Monday, December 13, 2010

pet week at iheartfaces

this is rockstar, who took a christmas sleigh ride to our house with santa two short years ago...  and kept us up for the rest of that night!




click on the iheartfaces logo for more great pet shots!


Thursday, December 9, 2010

picture the holidays {day 9}

busy days in the malls make me appreciate the quiet in the evenings after the kids are in bed!  add in a glass of wine and a warm fire... this is the word for the night :)

it's a sign...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

picture the holidays {day 8}

today's assignment was to look in reflections and use them....  but i'm having a hard time seeing the whole beauty of the season today, as a friends' 2 year old (born just weeks before mine) fights for his life in a hospital in san francisco.  he's about to undergo his second surgery in as many days, his parents finally by his side tonight. 

the broken glass on our door spoke to me as i looked for something to photograph today.

i anxiously await news.



day 8 - reflecting on the season

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

picture the holidays {catching up}

at the beginning of the month i began a course called "picture the holidays".  it is very much a group class and although we spend a lot of time communicating with the other online participants, and posting our work on the community gallery, i wanted to share my work with everyone reading this.  as i only have three subscribers, i hope all three of you enjoy ;)

for this course we are sent a daily inspirational email, call it an assignment if you'd like.  i am going to try to blog as we go, but as we're 7 days into the class already, i will just blog once to update on all the assignments so far!



day 1 - holding onto gratitude

~i am grateful that we have enough.~

‎...in this case, enough diapers for my toddler to play in ;)








day 2 - reframing the season


~this is what CHRISTMAS means to me. family. friends. those i love.~




day 3 - all you need is love

~i love my children so so so much!~





day 4 - you hold the key

~my favourite mug, a hot coffee, a cold day. my key to sanity ;) ~




day 5 - the view from here

~today's challenge was to enjoy mother nature and photograph the land we live in... but that landscape held no interest to me at all today. My attention was pulled back in through that window as 30 years of tradition, and three generations, gathered around a kitchen table to lovingly decorate home-made gingerbread houses.~




day 6 - every little thing




day 7 - express yourself

~today's assignment was to evaluate ourselves. how are we feeling at this moment? i looked at myself. i looked at my calendar. where is december running off to?~


Saturday, December 4, 2010

blue the dog.



blue is such a sweet dog.  she is mild tempered but protective of her littles, who love her dearly. 
we adopted her from the SPCA 7 years ago and hope to have at least another 7 years with her.


Thursday, December 2, 2010

my baby

looking through my pictures over the last few days, i've been trying to find ones to use for our family christmas cards. i stumbled upon this one and had to share.

my baby... growing so fast.


Sunday, November 28, 2010

my gift


2010 has been an absolutely amazing year for our family and my photography business!  i have been absolutely astounded by the support i've recieved from all of you and i am inspired. 

as many of you know, and maybe many don't know, i am a social worker.  for years i worked with young families who were struggling to make ends meet.  i became quite knowledgable about the resources in our community, and even took over editing and producing the kamloops community meal list that was widely distributed around town.  my boss considered me a human phone book and i even had other local agencies calling me to ask about other resources in town.

since leaving my job when i went on maternity leave (three and a half years ago), i have missed having the opportunity to help others.  after watching the movie pay it forward tonight on tv with my son, i realized that there is something i can still give, even though my job description has changed.

i wish i could give away a car to a newspaper reporter whose car has just been totalled... 
i wish i could help talk a distraught woman off of a bridge...
i wish i could help make someone fall in love...

... but i'm not a little boy in a movie, trying to change the world.

i am a mom, and a photographer who deeply cherishes every one of my photos.  every moment in my children's lives has been documented and cherished.  i am also a social worker who realizes that when money is tight, spending money on photos is something that just doesn't even enter your mind.  i want to help someone save a few of those precious, fleeting moments.

so here is my gift.  the one thing that, at this point in my life, i can offer.  my time.

i would like to offer a free family photo session.  this session will be in my studio or in the family's home (local only), and will be of the immediate family.  pets are always welcome to be involved in my sessions!

