I met this beautiful family on the most gorgeous September evening, shortly before little Adam's first birthday. He was such a sweetie, despite being up so close to bedtime, and gave us so many smiles. His parents, Alissa and Sandro were naturals in front of the camera, and did such a fantastic job keeping their baby boy happy. It was one of the most beautiful outdoor sessions of the fall with all that golden light, and I'm excited to finally be sharing it with you here! Enjoy!
What do you get when you mix a 2 year old, almost 1 year old and 2 week old, amazing parents and beautiful home together in a lifestyle session? A suuuuuper long blog post full of fun, candid and snuggly images! Big brother Charlie was without a doubt the sweetest and most gentle big brother I've ever met, covering his new baby sister, Reese, in so many kisses! Middle girlie, Quinn, was a bundle of energy, movement and adorable smiles. This little girl was a super early walker and had the speed to prove it! She was so fun, but started to fade as nap time approached, and graced me with some sleepy cuddles and even let me put her down for her nap! And finally, the star of the show, baby girl Reese. She was just beautiful and slept so sweetly for us. She even gave me a smile as she napped in her mama's arms. These gorgeous children all belong to the wonderful Danielle and Stu, two super-parents who managed their 3 under 3 with a competence and grace that I can only aspire to! This family was such a joy to capture and I am honoured to have had the opportunity to capture their story.
Sometimes when the weather is being a pain and there's too much rain and cloud and I have a bunch of sessions that have to be rescheduled, I start to ask myself why I even bother shooting outside at all?! But then I have sessions like this and I am reminded. Because a gorgeous fall evening + a beautiful and fun-loving family + the golden setting sun = magic. That's what my session with the Morris family was. Audrey and Linden had a classic brother-sister relationship, which I think you can get a feel for in some of these photos! Being only a year apart they have the perfect blend of sweetness one moment and teasing the next. It made for some fun moments! Theresa and Jason are so obviously adored by their kiddos, and I absolutely loved capturing all of the joy and fun that this family brought to our session!
To keep things consistent with my last post, another huge overshare here! This fun family was getting ready to celebrate their littlest member's first birthday and thought a cake smash and sink bath session would be a great way to start! Despite the fact that we messed with his nap times a little bit, James was in fine form and was a rockstar when it came to the cake smash. He wasn't afraid to get his little hands dirty, and definitely ended up with a pretty decent sugar high! And, of course, it goes without saying that a sink bath makes me over the moon happy as a photographer. It was so fun capturing everyone loving on and celebrating this sweet boy. Happy first birthday James!
Huge overshare happening in this post, my friends. This beautiful family made my job so incredibly easy. Nine month old Grayson was SO charming, I could have photographed that sweet smile alllll day. Rebecca and Andrew were a lot of fun and knew all the best ways to entertain Grayson as we got closer and closer to bedtime. They introduced me to the best kids playlist on Spotify (Upbeat Children's Songs...give it listen, you won't be disappointed!) and showed me how much fun I missed out on by not letting my husband throw Levi in the air! Our session was so fun and it was a joy to capture all the love between these three.
Say hello to sweet Abigail! I first met her parents, Andrea and Joe, at their maternity session back in May, and was excited to find out whether they were having a boy or girl! I have great admiration for those crazy people who have enough patience to wait until baby is born to find these things out ;) It does add an extra fun element of anticipation though, I think! Abigail was sweet as can be and really pulled of some serious modelling throughout the course of our session. I had a wonderful morning with these three, and loved capturing this exciting piece of their family history for them!
Audrey's newborn session was full of some of the sweetest cuddles I've had the pleasure of capturing. This baby girl was a huge fan of snuggling against mom and dad's chest. And while she was not big on being put down, her parents did an wonderful job comforting their sweet daughter and eventually had her lulled off to sleep! I'm always impressed with how new parents to take these things in stride and how quickly they learn the little tricks that work well for their baby. I love capturing the new-ness of the family dynamic with a tiny newborn in the household. I've said it before and I'll say it again...I love my job!
I met this beautiful family on a gorgeous August evening in High Park. Sweet little Sage was incredibly happy and easygoing which was a pleasant surprise since we were shooting very close to his regular bedtime! We wandered around to a variety of spots in the park, but my personal favourite is under the willow trees next to the water. Natasha and Sean came so well prepared with toys to entertain Sage and a picnic blanket to sit on. It was a fun and relaxed evening with these three and an absolute pleasure for me to capture this stage in their family's history.
Oh miss Harper. She was the easiest baby I have every photographed! I could move her as much as I wished between poses and she was happy as a clam and would settle right back to sleep. Unfortunately for her parents this was because she was exhausted from being up most of the night! Big brother Preston was incredibly sweet and introduced me to every character from the movie Cars. He also has an amazing pirate ship bed which I can only imagine is the envy of all of his friends! This session was so fun and laid back and I loved every moment. Denise and Albert, thank you so much for trusting me to capture your beautiful baby girl and the love and joy she has added to your family.
I met this beautiful family on a gorgeous summer night for their maternity session. Jenny and Ryan are expecting their second baby boy next month! I had a wonderful time capturing all the love and joy that holds these three together. There was so much laughter, and the many fun antics from 3 year old Justin just brought this session to life. His reactions to his parent's tickling him were so fun! I can't wait to capture their first days with the baby behind Jenny's beautiful bump!
Miss Audrey's newborn session kicked off my craziest week of sessions to date, and what a great start it was! This little lady was 2 weeks old at the time, and was so calm & alert for the first half of our session that we were able to capture some beautiful portraits of her with her eyes open. When she did fall asleep she was happiest hanging out in mom and dad's arms. Her parents, Patricia & Kevin, were wonderful and I loved shooting in their condo with the beautiful high ceilings and giant windows you can see below. Patricia & Kevin, I had such a wonderful time capturing the love between your new little family and wish you many blessings as sweet Audrey grows!
