Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails…

I’m not going to lie. Sometimes getting the right shot just means getting your ISO, aperture and exposure set, taking 30 frames and hoping one works out. When you’ve got four busy boys (one of which wants nothing to do with having his photo taken) you sometimes just have to shoot, shoot, shoot and hope you get the right shot. Luckily in this case, it worked. I’ve photographed the two youngest boys, Malcolm & Xavier before but this was my first experience with Bradley and Jacob. It was lots of fun.

Linda (Malcolm & Xavier’s mom) hired me to go out to Sandy Hook to photograph the boys with their grandparents. It was a 40th wedding anniversary gift and I got some great shots for their mantle!

Malcolm, the strong silent type. He’s a sweet pea!

Handsome crew!

Jacob was so sweet (and worried about how his hair looked).

Bradley just lost two teeth.

I love the look on Xavier’s face in this one. What a little munchkin!

Nope, not having any of this!

Xavier a little happier…

Bump & Babe…

On Saturday I got to photograph Brandi and Eric (and their little bump) at McKittrick park and the Churchill park walkway (we even took a few on the bridge at the BDI). Brandi’s thoughtful coworkers bought her the bump & babe package as a baby shower gift so I got to do the first half of the photos with them in this AMAZING weather we’ve been having. Super amazing for Manitoba, considering that last year when they got married on the same weekend there was a snow storm! They are a super fun couple and needed very little coaching on what to do. Eric is a goof and you can tell he cannot wait to meet that baby of his. Brandi looks amazing and looks comfortable in all of the photos but you can sort of tell she’s ready to have that little bundle in her arms, not inside, causing heartburn, constrited breathing, bruised ribs….oh, the list goes on, I’m sure. I’m looking forward to taking photos of their little one (boy…my guess).

 

pretty adorable couple...that baby's going to be a cutie!

 

It was a HOT one!!!

Mya and I had the pleasure of photographing Kristin & Doug’s wedding out in (BEAUTIFUL) Swan Lake, MB a few weeks ago. The heat was, well, sweltering. The ceremony was held at the local Catholic church and from there we ventured out into the fields around Swan Lake. Sunflowers, then wheat, then corn! We even stopped to buy lemonade from the back of a pickup truck on a country road. It doesn’t get any more quaint and country than that! Even with the heat the bride and groom and everyone else in attendance had a blast (as did Mya and I). The landscape out that way is amazing. We truly live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here are a few of the photos from their big day:

Her dress was stunning!

Wheat, corn, country roads, sunflower fields!!! A photographer's dream landscape.

Good lookin' crew!

Da boys.

The ladies.

Goosebumps.

Jody for President…or just vote for my design!

Vote for my design on minted.™ see more from Jody Sie vote for me! Check out my competition in holiday photo cards and wedding invitations at Minted.

I can expense that, right?

A few weeks ago Erin and I braved an 8.5 hour drive to Saskatoon with all four kids (my two snotheads and her two turdballs). I had a regional hockey tournament to attend (yeah, we’re that good).  I managed to convince Erin to join me because we’ve got lots of family there. My aunt/godmother, Judy, moved there 30+ years ago and raised her family of 4 there. They’re all adults now and they all still live there and now they’ve got a few kidlets of their own. So we threw some lunch in a cooler and packed Erin’s VAGON (she won’t call it a van) full of books, blankies, diapers, wipes, toys, and a BLESSED portable DVD player and ventured out. The drive out went so swimmingly that we knew the ride back could not be without a few glitches…in the world of literature that’s what you call foreboding.

While visiting, Erin took some photos of Cooper (our cousin Adam’s little guy), Jessie and Tegan (our cousin Jenn’s two cuties) and I took photos of Izzy and Kennedy (our cousin Jo’s ‘kids’). Newborn Kennedy is the cutest newborn I have EVER seen…even cuter than my own adorable poop machines were at birth. She was just two weeks old when we met her and she was so strong and was already genuinely smiling. I know farts and I know smiling. She smiled.

We lost all three games in the hockey tournament (okay, so we’re not that good) but got an amazing visit in with everyone. It rained all weekend. By the time we left on Monday morning the kids missed their dads, their beds, and had been cooped up for 3 days. We knew we were doomed. The first half of the ride went without any real problems but seemed to drag foreeeeever. Erin’s oldest, Willem, takes 30 minutes to go the ‘bathroom’ and he did that twice. We stopped for an hour for lunch and then again for 30 minutes to let them get their beans out. So 9+ hours into the drive we (stupidly) turned the DVD player off and tried to force them all to take a nap. Didn’t happen. At all. In fact there was an uprising and the hostilities between the warden and the inmates became such that Erin and I laughed/cried for the last hour and a half of the drive.

