London, Ontario circa 1983 – I moved into the complex of town houses at the end of the street that was at the time Cascade Ave with my family.  Being 8 years old I didn’t care that it was the “slums” of London’s east side. All I cared about was that it was filled with kids my age and the fact that there was a humongous patch of woods that stretched from the end of the street almost a kilometre to some train tracks. Over the next 10 years I would make full use of that little piece of boyhood paradise.  It had everything a boy could want. Trails, deer, snakes, frogs, fields, thick woods and even a ghost tree which had the legend of a suicide (or a murder…memory is kind of faded).

I would spend days and even nights camping out in these woods with my friends. We would even take treks down the train tracks to a trussel  bridge to play around in the streams underneath. All we were missing was Ben E. King singing Stand By Me and a dog called Chopper.

Now that I’m 36 years old with a boy growing close to the age that I was when I had all my grand adventure, I’m looking to help my son get as much nature time as he can get. It is a different time in London these days. There is no sane parent that would let their 11 year old child stay out all night camping in some patch of woods at the end of their street. In fact, there is a major lack of wooded areas in London; at least the kind of unattended, edge of the city forestry like I use to enjoy. This is the reason I’m so looking forward to next year when my son will be old enough to go camping with me. I have yet to take him as of yet for a few reasons. One reason is I don’t believe in the kind of camping you see at Fanshawe Park. In my opinion, if you don’t have to hike to your camping spot and if there is a row of Port-a-Potties, then you’re not really camping.

The main reason I have yet to take Logan on any type of camping trip is his autism. He does all right with walks through Westminister Ponds, but even then, if the bugs are too bad he tends to have a melt down. Now though, I think he’s ready. Ready for the drive up north and ready to camp out with dear old dad. I can’t wait to try some fishing with him. I’m really looking forward to showing him what a real night sky looks like without all the noise pollution from the city. Most of all I’m excited to spend a whole weekend with my son beyond sitting beside him on the couch watching Scooby Doo specials.

On June 12th I’ll be joining my wife and two sons for this year annual Walk Now for Autism Speaks. We will be walking for my two sons Nathan and Logan. As some of you may know, both Logan and Nathan have been diagnosed with PDD-NOS a spectrum of Autism.

My team will be raising funds for this event and I’ve found on that on the Walk Now for Autism Speaks website, they’re keeping track of the top fund raisers. Now, I’m kind of a competitive guy and I want get my team up on top of the leader boards…..and I’m not afraid to cheat.

So here’s what I thought I would do. Give away a portrait session*

You want in? Here’s how you enter. Just click this link and donate at least $10. Once you get your receipt in your email (There will be a link to download your receipt in the email), just send me a copy along with your name and contact number to david@davidreddingphoto.com. Once June 12th rolls around I’ll throw all the names in a hat and pick a winner. It’s as easy as that! There is no limit to entries, so if you want to stack the cards in your favor I won’t talk you out of it.

Enter now, enter often and tell a friend………..It is for a good cause. If you have any questions feel free to drop me a line.

Cheers!

*Session is good for engagement session, couple, children, maternity…..What have you. Travel not included if out side London area

I shot and edited this little video of my son Logan playing on my iPhone last Sunday. This really does blow my mind. I shot AND edited a HD video on my phone. Not 2 years ago you would need to spend a few hundred dollars on a HD camcorder, about another hundred on editing software and then upload and edit everything on your computer. Today, I pull out my phone and with a $5 app I can have what you see here. Isn’t technology great!

However, I would like to point out that I used all this great technology to shoot a little video that looks like it was shoot in the 70′s…Gotta love irony.

Just in case you were wondering. The song is worries by Langhorne Slim from their 2008 self titled CD Langhorne Slime

For everyone else in the world, New Years Day is when they all make their resolutions, for me it’s Mothers Days. Mothers day is when the attention is drawn to the hard working women of the world to spot light the fact that if it were not for them, the world would truly implode.

My wife Carrie is no exception. I work 60-70 hour a week driving truck as well as this photography venture of mine, but I still don’t work half as hard as Carrie who has a 24/7 job making sure her 3 boys don’t kill themselves/each other or starve to death. Being the mother to 2 boys diagnosed with autism spectrum isn’t easy. School appointments, dealing with doctors, government, house hold tasks and my hair brain wacka doodle ideas isn’t easy. Mothers day really does show that I don’t deserve such a great woman as my wife.

This is why Mothers Day is when I make my resolutions. Every year I think how I am so lucky to have a woman like Carrie as the mother of my two little monsters. Every years I resolve to show her how special she really is and how much we need and appreciate her. I shutter to think what my life would be like without her, hell if it were not for her, I wouldn’t have even picked up a camera 5 years ago.

So like every year, this year I promise flowers, more wine, more back rubs and yes….This year I will paint the living room, I promise!

To all the other amazing women keeping this world sane…..Happy Mothers day!

