Continuing in the long tradition of fertility amongst the couples who have played on our frisbee team, Tony and Maxine came into the studio with a bagful of outfits, a frisbee, and their latest creation – Solara.  Usually Tony is the one prancing about while Max takes a more reserved stance on things, but it was interesting to see them in a role reversal that day, with Max eagerly fussing over Solara’s many cute head pieces while Tony sat quietly shaking his head in amusement.

I have to say, though, the hats were pretty cute.  And just like her name, Solara is a radiant child.  What struck me most about her was her eyes – steely blue, bright and happy, with these occasional little looks she would give the camera as if she knew an inside joke her parents didn’t.  A real cutie and a joy to photograph – some pics from the session:

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When I spoke with Reena on the morning of the shoot, she apologized ahead of time for the so-called “chaos” in her house.  I told her as a parent of two kids myself, that I fully understood and not to worry.  So as I arrived with expectations of shooting in a house with little kids, I was both surprised and dismayed:  pleasantly surprised in that the household was perfectly tidy and calm; dismayed to think of what Reena would consider my own home which, despite having  two much older children, was probably a thousand times messier and more chaotic.

Even though the focus of the shoot was to be on her little newborn sister, little Bandhna was very keen to steal the show.  Though she started off quite shy of the camera, a few stories and a couple of games of blocks soon had Bandhna prancing about the living room and playing with my umbrellas.  Gurkirat took a little more work to get to smile, but Gurdeep seemed to have the touch that day as she certainly enjoyed hanging around with her daddy.  Some nice light and nice colours in their living room – here’s a handful from the session:

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Here is the culmination of the portrait series I shot of Crystal, documenting the pregnancy and birth of her new son Andrew.  Crystal and her family were amazingly patient with all the shoots through the months and were just great to work with.  It turned into a real labour of love for both of us, and I think the end-product – an album that captures the story of little Andrew’s arrival into the world – turned out wonderfully.

Catching up on the portrait sessions, here is part 3 of the series I shot for Crystal and Shane.  The previous session documented Crystal at full term, shortly after which she and Shane welcomed little Andrew into their family.  Accompanied by his parents and older sister Allyson, Andrew came into the studio just a few days into the world.  I’ll soon be posting the culmination of all these shoots: a series that shows the full progress of Crystal from pregnancy to birth.  I’m really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.  In the meantime, here are some select faves from the latest shoot.

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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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