was hoping that Ale would get in on the fun and put his hands on mommy's belly, but there is something to be said for having just mommy and daddy in this photo too. I think that the photo shows a great amount of love between Japji and Mark, and of course, for their unborn son.
I had a bit of fun with my fisheye lens here. The glow of the afternoon sunlight was just wonderful, and you can tell that mommy and son are having a tender moment.
As a integral member of the family, Monk made it into the shots too! Here's his starring role!
And finally, no shoot is complete without a family shot. They all had lots of fun with this shot, and it shows.
All in all, it was a great shoot. The lighting was great, everyone had fun, and, the photos turned out really cool. I'm so glad that we made it before Lucius made his world début on "the outside", and I look forward to taking some pics of him in the near future!
I tried the Lensbaby Composer at one of my local photography stores one weekend last year, and thought it was pretty cool. But I had to sit on it for a couple of days before I finally decided to buy it. When I got home, I was super-excited to try it out. I spent the evening playing around with the lens, and was disappointed that the images turned out very blah, and didn't seem to be in focus. And so, after $250 and one evening of play, I put it away. And it gathered dust in the back of my closet.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, my Lensbaby found a new reason to live. It all started because I was walking around Urban Outfitters one day. I went there specifically because I'd read about some Hipstamatic-esque analogue cameras that they sell at the store. After looking around, I found this darling piece of equipment: the Lomography Fisheye 2 camera. And it only cost $80! I've always always always wanted a fisheye lens, but could never justify getting one. The fancy-pants Canon L-series fisheye lens runs around $1,500 - YIKES! Thanks, but no thanks. Not for something that is mostly a just-for-fun type of lens. So obviously the Lomography Fisheye 2 camera seemed like a reasonable alternative.
That evening, I excitedly told my hubby about the camera. And then the pointed out the fact that it would be fun for like two seconds, after which I would probably be annoyed by the fact that it was a film camera. Touché, hubby...touché. And then he suggested that I check out the Lensbaby lenses to see if they had any affordable fisheye lenses. And lo and behold, they did! Enter the Lensbaby Scout with fisheye optic. It was EXACTLY what was looking for. And at $250, the price was right. So I ordered it, direct from the Lensbaby site. Which, by the way, is cheaper than going through a site like B&H Photo (though I still love them too), because Lensbaby ships using USPS, which means low low customs brokerage fee, AND it arrived in Toronto really really fast. Thumbs up!
And while I waited for my Lensbaby Scout to arrive, I decided to dust off the Lensbaby Composer and give it another shot. And am I ever glad that I did. This time, I armed myself with some reading material, and took the lens outside. I basically found out that I didn't have the diopter set up properly on my camera (much more forgiving with "regular" auto-focus lenses), which is why my pictures looked like crap. That and when I tried tilting the lens too far to the side, my sweet spot got lost outside of the lens' visible range. I have to credit the book, Lensbaby: Bending Your Perspective for giving my Composer some new life. So, enough talk. Let's see some pictures!
Picture of my daughter, taken with the Composer at f4.
My obsession with snails continues...again, at f4.
To see the full Composer album, check it out here.
And then my Scout arrived in the mail, and I rejoiced. Even moreso when I took it out for a spin. I absolutely looooooove the super-wide angle. I decided to take it out for a spin around downtown Toronto. I think I died and went to photography heaven. Seriously.
Toronto Financial District.
I love streetcars!
So much fun for close-ups!
To see the full album, check it out here.
I can't wait to try some more photography with these two lenses. I have a couple of family photoshoots coming up, so I am totally excited to try these out during those sessions. Stay tuned for more photographic fun!
]]>I must have a zillion different snail pictures, but every time I see a snail, I'm compelled to take a picture of it. Last spring I took some pictures with my DSLR. I processed a few of them, though I haven't posted them yet. I really should get around to it this year. Seriously. Until that happens, I'll share with you some of the snail pictures that I took yesterday. These were taken with either the iPhone Hipstamatic or the Instagram app. I actually prefer the Hipstamatic app for snail pictures. Some of the film and lens combos can result in some really striking photos.
