Category: Edmonton

Ohana means family….and family means that no one is left behind : )

I hope that you all have the opportunity to spend time today with your family and that you take a moment to reflect on how blessed you are and what an amazing gift you have been given.  Family is certainly precious and close to my heart and something that I think we often take for granted, yet shouldn’t.

Well the day has finally arrived to announce the winner of the Celebrate Family Contest that was started about 5 weeks ago.  The entries that I received were fabulous and several of them brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to write and share a bit of your family with me and why you love them so much!

Up for grabs was a family photoshoot, the disc of their images AND a canvas print! 

I am excited to announce that the winner of this prize is…….(insert drumroll!)……. Lindsay & Ryan, along with their daughters Jaryn and Emry! (of Sylvan Lake)

This is what Lindsay wrote:

I love absolutely love pictures….especially of my family and friends. In the past 5 years since Jaryn has been born I have been convinced by my friends to start scrapbooking. I am not great at taking pictures but creating memories for my girls and my family has now become very important to me. Ever since I was pregnant with Jaryn I have wanted to actually get professional pictures done but honestly we have never had the money to pay for a session with an actual photographer. Honestly for me, being able to raise my kids and not be out of the house working has been way more important then spending hundreds of dollars on photos with money I could be using to buy diapers and food for my family. We have always taken the girls to Superstore to get their photos done but still have not actually gotten someone who knows what they are doing when taking pictures take a picture of our family. I would love to be able to finally have a photoshoot done of my sweet little family that I love so much and be able to get pictures printed for our Family so that they can also show off how incredible my little family is. 

I’m not sure if Lindsay knows this or not, but her sister also submitted an entry for their family.  This is what she wrote:

I would love love love for her and Ryan to be able to have their beautiful family captured by you! They are such amazing parents and are raising such caring and thoughtful little girls with huge personality and the biggest hearts! I always tell her that she has set the bar pretty high for my brother and I with such great kids!

It’s not very often that Ryan and Linds take the time or the money to do something for themselves, yet they never complain about it. They are simply parents that will always put there kids first and would never even dream of doing things any other way. For them to be able to have the memories of their little family photographed professionally would mean the absolute world to them!

Congratulations to such a fabulous family!! 

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…..and if you thought the contest was over…..it isn’t!  I decided to expand it and hopefully bless two more families on this fabulous Family Day!!  The following two families will get a family session and a disc of their images.  They are…….

Leanne & Duane (and Kallen) of Edmonton! 

Leanne wrote:

I would love to win to bless Duane. He is such a hard working, loving husband and father. He works hard so that way I can stay home and raise our son. His love for both of us is so apparent. He adores Kallen and is an awesome father. Every day we he comes home, Kallen goes crawling to him as fast as he can with the biggest smile on his face.He can say mama and dada, but continues to call both of us dada. lol.  Kallen is growing up so quick and I would love to capture the love we have for each other with your talent, before his too big!

 

Jen (and Aiden, Jacob and Kian)of Fort McMurray!

Jen gets extra points for her creativity!  She wrote:

F -   is for forever; families stick together, fight for each other, and love each other.

A -   is for amazing; despite the many obstacles my boys face due to their special needs, they continually amaze me with their humor, intelligence and love.

M -   is for men; my goal is to raise my boys to be men of God; loving, compassionate, Christian husbands and fathers.

I -     is for interesting; there is never a dull moment when you are raising three passionate and energetic boys!

L -    is for love; during the good, the bad, and the ugly.  My overwhelming love for these boys is a gift from God.

Y -   is for Yahweh; who gives me the patience, the strength and the joy of being a mom.

 

Congratulations!!!  I hope that you have a fantastic Family Day!

Christine

This has got to be one of the coolest families in Edmonton! 

I love getting together with them and we always have so much fun!  When doing their family picture this year, they mentioned that they wanted to not do “the norm”. Perfect!  Uncontained!  I’m in!  My thoughts were to do something “urban” – and they carried it out to the hip hop look that you see.  I loved it!  This was the first time that a family shoot came with a box of props : )  You will notice that various people are wearing the glasses, hats, etc.

