I have SO many pictures to go through (between my mother and I, we took 1700 pics and videos during my five weeks at home) that I cannot imagine when I’ll ever get the time to go through them - but here are a few for now.

This summer, I tried my best to stay in the moment. This photograph has less than nothing going for it technically. The original is way underexposed, the angle is weird, there is no eye contact, horizon is tilted, limbs are chopped. Looking at it that way, this photograph is a total failure.

This picture taught me more about photography than any other I have taken.

I just finished watching my daughters splash and play in the incoming tide, wearing nothing but their birthday suits- splattered by occasional droplets of rain, with dark, rolling clouds overhead. We were in a sheltered bay, the land stretching out in a big ‘c’ on either side of us. Fog appeared on the horizon across the bay, obscuring the land directly across from us, and then swirled toward us in both directions - swallowing everything it touched. Somehow, right above us was a spot of clear sky. Although totally enclosed by fog on both sides, our little pocket of beach had nothing but a fine mist, and was still warmed by the sun. The fog seemed to muffle all the sounds around us, so it seemed like our little spot on the beach was the only thing that existed at that moment.

I was sitting on the rocks, knowing that my time at home was coming to an end, trying to soak in the beauty and magic of that moment. Julianna came toward me. running in her clumsy but purposeful toddler way and I lifted my camera. I didn’t pay any attention to focus, or what my shutter speed was, or even what my meter was reading. I just clicked the shutter, and a second later she was on top of me, knocking us both to the ground, giggling and hugging me and making the moment even more precious.

I can’t stop looking at this picture.

Photography is not always about zooming in to check out the eyelashes look at 100%, or about catchlights in the eyes, or about getting it all right. Sometimes, the perfect photograph is just about as imperfect as can be.

Just like this one.

Just wanted to share a quick picture to show you just how quickly a conversion and quick bit of work with the burn tool change dramatically change a photo.

Here is the original:

And here is the conversion:

All I did here was run Brenda’s BW2 action, and then, setting the burn tool to shadows, burn the greenery at about 50-60%. This won’t work well with all backgrounds, although I have found it fairly easy to do with most greenery and other areas of dark or deep colour.

You need to be careful of any areas in your picture that might fade to shadow (in this case if you look closely you’ll see that I burned in some areas of her hair, so I need to go back and fix that) so that you don’t burn the detail there. For this reason you should always do your burning on an adjustment layer, so you can use a layer mask* to mask back in any details you didn’t intend to burn out. If you are left with a few bright spots - you can usually either do a few quick passes with the tool still set to shadow and increase the opacity, or set it to highlights and sweep over just the bright areas (being careful of the rest of your image).

*If you do not use layer masks as a part of your regular post processing workflow - do yourself a favour and learn about them. They give you so much control and allow for fine tuning - learning to use masks significantly improved my conversions.

Liam

Originally uploaded by sweet | salty

05.05.07 - 06.15.07

Sweet prince
shining star
swirling, spiraling, infinite light
wee brother, young son,
little man of hopes and dreams

in my heart, in my soul, in my breath
in the air that surrounds me,
and the sun that warms me
and the trees that shelter me
and the earth that sustains me

ever present
ever longed for
never forgotten
always loved

love
love
mamalove.

Taking a page from my girl Anna Jones, I thought I’d share some of my recent flickr favorites with you….prepare to be inspired.

1. Untitled, 2. the follower, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. GRANDPA, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. a variation, 12. Untitled, 13. up and away!, 14. Untitled, 15. Ode to Rochelle Haisley, 16. curly girly., 17. curl, 18. Rock Jumping, 19. True Believer in sun flare, 20. SOOC, 21. Framed, 22. emerald city, 23. Untitled, 24. flares, 25. in the bathroom!

Picture this…

You are in a cabin in the woods north of Phoenix, a cabin with a wooden paneled walls, and a distinct hippy vibe - memories of another era dancing within the walls. A little creek gurgles by out back, the air is cool and the sun is warm.

You were up into the wee hours the night before - a night filled with intense ritual, crazy dancing, and heartfelt conversation. Five women crammed into one small room for the night because none of them could bear to miss a second of the action before finally succumbing to the lure of sleep. You are bone tired, but blissfully content.

Hendrix is playing in the background, a brand spanking new Electric Ladyland CD unwrapped and popped into the CD player just for the occasion. A bunch of amazing women are rocking out to Voodoo Child - chosen especially because of a magical dream that came to an even more magical midwife. These women are playing fashion stylist to a soon-to-be mama of two - a mama ripe with her very own Voodoo Child. The stylists are focused - numerous potential outfits rejected piece by piece - but then a special outfit comes together that makes everyone tingle with inspiration and anticipation.

One mama sheds her jeans - non-maternity - and they are shimmied on our mama-friend’s lovely curves. A bright green scarf tied around the waist, and a funky plaid embroidered shirt pulled out of a duffle bag and carefully buttoned just under the breasts, spreading perfectly over that deliciously rounded tummy. A badass leather cuff is fastened on one arm, and one of the mama’s takes off her necklace to give that little touch that every fabulous outfit needs. A pair of wooden heeled wedges with clear straps is procured and the look is deemed near perfect. Someone whips out some hairspray and there’s a bit of teasing and spraying, the air full of laughter and love.

Someone tacks up a bright psychedelic tapestry to lend some authenticity to the scene and turns the tunes up a notch. Finally - a huge pair of Dior tortoise shell glasses are slipped on and the transformation is complete….our beautiful mama-to-be has vamped into a fierce, funky, full-of-attitude, rocking seventies chick.

With a little posing coaching from a mama-friend who knows about these things - we’re ready to rock and roll. Our mama-to-be leans against a weathered trellis, leans her head to the side and looks straight into the camera, her eyes behind the glasses direct and intense, lips curving up just slightly at the corners…

The shutter clicks…

We’ve been busy here for a few weeks, hosting my aunt and uncle from Nova Scotia, traveling to San Diego and overseeing our home remodel that has finally started. All this business means that I’ve hardly had any time to pick up my camera. I start to feel antsy after just a few days, so I was dying for a chance. I finally got the girls outside for a half hour the other day. It was almost around six pm - still about 100 degrees. Bella had already been outside for a while, so she was pink (which made these photos much easier to proof in black and white)!

I’m a lucky woman.

I have not one, but two passions. Two things that bring me great joy and fullfillment and a sense of accomplishment. Two things that make me see beauty all around me. Photography and pregnancy/birth are important to me in different ways, but sometimes my two passions collide and I get to do both at once. That’s some kind of heaven, let me tell you.

Last week I was honoured and blessed to be able to take photographs for my dear friend Phoebe (who was present for Julianna’s birth, taking care of Bella) during her last days of pregnancy, and present again to photograph the beautiful home waterbirth of her second son, Caleb.

Here are a few photos from her maternity session.

And one of Phoebe’s oldest son - Aidan (oh, how i love my new wide angle lens - Tamron 17-50 2.8 in case you are wondering)

She is hope
She is softness
She is a long, deep exhale
She is walking, giggling, living meditation
She is a mantra
She is a guru
She is comfort
and peace
and all things good.

details: ISO 800, f3.5, 1/160 - with my new Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 lens.