Picture Your Life Photography

CLIENT SHOOTS: Andrea and her beautiful girls

2012-02-15T11:05:00.000-05:00

I had a great session with Andrea and her girls in the studio last week. Here are a few sneak peaks from their session.

(cute hat made by Jane Steeves)

Thank you Andrea for the opportunity to photograph you and your adorable girls. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #32 - Procyon Orientation Day

2012-02-12T20:58:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was the annual Volunteer Orientation at Procyon Wildlife. Here is one photo I took of the volunteers listening to Cynthia Post speak about the types of things volunteers do at Procyon.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #31 - He Adores Her

2012-02-05T23:02:00.000-05:00

I know I've already posted this one in my blog post and also in their sneak peak on Facebook earlier in the week, but I love it. So I'm posting it again as my 'Photo of the Week'. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Jessica and Kenny

2012-02-01T14:01:00.001-05:00

I had the pleasure of photographing Jessica and Kenny in my studio on the weekend. What an awesome couple!

Meet Jessica and Kenny.

I love how she looks at him.

I love how he looks at her.

Such a gorgeous couple! :)

Thanks so much for the opportunity to photograph you. It was such a pleasure. I hope you like your sneak peak. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CONTESTS: Show Us Your Christmas Magic Winner!

2012-01-30T18:40:00.001-05:00

Thank you to everyone who entered and voted in our contest. Also, we would like to thank those of you who also took the time to 'like' our three Facebook Pages. We really appreciate it.

In case you forgot to like our Pages and would still like to, here are the links:

Picture Your Life Photography
Take The Party Outside
Momstown Barrie

The winner of the contest is the photo that had the most 'likes' given to it. The total number of 'likes' was determined by adding up the 'likes' from each of our three pages.

Here are the results:

120 votes (69+32+19) Girl playing with bows - submitted by Jennifer Gould
53 votes (24+27+2) Girl and Dog wearing hats - submitted by Kim Yorke
15 votes (4+9+3) "Mommy's Having A Baby" - submitted by Cathy Colby
9 votes (6+2+1) Family looking out window at Christmas tree - submitted by Joy Webster
6 votes (4+1+1) Boy hugging snowman - submitted by Renee Jadek

Congratulations Jennifer! I think I can remember playing with those bows when I was a kid too. They are great because of their stickiness! haha I must say, you have very dedicated voters.

For those who may not have been following the contest, Jennifer wins a Custom Storybook Photo Session from me. I LOVE doing those sessions as they are so much fun and I can't wait to do one with that adorable little girl of yours! :)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #30 - First Tottenham WINGS Open House

2012-01-29T17:24:00.002-05:00

On the evening of January 18th, the Networking/Netweaving group I belong (WINGS & HEROS) to had our first little local vendor show in Tottenham. The event was held at Gigi's Green Beans Cafe. It was great to see what some of the other local companies do and sell.

I had a draw for one of my '2012 Outdoors In Ontario' Calendars that I make and the winner was Andrea McMullen. Congratulations Andrea. I gave your mom the calendar for you that night. :)

Thanks to everyone who came out to see us and to everyone involved in planning, organizing and promoting the event. Here's one of the photos I took that night.

In the photo from left to right: Jennifer (owner of Gigi's), Trudy (WINGS coordinator in Bolton), Diane (Founder of WINGS and HEROS), Cheryl (Creative Lanes in Newmarket) and Yvonne (WINGS coordinator in training for Orangeville).

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Puppy Fun!

2012-01-24T13:43:00.000-05:00

I think that if I ever take any more puppy photos for Peggy, someone definitely needs to do some behind the scenes video or at least photos. I'm sure we must look and sound hilarious while trying to get their attention! :)

I love babies and puppies. The advantage of photographing babies over puppies, is that the babies can't get up and move once you set them down. ;)

Here are some peaks from the session last week.

I am cute and I'm ready to do this!

Well hello there good looking.

Ummmm do I know you? Will you play with me?

I can make my own fun.

Hey! No smooching in the back.

Why they are all looking in the same direction is why I think we need to get some behind the scenes footage. ;)

This is kind of how I felt once we were done too.

Yup. Just like this.....

Thanks Peggy and Gail!

And thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Tottenham Santa Claus Parade 2011

2012-01-23T11:37:00.001-05:00

I meant to do a blog post about the Tottenham Santa Claus Parade back at the end of December, but obviously that didn't happen!

Growing up in a place smaller than Tottenham, the local parade was always something to look forward too. We didn't have a Santa Claus parade (too cold I think!), but there was a Labour Day parade, and I can remember being in it doing Japanese dancing when I was a kid.

So here it is, better late than never. :) I always take so many pictures, so it's always tough to narrow it down. Here are a few of the highlights.

One of our friends was selling popcorn outside the shop his mom works in. Proceeds were for the local Food Bank. :)

Ben is impatiently waiting for the parade to get down to where we were standing to watch...trying to avoid my camera.

And here it comes!!

He loves waving to everyone. :)

You can't have a parade without the bagpipes!

I took this one for my mom. She likes McD's. ;)

Ben even got to shake some hands!

Love the bands. :)

And there she is......Jordan Clark!

One of Santa's Reindeer??

They were moving fast, so it's a bit blurry, but here are the kids of GSI Taxi. :)

The Gus Bus!!

Hey! I know those guys!

It must have been difficult to play in the cold.

And here is the guest of honour.

I snuck a shot in between floats of Ben waving to Santa.

And if I remember correctly, I think the folks beside me were drinking some hot coffee. :)

Ben said that we should be in the parade next time with Picture Your Life Photography. I told him we'll see about that. haha :)

Thanks to everyone who was in the parade and who was involved in organizing it. Such a great tradition. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #29 - Out with the old

2012-01-22T12:49:00.000-05:00

FINALLY, Ben is starting to agree to let go of some of his old baby and toddler type toys. I took this photo with my phone to commemorate this momentous occasion!

Here he is taking his Craftsman work bench to the little boy who lives down the street.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #28 - Sushi anyone??

2012-01-15T19:11:00.001-05:00

Last week I showed a friend's 10 year old daughter how to make rolls of sushi. :) She was very excited and I think she had fun. (And I think it was a lot more work overall than she was thinking it would be, even with me doing most of the prep work) ;)

Here are her rolls.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Some 'wild' birthday fun!

2012-01-15T12:57:00.002-05:00

Ben would like to warn Gramma Clare that there are going to be pictures of things she doesn't like in here, like slithery snakes. One of them is a really pretty colour, but you might want to scroll through quickly. ;)

For Ben's 8th birthday, Party Safari came to the house. I was sooo lucky to have won a monthly giveaway that was put on by Take The Party Outside and Party Safari earlier last year. I was able to keep it a secret from Ben up until probably a couple of months before his birthday.

Jennifer was awesome with the animals and the kids. I think they learned a lot about the animals as well as had fun too.

Here are some photos from the party. (You'll see that my studio space got taken over that afternoon. I should have tidied it up a bit more since I was taking pictures!)

Ben's decided that he doesn't really care for cake anymore, so instead we had fruit and ice cream. (except everyone was so busy, we ran out of time for the ice cream) These were from Fruity DeLites in Alliston.

These next photos include most of the animals we saw during the party.

Time for a break to stretch our legs and arms.

Isn't this one a pretty colour?

This turtle was pretty darn quick!

This one was anxious to come out and see who was making all of the noise.

