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

What an honor it was to be asked to do an updated family picture for the Playfords this year!  Their family has grown since we did their last family picture and their youngest son, Logan is getting to be so big already!

I’m not sure if they know this or not – but the Playfords were the first family that I photographed in Fort McMurray after I moved here.  They hold such a special place in my heart and I love spending time with them!

It was hard to pick, but here are a few of my favorites…..

Christine

Back when we got together to do their engagement session, I speculated that these two were going to look terrific on their wedding day…..and they most certainly did!

Jacqueline started her day with getting her hair done by the lovely Whitney from Razor’s Edge and then went on to the Sawridge to finish up with the rest of the ladies.  We joked about how there were several “sponsors” for their day….Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Fiber Bars..and I can’t remember the rest! 

With their wedding color being brown and pink my mind drifted to thoughts of chocolate when I was thinking of what to do for their wedding ring shots.  Out came the Kisses, Peanut Butter Cups and Smarties.  Jacqueline and Brian are both from Newfoundland and so I wanted to incorporate that into their wedding photography as well. 

Their wedding day was so relaxed and there was a lot of time to do detail shots – something that I love to do, but often don’t have time to do many.  Both the ceremony and reception took place at the Sawridge Inn in Fort McMurray.

It was a beautiful day and I was honored to be a part of it!

Here are just a few of my favorites…..

Wishing you many years of wedded bliss : )

Christine

Married!

Do you have people in your life that inspires you?  They are the ones that you are excited to spend time with – and when you leave you feel encouraged, inspired and ready to take on anything.  I’m hoping that your answer is “yes” and that you have at least one person like this in your life.

Julie Jones happens to be one of those people to me.  I love it when we get together and have enjoyed working with her SO much! 

She is the beautiful artist that is behind Julie Jones Studio who continues to create original pieces of fine silver jewelry.  Residing in Fort McMurray, Alberta – this is fabulous home grown talent that I know so many of you love to support. How blessed we are to have her in our community!

I absolutely love Julie’s use of textures – her attention to detail – the fact that she is truly uncontained and makes jewelry that is outside of the box – not to mention the fact that she truly is an artist within such a gorgeous medium.   I was like a kid in a candy shop when I photograph these pieces of art for her! 

For those of you who are attending Keyano’s Gala Odyssey in a few weeks, you will want to keep an eye on the above necklace, as it is one of the auction items for that evening.  Oh to the woman who gets to wear this piece!  How lucky you are!   I have a ring and a couple of pairs of earrings and absolutely love them!

I could go on and on – but I will let her work speak for itself.

So thankful to have met you : )

Christine

When I think back to this shoot with Erin, I can’t help smiling – oh we had a lot of fun that day!

Erin and her wonderful husband are celebrating their 2 year anniversary this weekend!  These two hold a special place in my heart as they graciously opened their home to me when I first moved to Fort McMurray.  What a wonderful couple they are! (for more reasons than opening their home to me of course!)

There was a lot of planning and preperation that went into this session and it all made for a beautiful day and amazing images!  One of my highlights was just seeing Erin in her wedding dress as I didn’t know them at the time of their wedding.  She looked breathtaking!!

When talking about this session she mentioned how if she could do her wedding over again – and not get married in the fall – she would want to do a lot of pink and purples….and thus, our inspiration for this adventure!  There were pink finger and toe nails, pink hair accessories and bubbles, fabulous purple shoes, sunglasses, balloons and flowers and we can’t forget about the ice cream!  Erin loves ice cream and so we wanted to make sure it was included….besides, who doesn’t want to stop for an ice cream break in the middle of a fun shoot!

I could go on and on – but I will stop and just show you some of my favorite images : )

Girl, you are absolutely gorgeous and you DEFINITELY Rocked Your Dress!

Christine

One of Grandma’s projects this summer was to get pictures done of all of their grand kids.  Now that may be somewhat of an easy task….if everyone lived relatively close – but these kids do not.

