Insofar as social media exacerbates social isolation because of feelings of inadequacy (think of all those ‘perfect’ people, places, lives), documentary photographs offer a way forward. They offer honesty. They tell a story of each person and each family just as they are, in all that makes them human, flawed, relatable.
Read MoreWhen I first got into photography, I was fairly daunted by the mental image of setting up a studio in my unsightly aged farmhouse. But wasn't studio family photography the way it was done? The only way?
Read MoreSometimes the people, the scene, the seasons - it all comes together just right. It gives rise to beautiful colour and spectacular vibes. That was what happened that day.
Read MoreYou've heard me say it before and I'll keep saying it just as often as I can: every family is different, and the activities that fill your days are unique to your own family, and you should never ever try to compare yourself to any other, because comparison is the thief of joy. But all strong families have one thing in common and that is...
Read MoreI made the trip back to Mississauga last weekend, during some kind of migraine-inducing pressure system that drove temperatures in mid-October to 24 Celsius. It was just as well, because Isabel's son was recovering from croup and the warm humid air was probably good for him. (Just guessing. I'm not a doctor.) They'd moved in to a new house only two weeks ago. Grandma and grandpa were visiting from Colombia, and they were hoping for some photos to take back with them. So, a busy time for them, and yet they made time for me.
Read MoreDusty and Fiona have an intense and enduring love. This is so hard to find, you realise. When you find it, you grab it and you stick with it. Eleven years ago, they found it.
Read MoreToward the end of September, on a clear warm Saturday, the United Way and Kingston Fire and Rescue teamed up for a fundraising day full of fun for families. You could try your hand at putting out a car on fire, walk through an inflated house to learn about fire safety, take a ride in a firetruck, and run a fitness course fit for a fire-person.
Read MoreMidway through the month, I threw out my back. It might have had something to do with the 15-hour wedding I shot two days prior to that, or with my TERRIBLE posture when editing photographs. Or with the fact that I'm getting old. So old... :D
Read MoreThis is a photography experience that is as bendy and stretchy as your kids on the playground. It will give you as much joy as does hearing those two-word utterances your kids make when you ask them 'how was your day'? Ok, maybe more joy.
Read MoreHaving a photographer in the room while you're in pain, while you're facing your biggest fears (because let's face it - for me, the impending pain of labour was my biggest fear), while you're vulnerable and naked and possibly passing gas from strain... for some people it's just too much.
But there there is the flip side...
Read MoreThe event ran 12-6pm this Sunday, and the crew were ready to WORK HARD. There were boxes of complimentary donuts, tall cups of coffee for the artists, and a full waiting room of eager folks waiting to choose their piece and put it on skin. Oh, and an array of flash selections by each artist to choose from.
Read MoreGo grab a handful of mud and plant a tiny seed. A bean, a pea, a cherry tree; and mark it with a stick.
Then watch it grow and weed it so. And eat it when it's done. And tell the world about your seed, and give them all some mud.
Read MoreThat's the best bit about documentary photography, I suppose: being welcomed into lives as they unfold, trying my best to do them justice.
That whole bit about being a fly on the wall - who knows if that is true? Flies buzz around in your ear and unnerve you. A documentary photography experience normally has the opposite result: it calms and grounds people, and makes them thankful for the lives they live.
Read MoreI photographed the Sunflower Festival at Kricklewood farm again this year. There is a tasting alley, where chefs prepare small bite-sized dishes to load up on a plate. There is a barbecue, music, artisans and craftspeople, tons of local vendors, a silent auction, and of course - GOATS! (and a few pigs and poultry, too). (And sunflower fields, though those weren't quite in bloom this year because of the rain)
Read MoreThe Murrays are one of those families that you want to have living on your block.
Though we were never actual neighbours, my kids went to school with their kids, and my daughter counted their daughter among her besties. And whenever I saw them around, they simply brought energy and fun and goodness to the community. In short, the Murrays are good people.
Read MoreRunning, grinning, posing without prompt, a golden fidget spinner in the hand and plastic leis as vibrant crowns.
You’ll find all that and more, perhaps, should you be invited to photograph an 11th birthday party in the middle of July in Ontario.
And a photographer sitting in the grass, as a giant water balloon falls right on her crotch: risks of the trade.
Read MoreAfter watching her work her magic for a little while, I naturally assume Audrey was a chemistry whiz in school. This artisanal chocolate business is part art, part science. But no, she says. She didn’t take chemistry in school. Her counsellor told her that she’d be no good at science. He suggested she’d do something more suitable. Like being a typist.
Read MoreSpending this afternoon at the Toronto shore... It makes me miss the city. The scent of shawarma wafting through the summer air, the hum of traffic, the hiss and chimes of street-cars rounding corners, opening, and closing. Children somewhere, yelling, planes overhead, the pavement hot, the air - sticky.
Read MoreBefore I became a family photographer, I was a parenting researcher. I was interested in how parents behaved, and how their children developed.
However, most of the hands-on data collection and family visits were not done by me. They were done by research assistants who would collect the data and hand it over to us, the researchers.
Read MoreYou've seen the photos social media tells you to have. You've seen it all.
What you might not have seen is that there is another way. Another way to document your days. Where the authentic is given full reign.
Ask yourself this: why did you fall in love with your life?
Read MoreI am a modern documentary family photographer in Kingston, Ontario. I photograph families, weddings, people, life. On-location, unposed, effortless, candid photographs. Also serving Toronto, Ottawa, Belleville, Mississauga, Oakville, Hamilton, Prince Edward County and beyond.
Love the life you live. Invest in photographs that mean the world.
