Flowers for Amanda

About three weeks ago, Alex and I took a trip out to Vancouver to see what the photography market was like out there and to have a mini vacation as well.  

We took so many photos and were just blown away by the trees and flowers we saw during our trip.

  

So here I am on a rainy saturday filtering through the images.  Well, they made me think of my best friend Amanda.  She is always talking about how much beauty the world holds even when things seem to be at their worst.  She really does see beauty in everything.  

So Amanda, this is for you.  <3

 It might not be in front of our eyes all the time...but this world really is wonderful.

Keith and Kellie - aka K2, Engagement

Alex and I had the lovely pleasure of meeting this sweet couple just before February long weekend.  

We had been planning a road trip to Radium for the long weekend and were very pleased to find out that Keith and Kellie were heading to Lake Louise for their long weekend getaway.  We had planned to do their engagement shoot when they got back into Edmonton, and then two seconds before they walked out the door, Alex stopped them and proposed the idea of us meeting them in Lake Louise and having the shoot there.

Below is the outcome!  What a wonderful place to take photos.  I had never been in that hotel before so it was pretty fun for me to finally be in the Chateau Lake Louise I have heard so much about.  For those that don't know, I used to work at a hotel and was told that Lake Louise was the nicest of all the Fairmont hotels.  I have no doubts about that now.

The photo shoot went fast, was super busy with people all over the place and two very excited photographers sliding around on the skating rink with shoes on, trying not to fall over.  Alex even got to know one of the tourists there quite well - you should ask him about this...it's funny.

We had a fabulous time shooting and cannot wait for K2's wedding.  It's definitely going to push our creativity as photographers.

Love the Olympic mittens Kellie!

Keith and Kelly even played us a little diddy on the piano - so cute.

The next two shots were taken at the same time.  I was on the bridge shooting down, and Alex was taking close ups while holding our light.  Both great shots and totally different.

This ice castle was right on Lake Louise behind the hotel and was flooded with tourists.  Fortunately people saw we were trying to accomplish something here, and politely moved out of the way.  In the chance that you are one of those people - Thank you kindly.

Thanks K2 for a fun shoot and a great long weekend!

Baby Gabriela

One thing Alex and I haven't taken many photos of, is babies.  

Usually at photo shoots, what happens is Alex takes care of all the digital, technical things - setting up lights, making sure the exposures are right, adjusting the angle of the lights, etc.  I take the role of "the entertainer" - doing most of the interacting, posing, and coming up with ridiculous jokes to make people laugh.  This is how every shoot has gone since Alex and I started working together.  

But then...dun dun dun, this beautiful, adorable, too cute to be true baby comes along and all of a sudden Alexander can't put down the camera.  

I am quite confident to say that with the exception of one image, the below images were all Alexander's doing.  Perhaps he has found his new niche?

Thank you Ruth and Antonio for sharing your bundle of joy with us, and thank you baby Gabriela for waiting until the photos were done before you started to cry.

Too cute - just too cute!

  

Travel time with Amory

So after Alex and I got back from Montreal, we traveled with our dear friend Amory who visited us two weeks after we returned from Montreal.  It was Amory's first time to western Canada so we thought we would show him the mountains - naturally. 

First we started by going to Drumheller to spend one night, and then on up to Banff for a night as well, and then our last night was spent in Jasper. 

The following are some favorite photos of our three night trip that will not be forgotten. 

Thanks Amory for all your delicious cooking and friendly smile!  We miss you everyday and know you will be back here soon enough to go even further through the west.

This shot was taken by Alex at our campsite.  Just across a little dirt road was this scene welcoming us to our home for the night.  

We went exploring to the Star Mine suspension bridge.  We had fun there and that's where the shot of Alex fishing on the previous trip post came from.

The next morning, before leaving for Banff, we went to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Where Alex got eaten by a dinosaur!!!!

We also saw the Hoodoo's with our pocket pal Lobo.

Cascade Ponds is the beautiful scene below.  It was cold as you can tell, but we still stopped for some photo opps and got some very nice shots of Amory to take back to Toronto.

AMORY!

This next image is Medicine Lake which dries up in the fall and winter months, but during spring and summer is a full body of water and sometimes even floods.  It really is fascinating and I encourage you to read up on it and visit there if you have the chance.  It's really something else!

The road passing Medicine Lake took us up to Maligne Lake where we met some friends we made at our campsite the night before - Lacy and Brett who are also big fishers.  

Sadly, we couldn't fish on this side of the river.

But we could fish on this side!

And yes!  Alex finally caught a fish!

Thanks again Amory for such a fun exploration!