There is one personality trait I have yet to figure out if it’s good or bad, I guess it all depends on who you ask, this little addiction of mine is I love to give.

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…..

2010….sounds so sci-fi.

How will you remember 2009?

For my family 2009 was a year of firsts. First bike, first day at school, first hockey stick, first word (we think…). For the business, 2009 has been a year of maturity. It has also been my first full year with the blog. I have gotten to point my camera at some truly amazing people and I can say that I have the best clients on the face of the earth.

How will I remember 2009? With a huge grin on my face

I spent my new years long weekend combing through all the memories of 2009 and I’ve gathers 61 images that I think express the feeling of the last year of this decade for me. Lots of smiles, lots of emotion and a copious amount of lip locking. Some images you have seen, some never made it to the blog for one reason or another, but all would be lining my walls if I had a much bigger house.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did capturing them.

Now….Bring on 2010!

Above image taken for Red Button Photography

Today I hit the park with the boys, the wife was out and it was just me and the little terrors. I was trying to figure out what to do with them when my chain of thought had me thinking about my niece Chelsea and how I have yet to get her in front of my camera. How I have yet to do so is beyond me seeing how she is such a little cutie. So I thought today would be the day to rectify this oversight as well as get the boys some time with their aunt Becky.

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

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!

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 have had my iPhone for almost a year now and I really can’t think what I would do without it. Sure it’s a cool toy with the apps and it really helps me keep in touch, it’s the reason why I can answer any email in about 5 minutes of receiving it (clients love that!). But, it’s that little 2MP camera and the photo editing apps that I love so much and what I couldn’t live without.

As some of you know, back in March I started documenting my day job trucking with my iPhone. The project is called 18 Wheels and a Camera and was inspired by the work Chase Jarvis is doing with his iPhone picture a day thing. As you can see, Chase is a true believer the term “The best camera is the one you have with you” and he is right.

That is why I love the iPhone so much, in the past year I have gotten some great pictures at times were I just couldn’t have my “big” camera or didn’t want to carry it….Examples

Last weekend I took the kids to Gibbons park with my wife. I packed up my camera to get some shots and when I arrived at the park I realized that I hadn’t tested the battery I grabbed and it was deader then a door nail (don’t worry, I triple test everything before client shoots lol). Well I did have my iPhone and I was able to capture this great seen.

Then there was the time when I had to take my youngest son Nathan in for an MRI. He had to be put to sleep for the test and had to rest after he woke up from the drugs. The poor little guy had such a bad day that after crying for an hour he just passed out in the recovery room of the hospital. I’m sure the nurses would have looked at me funny if I had my dSRL with me, but they didn’t glance twice at my iPhone.

This weekend the family all packed up to go to a BBQ at a friends house, now this is kind of a sticky point with me. I’m not fond of hauling my pro equipment with me to things like this, I find that people get a little intimidated by having a full on slr camera pointing at them when they are just trying to relax and have a beer with some friends. Point and Shoot camera are cool, so the iPhone didn’t bother anyone.

Last example…I was driving home from the store or something (can’t really remember) and when I get home I see the wife heading out the door with the boys on their way to the splash pad just down the street from us. I wanted to go so I just got out of the car and started walking with them not even thinking about grabbing my camera. But since I ALWAYS have my iPhone I was able to grab these.

Some of you may be thinking that this is just one big commercial for Apple or something, but really it’s just to get the point across. The iPhone has to be among the shittiest camera phones out there, but the important thing about it is that I always have it. I wish I was able to be one of those people that always carries a real camera be it a slr or a point and shoot. But because of my job and because of my habit of forgetting things I just can’t be one of those people…well that was until I started using the camera that is in my phone. It’s not about image quality, hell if it were the iPhone wouldn’t even be in the race let alone be in the running. It’s about capturing those moments in your life and those odd images that always seem to pop up outta no where. It’s important to be ready and thanks to the iPhone, I always am now.

Cheers!

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.

What is it with kids and water? Last Sunday the wife and I introduced the kids to the beach for the first time. I have been wanting to do this for a while, but the crowds of Port Stanley have kept me away with such young kids.

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,