Amy and Mindy

These two lovely Floridians came up to Vancouver to be married this week! Congratulations, Amy and Mindy! They are the first in their circle of LGBT friends to wed, and I'm so curious to know if their lovely nuptial day (yes, the rain held off, if not during their carriage ride then during their Stanley Park Rose Garden ceremony), and their freedom in Vancouver to express their love and commitment, will influence their community at home.

To see more from Amy and Mindy's sweet small wedding, please navigate back to our wedding site and click slideshows.

Congratulations, brides! May you have many, many happy years together.

Where does the time get to?

Okay, boys and girls, the June 16 Studio Portrait Party is completely full! We are taking names for the waitlist, because inevitably a couple families will have to cancel due to illness, but we are also booking our July 21 party! We still have a few spots left, but they are going swiftly!

The photographs have come down from Pictage, my online gallery, but you can still sample them by navigating to my portrait site (link at right) and looking under the Menu for Portrait Parties. I've made a short slideshow of images from the May 12 party.

Meantime, we've been busy shooting weddings, designing wedding books, designing baby announcements, and shooting kids and families in our regular sessions. These too are getting pretty darn booked up, so if you need to get your kids in, give us a quick shout and we'lll try to accommodate you.

Wasn't the recent warm weather delightful? I had to work most of it, but Joy and I did manage to get out in our extremely insane flower garden and clean up a bit. Of course I painted the front steps something like a half hour before the deluge started on Sunday! Doesn't it figure? Hope everyone's gardening was great, and don't forget this weekend is the garden show at VanDusen gardens. Always a pleasure.

The photograph attached is one of our tree peonies last year.

The Studio Portrait Party pix are up!

Hey everyone!

Good news! The party pix are finally online--but for one week only!

You can view them by navigating to my website and going to Portraits/Online Proofing and finding Studio Portrait Party 1. There is no password.

Meantime, here is a sample birthday card I designed for those thinking of invitations, announcements etc.

Studio Portrait Party!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, moms!

Meg, Greg, Joy and I were so pleased and happy to host all of you in our premiere Studio Portrait Party yesterday, May 12. We heard tell it was sunny outside, yet all of you took the time to truck down to my studio and trust me and my crew with your precious children. Thanks to each and every one of you, moms and dads too, who made the effort.

I've got the pix downloaded now, but that's about all. I just spent a couple of hours proofing an image from every family so you could celebrate just a little piece of Mother's Day by visiting my blog, so here they are!

Can't say when I'll have the pix up online for you, but as soon as humanly possible, and hopefully this week sometime. I'll be back in touch when they're up!

We're having another Studio Portrait Party June 16, so let your friends and family members know the date. We ask that no one who attended yesterday returns for another 3-6 months depending on the rapidity of the change in your child/ren, but you are surely welcome to pass the opportunity along to others!

And we are building that waitlist for Home Portrait Parties where we bring the studio to you!

Cheers everyone, and smell a lilac for me,

Jane

The camera loves her

Erin was such fun to shoot!

I love, love, love taking shots that show the beauty of the human form, and Erin made it easy! She's a beautiful woman with an unerring sense of how to move for the camera, and every second with her was a pleasure. She arrived with her friend, Amanda, in tow. My impromtu assistant, Amanda did all the picky little things that go faster with help, like hair-brushing. Thanks, Amanda! Erin, you were amazing!

Shhh! We've got a secret!

We're happy to announce our very first

PORTRAIT PARTY!

Saturday, May 12, 2007

by appointment only

Fifteen minute slots, one per family, beginning at 9 o'clock in the morning until we fall over from exhaustion! No session fee, and no obligation to purchase. 10-20 images will be posted online at Pictage (www.pictage.com) for a period of one week during which time prints may be purchased. After a week, all images will be purged from our system.

Love portraiture of your children? Put yourself on our waiting list to host a Portrait Party in the privacy of your home! Get together at least 8 families on a Saturday morning, and earn valuable print credits! Contact us to ask for details!

Isaac at five months

I've made a slideshow of Isaac, the preemie baby I've just re-photographed at five months. It's up on my site under Portraits/Slideshows which links from over on the right side here. He's such a dreamy big monkey now...just as sweet of temperament and cuddly as ever, and while undoubtably his cheeks are the same remarkably adorable cheeks as I shot umplumped shortly after his autumn birth, it's hard, mostly, to catch the tiny vulnerable preemie in any of the current shots. His parents have shots from our first session all over their home, and I just stood before them, familiar as I am with them, and stared at how tiny Isaac was to begin with. Back then, worried about Isacc's fragility, no one but his parents could hold him, and he almost disappears into enfolding arms.

If ever I had a question about whether it is worth commemorating a child's birth and new days in pictures, Isaac, newborn, answers it. He is so different now after just a few months, that without pictures, good, artistic pictures, much of that early vulnerability would surely be forgotten. I know one can't quite recapture such states even with photographs--even with video that captures sound and movement--but oh, when the pictures are lovely, it is quite a pleasure even to try, to stand before a photograph of him tucked tight into his parents' arms and marvel at his size.

