I follow a lot of photographers on Facebook and this post jumped out at me 🙂
Reverie | the blog wrote:
Embrace the Camera: 50 photos to take with your kids. ❤
I had to share 🙂
Its official! Taking a break to focus on the littles…
I have hinted towards this on my blog and facebook for a while now and even last year limited my sessions available, however Ive made it official as of today – I will not be taking on any photography sessions – I do have a couple sessions I have already discussed with clients and will of course honour. My facebook page has been de-activated off and on for quite some time now, as I have been taking baby steps towards this.
A part of me was scared to “admit” that I was feeling the pressure – if I was to admit anything I felt it last year, but it was something I love and something I had support to do by my husband and family so I did it. You know what? Its OK to admit you DONT want to do it ALL! I have a full time job I love and have my heart and soul into, our kids are growing… they are now at the age where they are letting mommy and daddy sleep in on Sundays – how cool is that, why would I want to rush out of bed on my day off to do more work? Nope… I am quite proud and honoured I have received such encouragement, such kind words and such great clients to work with. Since moving, I’ll admit it, we do not spend much time indoors – which is why we bought where we did. I want to enjoy our free time we have together as a family and doing fun things together. Last summer was almost a total write off with moving, other than spending time in our own back yard … and I fell in love.
My website ( http://www.yourlifeasartphotography.com/ )will still be up as one day I will get back into doing sessions, however with working full time and two young kids in sports now in both the winter and summer, I need some downtime too! Especially with our littlest starting school in the fall – seriously where has the time gone! Although I do spend alot of time with my family and photograph my children, when I was doing sessions for other people, I was not taking the images I had before, of my own family, which is why when I was off in December and part of January for my surgery, I was reminded (when I couldn’t do a thing!) to cherish the little things, moments and people. The past 8 years have almost been a blur for me being pulled in many different ways between many businesses, health issues, moving 3 times, kids, etc… In December I began picking up my camera more for ME, photographing our day to day life, our moments, the moments I know our kids will look back on, we will look back on and think man that was fun, time has flown by! I will not regret not having or spending time with my kids that I could.
I am very thankful for the clients I have had over the last couple years, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed each and every session I did. I am very thankful for the compliments and testimonials given, praise and encouraging words to grow a photography business…
However…
I want to enjoy photography without the committments. Let it be the piece of me that is for ME!
I want to enjoy sitting in my back yard, enjoy a few drinks, a late night with friends, kick back and read a book, or go for a bike ride with my husband and kids – I want to enjoy all this and more … guilt free! Yesterday I posted about enjoying life to the fullest, a sad reminder for us, a day when we suddently lost someone very close to us – so Im puttin it out there, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be scared of. Its all about living life and enjoying every moment! The good, the bad and yup at times the ugly lol. 😉
I will still be very involved in the Mount Forest Camera Club and get to enjoy going shooting with members and discussing everything photography! I will still be shooting and will continue to provide our township, Chamber and Avalon Magazine with photograph’s. As well as photographing and promotion for the Mount Forest Patriots Jr C Hockey Team and our family business JJ McLellan & Son Plumbing and Heating.
Although I am stepping back from sessions, nothing will ever take me away from photography.
Strong, Beautiful, Lover, Fearless, Wise, Laugh
Crying child, barking dog and a tired mommy
The irony in this post is so darn funny, as I’m sitting here listening to our youngest cry, our dog out front barking at people walking by, I look into our dining room at the things still sitting on the table to be finished sorting and made comment to my hubby when I tagged him in for his turn with the girl, of the toys sitting un-used in a mess at the bottom of the stairs, they only play with so much, or the laundry in piles waiting to be folded… And not to even mention the soccer game of our oldest, poor kid is too much his mom when it comes to sports and doesn’t have a competitive bone in his body, unless its with his sister of course.
They seem to know, they can sense the tension when things are off, when something is on mommy’s mind.
And within minutes all is quiet. The dog stops barking. The kids are both now in bed and quiet, for now, hubby comes up with a beer and we get to enjoy a gorgeous sunset.
Yes cherish your life, its not perfect, but really, who’s is? Its not perfect but its mine and tomorrow we get to do it all again 😉
Cheers!!!
