Meg got married!

Our youngest daughter, Meghann, got married to her long-time love, Greg, Aug 2nd in White Rock. They had one of those wonderful weddings where nothing goes right (forgotten decorations, honeymoon suite cancellation, missing DJ) while, at the same time, absolutely nothing goes wrong because the love between the couple just shone like a beacon. Meg and Greg and their little one, Julianne (Meg's stepdaughter who frequently appears on this blog), glowed all day long.

And we glowed too, as the proud parents. Meghann pretty well pulled the event together single handedly and she did a beautiful job, as these pictures attest. Congratulations, kiddos. We wish you the best happiness of married life.

We've Got a Swell New Look

Well, it's been a long process, but we've finally changed our name, made it legal, and are raising a glass of champagne!

I used Jane Eaton Hamilton Photography when I started out because I already have a great reputation as a Canlit writer (author of six books), and wanted the name recognition to carry through. But it's just too darned hard for folks who aren't hooked in to my reputation to remember, so thanks to some prompting from my youngest, we're now the snappy and bright Jane Photo! Officially! No more long-winded addresses to type! It's tons easier for us, too.

With the new name, we needed a new logo, so we're brand spanking new there too. We got out our design pens and went to work, and we love the new colours, blue and brown, the new packaging (yum...polka dots and stripes) and the the new splash page on our websites. We're introducing a custom customer service site over the next few weeks too, so stay tuned. When you book your session, you'll be sent to your own personal site that has tons of groovy stuff to help you keep unpuzzled and organized regarding your experience with us.

This time of year is when all the backend work of running a photography biz happens...the site updates and so on. We all take a close look at what is working, what could be improved, and get moving on the latter. So look forward to more sweet new changes as the new year clicks over and brings us more winter with a bright new 2008.

This is also a big thank you to all our clientele for allowing me and my team to be there to photograph the important moments in your lives this past year. For many of you, couples from Florida and Texas and Japan and Singapore and England and France, and lots of locals, those were ecstatic--weddings, birthdays, capturing just an ordinary day in your life--and for others those were tragic--couples who lost babies whom I photographed for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep--but none of you were less than cherished on my end. I don't think photographers tell you enough, so let me say it: It is truly a deep honour to be in your lives during their important, heartfelt passages.

A special thank you goes out to those whose infants and toddlers I photographed this year, just because, well, because as you all have figured out by now, I'm kid-crazy. Totally over the moon with babies. I am not sure why babies charm me so, but it is, I think, mutual--they seem to know and respond to the warmth. It is like the late and great Jane Rule once wrote, and I only paraphrase: They reach in and wrap a string of lights around my heart. It is a delight beyond measure for me to be able to spend time with your kiddos, and to make great art of them to hang on your walls. I want to see their images even bigger in '08...30"x40" or 24"x30". The canvases, especially in black and white, look so flipping awesome. Each one of your kids struck sparks in my heart in '07, and I have melted, and smiled, and laughed out loud, more times than recordable. How can I even thank you for the joy of that? I look forward to seeing many of your babes again this coming year, and to meeting the many new ones who will charm my cockles in '08. You have no idea how excited I am! I've got great new props and ideas and lenses and talents, and I look forward to many fulfilling sessions in your homes and my studio.

Ah, wedding season!

Leanne and Moya, brides from San Francisco, braved last week's Vancouver chill to legalize the wedding that had been invalidated in California nearly three years ago. They were one of the hundreds of couples snaked around San Francisco's City Hall in the rain after Mayor Gavin Newsom decided to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Feb 14, 2004. Every couple was "unwed" a scant seven months later.

This time, all signals were go! While the ocean churned brown and turbulent behind the 30 guests and the wind tossed icy knives, the brides held hands, and their daughter, Lucy, to repeat their vows.

Now they are well and truly hitched, with no invalidating to follow! Frost-bitten, I'd be willing to guess, but so happy. They told us they loved in particular the part of their ceremony where Johanna Hickey, their marriage commissioner, had them repeat the phrase that states that they know of no legal impediment to their marriage. It's a pretty heady phrase for gays and lesbians, and packs a wallop.

It's a misty moment for my wife, Joy, and I too. We cried when we repeated those words to each other in June of 2003, and I cry at almost every wedding when I hear them again. It makes me stop and remember our long court case, and how iffy the end result seemed at the beginning, and how significant and empowering the victory was, for Canadians, of course, but also for couples around the world.

Joy and I stop every so often and shake ourselves. Is same-sex marriage really legal? Did we really have a part in making it so? The legal victories in Spain, Massachusetts and South Africa were no doubt partially influenced by ours. It changed the world, and it--always, always--makes us proud.

The photograph below, showing Leanne and Moya's rings on a sprig of yet-to-pop cherry blossom, signifies the fact that with this spring wedding, everything is refreshed and newly growing.

Congratulations, new wives!