It was great getting together with these 6!  To see the younger ones look up to their older cousins and to see the older ones take care of their younger cousins.  We had a lot of fun with balloons, bubbles (my favorite!) and a summer day wouldn’t be complete without watermelon!

Here are just a few of my favorite from that day….

Christine

 Now….from oldest to youngest……

love the frog pose!

Vanessa & Sean’s day started with the girls spending time at Spoiled Rotten and hanging out with Jenni – one of the coolest hairstylists in Fort McMurray.  Vanessa is all about the bling and so I wanted to make sure to spend some time focusing on all of her beautiful accessories for that day.  The apple tree out back was a perfect assistant in showing off the different pieces and sticking with their green theme.  Vanessa looked absolutely stunning!!…although really….did we ever doubt that?

One thing that I should mention was that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for their wedding day. The dark clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up as their outdoor ceremony began at Heritage Park in the beautiful gazebo.  My favorite part was watching Sean completely captivated with his beautiful bride!  He couldn’t take his eyes off of her!  The couple had their camera out during the day, capturing shots and soaking everything in.  This was the first wedding where the groom did a mini photoshoot with his bride…loved it!

This wedding was a family affair as Vanessa & Sean’s siblings stood up for them, their beautiful daughter was the flower girl and Sean’s son was the ring bearer.  It was so cool to see Sean and his son together as they had been apart for the past 4 1/2 years!  That kid seriously loves his dad! (and vice versa)

Their wedding pictures were so much fun and these two were absolutely amazing!  From standing in fields where Sean teased Vanessa there were rats (and yet she still stood there bravely)….. to a bit of 4×4ing (good thing we were both driving Jeeps!)….. to the shots in the grass where Sean was sitting on a pop can….oh and we can’t forget about the bubble guns….energy drinks….or all the yawning! (hence the energy drinks) 

May this special day be only the beginning of memorable moments together!

Christine

You know that “look” that two people have when they are in love?  It is often abundantly evident on a wedding day – and hopefully in the years following.  The words that the couple speaks without uttering a single word.  The looks that are exchanged or simply the way they look at each other……the tenderness of a touch and just how they interact with each other.

That was my favorite part of spending time with Allysa & Dorman!  Their love and respect for each other is so evident and they seem like they are each others best friends – which I believe they are.  To top that off, you add a baby into the mix and the excitement that accompanies that and it was beautiful. Truly.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that this baby is going to be loved like crazy!

Just a few of my favorites – and I asbolutely love the shots in the tall grass – my new favorite pregnancy images!

Congratulations you two!

Christine

When people include elements into their session that reflects things that they love to do – it is my absolute favorite!  There is something unique and uncontained about creating a picture that reflects not just what the person looks like, but who they are…..and if you know me or the company, you will know that that is my desire and what I strive for.

After photographing their wedding earlier this year, I had the opportunity to go out to their new lake property and take pictures of their family in one of their favorite settings.  I think that these kids (hmmm…and potentially parents!) would live out at the lake if given the choice!  

We had fun playing in the water, looking at minnows and other things in the water, getting our feet wet…..and then getting dumped on by a sudden rainshower!  I think that one of my favorite parts were getting the quads out and working with them.  What a wonderful and unique family portrait that created!  It not only captures what they look like, but also shows and includes something that the entire family loves to do!  Infact, they went on a quad trip right after the shoot was over  : )

Here are just a few of my favorites….

Christine

Look at the above picture of this couple….and now imagine them in a suit and wedding dress!  Oh their wedding day is going to be beautiful!   Jacqueline has this classic/elegant type of beauty about her that is just captivating.

These two are getting married in just a few weeks here in Fort McMurray. It is hard to believe that their wedding day is just about here as we met several months ago.  I can’t wait!

Jacqueline & Brian have two super cute boys who were a part of their engagement session..turning it into an engagement/family session I suppose!  It was a hot afternoon when we got together – however they all did really great! 

Counting down the days!  In the meantime…here are just a few of my favorites  : )

Christine