Postcards from the Mothership

I was really, really excited and really, really nervous by the time Saturday rolled around last week. I’d been in contact with a sweet couple that had asked me to photograph their wedding, and by the time the wedding rolled around I actually had butterflies in my tummy. (Can I say tummy? It seems like a bit of a silly word, but “butterflies in my stomach” just doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way, does it?)

Anyway, the day was grey and freeeeeeezing cold – at least, freezing in comparison to the sunny, mild September we’ve just enjoyed. I was a little concerned that the light would be flat and dull, and the ceremony was scheduled to end just a few minutes before sunset. I kept a wary eye on the forecast all week long.

And just look at what Mother Nature gave us!

I swear, I was even *more* nervous about not screwing up the rainbow shot than I was about not screwing up the ceremony shots!! No pressure there, no siree. (Eek!) Aren’t they just an adorable couple, though? They made me feel like a part of the family during the wedding.

And then I spent the whole day on Sunday playing with the pictures I’d taken, so much so that I didn’t have a chance to take any new pictures at all, so I stole another favourite from the wedding as my picture of the day for Sunday, too. (Hey, my project, my rules!) I love love love this shot, from the light to Erin’s expression to the girliness of all those ruffles. I guess I needn’t have expended all that angst over the light, eh?

It was, on the whole, a rather dull and rainy week. Rain can lend its own flavour to a scene, though, like the drops on this web and fence. (Yes, I am fixated on a few key elements lately. Rural shots, fence shots, and textures. Fixated may not be a strong enough word for it.)

Oh right, here’s another fixation: vintage anything! (Surprise – with texture!)

You can’t really blame me for being fixated on the fall colours right now. This is such a photogenic time of year – it’s hard to take a bad picture. (Oh look, more textures!) (I really like this one. I think it’s the best texture work I’ve done recently.)

Enough with the textures? Okay, some straight-up cuteness for you. I love that he so loves flowers!

(Doesn’t he look so grown up in that one? I am always intrigued by photographs of kids where you can see the grown-up lurking inside and peeking through!)

And finally, this one with some of my favourite toys. I’m heading out to the Blissdom Canada social media conference next week (squee!) and as I make checklists in my head about what to bring (iPhone? Check. Camera? Check. Laptop? Check.) this picture came together. I called it “Road trip, vintage style!”

I dunno, you think I can fit it all in the overhead bin on the plane? 😉

Maybe it’s the warm, saturated colours that come with autumn, but I noticed that I have been completely fixated on the colour red in my pictures this week. Reds with green, reds with purples, reds with blues — it’s been a very red week!

Like this one – clearly, it was red laundry load day for this family. (As one of my friends on Flickr pondered, “Wonder if they were all red going into the washing machine?”) What is it about laundry lines? I love them, and this one in particular.

The reds are a little more muted in this one. This little pot of flowers has survived the whole season, from drippy spring to droughty summer. I fear the porch picture season may be drawing to a close!

And completely by fluke, I picked up on almost exactly the same colour palette when I found this colourful wall in the Byward Market. (I really had to resist the urge to straighten that lamp in photoshop. It’s still irking me!)

On that spectacularly summer-like Sunday we had, I had the pleasure of meeting this family of five. I’ll have a few more pictures from their portrait session to share soon. Aren’t they lovely?

It’s been ages since I’ve been out to Dow’s Lake, and they’ve got things moved around a bit. I snapped this sunset shot while I was waiting to meet with the bride and groom to be for a wedding I’ll be shooting later today. I’m so excited!

The fall colours are really starting to show off now. I loved how a quick break in a dark day gave this ordinary-looking field a bit of drama.

And finally, the only picture of the week that doesn’t feature the colour red: poor Katie, who’s face clearly says to me, “He’s TOUCHING me!” Funny, when we adopted Willie last spring, I knew that we’d have no trouble with Katie adapting to a new pet, but I have been surprised that it’s been her who is resistant to cuddling. Despite many efforts on Willie’s part, this is the first time I’ve ever seen her tolerate him cuddling with her.

I think autumn may well be the most photogenic of all the seasons!

This week’s photographs are a tribute to the beauty of the late-summer / early-autumn season we’re in. September is just such a gorgeous month. (And also? A little crazy!)

How’s this for an autumnal shot? I carried those acorn around in my purse for half a week, and then found the oak leaf 20 km away when I was finally ready to take the picture. And yes, I continue to be a little bit obsessed with adding texture to my pictures. I think this one got it right.

I simply love this stretch of picket fence. I’ve photographed it before! I think maybe the texture is a little too heavyhanded in this one, though. Hmm.

Oh look, more textures! I called this one “I heart vintage cameras.” I had the idea for a long time, but couldn’t quite force it to work in the way I’d imagined. Close, but not quite.

Nature provided her own texture for this foggy shot. Wednesday was actually my day off, the only day of the week I wouldn’t be driving through this neighbourhood at dawn on my way to work, but when I saw that delicious fog I snuck out (still in my pajama pants, no less!) to capture a few shots before I had to get the boys and Beloved off to school and work.

This wasn’t even a photo of the day, but y’all seem to love the cat pictures, and I thought it provided an appropriate post script to my last post. So did you know that when you neuter a cat, he eliminates the residual testosterone in his system by spending one to two hours every damn day running around the house before dawn like a rabid monkey? At least, that’s what Willie’s been doing. It’s his ultimate revenge, I think. Clever little bugger, knows exactly what my weakness is!

Yesterday was the first official day of autumn, and a particularly photogenic day in the Byward Market. Love all the orange tones — so seasonal!

I hemmed and hawed for a while on whether to use the storyboard or this sunflower as the picture of the day yesterday, so here’s the sunflower, too. Lovely, isn’t it? And yes, more texture!!!

These last two go back to our weekend of pre-autumn family fun last weekend. On Sunday, we took the boys and Granny to the Richmond Fair. I love it, it’s the perfect size for us. I had some fun lensbaby shots I took, which you can see on my Flickrstream if you like, but my fave of the day was this random cuteness of two adorable strangers, clearly on their first date. 🙂

And finally, speaking of adorable… on Saturday we took your recommendation and went to the Mountain Orchard for some apple picking. It was crazy busy, but we only found out when we got there that their bountiful crop this year had been decimated just a few weeks ago by a killer hail storm. We had to search hard for apples that hadn’t been pummeled, split or bruised by hail — it was really kind of heartbreaking to see all the ruined apples — but we still managed to easily fill a 10 lbs bag and have a fun day out.

And yes, those cinnamon doughnuts *were* worth the drive! Gold stars to the bloggy peeps who recommended Mountain Orchard!!