We're Taking a Break!

Just a short note to say that the studio is shutting down from tomorrow, December 19, until January 7! Time for a well-deserved rest after an exceedingly busy time since March!

I hope everyone has very happy holidays and a happy start to the year 2008! The Naughties are almost gone already, and we'll be into the double-digit years in no time. Where did the time go?

A Lovely Group Visiting from Overseas

These women and men visited Vancouver a couple of weeks ago and found every sort of weather imaginable. Crisp sunshine and cold; heavy snowfalls (when they got stuck trying to get back to the city from Whistler!) and absolute torrents of rain and wind that cancelled ferries and flooded the city streets.

But it was a total pleasure photographing them, and between rainfalls, we got some stunning photographs.

Cheers to them, and wishes for a contented new year back in their home countries.

A sad time for M and J

A couple I'll call M and J contacted me recently through the auspices of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, for whom I shoot remembrance photography, in hopes that I'd be able to photography their newborn when he sallies forth into the world sometime in the next month. Little N has been diagnosed with the chromosomal abnormality Trisomy 13. I quote from the website livingwithtrisomy13.org:

Also called Trisomy 13 Syndrome, having a third (extra) number 13 chromosome, occurs about 1 in 5,000 live births. Trisomy 13 children have multiple abnormalities. Some include heart defects, brain defects, cleft lip, cleft palate. The most severe are visual abnormalities, omphalocele, proboscis and holoprosencephaly. Because of the many abnormalities, we believe all of these children are survivors if they reach their mothers arms. They are true miracles of life. Many only survive outside their mothers womb a few short minutes, hours or days. While others can go home and survive months. Sadly, many of the children with Trisomy13 (Patau Syndrome) do not reach their first birthday.

At 29 weeks along, M and J know they are having a son. They have an older boy, D, who is just the sweetest little guy ever. When they visited my studio on a frigid evening recently for a few maternity photographs, even though it was bedtime little D managed to be nothing but engaging for the whole hour and a half. Quite an accomplishment, I'd say, and I'm so pleased he's able to be involved with his tiny brother's life. Even if he's too young to remember all this, he'll have these photographs.

All during the session, M was feeling, and seeing big strong kicks. Little N is definitely a fighter.

I wish M and J days of peace ahead. I am honoured to be in their lives.

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.

Cecile

Tried some painting with light last weekend with Cecile, our model from Paris who is in Canada just for one semester. This lovely image is the result.

Little sweetie-pie

We were so pleased to photograph our first winter fairy this week. She looks so wonderfully mischievious that you can just imagine that with a wave of her wand, Vancouver will be covered completely in snow.

Ahhhh, so that's what's up tonight as the white flakes fall outside our window...

These photographs display a few wonderful digital matts used in our wall art, along with a couple more definitions:

"play: frolic, imagine, a child's pasttime

delightful: causing great pleasure, charming, wrapped around one's finger"

Snazzy new 20"x20"!

'Kay, this is totally yummy new wall art!

Love this so much. The simplicity, the design, the definitions.

I've died and gone to heaven

Oh my goodness, the pleasure of all these babies!

Here are some recent captures...cutiepies every one.

Purses! Diaper Bags! Backpacks!

We are giving away these awesome photo bags with purchase!

Yup, it's true. You can't buy 'em. You can only get them for free when you spend a set amount at the studio.

Meet Kate, a true cutie patootie!

Everyone knows by now that I had a bad break-in last week, which, among other things, bumped a few sessions. I apologize for my tardiness in updating my blog. I can't seem to get the hang of putting up sneak peeks of my sessions, but I'm vowing to be better next year!

Instead of photographing Kate and her family in the sumptuous weather of last weekend, all warmth and sunshine, we had to sneak out to Spanish Banks in the rain and hope for the break in the deluge. I was using a 5D instead of my trusty ID, and it was a bit challening, but I'm surely glad we went ahead because of the awesome shots we got. Kate and her family are charms--just when we were out cavorting, the sky stopped all its broken-hearted weeping and dried its eyes. As soon as we were finished, ugh. It started weeping and wailing all over again.

Here is the winsome and captivating Kate and her Mom and Mommy.

More Babies!

Some more of our recent little ones!

Enjoy!

Recent Kiddos--Oh, and One Pup!

A great time was had by all on Saturday!

Folks, your kids are beyond adorable, and it was such an honour and pleasure to work with you--even as briefly as 15 minutes--to create these memorable photographs. I kept losing my heart to child after child, so really, if you ever need a babysitter...

Such cutie patooties you all got to go home with!

Fine Art Portraits: Mini Session

Just a couple spots left for the upcoming Fine Art Mini Session on September 22!

From 9-1, by appointment only, we'll be snapping photographs of your sweet kiddos in our studio in east Vancouver! This introduction to our work is guaranteed to please you...just an easy 15 minute slot and the rest of the day is yours. We have room for twelve families only.

We have the coolest new props for the just-born! We like to photograph our new arrivals in the first two weeks of life, preferably in the first week. They will never be this sleepy again, and we looooovvve sleeping babies.

Also we have awesome "poofs" for little girls just in, along with soft pink angel wings. Too cute, and too fun for the kids.

And a reminder: Host your own Mini Session in the privacy of your own home! Invite friends and family for a morning of photographs--we bring the studio to you! Inquire at info@janephoto.ca to find out how to apply to be a host. Earn your portraits absolutely free!

Trash the Dress hits the Province newspaper!

Cheryl Chan
The Province

Sunday, September 10, 2007

...Vancouver photographer Jane Eaton Hamilton said she helped two Chicago brides trash their Vera Wangs at a fun-filled spree at the PNE a couple years ago. "They got oil on their dresses," she said. "I'm not sure if they managed to get the spots out or not."

