I don’t know about you, but I have never been a fan of maternity photography. It seemed like someone set down some ground rules and everyone just followed them. Personal I hate (strong word I know but…) the “Heart Hands” over the stomach, the block letters, the kissing of the belly and I can’t even look at Tulle any more!

But not all is lost! I have run across a few photographers that have taken the whole maternity session and gone lifestyle/editorial. It’s these photographers I have taken after when I have done my (very few) maternity sessions and Tanya is my latest.

Tanya is a natural at this whole picture taking thing, I hardly had to give her much direction which is a huge plus for me and the images. I am always worry about dealing with expecting mothers, with Tanya I was constantly asking “You OK?”, “How you doing”, “You getting tired?”. I actually think it may have been a little annoying for her lol. All things turned out and Tanya put up with me and my worrying long enough to get some killer shots, I’m really starting to enjoy this maternity thing!

Yes, again with the iPhone…Sorry!

But seriously, you really don’t know how important it is to me to be able to just grab my phone and capture memories of my family as it grows in a fun a creative way.

Lately I have been playing with the iPhone app called Old Camera. I just love this app and I’m finding I’m using it more and more when I want a beat up looking black and white image. So I thought that I would show you some images today from my iPhone of the family using this great app.

Hope you enjoy, if you do or if you don’t, please let me know and leave a comment. I don’t push comments that much, but I think it’s time. I find a lot of people are afraid to leave comments good or bad because it’s like barging into someone’s front door or something, but hey….I’m leaving my front door wide open!

In the attempt to make my email system a little more efficient I have actually messed it up. I am trying to fix the problems but it may take a few days for the people who need to get back to me to actually well…Get back to me.

In the mean time I will not be reachable through email, but you may reach me through Facebook or just give me a call listed on my Contact page.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and I hope to fix is A.S.A.P.

UPDATE: I have redirected my Contact page so you may send me an email through the form. If you were communication with me through email I will not get any new emails that you have sent until I have this problem resolved

UPDATE #2: All fixed!

Some times I offer a shoot to people that have a look that I want for my portfolio and my friend Matty and his fiancee Jocelyn have that look. I asked Matty if he would be interested in a couples shoot and I got way more then I expected. It turns out that they are engaged making this a cool engagement session and Jocelyn is about 7 month along which also makes this a maternity session! How killer is that!!!

Being the smart folks that they are, they have found out ahead of time (I’m not one for surprises either) that they are having a little girl which they will be naming Mayden. I just love that name! That little girl is going to be one little hell raiser let me tell you… With Jocelyn’s looks and Matty’s attitude poor little Matty is going to have some fun in about 14 years lol

Anyways, we started out by getting lost in the countryside and stumbling onto a great field and this sweet little barn. After that we headed to the Jumbo train bridge in St Thomas (not sure if that’s really it’s name, but a elephant named Jumbo did meet his maker on that bridge) then finishing at the Patterson Garden.

I had a blast with these guys and I can’t wait to get my lens on Mayden when she is born. I am even in talks with Matty about shooting their wedding in October of 2010. Still haven’t decided if I’m gonna give him a deal quite yet, we’ll see how nice he can be to me in the next year

Well I hope you enjoy these images as much as I did taking them….Oh, before I let you go. I want to apologize now for the length of the post, I spent a while trying to narrow down my favs, but I just could not get rid of any more. It seems that every time you point a camera at these two you get an awesome picture!

There are major milestones in the life of a parent and I believe they differ between mothers and fathers, as well as what gender your children are. As a father of two boys, my milestones are:

1)Fist birthday
2)First steps
3)First time you hear “Dadda”
4)First bike
5)First day of school
6)First public presentation (be it sports, stage, what have you)
7)First Girlfriend
8)Graduation
9)First beer

Today on Logan’s 5th birthday I got to enjoy number 4, Logan’s first bike. We did have a tricycle for him, but he never really got the idea of using the pedals and really, for use fathers…The first bike means the first two wheeler, none of this three wheeler crap!

This morning was a flurry of activity, I was running around, I bought a bike, I bought training wheels, I bought a helmet. I returned a bike, I returned training wheels, I bought another better bike, I bought another set of training wheels. I bitched, sworn and yelled as I tried to put the training wheels on the bike…Yes, it was an eventful morning, but in the end it was worth every scrapped knuckle and trip to Walmart and Canadian Tire when I got to see the look on Logan’s face when I walked through the door with his very first bike. These are the days every father looks forward to.

I must apologize, It has been a few weeks since last I put up a post and I have been getting some flack from a girl at work complaining to me that she has no new images to look at when she gets bored… So Ash, here you go!

Today I would like to take you on a little tour and introduce you to a friend and co-worker of mine, Jim Patterson.

Jim is a lot of thing…blue’s lover, stereotypical Irishman and one AMAZING gardener. The great thing about working and shooting people is that you get to discover the contradictions that exist in the world. Many people are mildly surprised to find out that I am a trucker by day and a wedding photographer by night and Jim is the same way. Knowing him to be a trucker by profession, you get a shock of your life when you walk up and behind his house, when you get the image of a truck driver in your head, the last thing you think of is him having the garden of Eden in his backyard.

When I visit Jim and walk with him through his garden, I just feel tired. I look around and think of how much work it must take to maintain this amazing area. Know his hours at the day job, I really wonder when he finds time to sleep. As I was walking around shooting I asked him about how much time he spends in his backyard. he told me about 30 hours a week, which I think is a wee bit of an under estimate seeing that every time I go over there he is out back picking weeds or something. In the end though, I guess it really isn’t work. Like myself and photography, when you love something so much, it’s hard to consider it work even when it makes you sweat.

Jim’s Garden is one of the many included in the London Communities in Bloom garden tours. I started seeing images of some gardens from around London and such which to tell you the truth, I wasn’t really impressed with (the gardens, not the images). So I figured that I really needed to get pictures of Jim’s garden out for the world to see. So, if you went out and did the tour this year, but didn’t make it over to Jim’s house, make sure you make it your first stop next year.

Well I’ve gone on enough, you’re here to look at some purdy pictures, not listen to me….So lets go meet Jim.