Icing Sugar Photography

One of the amazing things about my job is how I get to watch families grow and evolve. At lot of clients start out as wedding clients, or maternity clients and become newborn clients. They visit the studio for the mini sessions during major holidays and milestones. It's so much fun to watch the kiddos grow and learn. And it truly makes my clients feel like family to me. I knew Sarah since high school. I meet her son Wyatt late last year for some newborn photos. Since then Sarah has brought Wyatt in for every mini session the studio has offered. From Christmas and Easter to the watermelon summer sessions, Sarah and Wyatt have been there. I have been able to watch him start to it up and then walk. So needless to say I was thrilled when Sarah booked Wyatt's first birthday cake smash session with me. Now since I've known her Sarah has been a lover of all things Disney, especially Mickey Mouse. I was anything surprised when she picked a Mickey theme cake smash. Banner was mad...

If you're anything like me, you love showing off your photos! I love walking into room and seeing beautiful, meaningful images on the wall and around the room. That's why it is so important to me to make sure I carry some amazing products to offer my clients and I am very excited about this new one! I am now introducing Wood block prints. Yes you read that right. The images are printed on actual wood! These are half inch thick maple board with a beautiful glossy finish. This allows the colours to pop and to me that is important. The unique surface creates a one of kind print. There is subtle glimpse of wood grain through the image. The look is impossible to replicate with other methods. They created to be ready to hang with a custom designed ledge on the back that allows to be easily mounted to the wall. It is a great wall product to consider for your next photo session print. They come in many different sizes ranging from 8x10s to 24x30's! Just look at how beautif...

If you happen to live in the Niagara Region and have a little one, you probably know about Mich and her magic shop full of props perfect for pictures. When it comes to newborn, sitter and cake smash sessions, she is my go-to lady for props and outfits and the only one I recommend to mom's who are looking for custom outfits for the wee ones. Pairing up with some of the local vendors, she offers a wide variety of props and outfits, from floral bonnets, headbands, necklaces, rompers, printed tees and of course she is notorious for her custom tutus! As a local photographer  I have worked with Mich many, many times and love everything she puts out in her store. So a few weeks ago I had this idea about show casing some of her products and my work with a special stylized photo shoot. Mich was on board and posted a casting call on her Facebook page. The response was overwhelming! We were looking for a few girls and a boy between the ages of 6 months and 2 years old and received over 200...

Rain, rain go away, come again some other day. That's what Mom (Emily) and myself were saying for weeks! After booking our birthday session for her daughter Hope's first birthday, it seemed the weather man had a thing against us. It rained non-stop and every time we rescheduled it rained some more, or the ground was so saturated it wasn't possible to shoot. Emily really had her heart set on an outdoor session, but our last resort was holding the session in my studio. Luckily we had a string of beautiful weather that dried up the ground and we had sunshine for our session. It was a little cool but it worked! I think my favorite thing about this session, a side from how adorable little Hope is, was the fact that Hope was afraid of grass! How cute is that!?! Hopefully she grows out of that as she gets older as she seemed to really enjoy her time in the park! Here are some of the photos from my shoot. Enjoy! Don't forget about Tiny Tots Tue...

First looks are an incredible benefit to the modern couple’s wedding day. A first look is when the couple see each other during a pre arranged time, before the ceremony. After you are both ready we will conduct the first look, where you see each other alone for the first time.   The first look allows you to reach out and hold each other. To take it in together, to talk, dance, hug, kiss. To cry in each other’s arms, on your wedding day. You might be thinking that this is supposed to be bad luck. However, I believe this to be an old superstitious thought. If your ceremony isn’t until 4 o’clock and you don’t see each other until then you will have spent half of your wedding day apart. What is the point of this? If you choose as a couple to go with the first look one of the biggest benefits is the time line. By having a first look you will be able to complete the formal photography before the ceremony. Meaning afterwards you won’t have to have a 4 hour break between ceremon...

As a photographer there is a lot of prep work that goes into a newborn sessions. I, myself have had hours of classes and lessons on how to safely pose each babe the comes through my doors. I make sure the room is nice and toasty warm so that babe is comfortable. I have lots props and backdrops and wraps so that I can keep using a requested colour scheme is babe goes to the bathroom on a backdrop of such. But there are also some important things for parents to do that aid in the success of a newborn shoot. So what are the best pieces of advice for parents before a newborn session? 1) What is the best time to bring in babe for their session?  We have all seen those super adorable, curly baby poses where babe is all balled up! Super cute right? Well there is a small window of time that allows for those poses to be achievable and that is usually between the first two weeks of life. Is it still possible to have a newborn session after this time? Yes of course, however certain pose...

I'm sure you've heard the term 'raw file'  or 'shooting in raw' when it comes to a photo session or photography. Or it's been mentioned during the process of taking pictures. Often I get asked if I shoot in raw, or I get asked for the raw files. But what is a raw file? And why don't professional photographers give them to their clients? Let me shed some light of the basics of RAW files. What is a RAW file and what does it do? How are they different from JPEG's? A jpeg is a photo file that is used for printing and sharing (such as uploading on social media platforms). It takes all the information, what the sensors and camera settings are saying, and compresses that information. Jpeg is the most common form of photo files because of how convent it is. A Raw file, on the there hand, is just that; it's raw. They are NOT photo files. It is a file that holds unprocessed and non-compressed information, because of this, images often look dull and ...