The last time I had seen Sharayah and Curtis was when they came by to pick up some of their wedding photos, and David was just a bump in his mom’s belly.  Well fast-forward a few seasons and we found ourselves at Assiniboine Park on a blustery but gorgeous autumn evening for portraits of the new family of three.  David may have been out of the womb, but he was still just a bump of a fellow, looking out from under his little white tuque with big expressive eyes.  Mom and Dad were clearly enthralled with their little man, while he, like most people his age would be, was focused on putting every leaf, stick, or blade of grass in his immediate vicinity into his mouth.  I really liked the warmth of this session – here are some faves:

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I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of wonderful families and photographing their young ones as they grow through the years.  This particular series of little Jasper will be one of my most in-depth shoots as I document his passage through each of the seasons of his first year.

It’s always amazing how quickly babies change in their first year.  Having taken his picture as a newborn earlier this summer, Jasper had clearly moved beyond the fresh new baby look and was now filling out his little “I rock” t-shirt.  No longer a sleepy newborn, he was fully awake for the entire shoot and gazing intently at the bright colours of the fall evening as Julie and Devin pushed him along in his stroller.

It was interesting to see little hints of his developing personality come through.  Jasper seems to be a pretty stoic little guy, but already in possession of what looks to be a keen sense of humor: it usually took some patience to catch a smile, but to my and Julie’s amusement, Jasper seemed to like smiling whenever Devin was forced to fetch the stroller, move a bag, or perform some other chore (apparently this wasn’t the first time he responded happily to watching his dad exert himself).

We stopped along Wellington Crescent to take advantage of the sunset colours before going back to take some shots of the family hanging out in the home. Looking forward to next time and getting Jasper into a little snowsuit in the snow!  In the meantime, some faves from this session:

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Glasses.  Whether it was their own designer frames or their too-cool aviators, I thought the glasses really stood out at Diana and Neil’s wedding.  It was another tremendous fall day, and even though the chilly wind may not have agreed with the bridesmaids in their dresses, I think the autumn colours we got in some of the shots will be more than worth it.  Diana and Neil really set the tone for the wedding with their relaxed and fun approach to the whole day – a really pleasant and enjoyable wedding to shoot.  Some of my favorites from the day:

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This has been one of the nicest Octobers that I can remember for taking pictures – cool and crisp days with big blue skies and that slightly softer light from the autumn sun.  Though a little breezy, Amanda and Dwayne picked as nice a day as you could ask for to do their engagement session.  I met them at the St-Boniface Basilica and got to take some great shots of them in that golden afternoon light.  Though we started out with just Amanda and Dwayne, it wasn’t long before we decided to rouse the little man Jackson, who had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the shoot.  It didn’t Jackson long to shake the cobwebs out and start motoring around and exploring the church grounds – he must have felt pretty rested because we must have followed him around the entire ruins a good two or three times.  Most importantly, his catnap didn’t mess up his awesome little mohawk.  Some faves from the session:

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Ellie is another little girl who I’ve had the pleasure of photographing every year since she was a little wee one (she’s the one blowing the dandelion with her dad in the rotating pictures at the top of this blog).  Her grandparents live just down the street from us on the river, so we took advantage of a beautiful autumn morning and the fabulous field in their back yard to take the family’s pictures this year. This time Ellie’s brother Eric was able to make the shoot and, between the two of them, it was non-stop shenanigans in the leaves and the tall grass.  It’s always so interesting to watch the progression of these babies and toddlers as they develop into little people – the first time I took Ellie’s picture, she was still on all fours and had just this little tuft of hair.  Now, armed with a full head of curly locks, she was inviting me for tea and biscuits along the river bank.  I can’t wait to see what she and Eric are like next year!