Omg...can these folks shoot, or what?

Some of you may know that Gary Lewis of Phoenix Perennials in Richmond has been cajoling me for some years to teach a macro flower workshop through his nursery. Of course spring is my busiest time--weddings, gardening, portraits--so I've always said a firm no, but somehow he broke down my resolve this year.

I met with my group twice, and wow, did I luck out! They are such talented photographers. The photos here show off a magical capture from each of them. Thanks to each and every one of you for two wonderful workshop evenings...I'm sure I learned as much as I taught, and I sure admired what all of you accomplished.

We still have some people missing, but I'll add images if they come in...

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216362635127887394" />
image by Bob McMorine

image by Caroline Carson

image by Clare Philips

image by Neal Boxrud

Such fab news from California

Everyone knows by now that California legalized same-sex marriage...and it takes effect next week on June 16th at 5 pm. Woo hoo! It is such fantastic news. All the Californian couples wed in Canada will automatically have their Canadian marriages recognized (as do heterosexual couples).

A wonderful couple I photographed last year has been featured on NPR (National Public Radio in the US), and a photograph I took of them at their Vancouver nuptials was included in the coverage.

And for those of you who don't click, above are the blushing brides, Leanne and Moya, at the beach on a truly freezing day in March 2007. I guess they'll be hosting yet another wedding this fall, and here at Jane Photo, we wish them and their adorable daughter, Lucy, all the best for a happy future together (again).

The doc in the 'loop

Joy and I drove up to Kamloops on Friday to attend convocation at Thompson Rivers University where our "son" bill was receiving his honourary Doctor of Letters degree. It was a thrill for us to be there for this momentous occasion in bill's life, and his robes were so cool that I couldn't help but take a long series of snaps.

bill bissett, as many people around the world know, is one of "Canada's national treasures." He's certainly a treasure in our lives--and I think just about anyone who knows this remarkable and accomplished renegade poet/painter would agree that melting hearts is one of his biggest successes in life.


bill bissett with his sister, barb:

bill bissett on the podium during convocation with university chancellor and Olympic medallist Nancy Greene Raine





The photograph below was taken of British Columbia's pine forests along the highway around Kamloops. Beautiful though it is, it shows the devastation caused by the pine beetle.

Sarah and Erik got married!

It's always a particular honour when another photographer chooses you as their photogapher. I shoot some fine art work with Sarah's dad, Gary. He's the excellent fellow who had the ring flash and 580EX II on hand in January when we got to the studio with pinup model extraordinaire, my daughter Sarah, with hair and makeup and costumes all ready, only to find out someone had cleaned out all my studio gear. (I'm still trying to recover from that theft, which is another story. A very sweet photographer named Angela Deville in the southern US sent me two White Lightning can lights (...woo hoo Angela. The woman should be sainted...), but I am still limping along without the proper equipment.

Necessity is the mother of invention, I learned that night. Gary mostly used his ring flash and I used on camera flash in-studio, which was totally weird but kinda liberating and artistic. You can a couple of the resultant pix below under January or pinup. I am still amazed that I could carry on shooting when all I wanted to do was crumple in a ball and weep and weep and weep.

Anyhow, back to the celebratory matters of this current week.

I love brides and grooms who will play. I LOVE BRIDES AND GROOMS WHO WILL PLAY. There is almost nothing I'm not game for for the end result of "giving great photo". Lol. Sarah and Erik actually had me come up to Furry Creek Golf Course a couple hours before their ceremony and agreed to meet ahead of time. It's such a fantastic choice, because then there's time to get some out of the ordinary shots. And isn't that what your wedding is about? You being you?

'Course, parents, Gary's daughter doesn't really smoke. We were just putting on the dog for a good snap.

So have a peek at the lupin field up there. Anyone thinking of getting married there ought to pick the last week of May. Just look at these things! For a fine art flower photographer, it wasn't to be missed. In fact, I'm going back up to do some more shots of all that blue. It's kinda like BC's version of France's lavendar fields, right?

Thanks, Erik and Sarah and all your attendants, for being so much fun to photograph. I can't wait to have a better look at your images, and to design your Italian wedding book! I just got one back from Italy last week where the couple had chosen a butter white leather cover and a big, big, big book, and it was smashing. Yours will be too, I can tell just from these few pix.

Photo of the guys by Janet Rerecich shooting for Jane Photo. Thanks, Janet!

