My Canada-The Maritimes Aug.2016-Peggy’s Cove
My husband Henry, and I decided to do a 2016 “Staycation” of sorts- Stay in Canada and appreciate the sights the Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and P.E.I. have to offer. We decided on a 2 week car trip spending a week in each province the last few of weeks of August. We flew to Halifax where we spent a night and then headed out around Nova Scotia. I thought I would share some of the highlights of our visit around the province beginning with our visit to well known Peggy’s Cove. We had a very EARLY start driving to the Cove. It was a misty, foggy, morning and I was just a little excited when we pulled into the cove around 7:45 a.m. It was pure magic- quiet- calm and blanketed in light fog and misting just ever so softly-exactly how I would imagine the ambience of a Cove on the Atlantic to be. I was actually surprised at how small it was with only a smattering of buildings! I also noticed the line of cars arriving shortly after us, so I jumped out the car, leaving Henry to park in the large parking lot at the entrance of the Cove and quickly set up to photograph the Cove and it’s buildings before other visitors arrived. As I was getting set up for the shot above and gleefully, silently, thanking my lucky starts for such a picture perfect weather related setting, another visitor with a camera popped up beside me and in all seriousness said, ” To bad it’s all misty and foggy, eh?” My eyebrows went up and I said ” You sir could not be any more wrong- this is absolute perfection!”
I worked my way up the road a bit toward the lighthouse and the docks and then noticed a small fishing boat with some people getting into a boat. I asked the owner where he was heading and he said “going to see Puffins and Seals!” I ran to a small road stand close by the docks and within a “Walter Mitty moment” , bought the last 2 seats on the tour. I had just enough time to run up the hill to the cafe washroom and back and then Henry and I got on the boat for the 2.5 hour trip on the Atlantic. Let me just say the Tour was 100% worth it but we should have had put a bit more thought into the decision and prepared.
Mistake #1 -I have “sea legs”-Henry not so much. He was quite sick by hour 2, and moved to sit downwind at the back of the boat. We should have brought the Gravol medication for him. Mistake #2 -the sides of the boat were open and it was misty and foggy travelling on the Ocean that early morning-10 min. into the trip-our head and clothes were drenched with sea salt spray. Haha -you couldn’t even run your fingers through the hair afterward, we should have worn a rain jacket of some sort and something to offer a bit of warmth and protection instead of our summer attire.
That said, I still stand by the decision as being well worth it. WOW the view back on the Cove from the boat was amazing and I loved being able to photograph the lighthouse in the mist from the boat! We made it to Pearl Island, a bird sanctuary, where we saw some Puffins and other birds. We then drove a few more minutes when the driver turned off the boat. We idled a few min., the mist cleared a bit and then we saw them!! A line of curious seals with their heads just above the water looking at us. It was one of those once in a life time experiences-and yes- even seasick Henry was struck by the wonder of it all. Here are just a few images from the Cove . Hope you enjoy! Please feel free to follow the blog if you are considering a trip there in the future-I will be posting a lot more of our adventures in the Maritimes!
Calving Season
I was working on a Commercial assignment at a colleague’s studio in February and the conversation came up about work and he asked me, “What have you shot for yourself lately? ” Silence. Then I found/heard myself trying to rationalize out loud my lack of self indulgent photography, with excuses of my busy clientele schedule. It sounded lame. I knew I had to get on it. I knew I needed a new subject to point my lens at and to get me challenged, but to also just enjoy on a personal level.
An idea came to mind. I had spoken to a previous client, Keri , a Vet from Ashern, MB last year about coming out to experience calving season, but just never got around to it. My friend Kat and I decide to make a date to drive out to the town and spend a day with Keri and experience calving season this year. It ended up being one of the most fun filled days I’ll remember for years to come!
We started our day with watching Keri’s Dog enjoy “ditch fishing”. Yep- who knew the fish hang out in the ditches in the spring from the Lake? (Not this city slicker.) It was so much fun to watch her dog go bounding into and through the ditches in pursuit of the fish- The cold and ice, not hindering his joyful efforts! He ran, leaped and shook himself off and did this repeatedly. Eventually we tucked the wet dog into the back of the truck with my friend Kat (lol) and then went to Keri’s Farm to spend sometime with her horses. Keri let the horses out of the pen and they trotted around us. I don’t know if it is just me being a “city slicker” but hearing/feeling the thudding hoofs and seeing these massive animals whipping around us, put me in a slightly awed/unnerved state. I got over that quick enough to make sure I was getting some shots of these beauties.
