A Dark Fable: Chilliwack Creative Portraiture

This Sunday I did a creative portraiture shoot based on a fairy tale narrative. These are my first quick edits, but I'll be taking a little more time and adding text, etc to them and eventually printing them as a mural or set of prints. This shoot was FREEZING COLD, and the poor models were real troopers, especially considering many of the costumes consisted of bodysuits and leggings only. The narrative is about two sisters who go walking in the woods together, and one sister is taken away by the faeries. There is an underlying subtext to the shoot, which is the idea of not being able to go home. It's a little melancholy, super creepy but also, so much fun. The two younger models were amazing!

We started at seven, which was great because it meant we wrapped just after 12 and everyone could go warm up. I will post more about the final narrative once it's complete!

Hair was done by the amazing Jennifer Ault, Make Up by the awesome Elizabeth Toney. Mackenzie's makeup for the final images was done by the lovely Audra Coton. Models were Audra Coton, Becky Carruthers, Emily Hamel and Mackenzie and Olivia O'Connal. Assistants were Jennifer Reichelt and Emily. Special thanks to Georgia Yost for constructing some of the wardrobe pieces.

New Packaging and Labeling!

I'm overhauling packaging {YAY!} at SSP! Check out this sneak peek of lovely handmade digital negative folders made of designer fabrics and pretty, printed DVD's. Fabric pockets are made with two different fabrics outside and in and are interlaced for a stiff sturdiness that will keep your digital negatives safe and secure. They will be available in March for your photo shoot pleasure ... Excite!

The next two weeks I'll be a little absent from the site as I make my way through midterms and the process of moving across town. I'm a little bummed about leaving my fantastic little neighbourhood and teeny tiny apartment, but the new place features TWO bathrooms and THREE bedrooms and it kind of makes my mind spin with possibilities of more furniture AND my very own office studio wherein I can actually organize my things instead of cramming them into filing cabinets and quickly slamming the drawer before anything spills out. I'm also finding consolation in the fact that I'll actually be pretty much the same physical distance from a coffee shop, so when I'm feeling really blue I can drag my feet towards a grande Americano. {Or feeling super happy or mad, sleepy, stressed, ecstatic and / or average. Any time really.}

Seriously though, this studio office has me high fiving myself all over the place. It's got a giant window, which is much different than my current apartment -- which has a window, but it's a window in the wall, which means instead of looking out into glorious sunshine I ... can watch Jamie play Battlefield in the living room. This is less fun. I've also got a china cabinet that's been sitting at my mom's for the last bit of forever and as soon as she heard we were getting a bigger apartment, it's the first thing she mentioned. I'm pretty sure she's going to Hulk out and pick up the thing herself and carry it the five blocks to our apartment if I don't pick it up soon. The plan for that? I'm going to paint it! I looked up this handy tutorial online and it looks like a bit of work, which is just fine because that freshly painted turquoise china cabinet is going to be a great place to house papers, markers, folders and other random office supplies. While I'm at it I'll also be stripping a cedar chest I inherited. Jamie wants to bring it back to it's original wood, I kind of want to paint it golden yellow. I may be fine with anything as long as he carries it up the four flights to our apartment. It's uh, it's going to be heavy.

I will post pictures as soon as we move in in a week! Although I'll be a little AWOL, I will always be checking my email and my phone is always available. Now back to packing the other 3/4's of our apartment... Yikes.

The Swinky Binky

My friend Georgia makes these adorable pacifier clips out of sturdy, fun designer fabric and I recently did a quick product shoot of them. You can find purchasing information at www.theswinkybinky.com, or they are also available at lellow downtown Chilliwack.

 

Engagement Session: Emily & Matt

Emily and Matt are such an awesome couple and they're getting married this year! Woo! We took these pictures at the lovely Heron Reserve during Snowstravaganza 2012.

Things I've been up to:

1. Planning A Dark Fable photo shoot for February 19th with local hair stylist Jennifer Ault, awesome make up artist Elizabeth Toney and the lovely Audra Coton.

2. MOVING. Which is super hard. SIGH. I have a lot of stuff. But! My new apartment has a bay window and more space and possibly, oh, I don't know... AN OFFICE WITH A WINDOW. SWOON.

3. Designing new DVD covers for my digital negatives! As well as collaborating with my super extra awesome friend Georgia on some new DVD slipcovers. Look for these in March!

Tomorrow I get to spend some much needed time with my nephew ... can't wait to take him to the park and see him go nuts on the slide. Hope your weekend is happy and full of the making of great memories.

Film School

Going through my archives I found some stills I took back in 2006 for Andrew Simpson's film Ils L'ont Pendu {link goes to the online short} and thought I'd post them. The part of Louis Riel is played by my former film school instructor. There are very few things that are more fun then banding together into the wee hours creating movies. The majority of these particular stills are from inside the house some scenes were shot in -- the filtered light was just so darn pretty.