Happy Holidays

Here's wishing you a Happy Holiday Season!  

Hoping you have had time to relax, be with family and friends and enjoy some time doing a few of your favourite things!

We've had so much we are grateful for and thank all of you for letting us into your lives.

Fall is here!

It's my favourite time of year.

The air is crisp and mild (usually).  There's a chill in the air that a cozy sweater's just perfect for and you still have enough sun on your face that your sweater might not get buttoned up at all.  This weekend it was so warm I couldn't believe it, especially since I'm still hardwired to expect Northwestern Ontario weather.  We enjoyed the long weekend with time for family shoots, visiting with friends, and some turkey, of course.

This season we're looking forward to so much exciting work.  There will be more baby and family sessions*, some fun partnering with local Burlesque troupe Rockalily, a fantastic Masquerade wedding with an adorable couple, time with family coming to Ottawa, Auntie Loo's 2nd birthday hoopla, and even more we can't yet share... some of which includes zombie muppets...  (yes, you heard that right, aren't you excited?)

With all that going on, I'll try to post and share as often as I can.  Hope you're all having a marvelous week.  

There's so much to be thankful for, and we are so thankful for all of you!  

Ottawa, Fall 2011

*Book soon for a fall photosession, this season is filling up fast!, 

Happy Holidays

Greetings everyone!

We didn't spend much time on Facebook or the Blog during the Holiday season, so we will say now that we hope you all had a lovely end to 2010 and that you were able to relax and reflect, spend some time with loved ones and celebrate the best in life.  There was so much excitement this year, both in our lives and those of friends and clients.  Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your big moments.  Weddings, Engagements, First Birthdays, First Teeth, New Pets, New Businesses, Family Get-Togethers, Galas, and Graduation, all made this year special and brought so many new faces our way. 

We were very happy to contribute our talents to a few short films and a television project, which we'll be able to share more with you about later on, and there are more of those projects yet to come for 2011.  One of the favourite projects was Darcy's music video for The Weathermakers song Stand Up In An Empty Room, which was shot entirely as still photos, and went on to place third at OIFF.  The Weathermakers released their album at the end of October and we can't stop listening to it. 

Last year we also worked with the University of Ottawa, the Haitian Consulate, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, the National Capital Commission, United Way, Beau's, The Power of Movement, Love and Lipstick, Melody IaFelice, Fit Anywhere, Cherry Pie and RideauWood's Walkathon.  Thanks to these partners and more.  We look forward to working with you again this year to help make your events and programs a success and to exceed fundraising goals again!

Coming up in February is the WedbyHand show on Feb 6th, Ottawa's Alternative DIY Wedding Event and then the 2011 Power of Movement National Yoga Fundraiser for Alzheimer's and Auto Immune Diseases.  Check out their sites for details.

We're currently in NorthWestern Ontario, where we finsihed off 2010 and rang in the New Year with a lovely Winter Wedding in Thunder Bay.  We'll spend a little bit more time here with baby and maternity photos, a family session, and a little time with our family and friends here.  We'll see you back in Ottawa on the 5th!  There will be more posts (with photos!) to come, including highlights of 2010.

Wishing you all the best for 2011!
Natalie & Darcy

Holiday Excitement

Another busy weekend coming to an end.  This weekend was spent by us with some family, celebrating part of Christmas a little early.  It was a bit of a luxury having them here in Ottawa since they are usually at the other end of the province, and we filled our time with cooking, baking, a big dinner and holiday movie watching. There were so many goodies, just as if it were Christmas Day.  Now they head home for Christmas, and we have a little bit more family on the way from Dryden to celebrate with us next weekend.

As for photography related news, we have some of our fine art work on display, and another Radio Interview airing tonight.

The artwork is a selection of framed prints from the Centretown Village Series, currently on display at Starbucks on Elgin.  The series was first shown at Venus Envy this spring and is a collection documenting small changes in the landscape of downtown Ottawa from various perspectives, over several years.  This small part of centretown is unofficially the LGBT village of Ottawa, and is also a vibrant community in many other ways.

They will be up throughout the month of December, with framed prints @$125, unframed prints for $50, and 5x7 prints at a special price of $10.  After being invited to display my work at Starbucks on Elgin and in the Glebe over the last few years, it was great to be invited to show over the Holidays again in such a cozy spot.

Tonight have a listen to Love and Lipstick with Sue McGarvie on EZRock Ottawa (online or at 99.7), tonight's show (8-midnight) is all about less stress through the season.  She came to me to talk about looking good in front of the cameras in all of your holiday photos, so you can relax and feel like your usual great self instead of tensing up when you see a camera pointed your way.  

In our segment I talked about 3 main points; feeling comfortable with yourself (your expressions and angles); Posture (long and lifted); Positioning in relation to the camera (never square with it, and keep that posture).  Keeping these in mind, it's so much easier for that wonderful personality to come out in all of those photos with family and friends.

Check back soon, the interview will be posted right here for you to have a listen!

Natalie