So I have offically beat my own record…..I have gone way too long without a blog post once again.

Deep down I think I know the reason why I never get around to blogging my sessions is I have a hard time with the words…. I always have an amazing time with my clients at their sessions, but I never can put into words the emotions  I feel during the session.  So I have decided to let the images do the talking for me…. Inspired by one of my newest friends Lori Dorman.

A fantastic photographer and inspirational speaker Dane Sanders was in town speaking to photographers at The Exposure Photography Symposium a couple of weekends ago, and he has inspired a couple of my closest photographer friends to tell their story….so I thought I would tell mine….

I have been interested in photography for as long as I can remember. I remember playing with this old 110 film camera I had sitting in my toybox for hours on end. I remember opening up the back and watching the shutter open and close as clicked the button. I also remember always wanting to take pictures with my parents camera on vacation. It didn’t matter what the subject was or who the subject was, I just wanted to take pictures.

In junior high and high school my friends and I would dress up, do our hair and make up and take black and white photographs of eachother outside. Some of my favourite images of myself are the ones my friends and I took when we were just playing around being kids.

In high school, I took my first offical photography course. Where I learned how to load my own film, develop my own film and to create my own prints through the enlarger and chemicals. It was an amazing process. There is nothing like seeing your first printed images emerge through the chemicals –with nothing but a dull red light to guide you along the way.  It was while attending this photography class I got my first taste of the photography bug that would soon become my career.

After high school I was pretty unsure what I wanted to do. I loved photography, but never really thought about it as a career. I knew that I wanted to do something with kids, but didn’t really know what avenue to take. 

It wasn’t until I met,  the man who I would later marry, that I decided to take the plunge and see where photography could take me. I enrolled into a program at Nait to upgrade my high school marks….cause only going to photography class and phys-ed really didn’t allow my other marks to be all that competitive in a very competitive program to get into –Nait’s Photography Technology program.

Once in was in the program, I honestly thought that I would become a wedding photgrapher who photographed kids on the side. I never would have thought that I would want to specialize in just photographing maternity and babies because no one specialized back then.  But one event changed my life and career plans forever…

A couple weeks after graduating from my Nait, my dad passed away. He had been sick for a long time, and it was expected to happen one day, but not when it did. Even if you know one day it’s going to happen, you are never ready for when it actually happens.  Did I mention, that the day he went into the hospital was almost 4 months to the day, that I was getting married.

Not having my daddy at my wedding was excruciating. All of the wedding photos I had in mind were of me and my daddy. (cause I knew that deep down, he wasn’t going to be around for very much longer…but I never thought that he wouldn’t make it to the wedding.)

Being a wedding photographer at the time, really killed me. I had the hardest time photographing the bride getting ready at their parents house, the bride and the dad before the wedding, and the bride walking down the aisle with her dad. The daddy and daughter dance was the absolute hardest. (cause everyone always seemed to play the song I was going to use for my dance…with my daddy.)

I thought that my feelings of resentment would go away and photographing a wedding would become easier, but it didn’t. I photographed my last wedding in November of 2008.

It was a hard decision financially to stop taking weddings, but I know deep down inside it was for the best. I wasn’t able to give my clients what I believed they deserved out of a great wedding photographer.

January 2009 I moved to a new studio location and decided to specialize in just maternity and babies. Photographing these special moments in my clients life, didn’t make me feel like I lost out on something. Photographing these moments filled me with joy and excitement not just for my clients and their lifes ahead, but for myself and my future. I know that one day I will experience the same joy and happiness that my clients are feeling in the moments I capture for them. I never walk away from a session, feeling down or feeling like I missed out on something….. like I felt photographing weddings.

Capturing moments and connections with people is what drew me to photography in the first place.  Having the ability to freeze time is the most amazing ability. 

Being able to share memories from one generation to the next is by far the greatest things in the whole world. Years from now parents can show their now 5 year old or 10 year old or 18 year old photographs of that child as a newborn –how cool is that? 

People can look back at themselves at the moment just before their baby arrived and see themselves as just a couple who were about to embark on one of the greatest  journeys in life – raising a child.  Remembering the unconditional love they felt for this tiny little being from the moment they found out they were expecting.  Feeling with their hearts on their sleeves the dreams and hopes for their unborn child’s future.

Capturing these moments….these memories….these feelings…… is why I am a photographer.

So after a long hiatus, I am finally back. I am steady working on the last sessions of 2009 . (bad I know, but some how –I lost track of time….and shot too many sessions in the holiday session.) But I am working full steam a head and getting the last bits done, so I can focus on the sessions I have photographed in 2010!  (can you believe it’s 2010 already! OMG, where on earth did the time go!)

