Newborns are more aware of what’s going on than a lot of people give them credit for – especially people who have never had a baby (like me). Sometimes they chill out and go with the flow, and sometimes they ain’t having it. They sense new situations and people, and they notice when people are fussing over them too much. Take the photo shoot of 3 week old baby Chase for example. Sleepy, bendy and oh so brand new, he was out cold when I arrived. Mom had fed him, Grandma made sure the house was warm, and then I, the noisy lady with the noisy camera arrived to ruin everything.

Chase wouldn’t settle after we moved into the family room to shoot. No matter what we tried, he was not having it. I did, however, manage to get some keepers anyway. He went to sleep after I left, of course.

Hagen should be on TV. One of the easiest going children I’ve ever met. Talkative without being annoying, energetic without making me exhausted, and handsome as heck so very easy to photograph! We trekked around Rocky Point Park for his shoot and he sure was entertaining to say the least.

I do a lot of my photo shoots at Rocky Point Park. There’s cover if it rains (IF! ha!), the ocean, the pier, lots of greenery, playground and water park, and fun structures to shoot around. I don’t usually suggest it to clients because I shoot there so much but I get asked to do shoots here all the time! I do like variety, but I also like being familiar with a location. And if it’s raining the day of the shoot, it’s my go-to because of all the covered areas it offers.

So here’s Hagen!

Irene hit a special milestone birthday (do I dare say which one?) and wanted to commemorate this day with 2 of her favorite people in the world – her grandchildren Nick and Katie. We hit up the pier at Rocky Point park, then headed over to the old train museum where the kids posed it up for me.

I love that Irene made sure everyone was wearing color. (Especially love Katie’s outfit – little doll!) She didn’t ask me beforehand what she should wear – I get that question a lot. I always just say something like don’t be too matchy matchy, and don’t wear crazy conflicting patterns. Seriously, you’ll break my lens if you do. The best thing to wear is something you’ll be proud to see in a photo 10, 15, 20 years down the road! And guys, please don’t wear those ratty runners.

On to the photos!

When she walked in, I saw the box and asked if I could peek inside. Hardly a hello, just let me see the shoes. I hope I didn’t come across rude! Valentino made these delicious patent pink beauties…DROOL! I’m a shoe freak, if there’s one thing I spend good $ on, it’s the shoes. Maybe I’ll start a shoe category on my blog…the first post would definitely be my favorite shoes I bought just before Christmas.

It was great working with you Miss J, you pulled off some great poses I never would have thought of. Helps to have a flexible dancer’s body!

We had an incredible day to shoot Michelle & RJ’s engagement photos at Granville Island. I have looked through these photos at least a dozen times and all I can keep thinking is “gawd, they’re so photogenic!” So is Granville Island, lending to some photos I’m so so so happy with. The sky was mostly overcast, and when the sun began sinking in the sky, the clouds broke, giving us some pretty spectacular light. Shoots like this make me wish I lived closer to Vancouver to have easy access to fun places like Granville Island.

I’ll be photographing Michelle & RJ’s wedding this August at Redwoods Golf Course in Langley…so excited already!

These 3 cuties are Penelope, Sebastian and Sasha.  Sebastian is the son of my ex-landlord and though he didn’t want to look up at the camera for this shot, I can still see that sweet smile he’s trying to hide.  Sasha and Sebastian are best friends and when they see each other, it’s like one of those movies where long lost family members re-unite.  Except with them, it’s a show EVERY time they see each other.

It was COLD the day we took this and you can see the kids’ breath in the air!

On Christmas Eve me and Jeff did an impromptu photo session after realizing we didn’t have any gift tags or Christmas cards to put on our gifts.  The result was an insanely goofy picture of us and our dog, Punky.  It got quite a bit of attention on Facebook and I think we’ve started a little trend and I’ll have to think of something fun to out-do ourselves this year.

Shortly after posting the photo on Facebook I was contacted by the gorgeous Kristin who had done a shoot with me in the past.  She saw the photo and thought it would be fun to do something along the same lines with her hubby and pup for Valentine’s Day.  This shot was my fav from the shoot today.

Kristin & Tyler’s Frenchie, Morrie was a little star.  I had to make an extremely annoying noise to get him to look at the camera but it worked

When I met with Allison’s parents to view her photos, I asked if she did go to sleep right after the shoot.  Her mom said “YES! Of course!”  I am glad Allison did stay awake – we got so many expressive shots of the little one.

Here’s Allison!

I second shot Nathan and Nicole’s wedding along with Michelle Cervo and Mikaela Ruth, who I met for the first time on this day.  I’ve second shot with Michelle Cervo a few times.  She texted me the day before saying “I may or may not need you to be the primary shooter tomorrow.” and continued to tell me she was dead sick.  This is a wedding photographer’s nightmare!   You can’t exactly call in sick the day you’re supposed to shoot a wedding.

Michelle hung in there for the entire 10 hour wedding and you’d never know she was sick.  A trooper, that one.

On to my shots from Nathan and Nicole’s Mission wedding.

Introducing Allison!  Only 2 weeks old, this little muffin refused to go to sleep for the entire hour and a half shoot.  Mom insisted that feeding her would conk her out – nope!  Dad said rocking her back and forth would make her go to sleep for sure.  That didn’t work either.  She never did get to sleep for more than a few minutes!  Little Allison wasn’t fussy at all, she was just content to hang out and model for the camera.

More photos from Allison’s photo shoot to come!