Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

This is little Noah Neufeld who was born in February of this year, and lived for 28 days.


The photographers who volunteer for the organization Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep are always gratified with press coverage. I know it's our dream that no family losing a baby will have to go without professional photographs of their little guy or gal, and media coverage really expands the number of families who know of our services. We always hope that someone may remember seeing something about us that will help at just the right moment.

Two of the families I photographed for this year--and who have suffered impossible losses with dignity and strength--were kind enough to share their stories with Tom MacMillan writing for Victoria's Times Colonist. Please feel free to register at the paper and read the story. Several of my photos appear--even one attributed to one of my colleagues.

http://digital.timescolonist.com/epaper/viewer.aspx The article appears on page 25 of today's paper.

Angela and Damien got hitched!

Angela and Damien had such a very beautiful wedding in late June. The weekend is one that is notoriously stormy in Vancouver, but they had absolutely great weather--they were so lucky.

Angela's gown was absolutely stunning; Damien, her fella, wore new duds from Scotland. Angela even wore a lucky sixpense in her shoe. The much-lauded SFU pipe band, to which they both belong, piped them out of the beautiful Ryerson United Church in Kerrisdale. Angela and Damien then picked up their own pipes (Damien's new set a wedding gift from his new wife) to pipe their guests out. Great merriment was had by all.

They had a pretty nifty limo, too!

Congrats, Angela and Damien. Can't wait for you to see all your wonderful images! Best of luck for a great future together.






piping photo by second shooter, Janet Rerecich:

Who's yer baby?

Everyone, meet little Tristan, who was ready for his close-up at six days of age. What a little cutie patootie. What a little snoogle-y-woogle-y adorable redhead. He took on a bit of 'tude when his papa styled him a faux-hawk.

We wish Tristan and his family all the best in the coming months. Mom and Dad are over the moon with joy, and it's so easy to see why. Dad, a former model, was the most natural baby-wrangler I've ever seen, and I'll be hard pressed not to call him into action for all the babies I photograph.

sweet, sweet mama-to-be

Sam came to Jane Photo as a referral, and we did a June special mini maternity shoot. Sam's about to have her first little munchkin later this summer, and she's just blooming with good health. Being in your last trimester in this heat isn't fun, and we at Jane Photo wish her all the best for the safe delivery of her daughter or son. Can't wait to meet the new little one! We'll get awesome newborn photos.

Remember, everyone! Newborn photos are best taken around day four when your new little gal or guy is still very, very sleepy from the rigours of birth. This is before baby acne starts up, and when the little ones are still wonderfully squishable.

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...

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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.