Yes, after we got…ahem…acquainted inside, we moved outside to the back alleys of downtown Calgary. Who knew in amongst the bags of garbage, the broken discarded bottles, and other unmentionables, we would find such beautiful light! And, incredible signs–AND anyone who knows me knows, I’m a sucker for a cool sign. Add all that up(plus the fact that they are a gorgeous, totally in love couple) and I must admit to having a difficult time narrowing down what to share with you all. So, here goes…

Look at how tiny she is…like she eats ‘Only Donuts’…but, she’s with me and unfortunately, the sign drew me in

A train went by as we were doing these shots…at first, I thought he must think we’re weird. Then, I realized that he had probably seen a LOT of crazy stuff there! This must be pretty tame

When I saw this sign, I literally said ‘Oh yes it is!’

And, a little back alley belly flare. After all the rain that we’ve been having, I couldn’t resist soaking up the sun on this shoot. It actually even rained while we were out and about, but only for two minutes. I don’t know about you all, but I’m so DONE with the rain. Thanks for hanging out with me you guys! I can’t wait to meet your little one.

and a sneak peek of a sneak peek. That happens a lot, doesn’t it? Well, the truth of the matter is–I’m a bit like a kid at Christmas with new images. I can’t wait to open them. So, even though I am off for the weekend, I processed two from yesterday’s shoot and I love them soooo much, I thought I’d share.

I love this…there’s a baby in there

A 10×20 crop again…I love it so. This daddy to be was soooo sweet. I can’t wait to see him with his little girl There’s more to come from this shoot, so I’ll tell you all about it then!

On to Friday’s favorites…hmmm…today’s blog is actually a children’s photographer! I love her work and the name of her company Blue Candyland. Her blog is ‘Life in Blue Candyland.’ Check it out and be inspired…

http://bluecandy.typepad.com/my_weblog/

While you are all being inspired, I will be off making s’mores with my mom’s group for a father’s day camping excursion without my husband. Sound weird? Yes…it does, but my husband will be celebrating father’s day with his father in a canoe on some river in Northern Saskatchewan. Doesn’t that sound all manly? Not if you knew the fellows who are going Happy Father’s day to all the wonderful dad’s I know(and the soon to be dad’s).

So, when I was getting these shots ready for this sneak peek, Bob came into my office to have a look as he often does. He looked at them quietly and then asked, wasn’t this a maternity session? I said, yes. He said, then how come all the shots for their sneak peek are of their kids? So, then I went back and grabbed a couple of maternity ones to do. But, then I had a dilemna–I had too many shots for the sneak peek. Now, I like to be fair–I try not to favor one kid over the other, but if I was fair then I’d be putting up their whole gallery…argh! It’s tough being a fair photographer! So, I’m going to put ‘fairness’ aside for the moment(because as you can see–Dad is only kind of in one picture as well!). Good thing that little boy has yet to make an appearance! Oh the dilemna I’d have then!

Thanks for hanging out with me guys–in the wind while the rain held off. The girls outfits look so good against the green grass though that I know it was the right decision!

I LOVE this shot…I love how the wind is moving her hair and the look on her tiny little face…I just plain love it.

And, a ‘mother earth’ shot. I love how this turned out sitting in the weeds…I mean wild flowers.

And, I couldn’t resist sharing this one. I know she’s not ‘looking at the camera’, but if the wind in her hair isn’t the most beautiful thing…I love it! I just have one other thing to say–please mother earth, bring us some sun! I know that rain is good and brings life and all, but sun is good, too!

…jumping on the bed! This first shot is a surprise for his mom I always like to spend some time getting to know kids away from their parents so that they are comfortable with me. Sometimes things get a little crazy!!! This was a fun family who hadn’t had family pictures taken since their youngest was a baby! No pressure or anything Thanks for letting me be the one to run around with you!

Moms never have enough pictures of themselves with their kids! This is one of my new favorites.

I’m a headchopper. It’s true. I like to chop heads.

