I am dying to see this. I cannot watch the trailer without tearing up. Soooooo, well, lovely.

just felt like sharing,

~ Dana

This is from a new series of images I have been creating for a personal project I am calling ‘Big World’. Yes…my boots are ridiculous, but it was so wet and cold and muddy that I had to take action I love how my feet look like they are standing on THE EARTH. They remind me that we are all treading on this planet and we have to tread lightly. Some of you might not know this, but my family lives in the solar heated community in Okotoks. It’s true. We are constantly reviewing our impact. Making little changes to reduce our carbon footprint. This is an excellent day to review your families’ green goals

What are your plans for Earth Day? Why not buy a rain barrel or a compost bin? Or read The Lorax with your kids? Or eat a Vegetarian supper? Tell me how you are going to celebrate!!!

Happy Earth Day Everyone!!

Dana

And we are home from our explorations of it…I have lots to blog(including March’s family selfportrait which we did before we left). If I owe you a call or an email, please be patient. It is coming in the next few days.

This is a wee mushroom we found in the Redwood Forest in Northern California. For those who are interested in technical details, this was shot with my 15mm fisheye at ground level.

Dana

I’ve been meaning to write about this for awhile, but for some reason never found the time. And then, after I wrote that last post, I thought that it would be extremely good timing to put this little plug in for my friend and life coach–Jennie Willings. I did some life coaching with her last year. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what life coaching would be all about, but what I discovered is that it is about helping to discover your core values and beliefs and then help you learn how to remain true to them. Authenticity. It is at the core of what I do–discovering the truth of the family’s I photograph. It helps so much more when I am living in mine. That probably sounds a little hippy–but that’s me If you want to learn more, please contact my wonderful friend. Thanks to the miracles of Skype and web technology she can coach you no matter where you live!!

Since I can’t write a post without an image…here is a little ditty from the other day. Hasn’t it been the most spectacular winter? The fog and the moisture combining to create just the most wonderful amount of hoar frost…it almost makes the cold bearable.

For Leish. One day. 37 photos. All taken with my iphone. Shown here in chronological order.

I am home. My email box is bursting at the seams. I love my iphone, but the problem with taking it on vacation with you is every night I would check my email and see them piling up. With the crappy internet connection at the hotel, I was unable to respond to many of them….sooooooo…today is an email kinda day. If you are waiting on one from me. Expect it soon.

AND…to my contest entries…I still haven’t uploaded all my images. Give me a couple of days

Like most photographers, I have an unhealthy attachment to my iPhone. Of course, doesn’t every iPhone user feel the same way??? I have even been known to say that my iPhone saved my life. It did–in a way…it freed my from my computer. A bit. And, that is saying ALOT.

So, my friend Alicia Price decided to have a challenge using her iphone and the ’shakeitphoto app’ after we were goofing around with it on New Year’s eve…yes, I know, we have truly exciting lives. On New Year’s not only did we play with our iPhones, we also played Wii Sports Resort(sword fighting is made more fun with champagne) until the wee hours of the morning. Which is when we turned on ‘The Hangover’ for the third time(for me anyways). I still laughed hysterically. Love that movie.

So, I am a rule breaker(or just plain rule ignorer, I’m not sure). I did this challenge. Kind of. I was supposed to take 37 images, but I only took 9. 9. Um, ya, I fell a bit short. Sooooo….here are the 9. I was making brunch(up at 6:30am which is when the first image was taken) for about 50 people. I got busy and didn’t take enough images. I promise that one day next week, I will take the requisite 37 and post those soon. If you have an iphone–run out and get this super cool app!!! It rocks!!! Happy day!!

Just got back from a breakfast date with my husband. Starbucks and a bookstore. Our favorite date even before we had kids(unless it was a Saturday morning and then it was McDonald’s drive thru for breakfast and snowboarding at Lake Louise…alas things have changed somewhat). I bought some stocking stuffers for me and for Jack(the two most avid readers in our household)…and now, I have orders to package. Emails to answer and images to edit. I’m full steam ahead now as at the end of the tunnel of work is a holiday. Thank goodness for that!! Some images from New York for your viewing pleasure…

I found these two things that I LOVE today…this is my new dream house. Yes, you could never build said house here in the great white north. Nor could you ever have two young children in said house…but it is a DREAM house. So, I can dream, can’t I? And, if I were dreaming it might look something like this:

Not the weirdo advertisement that comes first…wait for it. wait for it. it’s worth it.

That’s all…I just had to share cause that’s the kind of mood I’m in…later. skaters.

We interrupt this program to bring you a massive website failure…that was my Wednesday. Thus, no blog post so I’m doing it now…a little bit late. Yes, SOME of my site worked, but the most important parts of it did not. In fact, some things are still being ironed out. Ahhh…the life of a small business owner. It’s funny…I was thinking this morning how someone once called me a mom and pop operation and then apologized as he didn’t want to offend. BELIEVE ME I take no offense!!! I am one step short of a mom and pop operation as there is just a mom working here!!! On days like yesterday, I wish there was a pop or two

I just wanted to share a couple of recent shots…I love the REALISM of this first shot. Life. This is it…

It’s also a good visual explanation of why people looking for a ‘traditional portrait’ photographer should probably keep on looking This next shot I also love for the realism…the documentary feel to it BUT I also love it because here is this little guy…just one year old…surrounded by his family.

And…when I returned to this house for their third session with me(what can I say some people just get addicted!!!), I walked in and saw 5 wonderful canvases on display. Yay!! It is such an honor to have my work displayed in my client’s houses…

I promise a Thursday post is still to come!!!

I’m a prairie girl born and raised. I love the big city. I really do. I love the hustle and bustle of a busy street; the small, unique shops with items you will never find at a big box store; the corner grocery stores and the independent coffee shops. I flee to big cities whenever I have the opportunity….but…no place fills me with peace as much as the wide open spaces of my home.

I wanted to talk about this challenge a bit. Mostly because I can’t believe how many of you complained about it. When Tara was picking her challenge, she emailed me and told me she had two ideas. She asked me which one I wanted to do…I told her I wanted to do the other BUT because I was shying away from the self portrait, I thought that was the one she should pick. Self portraits are hard. They really are. This is my third attempt at them. I have attempted them twice before at two different workshops and at neither was I happy with the results. But this time I am happy with the results, but I am happier with the process. I’m going to force myself to do this more often. To stop and take stock of who I am in a certain moment and try to capture that through my own lens.

If you participated in our challenge, please leave a link to your blogpost in my comments section. I would love to see what you came up with. Next month it’s my turn again…