A Year in the Life of a Photograhper

One of the biggest blessings in my life is being able to do what I love for a living. While there are definitely areas of my job that I would rather not do, I LOVE being a photographer. Being able to celebrate life’s major milestones over and over again is indeed a blessing.

Being a photographer in Ontario has it’s own challenges. We have less impressive landscapes than other areas of Ontario but after travelling quite a bit this year, I’ve realized that without the distraction of mountains and canyons, oceans, and the focus of photography can actually be on people. I can focus on capturing those moments, creating those moments that you’ll remember and that you will be the focus of those memories.

Plus we get all the best seasons, especially those glorious fall colours! In spring we can go to the Guelph Arboretum for cherry blossoms in your engagement or family session. In the summer we can head to Burlington beach for some super fun beach sessions, In the fall, everywhere you look has the most beautiful reds and oranges and yellow. Then those winter sessions which are few and far between are so magical! We are so luck to have the array of different seasons here and being able to capture everything from engagements to weddings to maternity sessions, and family sessions, and solo sessions. I have the best job in the world.

And I could not do what I love without the support of all of the local wedding vendors in the areas. This year every wedding was incredible and so special shout outs go to Cellar52, Cambridge Mill, and Langdon Hall, thank you for having such incredible venues in the Kitchener-Waterloo Region!

Thank you to all my couples, families, and entrepreneurs for supporting my business. For trusting me with capturing your life and you as you are, thank you!

Doing Nothing in Jamaica

I love to travel. Warren and I did so much travelling in the first year of our marriage. Living in Europe will do that for you! Then our second year was spent living in Grenada and that was an adventure in and of itself, even though we never traveled off the island. The next five years were spent having three children and moving three more times. Needless to say there wasn’t really a spare moment to go on vacation.

We went on our first cruise and ended the five year travelling hiatus and now we are hooked. Our bucket list is miles long and we are only beginning to scratch the surface… literally! For Christmas this year I bought us a scratch map of the world so we could document our travels in a physical way. Now the itch to scratch is even higher than before!

In November we decided a little last minute to get away and take a nice break. We decided instead of a trip we would just have a vacation. To me they are very different things. Trips are full of touring and activities, exploring and adventuring. Vacations are when you sit on the beach and do nothing.

That is exactly what we did.

Well to be fair we also sat by the pool and did nothing, sat on a boat and did nothing, and sat on our balcony and did nothing. And we needed it. It’s so important to take care of yourself and your marriage. This is one thing I wish I had known when I got married. You have to keep tabs on your relationship, you have to make time for each other and for your marriage. I wish it was enough to just be in love. It’s not. Having a successful marriage takes hard work. These vacations that we go on without the kids are so fantastic but that’s not what makes our relationship successful. Only when we take the time for each other, even if we have to schedule the elusive one-on-one time, it’s worth it. It’s worth the daily effort and daily checks to make sure you are putting everything you can into your marriage.

Vacations are a really nice reset. They take you out of your every day life and give you a chance to breathe without the weight of responsibility and the distractions of every day life. I think when we usually go on a trip or vacation we feel like we have to spend our time site seeing and soaking in the new place we’re visiting. But sometimes it’s okay to just sit and be still.

So enjoy the pictures of us literally doing nothing and having one of the best vacations we’ve ever had.

More specifically, enjoy the pictures of us reading, drinking (virgin) pina coladas, dancing on boats, eating yummy food, and some bloopers from when I made Warren take 100000000 pictures of me!

A shout out to Ink Box Toronto for my awesome temporary tattoo! I loved it and I think I’ll be sporting them a lot more… maybe I’ll start a new trend like Where’s Waldo, but Where’s the Tattoo? instead!

We stayed at Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We give it 3 stars. It was good, mostly clean but needs some updates, which they were doing while we were there. Decent beach, some seaweed, and a little rockier than I like. The food was hit or miss, there was some really good food and then there was some really mediocre food. Service was really good, and their on-site excursion/activity center Dressel Divers was the best part!