Fotoart Photography Photoblog

photographers around the world...

...are joining in for an assignment put on by Barb Uil of Jinky Art.  The assignment:  take a picture on a Wednesday with sun or sunflare in it and post the image/images on October 15th.  I am sure I am the last one to post this as I am on the Westcoast.  And as my schedule had it, the Wednesday I picked was packed with activities but I had no session.  So after a busy day we rushed down to the beach to catch the sunset.  Check out what other photographers did around the world.  The links are below.

www.annecooperphotography.blogspot.com.au/

www.bambino-art.co.uk/blog.php

www.beechalmers.com/

www.blog.artofjoy.com.au/

www.blog.karenmenyhartphotography.com/

www.celiamay.com/blog.html

www.chirpydphotography.com/

www.crystalwrightphotography.net/blog/

www.dunlapportrait.com

www.eefphotography.com/

www.elenakphotographyblog.com

www.elkedous.blogspot.com.au

www.fromthebirdcage.wordpress.com/

www.generationsphotographyaz.com

www.gleeandblissblog.com

www.gwstudios.net

www.h2ophotography.ca/blog/

www.heatherwalkerphotos.com

www.jennifermorrowphotography.com/

www.jolamulder.nl/blog/

www.judyhohmann.wordpress.com/

www.KatieBrase.com/blog

www.kerrybphotography.com/blog

www.kimhillphotography.com/blog

www.Kristen.dvorscak.com

www.kristendukephotography.com/

www.littlecherubphotography.com/blog

www.mbymphotos.photographyblogsites.com/blog/

www.melindasphoto.com/blog

www.melissadepape.com/blog/

www.michelamagnani-blog.com

www.morganhendersonphotography.com

www.mosaicphotography.net/blog

www.mrssmartphotography.com.au/blog

www.nancyvazphotography.com/blog/

www.nicoleyardley.com/wp/blog/

www.ninatantzen.com/blog

www.ohtography.com/blog/

www.peanutsproutphotography.com

www.raivala.com/blog

www.rebeccamercia.com

www.rebeccapattersonphotography.wordpress.com

www.sandrabludauphoto.com

www.sandrahenriphotography.com.au/

www.sarakatedesigns.com.au/blog

 www.spryartblog.com

www.storybirdphotos.com/blog

www.TammySmithPhotography.com

days gone by

I was looking for something on my computer and came across a family album I made for my mother a long time ago.  I had scanned all the really old and precious family pictures into the computer and designed a book for her.  These are images of my grandparents and great grandparents and I love them, I really really love them.  This is history, this is my family, the family that is long gone and lives on in us.  The image I posted below is a wedding, I don't know whose wedding it is, I know my grandma and her parents are in this picture.  If you look closely, there is a little girl in the front and she is holding a wilted flower and her white tights are dirty.  This is what makes this picture so special for me.  Everybody is really stiff, but you know that this little girl played just before the picture was taken and might have gotten in trouble because now her clothes are dirty.  She creates a connection to other kids I have seen in many weddings I have taken over the years.  Maybe I have taken a similar picture and someone many years from now will look at it and try to create their own story from the family portrait.  

project 333 {victoria portrait and wedding photographer}

Project 333 is a personal project which was inspired by some other photographers I met during a workshop last year.  I started this project shortly after the year started, so it is save to assume that I will probably not cover an entire year with 365 pictures.  There will always be days when I just don't get around to shoot an image.  All daily images are posted on my personal facebook site.  I already started to work on my album layout for this project.  It will be a wirebound book with about 100 pages.  I love this book template from Volume 25 which is perfect for my project.  Here are a few pages I already designed from the past two months.

the other side of a portrait session {victoria baby and children photographer}

Parents love to see their little ones happy and smiling.  I think we all do because we love the sound of their little happy voices and their giggles and smiles.  During the course of any session, there are moments, when there are meltdowns, tears, and just typical moments in a life of a baby or toddler.  I seldom post these pictures but I do have lots of them.  I love the tender moments when a parent tries to sooth their child.  Like the image below.  It is one of my favorites from that session.  

This young lady wanted to hold the baby and was mad at her sister.  Her expression is priceless.

I love photographing this little girl.  I have known her since she was a baby.  She does not like to be separated from her mom, and is most happy in mom's arms.

