If you had an extra 60 minutes a day......

With less than one month until Christmas comes the time where we are pulled into various directions.  Of course we have the normal committments - work, kids, our partners and friends but then throw in Christmas.  For some it is a wonderful magical time but for others it just adds onto the already large "to do" list.

I read an interesting magazine article that had a survey.  It was what would you do if you had an extra hour a day.   You could do WHATEVER you wanted.  Not what you think you should do but you would want to do.  The answers were so interesting.   So what would you do?

I think as a full time working mother, wife and then having a Photography business as well, I do not have enough time in the day for them, for my friends, for anyone.   I'm not alone in the boat where you feel that you are stretched from one edge to the other and the simpliest thing, that one added task, makes you feel like your walls will fall?

An extra hour....well I do have a best friend that I don't get to spend nearly enough time with.  It doesn't help that she lives an hour away.  Would be nice to "bank"those hours and spend a bit more time with her.   An hour to be with my teenager without the teenage angst would be heavenly.   An hour with my husband without the remote, without me being so busy that I have no time for him, would hopefully help bring back that spark of years ago.  An hour to spend with my friend and our cameras....never enough time with that but always so fun. Maybe an hour to spend actually hearing instead of just listening.  An hour to learn something new about a co-worker or a neighbour.    An hour.....doesn't seem much but then again seems like so much. 

Maybe my goal this weekend I am going to try and hour in amongst the million and ten things I need to do, the shoots I need to do, the edits I have, the deadlines, the grocery shopping and the ever ending helps of laundry.  I may blast my stereo and dance like a mad woman.  I may just sit and cry for the ones I have lost.  I may go to the my favourite store or I may just sleep.....that extra hour would be nice.

Our other babies....our "fur babies

It's been a while since my last post.  Not like I have a problem talking.  I love to talk.  Perhaps my down fall.  I have been busy with shoots which is not that hard to understand due to the time of the year.  Everyone wants their family pictures and some pics to send with Christmas cards.

It has been a rough year for me and my family.   On Decembetr 20th 2009 we lost our beloved dog Lucky.  For us pets aren't just "pets".   Something just to feed and water and let in and out of the house.  Pets are our "fur babies".  Part of the family.   It hasn't been the same since our 130 pound big wonderful loving "Woobie"as we liked to call him left us.  The house was quiet and of course it was if you don't have a 130 pound "lap dog".   He loved to think he was small and could fit in your lap and trust me he tried any chance he could.  He had to have his "bickie"aka dog bone at 8:00 every night and would literally huff it was late.  No the house wasn't the same.   Unfortunately either was our cat K.C.  

K.C. stopped sleeping with me.   She was a few years shy of 20 when Lucky died and had Lucky around for nearly a decade.  She would torment him and chase him (please note K.C. was only 7 pounds maybe at her heaviest) but they were buds.   She never got over his death.  No one did.

We expected K.C. to leave us sooner considering her age.   Yes indoor cats live longer but nearly 20 was a pretty amazing amount of years.   Part of her died that December 20th.  She lost her beloved Lucky.  We all did.

I worried about her every day when I would come home from work.  My worst fear that I would come home and find her dead.   She plugged along.   She got skinnier, a feat we didn't think was possible, and was still active.  Her hearing went, her kidneys started to go but she was still our pain in the butt, lap snuggling, purring monster.

On Thursday, November 18th 2010 I had to put my sweet K.C. down.   She was 20 years old....on Valentine's Day she would have been 21.   I had her since she was 6 weeks old.  She knew all my secrets.  She was there with me when I had no one.   I loved her so much.   She went blind Thursday night suddenly.  When I got home she could not walk.  She was dying in front of me.   We took her to the emergency clinic to give her dignity.   She was freaking out as she could not hear and could now not see.  She could only smell me.  She knew I was there as I held her the 30 minute car ride to the vet.  She knew it was me when I held her in my arms as they gave her needles.  She died in my arms.  My heart is broken."

The house was not the same with Lucky gone.  Now with my sweet K.C. gone the house is so quiet.  The grumblings and complaints of a teenager cannot even make up for the silence.  The only sound I hear is my heart breaking.