Then it was off to the Farm to see some of the new born calves. We arrived and I stepped out of the truck into… well, lets just say the ground was very ummmm wet. I was glad for my newly purchased black shiny rubber boots, made upon deciding on the trip. Keri told me the new calves were closer to the back of the pens with their moms. Yep-that would be, right trough the biggest puddle of….. Lets just say I was EXTREMELY grateful for no holes in the new boots!! It was a risk- carrying my gear around my neck, one little slip on the muck and into the puddle and good- bye camera. It was a risk worth taking- we got to the back and I was so amazed by all the beautiful newborn calves-some as recent as 1/2 hour old. I got some looks from the moms in the pen, but tried to stay quiet and calm and carefully raised the camera up slowly so not to scare any one of them. An experience I will never forget. Then we went into the barn where there were a couple of orphaned calves a day old. Kat fed one with a gigantic bottle and I fell in love with a beautiful red/brown calf with beautiful curly hair. It followed me around and then I thought I would see if it wanted to play. I pranced up and down beside it and then it too started to prance in a playful way. I burst out laughing-The sight of a calf prancing is absolutely, heartwarmingly, adorable.
A huge Thank-you to Keri for her hospitality on a most perfect Day. Please enjoy just a few of the images captured during this wonderful Day. Looking forward to sharing with you more images of my personal projects and days in the very near future! 
D&R Family Fall Session
Blog 14 of 14 in a row! Wow-So good to have a project completed! I have to say, it’s been a great review of the last part of the year for me, going back through the images. The blogging will continue into the New Year-I’m thinking now of doing a “Cradle roll” of all the Newborns I’ve had the opportunity to photograph in 2014. Stay tuned! 🙂
I had not seen D&R in a couple of years for a photo session – the last time we were together I was photographing them and their newly adopted son. So I was thrilled to hear from them again this year with the great news that they had adopted a second son and would like to do a photo session! 🙂 I just loved spending time with the Family at Kings Park- We had a lot of Fun playing in the leaves and enjoying the beautiful colours of the season! I could just sense and see the love among them and the images are evidence of that! Here are just a few of the images captured that day. Enjoy!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Everyone!!! Hope today finds you enjoying some relaxing memorable times with loved ones! I just had to share this post today as it involves some images of the man in red! Okay-I guess there were two men in red for this one- LOL! I’ve really enjoyed my time with this family over the past year also capturing images of Joey in his first year! He “rocked” the session -just check out that gorgeous smile! I know his parents will be enjoying their first Christmas with him this morning!
It’s Christmas Eve!
Its Christmas Eve!!! I can’t believe how this year has flown by! Hopefully all presents are wrapped, gatherings planned and you’re finding some time just to enjoy the next couple of days with friends or family!
Nov. was a bustle with holiday portrait sessions in the studio. I’ve had a wonderful time photographing this family over the years and a few more times this year as we captured Baby Amelia growing up in her first year! Little Derek had a wish to do this years Family Christmas photos in pj’s! Why not! So we made that happen in the studio and had a really fun time creating some unique images. (Great idea Derek!) Here are just a few of the images we captured at their session. P.S.-Don’t forget to leave cookies out for Santa tonight! 🙂
Maternity and Newborn combo
Wow- this has been quite the Newborn year!! One of the pleasures of my job is to photograph glowing moms to be and then their Newborn babies. I started offering combination Specials for a Maternity and a Newborn session this past year. I love getting to see clients twice in a span of a couple of months and sharing in their anticipation as well as meeting the end result! 🙂 Gisele was one of those clients. I was introduced to her through my friend Kat who shares Gisele’s passion for dogs. I fell in love with her amazingly well trained dog “Shine” who I had the opportunity to dogsit for a bit. So of course we had to have a bit of fun with her Maternity session including her dogs as well as the Family! Here are just a few of the images we captured at the Maternity session at her home and a few from our session in the studio once her son was born. Congrats go out to her and her Family on the birth of their Son!