Still worth it. We took photos on the trip, so I can expense it, right?

Here are some of the images we took of the girls of Saskatoon:

This is Jessie. She's the 'thinker'.

Tegan took some time to warm up to us but once she did...all hugs and cuddles.

Kennedy. Are you kidding me? Freakin' adorable!

This is Cooper. We think he may still be teething. 🙂

Izzy's SUPER excited about her new baby sister, Kennedy!

FINALLY…

Once our household got over the 6 week bug that was going around in February/March I was able to finally make it out to visit with my new nephew Grayden and take a few photos just before Easter. (I was a little slow on the edit with this one..oops.) He’s friggin’ cute and Moira was so excited to see him and hold him. Theo barely noticed him. I enjoyed cuddling with him for 4 hours and then happily handed him back to my SIL. I LOVE babies and I really enjoyed my babies and there was a time that baby-head-smell made my ovaries start firing eggs like mardi-gras beads. Not anymore. I sniffed his head all day and I savoured him and I loved him. BUT, while holding him I was thankful that I could sit for that long (when both my 9 lbs babies were newbies I wasn’t able to sit for long periods…ahem), I was thankful that my boobs weren’t leaking and I’d had more than 3 hours of sleep in a row and that I wasn’t having mini anxiety attacks every 2 days because of the uncertainty that comes with a first baby. I’ll live vicariously through others having babies now. Maybe we’ll adopt a few babies in a few years, but this body will NEVER be pregnant again…even if I sniff all the baby heads in the world at the same time.

His birth annoucement.

'Aunty JoJo, you're exhausting!'

My stinklets with their new cousin Grayden (the matching Easter outfits were a gift).

We (finally) did it!

Okay, so the new website is up and running. Click here to view it! We’re really happy with the final look of it. There’s still a little tweaking and fine tuning to be done, but I got an itchy trigger finger yesterday afternoon and gave our hosting site the go ahead to ‘go live’! The main page will eventually have a slide show of 10 images running through it, but for now we’ve just got a little introductory blurb about our special and welcoming Erin to the team. Which, can I say, is so amazing to me. Growing up I never dreamed that I’d get to some day live out my dream of being a mom and a creative professional along side two of my best friends (I just wish Meg lived a little closer to share in all of it; I guess Morden is closer than Vancouver Island, so I shouldn’t be complaining too much). There are definitely moments when the business puts a strain on us as moms or wives or friends or daughters or siblings, but by and large it’s the best gig I’ve ever had and I’ve had A LOT of jobs: waitress, hostess, PR rep, marketing manager, nanny, prep cook, teacher, liquor store cashier, clothing sales, retail store manager, insurance claims clerk, fitness instructor (yes, for a short while I worked at a Curves in the Cayman Islands). Phew, when I look at that list I’m almost embarrassed by how many hats I’ve worn. Oh well, each thing I’ve done has brought me to where I am today. And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world! So I want to say ‘thanks’ to everyone who supports our company, to Mya for helping build it to be what it is today, to Erin for having the faith and trust in BTP to leave a career in law and take a gamble on this whole photography thing, to our husbands for their patience and help and to my kids who inspire me every day to be a better mom and a better photographer.

It’s commmming!!!!

Seriously. It is. No, I really mean it this time. I’ve completed the website (no thanks to our designers) and it should be live by Friday. We’ve sent the non-live link to some of our dearest and most honest friends for critique and hope to have it up and running by Friday. I realize it’s been a slow process, but to be perfectly honest, all three of us were happy to have a quiet January and February. That said, I’m starting to feel a bit of cabin fever and would love to get out of the house to stimulate my brain with something more than a random, distracted walk through Zellers at 9 o’clock at night. So once you’ve seen the new site and our work has moved you to get some more up to date images of your family send us an email and we’ll set something up!

As an aside, Kevin’s brother and sister-in-law welcomed their first baby into the world on Sunday night. Grayden Robert (7lbs 6oz) is our little gold medal baby! He’s so adorable and I can’t wait to get my camera on him. We got to meet him last night, but the hospital lighting and the fact that he wanted to spend 3/4 of our visit sucking on his mom’s boob made it a little tough to get some good pics of him. I’m going to squeeze in a visit this week before they head back to East Braintree. I can’t tell you how cute this kid is. I’m not just saying this because he’s genetically linked to my own spawn. He’s friggin’ cute! I’ll show you. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s a shot of Chrissy (the baby mama) with Grayden still snug and warm inside of her!