The pinata this year was a pirate ship. That thing must have been made out of super duper strong cardboard because each kid had 3 hits with the blindfold on (with a baseball bat!). It sounded like the bat was hitting rock! Then I let Ben take some wacks at it without the blindfold and he finally cracked a small corner (you can see it in the photo below). Finally Paul really wacked it good and the candies fell to the floor.

Thanks to everyone for being a part of a super fun birthday for Ben, especially to Jennifer and her very special animal family. He had such a blast. I'll include a few more different photos in my newsletter.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #27 - Everybody say it now......"Awwwwww"

2012-01-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

The Photo of the Week from last week is from Ben's birthday party. My studio was taken over by Party Safari and we got to see awesome creatures like this one.

Isn't it sooooo cute! Timbit is a Pygmy African Hedgehog. I can't remember if Timbit is a girl or a boy. At first, all you can see are the spikey parts. Then, as it got more comfortable, the eyes would peek out and then the entire face. And then eventually.....those little feet would poke out. Hedgehog yoga??

Thanks Jennifer for awesome party entertainment.

Stay tuned for a blog post about the party featuring more of the animals. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #26 - "This is mine, right?"

2012-01-01T21:53:00.001-05:00

Christmas day falls in the week for last week's Photo of the Week. :)

What a fun day for the entire family.

And yes, that present was for Maggie. I wonder how she knew.... ;) heehee

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Addison's 1 Year Session

2011-12-30T07:19:00.002-05:00

Wow! It's so hard to believe that little Addison is going to be turning 1 in a few short days. It has been amazing watching her grown this past year. She is such an expressive little girl.

My final session of 2011 was with her and her family. It was awesome to have multiple generations in these photos.

Here is Addison with some of her favourite people (and animal), doing some of her favourite things. :)

Thank you Kirsten and Bannon for inviting me into your lives this past year to witness and capture some of Addison's amazing life so far! I hope you like this little sneak peak.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

2011-12-25T21:17:00.000-05:00

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #25 - Fishing with Santa

2011-12-22T09:33:00.000-05:00

I figured I'd better post the photo of the week from last week now, before I forget. I can just see myself forgetting to do it on the weekend with all of the Christmas activities we have planned.

I think this might be the last year Ben wants to go Fishing with Santa at Vaughan Mills. He almost decided not to go this time because he said there were only little kids there last year when we went. But he did want to go, so off we went. And he wasn't the biggest kid in the line when we were there, so I think that made him happy as well.

He's at that age where he almost asks questions, but isn't really interested in knowing the true answers yet. hehe ;)

Santa said he was a fishing pro since he had the line in and the fish on pretty much before Santa had a chance to explain to him how to catch the fish. Caught in 4.5 seconds was what Santa said. A new record! LOL

I'm glad he still has fun doing that sort of thing. :)

Thanks for looking and I wish you and your families a very merry and happy Christmas.

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Doug's Cookie Exchange 2011

2011-12-19T05:49:00.002-05:00

Speaking of Doug's cookie exchange.......

I think it just keeps getting better every year! :) By the time the taste testing started so we could pick the yummiest treat, I was so full from all of the food and wine Doug had out for us! But I did manage to taste all of the goodies so that I could vote. ;)

Thank you Connor, Doug and Carlo for helping take some of the pictures for me so I'm actually in a few of them. :)

Here is the amazing group of bakers for this year's exchange.

The finalists in the yummiest treat competition (minus one late addition).

The winner of the yummiest treat. It was this chocolate/peanut butter/crispy ball of goodness!

Look at all of the fabulous looking packaging!

Winner of the best packaging. (She made rum balls and packaged them in glass mugs)

And the most festively dressed.

It was a great time. Thanks Doug for the invitation again this year. And thanks Carlo & Mary for the ride home! :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

MISCELLANEOUS: Photo Memories of Past Christmases

2011-12-18T16:19:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this a while ago. When I was at Doug's cookie exchange, I saw one of the photos I took of him and his two kids last year hanging on the wall. It's one of my favourites, plus he ordered it in a metal print, which I absolutely LOVE. It was nice to see it hanging on the wall, BUT.....what was even more awesome was what I saw on the shelf below it....

Yes, those are Christmas photos of his kids, when they were obviously younger, that he puts out at Christmas time. That just made me all warm and fuzzy inside. LOVE it!! :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #24 - Christmas Fun at Splashy's!

2011-12-18T08:39:00.000-05:00

This was the first year we were able to make it to the Splashy's Swim 'n Fitness Christmas Party (this is where Ben takes his swimming lessons). It was a great time with fun for the kids and yummy food. Ben had a fun time.

Thanks Piret!! :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Fancy Dresses

2011-12-17T06:35:00.000-05:00

I was so busy working on their photo book project earlier this month that I forgot to blog about their last session of the year!

The Browns came over in November to have some more formal photos taken for their Christmas cards. It was so nice having little girls in fancy dresses over. Mom, Dad and their brother looked great too, but, having an almost 8 year old boy means not many little girls in fancy dresses running around the house. I always like to see little girls in fancy dresses. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

NEW BLOG POST: Photos with Santa - November 26, 2011

2011-12-16T11:16:00.004-05:00

Finally, a post about the Santa photos at the Christmas Extravaganza show in Alliston on November 26th. It was a fun day seeing all of the kids try and decide if they were brave enough to get close to Santa. :)

There were some great vendors there as well. Joyce Walker won the draw I had for a complementary photo session. Congratulations Joyce!!

The Christmas tree we had beside Santa was beautiful and so much fun. It was provided by 'Flower by Lady Di'. Here are a few photos. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a solo photo of the entire tree.

And finally.....here is a little video featuring some of the photos taken that day with Santa. I hope you enjoy them. :) (Just click the image below)

A big 'THANK YOU' to everyone who stopped by to say hello and to have their picture taken with Santa. We raised $37 for the Alliston Lion's Food and Toy Drive. :)
Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CONTESTS: Show Us Your Christmas Magic!

2011-12-15T06:26:00.000-05:00

TakethePartyOutside.com, Momstown Barrie and Picture Your Life Photography have come together to find the most Magical Christmas moment of 2011!

Send us the most magical moment that you have captured on film, well digitally, lol. We will select the top three images that we found to be most magical and then you will vote for your favourite one.

Show us a big surprise, happy faces, a big family hug, anything that made the holidays magic!

Enter for your chance to WIN a Children's Customized Photo Storybook Session from Picture Your Life Photography. (Current value - $155) Prize includes up to 2 hours of session time at Picture Your Life Photography Studio or on location within 30 minutes from Tottenham, ON. Includes one customized 7x7 inch soft cover photo storybook featuring your child. Gift certificate will be valid for 12 months from date of issue.

TO ENTER YOUR CHRISTMAS MAGIC

Step 1: Like our facebook pages! Direct links below.

Step 2: Name your jpeg file with your full name (ie. SallySmith.jpg). Send your file in an email to
the following address: pictureyourlife@email.smugmug.com. The subject of the email MUST be: ChristmasPhoto

Step 3: Check the gallery to ensure your photo was added successfully. GALLERY LINK:
http://www.pictureyourlifephotography.com/Other/Email/11328608_nJm8Br#1610701662_2GdfSzB

Deadline: Jan. 6, 2012 11:59pm (be sure it's in jpg format!)

Our top 5 finalists will be notified by email before January 9th. Voting will begin on January 9th!!
The winner will be announced on January 30th at 6:00pm.

Having problems? Email: kate@takethepartyoutside.com

Please head on over to Facebook and "like" our pages! We have made it easy, click on logos below to get there!