As computer access and money for printing are often lacking, this photo session will also include a custom photobook, one 8x10 print and 2 5x7 prints.

so here's the deal.  i would like to open this up to anyone (in kamloops or surrounding area) who feels they, or someone they know, fits the description of the family above.  please email me a short paragraph on the family (i don't need every detail, just why you think they are deserving and their contact information), and their name will be entered.  as a social worker, i know the importance of confidentiality.  please make sure that you have permission from the family before you send anything to me.

a few other notes that i should include;
 *i will not be posting images from this session.  if the family feels that they would like to, and have the ability
   to, they are welcome.
 *this is not a contest. it is a gift from the heart that i would like to share with someone.
 *please email questions and submissions to cbphoto at shaw dot ca with "paying it forward" in the subject
  line (to help me keep emails straight!).
 *i will accept submissions from now until december 4th.  i will then take it to random.org to determine the
  recipient.
 *i would like to hold the session the following weekend, december 11th preferrably, so that edits can be
  finished and prints can be made for the family before christmas.  the album will be presented in the new
  year.

please feel free to share this link with others and pass the information along.  the more people involved the better :)

thank you again to everyone for your love and support this year.  you are amazing!

carrie

Friday, November 26, 2010

fix it friday

inspired by a question about photo editing by my cousin, i decided that it was time to let loose on a few secrets... shhhhh!  it's not all about the camera, sometimes crap comes out of that black little box in your hands and knowing how to fix it to get what you were looking for is priceless!

this image was from one of my recent mini sessions.  i'd wanted a winter bathtub scene, but forgot my metal bathtub outside. in the snow.  ok, so back to the drawing board.  we still had cute baby, bath towels and christmas duckies... let's go for it anyways.

totally forgot ages and stages. hehe.  little j wasn't quite able to sit up by himself yet!

with spiderman bean bag chair propped behind him, we got j sitting just long enough to snap this between lauches to grab him before he toppled (please don't be alarmed, mom was sitting just off camera but being the mother that i am, i was launching myself to catch him too!)

the end result of this laughable set up was a not-so-perfect image.  i had backdrop and unwanted props in the picture, the exposure wasn't right and all of my lovely bath bubbles were turned wrong and off screen.

photoshop cs5 how i love thee!






after opening my RAW image in photoshop, the cloning tool made light work of fixing up the backdrop problem and props that didn't belong, adjusting levels helped black out the backdrop completely and lighten little j perfectly.  i always touch up the eyes for clarity, i find it just makes the picture!  i darkened the handles on the bubbles that were showing then used the lasso tool to select just a couple of the bubbles.  i then copied and pasted them to other spots, which helped make just enough to complete my image.

good luck with your photo shoot on saturday cousin p, you will be great! 

if anyone following this has tips or tricks, i'd love to hear them.  what would you have done differently?




Wednesday, November 10, 2010

something new. {food - blogged}

I'm constantly on the look-out for new recipes and thought that others might be in the same situation.  I am definately not a food critic, or chef, just a mom trying to feed my kids food they'll eat and I even sometimes get in a meal that I enjoy ;)

{Spinach Salad}

Walking through the grocery store a couple of days ago, I spotted a papaya and was suddenly hungry for a salad I typically make only in the summer. 









It's quite adaptable, and though it calls for strawberries, papaya and avacado, they are not always available and lots of other fruit work as substitutes.  In my case this week, the store didnt have strawberries and their avacados were almost $2 each! 

The raspberries actually tasted very good in the salad and added some gorgeous color for my pictures.


 

This is one that the whole family loves (although my oldest tends to pick out the onions).

Have I mentioned yet how much I LOVE my magic bullet?


Here is the recipe in case anyone's interested in trying this yummy salad!  I originally got it from my cousin and am SO glad she shared :)



Hope you have a great Wednesday everyone!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

the chair.

Awhile ago I asked my friends if anyone had an antique wooden highchair I could borrow for an upcoming 6 month old baby session.  While the session itself didn't happen, I did find a highchair.  It belongs to my friend, P., and has quite the history with her family.

I hung onto the chair for the past couple of months, with an idea in my head that wouldn't go away.  I didn't have a baby to fill the chair but I thought a childless highchair with a rich history would make for an interesting subject anyways.  This highchair has ridden with me to the Shuswap and back, around town, and all over Knutsford in hunt of the perfect location.

Recently our family headed out for a drive in the bush and took LongLegs with us (yep, she's an honorary part of the family now and I even named her ;)  Although the location wasn't exactly what I'd pictured originally, I found an absolutely beautiful spot as the sun was sinking behind the hills.  We jumped out quickly, I grabbed my camera, my son and husband grabbed the chair and our toddler, and we headed out to the fields to catch the last golden rays of the day.
















I love this man and all he does for me to accommodate my wild ideas!
 


You didn't think you'd get through one of my blog posts without a picture of one of my kids did you?


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Back to school.



{H}   - grade 8 - 2010/2011
Yesterday the kids had the day off of school and we decided to head to the Adams River salmon run to watch the fish return to lay their eggs.


Since beginning my journey a few years ago as a photograper, I have begun taking my kids' school pictures instead of ordering through their schools.  When I began planning this trip I knew that it would be the perfect location.


