Shauna & Abbey | Senior Portraits

My cousin Shannon Oake was the first person to introduce me to an SLR...photography had already piqued my interest...but at that moment I knew I was hooked. WOWIE! You could take the lenses off, put different ones on, and you can have complete control of the little box...think of the things you could do! Not long after that my love affair with a Nikon DSLR began.

Shannon lives in Newfoundland, so we don't often get the opportunity to learn together. But you can bet that as soon as we're in the same room we are talking ISO's and "stuff". Anytime an opportunity to shoot with him presents itself, I'm all over it! He came to Fort McMurray this week to surprise his neice, who graduated from high school yesterday. I'm not sure who was more excited, Shauna or me!

We took Shauna and her friend Abbey out yesterday between the ceremonies for some pictures at Heritage Park here in Fort McMurray:

Nicole | Headshots

I didn't win the Strobist contest...but I'm anxiously awaiting the next challenge!

Seriously, this guy has created a following...literally thousand's of people flock to his site everyday and hang on to every word he says (writes). I'm all about blogs, conversations, books, videos, little voices inside my head talking strobes, light mods, apertures, ISO's...so I'm no exception. I admit to reading each of David Hobby's blog entries at least once and then running out to try whatever it was that he posted, and running back to see if what I did was right. I've made the snoots out of cereal boxes, and macro boxes out of cardboard...they kept me occupied for days! Thanks Mr. Strobist!

Nicole agreed to be my guinea pig for the contest headshot photos. I couldn't ask for a better model. She's beautiful...plus, she brought my little nephew over with her, I loved watching him chase my puppy around while we took pictures!

She designs no slip hair clips for babies, big girls and ladies! I hope these pictures can help with promotion of her new business: Mi Casa Clothing.

Strobist Boot Camp 2 | Assignment 1

This is my sister-in-law, Nicole. She is gorgeous. She also happens to be quite talented. She created no slip hair clips for babies that can stay on the thinnest of baby hair. Things just grew from there. She now sells a wide variety of hair accessories, all handmade, at various children's clothing stores in Edmonton and here in Fort McMurray, as well as on her own website, check it out: Mi Casa Clothing. While you're at it, check out her profile on Savvy Mom and vote for the Savvy Mom Entrepeneur of the Year Award!

When Mr. Strobist (my hero, David Hobby) posted the first assignment for Strobist Boot Camp II last week, I thought this might be a good opportunity for me to snap a few pictures of Nicole modelling some of her creations. There's two parts to this assignment. This part of the challenge was fun. Number one...Nicole is very photogenic, so that part was a cinch. Number two...I took time to challenge myself and actually think about what my lights are doing.

The second part of the challenge is to get a headshot of myself...that part was not so easy! Maybe I should have had a glass of wine first :)

The final product...

I'm the Luckiest Girl! | Personal

I'll never win the lottery, I will always work for my money...I guess first of all you have to buy a ticket. I don't because I know I won't win. I can't win $2 on a scratch ticket when I'm "feeling" lucky. But I know I'm the luckiest girl anyway.

I have been blessed with the most amazing family and friends, I have a great job as an Office Supervisor and part time photographer, and I truly believe that the sky is the limit in everything in life. When I was little, my mom always said "Reach for the stars...even if you do hit the fence". That has stuck with me and brought me to places that I never thought possible. Because of this I ended up in Fort McMurray with a dream of making a good life for Peyton and me. I got a good job, but on my first day as I sat watching my supervisor work, I decided that I wanted to be like her. Five years later I was sitting in her chair (She decided to be a stay-at-home mom....I didn't plot to steal her job...just so we're clear. She's great, and I miss her at our office!)

Let's rewind a few years here...I used to visit tarot card reader in St. John's, Newfoundland, pretty much on a yearly basis. During my last visit, she told me that I would meet a businessman and a businesswoman in a tall building; My life would change from that point forward. It almost seemed too far-fetched to believe. I was living in a town called Kuujjuaraapik (Great Whale) in Nothern Quebec at the time. There are no tall buildings there. Less than a year later I would realize that the businessman and businesswoman were management from the office that I would eventually work in here in Fort McMurray.

