A few months ago I saw on another photographer’s website a link to an organization called Helping Hearts. I was interested in what this organization was all about and browsed through their website. Helping Hearts is a non-profit organization which provides free photography sessions for families with sick children. A huge team of volunteer photographer’s from all over Canada donate their time and talent to this great cause and because of this families with sick children are able to cherish the precious moments with their children and have memories to last a lifetime. I applied to be one of many volunteer photographer’s and was accepted a few months ago. I had my first Helping Hearts session last week and am so happy I have been able to capture a sweet little four month old.

Meet Miss Hailey

Hailey was born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) occurs in approximately 1 in every 2,500 births. The cause of CDH is not yet known. The diaphragm is formed in the first trimester of pregnancy and controls the lungs ability to inhale and exhale. CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to form or to close totally and an opening allows abdominal organs into the chest cavity. This inhibits lung growth. 50% of babies diagnosed with CDH do not survive. Of the 50% that do survive, most will endure long hospital stays, feeding issues, asthma and other problems.

Hailey’s parents learned at their routine 20 week ultrasound about Hailey’s medical condition which caused them to worry for the rest of the pregnancy about her survival once she was born. The doctors really have no idea about survival as each case is different and many factors can affect their health. Hailey was one of the lucky ones, she was only in the NICU for 39 days. She had her guardian angel, her uncle Jamie, looking down on her the entire time. It turns out Jamie had been watching over her from the beginning.  Hailey’s parents found out about Hailey’s condition on Jamie’s birthday. Hailey was born on the anniversary date of Jamie’s passing from Leukemia and finally she went home on the day of the annual fundraiser for Leukemia.

Hailey’s mom and dad are so proud of her! She has overcome so much already at such a young age. She didn’t let any challenges get to her and she has overcome every obstacle in order to go home very quickly. Her mom and dad are hopeful  if she develops any other health conditions due to CDH she will overcome them as well. Just a few days before our session Hailey had her four month check-up at Children’s Hospital and I am thrilled to say she is a happy and healthy four month old! It was such a pleasure photographing her. She was so smiley and happy and made my job VERY easy!

With the busyness of the holidays I did not have time to blog the images from a fresh baby girl’s newborn session a few weeks before Christmas. This little princess is a lucky little girl to have two great parents and an adorable older brother. This little lady is utterly perfect and I loved every minute of photographing and cuddling her! Thanks for the session and for allowing me to capture your little princess at her smallest!

Here are the maternity photo’s. Look at how gorgeous this pregnant mama is!

Look at how sweet she is!

I first off want to wish everyone a big Happy New Year! I love the beginning of a new year. It marks a fresh start. A chance to start something new, get organized, set goals, look back at the past year and hopefully appreciate where you are in your life and look at where you want to be. I do not set big resolutions per se, but I do set new goals for myself. I think goal setting is so important and gives one a chance to better themselves in some facet. After all, we all have some improvement to make, not one of us is perfect.

I do not particularly enjoy sharing my own personal “resolutions” with others. I keep them close to my heart and work on them for my own self satisfaction and personal growth. One of my goals for the year though is to enjoy more time with family and friends and to capture more of my personal life on camera. I often find myself so exhausted from working full time at the hospital and with my photography business that I have no energy to leave the house and/or pick up my camera to just take snapshots. I intend on sharing more of these personal snapshots here on the blog from time to time. I know some photographer’s frown upon mixing client work with personal snaps on your business blog, but I feel differently. I enjoy looking at other professionals sites and having a bit of a glimpse into their personal life, just enough so you feel like you get to know them a bit better. I do not intend on flooding my blog with snaps, but just adding some here and there a bit more this year. I am such a perfectionist at heart and often find it hard to even want to take a picture if the lighting is not perfect, if there are distracting elements I cannot avoid etc. I need to learn to embrace imperfections a bit more and simply capture a moment before it is gone irregardless of how imperfect the image is.

I hope you all have a fabulous 2012 and thank you for all your support and love!

Here are a couple of snaps I took yesterday!

My cat Shady.

My bestie had a sweet baby girl December 30th. Here she is at 3 days old. I will be doing her official photoshoot in a few days, so stay tuned!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas! It is always such a surprise to me when it it is suddenly the end of December and we are about to begin yet another new year. Four years ago I received my digital SLR for Christmas and it is shocking to me how fast that time has flown by! I remember being so excited and so clueless about anything photography related. All I knew was I loved photography and I wanted to be challenged with learning something new. I never would have known then that this new found passion would become quite an obsession that would fill my life up with so much joy (and also suck soooo much time), and also give me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. I feel so fortunate that this passion/obsession turned profession has expanded my life in ways I never could have imagined. I have met other fabulous photographers from all over the world and have been invited into the homes of wonderful people. I am filled with so much gratitude, I cannot express myself in words.

I am excited to begin a new year! 2011 was not the greatest of years for me for a variety of reasons, but I am sure 2012 is going to be an awesome year!

