At long last Danika has arrived!  Here are some pictures of friends and family visiting her at the hospital on her first day into the big scary world.

Click HERE for the full album.

Alicia invited me along for a photo-shoot in Red Head.  She had lined up 2 models finishing off their portfolio followed by a total of 5 girls for a Trash the Dress session.  For those who are not aware of the Trash the Dress concept, basically you take the pretty dresses you only wear once and go have some fun in them!  This usually leads to getting dirty.  Alicia who I’m starting to think is the Queen of bargains provided most of the dresses.  The girls were all fun to work with.  I mostly just stayed out of the way and shot from other angles.  Getting to watch someone elses work process was really good for me.  I look forward to shooting with her more.  So enough of my rambling click HERE to check out the shots.  Comments are welcome as always!

Note:  I’ve noticed the plug-in I use for the pictures has a tendency to cut off the right hand side of the picture from time to time.  If it looks like it is cut off you can just click on the picture to see the full version…  Sadly, I think it’s time to upgrade… which will probably mean no comments per picture as no other plug-in has that feature… boo!

Every year I go to the Zoo with my folks, it’s a summer tradition that we’ve done for a number of years and is always fun.  This year I expanded my family to include some good friends.  The extra people just made it more fun and Robert seemed to enjoy his first trip to a zoo.  Instead of feeding deer with Barry, he thought it more fun to throw dirt at them.  He wasn’t interested in feeding the ducks so much as chasing them.  And learned the valuable lesson that when you grab a goats tail, you’ll get a headbutt to the rear end.  *chuckle*  Hope you enjoy the pics, comments are welcome as always.  Check them out HERE.

I had the happy opportunity to try my lens at some maternity pictures.  It meant a lot to me because not only did the couple trust me to capture this time in their lives but it’s my brothers first child.  I admit I was nervous about doing them, it isn’t like I can just re-shoot them again down the road should they not turn out.  The end product was something I was mostly happy with though.  The studio setting ones need more work with lighting.  I blew out the sides on a few.  My lighting gear isn’t the best and I don’t get much practise with it.  Maybe that will be my quest this winter, spend more time working with lights.  Most important thing was the clients were happy with the pictures!  So I’m happy too.  Check them out here and let me know your thoughts!

This past weekend Jess, Hil and I took a trip to Halifax.  We had two reasons, first was to visit Jared, Vicki, and Sylas and the other was it was Hilary’s Birthday and we wanted to do something fun.

The drive down was fun as always with much loud music and other craziness.  We didn’t do a whole lot while we were there, went downtown to the farmers market at this new time I’ve never heard of… Vicki calls it “7 in the morning”, guess it’s a nurse thing.  After that we wandered around waiting for everything else to open.  Visited the usual haunts like Freak Lunchbox, Little Mysteries, and the Black Market.  We got Tara something Uber cool at Freak Lunchbox, Hil spent an obscene amount of money between the three places, and sadly Jess did not manage to find a new puzzle ring.  In between all this we had pizza at 10:30 on the steps of a church.  Good times. 

Jared made an awesome dinner and breakfast the next day and it was just a good time all around.  Makes me miss them more after we have to leave.  Really can’t wait for them to move home… or to find out if they won the million dollar eco house so we can move in with them.  ;o)

As usual I took some pics.  Feel free to check them out and comment.  I always like when people comment.  My main walk around lens is farked and I’ve been too lazy to take it to get serviced so I was forced to shoot at either 50mm fixed or my big honkin zoom lens.  I feel it was my punishment for being lazy.  Hopefully today I’ll be smart enough to take the lens with me before work and drop it off to get it fixed.  *shudders at the possible cost of repair*  Click here for the pics.

So I’m back from Toronto and actually going to blog!  CAiNE (Canadian Annual National Event) is the big con for a gaming group I used to be part of.  A few years ago I parted ways with the group for my own reasons and this year by events I’m still not sure how they came to pass I ended up getting back into it.  I never thought I would be part of that group again when I left but going again, playing, and most importantly seeing old friends was really good.  Those that went for the first time in a few years have called it “Coming home”, and I think that is the perfect words for it.  And we were welcomed home with open arms.  So thanks to everyone that made us feel that way.

Now on to a quick recap of the trip.  We went by train which was a 24ish hour trip.  Which although fun in some aspects is not something I’ll do again.  Just too long for my long legs!  Going through Montreal’s big station and Union Station in Toronto was pretty cool though.  Thursday when we got there Jody picked us up and drove us to the hotel.  Many thanks to him!  We spent that night just getting caught up with some friends and taking it easy.

Friday I woke up not feeling that well but it soon past.  Jess, Jared, and I took the bus downtown to the subway which led us to Union Station.  It was not hard to find our first stop, the CN Tower since it loomed over us.  While waiting in the rather short line for the elevator I started to feel ill again but figured it would pass.  We got up to the top and I had to run for the washroom, but after being sick I felt fine again.  I took some pictures and we headed up to the Skypod, the highest point you can access in the Tower.  Everything looks fake from that height… it’s kinda odd.  I think the pictures do it justice as all the buildings look like models.  Our next stop was the Hockey Hall of Fame, which we had to travel back the way we came from to find.  Again, while waiting in line I had to run for the washroom.  Maybe my stomach did not like lines… I prefer to think it hated the idea of the 100th Anniversary of the Montreal Canadians exhibit that was inside.  We did get to look around and see most of the displays but my stomach would not allow me to do the interactive things.  Twice I’ve been to the HHoF and twice I’ve been unable to do the interactive bits… gives me a reason to try a third time in the future I guess!  Finally we headed back to the airport by cab.  I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping and happily felt well enough to play Requiem that night and hang out with friends til the wee hours.

