Life Is Moments -- Calgary Family Photographer

I think about how a life is all about the moments...like the moment he gave her a beautiful eternity band just because he loves her. Or, how on their first date they instantly felt comfortable and just talked and talked. Or, how that one time they used the 'power plumber' and the stuff clogging the drain ended up all over the ceiling. All over everywhere. Those are the moments that make up a life :) This is what 28 years of love looks like.

~ Dana

Throwback Thursday--Two Years Ago Today

I thought I was prepared. Turns out, I was wrong. Turns out...it is something you can never truly prepare for.

Two years ago today, my father...our papa... passed away. His was a hard fought battle. There had been a period in his 50's where we were certain we'd lose him. We didn't. He was stronger than that. But, two years ago, he struggled to stay here with us and, in the end, he lost.

The past two years have taught me so much that I could never put in words. About friendship, parenthood, marriage, life, death, but mostly about myself. It is a surprising and wonderful side affect of grief. Grief is like a fog that follows you around...and, then just when you think it has left for good to let the sunshine permanently, it arrives again. As time passes, the stretches where the fog stays away are longer. Life goes on. The sun does shine again. But some days, there will be fog. When you walk out of the fog, you are truly changed. I am so far from the person I was two years ago it isn't even funny.

I will tell you this. I wish I had more photographs. I'm not just saying that...it is so very true. I'm a photographer who failed at documenting that part of my life. I still do in ways. Older people don't always wish to have their photographs taken, so I don't. Out of a misguided respect of their wishes. It is truly misguided. I should have taken more photographs of him. Of him and I together. Of him and my kids. I have no idea why I didn't. But, I know the importance of these photographs now more than ever. This father's day, when you are hanging out with your dad--take a photograph with your iPhone. With any camera you have on hand. Just do it. You will never regret it, I promise.

This is a photograph of Jack and his Papa. Jack was my dad's first grandchild. And, in a lot of ways, they are very similar. Jack gave him his 'papa' name and the other kids made it stick.

My dad died the day before his birthday and a few days before Father's day. Odd timing that. It feels like this is his week in some ways. Tomorrow, we will celebrate his 70th birthday without him. And, then on Sunday, I will quietly remember him as we celebrate my husband. My dad LOVED dairy queen. Just LOVED it. Well, truly, he loved any sort of ice cream. At his funeral, we served Dilly Bars. We just picked up a box to enjoy this week. Georgia burst into tears in the car when we did it. Breaks your heart that...watching your children grieve. But, it was short lived because who can be upset while they are eating a Dilly Bar?

So...that's my throwback Thursday. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. It all goes way to fast.

~ Dana

Almost

I told them it was too cold to do this. They wouldn't believe me, so I decided experience was the best teacher. For about 5 minutes, they had an amazing time. It's ALMOST summer people. ALMOST.

Travel Tuesday -- Grotto Canyon in Kananaskis

I am very used to working weekends. In fact, part of why I started this business was so that I could be home with my kids during the day and work on evenings and weekends. Over the course of the last couple of years, something happened though. I started to feel like I was missing out....like my family was doing too much without me. I realize that, for most photographers, they start when they have no kids or their kids are super young.  That was the case for me, but as my kids got older...well, the regular schedule wasn't working for me. So, I made some changes.

Now that I'm working less weekends, it has taken awhile to get into the swing of being organized to get out and do something awesome as a family. This past weekend, we had big plans to go camping, but were thrown a bit of a curve ball when a project that we are working on needed some attention(we'll reveal the project soon). So, once that stuff was dealt with, we hurriedly picked a hike close to Calgary and head out to explore.

Grotto Canyon was the hike we planned on. When we got there, we discovered quite a bit of damage from last year's floods. Lots of people were trying to figure out where the trail was...no one was very successful. So, we just hiked through the flood ravaged canyon that we did find(someone told us it was called Steve Canyon or something like that). It was NOT easy(the hike was labelled as easy to do with kids). It was basically scrambling over fallen trees, smooth rocks and odd little formations. When we got to the end, someone explained to us how to find the 'real' trailhead...we went back with every intention of doing that little hike as well, but then we found this little teepee and had our packed lunch. Super chilled out, we decided that the best way to end this little adventure was to head into Canmore and get an ice cream from the school bus(everyone who has ever been to Canmore knows what I am talking about).

If you do go to Grotto Canyon, consider bringing your canoe and paddling around the little pond. Everyone was fishing there, too...so, we were wishing we had ours. If you can find the real trailhead, you could make a lovely day out of doing that and hanging by the pond.

Travel Alberta Everyone!! Let me know your favourite destination close to Calgary! We'd love to check it out!

~ Dana