The Wickenberg Family • Confederation Park

I have been trying to get out and take fall pictures of this family for years. For one reason or another, it's never worked out. Our schedules have simply clashed, and before you know it, there is snow on the ground.  However, it would seem this year, that all the stars aligned. We set a date, we met, we took pictures. The weather was amazing, the one downside was the terrible wind. It didn't deter us, we simply took photos in between wind gusts. 

You guys were awesome, thanks for letting me boss you around. 

 

The Paradis Family • Pearce Estate Park

Two weeks ago today, I was supposed to meet up with this sweet family. You might remember that two Saturdays ago the weather went from awesome to dreadful. It was rainy, cold and the wind... It was coming straight down from the Arctic. So, we rescheduled our photo shoot. And thank goodness we did, because we couldn't have had better conditions.

I haven't had a lot of opportunities to take photos of families with young kids, it's definitely a bit trickier. And, I'm pretty sure their little guy caught onto my tricks... 'What's on my head?', 'Where's the doggie?', 'Guess what I have in my bag?' to get him to look in my direction. All the tricks worked though, because I think there are some great photos.

Here are a few of my favourites:

[I have wanted to do a reflection picture For. Ev. Er... I was delighted to spot this puddle in the parking lot]

 

Day in Kananaskis

Monday, my Mum and I took a day trip to Kananaskis. The whole purpose of our trip was to get in the car, have our cameras, and stop and take photos when ever the mood struck.

And the mood struck. Quite a bit. So we pulled over and took photos. It was awesome.

We headed south out of Calgary, went through Okotoks and Black Diamond. There we got onto Highway 22, and headed towards Longview. There is a section of road, just south of Longview, [which I can only assume has been done by the rancher that owns the land] that has nailed hats along all the fence posts. It goes on for at least a kilometer. Maybe even two. The majority of the hats were baseball caps, but I saw quite a variety: hard hats, bucket hats, sun hats as well. It's very cool to see.

I'm passionate about photography. I'm most passionate about people pictures. Pictures that tell stories. So, to go out and take scenary pictures, it's kind of new for me. Kind of out of my element. But I still love it.

All the photos I took were taken in either Manual or Aperature mode. I've been practicing and getting better at understanding my camera. I've steered away from 'auto' I only turn to it in panic situations. When I want to ensure I get at least ONE good photo. Usually it's when people, or a celebration is involved. There are only 2 photos that have been altered, I'll make mention of which ones, when I get to them.  The rest of the pictures are straight out of the camera. Saved as .jpegs. I don't do RAW.

It was an overcast day. We saw everything today. Sun. Rain. Snow. Fog. When we got to the hats, it was a dense, low cloud cover. You should be able to see the spectacular mountains in the distance of a couple of these photos, but they were covered with clouds. 

This little bird, sitting atop the Calgary Flames hat. I looked in my bird book when I got home and think it might be a Savannah Sparrow.


Close up of our little bird friend.

And come on... I mean, it's the Calgary Flames after all.

We headed onto the Highwood Pass Highway, entering Kananaskis. We were super lucky, the highway had only opened the day before. It's closed during the winter. We were both shocked to see how much damage has been done, through the Highwood River area, with the floods of 2013. Many of the places along the road are still closed. I'm sure whole areas have been washed away. Even now, 2 years later you can see the destruction. We pretty well had the highway to ourselves. It was wonderful.

On our way we found an abandoned caboose. In the middle of nowhere.  

We stopped at Rock Glacier Trail. [Where the weather took a turn for colder and it was snowing] and caught a picture of this Pika. These little guys are found in mountainous terrains, and it said they rarely travel more than 10 m from these types of places. Lucky to see him. Glad Madelyn wasn't there, because the resemblance to a Chinchilla is undeniable, and I'm certain she would have tried to catch it... And after watching two women just about get into a fist fight about 'chasing the Pika', I'm pretty sure Miss Madelyn would not have been welcome here...

This is where we stopped to have lunch, on the Lower Lake of Kananaskis We were the only ones there. It was quiet and breathtaking. I know it gets so busy during the summer, so we felt fortunate to have the whole place to ourselves. 

And then this happened, shortly after we got back onto Highway 40, heading towards the TransCanada highway...

