Part One–Pop Shoppe and Tutus | Calgary Family Photographer

I don’t even know where to begin.

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

Big Rock Family Session | Calgary Family Session

With this crazy weather, I have been lucky to not have to reschedule very many sessions. This famiy was kind enough to wait out the rain in their minivan so we could take advantage of the glorious post rain sunshine. And glorious it was While we were waiting, we decided to take some shots in the minivan to pass the time. Then we headed out to enjoy the vast openness of Alberta’s prairie landscape. This family had this session to remember their time in Alberta before they moved to Victoria, BC. They are already there and I’m sending this out to remind them of the beauty that they left behind…and some of the beauty that they will always have with them.

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.

Personal Images

I have been wanting to update everyone as to how my mom is doing. It’s been amazing to get all the blog comments, facebook notes, emails, etc from our friends and family (and total strangers). We feel all of your prayers and hugs and positive healing energy and it is being put to good use. We had some disappointing news a couple of weeks ago. The cancer was graded as a grade 3 which basically means that it is really aggressive. So, Mom was given the choice to have chemo–a sort of preemptive strike. A measure to help fight against it ever returning. Of course, this does not guarantee it will never return, but it does greaten the odds. So, Mom started chemotherapy on Friday. I went to Edmonton to be with her for her first treatment.

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