So for some pets are just that....pets.  For some our pets are our babies.   They make you laugh, they make you cry, they comfort you, they love you and they break your heart when they leave.

I will never forget my sweet boy Lucky or my little K.C.   Thank goodness for memories....and my photographs.  I can look back at her when she was healthy and active......I will always have my memories.

The dreaded "C" word

I wish I had more photographs of a lot of things.  I wish I had more of some certain people who unfortunately have succumbed to the dreaded "c" word....cancer.  Some can beat it - I know a sweet little girl just starting school who has.  A dear friend has managed to drop kick cancer right on its butt.    Met someone last night at the coffee shop I frequent who had cancer when she was 12 and now is going school to be a Child Oncologist.  I have lost a woman that was like a mother to me to cancer, another friend I had known for years to breast cancer and most recently my sweet amazing friend in May.   Why this topic?  Why so down at the beginning of a long weekend?  A weekend to be spent celebrating Thanksgiving?   Don't get me wrong.  I am thankful.  I have a  wonderful family - which includes my daughter and husband, parents, sister and also my friends who are also my "family".   I have the privilege of owning my own home, health, love and laughter.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Someone I know is expecting his first baby.  He is excited.  Next month he will be a new Daddy!  His partner is fighting for her life.  She has cancer.  The cancer was under control - or so they thought.  It is back with a vengence.  As they bring their new baby into the world she will have to start aggressive forms of cancer treatments in order to survive to see her child's firsts.  Every child should grow into an adult.  Every adult should have the chance to be a parent.   I don't understand why this has to happen?   I can only hope there are enough memories to be shared and photographs to show....just in case.   I am thankful.  I have lots.  I am heartbroken.  Some don't have so much to be thankful for.   Hug the ones you are thankful for.  Tell people you love them.  Make yourself some memories to last a lifetime....because we don't know how long that lifetime will be.

Concert memories

Ever been to a concert that will forever stay in your mind?   I think we have all been to a few that were the "best ever".   I think with all that I have seen - from my teenage "crush" Bon Jovi, to the Beach Boys (okay dating myself), to Rod Stewart, Def Leppard.....and now to my fav new genre country.  Johnny Reid...melts me.   Keith Urban amazing.  I could go on but my best memory was Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.  Made the journey to Seattle.  My best friend managed to get tickets at the last minute and there was no time for built up pent up excitement it was you're leaving work early and going to Seattle.  No cameras allowed (hmmm people sure did bring them) so I was stuck with my cell phone and as this was a few years ago now, the cell phones weren't as good as they are now.   The pictures aren't great but the memories are.   Gotta love those memories.   So thanks to my best friend for the tickets.  Thanks to Tim and Faith for putting on a never to forget show and thanks for that cell phone with the crappy camera....because at least I have something.

If you were given just one day...........

I lost a friend after a horrible 13 month battle with cancer in May.   I miss her more than words can say.   I miss her more than I would have thought.   I keep wanting to pick up the phone and talk with her.   I would call her on my lunch break and see how the treatments were going, how was she coping and most importantly to tell her that I loved her.

I had the honour and privilege of doing a shoot with her.  She wanted to surprise her man with pictures for Christmas.  It was a secret and our shoot date was a secret then the picking of the images she wanted to help me have her get printed were a secret then she did the big reveal at Christmas.  How would I have known that a year after that shoot that cancer would have so rudely and harshly invaded her body?  How would I have known that those pictures are the last ones of her healthy and happy and full of life?   Yes we have some pictures after - taken at a surprise birthday party given for her and random ones here and there - mostly in the hospital - but those ones aren't the same.

My question is if you were given just one day.....one day back with someone you have lost due to death, a fight, a move, what have you what would you do?  Losing her has taught me to take my camera, capture those memories because on a day that you miss her so much your heart feels like it is going to break, you can look at the pictures, grab the memories and smile.   Tears are shed indeed but I have those memories.  I will have those memories that help erase the way she was at the end....I can now remember more how she was and always will be....beautiful, vibrant and amazing.

I will forever love and miss you my friend.  Until we meet again.

Camera in hand - what captures your attention?

I love people. I love capturing their smiles, laughs, their beauty....everything. 

