MOVED!

SSP posts are now being made over here: www.sarahsovereign.com ... please update your links and come join me at the new website. Hooray!

Bogs, Abandoned Houses, Soft Sunset High Fives

It's been a crazy couple of days ... last night I was shin deep in a swamp co-shooting with Tanya at Bells & Babies Photography for Shiverz Designs. Tonight I wandered through some abandoned properties (with the kind permission of the owner -- thank you!) I also picked up a fuzzy caterpillar, hung out in the woods, and cruised around in a mustang this week so ... all around, pretty awesome.

It's almost three a.m. and Jamie leaves on a cabin getaway tomorrow at five -- this weekend I'll be editing the giant pile of stuff I've been making my way through, hanging with my big brother and welcoming my Crystal back to Canada with many coffees and demands for details about her recent trip to Iowa. Oh, and hey! The Book Man's 22nd Anniversary is coming up on September 29th and I'll be there for a spell with a photo booth set up ... so swing on by for book-related awesomeness!

Posting a real sneak peek of tonight's shoot on the Facebook page tomorrow, but here's a little peek from the outside of the location we shot at tonight.

The woods are lovely dark and deep

This past June I went out location scouting with Jamie and we stumbled across the most beautiful little location nestled in the woods. This is the location I later used for the Awakenings photo shoot, as well as for a small handful of shoots since then. It's just the most peaceful, beautiful little spot... a bit of a drive, but it's worth it.

Can't wait to go location scouting again, this time with my husband (YAY!!!!)

Fall / Halloween Mini-Sessions Are Here!

Mini-sessions are now available until October 30! I've done mini-sessions a little different this year. They are available Monday to Friday only for $130. The sessions are 20-25 minutes and you'll receive a DVD in a paper pocket with 10 fully edited images. You can schedule a mini-session on any weekday, at any available time, but the location must be Gwynn Vaughn Park -- a lovely little community park in Chilliwack, on Fairfield Island. Mini-sessions are limited to four people per session.

I recently changed my pricing guide, as well. All full sessions are $300 and as always, come packaged in lovely, handmade fabric pockets.

Pretty excited about some new changes coming along ... I'm redesigning / revitalizing the website, editing a few awesome recent sessions and getting ready for leaves. Hope your fall is just as lovely and jam-packed with ideas and inspiration.

New fabric DVD pockets!

My friend Georgia from The Swinky Binky handcrafts all of my session DVD pockets out of, I'm pretty sure, awesome fabrics and love. We wanted to incorporate some chevron up in here since I'm currently pretty obsessed with it, so some of this new batch features a lovely grey chevron print.

Fabric pockets come with full session DVDs, which are session-customized on an Epson photo printer. The final DVD also comes with a complimentary fine art postcard, tied with a coloured ribbon.

Happy Engagement! Liz & Cory: Chilliwack Engagement Photographer

Elizabeth and Cory are getting married at the end of September! Yay! I shot a little engagement session with them at the end of July, and these two are straight out of a romance novel. Can you believe that perfectly placed wind? Can't wait to celebrate with them and see Liz as a beautiful bride. Congrats guys!

Honeymoon in Tofino!

Jamie and I went to Tofino for our honeymoon and stayed in a little cabin overlooking the ocean, down an overgrown forest trail. The cabin was very tiny, rustic and beautiful. We pretty much completely unplugged, read books and wandered around Tofino and Cathedral Grove. It was only three days, but it was awesome!
 

Pre & Post Wedding Awesomeness!

Happy First Day of School to those of you heading back! I hope your summer was as awesome and full of love as mine. I'll be posting pictures throughout the week and as they get edited, but from photographing the awesome bands Twin Peaks & Tall Cans, to doing a cake smash with two my favourite toddlers, to photographing the wedding of Matt and Emily and then like, also getting married or something myself or whatever -- it's been a truly great summer.

A bunch of my family came down from Kakabeka Falls and Thunder Bay, Ontario and places beyond and it was like magic getting to reconnect with them, showing them some of my favourite places -- not to mention celebrating with them. I promise to do a whole wedding post soon.

I'm sitting here at my office window with the sunshine outside listening to Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros "Here" album. LOVE. I've got a pile of editing to do, I'm catching up on the seventh season of Supernatural and I'm designing some special thank you cards for some extra special people. (Note to self: do a design post, too!)

I took my family to Harvest Cafe on Mill Street where they officially had their socks knocked off by awesome food. I drove to Vancouver for maybe the second time ever, saw some sea lions and sang Africa by Toto karaoke style with no fear. (And "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips. Full on, fist pumping, eyes closed off key awesomeness...)

From my cousins seeing the ocean for the first time, to the Aquarium, post wedding breakfast and rehearsal dinner, here are just a few photos from August of some of my favourite people in the land.