The mystique of "The Dress" is strong. Little girls grow up dreaming of it. Never will a woman spend so much time, effort, care and money--from a few hundred dollars for a simple, second-hand piece to tens of thousands of dollars for a dazzling designer confection--on a dress she'll only wear once before saving it in a box, an heirloom and a relic, depending on who you ask.

Hamilton admits Trash the Dress can be a hard sell. The most common question of brides (and their aghast moms) is: What are we trashing here? Is it a piece of fabric or a symbol of marriage? Is it an act of bridal rage?

Bride to be Cheryl Chudyk, 23, is getting married next year and is on the hunt for the perfect wedding dress. Not the "Queen E Park type," she plans to trash her dress afterward and has begun scoping backdrops for the shoot. She's considered a dip in Burrard Inlet to mimic the Little Mermaid statue in Stanley Park, but "after that, there's not much there." She wants to pose for photos on East Hastings, a Friday night haunt from years of volunteering at a neighbourhood soup kitchen. Her parents think she's crazy. Her fiance vetoed the idea as "too over the edge."

Not Chudyk is looking into Finn Slough, a shanty town-like area in Richmond of waterfront shacks overlooking marshes. She plans to get into the water. Trash the dress? "It's okay if it happens," because she won't need the dress anymore. "Sure, you had a wedding, but now it's a marriage," she said.

Wallowing in the mud with her husband will be a bold step into a very happy future: "Get rid of the deadweight and have some fun right out of the gate."

chchan@png.canwest.com

A Lovely Late Summer Wedding

photo credit: Meghann Hamilton

These lovely gents got married at Jericho Beach Park yesterday, and I just wanted to give them a shout out and a great big congrats while they're waiting for their photos! These guys hail from Australia and won their wedding in a joint Canada/Australia tourism contest. Today they're away on the included honeymoon, travelling to Victoria and Banff, among many other places.

Craig and Jason are so, so, so in love, and they had us all misty-eyed at their ceremony. They wanted photos taken at Kits Pool, too, where I'm afraid with the labour strike things are not looking so good. The seagulls have moved on in and taken up residence. It was kind of pretty, actually, as long as you didn't contemplate swimming in the yellow water. The photo of the two grooms was taken by my daughter and lovely assistant, Meghann Hamilton, who gets a shout out for being so ready to pinch-hit when my scheduled assistant had to cancel out.

Ground Zero

A businessman pauses to look at the rebuilding.

A viewing hole in the netting around the site.

A man peers through the netting surrounding the site.

People pause to reflect on the rebuilding.

We're back now from NYC, Kingston and Toronto; we had a ball.

It was good to be in New York. As a young NYU psychology student, I lived on W. 85th, park block, and the street is unchanged except that the sapling trees once zealousy watched over by a photographer named George, who used to blow a shrill whistle anytime my dog, a whippet named Clint, peed anywhere near them, are towering now. I was surprised to find Johnny's, a used book seller and neighbourhood institution, still still exactly mid-block on Columbus. Same awning, even.

On a sobering note, it was particularly painful to visit Ground Zero, the site of the destroyed World Trade Centre. One reflects on good, on evil, on hope and dreams shattered, on terrorism, on the scope of the overwhelming destruction. One thinks about the vast numbers of people lost on 9/11, and in such pain, and wonders in what ways some of them might have changed the world had they lived. Would a mother's influence on her young daughter have prompted her to go to medical school? Would a dad have encouraged a son to go play another ballgame after losing? Our footprint in the world is always larger than we realize, our influence subtle but full of impact. Losing all of these people, these moms and dads and brothers and sisters, is the loss not only of them as sisters, as aunties, as husbands, as sons, but of so much potential. I think of the babies soon to be born and consider how their lives were irrevocably altered.

I want to say to everyone: Have your family photographs made, because you never know when it will be too late.

My then-husband, Gary, and I used to work in the Towers. He was up on the 50-somethingth floor of Tower 2 working in international finance, while I toiled selling luggage in the basement. It's nearly impossible to connect the scar in the earth and the machinery crawling across it with that hub of industry and finance.

The small espiscopal St. Paul's Chapel is open again across the street. This was the sanctuary for the workers--where they came to find food and water and solace--where they came to have their feet rubbed. There are displays mounted of some of the memorabilia generated.

Run off our feet!

Oh my goodness, we've been run off our feet lately!

Our last session before going away was David and Brad's scrumptious wedding on Vancouver's Pride! It's a little strange to be working on Pride instead of revelling, but these two hubbies carried us right along in the bob and sway of their infectious joie de vivre. They looked fabulous in sharp linen suits, their wedding decor was to die for (think red accents, and oh such great good gay taste), they laughed constantly, and they had 100 of the sweetest southern guests I've ever met.

On that note, I just got one of my beautiful Graphi Studios books back from Italy. Totally yummy custom-design. The couple ordered leatherette, and there was no way on earth I could tell it wasn't leather when I unwrapped it. I even contacted Italy to insist that it was--but I was wrong.

I just wanted to post to let everyone know the studio is now closed for two weeks while we jet off to NYC and Ontario. Not a big trip for us, but hopefully a fun one.

Sorry the studio got so backed up there in July and the first bit of August, too, before we cut it off... I know there were several of you hoping to get in and see us that I just couldn't accommodate.

I wish I could say it will be better for September, but it's not looking all that free at this point. If you need an autumn session, drop an email. I'll have my calendar with me in NY and I can try to find you a slot. Anyone needing holiday images needs to get in before the end of October to have cards by December 1, remember!

Also, keep in mind that we'll be having another Fine Art Mini Session September 22 from 9-1 by appointment only. It's already half booked, so let me know on that one as well asap. Fyi, we're info@janephoto.ca.