The first picture is one of my favorites. We were coming home yesterday, and my husband noticed a snail making its way across our driveway. Out of fear that cars coming in and out of the garage would unknowingly crush it, he picked it up, and moved it to safety. But not before I snapped a picture of him holding it! This one was taken with the Instagram app. I just love the colors on this photo, and I especially love the funky angle where my husband's hand looks huge, compared to his teeny tiny feet.
The next photo looks like a pretty standard snail picture. It's just a lone snail, after all. But I totally looooooove the over-exposed black-and-white effect. Especially since it brings out the key features of the snail.
Next we have another Hipstamatic photo. I really like this lens and film combo. The film gives it this really neat border, and the lens gives it a cool vignetting effect with some drab colors. Which I think perfectly captures a rainy Sunday afternoon.
And finally, I just had to capture a photo of my daughter watching a snail on our front steps. She purposely kept her distance from the snail, though she wasn't afraid of it. This picture was taken with Instagram. Though you can't see her face, I think that this picture totally captures the curiosity of an almost-four-year-old.
To see the full Snails album, check it out here.
The shoot was much harder than I thought it would be. For one thing, you have to be really fast when it comes to taking casual people pictures. Add that to the fact that you're only taking pictures of people on mobile devices (i.e. cell phones, MP3 players, Bluetooth headsets), and you wind up having to take pictures extra-fast. An awesome shot won't wait for you to fiddle around with your camera.
I will shoot in manual mode about 99% of the time. I love having full control of my camera. And I don't want to go by what the on-board light meter reads. I might sometimes want my shots a bit over-exposed, or a bit under-exposed. I find that setting my camera with the light meter reading at the center makes for boring pictures. I actually prefer slightly over-exposed pictures, since I love the contrast that I get. The problem is that shooting in manual mode isn't necessarily ideal when you're trying to capture that perfect moment that happens in a split-second. Which is why I thought that, after the shoot, I thought that it had totally sucked.
That night, when I pulled the pictures off of my camera for processing, I was pleasantly surprised. The pictures actually turned out kind of neat!
This first picture is one of my favorites of the shoot. Due to the over-exposure, I ended up with a really neat effect. The reflection actually looks as if it were the "real" subject.
I was really excited to get this next one. I love how the guy on the right of the photo is casually showing a message on his smartphone to the woman on the left. He looks so very non-chalant. And so does she. All of this was happening while they were crossing the street.
This next photo is what I call my "fluke shot". I didn't want to seem like a nosy photographer, so I put my camera on automatic, slung it down to my waist, took a deep breath, and pressed the shutter. I was really pleased with the end result. Not only did the composition turn out well, I also love how I captured two mobile devices in one shot. And their engrossment with their mobile devices really captures what the mobile generation is all about.
The last shot I'd like to share is an interesting one. The picture was taken in haste, so it turned out blurry, but I really loved the composition. So I turned it into a high-contrast black-and-white and now it looks artsy. And I also think that it has a bit of a feel of some hustle and bustle going on around the subject, even though there's really only one other person in the picture.
To see the complete album, check it out here.
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I don't know if this first photo should technically count as spring, since it's a picture of my indoor violet plant, but it did flower in the spring, so I guess it's fair game. This is the only photo in the series taken with the Hipstamatic app. I don't get to use Hipstamatic as much as I used to, just because processing time is so damn slow. But looking at this picture, I am reminded of why I love the app. I had originally meant to focus on the violet itself, but Hipstamatic doesn't really let you choose a focus point, and the viewfinder is a bit blurry (ahem..."vintage"), so the resulting photo ended up with the focus being on the cactus plant in the background. But I honestly think that that's what makes the photo so cool.
The next photo is of a bunch of daffodils that were planted in front of one of the apartment buildings in my neighborhood. Daffodils are one of my favorite types of flower. I think that what makes them so appealing to me is that they have such a unique shape. These ones in particular are extra-cool because the center is slightly darker than the surrounding petals. What I love the most about this photo is the feeling of grandeur. This makes me think that I'm looking at a whole field of daffodils, instead of a small flower bed.