It was windy at times but the weather was warm and the fish were fascinating.  We are able to look back at these photos not only as this instant in time in the kids' lives, but as memories of this trip where we learned and laughed together.


Such an amazing school photo experience compared to what they typically do at school!


{J}   grade 6 - 2010/2011


{J}   family frolics - 2010/2011

Sunday, August 8, 2010

SURPRISE! @ iheartfaces

More than 2 1/2 years ago (after many years of miscarriage and finally getting past the three month mark of my pregnancy), I joined an online community of women who were expecting around the same time as I was.  I was looking for knowledge and support through this pregnancy and found much more than that in the women I "met" online.  Since our children were born, we have become friends on facebook and have shared much more of our lives with one another than just our "Firecrackers" (our name for our July 2008 babies).

Many of the women live in the US and many of them have already met.  Unfortunately, there are not many people from the forum in my area, the closest living 6 hours north of me or 6 hours south (over the US border).  I've always felt like I was missing out and although my husband didn't really understand the connection I feel with these women, he was willing to go ahead and plan a trip to Seattle with me to sight see and meet up with a couple of these online friends.

After "knowing" these other mothers, talking about our children, sharing our problems and our pictures, we finally got to meet!  Our little Firecrackers even hit it off immediately!   They enjoyed an afternoon of shopping at the Pike Place Market and then a play in a nearby park, running amongst strangers in the humid heat, up and down a little hill. 

In this picture, my daughter had just run right out of her shoe.  With the indignent surprise on her face that only a 2 year old can make adorable, she waited rather impatiently for someone to come and help her!

What a great trip this was with so many wonderful memories!






Click on the link below to go to iheartfaces.com and find more great entries in this weeks' "surprise" photo contest!
 
 

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Introducing pet photography!

During a recent road trip with our family, I had the pleasure of photographing these lovely ladies!  They are retired greyhounds who have a most wonderful home with a Dad who loves them and a Grandpa who spoils them as they should be!

It was hot and hard to get a shot without tongues hanging out (especially after the racing show they put on for us!) but these girls didn't have an un-photogenic side!

Thanks so much for our time together, it was so much fun... hope Dad and Grandpa enjoy the pictures ;)


Saturday, June 26, 2010

Dear Jessie...


You can put on your own shoes and feed yourself now... although you still like us to help you with meals. 

You have learned more words than we can count (we tried making a list but quit at 100 because there are just so many that you know and use everyday)! 

You can sign over 20 words and pick them up so quickly (we forget to sign to you much these days because your verbal language is developing so fast!

You can't sleep without your "binkies" (my t-shirts that you've claimed as your blankets) and "suck" (pacifier).  You're still napping twice a day and Momma thanks you for that!

You have lots of friends your own age and are learning how to share. 

Whenever we go to pick up H & J from school we are stopped every few feet by someone wanting to say hi to you.  You are social and love to tell them all about your day or your favourite toy.

Your favourite food is "pie" (pineapple) pizza.

You drink pink milk in a sippy cup.

You would wear the same "princess" skirt 5 days in a row and yell for it the next if Momma hadn't hidden it in the washing machine out of sight.

You love to (tickle) "fight" with Daddy, dance with "Sissie", play hockey with "Dake" and snuggle with Momma.

H's hamster is your "baby", "Blue" loves to lick your belly, and you run after Star and yell at her to stop scratching the furniture.

You're two years old today and we all love you so much!

Happy Birthday precious one :)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

iheartfaces ~ Week 25

This week at iheartfaces (http://www.iheartfaces.com/) the theme is teens.  I haven't entered a photo in awhile... but having just done a session with my 13 year old daughter to celebrate the end of her Jazz class, I knew just which photo I was going to enter!

H. has been dancing since she was about 2 1/2 years old and loves it so much.  She's tried many types of dance and takes many classes each year, but after a fractured ankle (in two places) last summer she was only able to participate in the one class this year.  She threw her all into it and thrived under a new teacher!  She's looking forward to high school next year.  She applied to, and was accepted into, a school of the arts.  She'll be majoring in dance and practicing what she loves every other day!


I really don't know where H got her talent from... it certainly wasn't me... but I'm very proud of her!

Click the logo below to see many more photos celebrating teens.



Monday, June 14, 2010

A special graduation!

new school. independence. boys. makeup...

high school next year!


I recently took my daughter and her best friend for a photo shoot to celebrate their graduation from elementary school.  Their "grad" at school is this week so I thought it an appropriate time to post their pictures.

High school?  I just can't believe my baby is old enough to be going to high school!





The girls have so much fun together!





Congratulations, H &J on your grade 7 graduation this week!

xoxoxo

Mom