Ten years ago….my nephew was born (and I was there seeing him…not in the room, but I got to meet him just hours after he was born - and now he will be 10 and it taller than I am) and I graduated from high school. (my god, I can’t honestly believe it. My 10 year reunion is planned for this June!)

This year, I will be focusing on growing and expanding my maternity and newborn work…. I still have so much I want to do and learn!  I foresee some casting calls in the near future!

So, if you would like to be the first to hear about the up coming casting calls, just subscribe to the blog, and when they are announced, you will hear about them via email!

I have two sessions that need to be blogged, so keep your eye open for them to go up this week!

Here is to a great year! May 2010 be Blue Frame’s best year ever

I had the greatest oppertunity last month to photograph an old high school friend of mine. Through the wonderful powers of facebook we found each other again!

I had a fabulous time reconnecting and chatting. I still can’t believe how much time has gone by since our Scona days. (all grown up with: houses, babies {four legged for me}, careers, husbands/boyfriends –where did the time go, seriously!) 

You are exactly the same as I remember: giggly, smiley, cheeky and gorgeous!

I can not wait to meet your little miss!

It was great to meet your very sweet and loving honey.

Your butterfly tattoo seriously rocks! (all of your tattoos rock…but the butterfly is definitely my favourite!)

We all have idols and people we look up to for inspiration in life as well as in business.  Carrie Sandoval and Brittany Woodall (together they form Baby as Art) are my inspirations when it comes to newborn photography.  These two lovely ladies have quite the following. Pretty much everyone who photographs newborns knows who Carrie and Britt are. They have pushed the envelope when it comes to newborn photography. 

I had been following their blog and their separate websites for about a year before I had the opportunity to meet them.  I had always thought about contacting them and seeing if they did any one-on-one mentoring or if I could go and shadow them in San Diego, but never got the guts to actually contact them. That’s when out of the blue they announced that they were having their first ever workshop and it was only open to 6 photographers…..

6 photographers, what was the chance that I would end up getting a spot? Slim….I personally know about 50 photographers who absolutely adore their work, so when I received an email back saying that I had a spot—I almost died! You should have seen the happy dance I did in my kitchen when my husband said that I could go. (It was very similar to the lotto 649 dance you see on tv!)

The weekend was almost a complete blur. My brain packed in so much information; I thought that my head was going to exploded!! It was so amazing to see them work and interact with each other and the newborns! I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Carrie and Britt are truly amazing people!

Check out the Baby as Art workshop blog to see a photograph of all of us—in a bed….in Carrie’s backyard!

Here are two images that I took during the workshop. (I can’t wait to practice the other poses I learned!)

I have to admit it…February has flown by so fast, that I don’t even know if I am coming or I am going. I can’t believe that in two days, it’s offically March.

Last week, I attended WPPI’s (Wedding Portrait Photographers International) annual convention in not so sunny Las Vegas! I had the oppertunity to attend many of the world’s top photography seminars. I got to meet some of my favourite rockstar photographers In one night and a chance meet up by an escalator I got to meet my inspirations. (how cool is that!)

I can’t wait to share with you some new ideas and new inspiration in the year to come.

Since I can’t post a novel of a post without sharing some images from one of my last sessions. Here is a sneak peek of my session with the ever so beautiful Londyn. She is an aspiring model, and a fantastic Ukranian Dancer. (she showed me her moves…wow!)

I like the oppertunity to step out of my comfort zone and photograph older children. It really makes me stop and think about posing more and concentrate on the real expressions.

Here are two of my favourites from the session.

I will be away from the studio from Feb 15-22nd.

I am going to a huge photography tradeshow and convention in Las Vegas. I will not be returning any phone calls while I am away, and all emails received will be returned when I get back.  I am very anxious to to see new products offerings and meet some of the worlds best photographers. 

Take care.

The new space has finally begun to take shape. The walls are painted, the floors are in, the lighting fixtures are in, and the bathroom actually looks like a bathroom now. (who knew….before today it looked like a dark closet with a pipe sticking out of the ground.)  All we need is a door (very important) and some baseboards.

I am getting very anxious to move all of my “stuff” over.  New studio here I come! I will post some images of the new space when it’s completely finished.

Next week I am heading to the sunny beaches of Jamaica. (I am so looking forward to warm weather, a good book, and complete relaxation.)  

So if you need to get a hold of me, it’s probably easiest if you email me. I will be back to work on the 22 nd.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The twin baby girls arrived on the 23rd and they have had their first photo session. They were only 3 weeks early. Each of the girls weighed over 5 pounds. (way to go girls!!)  I can’t wait to show images from their session when I get back.