Category: Mothership Photography

Even though I’m a hopeless romantic and love everything about weddings, I don’t photograph too many of them. Weddings, especially big weddings, are terribly intimitading – long, elaborate and stressful affairs that tend to go on long into the night. However, when Matt and Jasmine asked me to take pictures at their courthouse wedding, I was charmed and intrigued. They simply wanted someone to capture the ceremony and a few candid photos afterward, and asked me simply “to get the stuff that you think is amazing and beautiful.”

How could I resist an offer like that? Things that are amazing and beautiful are my very favourite things to photograph. Here’s a little taste of their day:

This is J.He’s Matt and Jasmine’s son and he wasn’t feeling too well, so he’s looking a little peaked. Is he not adorable, though?

There were shots of the kiss, but I personally love a wedding that seals the deal with a high five.

What, you don’t have pictures of you playing in the leaves in your wedding finery? I thought that’s why people got married in October!

I just had a feeling when I first heard from Matt and Jasmine that they would be a fun couple to work with, and I was totally right.

Short and sweet, with family and friends and sunshine and autumn leaves – what a perfect wedding. It was truly an honour to be a part of your day, Matt and Jasmine, and I wish you and your beautiful family years of joy and laughter together.

I am so excited! After years of contemplating holiday mini-sessions, I’m finally organized enough and out ahead of the season enough to be able to offer them. This is going to be so fun!

Fun, right? These photo sessions will be perfect for families looking for quick and fun portraits for holiday cards and seasonal newsletters. Sessions will be held outdoors here at my home in Manotick. They will be short and sweet, with holiday-themed props available like a vintage sled, decorations, holiday lights and cozy blankets, so our autumn backdrop will have a festive holiday feeling. Bring red mittens, scarves and toques to really bring on the festive spirit and make your photos pop!

If you’re feeling especially fun, let me use the magic of photoshop to add a reindeer to your photos! No extra charge for reindeer. 🙂 Remember this?

This is a shorter and more streamlined version of my popular porch portrait package, with fewer poses but a few extra downloadable files. Your package includes a 20-minute outdoor photo session, an online proof gallery from which to choose your favourites, and FOUR downloadable digital images. All that for only $150! And you can add 25 custom-made premium two-sided holiday cards for an additional $50 per package.

For more details, please visit my holiday mini-session page on Mothership Photography. There are only a few sessions available, and since I rarely offer discounted packages like this, I think they will book up quickly. Also – they start NEXT WEEK! *gulp!*

If you’d like to book or would like more information, please get in touch soon!

I wandered out to one of my favourite places, Watson’s Mill in Manotick, to check out the progress of the fall colours. I was taking pictures of the reflections of the leaves in the the water when this photogenic duck plunked herself on a rock about 15 feet in from of me and sat happily preening.

I took a few photos, and crept a little closer, and she still didn’t seem to mind me being there. In fact, I could almost hear her say, “I’m ready for my close-up, Miss DaniGirl!”

Just about a perfect autumn-in-Canada sort of scene, isn’t it?

When a colleague got in touch to have photos done with his husband and son this spring, I was a little bit anxious. Okay, that’s a fib. I was REALLY anxious. It wasn’t so much the photo session that worried me as it was what he planned to do with the photos that sent me into unknown territory with more than a little bit of performance anxiety.

With two dads in the picture, Father’s Day seemed like a perfect date for our outdoor session, but Mother Nature had other ideas and we had to reschedule. The day of the shoot turned out to be perfect for portraits: coolish for an early summer day, with just enough overcast to make the light soft and even. We were shooting at one of my favourite Ottawa locations, and all the cosmic tumblers locked into place for a fun, laughter-filled session. The guys put their trust in me and my ideas for poses and set-ups, and we caught a perfect mixture of posed photos and candid shots. You’ve already seen one of my favourites from that day, but here’s a handful more:

Super cute, right? They were so much fun to play with! Every idea I proposed, they ran with it — sometimes literally running!

Fun, photogenic, playful – what could possibly be worrisome? Well, I was a little *coughLOTcough* bit anxious because I knew that they weren’t just going to frame their photos or turn them into a huge canvas for the wall over the sofa. Nope, they wanted to turn one of their photos into a wall mural. How awesome is that? But oh my goodness, the pressure!

In the end, they chose one of my favourite portraits from the session and with the help of Numerart in Montreal, they turned it into this beautiful custom full wall-sized mural:

Is that not awesome? I’ve helped many families turn their photos into beautiful custom wall art, but turning photos into wall paper was a first!

Now what are YOU doing with those digital photos sitting on your hard drive and smartphone?