B3

When she first contacted me, she was hesitant, but she really wanted to capture this all-too-fleeting time, and so, she decided to trust me.

It had been many years since I had seen her in person. Social media, in its own way, had managed to keep us in remote contact. The moment I saw her, she was just as I remembered her, calm, sure, relaxed…and those eyes…those incredible eyes…all qualities I admired in her in our younger days. Now, however, there was the belly, the true reason of our meeting again.

As with all reunions, we caught up, reminisced. Both of our lives had changed so much in the last few years. She told me the details of how she met her husband, how fate had brought them together. We spoke of each of our day-to-day lives, too, but the most important part of our conversation was of what was to be. We spoke of strollers, and ultrasounds, nurseries, and life after baby’s arrival.

In our initial conversation about this photo shoot, I had confided in her that I had never had maternity shots taken, and that medical issues had gotten in the way of my plans. It is something I have always regretted. Even now, when I come across an occasional photo of my own round belly from years ago, I am awestruck that it is me. Part of my own story. I often imagine what kind of photos I envision of myself for that time, and I think that with this shoot, I tried to live vicariously through these images.As I have mentioned before, with every shoot, I learn something. The lesson here, however, was perhaps a more personal one. In all my work, I strive to capture what I would wish for images of my own story, my own family.

L, thank you from the bottom of my heart for having shared this precious time with me, for including me in part of your story and for allowing me the opportunity to capture you in all your beauty. I look forward to hearing of B³'s safe arrival. xoxo

Big S & Little S

Here's a secret: Up until now, whenever I have walked into someone's home for a session, I have a certain level of anxiety. What if my mind goes blank, and I lose control of the session? What if the kids don't warm up to me, or are uncooperative?

Having said that, I am happy to report that, so far, I haven't run into any of these situations. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the kids  I have had the pleasure of working with have enjoyed themselves, and that getting their picture taken was relatively painless for them. Nevertheless, there is always the fear that the conditions during a session may be less than ideal.

On this day, I was feeling no different. I had met these little people previously in the fall, and it was more than likely that they would not remember who I was. What I quickly realized was I had nothing to worry about. This little almost-four year-old young man was the most ideal model. He not only greeted me enthusiastically, he posed for me without any prompting, in such a natural, relaxed way, I could not have asked for more. His little sister was a dream, easy-going, content just hanging out. And Mama? Well, she and I had the most amazing chat, and we had so much fun, in fact, we lost track of time.

Here's another secret: by the end of the session, a little piece of my heart had been stolen by this boy. He is just an awesome little person - full of energy, enthusiasm, sweetness, an amazing conversationalist, and positively gorgeous to boot. I feel honoured he was willing to show me his dance interpretation of one of his favourite Elvis songs, complete with splits, flips, and pirouettes. After his performance, when I asked him how he knew how to dance like that, true to form, he shrugged and replied, "I just know."

I believe you do, S.

Lopez

This is Lopez. Lopez is what happens when a Mama is stuck inside with two little girls on a rainy day in May. It was Aurelia’s idea to make a caterpillar. Truth be told , Lopez, named after Daddy’s muse, Jennifer,was not our first attempt at a pompom caterpillar. The first caterpillar we attempted to make with pompoms a while back was too fragile to survive any kind of touching, as the glue proved to be an inefficient mean of assembly. This time, however, I had the idea to run a needle and thread through them all, and it worked really well. Apparently in the process, we also created Lopez’s best asset, according to Aurelia, anyway. You see, the thread I used was red, and Lopez’s tail-end pompom was bright yellow, so the knotted thread was fairly obvious. I predicted when I was making him, that this little knot would be the topic of many conversations, and I was not wrong.

Late last night, at around 1030pm, once Eloïse was in bed, Aurelia, who had gotten out of bed, asked to hold Lopez. Having been up since 4am, I was exhausted. So when Aurelia asked me what that tiny knot of thread was, I absent-mindedly responded, “It’s Lopez’s bum hole.” She paused, examined it more closely, and declared, “Oh! You’re right!”. Well, this little knot of thread kept her busy for an hour.Ben and I were talking in another room, and we would hear the little pitter-pat of her feet coming toward us, and she would exclaim, while pointing at Lopez’s derrière, “Look,Mama! It’s Lopez’s bum hole.” (If we were more responsible parents, we might have thought this to be disturbing, but luckily, we are not, so instead, we thought it was hilarious.)