And then there are the kids who don't know what to make of me with my camera.  I could really tell he did not want me in his space.  Eventually I captured some fun moments, but I do love his sceptical expression in that image.

 

the year ahead {victoria portrait and wedding photographer}

We are half way into January and I should make a list of some sort which I could call new year's resolutions, goals for this year, a business plan or some other title.  But this year, even though I love making lists, I only have one major goal.  

My resolution for this year is to be inspired and creative.  

Ha, easy enough, you might say, with all the inspiration out there from magazines, internet, available apps and books.  But I not only want to be inspired, but I want to turn the inspiration into creativity.  

I already started the year with project 333, which is a year in pictures.  333 are the days I want to document, one picture a day of moments that are easily forgotten otherwise.  Knowing me, there will be days I won't be able to shoot.  The project is posted on my personal facebook page and I will post a few images on my blog as the months go by.

This project was inspired by two other amamzing photographers I met at Barb Uil's workshop last year:  Rebecca Chalmers and Lindsay Burnham Nichols.  And we all have been inspired by Barb Uil's book ‘For The Love’ …  which is a must get if you have children and love pondering in photography.  

 

     ”A simplistic guide and adventure into opening up your world and allowing time to breathe, time to love, and time to embrace what you have.  An invitation to explore your creativity, whilst also recording the moments that your heart tells you that you must. 

     “For The Love” is a gentle reminder to mums, dads and grandparents that we need to slow down, record, and remember these precious days.

     “For the Love” is a guide to keeping a detailed time- line of your children and their life for them to cherish forever. And to create gifts to share with others. It’s all about creating just for the love of it.”

So many creative ideas in this book, just for that, it is worth the purchase.

And while I am recommending books, here are some more that have been an inspiration to me:

"Expressive Photography" - The Shutter Sister's Guide to Shooting from the Heart

"Within the Frame" - The Journey of Photographic Vision - David duChemin

"The Photographer's Eye" - Composition and Deisgn for Better Digital Photos - Michael Freeman

"Learning to See Creatively" - Bryan Peterson

And naturally, as I love my iPad, there are some amazing photography apps out there to get your creative juices flowing:  

500px  (has a tendency to crash but the images are amazing)

The Telegraph

The Guardian Eyewitness

Reuters Galleries

FlickStackr

Swiss Press Photo

If you can add to my list, please post a comment.  I could add many more links of blogs as well, but then my post could get very very long.  And lastly, one more thought:  always have a camera with you.  I purchased the little Fuji X100 and that is my constant companion because you never know what you might see.

So, enough words said, here are a few images from project 333.

blog silence {victoria portrait photographer}

It has been ages since I blocked, ok since September 21st, but it feels a lot longer than that.  We have three winners from my contest below and I am looking forward to take their family picture in fall or spring.  Two of them will also receive the wall calendar.  Thank you all again for participating.

I have been editing lots of images.  I am still catching up on all the sessions and weddings I had in August and September.  I also injured my arm, so computer and photography work is slow going right now.  Makes you aware how much you use the right arm/hand.  Very annoying.  A new project:  macro month with my little Fuji X100.  All images are posted on my personal facebook page.  I will post a few on my blog here.  A good exercise to be creative.  Stay tuned for more portrait session images to come soon.

i have been featured... {victoria portrait and wedding photographer}

... by my fried Robin Hindle, who is a wonderful creative graphic designer in town.  We met a very long time ago at Camosun College taking a literature course.  Oh, that is so long ago, I won't even tell you how long.  But here is her feature on her blog.  http://birdbraingraphics.com/  is her site, and this is the link to her blog: http://birdbraingraphics.com/?page_id=1337  There is even a little bio of me.  And because no post should be without a pictures, here is one of my latest session.  This could be a Nikon advertisement.  Love that shot.

sneak peek jasmine and charan day1 {victoria wedding photographer}

I am so excited to share a little sneak peek of the first images of Jasmine and Charan's formal engagement. Jasmine looked beyond gorgeous and Charan must have stepped right out of a magazine.  Their big wedding day is on Saturday.  Stay tuned for more to come in the next few days.