This one is for you Carl 😉
Simple things. Cherish those you love. Life is too short!
Today marks the day of the anniversary of a loved one. Very much with a reminder to appreciate all the simple things in life.
Life gets busy, days go by. We are taking this reminder, the memories of someone we love as a step forward. Unlike most loved ones we have lost, this loss was quite sudden and unexpected. Anything truly can happen, don’t live life in fear, love life, love the life you have been given. If something doesn’t fit right or isn’t making you happy, do something about it, life is to short to have regrets.
Let go of any grudges and resentment , let go of your past, let go of anything that may be holding you back. To anyone who has wronged you – forgive and move on. Enjoy, relax, love, live, laugh, be proud of what you are and what you have accomplished, work towards goals & dreams, go with your gut, plan for tomorrow while living today!
Take too many pictures, laugh alot, eat your favourite foods, read trashy magazines, play your music loud and dance like no one is watching, indulge in cheesecake and chocolate, kick back with a drink, cook amazing food, and most importantly love the ones your with!
It’s a shame that sometimes it takes a horribly sad loss to remind people of what they had. Don’t wait until it’s too late to realize what you’ve got, before it’s gone.
Remembering someone special. Life is too short.
Today we remember someone who was taken from us too soon, someone who was like a 2nd father to me and my siblings and even was so very close with my husband. Someone who I truly with my kids were able to get to know. He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.
A reminder that life is too short. Love the ones you are with, enjoy the time you have, savour in the moments and let go of the past. Always move forward remembering cherieshed memories and know that although it is painful they are no longer here, you will never lose those memories.
Today will always be a hard day. Looking at my computer this morning when I got into work as soon as I saw the date, my heart froze. He wasn’t “family” but he and his family always will be a part of our family. Many times I would love to have heard his words of wisdom, but ultimately knowing exactly what he would have said. Much like my own dad, he will always be someone who I looked up to.
Also a reminder that no matter how hard you think your own life is, be thankful you are here to enjoy it with your family.
In life there is no time for regrets, no time for going back or wishing you had done this or that. This is the life we have been given so make it worth living!
Im very thankful for the memories I have with him and his family and the relationship we still have with his family, who is very much a part of ours. He wouldn’t want us to cry… he would want us to remember the good times and tonight to “share” a drink in his honour! RIP…
They are what we want to be… they are our future!
Last night we spent the evening with good friends of ours and our kids. Friends we became closer with because of our kids. No doubt we are proud parents, we are also real, during our visit we of course we’re talking to walls while attempting to get our kids attention, but they and we had fun. The boys terrorized the girls then they gave it right back to them, we got to chat in between 4 children running throughout the house. But they had fun. They were being kids at the best of times. Sure they needed reminding but they all are such great kids.
I love these kids more and more everyday, being parents is the most fulfilling thing we have both ever done. They have shaped us as parents, they have helped us find ourselves, to truly enjoy what we love and what our life has become. That each day is an amazing gift.
These days come with challenges, but none that would ever make me change anything.
There are many moments of frustration or feeling drained, but at the end of the day, even 5 minutes later when they stop fighting and are back to best friends there is nothing, nothing better than hearing and seeing them being so kind and loving to each other. We aren’t perfect, but we are so blessed!
Its not just our love for them or how they are with each other, its their mutual respect, today Cars came home from a birthday party and told Mady he saved some candy for her from his treats, or when Mady and I (just this evening) went to get a movie for hubs and I for tonight and she got some popcorn, we got in the van and she declared she was saving it for when she gets home to share with Cars. Completely warmed my heart, both of them. It makes all those tough moments having two kids almost 18 months apart makes, so much more worth it.
We both know, we will miss these moments, their tiny sweet voices, their tiny touch, kisses, hugs and how they idolize us as their parents and look up to everything we do. I always knew I wanted to be a mom and everyday, even during those moments I find tense and totally defeated, I stop myself to think, this is such a small part of our life. Sure we don’t have much time kid-less, so those times we do we do enjoy them, all while missing those two little people whose lives we created.