Morning arrives. When Lopez’s is finally pulled off the shelf from his resting place by Aurelia, the first thing she examined was his bum hole. And then she proceeded to explain Lopez’s anatomy to Eloïse, a moment I was lucky enough to capture on camera.
Sadly, Lopez did not survive the day without first losing his eyes, and losing his “figure”. But not before he received a lot of love and praise for his bum hole from two little girls.
The lesson here? If your name is Lopez, it’s always about the booty.

"UMBLALA!"

What's that, you say? To you, it may appear to be part of an apple speared by a chopstick, but our little Eloïse declared it to be her version of an "umblala". That's right, an umbrella.

Oh, how I love her.

Baby B. January 10th, 2011.

This is Baby B, the last in a family of three gorgeous boys. These photos were taken on his Mama's birthday when he was just ten days old. My first newborn shoot, and I have to say he was a dream to photograph. The little guy hardly made a peep, even when we attempted to wrap him in cheesecloth, and idea we quickly nixed when he started looking like a mummy. He was already perfect just as he was.

His mama is one of my oldest friends. We first met in high school, and although most of our interaction these days is via social networking, there is something to be said about the friends who knew you when you were rolling your jeans, and drove around the neighborhood looking for certain young men on skateboards.

Thanks, Drea, for the privilege of photographing your beautiful new baby boy. He is lucky to have been born into such an amazing family. 

Oh, and thanks for sharing your birthday macarons.

A & M: November 18th, 2010

When I first contacted my good friend Drea and asked her if she would be willing to let me photograph her two sons, I was nervous. It was a combination of asking for help, putting myself "out there", and all the fear of my technical shortcomings. But I also knew I just needed to begin.

So when she greeted my proposal with enthusiasm, I was really happy and excited, but a little, ok, a lot anxious, too. I mean, I might get there and totally lose it. Maybe there will be poor natural light, or the kids won't like me, or I won't know what to do with them, and end up with a whole bunch of same looking, badly exposed, boring photographs. All of this was running through my head.

The night before I slept very little, but once morning came, I felt as ready as I would ever be. I would give it my very best, and that is all I could ask for, really.

When I arrived, and Drea introduced me to her two sons,A & M, they were a little apprehensive. Little did they know, they were making me shake in my boots. We decided to have them show me their room. Mom followed us because although the kids knew why I was there, you have to admit, it is a little weird. However, after a few minutes I realized her presence was freaking me out, so I told Drea we wouldn't need her, and she left us alone. Anyway, we just hung out for a bit. They mostly talked with each other, and I slowly started clicking away.

Prior to the day of the shoot, I had asked Drea to answer a few short questions about her boys. Since I had never met them except for her oldest on the day he was born, I thought it was a good way to get a little insight into each of their personalities since our time together would be limited. One of the questions I asked her was what made them laugh. Her response was "anything related to butts, farts, puke, etc." When she initially gave me that response,little did I realize how that would be the key to getting them to open up to me. Up until that point, they were playing pretty quietly, hardly looking at me, and talking very little. Then, M came across something with a strong odor, and declared :"Uhh, it smells like puke." There was a pause, as both boys looked straight at me as if to gauge my reaction. I burst out laughing. And sudddenly, just like that, I was in the club.

Suddenly, the entire energy shifted. They relaxed, started playing, laughing, looking and interacting with me, posing for me. It all started to come together. It was a blast. They are two amazing little men, one quite energetic, and the other a little more reserved. The idea of photographing two boys ages 6 and 4 at the same time sounds quite challenging, but really, I could not have asked for better models. They were awesome.

Thank you A & M for a fun-filled morning. You have no idea how much you taught me during our short time together.

On The Road

Yes, I am back! It has been nearly a year since I posted on this blog. I can't believe it. Way too long. Anyway, so much has happened in this last year, particularly for me, creatively. I am not quite ready to talk about it all here. To be honest, I feel quite vulnerable about the whole thing. However, more than anything, I am excited. I am on the verge of something big, and it feels awesome.