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #23 - Here comes the parade!!

2011-12-12T09:07:00.000-05:00

We always make sure to go to the Tottenham Santa Claus Parade. This year, it seemed even better than in previous years. I'm not sure if it was because there were more or better floats and participants this year, or maybe because we know more people in the area than before..... But regardless of the reason, it was a great little parade! :)

I will be doing a blog post with more photos from the parade, but that probably won't be until holiday time in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #22 - Who's that kissing Santa Claus?!

2011-12-03T07:58:00.001-05:00

What a fabulous time I had at the Christmas Extravaganza show in Alliston at the New Tecumseth Recreation Centre on Saturday, November 26th!!

I got to hang out with the one and only Santa!! And who's that kissing him??

It's Joyce Walker, show organizer! :)

It was a great time and I took a lot of photos that day. AND...I was able to donate $37.00 to the Lions Food and Toy Drive. :)

Stay tuned for more photos from that day.

Thanks for looking!!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #21 - Beautiful Smiles

2011-11-29T03:29:00.001-05:00

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of having the Ball family in the studio. I love watching the girls grow up. And just look at all of these beautiful smiles!! :))

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Back in the studio with the Ball Family

2011-11-24T11:50:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday I got to spend a few hours with one of my favourite families. :) I've known these girls since they were born, and boy how they have grown.

So who is this?

Well, it's the Ball Family, of course!! :)

We spent some time in the studio and then we ventured outdoors. The girls were a lot of fun.

What a gorgeous family. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

MY COMMUNITY: Women's Christmas Showcase of South Simcoe - Photos with Mrs. Claus

2011-11-21T15:14:00.001-05:00

The day taking photos with Mrs. Claus was a lot of fun as always. In total, we all raised $162.46 for "My Sister's Place" in Alliston. I think the beautiful weather kept some people outdoors instead of coming in to the Women's Christmas Showcase, but $162.46 isn't too bad at all. :)

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by to have their photos taken and to just say 'hello'.

Thank you to Shelley Barlow for once again making her appearance as Mrs. Claus. You make a perfect Mrs. Claus, Shelley!

Thank you Ginette Stone for helping to take the photos and keep things organized, as well as helping to get set up and put away. :)

Thank you to Benjamin for helping spread the word at the show and thank you to your new little friend who helped you out as well (I think his name was Cameron).

Here are the photos from the day that we have permission to post. What an awesome looking bunch! :))

To everyone waiting for their digital files.....they will be emailed over the next couple of days. My mail server is almost full, so I'm sending them out in smaller batches.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #20 - A day with Mrs. Claus

2011-11-20T18:17:00.000-05:00

I'm falling behind on my blog posting, but thankfully my 'Photo of the Week' gets me to post at least once each week! Things have been busy, which is both good and bad. :)

Last Saturday was the Women's Christmas Showcase in Tottenham and we did the Mrs. Claus photos for donations to "My Sister's Place", which is a women's shelter in Alliston. This year we raised $162.46. Not quite as much as last year, but not too bad.

I wanted to thank Shelley Barlow, who was our absolutely fabulous Mrs. Claus, and Ginette Stone for helping to take photos and keep things organized. Here they are. :)

And of course, thanks to Ben too for helping spread the word at the show in his elf hat. ;)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #19 - My little Ninja

2011-11-14T13:13:00.000-05:00

I'm a day late posting this one. It's my photo of the week from just over a week ago and is from Halloween night. Ben LOVES dressing up. He dresses up in costumes all year long. He decided that for Halloween this year, he wanted to be a Ninja.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #18 - Jack O'Lanterns anyone?

2011-11-06T17:38:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm not exactly sure how to spell Jack O'Lanterns. I even googled it and there were a few variations. So I'm just going with the one I used. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, regardless of how I spell it. ;) (But, if anyone does know the proper way, leave it in a comment!)

The photo of the week from a week ago is from the weekend before Halloween. That was when Paul and Ben carved the pumpkins. Ben came up with most of the designs.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #17 - He Melts My Heart

2011-10-29T08:06:00.001-04:00

I took so many photos last week of so many awesome people that it was REALLY difficult to pick my photo of the week for that week. I think this one is it though. And you've already seen it earlier this week as well. This little guy just melts my heart. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet the Hargreaves Family

2011-10-28T05:55:00.001-04:00

Meet the Hargreaves Family!

We had to reschedule their session due to nasty weather, and we were so lucky to get such a nice day this time. This time of year, you just never know what it's going to be like.

Here's Mom

And Dad

And their three adorable children!!

I had such a fun time with them. :)

Thanks so much for the opportunity to photograph your fun, beautiful family. I hope you like your sneak peaks.

Thanks for looking!!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Mother and Son

2011-10-27T17:40:00.000-04:00

What fun to have another one of the kids from the ball team I coached come by for pictures on Mini-Session Day. He is definitely a cutie (wait....is he too old to be referred to as a cutie now??).

We also got some pictures with his Mom (unfortunately, Dad was not able to make it to the session). I love the Mother and Son photos. They remind me of when I take pictures of me with Ben. :))

Here are some of the photos from their session.

Boys just can't stay off the trees. :)

And this is my favourite of the bunch.

Thanks Cris for coming by with Sam to have your photos taken. I hope you liked your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking!!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Gina and Her Handsome Boys

2011-10-27T14:37:00.005-04:00

I first met Gina down at a my Photographer friend, Sheri Belanger's studio when she had her Open House for Daspar Design. That's when I found out that Gina actually lived in Tottenham.

So I had to go all the way to Toronto to meet her! :) Since then, our paths have crossed many times. Her son played softball on the team I coached this past summer, and Gina did our pitching for us. Plus, she plays ball herself, so I ran into her at ball tournaments and at the joint Women's and Old Timer's ball banquet.

I finally got her in front of the camera!

She's got three handsome boys.

And this one is the one who played ball with Ben. :)

A gorgeous family.

And we took a few fun shots at the end as well. :)

Thanks Gina for coming out and for bringing the boys. I hope you liked your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking!!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Another session with the Brown Family :)

2011-10-26T15:07:00.001-04:00

I love all the little faces in this family. And there are a lot of them. :) They all came over on Mini-Session day and they were all so good.

Here's Mom and Dad

And here are all of their adorable little ones.

Here's Daddy keeping some little hands warm. Yes, it was a bit chilly that day. But at least it didn't rain on us. :)

And here they all are together. :)

Thanks so much for coming over again. Next time we'll have to include the new dog. ;)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

MY COMMUNITY: An Afternoon With Aussie Rescue :)

2011-10-25T14:13:00.001-04:00

I have so many sessions to blog this week! I love it. :)

I thought I'd start with some of our furry friends. On October 16th, Ben, Maggie and I headed over to Milton for an Aussie Rescue fun doggie play date. We adopted Maggie from the Aussie Rescue Placement Helpline organization...from the South Western Ontario group. You may remember photos I took a couple of years ago at a similar 'Aussie Bounce', even before we had our own dog.

It was a bit of a rainy day, but doggies don't mind. So I guess their humans can't mind it either. Luckily, the rain wasn't too bad at all. :)

Michele Taras, a fantastic Photographer, and I, took some photos for those people who wanted doggie photos taken, for donations to Aussie Rescue. It was a lot of fun. She took the more posed photos with some bales of straw and an awesome old barn wall as a background. I attempted to get some action shots. You know...those Aussies LOVE to run!!

Here is a photo of Michele and her foster dog, Scooter. Aren't they a cute couple!?!?