Comedy Night
I love photographing events! This one in particular was a highlight for me this year. The Manitoba Children’s Museum hosted an amazing fundraising adult comedy Night in September. Here is a great link to an article on the Museum’s Adult Series and the reason the funds are being raised. (Click Here). I have to say, it just may have been one of the hardest events for me to photograph! I was so busy laughing it was hard to hold the camera steady to take a picture! LOL! I actually had to force myself not to listen so I could take a shot! Performing that evening were 3 amazing acts- Comedian Matt Falk, Chris Funk The Wonderist and Comedian Big Daddy Tazz (Below: left to right). Enjoy just a few images captured from the evenings performances.
Flower project week 6
I dragged my husband out of the house early this morning. I know it is the Easter long weekend and I really should be letting him sleep in but I wanted to show him the beautiful display of Spring flowers at the Conservatory. We got there just after it opened and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was heavenly to sit on a bench in the warmth of the building and enjoy the rays of sun pouring down on us from the sky lights while listening to the relaxing gurgle of the water fountain. I think Henry enjoyed my assignment destination as much as I did this week ! There were so many varieties of flowers in bloom! Please enjoy just a few of the many there. This project is not only working well to polish up the photography techniques but it is becoming a great way to get out to see the displays around the city and meet new people as well!
Happy Easter!
Flower Project week 5
Just getting this weeks project in “under the wire”. It has been an incredibly busy portrait week-and finding time to find a flower and photograph it was a bit difficult to do. To be honest I really didn’t even feel like doing the project this week. It was hard to find that burst of energy both physically and mentally to get the job done. So therein lay my challenge this week- getting the photography job done and just pushing a little harder to accomplish the task when I don’t always feel like it.
Perhaps my lacklustre mental energy is due to the fact that the weather is still …still… still.. HORRID. Snow and cold temps still remain.
To add a little perspective and insult to injury- I went downtown yesterday morning for an outdoor photography session with a Family-One of the streets was closed off and made to look like a Christmas Fest including mounds of snow, twinkling lights and blown up inflatable Santas (lol-only in Winnipeg in the middle of April can you make it look like Dec. !) and then just before my session began -yes, you guessed it-It started to sleet and then snow!!!! I’m sure the movie people were ecstatically gleeful with the weather pattern!! Me and my clients-not so much… 😦
So hence I can’t help but feel a little BLUE!! I think that’s what drew me to this lovely Hydrangea Plant at the store-it had multiple hues of amazing blue, purple and pink tones. It just enticed me to want to capture those wonderful hues with my camera.
Here’s hoping next week finds us in warmer temps! I’m thinking I might have to go in search of a “tropical” subject for next weeks flower assignment…
KEEPhoto Spring Pet Portraits
Kat Dueck of “a Pawsitive Image” and I joined forces again (Under our KEEPhoto banner) to shoot Spring themed pet portraits at The Pawsh Dog Wellness Centre. We just completed these sessions – and had a fun weekend of meeting some amazing dogs and their owners.
Here is just a sampling of the weekend for you to enjoy.
Flower Project week 4: Zoom colour blast
Winter continues on here in Winnipeg. I should be grateful that we were spared the blizzard that our neighbours to the south in Fargo and Minneapolis, received a couple of days ago. But I felt a sense of desperation yesterday as I watched the weather person on T.V. try to sound ridiculously upbeat as she shared the forecast of -17 C as our high, ” a couple of degrees warmer than yesterday! ” she announced. G-R-E-A-T. The snow banks, although a little reduced, are now black with dirt and the city seems so devoid of colour. And today it SNOWED all day long. 😦 Fighting hard to make it through this. So, this weeks flower project has me searching out much needed colour and fun. I put together my favourite colour silk scarf from Anthropologie, a bunch of red tulips from Costco and a fav. metal piece of art in my home. Took those and a fun Zoom technique with my 24-105mm lens to see what the lens would capture! A Blast of colours appeared and it did my heart good just to spend the 20 min. basking in the colourful hues. Hope you enjoy the bright blast as well!
A sneak peek at my set-up above.
Juno Weekend! It is the Junior Juno’s!
Above: Juno Award winner Helen Austin for Children’s Album of the Year, for her album “Colour It”.
Winnipeg was “a buzz” with the Junos in town this weekend! The Manitoba Children’s Museum’s Junior Junos Event on Sat. morning was the place to be to catch fun and lively musical performances of the Nominees for Children’s Album of the Year.
