PHOTO OF THE WEEK #4 - Wet Bridge

I know, not a very original or exciting title. ;) It was all I could come up with this morning.

Last weekend I participated in Scott Kelby's World Wide Photo Walk. Bryan Weiss of Daytripper Photo lead the local walk in Newmarket.

I'll have a separate blog post with some additional pictures from that rainy afternoon, but for now, here's one for my Photo of the Week from last week.

When I was waiting for the bridge to clear to take the photo, I had a specific 'look' that I was trying to get, but it didn't turn out exactly how I had wanted. The sky changed to completely covered in clouds in the few minutes it took for the people to walk out of view (there had been a few rays of light poking through for a minute or two), so it wasn't the more dramatic sky that I had hoped to get.

Thanks for looking. :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #3 - My Little 'Ride Warrior'

OK, so not the most technical photo by far, but it does fit the category of being "something I have an emotional attachment to".

This summer, Ben grew to that magical height of 48". Why do I say 'magical'? It means he can ride on many of the 'big' rides at Canada's Wonderland.

Last year, he was able to ride about 3 of the level 4 rides if someone went on with him. The rest of the time he reluctantly had to ride what he referred to as 'the baby rides'. Many of the photos I took last year showed him with a 'this is so lame' look on his face.

THIS year he can do so much more, so I bought Season's Passes. He sees the commercials, he's seen the rides up close. "Can I go on the Behemoth now, Mommy?". "No honey, not yet. You're still too short to go on that one. Maybe in the next year or two." "Can I go on the Drop Tower?" "No sweetie, maybe next year or the year after." "AWWWWWW. NO FAIR! I'm big now!"

When I hear the 'Ride Warrior' commercials on the radio and see them on TV, I can totally picture Ben in one of them in years to come. LOL

We went last week again to Wonderland with a friend who is a year younger than Ben and perhaps not quite as 'brave' as Ben. He's definitely shorter. So I explained ahead of time that the visit that day would be to go on rides in Planet Snoopy and Kidsville. "Awwww but I wanna go on the big rides!" I explained that he could go on a few of them, but that's why we got the Season's Passes.....so we could do different things on different days. And all of the rides are fun! So he bought it and off we went.

He went on a few of the bigger rides himself and his friend went on a few of the littler rides himself as well. They did a lot together and had a fun time :)

Here is my little Ride Warrior in action on one of his most favourite rides this year. He's the one in the red shirt....yeah, with the big smile on his face. Of course, he had to sit right up front.

"Ride Warrior"

The first time he went on 'The Bat' (on a previous visit to the park), we went together. Just before the ride let us go, he yelled out "I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE SO SOON...YEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!". He was so happy and excited to go on the 'big' rides finally.

Thanks for looking. :)

-- Lisa P.

PROMOTIONS: Smile ~~ It's Your Birthday!!

One of the Photographers I know, Amanda Stratton, has this very cool thing she does.  I just LOVED the idea so much that I asked her if she would mind if I stole it.  She's awesome and didn't mind, so here is my version of it!  :)

Is it your birthday? Everyone should have a birthday picture. Get a FREE Micro-Mini Photo Session on your birthday as my gift to you.

WHERE:

Sessions will take place at my location in Tottenham, ON

WHEN:

On your birthday, or as close as we can get, within a week. Scheduling may not allow for the session to take place on your actual birthday, so when you contact me to book the session, I'll provide you with a few options.

WHAT YOU GET:

A 10 Minute Micro-Mini Photo Session
 ~ one edited image, both as a high resolution, digital file and a low resolution, watermarked
    digital file perfect for sharing on the web. (2 files)
(I'll post up to 4 photos in an online gallery for your to choose from. You pick the one you would like and I will e-mail you low and high resolution digital files of that photo.)

PROOF OF DATE:

Yes, I'll need you to provide proof of your birthday. Some form of ID that has your birth date on it will do. (i.e. Health card, etc.)

UNABLE TO TRAVEL?:

If you are homebound due to a medical condition or are a senior citizen living in a retirement or nursing facility and unable to travel to my location, I can travel to you if you are in Tottenham.