Sign-Up Time for Macro Course

I'm teaching a class on macro photography! Let everyone know! This is from the Phoenix Perennial course list. The class runs two evenings in June.

Ready for my Close-Up: Capturing the starlets of the garden in the frame of a photograph | Instructor: Jane Eaton Hamilton | Two Evenings: Tuesdays June 10 and June 17, 6-9pm | $75 | Do you long to be able to photograph flowers so that they look just as good in wet white January -- up on your wall -- as they do swaying in their sultry summer beds? Spend two seductive evenings photographing the come-hither beauties of the Phoenix Perennials June gardens. We will cover macro photography, capturing still flowers, and photographing moving flowers. Please bring a digital SLR, a 4GB memory card, and the best lens you have. Jane suggests a Canon 100 mm f2.8 or its equivalent. Participants will have the opportunity to share their best work with the class. June 10, June 17 6-9 pm

Nursery owner and rare plant expert Gary Lewis had me shoot a few of his choice and prize arisemas this week; these are a few of the lovelies up close:

Sweetest preemie twin girls

I was so honoured and pleased to be able to do the photographic art for these two new little arrivals just after they were home from the hospital. They're not identical twins, and one weighed a good pound more than her sister, but they were utterly cute and dear. Mom was pretty awesome herself. These are babies three and four for their now 6 person family, so she's got her hands more than full. But she was as calm and tender as the day is long.

Woo Hoo! We're open again! MODEL SEARCH and SPECIALS

Good news! After a frustrating and prolonged renovation and more than a month late, we're re-opening our doors for sessions, and, as a lucky aside, now that we can indulge all our whims, we're looking for models to expand our repertoire!

MODEL SEARCH

We're looking for girls with long hair between 8-12 years of age for a series of poetic photographs. Sweet, soft, and old-fashioned, these will be captured outdoors and indoors, in simple white shifts and with bird nests, eggs, flowers, teddy bears, possibly wings.

And the SPECIALS!

To celebrate the new digs, Jane Photo is having a special on session fees for June only. All in-studio sessions will be $50, and all on-location lifestyle sessions will be $99. We are even setting this low, low, low session fee for sweet newborns whose sessions normally take about 4 hours. Woo hoo!

CALENDAR SHOOT

In honour of the fundraising drive at BC Children's Hospital, Jane Photo is seeking 20 children whose parents are interested in having them pose for a 2009 calendar. The cost for the shoot is $99 (per child), includes a copy of the calendar in time for holiday gifts, and Jane Photo will donate $50 per session to the hospital. All children will be considered for inclusion in the final calendar. Sessions will take place in the studio only.

We have a whole kaboodle of cool new ideas, and we want to play!

Coupons are not valid during specials. Offers cannot be combined with any other offers.

Sweet, sweet baby

I have been meaning to introduce folks to little Christa, who was born with a medical condition incompatible with life in mid-March. She was a wee little peanut, about a pound or so, and so lovely and dear. I was fortunate to be able to memorialize her through the organization I volunteer with, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.

Though I am incredibly saddened by the babies who are losing their lives, the parents surprise and move me too. They are so stalwart, so brave, and I am always incredibly humbled by how they face their ordeals. It is an honour to be with them at so poignant a moment, and I hope that the photographs we create together comfort them in the hard days ahead.

I never realized, until I began to work with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, just how many of our local families endure the loss of a baby.

To all of them, I send a wish for peace and healing.

Absolutely Arthur

This second one is a photograph of little Arthur done as a pencil sketch. I just love it, don't you?



Sweet Arthur stole my heart when he came to see me in the studio. He was at a great age--7 months and a bit--where, from my grown-up perspective, being alive is delicious. Seven monthers are full of joie de vivre. They can sit up by themselves and tummy time is a lot of fun.

I just roll on the floor laughing when I see these little tykes catch their reflections. They are captivated. It is like watching a spark put to their hearts. Who is that gorgeous guy? Arthur seems to be saying. I remember my littlest daughter when she was somewhat older--about seven years--standing in front of a mirror repeating, "I'm so beautiful, I'm so beautiful," in an awed voice. Little Arthur reminded me of that sweet moment.

Look at this little sweetie pie

Little E was in the studio a couple of weeks ago. Isn't she adorable? She was really shy at first, but really warmed up over time. I love her transparent joy most of all. Radiant, incandescent. When she's comfortable and happy, she fills with 100% pleasure.