I didn't know what these were called until today, when a friend posted a picture of the same flowers on Facebook. They're magnolias, in case you're wondering. I took this picture as I was walking down University Avenue, near Osgoode Station. I really love how the Instagram filter that I applied made the sky look so blue. And I really love the building in the background.
And finally, I don't believe that any spring collection is complete without an awesome sunrise. I took this picture today while I was out for my daily power-walk. I think that the filter I applied to this photo really brings out the awesomeness of the sunrise. And I also like the fact that the focus of the photo is on the sunrise itself, with the surrounding buildings almost blacked out.
For more spring Hipstamatic photos, check out the full album here.
By the time we got back to Bloor Street, the parade was over. Seriously. Totally lame. There were a few people dressed up in St. Patrick's Day green, but nothing that tickled my iPhone's fancy. But then I stumbled onto something way cooler. I honestly don't even know what kind of store it was. I'm guessing it was an art gallery. Whatever it was, it offered some great pics. I call this one "Capacitor Head":
Then, I turned the corner, and found this gem. I call him "Captain Awesome":
At first I was annoyed by the reflection of the brick wall, but it actually gives the photo a great effect. By far, this is one of my favorite photos of the past few weeks. Next to the art gallery was a gift shop. And in the display case, was a beaver dressed in mountie uniform. How Canadian! I call this one "Eh!":
And finally, I took a picture of the back of a street sign, which looked really cool. I have no idea what that drawing is all about, but it looks pretty neat. Especially through an Instagram filter. Have I told you lately how much I love Instagram? :D
Oh, I forgot. One more thing. I did get a parade picture after all. I took it in the morning, while out for my power walk. I took it for my daughter, who loves the Muppets (gets it from the hubby and me) and would for sure get a kick out of it (which she did). There was a lot of glare when I took the photo and I couldn't even see my screen, but it turned out okay. Besides, it's the Muppets. Enough said.
I was a bit bored waiting for the subway, so I decided to snap some pics in the station. I had a crappy 3G signal, but it was enough to post these on Instagram. And FB. And Flickr.
This guy was intriguing. He was in a way more "on the edge" type of pose earlier, but I was having technical difficulties.
I couldn't help myself on the subway either.
Once outside, the illuminated buildings just looked too cool to NOT photograph.
Who knew that a construction site could look cool with the moon in the backdrop?
I was a little late meeting my sister because I was too busy taking pictures. Shhh...don't tell her I said that! We ended up having crêpes at this little place on Queen street. In all of my years living in Toronto, I had never been there before. A total travesty because a) I've passed that place like a million times, b) I love crêpes, and c) they love Nutella on their crêpes. I loooooove Nutella. Just criminal. Glad that last Tuesday rectified this grave error. Anyway, I snuck in a picture of my food while my sis was in the loo. So yummy!
After lunch, as I walked back to the subway, I couldn't resist taking pictures of the CN Tower. My obsession with taking pictures of the CN Tower at night is akin to my obsession with taking pictures of sunsets. I have many photos, and I can't get enough.
Doesn't it look snazzy in black and white? And here's a color one.
It's so gorgeous that it didn't even need an Instagram filter applied to it. And finally, I had to take a picture of the subway. Especially since it was one of those new subway cars. I love them. They look so clean. I'm sure I won't be saying that in 10 years or so.
I wish it turned out a little less blurry. Still, I like the perspective. To see the rest of my Hipstamatic and Instagram photos, don't forget to check out the album here!
We started out by walking along Bay Street, just south of King. The first thing that caught my eye was a guy standing by the road with a bunch of bread (I think...bad memory), waiting to drop off his cargo. I got my camera out immediately, and even got the shot. Except that the shot turned out white, because I shoot everything in manual, and forgot to look at the light meter settings, thereby ending up with an over-exposed photo. There was no salvaging that Lightroom could do here. I ended up turning my attention upwards, trying to get some interesting building shots at 17mm. This time, I fared much better. We also did a bunch of shots in the Commerce Court courtyard. There are elephant statues in the courtyard, and I had fun shooting at different angles.