The dogs there were either there with their Foster humans or with their Forever humans. Ben had never seen so many dogs all at one time. Unfortunately, for him, they were more interested in chasing each other around than in playing with him! heehee

Here are a bunch of photos that I took that afternoon.

I already posted this one as my Photo of the Week from that week, but couldn't help post it again. This is our Maggie. She did not want me to be on the other side of that fence taking photos of other dogs without her.

So I did invite her over with Ben to have a few pictures taken. I really wanted to post a different picture, but Ben won't let me. It's sooooo cute, and gross at the same time. Maggie is sure quick with her tongue! ;)

Just look at this face! :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Look who's back!

2011-10-23T08:13:00.000-04:00

You'll never guess who I found sneaking around the neighbourhood last week.

Yes, that's right. It's Mrs. Claus!!

No, Mrs. Claus, you can't take that tree to use for a Christmas tree.

Enough relaxing, there's a lot of work to get done before Christmas. Like helping wrap presents.

Quit horsing around! There's a lot to do to help Santa prepare.

That's better.

I think the decorations belong on the tree, not you....

Ummmm does Mr. Claus know about your 'friend'?

Hey!! This is no time for drinks and snacks. There's work to be done. What are you doing?

Oooh, waiting for the BIG day......

Well, don't forget that first you'll be at the Tottenham Community and Fitness Centre for the Women's Christmas Showcase of South Simcoe on November 12th starting at 10:00am. We're taking pictures with Mrs. Claus for donations to 'My Sister's Place' again this year. Let's see if we can beat our total from last year (which was $171.25)!!

Thanks for looking! We hope to see you at the Women's Christmas Showcase on November 12th! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Opening of Second Stage Housing Program at 'My Sister's Place'

2011-10-21T13:25:00.002-04:00

Last week I headed up to Alliston for the Grand Opening of the Second Stage Housing Program at 'My Sister's Place'.

Not too long before I left home, it was POURING rain! This event was happening outdoors, so I was really hoping the rain would pass over before the start. And it did! :)

Here is an excerpt from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) News Release:

"ALLISTON, ON, October 14, 2011 — The Government of Canada, through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and People in Transition (Alliston) Inc., My Sister’s Place, celebrated the grand opening of five new second-stage housing units for women and children who are victims of family violence in Alliston and the surrounding area.

Dr. Kellie Leitch, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour and, Member of Parliament for Simcoe – Grey, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for CMHC, and Deborah Herrington, Executive Director of People in Transition (Alliston) Inc., My Sister’s Place, made the announcement."

For the full News Release, click HERE.

You can also find the speech given by Dr. Kellie Leitch, Member of Parliament for Simcoe – Grey and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour by clicking HERE.

Here are a few photos from the event.

Thank you CMHC for the opportunity to photograph this local event.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

MY COMMUNITY: 'The Beautiful You Show' by Joy of Life - Alliston, ON

2011-10-21T11:22:00.002-04:00

At the beginning of the month I snuck up to Alliston to 'The Beautiful You Show' for about an hour or so. My friend Joyce Walker, of Joy of Life, organized the show with her team of helpers. :)

It was the first year for 'The Beautiful You Show' in Alliston and hopefully I'll be able to attend as a vendor next year.

Here are just a few photos from the show, which included prizes, vendors, guest speakers and fashion shows.

Joyce also has a Facebook Business Page for 'Joy of Life', so please go show her some Facebook love and like her Page by clicking HERE.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #16 - "Can I come out too?"

2011-10-21T09:17:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Ben, Maggie and I went to an Aussie Rescue doggie party. What fun for Maggie (and Ben too). There were so many doggies to play with. It was a rainy day, but the doggies didn't care. :)

I was taking a few doggie portraits with another Photographer, Michele Taras, and my baby girl was missing me (I think Ben was sitting in the porch playing with his DS by this point).

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #15 - Something I'm Thankful For

2011-10-17T11:02:00.000-04:00

I really should have posted this yesterday, but *sigh* I didn't remember until the wee hours of this morning.

This is from just over a week ago on the Thanksgiving long weekend when we were away camping.

Something I'm Thankful For :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

~SMILE! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY - Happy Birthday Tasha :)

2011-10-11T16:48:00.000-04:00

Tasha celebrated her birthday last month and she came over for her '~SMILE! It's Your Birthday' session last week. I really enjoyed photographing Tasha. She was all smiles! :)

Thanks for coming by Tasha. :)

And thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #14 - 'Love'

2011-10-07T11:57:00.000-04:00

I know I used this photo in my last client session blog post, but c'mon, how can this not be my favourite image from last week?!!

Thanks for looking and have a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend for those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend!!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Barb and her beautiful family!

2011-10-04T15:22:00.000-04:00

I was a bit worried on Saturday when I went out in the morning and it was a very very cool, dreary and almost rainy day. Fortunately, before noon, the skies cleared up and it also warmed up a bit too!! :)

It was great to finally meet Barb and her family. We had been in contact for a few months off and on before finally setting the date for their family session. I had such a great time.

I want to get a picture like this with my Ben! Somehow, though, I don't think his facial expression would be quite as smiley as hers is.... ;)

What a gorgeous smile!!

Thank you for not thinking I was too strange for asking you to walk into the ditch....

Thank you all for a fantastic session. I hope you had as much fun as I did. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #13 - Now that's a BIG rock!

2011-10-03T10:40:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I forgot to post this last week! I haven't been late posting since I started this project over 2 years ago.

But better late than never.

Ben LOVES rocks and crystals. He wanted to take this one home with him. hehe ;)

Thank you Claude & Heidi for the trip to the ROM after our session. Dinosaurs and rocks. What more could a little boy ask for. :))

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Summer Softball!!

2011-09-28T11:21:00.001-04:00

I'm so excited to finally blog about my summer softball adventures. :)

I was chosen to photograph the individual and team pictures for the Tottenham Minor Softball League this past summer. It was my first time doing this and was a lot of fun. I learned A LOT as well, and will hopefully get to put those learnings into practice next year if I'm selected to do the photographs again.

I want to give a big thanks to Ginette Stone for her assistance on the main photo days. Things wouldn't have run as smoothly without her. And, of course, thanks to Paul who came out to help when he could as well. :)

I was a bit worried what the parents would think, as I did something that was different than what they were used to receiving. Here is Ben, with his team. This is the layout I did, as an 8x10 for each player who had his/her photo taken. Most of the feedback I received was positive, so that's good. :)

Thank you to all of the parents for allowing me to post these photos of their children who were on my team. It was such an AWESOME bunch of kids!! There were a couple missing from our main team photo, so we did one more. This collage below shows all of the kids on our team as well as the two team photos we did.

Thanks to our team sponsor AJ Your DJ who came out to some of our games and brought jumbo freezies!

You might be wondering what I'm doing in the team photo! Shortly after Ben's softball season started, his coach had to step down due to scheduling conflicts with his work. Somehow, I ended up volunteering to be the Coach. I was sooooo glad that Bonnie was the Assistant Coach and that Gina agreed to be the Pitcher for the team.

It was a lot of fun watching each kid improve throughout the season. I even saw one literally grow over an inch too!! haha :) I think they had fun as well.

Being the coach had one downside though. I wasn't being able to take pictures of Ben at practices and games or at his season ending awards ceremony. I missed capturing those pictures of him with his new baseball friends, giving his coaches a hard time, horsing around on the field and, of course, making those awesome hits and plays in the field. ;) And Ben and I would usually make cards/collages for his coaches out of the pictures I took of them with the kids throughout the season to thank them at the end of it all. That didn't quite work out this time. haha :)

Paul took some pictures for me during the awards. This is just after I gave Ben his trophy.