My life changed. I met the man that I would eventually fall in love with and marry; I met the best friends that a girl could ask for; I could afford to buy photography equipment and to spend time learning from professionals. My life has not been the same since meeting that man and woman in the tall building. And I love it.

All of this comes to mind today because my 32nd birthday was yesterday. My incredible husband planned a birthday party for me, his parents came to decorate while he took me out for ice cream, and my friends were all at my house when I got home. It's one thing to have nice friends and caring family, it's another to have ones that you adore and they adore you right back. After opening my gifts last night I'm amazed at how well they know me and how much attention they pay to my little quirks and rants and fads! I met all of these people that I can't live without all because I believed that I could make a good life for myself and my five year old daughter. It's so much better than good, even better than great!

A few of the gifts and a true picture of how quirky I can be:

I LOVE to scrapbook!

Happy Bunny socks, all mismatched....just the way I like them (it's good luck!):A Mickey pinata...because I love Mickey and chocolate! I think they may have been trying to make up for the kidnapping of my Mickey pen at work and the ransom notes that they left. Yes, I use a Mickey Mouse pen at work...nothing says "Let's get down to business" like a Mickey Mouse pen!
My fave wine!I am amazed at how well these people know me. I love them so much for it!

My Stylin' Camera Bag! | Photography

I have blogged about this bag before but I'm going to blog about it again....for two reasons:

1. Because I've had it for a few months now and have had a chance to use it several times now.

2. Because I just won a free Shootsac cover!

Seriously, if you are a photographer or into photography and have a few lenses, you need this bag! With your old bag you have to stop, take the bag off your back, unzip it, pull the lens of choice out, put the other lens in, zip it up, put it back on your back.... Plus the old bags are not really known for how stylish they are. The Shootsacs are trendy and you can pick your own style by picking a cover; they don't look like lens bags so no one suspects that you are carrying expensive equipment; grabbing lenses is super easy since they are right at your hip; and you don't need to worry about noisy velcro or zippers during say a wedding ceremony shoot. Seriously go get a Shootsac...now (they are available at Henry's in Canada).

Anyway, I could go on about how much I love mine, I don't get tired of talking about it really....my family and friends hear it all the time! The real reason I'm blogging is because I won a Shootsac cover for my "Freaky Friday" submission! Photographers are encouraged to submit photos of their Shootsac and/or cover being used for a purpose for which it was not intended. Every Friday a photo is chosen and posted on the Shootsac Blog and the winner gets to choose a free cover! This week, I WON and I am so super excited about it! I get to choose another stylin' cover! Check out the Shootsac blog post for the whole story, but I will leave you with one of my entries:

Jodi & Andy | Engaged - Part 2

I was going to wait until all of the editing was done before posting a few more so that I could pick my faves from the whole bunch and post them...I have decided that it won't be possible to pick just a few, so here are some faves from what I have edited so far.

Jodi and Andy were incredibly fun and comfortable in front of the camera...literally my job was to shut up and shoot! So that's what I did!

Okay, so I did give a little bit of direction like "Hey, Andy run up there and practice your first dance with Jodi!"And "Hey Andy, can you pick her up and give her a kiss?"Thanks guys for the laughs and the fun! Wishing you a life time of happiness and laughter!

I'll get back to editing your photos now... :)

Jodi & Andy | Engaged

After a week of trying to get out there for a shoot, Mother Nature still wasn't entirely on our side, but we went for it anyway. When Jodi told me that Andy was looking forward to the shoot, I had my doubts...she was not kidding, he was havin' a time! They are definitely fun personified....and HAWT, oh man are they HAWT!

Just a few teasers...more to come!

Okay, so I like my new fisheye...so sue me!
...But I gotta be careful how I point that thing!