Photography Blog

Our eldest daughter turned 9 today. We always try to get a photo of the girls for Valentine’s Day.

My associates Janette and Sarah photographed Joanna and Alain’s wedding many years ago. Now, they have two little girls and I was honoured to be able to do their family portraits this fall.  We did them at James Gardens, which has become one of my favourite locations recently, since it has so many great natural backgrounds, fantastic light and it has not been too crowded.  This photo session also involved Joanna’s brother’s family and her parents. I love when families get organized and get together for family portrait sessions, since it is really nice to have photos with grandparents and cousins in addition to siblings and parents.

These are all the grandchildren.

This is the entire extended family.  Family portraits look so much better when everyone wears similar colours.

Armstrong family on the left and Miron family on the right.  I love it when babies laugh for photos!

Looks like these sisters will grow up to be fantastic friends. The baby was always smiling at her big sister.

We got the little one engaged by having her play with leaves.  It was her first time doing that and once she got the hang of throwing them in the air, she had a great time!

Happy grandparents.

Another photo with the whole family.

We saw an ice cream truck before the photo session began and they were promised treats afterwards if it was still there and they cooperated.

She tried to get the baby to taste the slushie, but the baby was not interested at all, (which is of course, probably a good thing)!

Thanks for having me photograph your beautiful family, Joanna and Alain!  It was really great meeting everyone and seeing many of you again.

I had the pleasure of photographing Polina and Andrei’s wedding many years ago and I was happy to see them at Anna and Michael’s Wedding (of course, Andrei is Anna’s sister, so I did expect to see them there!). It was there that I also learned Polina was expecting her second. She contacted me soon after and wanted to know the best time for family portraits. My favourite time is when the baby is around 6 months old, so they patiently waited and their youngest daughter’s 6 month ‘birthday’ coincided with the start of fall, which is of course, a beautiful time for photos.

We started off on the bridge overlooking the duck pond at James Gardens.  Both 3 year old Maya and the dog were very interested in the ducks.  I like how the dog is peeking through the bridge in this photo.

I always love how babies enjoy being carried by their dads.

I also love how babies look at their moms.

By around age 3, they become quite camera aware.

Happy mom, happy daughters.

We got photobombed by dogs!

No dogs in this one.  Nice, happy family.

This is probably what life is really like most of the time.

I love how Maya is holding Zoe’s hand and Zoe is happy that she took this action.  These sisters are already starting to have a great relationship!

I like to ask little ones to play in the leaves.  Maya hadn’t done it before, so we instructed her and she got very into it.

I love it when siblings bond. Zoe is perfectly content with her big sister and her big sister is very interested in her.

We managed to get a few minutes of quiet time while my assistant made sure the kids and dog stayed safe, so that Andrei and Polina could have a few quiet moments together.

It was so great meeting your sweet and adorable children and dog, Andrei and Polina! Thank you for having me back to photograph your family.

Yulia and Scott came to my studio in the summer and told me they met and started dating in high school! Now, they are (finally) getting married! Woohoo!!!!!

They suggested the Scarborough Bluffs for their engagement photos. I had never even been to the Bluffs, let alone photographed anyone there, so I was glad they suggested it.  Considering how these photos turned out, I am now wondering how it is possible that it was my first time there when I have been photographing weddings for 15 years?! Thank you so much for introducing me to this beautiful (new to me) location, Yulia and Scott!

We also got extremely lucky, because it rained all day, but it stopped right before we started the session and continued shortly after we finished the session.
Can you believe this is Ontario?

I love that Scott and Yulia were game to try anything for the photo.  They took off their shoes and had a laugh on the beach.

We walked across this area on the way to the Bluffs and I thought it was perfect for an engagement photo.

It’s a real Canadian engagement session with hockey jerseys on.  We all loved the willow tree too.

I love how excited they are to be with each other!  Congrats again on your engagement, Yulia and Scott! I can’t wait to photograph your wedding at King Riding Golf Club next year!

I was thrilled when my first midwife and now friend asked if I was available to photograph family portraits for her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Her parents live in B.C. now, so the whole family does not get to see each other that often.  One of the sisters lives in Burlington and she recommended Lowville Park .  We all gathered there for the photos.  Excellent location choice, Maria!

As you can see, they are still madly in love 50 years after getting married.  May we all experience this kind of long lasting love!

They brought this old photo to the session, because they wanted to recreate it.

Same people, similar poses, different location about a decade after the original was taken.

I always get a kick out of little ones photobombing photos.  You should be able to spot two little photo bombers here.

Four sisters, all grown up.

Followed by the sisters with their own families.

I think it’s important to give kids time to play during photo sessions.

|

Here is everyone!

Thank you for having me photograph this celebration!

As I was working on my most recent blog post of family portraits, this article appeared on my facebook newsfeed.

How Family Portraits Boost Your Child’s Self-Esteem.

Fall is a beautiful time for family portraits. The grandfather of the little guy in the photo below called me up, because his daughter, her husband and his grandson were coming to town from the West Coast, so he thought it would be a good time to do family portraits.  It is definitely a good idea to do them before the little ones grow up!

I am thrilled that I was nominated for both Rabbat Photography and Women of Merit magazine for the Gems of Etobicoke awards!

Thanks to fellow nominee Lucy of Suitcase Theatre for taking this photo of me with our local MPP Peter Milczyn and a certificate that says my business is recognized for the exceptional services it provides to residents of Etobicoke-Lakeshore.  Thank you to everyone who nominated my businesses!

Just in case you missed it, Andrea and Ian’s wedding was featured on the Wedding Co’s blog. You can have a look at it here:
https://www.theweddingco.com/in-tandem/
You will see more photos than what you saw on my blog!