Debb, her crew, and her baby-in-progress | family and maternity photography

Every time I think I might live in the noisiest / craziest household in the world, I think of my friend Debb. She already had a baby of her own when she she got married last year  and took on two of Doug's teenage children (plus Doug himself). PLUS they decided it was a good time to get two dogs! And THEN her sister moved in, along with the home daycare she operates. AND Debb has recently launched her own photography business (no small task). And now, they'll be expanding the family with one more tiny little addition very soon. A baby! Debb, you're crazy in a good way; you're that so-much-love-to-give kind of person we all need in our life. So excited to meet that baby in the very near future : ) 

In-Bloom | a jewelry and accessories shoot!

Jillian and Kaleb are the super-creative husband-and-wife team behind In-Bloom. It's a company I can't say enough about; their work is so amazing! They hand-make unique jewelry and accessories using various types of beautiful wood, feathers, and stones. I love what they do because the quality of their work simply is outstanding. Plus, there's nothing better than working with your spouse : )

To unveil their 2012 collection of goods, we met them for a sunny Sunday shoot on the beach in Long Point with some lovely ladies who were soooo easy to work with. We had tons of fun with this project, and it didn't really feel like work at all.  I've said it before, and I'll say it many times again: I am lucky times infinity to do what I love to do. I have the BEST job in the world (for me).

I have posted some but definitely not all of the images from the shoot. You can see lots more of In-Bloom stuff (and shop too!) here

To see the faces behind the whole operation, scroll down to the end of this post. Cuteness!

Thanks to all the girls who came out for the afternoon. And extra thanks to Jillian and Kaleb : )

Holly and Jay plus a family session | sarnia, ontario family photography

Holly and Jay - two of my most favourite people! We shot their wedding last year and we have since become good friends with them. We met on possibly the windiest day in history to do some photos of them together just for fun. See how cute married couples are? They've still got it. And after a walkabout downtown Sarnia, we met Holly's big awesome family for part 2! (See below)

Thanks Holly and Jay : )

little Emma | london, ontario newborn + lifestyle photography

(photographed by Kristen)

I met Emma for the first time when she was just a perfect little bump in her mom's tummy. The second time I met her, she was two weeks old. Baby cuteness rating of 10. Emma was a little roller coaster of alertness and deep-sleeping and simple perfect baby-ness. Babies never cease to amaze me. They are tiny and fragile and resilient all at the same time. They sleep and eat so much it's crazy (and it's no wonder they grow so fast). 

Photographing newborns doing what they do is awesome. I get to hold a brand-new little baby, and that pretty takes the pie for me. Thank you Amy and Chris, It was an honour to be with you guys through this new little chapter in your life. Congratulations!  

Welcome Emma : )

annie + abe | london, ontario engagement photography | photographed April 21, 2012

(photographed by Kristen and Jeremy)

Annie and Abe are a dream to photograph - not just because they simply look adorable together, but because they so much enjoy the company of each other that it's impossible not to have a great time working with them. We met them last weekend for their engagement session and I was beyond impressed to see the thought that they (by "they" I think I mean Annie) had put into their outfit choices. Super cute! Annie's a Pinterest veteran and found her inspiration there. Brides - and even some grooms - if you haven't checked Pinterest out for wedding ideas and other random interesting things, you might want to... but we warned that it's addictive. Sorry in advance!

Annie and Abe, I was excited before but now I'm extra excited for your wedding in August. Thanks so much for holding back nothing and for just being yourselves. That's what the camera loves best : )

Little McKay | london, ontario newborn and lifestyle photography | photographed April 21, 2012

(photographed by Kristen and Jeremy)

A few years ago we photographed Chris and Steph's wedding. Loved working with them; they're down-to-earth, adorable, and sooo in love in a really cute / non-mushy way. So never in a million years would I ever turn down a chance to photograph this little project they've been working on! His name is McKay, and he's exactly the reason I love babies. Before I had my own littles, I was terrified of them (especially the breakable tiny newborn types) but in the past few years I have become a total baby person. I love their fuzzy little heads and their super wrinkles and yawns and sweet little lips and pretty much every other adjective that describes a baby. He was three weeks old in these photos. 

Congratulations Steph and Chris! You made one beautiful baby.  

And congratulations McKay, you have an amazing family : )

We are so thrilled that Andy and Amy's wedding has been featured on the fantastic everything-wedding blog site Style Me Pretty! Thanks so much SMP : ) 

You can see the blog post here

 

Just Samantha | london, ontario portrait photography | photographed April 13, 2012

(photographed by Kristen)

We often receive emails from students looking to complete an internship with us to fulfill their course requirements. We are a fairly new business - only a few years old - and so when these inquiries began to trickle in a while back we always responded with the explanation that we felt we were too new, still learning ourselves, and not quite ready to take on a student intern.

Then one day last year as I was replying to one of these students, I noticed her email address. It was clever. Just a tiny random little detail, but it caught my eye. And for some strange reason, I became interested in this person. Erased the email I was writing. We debated the whole internship thing. Thought back to the photographer who had helped me get started. And decided to find out more. It turned out that the photography program at the college required an internship with a business that had been in the game full time for a minimum of three years. We just barely fit that profile - but by the time the internship was to commence we would qualify. And really, there will never (and should never) be a point in the life of our business where we won't still be learning new things. So we went for it. We met Sam for the first time in a coffee shop and we brought along our baby in his baby carrier... because we figured we'd be our normal selves right off the bat. We don't have weekday childcare for our kids and so we work on a constant rotation switching office duties/kid duties back and forth throughout the day and most evenings. Definitely not a 9 to 5 schedule, but we wanted to show her that in the new stages of a business you do what you have to do to make it work. We sat down with her for a sort of informal interview and although we had pretty much decided it already, we liked her right away and she became our very first student intern.

Having a third person along for some of our shoots and in our home working space has been awesome. Sam has inspired me to accept more interns in the future. I can only hope that the next intern will be ok with a baby sitting in on an editing session in his highchair while stuffing his face. And maybe if I'm extra lucky, they'll laugh at my reeeeaalllly lame jokes like Sam does : )

Thank you for sticking it out with us Sam, we know you'll be amazing out there in the post-graduation real world. Check out her beautiful work here and her beautiful self in the post below.

the borges family | family and newborn photography | photographed April 7, 2012

 (photographed by Kristen)

On the Saturday of Easter weekend we packed up and headed north of Toronto for this family and newborn session. Little Mason was just a month old and a little past the super-sleepy newborn stage, but still very newborn-ish (wrinkly, sweet, and lovely). 

Babies are pretty easy... if they fuss, just let them eat. But when working with young children and a camera, it's pretty much a guarantee that they will expire at some point in the session. They will lose interest, and things will go downhill FAST. Who knew that their dad's idea of squirting whipped cream directly from the bottle into their mouths would be such an effective solution? It makes delicious sense to me.

Thank you to the Borges family for inviting us into your home, and congratulations on your beautiful baby #3. You guys were absolutely worth the drive   : )

kursten + Brooks | london ontario photography | photographed march 24, 2012

(photographed by Kristen and Jeremy)

Kursten and Brooks were married in Las Vegas and they flew in from the East Coast to celebrate their marriage with friends and family at the very beautiful Bellamere Winery here in London. These two are absolutely adorable together; we did a quick little session with the two of them and then headed inside as the party began. We were only there for a couple of hours, but it was quite evident that this casual affair was going to be a lot of fun (judging by the action on the dance floor). Thank you so much for having us guys, and congratulations : )