My little YOGI, Chrissy!

Now THAT'S natural beauty. Never a stitch of makeup on this goddess and she ALWAYS looks stunning.

Bling, bling…

I realize that the new website was supposed to be up, oh, 3 weeks ago. And while it was Erin and Mya holding us up for the bulk of the time (I forgive you girls), it’s now me (or I guess my ineptitude when it comes to technology) holding up the unveiling. I’ve been dealing with the website developer/hosting company and I’m not quite sure what it is they’re asking me to do. I’m hoping to have it all sorted by the end of the week and after having a few people proof it for us it should be up and running by late next week; fingers crossed!

It’s always nice when two artists can do ‘tradesies’! One of the moms at my daughter’s preschool designs and makes jewellery. She asked me to do some design work for her and photograph her jewellery pieces. Trading services and products is always fun, so I was game! Alison, the designer, has a lot of nature inspired pieces (dragonflies, flowers, butterflies) so I chose to photograph them on some branches from the ornamental apple tree in my backyard. The photos came out great and her work still manages to be the focus of the image. She’s happy with the photos and logo design and I’ve got two cute new pairs of earrings AND birthday gifts for my MIL and step-MIL. Nice one! To view some of her work click here. Here are a few of the shots I took for her:

This is one of the pairs I chose. Cute and fancy! I'll need to go out for dinner just to show them off!

Na, na, na, na, BLOG, BLOG…

I’m still waiting on Erin to put up her first post but thought I’d throw a little post up to prove to her that you don’t need to spend 3 hours proofreading the text!!!!

In light of the horrible earthquake that rocked Haiti this past week I urge all (twelve) of you to cut back some of your usual spending for a month (maybe make your own coffee and do without Starbucks or eat out less) and make a donation to the American Red Cross (click here). Every little bit helps and Haiti certainly deserves a hand up.“With annual per capita income of less than $400 and an average life expectancy of 53, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Eighty out of 1,000 Haitian children never see their first birthday, and nearly half the population cannot read. As much as 80 percent of the population lives in poverty. The problems are compounded by a heavily eroded natural resource base and the spread of HIV/AIDS, which now afflicts more than 5% of the population. There are already some 163,000 AIDS orphans in the country.” Need more proof that Haiti needs your help? Click here.

January and February are always our slowest months. Clients who book sittings in January, February, March or April will receive $50 in prints with their sitting fee! (Tell your friends!) I just filled an order for a shoot I did in November. The kids are adorable and little Jacob (the older of the two boys) kept a little piece of my heart when I left that day. He’s quite the charmer. He and I spent time building a fort in the family room and I was snug as a bug in there until he let one fly! They should have this kid searching for Osama Bin Laden!!! He’d smoke him out of his hiding place in no time! Both he, and his little butterball brother Ethan were a joy to photograph. Near the end of the shoot Ethan was so tired that he looked nearly catatonic in the family photos. Poor monkey!

Look at this (not-so) little cherub! I could spread those cheeks on toast!

HEART BREAKER!!!

What’s TV?

As much as I’d like to be watching the gold medal World Junior game on a regular TV right now, Kevin and I are squinting at a 5×4 (INCH) window on the computer to catch the action. If we had a sitter (or no kids) we’d be at Luxalune right now, having a few yummy beers and devouring their amazing dry ribs! The basement reno is close to being done so I can expect another gigantic TV soon. Then we can get our beer fridge stocked and order in the dry ribs for these sorts of things! We’d better have one for Super Bowl. Other than to watch sports, I’m not missing the TV too much. Hard to believe. Though I guess if Glee were back to new episodes I’d be singing a different tune right now. The lack of TV means I get a whole lot more done in the evenings. Last night I got all of Tracy, Lee and baby Vaughn’s photos edited and tonight I’m putting the final coat of paint in the laundry room and spare bedroom in the basement (after the game, that is!).

Here are a few photos of the handsome little devil!

Sweet pea.

Are you kidding me? Such a great expression!

Doesn't Lee look like he might be a super hero on his days off?

I’m new to this whole blogging thing and can’t for the life of me figure out why my last blog post is no longer visible. I’m not one of those technologically inept people. I can program a VCR…er, PVR. The post just disappeared into thin air. It talked about how much I LOVE the name Vaughn (which is what Tracy and Lee named their baby) and it had this collage in it:

Happy New Year…and all that jazz!