CAN YOU PURCHASE ADDITIONAL DIGITAL IMAGES OR PRINTS?:
Yes, absolutely.  There is no obligation AT ALL to purchase anything extra, but if you love more than the one image that comes with your birthday session and would like to buy more, you'll receive 10% off the regular price of products offered or 20% off any digital image package.

HOW TO BOOK:

Email Me or call to book your session. (416-986-3184)

_________________________________________________________________

Thanks for looking :)

 -- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Scarborough Wedding - Small, Elegant, Sophisticated and Fun

I had the honour of photographing Carol and Michael's wedding on Saturday. 

The wedding was small, simple and very elegant with a reception at their home afterwards. 

The weather was very busy that day with sun, rain and thunder over Scarborough. Fortunately, the rain stopped just before the bride had to leave for the church and then the sun came out. :)

Below is a wee bit of the story from Carol and Michael's very special day.

The bride looked absolutely gorgeous. Here the final touches are being put on her make-up and hair.

And we can't forget about the handsome groom.

Off to the church!

The dresses were simply beautiful.

And so were the women.

The flowers and cake were very elegant

Here's a peek at the rings.

The look on Michael's face when Carol entered the Church said it all.

I love that they can't take their eyes off of each other.

The girls were so much fun :)

A beautiful family.

Thank you Debbie for assisting me that day.  I couldn't have done it without you!

Michael and Carol, thank you so much for letting me be a part of your special day.  I wish you much happiness as you continue your lives together.  I hope you've enjoyed your little sneak peak.

Thanks for looking :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Can you guess what I was up to today??

Here are a few clues to help you guess what I was up to today:

Full blog post coming soon :))

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTOGRAPHY FOR FUN: A Toronto Photo Walk

Finally, some photos from our photo walk in Toronto! :) Clicking on any of the photos in this post will take you to the gallery where I have a more photos from the walk posted. I figured I was already posting way too many in this post! ;)

Street type photography really isn't my thing. It's something I'm not comfortable doing (i.e.: taking photos of strangers on the street) and you'll notice that most of the photos don't even have people in them. LOL :) My building/architecture type shots are also not that exciting. :(

I did, however, get some shots of some very colourful things and also managed to sneak in a few cool shots :)) I consider every time I go out to shoot an opportunity to learn something new, so it's good to get out and do things that I'd consider to be out of my comfort zone.

It rained and rained in the morning. Poured actually. So we started inside at the Eaton Centre. They were doing some sort of construction or repairs, so there was scaffolding from the lower level up to the street level. You can see a bit of it at the bottom of the picture.

Eaton Centre

"Ready, Aim...."

I was feeling a bit uninspired as we walked through the underground 'Path' down towards Front Street. I did stop to take a picture of this:

"Any mail for me?"

It didn't turn out quite how I was hoping. :( I would have taken another shot, but the security guard from that area came over and asked us what we were photographing. I almost said...."Ummm the mailboxes" (I mean really....he obviously saw....). But fortunately one of the guys answered that we were taking tourist type pictures. :) I figured it would be best if I just kept moving along. LOL

Next, some shots of the rain coming down outside. It's more difficult to photograph rain than I thought! David had set up the outdoor furniture in the area a bit nicer for our shots, but the ones I took of that didn't really turn out. You couldn't really tell it was raining and so it looked like an uninspired picture of some tables and chairs. LOL :) So I tried this instead.

Raindrops and Bubbles

I really do like different textures

A picture of a person, but I know this person....haha :)

"Getting the shot"

There were some interesting things along the indoor walk.

"Mood lighting?"

We went as far South as Union Station.

"I think it's this way"

Then, after we had some lunch, the rain finally stopped. :) I wish the sky had been more interesting for this one.

Finally, Outside!

OK, this is probably the closest thing to 'Street Photography' that I got.

Downtown hustle and bustle

We stumbled on this old green truck. There's a picture of the entire truck in the gallery. This is just a close-up.