I had such a fun morning with this little family of three in their beautiful, bright home. They were super kind when I was 15 minutes late because I couldn't find their house (my dear friend Google Maps led me astray)! Matthew found me knocking on the door to the wrong house, where luckily no one was home! When I finally did arrive I met baby girl Kaya, who is only 6 months old and already sitting and crawling...she was always one the move! Her parents certainly have their hands full with this sweet little lady. The combo of giant windows and her gorgeous eyes gave us some beautiful images. Matthew and Vanessa were so full of love for their sweet and spunky daughter, and I just loved capturing these memories for this family.
Brace yourselves, folks. There is a whole lot of perfect, chubby 8 month squish below this text. His name is Abdullah, and along with the cutest role-poly little baby bod, he is also sporting a pair of gigantic, expressive brown eyes. I'm actively holding back from writing all of those adjectives in CAPS LOCK by the way ;) Abdullah and his parents, Daniel and Sadaf, were in Ontario visiting family (they hail from Australia), and wanted to take the time to freeze this adorable and fun stage in their family's life. Like my Levi, Abdullah is (or hopefully was by now!) a terrible sleeper, so Daniel, Sadaf and I bonded over mutual understanding of the tortures of long term sleep deprivation and I tried to pass on some hope that maybe he will start sleeping at 10 months like Levi did! I had such a fun morning with this laid back and loving family, and I'm now seriously contemplating making 8 month sessions a thing :)
Meet this sweet little gentleman, Welles! And of course, his parents Christine and Graham. I had such an amazing Saturday morning with this family. Welles surprised his parents by arriving quite early, and spent some time in the NICU, so he was several weeks old when we met, but slept like a dream and also had the smoothest baby skin! He was so wonderful to capture, and Christine and Graham just added to that. Their home was FULL of books, and we got to connect by trading recommendations and sharing our favourite novels. Welles even had Harry the Dirty Dog on his bookshelf, one of my childhood faves! Along with great taste in books they have excellent style and it was so much fun to shoot in their gorgeous home. We even got take some outdoor shots on their front porch since the weather was beautiful, which I have been waiting all winter to do! It was so much fun to capture Christine and Graham's love for their little boy and I wish them many blessings in the days to come!
It's been quite a while since I've posted any personal photos, so here is a little glimpse into our spring! I haven't felt super motivated to shoot in our home since finishing my 365 in February, but I think the warm weather and spending time outdoors is bringing that desire back to me. Watching Levi discover all the things the outdoor life has to offer has been a lot of fun, and has also had the added benefit of exhausting him so we are getting some good naps these days! Also all this humidity is making his curls just amazing! This spring we celebrated our second Father's and Mother's Days, took Levi bowling for the first time, spent the long weekend at the cottage and (one of us) started falling asleep in strange places. One of my goals this summer is to learn to do video on my big camera, so stay tuned for some super amateur vides of Levi ;)
You have to check out this little redheaded beauty! Her name is Emily is she was simply a dream to photograph. She slept so well, and then pulled out the cutest, over-the-shoulder pose you can ever imagine, all on her own! You may remember her parents, Wes and Margaret from their maternity session back in the early spring. I so looked forward to getting to hang out with them again and meet their sweet little girl. Margaret only almost cried once, when Emily stretched her little hand out and rested it on her daddy's face, and baby Emily barely cried at all the entire time ;) I just love getting to capture a family's first days after that sudden change that throws you headfirst into parenthood. It's lovely, it's messy, exhausting and thrilling all at the same time. Wishing this special family many blessings.
Oh heavens. I apologize in advance because this is a LONG blog post!!! This family allowed me to capture so many beautiful moments that I just couldn't choose. Between a gorgeous old home, a spunky and fun 2 year old and an incredibly sweet newborn baby boy, this session was what dreams are made of! Little miss Millie (the cutie in the pigtails) was so much fun to hang out with. She didn't hesitate to warm right up and enjoy her time in the spotlight, which I think is very evident in the photos of her below! She was a darling big sister to baby Woodrow, giving him lots of kisses and trying to calm him when he cried. Woodrow was the most adorable little squish, with plenty baby chub since he arrived 2 weeks past his due date! He slept so well and was such an easy model. Niki and Chris (parents to the two cuties) were so incredibly kind and seemed to navigate life with two littles with and admirable amount of grace and humour. If you haven't gotten the gist, I really enjoyed my morning with this family, and I hope you can feel the love they have for one another in these photographs!
I just loooooved photographing this new family. Jérémy & Cécile were incredibly natural and relaxed and gave me a beautiful peek into their little world and their first days with their newborn daughter Sophie. This girl got a record number of kisses and snuggles in our two hours together, and it is just so obvious how much she is loved. Her nursery is fully of beautiful, carefully handcrafted items made just for her, including the sleep sack and 'Sophie' sign on her nursery door that you'll see below, and the cozy grey blanket knitted for her by her grandma. She also had the sweetest little wisp of dark hair over her forehead that I just loved! Wishing Jérémy & Cécile many blessings as they raise their darling Sophie!
At the beginning of May I had the pleasure of meeting the two cutest little brothers, Darius and Alexander. Two week old Alexander just had the most serious look in his eye the whole time, and was happy as a clam looking out the window as I took his portraits. I had to work hard to coax him into closing his eyes for a few shots, but this little man didn't want to miss a thing! Big brother Darius was soooo much fun and gave us some wonderful candid and joy filled moments in the the way only toddlers can. He was so careful and gentle holding his baby brother, and giving his mama some sweet kisses. Judy and Cyrus, you certainly have your hands full with these beautiful boys, but in the best way possible! It was an honour to capture these memories for you.
