a little bit about me ……

When I was creating my new website I really wanted my “about me” pages to give a clear idea of my personality and who I am so that clients would know pretty quickly if I would be the right fit for them!

I thought it would be fun to share a few more random bits….

 

 

1. Before I was a full-time photographer, I was an aesthetician~ super fun and exciting work.

I especially enjoyed the brides I got to work with and the wedding makeup I would do.  Funnily enough I was always a little sad when I was done and off the bride would go to the ceremony.  I felt like I was missing out on something…. it was how I knew that I would LOVE wedding photography~ being able to spend the entire exciting day capturing every well planned exciting detail!  Plus my makeup skills have come in handy a time or two ;)

 

2.  I hate spiders!  It’s even hard for me to type the word~ lol.  It is my biggest challenge as a Mum to remain calm and collected when the kids are around and I see one.  I am trying my hardest not to pass that gem of a trait along.

 

3.  The second bay of our garage has turn into my prop storage!  I am always on the lookout for a great new find, anything from blankets and chandeliers to vintage boxes and antique beds.  I am fortunate (although my husband may not agree) now that people even will call me with ideas, thoughts, and offers for items they have or have seen.

 

4.  I love mushroom soup, but have to strain out the mushrooms!

 

5.  My husband is the first and only guy I’ve ever asked out on a date, pretty good track record I think ;)

 

A blogpost just isn’t the same without a few photos, here are a few from our family session in the fall :)





Posted on: February 22nd, 2012 by Leslie No Comments
Posted in Family, My Life

magical forest ….. miss A

This was a super fun and special session for me, I loved collaborating with Miss. A’s Mum to create a girly, princess, and everything magical, photo session.  I had so much fun I’m not sure who enjoyed it more her or I :)

I love to create special whimsical photo sessions for clients who have a vision of something different.  Even if you don’t know exactly what they want, we can collaborate and come up with something unique and authentic for you.

 





Posted on: February 21st, 2012 by Leslie No Comments
Posted in Uncategorized

West family

I was so honoured to have spent an afternoon with this incredibly beautiful and amazing family!  Sometimes I am at a loss for words when I am trying to describe how much I love what I do!

So I will leave this post short and sweet and full of fantastic people!





Posted on: February 20th, 2012 by Leslie No Comments
Posted in Family

orchid lime salad …..white water cookbook 3

My absolute favourite cookbooks are the Whitewater series (there are 3 in total), and if you’ve been to my house for dinner most likely I’ve made you a Whitewater meal!  I  have yet to find a recipe that wasn’t super tasty and delicious, and I love the beautiful photos through out.

This is the first recipe that I’ve tried out of the newest book “Whitewater Cooks with Friends” and of course it was amazing.

dressing:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 lime juice and zest

2 tsp sesame oil

4 TBSP sweet chili sauce

4 TBSP rice vinegar

4 TBSP soy sauce

1 TBSP maple syrup

4 crushed garlic cloves

2TBSP fresh ginger ~ grated

1/2 bunch cilantro~ chopped

1/4 cup oil

Blend all the dressing ingrediants together then set aside

salad:

one package pad thai rice noodles

2TBSP sesame oil

2 carrots

1 cucumber

1 red pepper

2 cups bean spouts

1 bunch green onions

2 TBSP butter

1 cup slivered almonds

3 TBSP sesame seeds

1/4 tsp chinese five spice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

prepare noodles then rinse in cold water and toss with sesame oil, toss with the vegetables and set aside.

heat butter and add nuts, 5 spice and seeds and toast until golden brown (3-4 minutes) then add salt and sugar and toss (&cook) for another minute.  remove from heat and let cool.

 add the dressing to the noodle/vegetable mixture and toss then garnish with cilantro and top with sesame and almond mixture.

Check out amazon.ca, they usually have the best price on it and right now it’s on sale 37% off with free shipping!

{CLICK HERE}





Posted on: February 19th, 2012 by Leslie 2 Comments
Posted in My Life

magical forest barbie tea party … part deux

Here is the second post for Olivia’s 6th birthday party :)

Check out more of the details here {CLICK}

I wish I had thought to video the girls running down to find their tea party in the forest!  They were so excited to round the corner and see their little magical tea party waiting for them.

 

This photo just makes me think of the song “the boys are back in town, the boys are back in town”

Dawson and his buddy Jax were so excited to be included and “allowed” to bring the girls water to wash their paint brushes in.

