Albarda Family - Edmonton Family Photography

Hank Albarda has one of the nicest yards I have ever seen. It definitely puts my two flower pots to shame! But it was a great location for some family photos, which is where I met up with Hank, his daughter Beatrix and their kitty last week. Thanks for having me over!  And sorry I dismantled your sitting room and left before putting the furniture back! I felt guilty about that all weekend. Hope you like the photos!

Here are a couple of bonus photos featuring Kiss Kiss. The last one cracks me up! This was the only way the cat would look at me....holding her head straight to the camera.

Edmonton Humane Society - Edmonton Pet Photography

I am supposed to be doing some work right now, but World Cup soccer is on and I am finding it hard to concentrate. I don't even like the teams that are playing in this match! But this tournament only comes around every four years, so I am going to soak up as much as I can. (And in case anyone cares I am cheering for Italy)

So before I completely abandon my computer for the rest of the day, here are a few cats up for adoption at the Edmonton Humane Society. I was in this past weekend to take photos and it was the first time I had seen empty cat cages and rooms. During the previous weekend, the EHS held its first Certified Pre-Owned Cats Adoption Event. Click on the link to read more about it. But needless to say, it was a huge success. However, the shelter is starting to fill up again.

I particularly love this first kitty cause her eyes remind me of the colour of Italy's jersey ;)

Woods Family - Edmonton Family Photography

Here are a few more shots from last week's family session with the Woods family....on the one day of nice weather Edmonton had. Little George's grandparents were visiting from the East Coast and they wanted to get together for some photos. We met at this great playground in the Parkview neighbourhood for a few hours. George wasn't too impressed that we made him wait to get the group photos done before he could play on the slides, as shown in his face in the second photo. And I think Slick (the dog) was staring down a nearby wild rabbit. They are a good looking group!

I love this expression -- it's classic George! I think someone (either Grandpa or Dad) was threatening he'd get tickled unless he started smiling. Sort of worked ;)

Woods Family Sneak Peak - Edmonton Family Photography

A quick little teaser of a family session I did this week.....

Brian and Yolanda - Edmonton Portrait Photography

I met Brian and Yolanda at Hawrelak Park on Victoria Day for some family portraits. We had originally planned to meet on the Saturday, but Mother Nature decided rain and snow would be a better idea. Brian won this photo shoot through a local radio station's fund-raising Christmas breakfast last year. In fact we spent a lot of time talking about all the radio contest's he has won over the years!  Pretty cool! The only contests I seem to win are at trade shows, and the free house cleaning  prize turns out to be a three hour long spiel  to get me to buy a vacuum cleaner. That "prize" was like the bad date that wouldn't end!

This little family was splashing in the Hawrelak Park pond, while I was waiting for the Brian and Yolanda to arrive. I think these are Common Golden Eye ducks. Had to consult my Birds of Alberta book. The little babies are sure cute!  It was funny to watch them dive under the water and then they would pop back up like a cork.

Baby Everett - Edmonton Newborn Photography

This little guy was so fun to photograph and he was my first session back after a self-imposed  two month  break. I might as well out myself .....I am pregnant with our second child, and I have been VERY sick with this one. The official term is Hyperemsis Gravidarum and it's pretty awful. I literally didn't take a single picture of anything all last month! But I am doing much better and have been able to return to work, starting with Baby Everett.  So enough about me!

I forgot how tiny newborns are! Everett was so sweet. He was such a quiet little baby and has the cutest  pouty bottom lip! While I was editing these photos, my 19-month-old would point at the screen  and say "baby" and "nigh night". It was cute.

I love the little smile in the first photo. Wonder what he's dreaming about?

Edmonton Humane Society Animals - Edmonton Pet Photography

I had a good day at the Edmonton Humane Society yesterday. I remembered my allergy pills and the cats all behaved! Normally the cats want nothing to do with me, but yesterday they were all rathered interested in the camera. At last check (on the EHS's adoption website) all of these cute little guys are still available for adoption. The two little dogs were part of the most recent California Cuties program that rescues small dogs from overstuffed shelters in the Fresno area and flies them to Edmonton (along with warm winter sweaters) for adoption here. Since small dogs are not often up for adoption in Edmonton, this program has been very popular and quite successful! There are also a lot of beautiful cats waiting for their forever homes. I think I photographed at least five with gorgeous, bright blue eyes! And wrapping up the pack is a blue budgie that seemd quite nonchalant with the big black camera poking through his cage.