It was a sold out event and the Concert had children and parents dancing to the music of the Nominees as well as a performance from past Juno Award Winner Fred Penner. Sean Hogan (of “Seanster and the Monsters”) was the Emcee for the event and Mr. Potato Head made a guest appearance as well.
Juno Nominees left to right: Marie Claude, Helen Austin, Fred Penner (Guest Juno winner), Sean Hogan (Emcee) , Charlie Hope Little, Garry Rasberry (Missing: Splash’N Boots.)
Some Fans arrived with signs waiting for their Favourite performers.
Above: Gary Rasberry Performs with some of the other Nominees.
Emcee Sean Hogan helps out Charlie Hope Little with puppets on a song.
Above: Marie Claude performs a song about baking.
Splash’N Boots perform a high energy set to young fans in the crowd.
Juno Award Winner Fred Penner above performs a few song favourites-“The Cat Came Back” was a definite crowd pleaser!
Chocolate -Irish Cream Cheescake
Somethings are just to good to keep for yourself. And so I’m finding myself needing to share this amazing Better Homes and Garden’s Chocolate-Irish Cream Cheesecake recipe (slightly modified) that I made the other day for a friends get together for St. Patricks Day. A Chocolate and Cheesecake lovers must try!!! 🙂
CRUST:
1 1/2 cups Oreo Baking crumbs (you may use finely crushed chocolate wafers approx. 18 cookies)
6 Tablespoons butter melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Combine ingredients toss gently with a fork press into the bottom of a Springform Pan slightly up the sides. Set aside.
FILLING:
3 8 ounce packages cream cheese softened
1 8 ounce carton sur cream
1 cup sugar
1 8 ounce package semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
3 eggs
1/2 cup Baileys Irish cream liqueur
2 tablespoons milk (You may use cream)
2 teaspoons vanilla
In a large bowl, combine sour cream, cream cheese, sugar and slightly cooled chocolate with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Use a wooden spoon to stir in and combine eggs. Stir in liqueur, milk and vanilla.
Pour filling into the crust lined pan. Bake for 50-60 min. or until centre appears nearly set when shaken.
Cool for 15 min. Use a sharp knife to loosen sides from pan. cool for 1 hour and chill for a min. 6 hours.
TOPPING: (Modified cause my cheesecakes always seem to crack and I needed it to look amazing :-))
1 cup almonds slightly baked in oven.
1/2 cup cream heated on stove.
1 Cup Chocolate chips.
Pour heated cream over chips in a bowl and let stand until melted. Stir. Add chips till desired consistency. Drizzle over cheesecake top with a tablespoon using a grid type pattern.
Add almonds to the top of the chocolate.
Enjoy!!
Congratulations Laurel!
Congratulations go out to Laurel on her nomination for the Women’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Laurel owns and runs Winnipeg business The Pawsh Dog , The Pawsh Dog Taylor and The Pawsh Dog Wellness Centre. (Click on the links to check it out!)
It was a super fun session creating a headshot for her nomination. Best wishes to you Laurel!
Flower project week 2: window backdrop
“Floating” Phalaenopsis Orchids. 1/125 sec. f8 ISO 400 100 mm Canon EOS 5D Mark 11 Flash used.
Happy First Day of Spring! I wish I had better news “weather wise” since last weeks post. Unfortunately homes and businesses with frozen water lines in Winnipeg have increased to over 1000 and yes we had 2 more snow falls and are expecting more this evening and wind chills tomorrow of -27 C. UGGGGGGG!!!! And so I find myself in week 2 -fighting the winter blues with “flower power”. It appears the movement may be catching on and people may literally be “buying” into the whole concept! I told my friend Marilyn yesterday of my flower photography challenge. She promptly said she has been meaning to get an Orchid from Costco to have in her house-and so we spent the afternoon picking one out. She told me to photograph it and when I was done to drop it by. (How awesome is that!!!) So I got home and then had to come up with a concept or challenge to use with this beautiful plant.