It was my great pleasure to meet her.

E's grandmom made the awesome outfit she's wearing here. It is sooo beautiful, and you can tell from about a mile away that a master seamstress was at work. Reminds me of my childhood, actually, when my mom sewed clothes like this--and wore clothes like these.

Well, it was a tie!

Talulah



Oliver


If you keep up with things on this blog you'll know we held a contest for the youngest newborn photographed in February. Was I surprised when our wee-est ones turned out to have been born on the very same day, February 9.

First up, there's a little girl who was absolutely inconsolable when she had to be out of her loving mama's arms but who is as sweet as the day is long. Her name is Talulah. As soon as she was back in her mama's wrap, she was happy as a clam.

Second up, there's a little boy who wasn't much keener than Talulah at being parted from his parents' tender touch. Named Oliver, he too is absolutely darling, and he did manage, finally, to fall a little bit asleep.

I always wonder how often I can lose my heart to these little sweetie pies I photograph, and I know that the answer is endlessly.

The prize was meant to be a 20 page book of the winning baby's images, and I have mulled over how to approach this rather charming dilemma. I thought about checking on what time the babies arrived, and awarding the prize to whomever popped out first on February 9, but that seemed somehow mean-spirited to me. So I'm pleased to announce that both of these lucky babies will be gifted with a Jane Photo 20-page Asukabook!

The most sensuous delicious maternity photos

D and M came to see me a couple of weeks ago for their maternity session. D wanted a different kind of maternity photograph: subtle and artistic, merely suggesting the pregnancy rather than having it front and center (as it were). I shot a number of lovely scenarios, but this grouping was by far my favourite. When I saw this one, it made me gasp.

D used to be a photographer herself, so I felt very honoured that of all the photographers she could have chosen, she picked Jane Photo. I know she will love her iimages when she sees them tomorrow.

Good luck, D and M, on the upcoming birth! I know the last trimester seems to just last forever while your ankles swell and pushing yourself up from a chair seems as hard as going after the holy grail, but it will end. It will end, it will end, it will end.

Welcome, welcome Noah Jonathan!

Noah's parents waited a very long time to welcome him into the world. Noah was diagnosed with a condition called Trisomy 13 way back in early October. His folks weren't sure whether his mom would be able to maintain her pregnancy, or not, or whether, in fact, they'd be able to meet little Noah when he arrived. His mom had quite a bit of false labour over the last week or so, and then on Friday she decided it was getting a little worse, and she called her husband to come home from work. They raced to the hospital to discover she was already 8 cm dilated, and little Noah popped out a couple quick hours later. Although his mom hadn't gone quite to term, he was still a hefty 6 lbs 8 oz. Everyone was over the moon to meet such a thriving baby boy, and thrilled that he's so well word has it the family is able to go home with Noah today.

The grannies and grampas were at the hospital to say hello and fall heads over heels in love with their new grandchild.

It was an honour and a true pleasure to be with Noah Jonathan as he said hello to this new world, and I'm so pleased to have been able to capture his sweet first moments.

If you want to see more, there is a slideshow on my portrait site on the page called NILMDTS. I photographed Noah for this great organization, based in Colorado. Please do let people know about them. For those in need, we volunteer photographers are all around the lower Mainland, and in fact dotted through all of Canada, and you can find a list of us on their site at

I also photographed Noah's mom's maternity, so if you're keen to see a few snaps from that shoot, scroll down to December 2007.

Lovely mom-and-dad-to-be!

I am up to my sorry ways, I'm afraid. I don't make new year resolutions, but if I had, one of them would have been to post more frequently on here. But we're only a few weeks into January and already I am remiss.

Still, I wanted to share the lovely maternity I did on Sunday out in the Fraser Valley...after getting caught in the band of white-out snow on the highway en route (happily to no ill-effect). It's a little wild when one takes studio gear on-location and asks an ordinary house to accommodate it, but S and K were game, and game then for my wacky ideas. They were in the middle, poor things, of selling their house (talk about stressful when you're expecting a baby any week), with people due to look at the house in a short while, so partway through we packed it all up and moved out into the community, returning later for the special bath portrait we'd planned for months.

The photos turned out beautifully, and I can't wait for them to see these sneak peeks and for their ordering appointment next week. It will be so fun to see them all on the big screen with music playing! And I so look forward to photographing their new little arrival in March.

Enjoy, S and K, and everyone else, too--how beautiful these two are.