Maybe it has something to do with my natural impatience, I don’t know, but if I buy someone a gift I can’t wait for what ever special occasion to hand it over. This trait shines when it comes to my sons. I love nothing more then finding that perfect gift, to pull it out and watch their eyes just light up with joy. This often leads to unplanned trips to Toy’R'us and that is what happened today.

I was heading to BestBuy to pick up some stuff and I brought Logan along for the ride. He was being so well behaved (an extreme rarity for him) that I thought we would jump over to Toy’R'us, he had been bugging us for a dinosaur he had seen on a YouTube video and I thought we may be able to find something similar.

We enter the store and start looking. Not finding anything of interest, I grab a salesman and ask him where I could find an animatronic dinosaur. He points us over to the Fisher Price aisle to check out the Kota & Pals series. When we rounded the corner my face dropped and I thought Logan was going to explode with excitement…Right there before us was a 2 foot T-Rex that roared, walked and a whole bunch of other stuff. I looked at it, then Logan’s face, then the price tag. I knew I was gonna have a fight on my hands.

I had to do some quick thinking to avoid a scene (read yelling, screaming, hitting, so on and so on). I grabbed the first small dino I could find and shoved it in front of Logan. It took a bit of talking, but I was able to get him to forget about the monster T-Rex and he walked out of the store with a new best friend.

That was at 11:30 this morning and since then he has done nothing but play with his new triceratops. When he is not playing with it, he is talking about it. I have heard “The triceratops has ‘free’ horns and a frill because T-Rex tries to bit him” more time then I can count this afternoon.

Yes the noise gets annoying and Nathan (my youngest) is terrified of it the poor little guy, but I think it’s worth it. I got to see that look of joy that every father just loves and my little addiction to giving has been satiated for a little while. Now if only Nathan was so easy to please. That boy is so hard to buy for…..

It’s been a while since I have posted anything about my family, but after the news we just got I thought I would share a bit.

If you have been following this blog for a while, you will know that my youngest son Nathan has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS (pervasive development disorder-not otherwise specified). PDD-NOS falls under the autism spectrum. He is 3 years old, but at the level of a child half his age.

As it turns out, after a visit to a developmental pediatrician, our eldest son Logan may fall under the autism spectrum as well. We have been concerned with his social skills for a while, but having a diagnoses of autism was kinda hard to hear. You start to blame yourself and a feeling of failing your child does tend to happen. It is to early to tell anything yet with more tests to follow, so all we can do is wait.

All I can ask for as a father is to ensure my boys are happy, whether or not Logan turns out to have autism is a mute point. Of coarse I have moments where I feel like I have failed my boys, like I have neglected to protect them. Then I have to tell myself that I have done my job, Logan is a happy child and as long as I do everything in my power to keep him a happy child, I have not failed.

Be them doctors, lawyers or the guy behind the counter at the gas station… As long as my boys are happy I will be proud of them.

Cheers.

I called up my sister which happens to live by the kids favorite park and arranged to meet up with her and Chelsea. One thing I found quite amusing was that Chelsea insisted on wearing certain clothes and having her hair exactly how she wanted it. When my sister informed me of this little act of will I was kinda nervous seeing how a child of her age would dress themselves if given the chance. My eldest Logan when given the decision still decides on his Spiderman underwear….and only the underwear…

But, I guess my concerns were a waste of emotional energy because as it turns out my little niece has a real eye for fashion, I couldn’t have picked out a better outfit…But then again I’m a 34 y/o dad, what do I know of girls fashions :-/

To add to Chelsea keen sense of fashion, she is also a great little model! I have said that some of the kids I have worked with were naturals, but I have worked with grown up “models” that didn’t pose or take direction as well as my little niece. She has a great attitude that leaks out in these pictures that I got. It’s safe to say that this is no where near the last time Chelsea will be in front of my lens.

Oh…and Mom, I’m email you link ASAP

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!

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 love kids, always have. I couldn’t wait to be a father and may have jumped into it a little to early, but I have no regrets what so ever. I’m one of those people that believes children bring meaning to ones life, a purpose to care for and teach another human being.

My oldest son Logan was planned for, we were among the lucky couples that had no problems conceiving. We basically lost the birth control and about 6 months later my wife was delivering the good news (please don’t quote me on that one), Nathan on the other hand was a complete surprise.

The first months were a joy, but as Nathan grew we started to get worried about his development. At first we got that ol’ line “Don’t worry, children develop at different rates”. Other parents were saying this, Nathan’s doctor was saying this, but as time went by we really started to get worried. Then on a late night visit to the Children’s Hospital for an ear infection (gotta love those ear infection eh!), the doctor on duty walked in and with in 15 seconds he noticed signs that signaled our worst fears…There was something wrong with our little Nathan.

