It has been a busy Spring with lots of new and exciting projects.   One of my favourite has been the two Sundays I spent in Lesley Oake’s dance studio photographing some of her lovely little dancers.  My daughter is a student of hers and thoroughly enjoys her lessons.  She looks forward to each week and often talks fondly about Miss Lesley.  So when we were able to collaborate and offer mini dance sessions to her students I was thrilled.

This post is the first from the mini dance session series that I will be posting in the next few weeks (as time allows).  I have so many favourites from these two days that it is very difficult to choose which ones  to blog, and I will also be adding some favourites to my website, which has been neglected lately, but will hopefully not be neglected for much longer.

Lesley Oake’s students will be showcasing their talents on June 8th and as well on June 9th at the Gordon Pinsent Center for the Arts.  The first night has sold out (I didn’t even manage to get tickets for that show) and a second show was added (Thank you Lesley).  I am sure it will be a huge success.  

This was my last session of the busy holiday season, and what a great way to end the year.  Winter is one of my favourite seasons, and I was so happy that there was snow on the ground for this session in Gander last weekend.  Photographing older children is also quite enjoyable for me.  Especially when they love the camera as much as Madison does. 

One of my favourite subjects to photograph is newborns.  I love their squishy skin, their pouty lips, their tiny toes… everything!  Although a newborn session typically lasts longer than other sessions (as babies need feedings, changings and yes they sometimes even cry for awhile) but it is sooo worth that extra time. 

This little jewel was just as precious as her big sister was when I photographed her an a newborn two years ago.  And such a full head of hair!  She was nice and sleepy too, which is great for getting newborns into interesting positions.  I was even successful with the “stork baby” pose which I have attempted in the past, but have previously failed.   

I am still pretty far behind in my editing, but am slowly catching up.  This week I have made a lot of progress making up from my previous weeks of back to school madness.  I am jumping ahead a little in my sneak peeks as  Jillian and Steve would like to view a few of their photos together before Steve has to go away.  Jillian looked lovely in her gold coloured gown, while Steve looked dapper in his top hat.  Enjoy your sneak peek guys, I hope it doesn’t take me toomuch longer to catch up and finish the rest of your wedding!

I had the pleasure of photographing April when she was pregnant with her daughter two years ago, and again when her daughter was born.  I was thrilled to be asked to photograph her wedding as well.  April and Keith had a beautiful day.  There was a whole lot of love and laughter between these two as well as their family and friends.   April was a beautiful bride who was just beaming all day long.  It was a fun wedding, complete with a visit from Elvis himself.

I had the pleasure of visiting the community of Conne River one day in the end of July and had sessions with two families at that time.  Will I photographed when he was one, and Jenna and Daniel I was meeting for the first time.  (Cool how two of the three children have the same names as my kids).  It was nice to drive through a community where every single person I passed that day waved to me, even though I was a total stranger.  That is one of the things i love about small towns in Newfoundland.  The scenery here was breathtaking, and I enjoyed spenging some time capturing these spirited children.

Jen and Dwayne were married on August 1.  The day started out in a downpour of rain, but as you can see from the blue skies below, turned into a beautiful sunny day.  As no wedding is complete without a minor disaster, Jen took her dress out of the bag only to find a pen mark down the front of her dress.  Luckily a friend knew that Tide to Go was in order, and the mark disappeared (after a few applications). 

We took a few photos in front of the old elementary school here in town.  The girls in fact ended up standing on the faded yellow lines where they used to play square ball as children.  I love locations like this, and even more so when it has a connection to the people I am photographing.

I am working hard this week to complete at much editing as I can before we go on our vacation next week.  I did complete a few sessions today so you will see these over the next few days.

Gavin celebrated his first birthday last week, and to celebrate we got together in July to have a first birthday session.  I have long loved seeing babies have their first birthday cake, from the first time I saw this tradtion when my good friend’s twin brothers turned one.  I think I was about 13 then…. my how the years go.  Gavin was a little unsure of his cake at first, but towards the end he seemed to really be enjoying himself and ws constantly trying to like the icing off his lips.  MMmmmmm!  This cake session was different from others I have done in the past, as this was not in a kitchen, but in the grass.  What a picnic!

Here are a few others from my session with Gavin.  He was such a cutie, with the cutest pacifier I have ever seen (an actual stuffed monkey was attached to it).

Peonies are one of my absolute favourite perennials.  They don’t last long in the garden, but they sure make quite an appearance when they are there.  They make great arrangements as well.  I “borrowered” these from my mother in laws garden (which once upon a time was my garden, and these were planted by me – back when I had time to garden) for a mini session with my daughter.  Since I had them I figured I would try out a few still life photos as well.  When I first started my journey as a photographer, this was my subject of choice (as they didn’t move around quite as much as my two active children).  I am considering adding stilllife as well a Newfoundland scenery to my website for anyone interesteding in adding such a piece to their home.  I am ordering this on canvas for myself today!

It has been really busy here this week, and I took a couple of nights off to visit my parents at their summer home in Greenspond.  Now to catch up on everything before my holidays….. As promised Karen, here are a few more photos from your wedding day.  I love incorporating every aspect of the wedding day into the photographs of that day, and if that means rain, then we use umbrellas.  I like to sometimes play with the vintage look and textures, and although I don’t do it very often, I love the result when I do.  And as well, a few from our trip to the local pool hall in Port Aux Basques where we also went for a little session out of the rainy weather.