I know a part of me still gets so very emotional with our children because of the nightmare we had to go through to even have our first child, and how blessed we are,.how much more blessed we felt (after I stopped crying and being scared at how I would manage being pregnant with a 10mth old – when I was pregnant I was in extreme pain everyday. But I did it, I can’t believe its been over 4 years ago since my last pregnancy, a true blessing, otherwise I’m sure Cars would have been an only child, I couldn’t knowingly go through the pain of ttc and being pregnant. Thank god, god knew our baby boy was not our only blessing we had hoped for. Alas it still holds my emotions and I’m sure always will.
They are amazing children, I am so beyond blessed to be their mother and to be through that journey, in which we both incurred a lot of pain. Now we can truly enjoy these miracles, the good and bad!
Baring it all with a SOOC
I am not one who shoots and then uploads or gives people their images, gosh no that’s truly like baring it all! For me, photography is an art, it’s a way of self.expression as well as capturing beauty in my subjects and surroundings.
When I am shooting everyday snaps of my kids and family, even though they are snaps, I still process them, most of the time I process solely in Lightroom 4 specifically for the ease of making adjustments and then exporting the files to a jpg and even those files I want watermarked.
This image above I previously quickly edited in LR4. Having some down time today I played around with this image, took my settings back to SOOC of when I shot it. I then did my slight adjustments in LR with white balance specifically.
Then I took this into CS5 Photoshop and completed the editing of the image.
There is many arguments on whether a photo should come out of the camera exactly as you want it, I am the believer that the artist/photographer needs to put their touch on it in post production. Especially when dealing with children, I know my settings I use to take the photo which provide me the exposure, depth of field, lighting etc. There are times that if I was concerned with getting a shot bang on exactly as real life or better, in camera, the shot would be lost.
I do a lot of in camera work when I take the photo, such as the exposure, depth of field, some parts of composition, my final touches happen when I take my photographs into LR and CS5 to put my signature on them!
A day for mama and the boy… Quality time at Storybook Park!
Thursday I took the day off work to spend it with my little man. I was joining his school class trip … to storybook park! It’s rare that mama gets alone time with her boy, as if daddy is home he loves to be by his side. We had a great day together!
He is such a sweet boy, I love spending time alone with each of my kids, as much as they play quite well together with each others things (Mady can play a mean hockey game in her princess tutu if her brother wants someone to shoot against!) but they also have such different personalities and I love seeing their individual selves.
The bunnies were a hit, so cute and cuddly looking! There were 3 under that log!
The rides were a hit! Cars even got mommy on one… yup just 1! lol Now as a mother myself I can see why my parents were never overly eager to get on the rides, I got dizzy very fast haha! Carson thought it was hilarious “mommy wanted off” which he laughed at as he told daddy that evening!
Yup the boy had Mama up on this… and of course since the ride was actually full when we went on (after lunch – brilliant on my part lol) they had the ride go even longer. Carson thought it was sooo funny lol!
The moms felt bad for the ride operators, the boys were like yo-yo’s, would want to ride alone, then again with a friend, then alone or go running to the next ride to form a line there and wait for the operator to come open it for them.
Fireman Cars
The only time he’ll have fun with being behind bars and mommy will take a picture. lol
Monkeys are very touchy feely animals, no matter whos around.
Monkey’s eating
The deer made the funniest noises!
Mama and Cars on the teeter totter.
The kids loved this ride – this is the one Mama also went on!
We had such a fun and special day together on his class trip. Its so nice when I get to spend time with each of my children, to truly appreciate their own little personality, talents, knowledge and interests.
This weekend I was at first dissapointed that it was raining and thus “forcing” us to change our plans, its turned out to be an awesome weekend, last night spending with good friends and this weekend spending it as a family at home doing things we said we have wanted to do for a while. One of which… organizing my office and the family desk area in our kitchen/dining room!
Off to enjoy this rainy weekend!
Chewy
Hubby nicknamed our pup (Becker) Chewy… I’m sure it’s self explanatory, he chews a lot, not as much as other labs thank goodness! He looooves stuffed animals, and blankets -chewing them and eating them… And he wonders why he is sick today! Stop eating blankets. He’s lucky he has his mama and dad to snuggle between on the couch lol literally he’s alternated his head on daddy’s lap and as soon as I began telling Jaz about how he was sick today, he instantly became the mommy sick! LOL ah I love him he’s been the perfect addition to the family.
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