What captures your eye when you pick up a camera?   I'm so used to doing people photography.  I get paid to take pictures of people.  Haven't had anyone come up and tell me they'll compensate me for taking the "just right" picture of a leaf or a flower so I gravitate towards people.   Must say it is my favourite thing to shoot.  People come in all sizes, shapes, so many different personalities and such, different styles to capture.

I went out just a few weeks ago with the camera and my best friend in tow.   Not a lot of time to go out.  Nothnig planned.  Just in the car we went and headed to the country (for where I live is just over the freeway and boom you are there)....so we didn't go far but saw a lot.   It was amazing to see what she "saw" vs. what I "saw".  We both ended up at the same field but what each of us managed to see through the camera is what amazed me.   I focused on this fence and tree....she tipped her camera up and caught the top of the trees but she saw the sky with the fluffy clouds.  Nearly the same spot but we saw something totally different.

Take a minute today - find the time - look around you and see all that you can see.  Look past what you immediately see and see past that to what others may see.  Might not be rain you see when you look a bit further but maybe a pretty tree, drops hitting a puddle.  Who knows.  Time to look past what we first see.

Ever feel akward and so out of place?

This weekend was a sad one.    It was unfortunately the anniversary of the death of a woman who I loved like a Mother.  Who I had the honour and priviledge of calling "Mom".  The day was bittersweet.   So after wiping up my tears I ventured out to do what makes me feel better - head out with my camera.  Now on days like this when I don't have any paying customers or willing "volunteers", my daughter is my human guinea pig.   She is my model and muse.  So off we went.   She is a beautiful young girl so capturing the beauty of her is easy.

Now comes the akward and out of place time.....we had a lot of social activites this weekend.   We were at one this weekend where I have never felt so out of place.   One would figure as you get older that social situations with a bunch of strangers would get easier.  I am an outgoing person - I talk to anyone and everyone wherever I go but at this particular event I felt out of place.  We weren't "one of them".  

So what makes me feel better when I feel out of sorts?  Depressed?  Not included?  Just not myself?  Photographs.   I sat down with my laptop and I edited pictures.  That makes me happy. 

I still shed some tears before bed for missing my "other Mom", I still felt like an "outsider" with the one event we attended, I appreciated the others we went to but more importantly I got out with my camera.   I spent my not feeling good time working on pics so I went to sleep happy.  Photography makes me happy.

What do memories mean to you?

What does the term "memories" mean to you?   The dictionary has one definition of memories as "the length of time over which recollection extends".   I don't know about you but as each year goes by and I get older, life gets busier and crazier.....well my mind is fading and the old memory isn't what it used to be.   Thank goodness for photographs.   Somehow when I look over old albums and see the pictures starting back at me it brings back the moment - you remember details that you thought you had forgot, it puts a smile on your face as you look back at the crazy, tender, loving or funny memories that were captured.

I didn't get the big fancy wedding.  The photos I do have from my wedding were from a friend who was a "professional".........I had a big whopping 24 photographs (this is back in the day of rolls of film not the fun and ease of digital media).  Out of the 24 I have 2 pictures that I have framed.  Two.  I don't think any bride should have two photographs from one of the most important days of their lives.  

I'm a Mother.  I was blessed with one gorgeous (albeit now a teenager) daughter.   The memories of her being so little are fading.  The toothless grin, the first time riding her bike, the first day of school are all but a memory replaced with the ever growing, ever changing young woman that blesses our lives.  

I want to be there for you as a "memory catcher".  The one that captures those special times - your engagement, your wedding, your blossoming belly, the delights of the new babies, your children as they grow, their grads, the photographs to capture the "just because" moments. 

Digital photography is growing an amazing speed. You no longer have to worry about the cost of buying film and the development charges.   Get yourself a digital camera and a memory card and away you go.   Unfortunately with this new found technology comes the "oh my Aunt has a digital camera she'll take our wedding pictures" or "my camera will work for my newborn's pictures".   You may luck out.  You may not.   Let the professionals catch the memories to cherish for always and forever.  I'm not saying don't pick up your camera and take pictures, get the goofy grins, the laughs the fun......let the people, like myself, who live to capture the moments grab them for you forever.

Thanks for listening!