One of the last shots taken…a quiet(and relatively short) moment between these two brothers. I’m loving different crops lately. This is a 10×20. And, the dandelions are everywhere right now. Here in Calgary, it’s the closest thing we have to fields of wildflowers

Baby! New York came to Calgary, baby!!!!

I love the reflection of the yellow taxis in this one.

Cosmos…plenty of them!

Loot bags galore!

There was no contest for best shoes, but it was a Sex in the City party, so there were LOTS of great shoes. These would have won best pair if I was the judge of that make believe contest.

Our gracious hosts: Missy and Mommy Wear Daily…

Carrie Bradshaw–watch out!

This is my favorite mistake of the evening…my shutter was too slow, but isn’t it so old school New York? Love the movement of the gentleman in the background. Love it! Grab your 3 BFF’s and head out to the movie–I laughed so hard I almost pulled a Charlotte(you have to see the movie to get that one)…and I must admit I shed a tear or two.

I knew when I shot this image that it would be in black and white. I also knew that it had to be in a square crop! I love it soooooo….a new favorite for sure! Thanks for hanging with me today guys! I’ll show you more later in the week–I promise!

So, I don’t really DO weddings. That said…I did one. It was fun, too, but I don’t think Calgary’s wedding photographers have anything to worry about I mean…I LIKE shooting kids. That didn’t come out right….but I do. In fact, there are a LOT of pictures of the kids that were at this wedding. So, this is the last post about it. I promise…but, isn’t she a beautiful bride? I mean…seriously. Hair and makeup thanks to the lovely girls(I think they were both named Jillian) at ‘Get Banged’ in Inglewood.

The groom’s son and best man did this unprompted when I asked them to kiss…I thought it was cute.

Can you tell that I am loving negative space lately?

They were good sports…it was FREEZING cold as you can tell from this shot.

I thought this was funny…especially the ‘caution’ sign in the corner. All my loyal followers know, I LOVE SIGNS.

This is her saying Yay! It’s done!!!! I can warm up now!

And, this last one is just me playing around. Thanks for checking in. Congratulations to this lucky couple!

Only rain can bring rainbows. Right? I spent the day celebrating Lisa and Lee’s wedding yesterday. Here are the first few that caught my eye. More to come I promise, but my husband just said to me–’I want my wife back’. How can I resist?

Here’s the rainbow …a little color…

I love how the groom’s son and best man has his shirt untucked. It’s my favorite thing about that image. I’ll pop in again soon. Promise.

As promised, here are some photos of the Fabulous Miss ‘S’! What’s not to love about a girl who already loves shoes and chocolate?!! Plus, she has a pink laptop(it’s true) and, if I’m really nice, maybe she’ll let me play with it some day. She also has her own camera, but not her own website(she was quick to point out). She strikes me as a girl who gets what she wants though, so who knows…maybe I should be on the lookout!!!

Thanks again guys! I can’t wait to share the rest with you.

Do you know about Mommy Wear Daily yet? It’s Calgary’s own Kim Flanagan stylist extraordinaire! Rush out and sign up for her fabulously funny, fresh and fashionable newsletter. She helped me out recently by sending out the notice to her subscribers that I was looking for some cool, hip Calgary moms to beef up my maternity portfolio(if you haven’t noticed–it needs some beefing up). So, this is the first mommy that she sent my way! And, yay…cool, hip and fantastic kid Everyone knows how I like fantastic kids…so two posts this week about this family. First the belly post…then the kid post! I had to start out with a couple picture of these two because they were so cute. I hate to rat him out to his friends, but I saw this incredibly sweet note on their fridge from him to his girls…something about loving and missing

She had a couple of cute t-shirts…

read carefully…two peas–YAY!!!

Kids are great–everytime I ask kids to do this, I get a different result. I thought this one was sweet enough to share!

And, some cool street action. We headed out to Stephen Avenue where we took my favorite photos. Keep checking back because their cheeky little monkey gave me some fun shots that I’ll share later in the week! Thanks again guys…can’t wait to meet the boys!