Tot Shots Photography » photography

Sunshine | Calgary Children’s Photographer

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:27:04 +0000

A little more sunshine from last weekend’s sessions. These girls were a pleasure to shoot. I have shot the whole family in the past but this time got the opportunity to update the girls portraits. They are so well-behaved and adorable! Love their beautiful, colourful outfits! I was so happy to hear their mom had gone out to purchase a DSLR after my last social series so that she can start to really capture all of the girls’ events (without the delay of a point and shoot).

June has been incredibly busy and I promise to try to share as many sessions as I can but I am also trying to get as much volunteering in at my son’s school as I can. In addition to 4 nights a week of their soccer (and a couple nights a week minimum of my own)…needless to say a bit busy. I am looking forward to July and the children’s schedules slowing down…I think they are too;)

We took full advantage…|Calgary Family Photographer

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:06:17 +0000

of the gorgeous weather we had this past weekend in Calgary. It was beautiful and it was so nice to be out. This is a client that you have seen a few times. We did a couple of shots in the studio but then decided to move outside this time. I am so glad that we did as this family has awesome energy and amazing love for each other – it was a great way to capture it. It was amazing how much the little one, in particular, had changed – the gorgeous blond curls! Mom even mentioned to me on the way back to the studio that she wished she had done a shoot in between this one and the last – life does get busy, doesn’t it? R and S it was so fun to get outside and play…and to take advantage of the gorgeous green grass that I knew was coming;)

Food and Willpower |Calgary Photographer

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:49:16 +0000

Barb of Love2Eat recently posted a segment from my social series last year where she was speaking about food – whole foods in particular. This segment was on our relationship (specific to women) with food and the term willpower. Click here and you will be redirected to the video on YouTube.

I think that Barb is fantastic. Her focus on eating to nourish and energize our bodies is something that I feel is extremely important. Although food and healthy food has always been extremely important to me it is even more important as I put food on the table for my family (approximately 6 times a day). I want my children to go to school with as much energy as they can to learn but I also need to be able to do this efficiently. Barb’s classes have offered a lot of solutions for my family (and I tweet about the yummy things that we are eating a lot…the recipes are typically from Barb).

Part 2 |Calgary Maternity Photographer

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:42:50 +0000

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I would have a second post with the natural light shots. This helps to show the difference. Now you are going to ask, which do I prefer? I love both and both are very different. I love the simplicity that studio lighting shots offer – I like that they are clean and simple. I like that studio lighting stops the action of little ones. I was always a lover of fashion photography – growing up I had magazine ads posted all over my walls. There is something about a crisp clean catch light that gets me;)

However in the natural light shots, you will get a narrow depth of field (because I tend to shoot wide open – with a small f-stop for those that came last week) thus allowing you to tell a story about what you are focusing on, you can get some awesome shadows that again allow you to focus on the portion of the picture that is lit and you can also show some motion (when appropriate).

Time permitting, I will typically do a combination of both in a session.

Social Series #4 – Photography Basics

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:47:42 +0000

So last year I began hosting a series of evenings highlighting other local entrepreneurs who were discussing topics that I found interesting and I thought that my clients would also find interesting. I knew when I started this that I would probably have to turn the tables and speak on the topic that I love at some point. Now talking about some thing that I am totally passionate about is not a problem…speaking to a group of people on the other hand is. I have a HUGE fear of public speaking regardless of the number of times that I have done it. I have done ENDLESS presentations through my CMA and MBA. But there happened to be the one time at the beginning of my MBA studies that I fainted during a presentation…yep, fainted! So for the remainder of my studies, I was known as “the girl that fainted”. This label does not make it easier to get up in almost every course to speak to a bunch of people that are essentially “competing” with you. Competing may not be the right word but you know there is always the person in the class that wants to ask the question to “one up” you or at least that is how it feels when you have gone through what I felt was a traumatic event. THANKFULLY, last night was not like that at all…it helps to be surrounded by people who support you and love what you do. It does not hurt to adore the topic that you are speaking about too!