Cordelia & the Camera: Chilliwack Photographer

Some days photo shoots are super fun and sometimes they come equipped with crabby pants. Cordelia is a little trooper and a big beam of sunshine, but this shoot she sure wasn't feeling pretty bunting and old Pentax film cameras. Look at that lip! Aw... so we made this one pretty short and sweet. I've been working on a new Sarah Sovereign Photography package that involves creating a book based on SSP sessions. Cordelia's awesome book is almost finished, and I'm still working out all the final details (visit the Facebook page to see the front and back cover of Cordelia's book!) but this shoot was part of one of the sections and if you ask me, it's still super extra cute.

Here are some snippets of Cordelia and the Camera!

Thrifty Finds No. 1 : Long Overdue Yard Sale edition

Last Saturday I went spontaneous yard sailing with my brother for the first time in a loooong time. We used to go every weekend back in Thunder Bay, scouring other people's yards for random, weird stuff to pack our tiny shared apartment. We had the most schizophrenic sibling apartment way back then, between Brad's electronics and video game stuff, and my weird figurines and awesome vintage pieces of furniture I always meant to get around to repurposing. (Speaking of, totally picked up this amazing vintage yellow chair for FREE at one yard sale last weekend... and am spray painting a found wooden chair electric turquoise this summer before the wedding.)

We found an epic yard sale though, selling so many fine and vintage goods for cheap that my brain kind of exploded with the awesomeness and I found myself stuffing the car with boxes and tins, vases, old school chairs, instagram shaped mirrors and teacups. Here are a few of my most recent thrifty finds. {And also a new journal entry, too! I've been keeping the same journal since 2004 and it's finally on it's last legs.. three more pages left, so I filled them with wedding excitement! Please note the lovely little matte stickers I made... I'm trying to find reasons to make more and plaster everything with 'em.}

Ready for Summer + Lifts

Oh, hi Internets!

Things sure have been busy over here! This week marks my final dress fitting, plus I finally picked up the sparkliest pair of wedding shoes I could find -- sparkly, ahem, and super comfortable -- today. I could do heels, but I'd prefer to be able to stand up of my own accord on my wedding day. I'm heading out for a three day foray into the States with my mom and won't have internet access until Saturday. So if you email me, I promise to respond on Saturday.

Also! Make sure you "Like" the Sarah Sovereign Photography Facebook page. I'll be announcing some fantastic Saturday specials through the month of July as well as offering a new photography package sometime this summer. Not to mention this blog is often times super neglected and all the newest shoots end up fresh on the Facebook page.

Hope everyone had a lovely Canada Day -- I ate the best pasta salad ever made, watched my nephew lose his three year old mind over the awesomeness that is a backyard equipped with a trampoline + sandbox + cookies and awkwardly practiced my first dance as husband and wife with Jamie. It was super, super not good at all. And I kept throwing him off by yelling out, "Okay, get ready for the lift!" ... he was never ready for the lift. Sigh. Happy Fourth of July to all my American peeps! I leave you with a little blurb from Nicola, Kyle and Ben's session last month.

Picnics in the Park : Chilliwack Photographer

Wedding planning sure is busy these days! Two months left before Jamie and I have a huge, happy party with our family, and two months and one day until we head off on our road trip honeymoon adventure on Vancouver Island. (So. Excited. So much fun this summer I can't stand it.)

In the meantime, I'm working on some upcoming promotions and editing up the last few sessions on my hard drive. I mailed out the bulk of my wedding invites last week -- little kraft-coloured paper invites with chevron pockets, washi tape and seals & address labels designed by me. Our RSVP postcard featured a quote from "Home" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and our hotel and registry details were written on a die cut tag card in a shade from the wedding. Note to self : I need to photograph the remainder of those puppies.

I've been working on an epic book shoot the last month or so and alas, it's ended up getting canceled twice due to weather. Fingers crossed that our next reschedule doesn't get rained out. (Although, I must say, laying in bed reading Stephen King's '11/22/63' while the rain fell heavy outside my apartment window was pretty extra fantastic) Instead, I ended up doing an impromptu creative shoot of Mackenzie yesterday with help from Nicola and Ben. (Ben mostly slept and helped with the adorable aspect of the shoot.) I really had no idea what we were going to do until we found our shooting location, but Mackenzie had brought some dance clothes sooooo.... The end result is a kind of ...unsettling narrative about a dancer in an empty world.

Today I took much cheerier pictures with Cordelia and Jenelle -- a happy little picnic at the park. I'm editing for just a little longer, simultaneously playing episodes of 'Murder She Wrote'... (this show is so awful but somehow it's been playing in the background the last couple weeks.) Tomorrow it's adventures with Crystal, maybe starting out at Harvest Cafe downtown, a place on Mill Street we've all become hopelessly addicted to lately. (Today I got their Build A Bowl with peanut sauce... pretty much rocked my world.)

Beginning of July brings my final dress fitting (!), pretty nervous / excited. Can't believe how quickly time has flown since last August when Jamie proposed to me at the top of Rockefeller center the night Hurricane Irene hit. So dramatic!

