I realize I forgot to put a forwarding address here! I have moved the blog to my main site and you can now read up on the latest Imajing news at www.imajing.com
I'll be keeping the old articles here for now but hope to eventually migrate them all to the new wordpress format.
Well it has been quite a while since I last posted and of course the urge to post occurs when I'm spending time at my parent's house with my baby, away from my computer and files but thankfully with an internet connection.
Post baby I've shot two weddings. Labour day weekend was with the new Mr and Mrs Shawesome (aka Adele and Kevin) up on beautiful lake Simcoe. The bride wore a gorgeous low-back sheath topped with vintage jewelry and a birdcage veil. The ceremony was performed at the end of a dock and the reception was a good old fashioned pig roast!
Segway on roast pig - the 'pig dance' is one of the Macedonian traditions I got to document at this past weekend's wedding for Theressa and John. The day started with a morning Macedonian dance party at the groom's house complete with live band and ended with the bread-pull (to determine if the bride or groom is to become the head of household - think giant wishbone but with a bread), and the pig dance where the wedding guests share their good wishes ($) as a roast pig is toted around the banquet hall. All of this, along with a stunning bride and dashing groom, made for a great day of photos. But you will have to wait to see those. They will be posted under the recent weddings section the end of this week. The other wedding is up.
Since the last post I've also done a few family portraits and lots of team photos and headshots for the University of Toronto varsity teams. A highlight was going out on the water with the rowing team to capture them at practice. I also got to do some cool shots for the women's soccer team. It's also great to be able to bring my daughter to many of these shoots. I just park the stroller beside the backdrop and shoot away while she naps.
So needless to say, I'm not exactly on maternity leave - no such thing when you run your own business. With nurturing a newborn and work I've never been busier, more tired, but also never been happier. Stayed tuned for photos from all these things I've mentioned. In the meantime here's one photo - and it's not even by me. This photo was taken by my friend Matthew Lyn. Nice to actually appear in a family photo for a change!
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.
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.
So typical of their personalities. That's mellow Emmett posing nicely in the foreground with his older, rambunctious brother Hewitt making full use of the entire set (a queen size bed).
Also visiting from out of town is my best friend Karen and her new baby Adeline. Adeline is a champion cryer and I think the funniest thing was when Fred saw the photos and exclaimed, "She looks so small! She seemed so much bigger when she was crying all day last Sunday!"
But don't get me wrong, she just happens to be a sensitive baby and was pretty happy for the entire time of my visit. Here she is in a little hat I had knit for her back in the winter. It finally fits!
Karen and I have known each other since we were about 10 years old. It is really amazing to see her as a mother.
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!
Proving that fashion trends are cyclical, velour tracksuits for both boys. 
So typical of their personalities. That's mellow Emmett posing nicely in the foreground with his older, rambunctious brother Hewitt making full use of the entire set (a queen size bed).
But don't get me wrong, she just happens to be a sensitive baby and was pretty happy for the entire time of my visit. Here she is in a little hat I had knit for her back in the winter. It finally fits!
I think blue is her colour.
