LUCKY #7!

July 7, 2007...7-7-7

...In case you are not aware, this is the luckiest day to be wed this year...and likely one of the most sought-after dates on the 2007 wedding calendar. Two of the luckiest people getting married that day are none other than my cousin David and his beautiful, warm and fun-loving bride-to-be Julie!

This past Saturday, I had a ball taking Enagagement Photos for them, down at the Toronto waterfront. It's where they had their first date...and many dates thereafter - and is still, and always will be, one of their favourite spots to walk, talk and share memories (and the odd ice cream!). We had perfect weather - the sky was a gorgeous blue ('sky blue', to be exact!;0) and it was just the right temperature...a day like we are all hoping for on 7-7-7!

Just in case you want to read more about Julie and David: The Globe and Mail is doing a feature article on this Lucky Number 7 couple and their special day. Get your copy this Saturday (June 30) and read all about my soon-to-be-famous cousins! (Isn't that cool?!)

A Beautiful Family!

This past Saturday, I met Sarah and Peter, a lovely couple from Dundas, and we spent an hour or so in their backyard taking photos of their family. The two older boys (Ben and Sam) are such pleasant and polite young men - and Patrick is just about the cutest, happiest baby I have seen. The rain held off and we got some lovely shots!

::Staci & James::

I met Staci a few months ago, and after many fun phone calls, I finally got to meet James at their Engagement Photo Session. What a lovely couple they are - full of life and love for one another. Here are just a few of the photos from our time together the other day.

::KINDRED SPIRITS::

Laurie Reviol, my most kindred spirit in this world (other than my husband!), was my Matron of Honour at our wedding. Laurie is a professional singer, based in Germany, and for those of you who were at our "Concert Wedding", I'm sure you'll remember as she sang coming up the aisle, and all of her wonderful singing during the wedding itself.

We see each other very rarely these days - once or twice every few years. But the sign that our friendship is genuine is knowing that we can fall immediately into our old familiar ways - with no awkwardness or strained silences. We laugh and cajole each other, just as we have since our university days. I was honoured to take her photograph today for a new set of publicity shots. In her signature style, Laurie wanted something a bit different: an unlikely setting for photos of a classical singer. I suggested the vintage 1930's restaurant Easterbrook's in Aldershot, Ontario. These are a few of the photos taken at this very cool and legendary hot-dog stand: 77 years of lovers odes carved into the wooden booths, the jukebox, arcade machines, even the locals add to the fantastic atmosphere. Take your best friend some time!

::HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!::

It wasn't until I became a mom myself that I truly began to understand what an amazing job my mother did (and continues to do!) for me and what 'being a mother' really means. And now she is such an incredible Grandma too! (Look at the loving glance from my girl to her 'grappa')!

To my mom, my mother-in-law, my Beppe, my sisters-in-law, my great aunts, aunts, cousins, and friends who are moms...this one's for you!

Have a wonderful day tomorrow!

love,

Me

::It's All About The Light::

I bought these "Teggs" at the hardware store - something of a novelty for our daughter: 3 glowing, malleable eggs, which morph into the full colour spectrum. If you time it right you can get them to synchronize their colours...Then you have fun with the camera!
Our teenage niece was game to give this unique portrait setting a try!

::Country Cousins::

My daughter had quite a monumental day yesterday: it was the first time ::EVER:: mommy had left her with someone other than daddy, grandma or her Beppe and Pake. She got to go and have a play date with her country cousins and had a ball getting all wet playing with 'the water table', having tickle-time on the carpet, eating grilled cheese 'sammiches', and seeing trilliums for the first time! I'm happy to report that neither of us was fazed by this new development (leaving her with others) - we both took it in stride! This is a photo of my darling gal learning a thing or two from her older country cuz!

::ALMOST DUE::

I met Brooke, the fun and fab mom-to-be in these photos, at the end of March and was so happy to arrange a Maternity Portrait Session for her - we just had to find the right time...and fast! She is due to have the little one on May 11 - and we were finally able to get together on May 2nd - nothing like taking it to the last minute! As you can see from the photos, we had an amazing time in the session - making each other laugh and talking 'baby stuff'! Brooke (who hasn't done any actual modelling), was so natural and confident in the session, that it was hard to remember this fact! It was truly a joy to take her photograph! Now I can't wait to photograph mommy and daddy and the new babe - whoever he or she might be!

Real Life...Weddings!