Next, we went to BCE Place. BCE Place is really cool because there's an awesome atrium with super-high arches, and lots of sunlight. There is also a great building façade, a fountain, and really awesome reflections among other things. I spent a lot of time near the building façade, as there some really great shots of people talking on the phone, and some fun close-up shots of normally blah objects.
We decided to head outside again, and hung out at the courtyard just outside of BCE Place. There were some cool wide-angle building shots and some interesting reflections, but my favorite part of all was when we took turns jumping. One of my favorite photos is one of my friends all jumping together. The spots they jumped from were arranged as a triangle, and they all jumped toward the center. It's times like these where having a DSLR on rapid fire will totally smoke a regular point-and-shoot.
Finally, we made our way back indoors, this time to Commerce Court North. Commerce Court is where CIBC is located. The big hulking CIBC skyscraper is known as Commerce Court West (CCW), and Commerce Court North (CCN) is the smaller concrete building. Even though CCN is not the most exciting building to look at, the inside is amazing. The stairway leading to the main floor from the concourse level is awesome to photograph, but the best part, by far, is when you reach the main floor. There is a massively high, ornate ceiling, and beautiful chandeliers. Photos don't do it justice. But they come pretty close!
Overall, it was a great shoot, and I look forward to another fun shoot with my fellow photo buds! Here's one final image to leave you with (below), and don't forget to check out the full album here.
Although the iPhone is great for shooting some great impromptu photos that scream "I wish I had my camera", there's only so far one can go. And yes, photos look really spiffy with the Instagram and Hipstamatic apps, but personally, I think that nothing comes close to the full manual control that you can get with a DSLR, where you can choose the right lens, aperture, exposure, and ISO.
I have found that my photographs these days exhibit a real dream-like quality, and I'm really loving it. I have tended to over-expose the images, and then, in post-processing, I bump up the black, the contrast, and increase the vibrance a bit. I also like to blur the images a bit by decreasing the clarity. This doesn't always yield favorable results, and this usually only works well when you have a really really bright background.
There was a lot that was fun about the photo shoot at the RCM, but my favorite things were the following:
- Chasing down musicians (discretely) as they walked around with their instrument cases in hand. They didn't necessarily make the greatest pictures, but at least it was worth trying!
- Taking pictures of normally boring-looking objects. I had fun taking pictures of some light fixtures, bannisters, staircases, and even a wooden bench.
- Playing around with depth-of-field. For that, my favorite lens is my 50mm, at f1.8, for a shallow depth-of-field. I also had my 17-55 f2.8, which was good when I was switching between wide-angle shots and closer shots, since I didn't have to change lenses.
- Using my hubby as a subject. He was a great subject, especially since he had a latte in hand. He joked later saying that the photo series of him should be dubbed "Man with Coffee". Maybe he's on to something...
Well, enough talk. Here's a link to the album, and a sneak peek of some of my favorite photos of the day. Enjoy!
Hubby with the CN Tower in the background.
Rain boots on top of a locker.
People standing.
Close-up of carving on a bench.
My telescope now gathers dust in my daughter’s closet, but my passion is still there, even if I don’t gaze up at the stars as often as I did. This past weekend, I once again looked up, and what a treat it was! The moon was joined by two planets: Jupiter, and Venus. I checked online, and apparently February is a great month for viewing Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Mercury, with the former two being fairly prominent throughout the night, and the latter two being more prominent at dawn and/or dusk (I forget which). Of course, when I caught sight of Jupiter and Venus, I didn’t have my DSL on me. Fortunatley, my iPhone came to the rescue, and I was actually able to snap a couple of decent photos. I have to say that the iPhone 4S camera freaking rocks. I really can’t say it enough. It really does, and it does a great job of taking low-light and nighttime photos. Maybe one of these days I’ll actually set up my tripod and try to getsome good astro photos with my big girl camera.