Well, the Christmas Olympics closing ceremonies took place yesterday. I finished with 2 medals and whole lot of stuff I didn’t know I needed; who knew my sock drawer was missing two pairs of lavender, sparkly, reindeer socks? We (my family unit) don’t have any big plans for New Year’s; just a backyard bonfire and some baileys and hot chocolate and then just straight baileys for me once the kids pass out from their spiked hot chocolate, yum! I’m feeling a little weepy about the year that’s passed and how each passing moment means my babies are getting bigger and older and smarter and mouthier (they get that from their dad). I’m careful to savour each second (even when I was on my hands and knees wiping up spilled milk for the third time today). Can you believe it’s going to be 2010?!? It seems like just yesterday I was in a friend’s basement ringing in the millennium, waiting for the world to crash (and by world I mean the computers at UofW I used to write all my English papers), and crying to my girlfriends because Kevin hadn’t proposed yet! Ah, those were the days!

Still without television, and only able to justify watching a certain amount of True Blood on DVD, I’ve found time to get loads done on the new website. I’m still waiting on Mya and Erin (if you two are reading this: ahem!) to get their good stuff uploaded and then there will be some final tweaking before we go live. Keep an eye out!

Oh, Tracy and Lee (the adorable couple below) had their little boy early (on Christmas Eve); they named him Vaughn, how cool is that?

Here’s an adorable shot of my kids with their cousins on my side. The chaos that ensues when all six are together is unfathomable, you can only imagine what it’s like with presents to open, Christmas baking to consume, and Grandparents to spoil them rotten! This photo was taken by me, but Erin wants 75% of the credit because she acted like a complete fool to get them to look at the camera. I believe at one point she may have even barked!

l-r: Theo (mine:18 months), Willem (Erin's: almost 3), Ben (Meg's: 4 in March), Moira (mine: just turned 4), Eli (Meg's; 2.5), Edie (Erin's; 14 months)

4 more sleeps…

and if you can believe it, I’m completely and totally ready for Christmas. I don’t have a single thing to do. Nada! I’m caught up on all my BTP stuff, the house is clean (thanks to no TV; more on that later*), the baking is done (my 4 year old, Moira, and I just finished a batch of over-sprinkled shortbread tonight), the presents are wrapped, the tree is trimmed, and falalalalalalalala! I’ve got time for TV, just no TV, so I’m about to pop the HBO series ‘True Blood’ on DVD into my iMac; just what I need, another TV series to become addicted to.

*A few weeks ago my husband said, “When do you want me to pick up the Christmas tree?”. I replied, “Remember last year when I said, ‘I’m not cramming a friggin’ Christmas tree into the living room again next year; this monstrosity of a TV will be gone’, well, yeah, I meant it.” He said, “So sell it.” I called his bluff, and well, sold it. So, long story short, he’s buying an even bigger TV once the basement renovation is completed (which should give him some motivation to get stuff done)! In the meantime, my living room looks gloriously spacious and festive! Yay!

We’re going to be offering a great deal for photo sessions booked in January, February, March and April so keep your eyes peeled. There will be more info on the website when we’ve got the new site up and running in early January! This will likely be my last post before the holidays are through (though Mya and Erin might find time to crank one out before 2010 slaps us upside the head). So until then, BTP wishes you and yours a very happy holiday and a wonderful New Year!

Cheers,

Jody

I know, I know, we’re SO bad at blogging:

Once the new website is up and running (watch for it early in the New Year) we’ll be more on top of the blog. I promise. Well, I shouldn’t promise things like that, but we’ll do our best. There are three of us now so there’s no reason why we can’t post one or two posts each a week? Right? Come on! Moms have SO much time on their hands.

I recently photographed one of the most photogenic pregnant ladies in the world. I’m not kidding. She had that annoying glow everyone says pregnant women have, but in this case it was actually true. When I took the photos she was 4 weeks from her due date! Good lord, she looked about the same size as I was when I was 5 months pregnant. I guess she’s worked on it. Whatever. I like to eat. I deserve what I got and she deserves her great bod (and skin)! She even let me take some nudey shots (which I’ll respectfully keep off the blog and main page of our site) that turned out beautifully! Anyway, Tracy and Lee (the expectant parents) are JUBILANTLY excited about becoming parents. It’s actually quite adorable. Their dog Roddick is just as excited. Though I’m pretty sure he acts excited about anything and everything. Here are a few shots from that shoot. I can’t wait to photograph the baby when he/she arrives in January!!! YAY!
– Jody

Can't you just see the excitement! It's so cute!

I can't wait to see what the baby will look like; look at these two! Sheesh!