Saturday Phil took Jess and I down to Chinatown for Dim Sum.  I had never had it and to be honest had no idea what it was!  Come to find out it’s a way of serving Chinese food.  You sit at your table and they circle around with carts of food.  You take what you want and they mark it off on your food scoresheet ;o).  I learned to eat with chopsticks and really enjoyed the experience!  It was great food and really cheap.  We checked out the shops along Kensington which were all very cool retro shops before heading to the Silver Snail.  It was HUGE!  Felt like a storage house for everything I’ve ever seen in the Previews catalog.  Saturday night I played Requiem again and we finished off a plot we’d been chasing since I made my character.  It was very cool.  Also got to interact with the Unholy a bit, which probably does not mean anything to most but it was pretty awesome.   After game we stayed up til the wee hours partying with friends and drinking Jody’s evil Black Rum.

Sunday was the closing ceremonies and a lazy day of just hanging out before taking the very long train ride home Monday morning.  Jared being the silly monkey he is missed his plane but managed to get home eventually.  All in all the trip was well worth it.  I had a blast the whole time (even while being sick).  Really looking forward to seeing everyone next year at Trois-Rivieres!

All the pictures of my Toronto adventures can be found here.  Feel free to check them out and comment!  Also here are pictures from Mortal and Changeling.

I had my first wedding shoot last month as I’ve mentioned a few times, but now the editing is done, the couple have the pictures so I’m uploading a few here as I use this site as my portfolio of sorts. 

 Again many thanks to the couple and the brides parents for trusting me with this very special day. 

 From all the horror stories I had read from wedding photographers I was so happy to have such a great client to work for. 

 Everyone was easy going and fun to work with. 

 I can only hope my next wedding goes as well. 

(Click on the picture to see the full album.)

This past weekend Greg and Chris hosted the sequel to the murder mystery we played last year “Murder at the Four Deuces”. 

A lot of people got out to play in this one and reprise their characters as well as having a few new faces to add to the mix.  It was great fun!  Just enough LARP to remind me why I enjoyed playing but conversation afterwords reminded me of why we don’t bother anymore. 

The best thing as usual was seeing friends from out of town.  It was really fun to get Chris & Anita down for it, if only as an excuse to see them.  Hope peeps enjoy the pictures, as always please feel free to comment on any of them.  I like the feedback!

(For facebook users click either of the pictures to see the full album hosted on my website.)

I had my first gig as a wedding photographer yesterday and I must say I am pleased.  It started with meeting the bride at noon to take pictures of her and the ladies in the wedding party getting ready.  Then back to the church for the ceremony, followed by some portraits by the dome of the old General Hospital, then out to Renforth for some more portraits along the wharf and the playground, and finishing off at the reception hall for dinner, speeches, and the dance.  It all made for a very long day but I actually enjoyed it all.  I’ve had little time to look at the pictures, but from what I’ve had the chance to see the results are pretty good.  It will take many hours of editing the 750+ pictures to adjust tones and small things but will all be worth it.

I don’t think I could have asked for a nicer family (two families actually the bride and grooms) to work for.  I had feared that my first wedding would be a horror story like many that I had read about, but everyone was great.  On time, polite, and thankful.  Which allowed me to be relaxed and even more thankful to them.  I’ll be posting some shots next week once they are touched up and the bride has seen them.  I’m under strict orders that no one gets to see them before her.  Which I think is only fair.  :o)

I’ve been doing a good amount of shooting as of late.  Went to Moncton to see the Boston Bruins play the New York Islanders in a pre-season game with a bunch of friends for my birthday.  We were in the upper bowl at center ice which still was pretty good to see everything.  I got use use my 80-200 f2.8 lens for sports for the first time.  I bought it do hockey shots (amongst other things) and I must say I’m very happy.  Still getting used to the extra weight and keeping it steady but again, very happy with the results.  I’ve been meaning to add captions to the shots, but for now they’ll go without.  Bruins sadly lost 2-1 in overtime, but it was still a lot of fun.

Earlier tonight I went to see some fireworks with some friends.  They were supposed to be last night because 4 cruise ships were in.  However the Queen Mary 2 was delayed due to weather until today so the fireworks were put off.  Which worked well because I had the evening off to go!  They were not as good as the last set the city had but were still enjoyable.  My tripod had a bit of a malfunction near the end so the grand finale display didn’t get recorded like I would have liked.  :o(  Oh well, next time.

In other news I got the green light for my studio space, so I’m in the grand debate of what gear to buy and how much to spend… which is a bit stressful.  But I’ll manage.  Also have my first wedding next weekend… getting nervous about that but pretty much all of the details are hammered out now.  After that I want to get working in the studio so anyone looking for sittings please let me know.  Pictures always make great Christmas gifts for family.  :o)  (Click pictures to see full albums.)