Drunk on life

Poor girl, she's going to grow up thinking a camera is a part of mommy's face.

posted by Jing @ 9:36 PM 0 comments

Introducing Amira

Last Saturday I caught up on blogging by doing three entries at once and trying to make it look like I did them when I should have by doctoring the post times. Little did I know that that 'burst of energy' -- as coined by the pregnancy books-- was my expression of the 'nesting urge'. Some people clean out closets and vacuum, I caught up on my blogging.

I didn't know it at the time, but in less than 24 hrs I would be holding my daughter in my arms.

Amira Faye An-Li Beserve was born on Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 4:10 a.m. at 7 lbs 3.6 oz and 20 in. Today she is six days old.

She is my muse, and of course as a photographer's daughter she will suffer the indignity of being photographed - probably every day of her life until she is old enough to figure out she can walk/run/crawl away.

Imajing is still in operation, just at a different pace for the next couple of months. You can still reach me, just be patient with my response time.

In the meantime, baby photography ideas will finally be put in practice. I will be posting photos of Amira on flickr. Just click on the above photo to get redirected.

Labels: babies portraits amira

posted by Jing @ 11:28 AM 1 comments

More babies!

I'm sure other self-employed and free-lancers out there will agree that it is hard to say no and just stop working when you are supposed to be on vacation/having me-time/or in my case, be on maternity leave. It's justified though, I'm just doing computer work these past few days, but also, when I do shoot, as in the case of the occasions below, I'm actually socializing - with camera in hand.

My cousin Anna was in town again this week and we were able to fit in a fun portrait session with her sons Hewitt and Emmett. It was the first time they came over to my home instead of me visiting them at her in-laws in Mississauga so it made for some interesting times with managing the enthusiasm of my two dogs (who have had some great baby-practice these past couple of weeks!).

Proving that fashion trends are cyclical, velour tracksuits for both boys.  

Labels: babies, portraits

posted by Jing @ 10:06 AM 1 comments

Bev and Jim

Here's another instance where I'm messing a bit with timelines (in the limited way that you can with web self-publishing -- not like Back to the Future or LOST). I'm writing this a week late, and photographing to commemorate an event a month in the future. But it won't really matter to you if you are reading this a month later.

Anyhow, back on track. You may recognize Bev and Jim as the mom and step-dad of Sean, the groom of Sean of my May 23rd Muskoka wedding. They kindly contacted me after enjoying the wedding photos to do their anniversary portraits. They will be celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary this July! They were also remiss to have missed having a great photo of just the two of them in their beautiful outfits worn at the wedding so double the reason to get their photos done.

I visited them at their home in North York and had a great time photographing them first in their formal wear and then moving to a more casual look. The sunny clear evening turned overcast soon after the wardrobe change so out came the off-camera flashes to add a bit of pop to the gloomy outdoor setting.

They later emailed me to tell me that they also had a lot of fun and thinks that they should have their portraits done every couple of years!

Labels: anniversary, portraits

posted by Jing @ 9:48 AM 0 comments

Mom

Even though I've been reading up on lots of pregnancy and parenting books books I still get a bit stumped when these books keep referring to the mom in the equation. It takes me a sec to realize that they are referring to me, the mom-to-be. Up until now, when someone refers to mom, I think of the only mother I've known all my life, MY mommy!

I hope she doesn't mind me posting this, but my mother just recently turned 60 in April. All she wanted for her birthday this year was a set of photos of herself commemorating the occasion. Apart from being the big 6-0, this landmark age holds particular significance for us Chinese folks because it is also a multiple of 12 - the zodiac cycle, so it is also 'your' year when you turn 60. (It is the year of the ox). These photos weren't actually done until about a month after, on May 17 and of course we went to the my trusty Wychwood Barns for some nice distressed wood and beautiful concrete backgrounds. It was early in the day (around 10 a.m.) which in the spring makes for harsh outdoor lighting but there were enough interesting shady spots.

Also, even though the post date says June 7, I'm actually writing this a week later. I just have so much blogging to catch up on I didn't want to cram it all in one post. Yes, that's sort of cheating but oh well.

Here are a few favourites of my mom.

Labels: portraits, wychwood barns

posted by Jing @ 9:33 AM 0 comments

Babies everywhere

I wonder if it's like when you a new word and you start seeing that word used everywhere, that recently I see strollers and pregnant women everywhere I go. But there is truly a population explosion in my neighbourhood and not just my imagination. I chatted with my neighbour Susan this morning while walking the dogs and she pointed out five houses expecting babies or with brand new babies, just on her little section of the street.

I've always loved photographing babies and have a few new pics to show off. The first baby here is Noah, who is rapidly growing out of baby-hood - the best part is that I have gotten to document his growth over three photo sessions over the past two years. Like any little boy he loves his cars and will get to sleep in an awesome car-bed when he moves to his big-boy room!





And here is little Audrey who I met today. Tami dropped by with her and her sister Maya and we had a great time walking around the neighbourhood. I played U of T rugby with Tami and also shot her wedding a couple of Octobers ago. We visited the Cupcakery at St. Clair and Glenholme and then came back to my backyard for a rest. Audrey is a real sweetheart and totally photogenic.

I should be working on some albums and editing but I had to get these photos out of my system first!

posted by Jing @ 3:21 PM 1 comments