I was hired recently by a florist from Hamilton, who wanted me to photograph samples of her wedding bouquets for her website. Yesterday was the day we had selected and she had rented the Gage Park Greenhouses (in case of rain). Of course Sunday turned out to be an absolutely glorious day, and so we did a large portion of the photos outside, as well as inside the greenhouses. Adele had invited some good friends of hers to act as models, and they were amazing. They had never done any modelling before and I loved this fact, as it is in keeping with my slogan of "Real Life"...We had a great couple of hours together and these are just a few of the shots from the session.

Concert Dilemma!

Don't you just hate it when you want to be in 2 places at once! Tonight was one of those night's for me. Jacob Moon was performing in Jarvis, of all places - but there was also a performance by Rob Lamothe and Hailey Gillis in Dunnville at Flyers Cafe. I have seen Jacob perform before - have even presented him in concert and he's amazing - but I have been trying to see Rob Lamothe perform solo for some time...so Dunnville won out. And I'm glad I went!

Rob is a fabulous singer-songwriter (Google him sometime - he's written and produced some big talent!) who has an awesome voice and who makes these luscious, thick sounds on his guitar, and encorporates live-looping while he plays. He was ably accompanied by his very cool and 'swampy' (a compliment from his dad!) 15-year-old son Zander Lamothe on drums and by Chad Brown on bass.

One of the sweetest highlights of the evening was seeing/hearing 15-year-old Hailey Gillis sing. She performed solo, with Rob, Zander and Chad backing her and she also sang back-up for Rob. What a voice! This girl is going to go places! She is quite possibly as big an Eva Cassidy fan as I am, and covered some Eva songs tonight. These weren't copy-cat performances...no...but really amazing, mature, original versions! Hailey is working on a CD and I will definately pick up a copy when it's released. Watch out for these performers - you won't be disappointed! (And go check out Flyers Cafe on the main drag in Dunnville - a cool, old cafe/bakery/music venue, which is operated by some super nice people who write really entertaining mailing-list emails and blogs on their website! Hello Fran!!)

A Simple Wish!

This little boy, whose name is Shane Bernier, has cancer: acute lymphocytic leukemia, to be exact. I was sent an email explaining his struggle and that he has one simple wish: to make it into the Guiness Book of World Records by becoming the first person to ever receive 3.5 million Birthday Cards. Shane's 8th birthday is on May 30 of this year...let's all send him a card and help his wish come true. You can write to Shane at:

Shane Bernier

P.O. Box 484

Lancaster, Ontario

Canada

K0C 1N0

Also: check out his websites at www.shaneswish.com and www.shanebernier.ca - where there are links to media articles, YouTube interviews, Facebook Group pages and more. You can even send an electronic birthday card, and 2 of these are posted on the second website (above).

Tell everyone you know about Shane: community groups, your church family, youth groups, when you are at the hairdresser, etc., etc. - the more cards that are sent, the closer this little guy will be to having his simple wish come true.

(Photo reprinted from www.shaneswish.com)

Urban Decay...

Yesterday, my hubby and I and our friend Ben went to Brantford to tranfer the ownership of my mom's old car to Ben - who is now the proud owner of a Dodge Spirit! Afterwards, we had some great Thai food at a restaurant on Colbourne St. called My Thai - check them out! Awesome food - atmosphere is a bit weird (the place used to be an old Irish Pub) and it sits in the middle of the desolation of downtown Brantford. But really tasty dishes for those of you feeling slightly adventurous! (and they have locations in Hamilton, Burlington and Ancaster, too!)

Brantford was obviously a booming and vibrant downtown years ago, with many incredible buildings! Lots of great architecture! It is really sad to see what the "progress" of shopping malls and suburbia has done to this town and so many others. I was happy to note, though, that there is quite a bit of construction going on for housing in this area. And artists co-ops and the like...same thing seems to be happening in Hamilton (my home town!) and I am so glad to see it. The artists will save the day in the end!

Ben is doing some modelling for an agency in Ontario and wanted some photos done. We did a bunch of headshots later on at our home studio - but first we crawled around (sometimes literally!) amongst the cigarette butts and discarded refuse of this part of Brantford, and found some fabulous places to snap some shots. All I can say is...we found the most amazing, ancient brick wall I have ever seen: flaky and rotting, mortar oozing out everywhere, the odd screw painted bright blue and sticking out here and there, plaster barely hanging on, and some intriguing messages spray painted for us to ponder. I just love old bricks and rusted pipes and crackling, peeling paint - turns out Ben does to! This juxtaposition of man and nature appeals to both of us! Another quirky reason why we 'click' as friends!