Michele Dyson Photography » Blog

A year in review. Wow….time really does fly by, doesn’t it?!  The past year has definitely been one of the best I’ve had.  Mistakes were made, the learning is ongoing, and I’m still dreaming. Big. There have been times I’ve questioned what I’m doing, if I’m doing the right thing…but the fact that I actually enjoy working away at 2 a.m. must mean something, right?! There’s a quote I read on Tara Whitney’s blog a few days ago, which was so fitting ….” If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders”. Well, my mind is always a wandering – all over the bloody place. That’s the problem with being Gemini – I can’t stay focused long enough to finish a thought. Luckily for me I have great friends and fam who (try) to keep me on track( you know who you are)!

This past year or so has brought so many changes…..a new home, new jobs and of course our new baby girl Eve. Lucky for us, big sis Nevaeh thinks she’s just as sweet as we do and we haven’t had to deal with jealous fits of rage, pulling hair or eye poking. Well, yet anyway. