Summer Loving Sessions - She puts the Awe in Awesome

It pains me to count the years I have known this beautiful Mama.

PAINS.ME.

Gulp...almost 20 long years.....*shutter.

We met in 11th grade Math class.  I have no idea how we started talking or what was said but 45 minutes later I left there with the beginnings of a friendship that would forever alter my life.

From late night boyfriend angst to secret code names for just about everyone we knew, from talking and laughing until 3 in the morning to co-writing other people's book reports, this gorgeous lady and I share some of my favorite memories throughout not only our teenage years but into woman hood, marriage and now motherhood.

I am really so blessed to count her as my dear friend.

She puts the Awe in AWESOME.

Until Next Time,

Lisa

Summer Loving Sessions - Love Multiplied

I've known this gorgeous Mama for 10 years as we used to work for the same company. 

But I haven't really known her as a wife and mother.  Moving across the country tends to leave relationships frozen like that. 

It's been 5 years since I gave up my Corporate job to stay home with my wee ones and we moved from Calgary to Ottawa.  The last I saw of lovely Lori, she was engaged but not yet married to her longtime love, Nick.  The last I heard, this pair of love birds was studying and living in Europe, living the good life of young love.

What a change to see them now with their two incredibly adorable little girls!

Nick and Lori, I am so thrilled for you and this parenthood adventure you are on!  It was a joy to spend the morning with you and to witness first hand the love you share multiplied in the form of your two precious little ones.

Until Next Time,

Lisa

Summer Loving Sessions - This kid burst my bubble

You know how every Mom thinks their kid is special?

Not special like your kid (insert good natured sarcasm here).....SUPER special. ;)

A one-of-a-kind little drooling, laughing, pooping miracle.

Yeah.  I used to think that too.

But then, I met Handsome Mr. Oliver who unceremoniously burst my bubble for me.

You see, Mr. Oliver is a mere 3 1/2ish weeks older than my number three.  Our Mister, Adler.

And while I was wearing my Mommy Goggles, I was pretty darn sure that no kid could possibly make the same guffaw inducing noises and faces that our little nugget was coming up with on a daily basis. 

Surely, that Monster Voice was all him, right?? 

Er...wrong.

From the first minute I met Mr. Oliver, I was smitten with him.  This is a kid with BIG personality!  (I suspect he gets this from his parental genes.)

And then he opened his little mouth and made The Monster Voice....and whoa...serious case of the "your kid does that too's????"

Maybe he just wanted to woo me over or maybe he thought it would help me feel right at home with our session, either way, Mr. Oliver reminded me SO much of my own little guy.

So of course, I loved every minute with this almost one year old and totally ADORABLE Monster Voiced little guy!

Even if he did burst my bubble. ;)

Until next time,

Lisa

Summer Loving Sessions, Alberta - A movie date

There are 8 million things I like about the Puszkars.

Approximately.

You know, give or take a few million.

Here's a small sampling:

- They're FUN!!  (With a capital F.)
- They are spontaneous.  (Hello...last minute photo shoot!)
- They are totally in love with each other.  (The kind of love that creates electricity in the air!)
- They make crazy gorgeous children.  (Okay, child, at this point, but there is no denying they've got the genes to make a whole gaggle of gorgeousness.)
- When I suggested a Movie Date stylized session, they jumped on board immediately and even did the prop shopping for me!
- Three words....COMIC.BOOK.LOVERS.
- They laugh easily. (and with their whole bodies!)
- That twinkle in their eyes. (See below for evidence)

In short, the Puszkars are AWESOME.

The kind of, "awesome" people make movies about.

Until next time,

Lisa

Pictures you don't take

I can't even begin to tell you how amazing my Summer Loving Sessions - Alberta edition were.

Well....actually I can begin to tell you (er...that's the whole purpose of me writing these sentences) but I'm just not sure I can properly express all that I learned during my trip.  But hey, let's give it a try...

I set off with the intention of learning about love through the eye of my lens and the interactions of my gorgeous subjects.

I watched them closely, trying to capture the spark between them - the intangible little things that say, "You are precious to me."

And time and time again I was blown away by the love I saw.

By mother's hands gently sweeping toddler cheeks, by first tooth smiles tickled out of tiny faces, chubby hands eager for Daddy's embrace and knowing looks shared by joy-filled parents.

There are simply hundreds and hundreds of images I shot to give testimony to what I observed.  Perfect precious moments forever captured.

It is so humbling to have been the one to capture them.

But there are other equally amazing moments from my journey for which I have no photographic evidence.

Pictures I didn't take.

Pictures you don't take.

Like my Grandfather desperately clasping my Grandmother's hand and whispering, "I don't know what I would do without you," over and over again because she's laboring to breath after an allergic reaction and her heartbeat is far far too fast and he doesn't know what else to say but is terrified that this moment may be his last with her.

Or my stoic, always put together Grandma, laying on a hospital gurney hair amiss, eyes equally fearful and embarrassed to be causing "a fuss".

Or that first moment she and my Grandpa see each other at the hospital and the look that exchanges between them filled with 60 years of memories.

These are the moments when I didn't pick up my camera.

When the right thing to do is to live the memory.  To use my hands not to capture something breathtaking, poignant and true but, instead, to clasp the weathered and worn hands of two people whose love for me has never wavered.  Whose unshakeable love and support form the foundation of thousands of moments that have defined me.

These are the experiences on my summer journey to discover, explore and define love that have so deeply affected me.

Each joy witnessed - new lives beginning, families so young in their own life's journeys - contrasted so beautifully by two people with 60 years of forever and a plenitude of shared joys.

This is love.

I am so grateful to have gotten to live it.

Until Next time,

Lisa


P.S. If you are wondering.....the images above were all shot the day after my Grandmother got out of the hospital and I am happy to report that she is still with us and doing better.

P.P.S. These images are SOOC (straight out of camera), zero editing other than adding my watermark.