Happy (Belated) St Patrick's Day -- Edmonton Pet Photography

My primary computer is in the shop. Sigh....It has the majority of my computer programs on it, including Photoshop....and I feel a little crippled without it! I did a quick little photo shoot with Teagan yesterday to commemorate St. Patrick's Day, however I will wait until I get my editing computer back to post those photos. But here is a quick picture of Shadow celebrating! She loved the hat...or it was the piece of hot dog I held in my hand to keep her still.  One of the two. (Side note: I felt like I was breaking  cardinal rule of professional photography as I edited this photo with some free online software I stumbled across. Ha ha!)

Hawaii 2010 - Teagan Photography Family Vacation

We'll we've been back in Canada for a week. Sigh.....it was such a wonderful trip that time inevitably goes by far too quickly. Hawaii is incredible! We spent a few days on Maui and then a week on Kauai.  I love Kauai so much, and would consider giving up everything and moving my family there if I could!  I'd probably miss the snow though. 

Teagan had so much fun in the sand and the waves -- and she LOVED the roosters on Kauai. Mom and dad, not so much. They are everywhere and crow at all times of the day and most of the night.  We had a little family with  five chicks that visited our patio several times during the day, and Teagan would run to the sliding door to give her best rooster impression each time she saw them. It was pretty cute!

Here a couple of my favorite photos from the three thousand or so that I took. I've also included a bunch of links for background on some of the places we went visited

The sunrise over Haleakala Crater. One of the benefits of having a body clock on Edmonton time (which is three hours ahead of Hawaii), is you are usually awake before the sunrises.

My child was born for the water! Here she is at Turtle Town, her first introduction to the sand and the ocean.

This was a really cool black sand beach (Wai' Anapanapa Beach Park) in Hana, Maui. At the tip of the rocky point there is a hole in the volcanic rock that the ocean would come shooting up through....like a whale's blowhole.  Fun to watch, but not fun to clean salt spray off my camera.

I am not one for sitting around the pool or on a beach for hours, so on a down day in Maui I took Teagan to the Surfing Goat Dairy. She loves animals (like her mom) and found the goats especially hilarious when they would try to lick her. And the dairy makes wonderfuly mild tasting goat cheese, which they freely let you sample.

On my husband's and my unofficial honeymoon to Hawaii in 2006, I fell in love with Plumeria flowers. So much so that I found a company in Canada that sold plant cuttings to grow here. I tried and failed miserably to grow a plant!  So I was very excited to come back to Hawaii and take some pictures of these beautiful flowers. 

As we were taking off from our short stopover in Oahu on the way to Kauai, I looked out the plane window and spotted the shadow of our plane. Then I felt immediately jealous of all those people who live within walking distance to that great looking beach!

Teagan and I playing along the ocean on Kauai's eastside, also known as the Coconut Coast due to the many palm trees in this area. Although you can't really tell from this one stumpy looking tree in the photo.

My husband and I did a day of hiking the Kalalau Trail along the Napali Coast in Kauai, and Ke'e Beach is at the beginning/end of the trailhead. Gorgeous beach! But pretty treacherous conditions for swimming or snorkeling in the winter time.

Queen's Bath looks so much different in the winter than the summer. In fact there was a security guard who talked to us before we hiked down the cliff, warning us that we were not to go in the water. But after a few seconds of watching these waves, I can't imagine anyone would want to swim in the winter. But the colour of the water here was so amazing!

Since there are no places to snorkel in Edmonton (although there are fish in the North Saskatchewan) we took a catamaran trip along the Napali Coast and went snorkeling in a turtle cleaning ground. Not sure what that means other than there were a lot of turtles. I'm not a very confident snorkeler, but on this trip I finally wrapped my head around diving under the water with the snorkel and not breathing in ocean water. Seems like a no brainer! Ha ha. I got up close with this Honu (Green Sea Turtle) floating in the current.

And every trip to Hawaii is not complete without a Luau. I take Polynesian dance classes at home with Tropical Breeze, and it's always so fun to see it performed where the dance came from. And of course I can't forget about the food. I meant to take a picture of the buffett, but was so hungry that I forgot about everything but eating. The modern luau's always end with a Samoan Fire Dance, which is such a spectacular dance and the perfect end to a great evening and an amazing trip.

Taylor - Edmonton High School/Senior Photography

I'm back from my trip to Hawaii. Boo....  It was a wonderful trip and I am just sorting through the couple thousand photos I took. I will post some photos soon, I hope.

In the meantime, here are a couple more of the portrait session I did with Taylor before my holidays. I wish I had her hair was I was her age! It's so perfectly straight and long! The only time I have ever had long hair was when I grew it out for my wedding....but found out afterward that my husband thought I looked like a hippy. Thanks Doug.