After a few months of waiting and worrying, Nathan finally got in to see a developmental pediatrician and he diagnosed Nathan with PDD-NOS (pervasive development disorder-not otherwise specified). From what I understand, this basically mean “He may have Autism, MAYBE, but we don’t really know. If it’s not Autism it’s something else, either way theirs something wrong”. At the age 2 and a half years, Nathan is not speaking, has social problems, motor skill problems and has a major case of Momasboyitis, he’s a HUGE mama’s boy!

This last part kinda stings sometimes. I come home from a long shift at the day job and Logan will come running to say hi and jabber on about his day, but Nathan completely ignores me. I do get to have some fun with him with tickling and stuff, but it doesn’t take long till he wants his mommy and goes running. I completely understand that the combination of my working long hours, starting a photography business and his condition won’t lead to strong bond. His mother is his life line and that is why their is such a strong tie between the two of them. But when he runs past me to go to mommy, well it kinda breaks my heart just a little.

I know this won’t last and as he improves (which he is doing little by little) he will come to daddy for more fun and rough housing. Till then I guess I will just have to satisfy myself with snapping pictures of my little guy and enjoying the little time I do enjoy with him…So don’t be surprised if you start to see even more pictures of Nathan.

One thing i love about kids is their excitement and amazement over the things us grown ups have become desensitized to. I think that is why I prefer to photograph children at play rather then having them pose for the camera.

Our trip to the beach was a short one for the first time unfortunately, about a hour in Nathan (the youngest) got it into his head that he wanted to swim to Erie or something and he wasn’t happy that mommy wouldn’t let go of his hand. He insisted and took the required temper tantrum when he couldn’t get away from mom and we had to head back to the car. Our trip may have been short, but I got some great shots of our first time at the beach and I thought I would share.

Hope you enjoy,

Logan had a great time digging for fossils in the sandbox and running around the little cave setup they have there. I tried to show him that there were more displays and we wondered around for a bit, but it didn’t take long to end up back at the dinosaur room where he was playing with the other kids.

If you live or are ever in London and haven’t been to the Children’s Museum, I highly suggest you go. It’s no Museum of Natural History or anything, but I guarantee your little ones will enjoy themselves.

From The Cat in the Hat By Dr. Seuss
© 1957 by Dr. Seuss. Copyright renewed 1985 by Theodor S. Geisel and Audrey S. Geisel

Oh yes, The Cat in the Hat, my 4 year old son’s favorite book…Well the book he picks the most for me to read to him before bed. Actually the whole thing is just a stall tactic so he can stay up later, but it’s still a chance for me to read to him.

That quote from The Cat in the Hat also reminds me so much of my sons, so I thought it would be the perfect prelude to introductions of my little guys, Thing One and Thing Two!

Thing One, A.K.A. Logan

Now, don’t let that innocent face fool you, this little devil is just coming into his own with his ability to getting into trouble. At this time he is in his “I don’t wanna wear clothes no more” phase and his pretending to be (insert evil Spiderman villain here) phase. He runs and crawls around yelling “Where is SPIDERMAN!” and pretending to kill everyone, real fun late at night!

It wouldn’t be so bad, but Logan also has the magic bullet that always takes daddy down whenever he wants something, the “Pleeeeease” with the sad little face, I just can’t say no to that. Luckily mommy can!

If you were to head on over to my Flickr stream you will see a few more images of Logan and you may think that he was a little poser that just loves having his picture taken. Well let me tell you, it’s a fight and a half to get this little bugger to sit still. Every half decent picture I have of him is a picture paid for in tears, screams and whines! Case in point

Thing Two, A.K.A. Nathan

Nathan is the baby of the family as well as a HUGE Momma’s Boy. He has been a scare, a joy and a headache even before he was born. When my wife was giving birth, Nathan gave us a big scare, his heart stopped and they had to rush my wife into surgery for a C-section. I was not allowed in the room so I was just FREAKING out! But, when the nurse came out with a little bundle of blankets and handed me my son and I looked into those big dark eyes…Well you know.

As you can see, Nathan takes after his brother. You have to be quick with the focus to get a good picture, if you don’t get it right the first time he doesn’t give you a chance at a second.

I always said that I wanted to hook a stationary bike up to a generator and have Logan power my house seeing that he has so much energy. Nathan has him beat hands down, this kids pretty much vibrates with all the energy he has bottled up inside.

Well that is the kids, they may be little brats, but they are my little brats and I love them. I will work on Nathan and hopefull I’ll be able to get more great shots of him all the while filling my Flickr account up with grab shots of Logan.

I was going to include my wife Carrie in this little introduction, but I think I’m gonna save her for the summer time. As it turns out, she still fits into her wedding dress (after 7 years and two kids, yeah I’m one lucky guy!) so we will be doing a Trash the Dress this summer…I can’t wait! I’ll make sure the to get those pictures processed and up here as soon as we do that.

In the mean time, keep an eye out for a little wedding I did last September as well as more personal work I have planned. Till then,

Have a good one!