Category Archives: Challenges

Playground Mosaic

Today is a holiday. A REAL holiday which means that I am at home and the boys are at daycare. I should be cleaning the house or doing something equally productive. Just waiting for the motivation to kick in.

After I dropped the boys off this morning I walked home through the park. The sun was out – calm after a wind storm – and the playground was empty of children. I took the rare opportunity to play – not on the swings but with my camera. It reminded me how much I miss taking photos outside during the winter months and how nice it is to be able to take time for photos, instead of a moment or two between “stop that” and “come here”.

It was ironic then that I focused on the playground instead of a more adult location for my impromptu shoot.

A Family Portrait

This week’s challenge for…

is “we are family”. Sadly it made me realize how few photos I have of my own family – well, all of us together anyway. That is definitely something I’ll have to work on in 2010.

So I chose one of my favorite client family photos from last year. I was incredibly proud of myself for being able to get everyone in the same photo. I love that they’re all doing their own thing but that the littlest boy is the center of attention.

Mosaic Monday: A Little Zen

This week’s Mosaic Monday is brought to you by the Portland Japanese Garden – one of the most beautiful places in the city. We took the opportunity to visit for a special Japanese New Year celebration on Sunday. They had calligraphy demonstrations, rice crackers and green tea.

The highlight for Thomas was when he spotted Chika Sensei, the Japanese intern in his pre-school class. It was about the same reaction that I would have if I ran into Robbie Williams on the street, but without all the screaming and fainting.

It was wonderful day to get out of the house and enjoy the gardens in winter. I really need to make an effort to go back for photo sessions during every season. The colours duiring spring and autumn would be just incredible – the photographer’s dream.

My Favourite Face

This post is primarily for the latest challenge from…

They are celebrating their first birthday this week and the challenge is to choose your favourite face photo from the last month. It provided me with the perfect opportunity to revisit a photo that was lost amongst the Christmas craziness (photo taken December 12).

This photo of Thomas just says so much about the magic of Christmas for a four year old. Santa gave him a tiny little bell on the Polar Express train ride and he was SO happy. A present. From Santa. Of course he was too scared to actually speak to the man in red, and sitting on his lap was out of the question, but when he looked at that little bell and I took this photo, I could see that it meant so much more to him than he let on.

Last Days of Autumn

My latest photo challenge entry for the I ♥ Faces photo blog.

This week’s challenge is Autumn Beauty.

The leaves are now gone by the way. Instead of the beautiful yellow leaves on the silver birch, we have bare black branches but at least the streets are clean. The street sweeper came by at 7am a few days ago and I was the lucky one who ran out to move the car in the nick of time. It’s the little things that make my life so exciting.

OK sarcasm aside, my baby is adorable – and not much of a baby any more. He will be 18 months old this week. I’m not quite sure how that happened…

And…More Balloons

My latest photo challenge entry for the I ♥ Faces photo blog.

This week’s challenge is balloons and..well…you know how I feel about balloons. I had no shortage of pics to choose from thanks to a recent birthday party. Samuel shares my obsession with balloons. These kept him occupied for a full 30 minutes.

Photo Challenge: Excited

Posting my very first photo challenge for the I ♥ Faces photo blog.

I have been looking for some inspiration lately, and this is one of the places where I find it.

Here is my entry – a child who gains a whole lot of excitement from a meal of Soba noodles. Fun to watch – not so much fun to clean up.

More inspiration coming in the results of a couple of fun recent photo shoots. Nothing gets me more inspired than a photo shoot.

Nicole