Some photos from the last little while posted down below! As always, visit www.facebook.com/sarahisovereign/ for quicker updates. Happy Monday!

Awakenings Poster Shoot!

I've been super lax about updating this, so here I am updating my blog at 1 in the morning. The nice thing is is that the studio in our new apartment has a huge window right beside my computer, so I don't have to feel like a recluse while editing, and can sit here late at night and listen to the rain come down. So nice! Sunday was a fantastic day, most of it spent in the foresty goodness that is Chilliwack Lake.

On July 11 - 15 Bootstrap Theatre is presenting Awakenings and in keeping with the title theme, we brought a four poster bed out into the woods. Here are a couple of shots I'm currently messing around with, like the Sarah Sovereign Photography facebook page to see any new ones posted, or to see new creative shoots! {PS: How awesome is is the clothing?!}

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped, posed and/or braved the cold! Thank you to Becky for the use of her awesome four poster bed!

 

Session Packages & Packaging

 Your session package comes in a local handmade DVD pocket (Made by Georgia at The Swinky Binky!) with a session customized printed DVD, thank you note and complimentary fine art postcard.

Each pocket is unique and one of a kind! The blue on this one was chosen to match their wedding colour. {Psst: Have you liked the Sarah Sovereign Photography Facebook Page yet? Mosey on over -- this blog is now linked!} Off to scout locations for an upcoming shoot and enjoy this fantastic weather. Cloudy days with bursts of sunshine... pretty much my favourite weather ever.

When Books Attack

I've been meaning to post this for awhile! Recently The Book Man held a "When Books Attack" photo contest and asked me to submit an image. I took this picture last summer of Emily from Bootstrap Theatre for an impromptu "The Secret Garden" shoot {Hair & Make Up by Elizabeth Toney}, and then photographed books to float around her a la Hitchcock's The Birds. Eight hours later (!!!) this was the resulting image!

Investigated some deep and dark woods this evening with Jamie to scout a location for a shoot on Sunday... saw some eagles, took tons of pictures, and found a super dreamy spot. Can't wait! {Blog post to come!}

Scout Handmade & Vintage Market .... SWOON.

Jenelle and I went to Scout Handmade & Vintage Market today and pretty much swooned all over the place at all the awesomeness. Photo booth? Check. Macaroons? Aw yeah. Tiny vintage treasures that I need to plaster all over my apartment until Jamie says, NO! NO MORE! PLEASE! ... yep. I picked up some heart stickers from Delish General Store, as well as some yellow baker's twine, a gorgeous fabric necklace from Hello Fletcher (Jenelle got the matching bracelet!), tasted samples from Pinch & Pound and drooled over lavender cupcakes from Traceycakes. I also fell in love with one giant bag from Brown Bag Studio but couldn't grab it today. Luckily, she has an Etsy store!

Inside the market things were CROWDED, as people shimmied and excused themselves into corners full of sweet vintage goods. This is my only excuse as to why I managed to just snap one photo with my phone as we were heading on in. A photo booth (with a gorgeous citrus background!) was pinned up as soon as we came in and Jenelle and I are pretty much guaranteed to look ridiculous in every picture. Ahem, ridiculously awesome, aheheheh.


Check out the other fabulous vendors here.

Abandoned Places & Spaces

This past year I've visited a number of abandoned places and spaces. Some of them were completely forgotten, their histories unknown, the families that lived in them long gone. Others still were very close to my heart -- the abandoned house owned by my family for generations, where little boxes opened up to reveal pictures of me when I was a kid, a framed photo of my parent's wedding tucked into the woodshed, my great grandfather's half burned will. Here are a few of the abandoned places I've visited this year. Keep up to date on Sarah Sovereign Photography shoots, sales, events and creative opportunities by liking the Facebook page!

The Book Man Bookmarks

My super overdue post is about bookmarks for local awesome bookstore The Book Man. Amber requested some unique black and white bookmarks a couple of years ago, and after giving out the first 10 "Literary Ideas", I recently designed batches 11 - 20. You can snatch some of your own at the Book Man, located in historic downtown Chilliwack on Wellington and in Abbotsford in the lovely Little Oak Mall. Also say hi to Nietzsche, the bookstore's fluffy cat who will likely stare at you pointedly should you sit in his red armchair, or encourage you to give him many pets as you browse the aisles.

What are you reading lately? I have to admit, my reading pile has become steadily bigger since I started university. When I first moved to Masset I devoured everything on my bookshelf and high fived myself after making my way through books that had hung over my head for YEARS, but now-a-days, whenever I sit down to read I tend to think about other things I need to be doing. I've been devouring Smoke & Mirrors by Neil Gaiman these days, though.

PS: The bookmark featuring the tiny portrait character study was found tucked into a 1917 book of poetry found at The Book Man. Awesome.