Besides finding Isaac himself remarkable, I found his mothers' happiness compelling. These are women who waited a long time for their son, and perhaps their joy at his arrival is to be expected, but still, palpable delight absolutely leaks from them, and when you leave their presence you can't help but to leave grinning, made just a little happier by knowing this small simple unit called a family is there behind you, loving each other.

New art images

Here are some pieces I've been working on of late.

This is a composite image of a small underwater daffodil merged with the leaf lattice from last year's hydrangea, also taken underwater, using a compositing technique known as the Orton Technique after Michael Orton. It is modified because it begins with digital imagery rather than the more usual underexposed film, and because digital always offers up a different effect than would be possible using film:

This is another modified Orton technique using three underwater digital images of spring flowers:

This third image is an unmodified underwater image of a dyed blue daisy:
The fourth image was a pan made of an immature magnolia seedpod:
This last image is the hydrangea leaf lattice again, shot while being swished underwater:

Baby Isaac: how he has grown!

I stopped by baby Isaac's home recently to take more photographs of this bouncing five-month-old baby, and to grab a shot of the wall art his parents purchased in February commemorating his arrival. It is sure stunning up on their yellow wall. The matts are incredibly thick, setting the artwork off beautifully. It's funny seeing and shooting Isaac now. I am so ultra familiar with him because I've spent so long editing images of him, and so completely a stranger, too. Do I recognize him? He is huge now--nearly 20 pounds. Sometimes I'd look at him and see someone completely new, he's changed so much. But then in the next moment I'd spot that tiny preemie newborn and his adorable cheeks poking through the big boy he's become. He loves to cuddle; loves to laugh; is clearly just so delighted to find himself alive.

One thing's for sure...if he was loved the day he came home from the hospital, he's loved doubly now. His parents just exude happiness and joy. It's a pleasure--and an honour--to be around that kind of blissed out mama-love.

I hope to be able to post some of the images from our recent session soon!

Spring is still springing here in Vancouver...

Still working slowly to get the fine art site up and running.

I had my favourite model and second-born daughter, Meghann, out under the second string of Vancouver's blooming cherry blossoms this week, this time in Queen Elizabeth park, where, given it's Easter, there were a considerable number of picnickers and revellers. There was even a family who had erected a tent for their kids to play in. The weather has been much, much warmer than last weekend, though it's overcast, sprinkling and a little cooler today. (Rain is due. Yuck. More of it.) It was a challenge getting good shots around all the people enjoying the park, but I managed, and hopefully I'll find time to pop some up in our portrait section. Meantime, here's a couple ones I've worked on...



The last shot is of the art "Vancouver Ancestors" by the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz. I love this installation, part of the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale. I'm sure most Vancouverites, including me, wish all the sculpture around Vancouver would stay permanently; alas, only a few will stay.

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!

Julianne and the blossoms

I had the beautiful Julianne, six, out under the cherry blossoms on Vancouver's Graveley Street yesterday. There are many lovely photos, but this was my favourite because of her joy as she spins! And check her out up a tree...almost vertiginous, but lovely.

Last year, Vancouver began a yearly Cherry Blossom Festival, and the Graveley Street Akebono blooms have hit the map. Consequently, instead of being the east side's best kept secret, the area was drawing Vancouverites in great numbers. It was lovely to see everyone out enjoying the blossoms; though it was cold, the sun peeked out for a little while. Blue sky turned out to be a bit of an April Fool's joke, because by the time we were driving back home, we were in a shower of mixed hail and snow.

April Special!

April Special!

Surprise Mom with great pix of the kids!

We're happy to offer special Mother's Day portrait rates April 1-April 15.

One mini-session (15-30 minutes) and one 11"x14" print for a record-shattering price of $199.00!

In our studio or a favourite park or beach. Or? You name the place.

The Sweet House

I've spent a chunk of time working on my fine art site the last couple weeks. Not that it's finished yet, by far, but I'm pretty stoked to have gotten a longterm project called 'The Sweet House' presented. It's a multi-media presentation with a slideshow and an accompanying pdf of a short story I wrote with the photographs in mind, and I'd love to present it sometime publicly--reading the story, showing the slides.

I have to give thanks to Daphne Bramham who writes about the polygamist community of Bountiful for the Vancouver Sun; without her articles, I doubt this project would have coalesced. The images were, after all, originally unconnected to this subject matter, and were, in a real sense accidental. I was shooting in a ramshackle old house in New Brunswick, Canada, a house a thousand other photographers have shot in as part of Freeman Patterson and André Gallant's spring workshops. The walls were coming apart at the seams; there was daylight showing through the roof; there was debris everywhere; there were plants growing inside through the windows.