Such a happy colour

We made our way over to Kensington Market to see what things we could photograph there. I love looking at graffiti. I'm hoping to somehow make my own for my studio. We'll see how that goes....LOL :)

Love the colours

And of course, there was food.

Straightening the 'shelves'

Lots of graffiti. You'll find more shots in the gallery when you click on any of the photos in this post.

Delicate

Time to get moving

I thought this shop was cute. I wish I didn't catch so much glare in the window though :(

"What? No cookies?"

And finally, if you can't find a pot, just use an old car......

Urban Garden?

Thanks David and Al for going on the walk. Was definitely fun times, despite the rain. We'll have to try it again on a not so rainy day :)

Thanks for looking! :))

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #2 - "Beautiful or Ugly?"

Last Friday, I went to downtown Toronto with two of my friends, David and Al. Our objective: To get some photos of downtown. :)

The weather forecast wasn't the greatest that day, with predictions of thunderstorms the main event. And rain it did. All morning. But no worries. Toronto has a large underground world to explore. So we did some indoor shots until the rain stopped in the afternoon.

I plan to do a full blog post about the day, but for now, my photo of the week is from that trip.

"Beautiful or Ugly?"

This was taken in the Kensington Market area. I picked this one because of the contrast between the top of the building and the bottom. The building's crookedness and slanty sidewalk in that area bother me a bit as I look at the photo, but it does at to its charm. Old, revived, ugly, beautiful...... I suppose it's all in how you see the world.

Thanks for looking. :)

-- Lisa P.

MISCELLANEOUS: A nice surprise from an even nicer client

Can I just say that I have the nicest clients?

Just before we went away camping, I dropped off a book to a client who had me put together a family photo book for her. She gave me this!!

It's so I have something not so awkward to carry my samples around in. How cool is that?! It was such a great way to end the day before heading off on vacation. :)

Thanks again Shelley. It's awesome! :))

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #1 - "Full of Sparkle"

And so it begins again. My Photo of the Week project starts its second year. I thought of just continuing on with week #53, but decided to stick with grouping it by years. So there is a new gallery dedicated to Year 2 and the numbering will being at Week 1 again.

I took quite a few pictures last week. Lots of fun ones of the family....ok....mostly of Ben :)

I picked this one because you can see him in it, even though he is blurred due to the length of time I had to hold the shutter open. He's concentrating very hard on 'drawing' with his sparkler. Being, by far, the youngest camper in our group meant that he got to burn A LOT of sparklers. He was one happy little dude.

Oh....and of course, he's also happy that you can see his blue glow stick as well. ;)

"Full of Sparkle"

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

MISCELLANEOUS: It's BIG!! :)

Just before I went away camping, THIS arrived!!

It's my first big canvas. LOVE it! It's 2ft X 3ft. I know.....I could have gone bigger. But 2X3 feet is still pretty darn big!

Wouldn't you love to see some of your pictures in big like this?!

Now, where to hang it! :))

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

MISCELLANEOUS: The end of a chapter

Wow, what a busy week last week was. Last day at the 'day' job, getting ready to go camping, products arriving, delivering product to clients, etc. etc. It's all such a blur.

I've had the fortunate opportunity to work with some of the most amazing people during my 10 1/2 years at ISG/Cedara/Merge Healthcare.  We have shared enough change in the workplace to last a lifetime!  There are many I know I will stay in touch with one way or another for years to come. For me, it was truly a place where the people made all the difference.

On my last day I made the rounds to say my good-bye's and dropped off one of my specially made 'mini moo' cards on everyone's desk.

I love my moo and mini moo cards :)  It's kind of tough to read here, but the one side of each card had the following message:

"Thank you for the opportunities, the challenges, the learnings and the memories.  Keep in touch and when you need help preserving your family's memories, give me a shout! -- Lisa P."

It's hard to say good-bye, but so exciting to move ahead.

Thank you all for your good wishes, the lunch, the cards, the gifts and for allowing me to be a part of your lives for the past 10 1/2 years.  I wish you all success and happiness in whatever the future holds for you.

You know how to get a hold of me! :)

Thanks for looking!

 -- Lisa P.