This whole shoot could have been posted as my favorites as they inspire me and I love working with them - however I narrowed it down.  Take a look……

Ellis family – I can’t wait to see you all soon!

Christine

  This beauty is one of my cousins.  I seriously have been blessed with a gorgeous family!

Photoshoots are one of the things that I love doing with my cousins – and have done with them for many years now.  We have found that it is a fun way to connect and spend time together…among other things of course!  We get to create fun pictures that have captured them growing up and their personalities and are usually trying to figure out a way to outdo our last photoshoot!

With Melissa’s shoot we started with her grad dress from a few years ago and then moved on to something a bit more fashion and funky feeling!  She definitely turned a lot of heads as we were shooting : )

This girl has one of the best laughs, a beautiful smile and a gorgeous heart.  She is ready to help and love on those around her.  I am so proud of her and the woman that she has become.

Miss you my beautiful girl!

Love,

Chris

While in Edmonton I had the opportunity to hang out with Maria and a few of her boot camp ladies as we did a shoot for FitFAMILIEZ.  These ladies did a fantastic job!  If you think that boot camp is hard – you should try boot camp on a photoshoot where you may have to hold various positions longer and do more reps in order to get the desired shot.

If you are wanting to get in shape, Maria is most definitely the woman to call.  She works hard at what she does and not only guides and instructs people through different exercises, but is often doing them with you.  Furthermore, she makes it fun and is continually encouraging and motivating people to go further than they think they can. She is an incredible woman who is passionate about fitness and nutrition and loves pouring into the lives of those around her.  

There is always something new and exciting going on with FitFAMILEZ so please check out their website at www.FitFAMILIEZ.com or their facebook page. 

Just a few of my favorites!

Christine

 

After the boot camp Maria and I went to the gym to take some more pictures. She does a great job of making working out look good!

This Edmonton wedding has been one that I have been looking forward to for a long time!  It has been so awesome to see Ruth and Derek meet, fall in love and then to have Derek wisk her away to the winter Olympics in Vancouver with plans of creating something memorable of their own.  There have been several emails exchanged between Ruth and I over the months and it seemed that with each email the excitement and anticipation for their big day grew! 

The morning of their wedding day began with the sound of crashing thunder, flashes of bright lightning and POURING rain.  Not exactly the start anyone wants to a wedding day.  However, the rain stopped and the sun came out just as Ruth was arriving at her parents place to get ready.  It was absolutely perfect!

The plans were in place for there to be a special meeting between Ruth and Derek as we were doing their formal pictures before their ceremony.  This was such a special time and the looks on their faces as they saw each other for the first time were overflowing with love and excitement.  The ceremony and reception were held at the beautiful Santa Maria Goretti Centre – the chandaliers in there are absolutely beautiful!

Their wedding party was amazing and so much fun!  They were all such troopers as the rain came and went throughout our time of taking pictures and the rest of the day.

I had the honor of having Katie Krebs work with me as a second shooter for this event.  She did a fantastic job creating beautiful images.

One of the things that continues to stand out in my mind from this beautiful day is the impact that these two have had on so many.  There were people from all across the country – and further (one of the groomsmen came from Perth, Australia) - that came to be a part of such a special occassion.  I think that Ruth has such a precious family whom love each other dearly – and to see Derek be loved and respected by so many and fit in with Ruth’s family was just so…..perfect.

There are several moments and memories that will be treasured from this day. 

What a joy it is to know that the long distance relationship is over and that you two are together…. forever!

Christine

When your shoes are this hot – they need two pictures!  

For the new Mr & Mrs H

Waiting for his bride….

Isn’t she gorgeous?

The rain was pouring during this shot!

One of the great parts about having a second shooter at your wedding…..while I was shooting this:

…Katie was taking this…  love it!

 

Just Married!

112 cups of Rice Crispies + dad who loves you + husband who loves Rice Crispie squares = wedding cake!  Ruth’s dad was the talent and love behind this creation.

Cindy, one of Ruth’s beautiful and talented bridesmaids, wrote and sang a song for the wedding couple for their first dance.  I’m not sure if there was a dry eye in the room.