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So after sorting out all the issues with the blog, it was in major need of some updates. I’m not going to post each session individually, because it would take me forever, but I’m going to do a few post installments over the next few days, containing a few families each time. It’s been a busy month, even though it didn’t look like it lately on here!
As some of you may have noticed, there were issues with the blog over the past week or two. I was trying to sort things out and things were not going well. I’m not good at figuring out computer issues, and if it were up to me, I’d just take picture, edit them, and converse with clients. Unfortunately, being a photographer in this day and age is so much more than just the photography end! As great as the internet is, it causes problems, and when they occur, if you’re not a computer guru, it tends to get scary and overwhelming. I had a friend (Jason Schultz of Schultz Photographic) come over today and help me figure a few things out. As far as we can see, it looks like all blog virus issues have been resolved. I apologize to anyone who may have been affected by this. It sucks that things get hacked, and viruses spread, and knowing that stuff originated from this blog just makes me sick. Hopefully everyone had good virus protection and was warned not to enter the site. Again, my apologies for all this mess!!
It was a super chilly evening, but with cute coats like these girls had, we had to be outside playing in the leaves!
My brother is kind of a wandering spirit. He’s travelled the globe, and is in the middle of a one year trip. Thank goodness for Skype! He started off in England, then flew to Russia to start the real trip. He covered Russia and Mongolia and then was on to China. He started taking pictures of some of the crazy English translations on the signs. They were just too funny, so I thought I’d share a few. He really loved the beauty of China, and enjoyed his time there. After that he was off to Tibet and spent a few days at the base camp at Mt. Everest. We were hoping for a Skype call from his laptop, while sitting on Everest, but unfortunately, that didn’t quite work out. Oh well. We’ve gotten to see alot of neat places while chatting with him online. Pretty neat for my boys to see their uncle in all sorts of countries all over the world. He is now in Nepal and will be there for awhile before he heads to India. We all kind of live vicariously through him, especially on days when the “to do” list seems a little too unattainable!
Before I get to the signs, here are a few shots from around China. The first is from the Yangtze River.
The rest are all signs on menus or at restaraunts. I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually go ahead with trying any of these, but can you blame him with these descriptions??!!
As soon as we got home from our week away, it was right back into the swing of things. The blog should be busy this month with all the grad students! I photographed the local dance club last week and some of the older girls looked like they had some really fun routines. They wanted me to put a few of them up, so here’s the goofy ones. 
Just a reminder that if you’re in need of a passport, I’ll have the studio set up for them all day tomorrow, April 1st, until 4:00 p.m. Stop in anytime! If I get ambitious enough tonight, there may even be free cookies!
I will be going to Arcola on March 18th to photograph a session, so I thought I’d throw this date out to anyone in that area. If you’re somewhere between here and there (I’ll be going to Whitewood then down through Langbank, Kennedy, etc I think) and you’d like to do a session around 1:00, shoot me an e-mail at pmphoto@sasktel.net I could do a grad casual session, or small family session on my way if anyone is interested.
The following story, 18 years in the making, will break your heart. I just spent the last hour reading the documentation of one woman’s lifelong struggle, as told by Darcy Padilla. When we see homeless, poor, broken people, we sometimes pass judgement, without fully taking the time to consider the whole story. Darcy Padilla has followed the life of Julie Baird, from the age of 18 – 36 and has opened up our eyes to a life journey that is so far removed from what we, as middle class citizens, can begin to fathom. You will need to take some time if you’re going to read through this blog. But it is something that you will not forget, and it will cause you to look at the poor in a whole new way. I should also mention, this blog reads horizontally, as well as vertically, so don’t forget to scroll to the rights, as well as down.
At our place around Christmas, we always buy those cheezy “gingerbread house in a kit” things. They taste terrible, and they’re not homemade, but it’s become a tradition at our place. The boys like decorating it up in their own unique little ways. I just took these pictures last night, so at this point, the house as a whole is completely picked over, and not looking very presentable. So I just took a few closeups of the remaining candies, by the light on the stove! Since I won’t have many shoots over the next few months, I’ll try to still add the odd thing on here, so I don’t completely lose my blog viewers! It might be pictures, it might be music clips, it might be other things that peak my interest. But I will try to keep something going on! Thanks for following.
Well, the holiday season is wrapping up, and we’ve welcomed in 2011. My family and I spent our last full day of holidays toboganning, playing pictionary, card games, watching home videos, putting pictures in albums, and playing floor hockey. It was awesome to have a whole day with just the four of us, completely free of any appointments or “to do” lists. That doesn’t happen very often!
This new year will bring some changes to the studio. For starters, I will be taking off January and February from shooting. I’ll still be busy though, with albums to design, looking into new products, inventory, etc. I will also be doing a few sessions that I had previously booked before I decided to take these few months off (so a teeny bit of blog action in the next little while, but not as heavy as usual). My wonderful babysitter is due to have her baby any day now, so that means I have no childcare for my youngest. I decided to take a little mini break for a bit, and spend some much needed time with him, and it came at a good time, as I’ve been so incredibly busy in the past year, that I was feeling a bit worn down. I think this bit of a breather from shooting will be refreshing, and I’ll be ready to go by the time I get back at it. I am already getting quite full for the spring, and summer is completely booked up for weekends. I’ve even booked a few families into next fall, so if you are wanting to look at booking a session once the nicer weather rolls around again, don’t leave it til the snow melts! Get in touch with me sooner rather than later, and we’ll set up a session time.
I’d like to say thanks so much to everyone who came for a session this year and supported me. It was great getting to know so many awesome people, and having the opportunity to photograph their families. God bless and all the best for 2011!