These are the only 2 photos I altered. And I did so, because in my shock and mad scramble to grab my camera and start taking photos, I forgot to set anything [shutter speed/aperature] in manual. I just started snapping. So these pictures were extremely under exposed. However, I was able to salvage them, and I think I did a pretty good job. Also, these pictures were taken through the windshield of the car.

People. We saw a grizzly bear. And he sauntered across the road... Not a care in the world. It's the longest I've ever seen a bear, that lives in the wild. [Meaning- not a bear in the zoo, which I've spent a lot of time looking at over the years] It was pretty exciting. And also, pretty scary. Because I have this unhealthy fear of bears...  It was a mere 15 minutes away from the place I'm supposed to go camping this summer... And I'm attempting to be very brave. But I'm now, a lot more nervous than I was before. I know they live in the woods. And believe me, I do have a healthy fear respect for them...

I've shown this picture to lots of people, and some have commented that they believe it be a juvenile grizzly. And having a boy on the cusp of 13... Well, I'm familiar with the term 'juvenile' and don't much like the sound of it. Apparently, you need to be even more careful of the juvenile bears, because they're more curious... And in the case of a nearly 13 year old, don't necessarily always make the best decisions... Eeks... Hoping this juvenile doesn't become delinquent. Especially the 3rd week of July.

Once my heart slowed down, and began to beat at it's proper resting rate again, we braved another stop. This time, we stopped at Wedge Lake. It was lovely. Quiet. Serene. I do love the outdoors. But now, after our earlier incident, I'm on the look out for critters...

And this guy totally counts as a critter. The kind I'm much more comfortable around...

Someone else told me that seeing a grizzly bear, was like one chance in a million... She's an avid hiker and has never seen one. So, I hope that my one grizzly sighting, from my car window, is my one in a million. I should also head to pick up lotto tickets.

Jeff, Lisa, Hudson and Baby Bump #2 • Calgary Maternity Photos

I was so excited to take maternity pictures of this sweet couple again. They are currently a family of 3 and days away from becoming a family of 4.

I was afraid that shooting pictures with a nearly 3 year old, would be a little bit challenging. But my worries subsided, because he did a great job. Little does he know that in a few short weeks, his role will change to big brother. I have no doubt he will be a super help to his Momma.

Here are some of my favourites from our session.

[Click on photo to see it larger, and scroll through] 

 

 

Mason - Calgary Children

So, obviously I need to be a bit more accountable to myself... Or have consequences for myself at the very least. I want to post something in this space once a week. I need to make the effort to make sure that happens.

I'm attempting to set that goal for myself. On the bright side, at least 3 weeks between posts is better than a couple of years between posts...

I want to challenge myself to take more pictures with my dslr this year. I take a ton of pictures, but the majority of them are on my iPhone. I still have the iPhone 4S, [I'm not one of those people who needs to upgrade to the latest and greatest gadgets as soon as they come out. I will have this phone until it works no more.] I also know that the quality of photos with the latest iPhone is even more amazing. I love that I have my phone on me all the time, and that I'm able to capture photos that I normally wouldn't. I always have a camera on me. My kids scoff at me, because I refer to my iPhone as 'my camera'.

Sorry I tend to get a tad off topic on occasion.

I mentioned in my last post, that I had bribed my kids a couple of summers back. My last post were the photos I had taken of Madelyn, back in 2013. These are the photos I took of Mason, then age 11. He was a super good sport about this. [I know this now especially, because we've entered the 'tween' years and are heading full on into teenage hood...] Eeks. I hope my mama heart is going to make it through these next few years.

Here are some photos of my handsome boy:

Miss Madelyn - Calgary Children

Last summer I bribed the kids to let me take their photos. LAST SUMMER, as in 2013. And I had intended to post them here, but never got around to it.

I met with a friend last week, and she told me, that she had created a goal for herself, in terms of her photography. She made a commitment to herself that she would do a blog post once a week. To ensure that she got out and shot some pictures.

And I seriously had an "A-ha" moment.

I'm truly embarrassed that I needed to hear that from someone else. That I didn't think of that on my own, to simply set a goal for myself. So I too, am making a commitment to myself, to post a picture or pictures here, at least once a week. And thank you to my friend [you know who you are] for inspiring me.

First up, some pictures of Miss Madelyn. Circa summer 2013. Then age 8.