Simply Portraits | A Family Studio Session

Pets are always welcome in my studio! I know that they are an essential part of your family and they deserve to be in your family portraits—whether they are on location or in studio. After the last 18 months of being your unofficial therapy pets, Let’s get them front and center in your family portraits!

Summer Vacation 2019 | Pughville in Dubrovnik

We had an amazing time in Croatia!! We caught a ferry from Bari, Italy over to Dubrovnik. We decided to book chairs instead of a cabin which was a mistake since we didn’t really get much sleep so we were exhausted on our first day in Dubrovnik. We did stay at the most amazing Airbnb place. A clean, basic apartment with the best hosts we have ever had. They took the time to provide us with a schedule of how we should attack Dubrovnik based on the cruise ship schedule—which was awesome as we truly beat the crowds that way. This is really a magical city with lots to do and see. One of our favourite foreign cities ever. I was sure to try Anthony Bourdain’s favourite black risotto while I was there. It was really good and the squid ink didn’t stain my mouth for too long ;)

Here is the link to our Airbnb which we can’t recommend enough:

https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/26218586?source_impression_id=p3_1625332057_FlnD6ETa7FQQJMzK&guests=1&adults=1

The beaches in Croatia are rocky—just so you know. Good water shoes help with that. It was so hot when we were there that the rocks definitely weren’t enough to keep us away from the water—ha.

Day in the Life Session | Calgary Documentary Family Photographer

Years ago, when I first started out, my goal was to move towards a more documentary approach to family portraiture that was called ‘Day in the Life’ Sessions. Over the years, those sessions morphed into a combination of portraits and documentary that I began to call ‘Adventure Sessions’. Every now and then, I still get asked to do a true Day in the Life session. I did one recently and wanted to share a sampling of the images with you. This is a half day in the life session where we focused on the morning in a very special house that they were about to say goodbye to…

A few years ago, I spent a lot of time purposely seeking out critique in an attempt to become a better photographer, but I really discovered that so many photographers wanted to fit you in a box with their critique…one of their own making. For me, it felt stifling from a creative perspective…I felt like I was losing confidence in my own vision…not my abilities, but my vision…which in the end is the only thing I have that can differentiate me from others. The last two years, I have really stepped back from the industry and it has been AMAZING. I feel like I’m coming back into myself. I’m listening to my inner voice and creating the images that speak to me. Whether they speak to other people is not something I can control…but, when I look at this collection of images, I see my humor, my tenderness, my voice again and it makes me so happy. I want to see more of this.

Enjoy…

Kananaskis Adventure Session | Calgary Family Photographer

Adventure sessions are my favourite way to document a family. In fact, with young kids, I think this is the IDEAL way to have family portraits. It’s slow portraiture…just like going on an adventure and having me hang out with you while I take some photographs. There is some, but not a lot of direction. We take our time and the kids relax(parents, too). You get portraits for Grandma, epic photos for your walls, and a story that belongs in a book so that you can truly see a little slice of your family from that time in your life. More and more, I’m hearing parents of young kids asking to have the shortest session possible—which feels a lot like rushing it to me…forcing behaviour on your family then crossing your fingers that it all works out. Adventure Sessions are truly a no pressure event—just show up and have fun…I’ll do the rest!!

I have been photographing this family for years! In fact, I photographed mom while she was pregnant with her little girl! It’s such a treat watching the kids grow and change. Plus, it truly is like visiting an old friend—so, this session was so chill…super chill.

I wanted to add that both of these parents are emergency room physicians who have spent the last year and a half fighting the hard fight during the pandemic. I want to THANK THEM and everyone else like them for keeping Albertans safe and healthy. The mom is also a photographer who got special permission to photograph the front lines of this pandemic. She has done an amazing job. You can go follow her work at: https://www.instagram.com/heather.l.patterson

Last year, we met at Upper Kananaskis Lakes for our session during the wild fire season…the mountains were there, you just had to look really closely ;) They also camped nearby so we ended our session at their campsite. Always a treat hanging out with them. Here are the images we created together.