Mom

This post is an unapologetically gushy tribute to my Mom.

 Last week was my mom's birthday. I'd been threatening to get her in the studio for a long time, and I thought this was a good time to celebrate and show off my mom's boundless awesomeness. So we got together for a little portrait shoot. For those who haven't yet had the privilege to meet her, my mom is perhaps the kindest and most sincerely caring person I know. And this is going on more than just the infinite patience it must have taken to raise me over the last 27 years (and counting).

 

 I've always known my mom to be a beautiful, stylish and expressive lady with more of an artistic streak than she might like to admit. I also knew her as a fairly reserved person, so I wasn't sure how she would feel being in front of a camera. Turns out, my mom is a closet model. Especially when you give her a hat.

 

You can see her, above, giving me the "I'm not sure whether I'm amused or deeply unimpressed with you" look that I got a lot as a teenager.

All in all, my mom is a rock star in and out of the studio, and a fun day was had playing with make-up, pretty dresses, and hats. After all, how can you go wrong with hats?!



Happy birthday, Mom!

Photo walks

A couple of years ago, Jeff and I took a photographic leap: we joined a studio and invested in some studio lights. The world (inside our heads) has never been the same since. While Jeff didn't take as much of a shining to the whole studio thing, I've invested quite a bit of energy into learning how to work those damn lights; it's a process, and it's an ongoing and occasionally very frustrating one at that. But it can also be amazingly rewarding, which is why I've been posting the best (or even least embarrassing) results of my shoots on here.

 The downside of all that is that, until recently, I'd rarely ventured outside the studio with my camera. That changed about a month ago, thanks to the lovely folks at the Ottawa Street Exploration flickr group. They organize monthly photo walks throughout the city, in hopes of cataloging some of the lesser known local spots and getting a few good shots in at the same time. The first outing I joined was on St. Patrick's Day; we explored the ByWard Market and encountered its many festive and not-so-festive inhabitants. My favourite shot from the day has really nothing to do with St. Patrick (or his day), but more to do with the loveliness of taking a walk on a warm day in early spring:

 

 The shot that proved most popular, however, was one of two sales ladies from The Bay, presumably on their smoke break:

 


Check out the full set here.

For its April outing, the group decided to head to Chinatown. There was relatively little activity on the Saturday before Easter, so most of us took to shooting the inanimate side of things. Still, I did manage to snap one guy having a smoke on his front step. It makes me wonder: why do smokers always seem so deep in thought?
 

With the days getting longer, we had to cope with much brighter light and harsher shadows than usual. So I thought I'd make the best of it and play with some shadows:

 

 Full set here.

 All in all, I had a great time joining these photo walks and I'm looking forward to the next outing with this exceptionally fun and supportive group of talented photographers.