Venus and the crescent moon
The Jupiter (very top left), Venus (bottom left), and crescent moon
I actually walked through the ice sculptures twice. First, on Saturday night, on a rare night off from being a mommy. I didn’t have my DSLR on-hand, but I still managed to snap some photos with my iPhone, which I think turned out pretty cool. I also walked by on Sunday afternoon, this time with my daughter in tow. Although I did have my DSLR on me (I had brought it with me to take some artsy pictures at the RCM), I opted not to use it, for fear of losing sight of my daughter. In contrast to our leisurely night stroll through the ice sculptures on Saturday night, it was an absolute zoo on Sunday afternoon. Too bad, because I would’ve loved to have snapped some interesting shots with my 50mm lens on my DSLR. Still, I think the one daytime shot I got was pretty neat, and it just goes to show how crowded it was over there! So without further ado, here are the IceFest 2012 shots!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Unfortunately, I didn’t have my fancycam with me (i.e. my DSLR). Fortunately, I DID have my iPhone, and the iPhone 4S takes some pretty fancypants pictures. Especially if you use the Instagram and/or Hipstamatic apps. Check out some of my roaming adventures! I am totally planning on returning with my DSLR.
Although we took the pictures over the Christmas holidays, Anka’s hubby had to work on the day of the shoot, so I took pictures of just Anka and Gael at their apartment in Toronto. In spite of the fact that Toronto had had a green Christmas, we actually had snow on the day of our shoot (January 27th). The sky was gloomy, but the snow still made everything look bright. Their apartment faces south and has a wonderful view of the Toronto skyline, especially since they have these great big floor-to-celing windows. I was in photography heaven.
After the photo shoot at home, we moved on to the ROM for some more photos. The ROM really is a great place to take some pictures, and this time, I was properly-equipped, by bringing a lens with a larger aperture: my 17-55 f2.8. It was definitely much better, given the lighting conditions.
Momma, by the way, was totally pleased with the photos, and wrote the following to me in an e-mail after I’d shown her the pics:
goodness adriana, the photos are sooooo beautiful!!!! i want to have them all!!! you have a great eye, and a perfect touch and relationship with your camera. loved them!
…
have a great day! i will after seeing the photos 
i really have so few pics of gael and myself
The ROM makes you check bags as a security measure, so I had to pack light, taking only my 24-105mm lens with me. I really love this lens, and it’s great for portraiture. Unfortunately, the lens’ maximum aperture f4. This is totally fine for outdoor shots, and works reasonably well for indoor shots; however, the day of the shoot was gloomy, which meant that I couldn’t rely as much on natural light. I didn’t have my external flash on me, nor did I want to use one. I normally don’t like shooting with a flash because it doesn’t even compare to using natural light. To compensate, I shot everything at f4 with a high ISO (between 1250 and 1600). For subsequent ROM shoots, using my 50mm f1.8 or my 17-55 f2.8 proved to be much better choices.
In spite of the initial equipment challenges, the shoot went really well. I had a great time capturing candid family moments, especially when they didn’t even realize that I was taking pictures. The FH family were really pleased with the shoot, and I even made them a coffee table photo book as a souvenir of their adventures. Check out some of my favorite pics below. And you can check out the sneak peek album here.
The setting couldn’t have been better! The shoot took place in late afternoon in mid-fall, I got to shoot pictures of the family in the glow of the autumn sunset with the beautiful fall foliage still on the trees. Jenn also brought along some bubbles as props, and they were a total hit. It made for some awesome photos.
Taking photos of kids, especially pre-schoolers/toddlers, is always challenging, since they are ALWAYS running around and doing their own thing. That being said, if you’re able to catch them at the right moment, you can get some really awesome expressions.
To really take advantage of the pretty colors, I tended to under-expose the photos. All of the shots were taken with my new favorite lens: the 24-105 f/4 L. Even though it *only* opens as wide as f/4, you get some super-awesome portraiture, which I love to do for shots involving kids. They have such great expressions! I think the results are pretty cool. Check out some of my favorite photos:
To see some more highlights from the shoot, check out the Sneak Peek Album.
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One such item was this little gem below. I wouldn’t have thought twice about a broken car window. Unfortunate as it is to have someone break into your car (had that happen to me before – it sucks), the “WTF” written on the taped-up plastic just made it photo-worthy.
