I’m also putting together my very first true Newsletter! What out for that in the coming weeks! I ran a couple specials over the holiday, a boxing day/week thing. One was for past clients and the other for potential new clients. Here they are. If you fall into either category, call or email before midnight today!

http://mim.io/dd8122 & http://mim.io/4f7022

Well, first of all, WHY hadn’t I heard of him before??? Probably because I hadn’t yet joined the PPOC (currently an observer level member) nor was I also on DWF (The Digital Wedding *and Portrait* Forum), where apparently he is talked about on several threads! Off I went to check out his website and search on DWF for more information about him. Wow, the reviews and comments I found were, of themselves, very convincing! Then I listened to his videos… Himself, sitting in front of a very streamlined looking computer setup, white background, no fuss, no muss, just telling it like he sees it, all about photography and Photoshop. I was sold at that point already.

Of course, being that I never (or at least try not to too often!) take a decision without tangible opinions, I asked a fellow DWF member & Montrealer what she thought of his seminar and she was gushing over it.

So, Thursday, September 22th & Friday, September 23rd, I will be attending this FABULOUS seminar and hopefully I’ll be able to inhale as much information as I can and further my craft as well as my editing process. If I can spend less time sitting at the computer and more time either shooting or with my family, then that is money well spent any day!

I still had a grand time and captured what I hope are some timeless memories for the newlywed couple.

Well, not exactly right at that moment, but as the months passed and the date loomed closer, I decided we both needed to get a first session together under our belt so that we both got an idea of how to interact with each other. Insert engagement shoot here! Actually, these sessions are twofold. First, they let the couple have romantic imagery of themselves together without all the hoopla surrounding the wedding day, as well as the stress that goes with it! Secondly, it is the perfect time to gauge each other’s wants and needs so that the day of, the photog can have a better understanding of what they might do before they do it and also, the clients get a chance to know how their photographer works and what he expects of them at certain moments. It really is a win win

So, I proposed one and they accepted heartily! We had a blast, I got a chance to try out new techniques and they ended up with a great portrait to have for their signing mat at the reception!

Now, in all that time, there has also been many hardships, although I like to think not as much as there has been joy. Many of these good friends, from here and around the world, have lost their children before they could see the light of day. Those are very dark days for all of us who call that woman friend.

But sometimes, a ray of light shines on one of them and they are spared that hardship this time around.

This session had FINALLY been schedule, after playing tango with different dates, colds, appointments, emails, voicemails… The evening before the shoot, she calls me. She’s in the hospital. Her 39.5 week baby girl has flipped feet first onto her cervix and the painful pressure could very likely cause labor requiring a C-section as feet first just doesn’t work. After thinking things over for a few minutes, I decided this was too important to her (we’d been talking about it forever!) to NOT do. So calling her back, I told her I’d be there in the morning for an impromptu photo shoot, right there in her hospital room. I even called the hospital to check that everything was ok before calling her back. Front desk even remembered her coming in as a 39 weeker flipping after being head down is a very rare occurrence indeed!

So right there, in her shared hospital room, just before “the” Doc was due to come and *flip* baby girl, we had her maternity session.

Stay tuned for the second chapter of this adventure…

And it made my day, my week, my month. Made my face hurt I smiled so much! As I walked into a hardware store, I couldn’t help but wonder why no one else was smiling as broadly! Why wasn’t anyone pointing it out to their kids, looking at it in awe. I just wanted to stand there and stare at it until it faded. It lasted for over a half hour, easy. It was still there when I came out of the first store. If I could see a rainbow like that everyday, life would be that much sweeter. Now, the sad part, I had NO CAMERA ON ME! Not even my phone!! But the image is imprinted on my retina and I will hold onto it for as long as I can. Hopefully, next time such a beautiful thing is laid in front of my eyes, I will have the means to still that image forever, to enjoy for a lifetime.

However, I do have many other beautiful images to share and will do just that in the next few posts!

Her last weeks of life were not the easiest, both for her and us. She experienced a stroke that left her partially paralyzed and very weak. We each took our turns letting her know that, when the time came, we were ready for her to go on. Those days were the hardest. We all thought that that weekend would be her time to leave.

But then she regained some vitality exactly a week after her stroke, surprising all of us! She was finally completely painless and she grinned and joked until her last conscious moments, *hitting her forehead* at my inability to drive a stick shift and getting stuck in the bumps in her home’s driveway. She ate  ice cream, jello and pudding as her last meals. Her best and last one was having some Ben & Jerry’s Brownie Fudge Ice Cream!

She slowly sank into unconsciousness and passed away peacefully in the night of Friday to Saturday.

I share this with all of you because it is part of my own healing process and I think that, although this was hard, I feel that her very last week is beautiful to remember. Her sly smiles and jokes are what I want to remember of her in her last days and what I want all of you to remember of her as well. My mother was a grand person, full of generosity, smiles and the voice of reason to me and my siblings. She is greatly missed, but her time with us will be cherished on forever.

**In lieu of flowers, donations to the Canadian Cancer Society would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.**