This is me with Bonnie, the Assistant Coach.

And this one was taken by Ben. Don't you just love all the dirt?! hehe I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture. Good job Ben!

Thanks to the AJ Your DJ players for an awesome season, to their parents for all of their help and support throughout the season and to Tottenham Minor Softball for the opportunity to photograph the kids this past season.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #12 - Her BFF

2011-09-25T21:20:00.000-04:00

This baby girl has herself an awesome best friend. :) Can't you just picture them growing up together??

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: A Beautiful Day With a Beautiful Family

2011-09-22T10:40:00.000-04:00

I was so fortunate to have another session this past weekend. This one was in the Tottenham area and it was such a beautiful day.

Meet Tina and her beautiful family.

A little boy and his best friend. :)

Such a beautiful couple.

It was a gorgeous afternoon.

(Click image to view larger)

Thank you Tina, for the opportunity to photograph your wonderful family. I hope you like your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: A Super Fun Family Session

2011-09-21T15:08:00.003-04:00

After Addison's 9 month session, I did a bigger family session with her Mommy's side of the family. What a fun time that was! The family was so nice and all of the little kiddies, so cute!

Have a look for yourself.....

They were soooo much fun. Can't you tell?!

We took a few pictures at the house. Here are a couple of them.

Then we headed on down to the beach!!

I think this next one is one of my favourites.

Then, when we were done at the beach, we did a few more with the kids back at the house.

Thank you all for inviting me into your lives to photograph you. It was such a fun time and I hope you like your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Addison Is Nine Months Old!

2011-09-20T20:53:00.001-04:00

It's so hard to believe that little baby Addison is already 9 months old. It feels like I just did her newborn session.

This past weekend I had the fortune of photographing her again. It's so awesome to see how different she is each time I see her.

Here are some of the photos from her session.

It was great to do some of the family shots down by the beach this time. We snuck those in during the larger family session we did that same day with Kirsten's side of the family. Stay tuned for the blog post from that session.

Kirsten & Bannon, I hope you liked your sneak peak. Thank you once again for inviting me into your home to photograph you and your sweet little Addison.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #11 - First Day of School

2011-09-18T20:18:00.000-04:00

Even though Ben's summer holidays were great, I'm happy to be back on a relatively normal routine again.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Can you say "YUMMMMMM"?!

2011-09-15T14:55:00.001-04:00

On September 8th I entered a giveaway that Fairytale Brownies was having on their Facebook Page. I know about Fairytale Brownies because when I worked at my Corporate job, one of our Sales Managers sent some of their brownies to our office at Christmas time. OMG, they were sooooo delicious.

The giveaway was for some of their new cookie flavours. I was one of the 5 people who won!! Woohoo!! And I TOTALLY forgot about it until today when UPS left a box at my door. It looked like this:

OK, so now I was excited because I had just gotten home from a client meeting and I realized that I was a bit hungry for a snack! ;) When I opened the box, there was even a note in it for me. :) What a nice touch.

And as I started unpacking the box, I felt something heavy and squishy wrapped inside some paper....what the heck?? OK, it was this!

This is the box that the actual cookies were in. Isn't it pretty? :) It was a slide off cover.

And once I slid that nice cover off and opened up the box.....I came to the tissue wrapping. OMG....the suspense was killing me by this point! LOL I think I might have been starting to salivate as well....

Really?! Would someone really go and stuff these things in the fridge for a month?! Or even worse.... the FREEZER for 6 months!!!! That just sounds a little crazy to me.... ;) Oh, alright...I suppose if you were ordering a bunch for the holidays or something..... :)

FINALLY! The cookies! And wow, I wasn't paying attention when I entered the giveaway, so I didn't realize that they would be sending me 16 cookies. YES, you heard me correctly.....SIXTEEN COOKIES! There were 4 of each flavour: Double Chocolate, Caramel Pecan, Peanut Butter and Toffee Chocolate Chip.

I said 'were' 4 of each flavour because I couldn't resist and I ate one.......

And I guess I'd better get tasting the other 3 flavours.

What?

You saw the note........ I have to let Alyssa and Hilary know which one is my favourite.....

;)

Thanks for looking.

*** UPDATE - September 19, 2011: OK, my favourite flavour is.....Caramel Pecan!! YUM! ***

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #10 - Father & Son

2011-09-11T22:08:00.000-04:00

Last week`s Photo of the week is of my two favourite guys. Such a nice and relaxing camping trip with the family.

Thanks for looking and I hope everyone had a fabulous first week back to school. :)

Oh and P.S.: A BIG congratulations to Jordan Clark for being Canada`s Favourite Dancer! Very well deserved. :)

-- Lisa P.

PERSONAL: Ben's Back To School Photo Session

2011-09-08T14:05:00.000-04:00

Wow! Back to school already. And it's already day 3 of school. Where did the summer go? How can it be the middle of September next week?!

We did Ben's annual back to school photo session on Tuesday while waiting for the bus. This year Maggie joined him. :)

Check out his new lunch box. It's HUGE! But with all of the containers, it's usually full too.

And here is his new backpack. :)

He has more freckles this year. And since his two front teeth have grown in but the two on either side of them haven't, he does this funny smile thing. ;)

My 'baby' starting Grade 3

And here he is with Maggie. She's a bit bored this week (Her sighs and groans are a bit louder outside my office door), but I think she might be enjoying the regular routine again...just a little bit.

I hope everyone had some fantastic holidays with their kids this summer and that everyone got off to school safe and sound.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

~SMILE! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY - Happy Birthday Aimee :)

2011-09-08T13:38:00.001-04:00

I had the opportunity to photograph Aimee as part of my ~SMILE! It's Your Birthday program. Her birthday was on Monday.

Aimee, I hope you had a fantastic birthday!

For more information about my ~SMILE! It's Your Birthday program, click HERE

To view more birthday photos, click on Aimee's photo and it will take you to the birthday gallery.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #9 - New Baby Love

2011-09-02T09:03:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love squishy little new baby faces with some extra loving from Daddy?? :)

Thanks for looking and have a fabulous long weekend!! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Welcome Baby Zachary

2011-08-31T17:15:00.001-04:00

Thank you Elissa and Steve for inviting me into your home to photograph your precious new baby boy last weekend.

We actually had Zachary's newborn session pretty much when he was originally scheduled to enter this world. But, of course, babies will sometimes have their own agendas and they mess with the schedules parents carefully plan. And we love them just the same. :)

Oh what an adorable little baby boy he is.

Congratulations Elissa and Steve. What wonderful times you have ahead of you. Enjoy each and every one. I hope you like your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #8 - My Little Fisherman

2011-08-28T19:52:00.000-04:00

Ben went to a day camp this year for the first time. I think his most favourite day was when they got to go fishing. He made sure he was prepared. Does he get bonus points for his stylish outfit? haha :)

The camp counselors even asked him show the younger kids how to fish. He was quite excited.

I took the picture with my phone, so it's not the greatest quality, but it was definitely a moment I didn't want to let go by without capturing in a photo. :) He was so proud and so excited. This photograph will help me remember that day for a very, very long time :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #7: Evening on the Lake

2011-08-21T07:52:00.000-04:00

I'm more of a sunrise kind of gal, but I had the opportunity to photograph a sunset while on vacation with friends. It was such a fun and relaxing trip and the scenery was beautiful.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Fiona

2011-08-17T10:41:00.000-04:00

I met Fiona through the woman's networking group Wings and Heros. She coordinates the Alliston Chapter.

