The Yules || Vancouver Family Photographer

I have been photographing this fun family since their eldest was a baby.
I am sad they are leaving Vancouver to move to Ontario. I'm so happy for them though, as they will finally own their own home. Owning a home is becoming an unrealized dream for a lot of Vancouver families and folks are leaving the city to follow their dream.
I wish this sweet family a wonderful new life and adventure and I hope we see each other again.

The Yules chose a sweet storybook album WITH their favorite portraits from their session.

She's a Star || Vancouver Family Photographer

Sweet baby Adele's family chose a hand-bound Storybook album of their favorite images from her session.
When I delivered the album her 2-year-old sister asked her Mama to read 'the story' over and over again, squealing with delight each time she saw a photo of herself in the album.
I imagine them all sitting together again snuggled up on their couch when Adele is old enough to enjoy her portraits too.

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Adele's family chose an 8x8" Storybook album and a matching 6x6" Album for her Grandma of the favorite images from their session.

Clear Counselling || Vancouver Headshot Photographer

This time of year I photograph a lot of 'Big Kids'.
I use this lighting quite frequently for clients that want something vibrant and welcoming.
New headshots for the team of practioners at Clear Counselling.

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Print our Memories

I would like to tell you a sad story.
A story about why I believe it is important that we print our memories.

In 2011 I attended my cousins wedding and during the reception I made portraits of all my family members.

In the spring of 2012 my uncle died suddenly.
It was a devastating loss for my family. He was all our favorite.

My way of coping with the grief was to lay on my bedroom floor and surround myself with photo albums from my childhood.
Within those album pages I could hear his delightful giggle and experience memories again of him. In my search for images for his memorial I found those portraits from 2011 stored away on an eternal drive I no longer used. I printed and framed that portrait as a gift to my Aunt. You can imagine the emotional reaction it received. Even though I had emailed her a digital copy years ago, she had never gotten around to making prints of it. That framed portrait was displayed lovingly on his memorial table.

There is concern in the scientific community that this generation will be a black hole as we rely so heavily on digital documentation. I am grateful that I grew up in the analog generation and that I have these printed memories of my childhood and albums filled with friends and adventures from my 20's and 30's.

DVDs are becoming a thing of the past as technology advances. Jpeg files are corruptible and 22% of hard drives fail after 4 years. It isn’t a question of if; it’s a question of WHEN. It happened to my brother and we will never get those first photos of my nephew back. It has happened to me many times. Thankfully, I have numerous backups of all my images. Even still, I have been working on a massive project the past year printing and filling albums with my favorite images since I started shooting digital in 2006.

I feel that I am doing my clients a disservice by only delivering digital images to them because I know that it is possible that they will never be viewed again and could potentially vanish. That is why I offer my Fine Art for Families. I want their memories to last and their children's children to enjoy them.

People need to know where they came from. They need a sense of lineage.
Please print your memories. Get those images off your phone before you delete them to make more room.
Print them. Make albums. Start today.

“Because 50 years from now the most photographed generation in history will have no photos.”

— http://missymwac.com/

Author Monica Meneghetti || Vancouver Headshot Photographer

Author Monica Meneghetti contacted me to create portraits to accompany an article in the Edmonton Journal featuring her novel 'What the Mouth Wants'.
The good folks at Arriva Ristorante on Commercial Drive allowed us to play around in their space and provided yummy gnocchi as a prop which Monica kept eating!!
Monica was recently nominated for a prestigious Lambda Literary Awards in the category of Bisexual Nonfiction.
I'm reading her novel right now and it is utterly delicious.

Brandon Yan || Vancouver Headshot Photographer

You can't tell, but it's actually -RidiculouslyCold and there's a Chinese New Year parade happening a few feet away.
Brandon Yan is running for Vancouver City Council as a One City Vancouver candidate and he needed new portraits for his candidacy website.
The Chinatown area means a great deal to Brandon and he wanted to incorporate the neighbourhood in his portraits.
Of course they were time sensitive and we had to do the shoot on one of the coldest days of the year and on Chinese New Year Parade Day! When  a contingent from the parade passed us by we had some fun running to catch it to get the cute photo below of Brandon (minus a coat).
Brandon Yan and I have worked together previously many times with the Out in Schools program where he is the Education Director.

Evolve Nurturing Vitality || Vancouver Headshot Photographer

I love using this particular lighting for my clients that offer health and wellness services.
It's bright and vibrant lighting and I think it matches this businesses personality perfectly.
Evolve Nurturing Vitality, is in their own words, "Your support support team as you evolve. We are dedicated to caring for each individual as a team."
You can visit the good folks at Evolve Vitality for Chiropractic Therapy, Massage Therapy, Naturopathic, Acupuncture, Active Release Technique (ART) and Low Level Laser Therapy.

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Fur Baby || Vancouver Family Photographer

Anyone who has a fur baby knows they are part of the family. So of course Shirley the Dog had to be included in the maternity session portraits. This family choose to purchase a gallery wall and the last portrait with her best furry faced friend hangs on the wall above her bed.
Pro Tip: hide doggie treats in clothing to get their full attention.