 

 

I am looking forward to planning Dawson’s fourth birthday party this year!  Today he told me he would like flags and cups at his party…. :)





Posted on: February 18th, 2012 by Leslie No Comments
Posted in My Life, Styled

Not Just Skin Deep …..

Remember back when I said I had met some amazing photographers through online forums?  Well one of them is Kelly Gemmell of Kelly Gemmell Photography.  We haven’t actually met but she’s one of those warm kind people that you just know you could sit and chat for hours over coffee,… or wine ;)

Kelly battled cancer last year and won!  Since then she has created an amazing organization that is bringing together photographers from Ontario and British Columbia to work together to raise $10,000 in one afternoon.  I am so honoured to be able to team up with her and other photographers across Canada to help raise awareness and funds to fight this devastating disease.

Please take a minute to check out the “Not Just Skin Deep” website, especially the “Dear 16-year old Me” video.

http://notjustskindeep.org/

I am going to plan my afternoon of sessions on May 26th, the same day as the Ontario photographers who are going to have a super fun day working together!

There will be 5 spots, each session will be 20 minutes, cost $100 and offer 5 full resolution digital files to each client.

100% of the proceeds will be donated to the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund.





Posted on: February 17th, 2012 by Leslie 1 Comment
Posted in My Life

baby J

I was so excited to meet this little guy, especially after taking his lovely sister’s newborn photos just a short 14 months ago!  He was such a laid back and relaxed baby, quite content to let me do my thing while keeping a close eye on me!

It didn’t take long though and he was off to la-la land!  What a teeny tiny rockstar he was, for the rest of his session.

I was thrilled to be able to capture few at the end of the session with his beautiful Mama!

Here’s a look back at his sister’s session just a little over a year ago {SESSION}





Posted on: February 16th, 2012 by Leslie No Comments
Posted in Newborn

How to dress for a session….

Probably the most asked question and what causes the most stress for an upcoming photo session is “what to wear.”  While it may seem silly to stress about clothing choices, it really is such an important part of a session and can make a world of difference in how your images turn out.

Some people have a knack for putting together a collection of outfits, and can seamlessly combine strips and plaid in orange, green and pink.  For others it isn’t that easy and becomes stressful, especially if you have limited resources or budget for shopping.  For those that have trouble the simplest way I can explain it is to:

1st ~ choose 1 main/staple colour, whether it is grey, navy, brown etc…. then

2nd ~ choose 1 or 2 accent colours, yellow, red, green etc…

Especially if you are having family photos, with multiple adults, this is an easy guideline for everyone to follow.   You want to make sure everyone goes together without being too matchy matchy!

Here is an awesome family session that I photographed this winter for the Thompson family.  They chose grey as their main colour, then navy and turquoise as accent.  It didn’t matter who was together in a photo, they looked great, and as a group they rocked it!

{you can’t tell here, but one of the sons even had these fantastic turquoise sketchers on too!}

{It is really important to have that pop of colour too, it just gives the image some depth and interest.}





Posted on: February 15th, 2012 by Leslie No Comments
Posted in Family

magical forest barbie tea party

Happy Valentines!

I thought this post would be fitting today~ the first of two posts from Olivia’s 6th birthday party back in August.

~party dresses, pretty flowers, heart shaped waffles and fancy tea cups~

I really wanted to create a magical girly birthday party for her this past year.  She is such a mix of girly girl, barbies, and 6-year old fancieness~ as well as get messy, outside, true little farm girl.  It’s hard to know which way she’ll lean towards in the future, I am thrilled to have been able to do this while I still could!

I was so pleased when it all came together (the weather was a little dicey at the last minute!), and I couldn’t have even come close with out the help of my fantastically wonderful in-laws.

Part II to follow later on this week :)





Posted on: February 14th, 2012 by Leslie 2 Comments
Posted in Family, My Life, Styled

Brand new miracle …..

This wasn’t the blog I had planned for Monday, but after my amazing night I just had to share a little glimpse into it!

I was extremely honoured to be invited to photograph the birth of Eric and Crystal’s baby.  There aren’t enough words to describe how incredible it is to be at a birth~ such an amazing emotional roller coaster and one that never gets old :)

I will post this session again with more from the day long journey they had to get to this point, but in the mean time here are just a few snippets from my night…

 

and thank you Eric, for taking a shot of me with sweet little Aiden Gerald!




Posted on: February 13th, 2012 by Leslie 3 Comments
Posted in Family, Newborn