my story.

I can’t help but love the fact that Victor has a new found love for the camera. In the eight years that I have know him I think I’ve seen him pick up an actual camera once… maybe twice – but then maybe he feels the same way about me making homemade pasta! 🙂

I wanted to share a couple favs that he has shot recently…

Below I’m teaching him about how to put subjects in shade and fun backdrops!

And then how quickly the light can change and you can have fun with it!

I’m always talking to him about “the details” and how you need them to tell the story. Here he said that he wanted to take a pic of me taking pics of the fish tank and also wanted to show the back of my new haircut! 🙂 cute.

This is after we came back from the hospital and also after my new haircut! He noticed that the sun had shifted and it was late in the day and he loved that we had taken a pic earlier and it was so different… now the sun is shining in on me and it’s beautifully dramatic… ta da!

Well… I just love, love, love this one for so many reasons. “Give me the big lens!!” Haha I have him learning on my fixed 35mm and 40mm lens because I always think that in the beginning it’s more important to move your body than to move your subjects or use a zoom lens – I feel like you get more out of the story this way, it’s old school and it has a different feel to the picture. I love my 85mm but it’s hard to use it with the kids because it’s not a fast lens. Here is a perfect example on how to use it… he’s learning quick!

This might be one of my favourite images of all. There are so many things that I love in this photograph and not just because it’s my daughter! ha She smells the flowers… so bear smells them too! Lately she has become a huge fan of “a bear!!” He doesn’t have a name… it’s just “a bear!” which I think is just as good. We got this stuffed bear when Charlotte was first born from Harold at Hidden Bench, it came with a cute child size Muskoka chair and lots of goodies for a newborn baby. Who knew…

Hard light and shadows. People are always so afraid to shoot kids in hard light, typically we seem them glowing or blown out like a perfect sears catalogue… although I love how we use our iphones for camera’s now because I feel like we have re-established just capturing moments… things aren’t so planned out and it makes it fun again – thank you apple for re-inventing the wheel. Now, if we could just create an app that would automatically print all of our iphone photos and send them to us monthly how nice would that be.

Portraits, the use of 85mm and Depth of Field. The question is… what does f/ 1.2 mean? Well it means that you better fucking make sure that the eyes are in focus. It also means… don’t EVER, ever EVER shoot family portraits on a wedding day at f/ 1.2. Seriously. NEVER … even if your Jose fucking Villa. (That’s for all my photo friends 🙂 )

Landscape and the day’s weather. I sometimes talk to Vic about making sure to get details of the surrounding landscape. When we travel we love to do this but when we live in the same city we pass by everything and don’t notice as much. So… I say remember to put on your “tourist hat” shoot like your telling the story to someone who doesn’t live here and wants to know what it looks like.

Understanding ISO, both for your subjects and for indoor/outdoor! We went to the zoo which is always a fun place to shoot and Vic quickly learnt that you have to remember to switch your ISO back because when your inside shooting the animals you need a high ISO and when your outside in the middle of the day with a shit tonne of sun you only require a low ISO unless your photographing the animals moving. “So many rules, so many things to remember!” 🙂

Me: “Vic… high ISO, underexpose for the Bats!!”

Lesson of the day – Get down to the same level as your subject. Many people take photos of their kids from standing up and one of the most interesting things you can do is get down on the ground and interact with them as if you were another child… it makes for way more candid images.

More details. 🙂 Char is always running too fast… I guess he thought it would be fun to get a nice close up of her “boo boo”.

Framing your subjects. “Babe! You don’t always have to have the subject perfectly in the middle… change it up a little!!!” So he did… and it’s awesome!

Rain and sunshine = the best combination! Have you ever heard a photographer say that they love it after it rains? There is no better light after a rain shower, it’s like a big beautiful softbox fills the sky and you get all these beautiful soft palettes that you wouldn’t get in any other situation. Here, Vic’s question was… how can I get it so that you can see the rain, it looks so beautiful right now… can we get that in camera? When it rains in the afternoon when the sun is dropping, it’s a beautiful thing because you can really see it and if you shoot correctly the images can be so dramatic. I told him to shoot into the light (which so many don’t ever want to do!) and you will get a nice backlit subject and underexpose to make sure you get the detail of the raindrops! In some of the photos it looks like it’s snowing. I think I was the only one that was wishing for rain on her wedding day because I know the light is so magical afterwards – but your never guaranteed that the rain will stop, I guess that’s the risk. Rain always brings an element to photographs that makes life a little more candid so I welcome it with open arms, after all you need a good rain shower to bring out the rainbows. 🙂

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Friend Portraits. You can never have enough of these but people always tend to set up the picture the wrong way!! Here we are just using the window light (the window is behind us and the subjects are facing the window) and we have little distraction in the background, the light is soft and even and it’s perfect for this kind of feel good image. Catherine loves the Vic photo project, stay tuned for some more from this session!

And then to change things up and show Vic the difference of using the light from the side… and being silly of course!

Repetition. He’s a chef so keeping things neat and in “order” comes natural to him so I find this image amazing because it’s probably not set up at all… it’s as Candid as Victor Barry is in his kitchen. ❤

Im feeling good today after round #2 of chemo, Dr. Murphy upped my anti-nausea medication this week in hopes that it will help me manage better with the nausea & anxiety that follows the tremendous waves of the nausea. So… Thank god for that! I’m pretty tired though and feeling very emotional today – perhaps it’s because I sent my blog out to some friends and family and now the reality of what is going on is a bit more real to know that your all reading and going through this with me. So… “Hello & thanks for visiting!”

Radiation is everyday Monday-Friday, the entire appointment from start to finish is around 30-45mins but the actual radiation therapy is about 10mins. The radiation therapists are extremely friendly and very interested in my well being everyday, they ask a series of questions that are the same everyday but strangely they ask them like its the first time, it’s sincere and honestly it matters. Hospital etiquette isn’t always the best, I’m sure we have all had our fair share of bad bedside manor – so I find myself feeling proud to live in city that has such amazing health care & compassionate people that truly make a difference. There are always sweet reminders in all of our days about the “little things” but may I suggest that we all dig a little deeper to remind ourselves to “pay attention”. It’s easy to say “put down the phone – pay attention!” But I’m suggesting something more… If your going to be on your phone (because let’s face it – phone, text usage isn’t going away) try to excuse yourself when your in company that isn’t on the phone, that’s a polite thing to do and it suggests that what your doing is of importance. Communicate. Seriously people, let’s just communicate. And let’s all remind ourselves that sometimes the best company and ways of communicating are in silence. Perhaps being a new mom has retaught me how to do this, I love newborns… They don’t talk they only require your full attention and every once of your love. It’s magical. There is nothing better than being with someone comfortably and know that you can enjoy one another’s company just by being there, and that’s coming from someone that talks a lot. 🙂 And… The next time you ask someone how there day is going, be prepared to listen and listen deeply. Make a point to stop, pay attention and make your company feel like they are the only priority in the world – it’s really the best gift you can give someone. I know it’s their job to ask me how I’m doing and go through the list of terrible side effects I’m about to experience but when they make eye contact with me, ask me how my well being is… Pause, wait patiently for my answers, listen deeply and smile gently – it makes me feel like “my story” is my own.

This is my view from radiation…