Oh yes, the ironic part of me took over ( 🙂 ) as I glanced out the front window and noticed the snow was now above the window sill. (that would mean the snow is well over 4 ft deep.) I thought to myself “of what good use can all that snow possibly be??” Then I thought, HUMMMMM… Hello backdrop. So I positioned the plant in the front window and spent a good 20 min. and 100 images later exploring the plant, the light and working to refine my fill flash technique. The plant details were just so amazing with it’s colouring and markings!!! So beautiful! Don’t worry all you plant lovers out there-I didn’t remove the flowers from their stem-just a little photoshop magic to make them appear to be floating in the snowy light backdrop created outside my front window.
Hope you enjoy! I’m already planning for next weeks flower challenge! Looking forward to sharing it with you.
1/200 sec. f10 100 mm ISO400 flash used.
Flower Project -Week1: Bulbs on my dining room table.
This winter has been with out a doubt the longest hardest/coldest that I can remember. Already over 900 homes in Winnipeg have frozen water lines and snow banks have reached astranomical heights. Spring/thaw they are telling us is going to be June. 😦
I just got home from WPPI Photography conference in Vegas and am grateful for the 5 day reprieve I was able to enjoy from the snow mounds and harsh temps. The Conference was awesome. I came home inspired to create and revisit the basics and fundamentals in my photography. I took wonderful courses in Wedding as well as Lighting and Cropping, Composition and Creativity. All this information worked together to get me stimulated to try new things and refine the skills I already have. This led me to think about creating a project for myself that will not only help me deal with the weather 🙂 but also hone in on my photography skills.
I love Gardening and Flowers. Well let me rephrase that -Flowers bring me happiness- gardening not so much since I need to deal with weeds, but ultimately, when the blooms do come, I find my happiness there as well! I didn’t have time last year in-between all the weddings to even enjoy my garden. This year I’m choosing to create a balance in my life with my hobbies and my photography work. Who says I can’t combine the two! So I decided to create a once a week flower photography project! It’s a win win situation! My home will be graced with a bright spot of colour from blooms each week till I see the blooms appear in my Garden-making for a much happier me! My goal is to create unique images each week working on different lighting, backdrops, flowers, lenses etc.
This weeks project was a potted bulb creation I picked up at Sobey’s for $2.50. I put it in one spot on my dining room table. Using window light and my 100mm lens I moved around it to create different looks by using light and focusing on creating a strong colour composition. It truly is amazing how an object /image/background can look so different just based on the light and the photographer’s position. Here are just a couple of my favorite images from the session.
Please enjoy the flower images as they appear weekly on the blog. Oh yes, and wishing you an early Spring! 🙂
New Website!
Looking towards the future! Photo credit: Katy Winterflood
Happy Anniversary! Going into my 5th year of my dream job-full time photography! I’m looking forward to this year- focused on 2 major goals. I’m happy to announce goal #1 was completed last week!! It’s not easy- but change is good. I’ve know for the last couple of years that my Website needed to be updated…no, needed to be revamped! I began work on my new Website back in November. After finding a new template that would bring me into 2014 with iPad & iPhone compatibility, I was left with the daunting task of choosing my images from thousands to represent my photography on the site.
Let’s face it-I ‘m terrible at that! I fall in serious like with all my clients and it’s hard to detach emotion or memories from the images. Special thanks go out to my mentor Cory Aronec for going through the images and helping with the selections and flow of the site. Next came the task of updating my head shot and thanks go out to the talented photographer Katy Winterflood and assistant Jules Joyal who helped capture my personality and create images that would work with the feel of the site. Out in the woods, snow just starting to fall around us-she braved the temps. for a full hour putting me at ease in front of her lens.
After putting the site together I was left wondering what to do about music. I wanted visitors to the site to get a full understanding of me and my work- I LOVE life, people, colour and photography.
Good thing for Facebook. Just as I was completeing my site I saw a post by an aquintance in Alberta who posted a song review by Ryan Seacrest of a friend of his from California . The song was entitled “Color” by Sara Oliveira. I could not believe how perfect the lyrics were and I sent her a FB message and we started correspondence on working out the details to use her song on the site. She is an amazing talent with a beautiful voice!! Check out her bio and links to social media here: Sara Oliveira. Thank-you Sara for the wonderful song with its beautiful lyrics that make the site complete.
I hope you enjoy the site- I’d love to have you check it out here!
As for Goal #2 that’s coming up in a couple of weeks! You’ll just have to wait for it! 🙂
Ebonie K Photography 