I have also been fortunate enough to meet and photograph some of her beautiful family. Do you remember the Storybook Session I did at Campbell's 2nd birthday party? That cute little fella is her Grandson.

Fiona is an Insurance Broker with McDermott Insurance Brokers in Alliston, ON and can be reached at 705-435-5271 x224.

Thanks, Fiona, for waiting so patiently for your images while I was on vacation. You look so great! :))

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #6 - A Beautiful Morning

2011-08-13T20:14:00.000-04:00

How lucky I was to be able to witness this on my vacation......

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P. :)

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #5 - Sheet Lightening

2011-08-07T20:18:00.000-04:00

I wish I would have gone down to the lake about 45-60 minutes earlier when apparently it was quite a bit closer and pretty much over our end of the lake. In real life, it was amazing to watch. No sound at all, no rain....just flashes of light, filling the sky. Sometimes there were bolts that went along with the sheets (you can see one in the photo below). The whole sky would light up. Unfortunately, this was as good as I got, but still a great memory!

I tried to catch some of it on video with my phone, but that didn't work out at all.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #4 - You're my BFF!

2011-07-28T22:12:00.001-04:00

Some of my family and friends may have seen this one already on my personal Facebook profile, but how could I not choose it for my Photo of the Week from last week?!?! They really seemed to enjoy sleeping in a tent together for the first time. :)

Thanks for looking and if you are fortunate enough to get a long weekend this weekend, enjoy!

-- Lisa P.

* BFF - Best Friend Forever (for those who aren't familiar with the abbreviation)

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #3 - Happy Birthday Maggie!

2011-07-22T05:50:00.001-04:00

Last week, Maggie turned 1 year old!

We made her a birthday cake and Ben decorated it. And then he decided that she should have a birthday party. So he went around to her neighbourhood doggie friends and invited them to come over for cake and play time later that afternoon.

3 of Maggie's doggie friends were able to make it on such short notice. Ben was very excited and was quite the little party organizer. He wouldn't let them have cake until after they had their playtime. He had a schedule!

So here's a picture of Ben cutting up the cake. He wanted to have a closeup of the cake in it too, so I added that in the top right corner. It's a happy face (in case you couldn't figure it out) ;)

Definitely a moment to remember from last week! :))

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Cute Scarlett

2011-07-21T15:36:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week, Scarlett visited my home studio. She's 1 year old and as cute as can be! I swear that in this first outfit we did pictures in, she would stop and pose as soon as she thought I was focusing the camera on her. Was sooooo adorable.

She has gorgeous eyes and those two cute little teeth make her smile ever so sweet! :) Here are a few more images from her session.

Thanks Eve, for bringing Scarlett over. It was great to finally meet you both! :)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

MY COMMUNITY: Help The Kids Play Slo-Pitch Tournament in Tottenham - July 2011

2011-07-20T13:52:00.001-04:00

What a great weekend the ball teams had for the Help The Kids Play Annual Ball Tournament in Tottenham. What is Help the Kids Play (HTKP) you ask?? HTKP provides funding for registration and/or equipment that will enable youth (under 18) residing in the Tottenham and surrounding area to participate in organized sports or other activities that will enhance their personal growth and well-being. Pretty awesome, eh?? :) All funds raised at the tournament go directly to HTKP.

The Slo-Pitch tournament was held on July 8-10th, and was based out of Coventry. There were 3 Leagues participating in the tournament: Tottenham Old Timers, Tottenham Men's and Tottenham Ladies Lob Ball. There was also a special appearance by some of the Alumni players at their game on Saturday afternoon.

I had a lot of fun taking photos for Help The Kids Play that weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of all the teams or all the players, but I think I did capture a decent sampling. Here are a few highlights. To view larger versions of any of the images, just click on them.

Pitching is an important part of the game. While most pitchers appear to have a similar delivery, you will find that how they stretch, reach, lean, step and release the ball does differ a bit from person to person....

And, of course, hitting is important as well....

Don't forget about the running, catching and throwing too!

Sometimes, as a player, you don't get the ball you want, or balls and players get by you. It's part of the game....

But if you're prepared and you play hard, good things can happen!

Safe or Out??

OUT!!!!

The diamonds were very dry, which meant A LOT of dust.

Wait for it..........

This isn't all of the teams, I missed getting the Men's League teams except for the All Star team. You can see that the women's teams have a lot of fun!

What a great weekend! :)

For details about how the tournament ended up, check out their recap HERE.

If you were playing in the tournament, information about how to get digital copies of your pictures will be coming your way. Once the download gallery is completed, there will be a link sent and instructions for download.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #2 - "SAFE!"

2011-07-17T20:03:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I took photos for the Help The Kids Play tournament. What a fantastic weekend. It's only right that the Photo of the Week from last week be from that tournament.

I'm planning on doing a separate blog post to feature some more images from the weekend of ball fun. :) Stay tuned. But for now.......

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #1 - Another Canada Day

2011-07-10T19:59:00.001-04:00

Wow! Last week marked the start of year 3 for my Photo of the Week project. I can't believe 2 years are already completed and I can't believe I haven't missed a week yet! :)

Last week also marked another anniversary of sorts. It was one year ago that I quit my full time job to focus more time on my Photography business and family. So far so good!!

I kind of like that the Photo of the Week project always starts a new year off with Canada Day celebrations. :)

I hope you all enjoyed your Canada Day weekend. I know I enjoyed mine. :)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #52 - Concentration

2011-06-30T08:36:00.001-04:00

Wow! The last 'Photo of the Week' for Year 2 of my weekly photo project. That went by quick!

I hope everyone has a fabulous long weekend (for those who get one). Whether you are celebrating Canada Day or Independence Day, enjoy the time with family and friends, and please be safe! :)

Concentration

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: 6 Months Already!

2011-06-30T06:17:00.000-04:00

Wow! Baby Addison is already 6 months old and as cute as can be! Six months is such a fun age. I remember Ben at that age and I also remember thinking......it would have been nice to have someone else look after him the first 6 months and then have my maternity leave start after that. ;)

Here are some sneak peaks from Addison's 6 month session last weekend.

Isn't this personalized diaper cover the cutest?!?!

Jolly Jumpers are soooo much fun! Addison was having a total BLAST in hers! I remember Ben loving his. I have so much video footage of him jumping and jumping. I'm sure I'll find some type of use for that later on in his life. heehee

Mommy Lovin'

She was very interested in the grass. It was a bit damp because of the morning dew.

Such and awesome family!

Sleepy Time?

Yes, definitely sleepy time. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS - First Baby On The Way :)

2011-06-29T14:24:00.003-04:00

It was so great meeting Sherrie and Shawn when we did their maternity session last week. They are expecting their first child. What an exciting time!! :)

Here are a few images from the session.

Sherrie and Shawn, I hope you liked your sneak peak! What an amazing adventure you are about to embark on. :)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #51 - Helping With Chores

2011-06-26T15:35:00.000-04:00

It's kind of a shocker! Ben actually helped out with a few chores around the yard last week. I hadn't reclaimed the front door area since winter (we don't use that door much at all, and in winter it's always just blocked up with snow). Well....when he was 'finished' with the pressure washer, there was a huge pattern on the step. So, not quite sure if he was helpful or not! LOL I had to go over pretty much the entire area again.