I wanted to photograph a person. I had spent nearly a week shooting my way through landscapes and old cars and running streams, and I longed more than anything to set my lenses on something or someone with a heartbeat. And secondly I craved a ghostly influence in that house of forgotten stories. A sort of half-seen presence flitting from room to room and shot with tons of motion blur so her edges vanished and melded with the background.

Kayla, wearing her auntie's old wedding gown, was an astonishing model; if she lived nearby, I would ask her to pose again and again. She has a sternness of purpose in the photographs that spoke to the issues that would, by mid-summer, be consuming me as I wrote the accompanying piece of short fiction.

In the end, the house represented the ruination of a young girl's childhood.

Gads, life just does get ahead of me

Around this time of year, I always start trying to tug time back. If I can turn this into mid-February, then I won't be so far behind on all my spring tasks. Hmmm...wonder why that never works?

Canon has a new puppy. Come to mama, girl.

I can't remember being this excited about new gear since...well, since the 5D. No, seriously, it's waaayy better than the 5D. It's got great burst, and I need great burst to capture the fleeing expressions that brides and babies and even elephants seem to have, high ISOs with low noise, less weight, and about a hundred other groovy specs that can get a girl's heart going. I love and am hooked on the 1D series which have been around the world with this photographer, shooting in heat, humidity, sandstorms and even flash rains, and have come through like the tanks they are. What other idiot would spend four hours on dune buggies on the northern Namibia sand dunes with their Mk II bouncing around their chest instead of protected from the blowing sands inside a camera bag? The MkII was up to the abuse. The lenses all need pro disassembly and cleaning afterwards, and the sensor needed a lick from the Arctic Butterfly, but man, the chamber of the ID--it stayed whip clean. And all that freedom from worry meant I could slam on the brakes when I saw the photo I wanted to shoot, and shoot it--instead of pulling a pack around, unzipping, lifting the camera out, replacing it, replacing the pack etc. In one instance where we ran into a desert hare about two feet away, that was a godsend. I would have missed those shots if I'd had to scrabble for a camera that couldn't handle the elements.

Check out the white pages on the Mk III at Canon's site and then...where shall we go? Thailand, anyone?


Here's what Canon has to say about it:

Entirely new 10.1 Megapixel Canon CMOS Sensor (APS-H size, 1.3x lens conversion factor), featuring the EOS Integrated Cleaning System
World's fastest digital SLR: shooting up to 10 fps, with a burst rate up to 110 full-resolution JPEG images or 30 RAW images
All new high-precision AF system with 19 user-selectable AF points and 26 additional "assist points"; superior low-light performance and faster operation
New lighter body with enhanced weather resistance and outstanding reliability: featuring a shutter that's durability-tested to 300,000 exposures
Dual "DIGIC III" Image Processors work with new CMOS sensors to produce superb image quality; new Highlight Tone Priority option adds control of bright highlights
Large 3.0-inch LCD monitor, featuring Live View function
Fully compatible with over 50 EF lenses and a wide range of EOS System accessories

March Special: Boudoir Sessions for Brides!

By popular demand and only for brides, we are offering a special on our popular boudoir sessions for weddings booked during the month of March. Surprise the one you love with a unique wedding day gift--a 5"x5" hardcover book with 20 sexy images of you!

Location? Your home, our studio or at a sleek, contemporary hotel.

Regular price: $1150

March special: $950

Call now!

604-435-9581
jane@janeeatonhamilton.com

Technorati!

We've added our profile at the Technorati site. Totally cool place to hang out.

Technorati Profile

Trash the Dress! SPECIAL OFFER FOR BRIDES!

Everybody's been writing in to find out what the heck we mean when we saw we're giving away complimentary "trash the dress" sessions to couples that book 6 hour or more packages in this month of love, February.

Now here is a website that will show you exactly what we mean! Navigate to

www.trashthedress.wordpress.com
or
www.trashthedress.com

and you'll find many images and much discussion about these sessions. Trashing the dress doesn't mean ripping it intentionally, just not worrying about getting it dirty, and for that matter, not worrying about if it rips accidentally. Totally fun, and a great way to spend a day!

Brides don't really even have to use their wedding gowns for this--they can rustle up a cheap dress on eBay for something like $100 US. Made overseas, the dress will be shipped right to your house. Or you can do what a couple of my clients opted for right after their weddings, Vera Wang dresses be damned--run around the PNE Playland grounds playing pool, eating burgers, visiting cows, and riding in bumpercars. One of the pictures shows Kimberly holding up the bottom of her dress as if having second thoughts at seeing all the oil that had gotten on it, but she told me later that it came perfectly clean.

The truth is, I've been trying to convince all my brides to do "trash the dress" sessions ever since I started shooting weddings! They are just too much fun to be resisted, and the images they produce are awesome. I am really hoping someone will want to go underwater for some shots this summer, because I've got two underwater cameras just itching to catch a bride swimming.