Backyard Beauty: White Rock.

On our journey down to Arizona, we were able to stay a few nights with Scott's Aunt & Uncle in the Vancouver area. So, I am pretending it was our backyard - even if it was just for a little while.

With a free afternoon ahead of us - we left it up to them as to what we should do. They suggest their favourite beach front neighbourhood, White Rock. I love that they took us to 'their place'. The place that holds a special place in their hearts - full of years and years of memories made.

It was an incredible honour to be taken to White Rock - deemed worthy of adding to its history. I loved every minute of it - the breeze coming off the water, the long boardwalk, the sailboats. Especially loved who I was able to share it all with.

Wanting to be fully present and enjoying the time spent with family - I decided to leave my SLR at home. All of these images are unedited iPhone photos. And I love them.

Married: Mike & Char

This is a wedding I second shot with Modern Pixel Photography.

Their love is a quiet type of love - evident in the little glances & shy smiles they share just between the two of them. All the while their individual personalities complementing each other and lifting each other up. Better together.

Mike & Char were surrounded by the love & support of their amazing family & friends. They has SUCH a great group of groomsmen & bridesmaids with them - so much fun. The groomsmen even provided me with a first - groomsmen pyramid!! And don't even get me started on the florals...AMAZING!! And the fall colours?! Perfection.

Loved being a part of this wonderful couple's day.






















View Modern Pixel's full blog post here.

Content Over Quality.

A family member recently gave me some photo's they took at our wedding. Amongst the photo's I found this one - of my dear sweet amazing grandma.



I remember this moment so clearly - my siblings, mom, aunts & uncles, cousins, and my grandma were all out on the dance floor. Holding hands in a big circle. Bobbing our hips and swaying side to side. Smiling. My smile was probably the biggest of all - my heart was bursting it was so full.

And my grandma - my dear sweet amazing grandma - was right there in the middle of it all. Her family. That she and my grandpa started so long ago when they had a little wedding of their own.

I cherish this photo for the memory and, most importantly, the feelings I associate with it.

As a photographer, it is easy to be very critical of my own work. Very easy. To be upset that I didn't have the absolute perfect locked in focus and tack sharpness I strive for. To be mad if the composition is unoriginal and boring. If the exposure is way off. If the white balance is horrible.

BUT... this photo of my grandma and I? I love it not because of the technical aspects - it was taken with a point and shoot with an automatic flash and is totally out of focus - I love it because of the content. Of the memory I will now forever be able to look back on.

So, to all the wedding photographer out there, shoot for content over quality. Strive for technical perfection - do your very best to capture each moment perfectly. But remember, these are peoples memories you are capturing. Of their one and only wedding day. Believe me, just capturing those precious fleeting moments - of a hug or a glance or a tear filled eye or a grandma on the dance floor - is so much more important than capturing it with technical perfection.

People are more connected to the emotional value of a photo than the technical aspects that it is made up of. Make sure you aren't deleting those amazing moments because of it's not 'your best work'. I bet you the bride won't even notice and will just be happy to have that moment captured in a photo. To look back on forever.

We Have Arrived.

In Scottsdale. Arizona. Finally.

Since packing up and moving out of Carman on October 23 - we have been travelling all over and living out of a suitcase the entire way. It was a long 38 days.

Long but so very full. The kind of full that leaves your heart aching from being stretched - because it has been so filled with love. We are so, so, so, SO incredibly blessed with amazing friends and family. Who take us in and let us stay with them and tell us to make ourselves at home. It's a little bit crazy.

We started in Manitoba, then to Moose Jaw, a while in Lethbridge, then Banff, Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver, Seattle, a night in a hotel somewhere off the I-5 in California, and finally, finally, we arrived Scottsdale.

It was such an amazing journey and I am so glad that we were able to do it and see so many friends and family. But.... this is the hardest part for me of our lifestyle. Of our nomadic ways. The in-between part. The living out of suitcases. The unsettled-ness. The done in one spot not quite in the next spot time period.

BUT.... I am so thankful for it too. It is so very worth it.



Arizona sunrise. Get it? The sun is rising on our time here?! Way deep, I know ;)

Now excuse me - we're off to our annual shopping spree at the 99 cent store.