Personal Project for May 2010

May 2010…Pughville. Crazy town. Mad chaos in the pouring rain and snow. That’s what May felt like here Georgia started soccer. Jack started baseball. Bob started taking on some contract work. Big adjustments. Of course, the snow and the rain prevented many soccer/baseball games, but today was a beautiful day and I finally got everyone in the sun for a spring type photo. 

Georgia is awesome at soccer. We are discovering that she is quite athletic. She is one of the faster kids on her team, but needs to learn what to do with the ball. She doesn’t seem to care about kicking it in and will usually let her team mate do it after she has run down the field with it. She has changed sooooooo much it is shocking. Hard to believe that a year and a half ago the only other kid she would talk to was her best little friend, Kiella, and now she is making friends at the park, at soccer, pretty much everywhere we go. We are so glad that we held her back from starting kindergarten until this fall. As it is, my heart is breaking a little that our last days at her preschool here in town are close at hand. They treated both our children with such love and respect and held our own hands when we had rough mornings(and with Georgia, there were quite a few of those). It will be hard to say farewell.

Jack has found his sport in baseball. He is still mastering catching the ball, but can hit really well and is finally focused and enjoying playing a team sport. Bob is the assistant coach(he is the most involved Dad I know). Even though he doesn’t really know the game, he is out there doing his part. Kids flock to him now. He is such a natural with them. Probably because he really is a big kid himself. Jack also finished Beavers this month and had his ceremony to swim up to Cubs. It was a big camp out over the mother’s day weekend…and, of course, Bob is a leader there as well. They loved being outdoors-even though it was pretty cold!! I think we are all eager to get back out in our tent trailer for some summertime fun!!

Bob started working again. It is super duper flexible and we are slowly figuring out the division of labour in the household. He works from home, so he still does a tonne around the house to help me out. I’m starting to get super busy again with the arrival of spring. It is taking some adjustments to figure out how we are going to split duties and give each other enough time to complete their work. It should get easier when Georgia starts kindergarten in the fall. Until then, we’ll just enjoy the nice days with our kids

Georgia and I went to Edmonton in May to be with my mother on her first major appointment dealing with her breast cancer. Even just typing that seems so weird. It still seems surreal. We are so unbelievably thrilled with the level of care and the organization of it. Mom receives a phone call pretty much every day from her nurse. She has been assigned a physical therapist, a nutritionist and a support group–on top of her team of doctors. She had her lumpectomy and just today we learned that the cancer has not spread beyond the tumor which is indeed good news. Soon her radiation will begin and then we will celebrate putting all this behind us. Thank you for the outpouring of love from our friends and family far and wide. Especially to those who only know us ‘online’ and have taken the time to send notes of encouragement. It means more than we can ever put into words. We are truly lucky given how bad it could have been. Early detection is the key! My mom is living proof of that!

I thought I would just add a couple of images taken tonight on the ball diamond. The light was delicious…happy spring one and all!

~Dana

PS–this is a project dreamt up by the fabulous Miss Tara Whitney  This month also marks the first month I heard someone call her Tara Winfrey…hahahahaha!!

All Boy All The Time | Calgary Family Photographer

From time to time, I get asked to do mentoring sessions for other photographers. Truth is, I often say no…for no other reason besides that I am already extremely busy and I need to squeeze in time with my own family as well…a few weeks ago, the stars aligned and I did a mentoring session for a photographer moving out to Victoria, BC…I’m shooting her family really soon as well!!!  Anyhow, she requested watching me shoot a family. I choose this family because…well, the mom was always saying how she wanted a session with me and the dad…well, the dad was Jack’s hockey coach last year and he was PHENOMENAL. We felt lucky to have had Jack on a team with a coach who was so laid back and so committed to getting the kids to have a great time. It was wonderful for me to be able to do this for them after they did so much for us

And then…Calgary and area being what it is in the spring time…spring began to disappear. It got kinda cold. And rainy(and even snowy, but that came after this session). Evenings meant welcoming thunderstorms instead of sunshine. And, this day was no exception. I was nervous that we would have to call it off, but I talked to the mom and we agreed to go out rain or shine. I secretly hoped for rain. It’s true. I’ve always wanted to do a session in the rain. BUT…what we got instead was glorious sunshine to the west and ominous, threatening clouds to the east. It made for a the most wonderful light…and we had a blanket to keep us warm(mostly mom who was brave and wore a dress)…I must say…I love the blanket

I feel like I have blogged about a quarter of their session here. It’s true. I’m an overshooter. My goal is not to provide one perfect portrait, but rather a collection of portraits that together show the personality and character and the LOVE that make up an individual family. This family is ALL BOY ALL THE TIME…I was going to say ‘poor mom’ but I secretly think she likes being surrounded by all the boy energy Soooooo…I’ve talked long enough.

I had to open with this first series of images as when you are brothers who are close in age and close in size, I imagine a lot of this sort of thing goes on I also know from having two kids of my own that they go from joking in one breath to fighting in the next. It’s a sibling thing And, as they age, you become more referree than anything else!

This next series of images is just mom with her boys

And, of course, there are always lots of family shots!!!!

The light that night was tooooooooo die for! I had to show these last few because I am longing for some beautiful sun like in these. And, I love how windswept and happy and content mom is. It makes me happy

Phew…that was a long post. If you are still with me–thanks! A quick note to say that the summer is filling fast and I am even booking fall sessions. If you would like to secure a date with me, make sure to do it soon!!! And, if you are interested in mentoring, just ask…you never know when the stars will align and I’ll be able to fit you in

Happy Monday

~Dana

Shades of Grey | Calgary Photographer

It’s May…and today I am thinking the world is not black and white. Even though the snow is falling down. It’s beautiful shades of grey.

I met the most lovely little girl today. I was at her house to photograph her new baby brother. I got this one of her(and one or two more )…but this one is a new fave for me. I love when that happens!

Spring will return. I know it will

~Dana