Oh well, at least he wanted to help! :))

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #50 - My First Helping Hearts Session

2011-06-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

Most definitely my most memorable experience from last week was photographing my very first session for Helping Hearts. The photo of the week for that week is of Haydn, who was the primary subject of the session. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Helping Hearts - Haydn

2011-06-15T11:28:00.003-04:00

I was so excited to photograph my very first session for Helping Hearts this past weekend.

Claire and her family found their way to Helping Hearts through the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Canada and I had the privilege to photograph Haydn and the rest of the family.

Meet Haydn, who is currently 8 years old. When he was four, he was diagnosed with LCH, a rare cancer affecting 1 in 200,000 children. Haydn had a cancerous tumor on his V6 vertebrae, which could not be removed surgically, however after numerous chemo treatments and steroids it was removed. He wears a neck brace for support and protection because his vertebrae is still very weak, and has not regenerated in the four years since diagnosis.

Haydn is a typical eight year old boy who loves hockey, swimming, video games and playing with his younger brother, and through all of his treatments and hospital visits he is always smiling. His family is so proud of him.

Haydn loves watching wrestling and showed off some of his wrestling poses for me.

He and his younger brother have the typical brother relationship. Lots of kidding around and playing. :) Don't they both have gorgeous eyes!

What a beautiful family (you can see where the boys get their eyes from!)

The toughest part of their journey so far has been having to tell Haydn that he cannot play any kind of contact sport or go on rollercoasters or a waterslide at Wonderland. It breaks their hearts. I can't help but think about how much my 7 year old loves to do all of those thing.

It was so awesome meeting Haydn and his family. I found out that our families like to do some of the same things and we've even been camping to at least one of the same Provincial Campgrounds! :)

Thanks so much Claire for contacting Helping Hearts and inviting me into your home to photograph your amazing son and beautiful family. I hope you liked your sneak peak. :)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: The Brown Family

2011-06-14T20:43:00.002-04:00

I was worried about the weather on Saturday morning, but it really held out for us. :)

Do you remember Athena from earlier this year when I did her newborn session? Well this time her whole family came out! And a big family it is too.

We had a few grumpy faces that day, but even grumpy, the girls are adorable.

And here's the newest member with her beautiful Mommy. I love the big curl she has on top of her head. :)

Near the end, we did get some smiles......or partial smiles... ;)

I wonder what it's like to be the only boy in a family with four sisters?

Thank you Joe and Yeni for the opportunity to photograph your entire family. I hope you liked your sneak peak! :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

MISCELLANEOUS: Main Site Outages Today

2011-06-14T18:37:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the site outages today. My hosting site is having some technical issues that they have been working on to resolve, but it has meant my main site has been up and down a lot of today.

Hopefully it won't be long before the issues are fixed up. To anyone who has been trying to access their images, thanks so much for your patience!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #49 - A Peaceful Spot

2011-06-12T22:13:00.001-04:00

June 3rd was the Grand Opening of Procyon Wildlife's new facility in Beeton, Ontario. This image was taken on the new property. It's so beautiful there.

Thanks for looking!

- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Nicole

2011-06-10T20:19:00.002-04:00

This week I had the opportunity to have Nicole in my home studio to take her Professional Headshots.

I think they turned out fantastic! :)

Nicole is in the Real Estate business and needed an updated headshot for her business cards.

Nicole will be working for Royal LePage Your Community Realty, and her web site, which is still being constructed at the time this blog is being written, is http://www.nicolebarbara.ca/. Check it out soon.

Nicole, I wish you much success! :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: A Milestone Celebration!

2011-06-08T15:37:00.003-04:00

What better way to spend a rainy Saturday morning than with Shelley and her friends (Mena, Gail and Brenda). Shelley hosted the luncheon in order to celebrate an important milestone: 5 years cancer free!!

I was there to capture images of a few of the fun moments. And fun they were! :) A few times it was difficult to keep the camera steady with all of the laughing going on!!

Shelley is always smiling :)

Mena is an aesthetician and all of the ladies had beautifully painted toe nails. I believe the shade was a lovely pink. :)

Shelley and Gail met at chemotherapy 5 years ago

As you can see, there were boas and balloons. The colour theme was pink and green. The pink represented breast cancer and the green represented life, Spring and new growth.

Each lady was given a gift basket that included monogrammed tissue, breast cancer wool dish clothes, monogrammed stationary, as well as other goodies.

After I left them, they enjoyed a fabulous lunch of stuffed chicken, potato salad, Greek salad, rice and lemon meringue pie. Mmmm it all sounds so delicious.

Even though it was pouring rain and stormy outside that day, it was definitely sunny and bright inside! :)

As Shelley has said, "All of us have chosen to live life to its fullest. We eat well, live well and hope to inspire others to keep positive and look forward. We do a lot of laughing, celebrate every occasion and don't take life for granted."

Definitely good words to live by. :)

Congratulations on your milestone! I'm sure you will be celebrating many many more.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Sabrina

2011-06-06T09:34:00.003-04:00

It was so nice to see Sabrina again last week when she came in to have her Professional Headshots taken. It had been way too long since we had caught up with each other.

Sabrina and her family were one of my very first clients back in 2008. Wow how time flies!

Sabrina is in the process of making a career change to the Real Estate industry and required an updated Professional Headshot. She's so comfortable in front of the camera and it really comes across in the resulting images.

I'm so very excited for her and I know she's going to be very successful!! :))

She'll be working with Royal LePage Your Community Realty, and Here is a link to her new web site: www.sabrinacameron.com

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #48 - Signs of Spring

2011-06-05T06:54:00.001-04:00

I took this one as part of our 'Weekend Photo Sharing' theme last weekend that we do on Facebook. The theme was 'You know it's Spring when.....'

Lovely Lily of the Valley

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #47 - A Brief Stop

2011-05-29T17:56:00.000-04:00

The weather on the May long weekend was fantastic! It definitely was a great weekend for camping. :)

I wonder what they were looking at down there????

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #46 - Fresh Fiddleheads

2011-05-20T15:50:00.001-04:00

I'm looking at food photography in a new way after the CreativeLIVE workshop with Penny De Los Santos.

There are many things I wish I would have done better in making this image (the most obvious one being that it isn't sharp), but with deciding at the last minute to photograph them before hubby could gobble them up, I got what I got and it was exciting! :)

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #45 - New and Beautiful

2011-05-14T07:07:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, I discovered this in the backyard. You can still see a mix of the old with the new, but it was beautiful.

I love when the yard starts to explode with new life and colour! :)

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #44 - First Time In Goal

2011-05-07T06:46:00.000-04:00

Ben's second ball hockey game ever was last weekend. Of course, he had to volunteer to be goalie.

I love my little guy. But honestly.....he's no goalie. He's more of a defenceman, based on his soccer experiences in the Winter. But....he's 7 and he thinks he can do anything.

The end result was that he let in 3 goals and absolutely hated it. The pads kept turning sideways, he didn't like the stick and the gloves were very uncomfortable. And.....he hated letting the goals in. But considering he's never played goalie before and doesn't even watch hockey on TV to know how it's done, he did alright. :)

I'm glad he gave it a try and even more so that he stuck it out, even though he hated it. But I assure you.....he won't be volunteering to be goalie again this season. LOL

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #43: Those Colourful Eggs

2011-05-01T23:12:00.000-04:00

I was almost asleep when I realized I hadn't posted my Photo of the Week from last week and this week is almost over! I've never missed posting before and this is the closest I've ever come to being late!!

