Okanagan Wine Festival

Such a sweet little getaway Joy and I had last weekend. It was great to leave the city, and great to be around all that nature. We stayed at the Summerland Lakeside Resort, where the suites were unexpectedly beautiful and sooo comfy--just right for curling up with a special squeeze and a book. I loved all the vineyards, and kept snapping pix to get just the right ones--who could go wrong at such wineries as Dirty Laundry and Therapy? I didn't drink, because I don't like to, and this has its benefits, of course, as I was the easy designate for driving, for instance, and had no hangovers. But I wish Joy had had someone to tipple with...but co-tippler or no, she was happy to play, and we had a delightful time together. She was very impressed with the quality of the wines, btw, and came home with 12 bottles--and oh yeah, I'm pretty sure she saw the Ogopogo.

And there are some very very lucky newborns upcoming. In Ollala (oh la la!) I bought the coolest dough pan which I'm itching to use for baby pix.

Evangeline Grace

On the subject of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and parents who will be having a rough time this Thanksgiving, I wanted so much to share these images captured just last week of tiny, adorable Evangeline Grace for her grieving parents, S and R. She arrived much, much too early, at 20 weeks, suffering from Trisomy 18. There is so, so much love evident in these photographs. Her sorrowing parents just sent me this email:

I meant to e-mail you and let you know that we received the dvd. The photos are absolutely beautiful! It was such a relief to receive them because the photos we took with our own camera in the hospital are very dark and it is very difficult to make out Evangeline in them. When we saw the photos you took it brought such relief to me that I will be able to see her forever now. The NILMDTS organization and you are such a godsend. I don't think most people realize how important it is to capture these special "angel babies' on film for the parents to be able to look upon them and spend special moments thinking about their babies. We are forever grateful to you and the NILMDTS organization for making our situation just a little bit easier. My husband I are were commenting earlier how it takes a really special and caring person to do what you do and to be so kind with a warm heart and warm words; we can never thank you enough. You are a true inspiration. ...We would love to share with others the photos of Evangeline.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

S and R

Please, as always, feel free to leave a comment below about this or any other blog entry.

Before Canada's Thanksgiving holiday arrives this coming weekend, I wanted (again) to mention the great organization Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. Jane Photo has volunteered for them for about two and a half years, and it has been my honour to be with many families as they go through an early infant loss. There are several Vancouver area photographers--and we can always use more as the service gets more and more known in our area. I am one of Vancouver's Area Coordinators, along with Gael Noel from Noel Photography; we organize things for the area, and help to arrange photographers for families.

A few weeks ago, Mary Frances Hill, a reporter for the Vancouver Sun, approached us to write an article, and it appeared on the front page. What wonderful coverage. They featured a little tyke I photographed for the organization earlier this year whose name was Noah Neufeld. Though his prognosis was dire, Noah was born alive and quite alert, as you can see from the featured photographs here. We were all pretty happy and celebratory that evening in the hospital, then saddened when Noah died 28 days later.

I know for a fact that this incredible family has helped Noah touch many, many more families as they have told their story again and again.

As families celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend, please take an extra second to give thanks for your kiddos, and to remember the families who have lost theirs this year. Our thoughts and hearts are with them.

You can find NILMDTS at .

The Vancouver Sun story, without its photos, appears at

Such sweet words in the twins' newsletter

Jane Photo photographed the most adorable twins this spring. I didn't have any experience with multiples, and I wanted some. It was such a pleasurable session, and I have a permanent soft spot in my heart for those little gals and their mama.

Here is what the mama wrote for the North Shore Mothers of Multiples newsletter this month:

More of beautiful Becky

Woo-hoo, baby-to-be! Becky and Jane Photo got together for our second maternity session just to switch up our scenarios and try a few new things. I was longing to get out into an industrial area, and Becky was game. So after doing a few more pretties in the studio, off we trundled. So fun. We stopped at a park partway, and then headed down to the nitty and the gritty. Within a block radius, we had all the yummies we could possibly long for.

 

Gadzooks! I've been tagged!

Jane Photo has been tagged by http://kirstieckrichphotography.com/blog Thanks, Kristi!

Here are the rules:

1) Link the person who tagged you.
2) Mention the rules on your blog.
3) Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4) Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them & leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

Okay, let's have at it.

1) I always wanted to be a primatologist and have no good excuse for why this didn't happen.
2) I can't stand to have anyone touch my toes.
3) I am soooooooo happily married it always makes me want to pop from the sheer joy of it.
4) I would love to have a pet bird, especially a parrot.
5) I have lived around, including in Missouri, Arizona, NYC and Alberta.
6) My family of origin raised Shetland ponies and hunters and jumpers.

I am tagging the following awesome photographers. Check them out:

capturedbycarrie.com/blog

kuperblog.com

heatherrivlin.com

www.eyesmiles.typepad.com

www.kimberlymeng.wordpress.com

blairblanks.blogspot.com

Woo hoo!

Wonderful maternity

I just love my job. I love it so much sometimes I want to pop. Do these images rawk, or what? Jane Photo was soooo lucky to be hired to photograph Becky and her upcoming bundle of joy. Becky's babe is due in another month. She doesn't know yet if she's expecting a boy or girl. That's so cool, I think, to have the anticipation. As Becky put it, there aren't many happy surprises left in the world these days, and this is definitely one.

Can't wait to photo your little arrival, Becky, and it was so much fun today.

Touching end of August wedding

These beautiful brides hail from Colombia, and they were tickled pink to be in Vancouver to wed. They had ghastly weather, poor things, but they were troopers during it all, though I'm sure our chill and drizzle felt like about -50 degrees C to them. Like the last couple Jane Photo blogged, they got married at the Celebration Pavilion in Queen Elizabeth Park and then went on a cruise to Alaska. Funny, that.

AnaMaria and Pili were so totally in love that I know we all teared up during their poignant ceremony.

We so hit it off, we've planned to meet up in Cartagena, where I spent many leisurely weeks of my adolescence with a girl who boarded at the girls' school in my Ontario hometown. Sure hope it happens, because Cartagena must be one of the prettiest destinations on earth, and these gals were so, so great that I'd love to have them in our lives forever.

Years of happiness to you both, AnaMaria y Pili!

Monica and Tom's wedding

Monica and Tom got married during a beautiful ceremony on August 8, 2008, and broke their wine glass at precisely 8:08 pm!

The service took place at the Celebration Pavilion in Queen Elizabeth Park, and the reception was at Season's.

Good luck to both bride and groom. May you have many happy years together. Thanks for choosing Jane Photo for your photo needs.

What a job I have!

Last week I did bridals for a woman in town for her wedding on the luckiest day of the year, 08-08-08. More about their wedding to follow later this week.

Meantime, here are some sneak peeks from Monica's wonderful bridal. Every one of them was taken at the stunning Westin Grand on Robson Street, with the oh-so-helpful Lisa paving the way.

Can you imagine a hotel allowing a bride up on top of their lobby's grand piano? The Westin did, and then some. Plus they kept shuffling the groom and all the guests out of the areas we'd next be in--because Tom, the groom, wasn't to see Monica in "the dress" until Friday. (Thanks so much, Lisa. Your assistance made the shoot a dream.)

There's a terrific shot of Monica lifting weights. In the shot with the Vancouver Public Library behind Monica, our poor bride-to-be up was actually four feet up standing on a cafe table! Ahhh, if only all my brides were so willing. Talk about game!

The lovely flowers--stephanotis and lilies--are by the excellent Library Florist, also on Robson Street.