Despite 2011 having it’s challenges, I had some great times! The highlight of my year was the birth of my little cousin. He is such a wonderful addition to our family and I am so happy for my cousin.

In terms of photography, this year started off with my wedding business partner, Ashleigh and I flying down to Texas to go to the Professional Photographers of America’s big photography convention. It was a great way to kick off the new year! We met with some other fabulous photographer’s and were able to learn from some amazing speakers. Ashleigh and I have been able to get our feet nice and wet with wedding photography and have seen our work grow a ton! We are excited for what the new year will bring!

I have been given the honor of photographing several newborns for their first portraits and also saw some of my previous newborn clients again as bigger babies! I met other great little babies and kids and also some amazing families!

I have made a collection of my favorite shots, both personal and clients from this year! Thanks to all of you who have had me capture your special moments for you and for making 2011 a success!

Cheers to 2012!

I have not yet shared a beautiful wedding my  business partner Ashleigh Wells and I photographed together back in October (www.perfectblendphotography.com).  This is a special wedding we were so lucky to photograph for good friends of Ashleigh’s. The day went off without a hitch and we even got lucky with a rare Fall sunny day for a wedding! This was one of those weddings where the couple is so in love that you go home loving your own partner a little more deeply at the end of the day.

Be prepared I am sharing a TON of shots! I just cannot pick favorites! I swear these are the most photographic beautiful people ever!

I am only sharing images I actually took, Ashleigh has equally impressive pictures, but unfortunately I don’t have hers yet.

I photographed a tiny sweet little baby girl a few weeks ago. It is amazing to me how much of a difference a few pounds makes on a newborn. I could not get over how adorable and small she was! I really wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home, but I’m sure her parents would not have let that happen! Her parents have been waiting a long time to begin the journey of parenthood and it is so heart warming to see brand new parents so smitten and in love with their new baby. Little E has filled so many hearts with love and joy already. She is pure perfection and photographing her was a real pleasure.

I just realized I have not blogged the maternity session at Crescent Beach from before little E’s arrival, you can truly tell her parents are completely in love with her before she was even born!

I had the pleasure of photographing a wonderful family a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful sunny Fall day and the perfect evening to walk through  a park in Langley. The smallest member of the family at almost one was absolutely adorable and made my job soooooo easy as a photographer, I hardly had to work for smiles. Mom is the photographer of the family and as a result is hardly ever in front of the camera, so my focus of this session was to ensure I captured her and her little girl. I can relate to never actually being in pictures, so wanted to make sure I captured images she would love.

Thanks again for having me photograph your beautiful family!

Mom really wanted a picture of her nursing her baby girl. It is such a bond between mother and child and I think every mom should have a photograph of it.

I returned from a much needed vacation with my husband to the Big Island of Hawaii. It was a fabulous and relaxing time, just what we both needed! Most of you know I work full time as an RN and am also quite busy with my photography business on top of that, so a certain amount of stress is constant (as most of you can relate to). It is amazing though how rejuvenated I feel when I go away for a week and have zero stress, it really is such a fantastic way of being forced to truly relax and enjoy the beauty this world has to offer. I really believe that people should take at least one vacation a year. It gives you something to look forward to and good chance to see some beautiful places in the world. My husband and I love Hawaii so much! It will always have a special place in our hearts because two years ago we were married in Maui. This year is our third year in a row returning and our amazement at how fabulous and beautiful Hawaii is hasn’t wavered. The natural beauty that exists in Hawaii is spectacular! The fresh plumeria scented air fills you with energy and happiness. Stumbling across a one hundred year old sea turtle on the beach blows your mind! We are now on a quest to figure out how we can go twice a year instead of just once.

We chose the Big Island this year to try another Island. I also really liked the idea of seeing the lush rain forest on one side of the Island and the dry desert on the other. We drove around the entire Island in one day (over seven hours of driving) and it was amazing the different climate zones the Big Island has!  Unfortunately we were unable to see the volcano due to the weather, but seeing it in the future gives us a good excuse to return to the Big Island!

Here are several shots from our trip to Hawaii, I hope you enjoy them!

I photographed two sweet boys and their mama a few weeks ago. One of the boys is a four legged furry kid and the other a fun loving four year old (of the human variety!). It was a great evening for an outdoor photo shoot and I loved capturing the love and connection between these two boys and their mama. I have known this mama for quite a few years and it was so great to meet her boys. Thanks for the session!

Enjoy!

I photographed the cutest little nine pound-er a few weeks ago. She is sooo adorable! It is so amazing how just a few pounds on a newborn can really make such a difference in how chubby they are. I love chubby babies and sweet little A is no exception! She has the most beautiful head of hair and big eyes. She was also very alert for a 10 day old and gave me the chance to capture some cute awake shots. She did eventually fall into a nice deep sleep and we were able to also get her sleepy shots too. It was so great to meet you little A, thanks for having me photograph you for your very first portraits!