So, why did I choose to talk about photography (beyond the obvious)…I have had a ton of client requests to do classes over the last couple of years. So many of my clients own DSLRs and take a lot of pictures of their children. One common problem though is that they are still using these fancy cameras like a point and shoot – switching to auto. You will not be able to tell the stories that you want without being able to manipulate the features of your camera to make a picture! So this is where I began! Last night we only dove into a few points because the last thing that I wanted to do was throw a TON of information at you and then scare you into setting it back to auto. Clients took away a few things to work on. This also leaves room for sequels;)

Now due to the overwhelming response to this seminar (and the fact that I did not faint last night), I will be offering another session in the near future. For the clients that are interested, please let me know if a daytime or nighttime session works better.

I, SERIOUSLY, appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm and support. Not only does it inflate my ego but it helps me face and hopefully finally conquer one of my greatest fears.

Here is one of the pictures of my little one that I took yesterday morning that was used in the presentation (her bedhead was too awesome not to capture). You can’t do this in AUTO!

Tricks | Calgary Baby Photographer

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:34:55 +0000

Wow, this year has flown! Remember these pictures from last year. Here they are now performing all of their new tricks for me. We had a fantastic session and got to capture all of the milestones of this age. J&T lots more to come;)

Sneak…| Calgary Children’s Photographer

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:48:45 +0000

I’m back! I know…you did not know I was away. I was sneaky this time. Actually it was more of a case of not having time to blog before departing and although I took my laptop it spent most of my vacation closed! So nice! My family and I were in Mexico for the last couple of weeks! Fun…lot of stories…which I will share over the next little while. I am right back into the swing of things and already have a few sessions to share so those will be coming too. Here is just one of my little one though for now and her ADORABLE curls while we were away. More soon!

Video | Calgary Photographer

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:19:31 +0000

So I have been mentioning a few projects that I have been working on over the last little while and so many of them are starting to get completed. The logo was one thing that I wanted to freshen up after 5 years. It was exciting to roll that out last week and get some awesome feedback. Another project that I have been working on was a video of a photo experience with Tot Shots. It is a chance to see me, the studio and how a typical session works with me. I mentioned a few months ago, a lot of clients are wanting to do their research and meet with me to see the studio and get to know me. Of course, you are always welcome to come meet with me to ensure that I am the photographer for you but I know how busy we all are so thought that this might help.

I have to give Jess complete credit for putting it all together. Part of the reason that it has taken me so long to get this done was because it is hard to find the time to learn a new editing program/process and secondly I really prefer to be behind the camera! There are a few other things that I want to incorporate at some point but here is the first attempt…click HERE to link to the video section on my website.

The newborn frenzy continues | Calgary Newborn Photography

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:20:09 +0000

So this is the second shoot in Watch Me Grow number 2 for this family. The maternity pictures are here. As I mention every time they have hit my blog in the last couple of years, they are a ton of fun to shoot so I get a little out of control. My new tool is making it a little too easy to show that I overshoot. I admit it…I overshoot and I am okay with that! There are a couple of reason for this…first, I think that a session should tell a story so I include enough to do this. Secondly, we need to ensure that we cover each of the combinations. Thirdly, and in this case in particular, there are images that we are mimicking from the first session with their first son that will be coordinated on the wall. Oh, and then there is the fact that I had a new 105mm that I needed to use and the Olympics in on so we need to document this, oh and then there is I LOVE my job…I could go on and on to try to justify overshooting. So the big question that I get is, how do I choose? Well, I narrow down to my favourites for you as well.

K&N, it is ALWAYS a pleasure and I am looking forward to the rest of the year.

New logo |Calgary Photographer

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:40:44 +0000

I am excited to announce a new look for Tot Shots. I have had the Tot Shots logo professional designed and am so excited to finally see it up. I love the new fresh, modern look of the new logo (and still keeping with some of the same elements from the last one).

I should finally have a few posts up this week about a few things that I have been eluding to. Exciting week!