Last week included Easter weekend. I worked most of the weekend, but did take some time out to make sure that the eggs were appropriately splashed with their beautiful colours.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: A Custom Story Book Session for Campbell :)

2011-05-01T08:27:00.002-04:00

It turned out to be such a beautiful day for Campbell's 2nd birthday party. :)

The kids were so cute and were having so much fun. Oh to be little again with nothing to worry about except which way to slide down the slide.

The images from Campbell's birthday party are being turned into a custom story book. I LOVE working on custom story books. They are so much fun to put together.

Here are some of the images from his awesome birthday party!

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Ken

2011-04-29T20:40:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about my job is that I get to meet a lot of new people. I had the opportunity to meet someone new earlier this week.

Ken came to my home studio for a Professional Headshot session. :)

Here's a sneak peak from his session.

It was so great to meet you, Ken. I hope you like your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #42: Moose

2011-04-24T21:00:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was the third year I've made a trip to Algonquin Park to try and get a peek at a moose. And what a great trip it was! I'm hoping to get the blog post done this week with a few more photos from the trip. In the meantime, my photo of the week from a week ago is of one of the Moose we saw.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #41 - Birch Tree

2011-04-14T15:28:00.002-04:00

I was so busy last week editing images that I barely took any new ones! Thankfully I started doing this thing on my Facebook Page where a few of us are sharing 2-4 images that we take each weekend, otherwise, I may have forgotten to taken any pictures at all! I love seeing what other people are taking pictures of, whether it be professionally or just personally, for fun, with the family, etc. Now that the weather is getting nicer, I'm hoping more people will be inspired to get their cameras out and share an image or two with us each week :)

So this isn't the most exciting image I've ever taken, but it was taken last week and it is of one of my favourite trees. I love birch trees. The texture of their bark is so beautiful. Our property is mostly filled with pine trees, so I really enjoy the few birch trees we do have. This particular tree gets featured in many of the outdoor sessions I do on our property. (I love my outdoor studio!) :)

Thanks for looking! :)

Now I have to get back to my Quickbooks.....Oh how I would much rather be taking pretty pictures ;)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #40 - So Precious

2011-04-10T18:56:00.001-04:00

I took so many photos last week of so many amazing subjects, it's been really difficult to decide which one to choose for my 'Photo of the Week'.

I know you've seen this one before when I did the sneak peak blog post for them, but I really love this one. She looks so peaceful and so stylish at the same time! haha :) Definitely my favourite.

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Sweet & Sassy Veronica

2011-04-08T20:04:00.001-04:00

Veronica! Thank you for waiting patiently for your blog post.

The final beautiful 'Sweet & Sassy' lady is Veronica. She has super gorgeous eyes! But don't take my word for it......see for yourself.

Meet Sweet & Sassy Veronica! :)

Veronica's Sweet & Sassy Collage

Here is a selection of images from Veronica's session.

The many faces of Veronica - Sweet, Innocent, Attitude, Pensive

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Sweet & Sassy Sue

2011-04-07T11:31:00.002-04:00

Next up from our 'Picture Your Sweet & Sassy Self' session is Sue!

Sue was very fun to work with because she is an Actress. Or should that be Actor. I'm never sure. She's very comfortable in front of the camera and will give pretty much anything a try. :) And those gorgeous big eyes!!

Meet Sweet & Sassy Sue! :)

Sue's Sweet & Sassy Collage

Here is a selection of images from Sue's session.

The Many Faces of Sue - Sweet, Serious, Professional, Bad A$$ and of course Fun!

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Welcome to the World Baby Avery :)

2011-04-06T10:34:00.001-04:00

I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer, Stephen and their precious new baby girl, Avery.

Future Ballerina?

So Precious

There was no keeping those little arms inside

Such a Sweet Smile

So Peaceful

So Innocent

Daddy's Love

Mommy's Soft Touch

"Well Hello There! Welcome to the Family."

Thank you Jennifer and Stephen for inviting me into your home to photograph your new adorable baby girl and for waiting so patiently for your blog post. I hope you liked it.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Sweet & Sassy Debbie

2011-04-05T21:51:00.004-04:00

You saw the behind the scenes here. I also did a small reveal on my Facebook Business page.

Here is the first blog post.

Meet Sweet & Sassy Debbie! :)

Debbie's Sweet & Sassy Collage

And here are some of the other images that made up Debbie's fun session!

The Many Faces of Debbie - Fun, Flirty, Funny, Sweet, Serious

Thank you Debbie for showing us your 'Sweet & Sassy Self'! You may not have thought it at the time, but you were able to express yourself quite nicely! :) I'm so happy we got a so many different looks for you. From energetic in your exercise wear to casual, business and flirty. Awesome session! And thank you Cynthia Witzig from Aesthetics By Cynthia for doing the make-up for the 'Picture Your Life Sweet & Sassy' sessions!

Stay tuned for the next Sweet & Sassy post.....hopefully tomorrow evening. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Meet Baby Maddox :)

2011-04-05T06:22:00.000-04:00

You met his mommy and her beautiful baby belly a few weeks ago and now it's time to meet little baby Maddox!

Hello Baby Maddox :)

You are very adorable

Some love from his biggest big brother

More love from his littlest big brother

Little Boy Feet!

A Very Proud Daddy

Lots of Motherly Love

A beautiful new addition to the family

One lucky, adorable little baby boy

Edina and Lee, I hope you enjoyed your sneak peak.

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #39 - A Rare Quiet Moment

2011-04-03T15:07:00.000-04:00

Going on my first field trip with Ben and his class was so much fun. Even more awesome was the fact that Ben actually stood very quiet and still while trying to convince the chickadees to land on his hands for some food.

Unfortunately, no chickadees came to land on any of the kids' hands.....but it was still fun to watch :)

"Chickadee dee dee"

Thanks for looking! :)

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: More Burbrook Puppies!

2011-04-03T14:48:00.000-04:00

I was back to see Peggy of Burbrook Cavaliers this past week. Yes, more puppies to photograph!! :)

What fun puppies are to take pictures of.

We started off with Penny

Next was Bixby

And looking stylish sitting on this little chair that Peggy bought for the session is Cedar.

Who can resist the face of Stirling?

And here we have little Cricket

What a cute looking bunch!

It's hard work having your photo taken

....Really hard work!

Thanks Peggy for the opportunity to photograph you adorable little puppies and thanks again to Gail for helping keep those little guys in line. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

CLIENT SHOOTS: Addison is 3 months!

2011-03-28T11:04:00.004-04:00

It was hard to believe that Addison's 3 month session was this past weekend. I was so excited to get to see her again. You can see her newborn sneak peak from 3 months ago here.

She has a favourite dolly. Isn't she just the cutest thing?? All pink and squishy..... :)

Her 'dolly'

A Familiar Face

Getting ready with Daddy

I think she's giving us the thumbs up!

You're never too young to have style

Just hanging out by the fire

Look at that gorgeous face!

Family Love

Thank you Kirsten and Bannon for inviting me into your home again to photograph your beautiful baby girl. I'm so excited to be able to capture her gorgeous little face during her first year for you.

I hope you liked your sneak peak. :)

Thanks for looking!

-- Lisa P.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK #38: My Baby??

2011-03-27T16:51:00.002-04:00

Ben was kind enough to help me get my home studio space organized last week during March break. Then he helped me test it out. Those of you who follow my Facebook businses page saw this one already. Where has my baby gone??

My Baby?

It's funny....sometimes he really looks a lot like my brother. Maybe it's the way he stands.

Thanks for looking.

-- Lisa P.