 

lensbaby {victoria portrait and commercial photographer}

Last year's Christmas present to myself was an entire lensbaby lineup of different lenses.  Just the names of the lenses make your mouth water:  Plastic Optic, Pinhole, Double Glass Optic, Fish Eye, Single Glass Optic.  Art has been reborn with the coming of the Lensbaby and the continuous improvement of their products.  My garden has some nice tulips right now, so I had to play around.  The perfect tulip pictures (I am still not quite there yet) will make big canvases in my house.  My walls are screaming for something, so that is my mission this spring:  produce photography art for my walls.  I hope my friend Lisa is reading this because she wanted to redecorate my sad bare walls some time ago.

Check out the website of Lensbaby.  I pretty much have the entire line up of lenses including the macro attachments which come in handy for closeups of flowers.  The only one missing is the composer, and oh, I am so tempted to add that to my wishlist as well.

 This was fern I spotted in Beacon Hill Park.  I love the softness of it.

new website images up {victoria photographer}

I usually update my website once a year, not often enough, I know.  These past days with snow and cold were perfect to finally get this job done.  My portrait/commercial site is finished and my wedding site will be done this weekend, hopefully.  So if you feel like checking out the latest images from last year, please click here.  Comments are always welcome.  

snow snow snow {victoria portrait photographer}

So here we are, end of February and Mother Nature decided to give us just a bit more of winter.  This weekend we went hiking, sunshine, blue sky, nice and crisp.  And today, we are all waking up to a huge amount of snow.  And that snow is dang heavy, I just shovelled out there.  Before I cleared the path though, I walked around and took some pictures.  Just too pretty not to.

Oh, and did I mention it is recycling day today.

This is our cherry tree in front of our house.  Just starting to get ready for spring.

favorites from yesterday {victoria portrait photographer}

A quick impromptu session yesterday late afternoon.

 

fruit, bubbles and some sunshine {victoria portrait photographer}

A little bit of color on a Saturday.  I wanted to do this for a long time, bubbly water, fruit slices and some nice natural light.  The blue sky in the background added to the overall color scheme.  I used my Canon 5DMarkII combined with the 100mm Macro lens.  Images 2 and 3: I set up a wine glass on a window sill, direct sunlight coming through the glass, the background is the blue sky (I was inside for the setup).  I shot from below to get the bubbles underneath the fruit slices.  Images 1 and 4 were shot from above.  Setup:  a piece of white paper on the floor, a shallow glass dish filled with bubbly water over the fruit slices.  Hours of fun.  

christmas tree display {victoria portrait photographer}

We went to see the Christmas Trees at the Empress last weekend.  I love this yearly event and I always admire all the beautiful displays.  I took my lensbaby along to take some pictures.  For all of you who don't know what a lensbaby is, here is a link to the manufacturer's website.  If I had more time, I would play a lot more with it.  That will go on my new year's resolution list I think.  

after the rain {portrait photographer victoria}

Once in a while I have some time to take nature pictures.  I am by no means an expert, but I do enjoy playing around with my macro.  So today, after the light rain, I saw these beautiful little spiderwebs on our backporch.  Spiderwebs amaze me to no end.

i am in love... {victoria portrait photographer}

...with my now new lens.  I put it to the test this morning with a beautiful and gentle dog.  Her name is Bette and she is adorable.  A temper, so sweet.  Cesar Millan would give her a big thumbs up for being calm.  Oh, very excited, we are going to see Cesar Millan tonight at the Memorial Arena.  Can't wait.  But back to my lens.  Best time to test: on the job.  Bette was the perfect subject because her eyes needed to be in sharp focus, and they were.  So sharp, it is almost scary.  Anybody wants to buy the Canon 50mm/1.4 from me, drop me an email and we can talk.  

 

to upgrade or not to upgrade {victoria portrait photographer}

For all of you who are interested in photography and all the techi stuff, today I tested the 50mm/1.2 lens.  A beautiful lens, but...  is it really worth the money I wonder.  I do have the 50mm/1.4.  Sounds pretty close to 1.2, doesn't it?  However, the price of the 1.2 is about 3x as much as the 1.4 which I own.  So I am wondering if I should upgrade or not.  Took some test shots this grey rainy afternoon and yes, it is sharper, has more contrast and so on.  I guess I need to do some more testing before I decide.  For now, here are some shots from this afternoon.  Some with the new lens, some with my old.  

 These images were taken with the 50/1.2

And the left image was taken with the 50/1.4, the right with the 1.2