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

just felt like sharing,

~ Dana

‘You can’t prove that?’
‘Prove what?’ I said.
‘Prove that clams are all that happy.’
‘What reasons do clams have to be unhappy?’ I ask.
‘That doesn’t matter. What matters is that we cannot prove that clams are happy.’
To which I attempt my very best closed mouth clam smiling impersonation. With my hands I form a clam and make them go snap, snap.
‘That is just indifferent at best’ replies Bob.
‘Well then the kids will be as indifferent as clams’

We should be on a reality tv show Our banter is awesome.

Me. At The Calgary Stampede. Attempting to win a stuffed Barack Obama with my friends(it was a group effort as you had to win 10 times). We did. Then, we took him for a much needed drink.

Happy Wednesday,

~Dana

This lovely family had two very sweet babies. I visited with them on a stormy afternoon and went home feeling all warm and happy.

I love how fresh and new the following images are. If you spend much time with newborns, you will surely appreciate all the little newborn yawns and stretches…the exploring they do while they get used to their new environment.

Thank you for welcoming me into your home to document this exciting time in your family’s history…twice the fun.

~ Dana

Another Edmonton family hits the blog. Another family of a fellow photographer…so, I get asked to shoot in Edmonton quite a bit. I am there very often and I take a list of interested parties and contact them when I know I will be there and have time for a session. If you live in Edmonton(or St. Albert or Sherwood Park or Spruce Grove) and are interested in a session, do not hesitate to contact me. If I cannot accommodate you in a timely fashion, I can certainly suggest some incredibly talented artists up there to help you out

On with the images….beauty amongst the weeds

Thanks for looking everyone!!! I am excited to be launching my new websites very soon!!! Yes, you read right–websites! I’m launching a wedding website!!! And, with the launching of these new sites will come a contest….so keep an eye out!!!

Have a happy week!
~ Dana

Have a wonderful weekend with your family

~ Dana

Bare with me…

I was reading this book by Cecilia Ahren called ‘If You Could See Me Now’ when I was completely inspired by one particular scene…a scene in which a grown woman, her nephew and their imaginary friend dance in a field of dandelions and try to capture the jinny joes. Jinny Joes being the little fairies that carry the dandelion wishes to the heavens. I had this wonderful vision of this family trying to catch their wishes and keep them locked up in mason jars. I told Michelle of my wish for a field of dandelions with glorious light. This is what we found:

People often ask me about my inspiration and I always say that I find it from my subjects. This is true…for the most part. The reason why I was drawn to this idea for this family was because of the journey they had taken over the last six months. One day in January I heard about it all…their baby–their precious little beautiful baby had a day of seizures. Tests, drugs, prayers and love followed. And continued to follow. You can read a bit about it on Michelle’s blog. It is their story to tell and it is still happening. Their beautiful baby has turned one which is a feat in and of itself. The other feat, the most amazing and wonderful and celebrated one, is that she is and has been for some time, seizure free. They are amazing to me–the whole family–for their love and commitment to each other. For their strength. Such a beautiful thing to witness.

So, when I told them that we were going to go and try to capture the jinny joes…explaining to them exactly what they were. Michelle picked up her babies and walked to the middle of the field grabbing the first dandelion at her feet. She looked up to the heaven and made the most glorious wish ‘I wish that all my children would grow up to be healthy and happy’…thus, started the most amazing session of light and love. These jinny joes we let fly and I am confident that they reached their destination.

This was my largest gallery EVER. By a lot…so narrowing it down for a post seems an impossible task. Here are some favorites of the girls…

Being a photographer, Michelle is rarely in the photos…we changed that.

I truly believe in the importance of parent images. Images that show the love they share so their kids can see it. Heck, so they can see it. I love these parent photos.

 It’s funny because I have realized that what makes up my most favorite of sessions is not so much the final outcome, but the experience that we all had getting there. This night was a gift to me. Truly it was. The images are just a bonus. Thank you to the wonderful Anderson family for being so present.

And, if you read this whole thing and looked at every picture–THANK YOU!!! Image overload for sure….

~Dana

How about at the beginning?

About a year and a half ago, Michelle approached me about doing family images for her in Banff–a maternity/family session as she was pregnant with her third child. A winter session with fun mitts and hats and hot chocolate. I was sooooooo looking forward to it because most families seem hesitant to get outside in the winter. Of course, Michelle was also a photographer and was keen to try anything.

A few days before the scheduled session, one of her parents fell gravely ill and she had to fly to be with them. The session would have to wait. I was disappointed, but understood. We decided to wait until baby #3 arrived and capture the family as a whole. We scheduled the session a second time over Thanksgiving(Canadian). The weather was so unbelievably horrible. UNBELIEVABLY windy. Early snow killing all plantlife and leaving a smelly mushy mess. Still, we decided to try it at the end of the weekend. Well, at the end of the weekend, everyone had the flu. An emergency room visiting flu. SERIOUSLY???? ARE YOU KIDDDING ME, LIFE???? Michelle and I cried on the phone as we agreed to reschedule it for the new year.

It finally happened about a month ago.

We shot for FOUR HOURS. The children were wonderful and loving and patient and peaceful and everything fell wonderfully into place. And the story of what happened to them in the time from October until we were able to meet again was always at the front of our minds. We laughed, we cried, we hugged. And, the session was magic. Really truly magical. It was also like two sessions with the first one full of bright fun and the second one full of peace. So….here is part one:

I want to say here that Michelle was worried about their little home not being suitable. Almost all of my clients have fears about shooting in their homes as they see the houses on my website and blog and think that I must always shoot in showhomes. I am lucky to shoot in homes that are perfectly decorated with love ;)

This is one daddy who is perfectly happy to be surrounded by four beautiful women. And, they all ‘dig’ him

 I will post the second part soon and tell you about the amazing journey that this family has been through in the last year. It has been a year that has brought them close together, but it has also made them live so incredibly in the moment. I can’t wait to share the rest of their images with you.

~ Dana

I love the mixture of craziness and loveliness in their images.

The sun was so bright and wonderful that night. The light was really a dream to work with so there were very few black and whites in their gallery, but the one below of the little boy is everything a black and white should be in my opinion

Celebrating the gorgeous openness of the Alberta sky

 This is photographer, Julie Redford and her family. Julie came to me for a series of mentoring sessions in May and wrapped up our time together with her own family session. It turned out to be one of the nicest nights I have ever had the pleasure of shooting in

Thanks again guys! I hope you are enjoying your new home! Your disc is in the mail

~ Dana

PS–I take on mentoring clients from time to time. If you are interested, please contact us for details.

The day itself was actually pretty uneventful. We celebrated by going to Duchess Bakery(which is unbelievable) for lunch. Then, we went shopping a bit. The last couple of days have been rough as was expected, but when I spoke with her this morning, she was sounding more like herself. We are grateful that her BFF from Saskatchewan is coming to join her today. She has promised to treat her with Reiki and Reflexology and just a general sense of peace and healing which accompanies this woman where ever she goes. Right now, we are keeping our heads in the game and fighting this with all we’ve got, but I’m not gonna lie. We are looking forward to the day when it is all behind us…sometime around Christmas. Thank you all again for your love and support. And, a huge thanks to my clients who have all been so understanding.

~ Dana

He’s back

I love watching families grow!!! 

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will soon be launching a whole new site and with it, a whole new way of doing things. Not really a price increase, but a change. Sooooo, if you were hoping to book a session with me before the end of the year at my current rates–book now!!!! Once my new site launches, it will be out with the old and in with the new!!!

And, no. This Buzz did not have a Spanish version. Bummer.

~ Dana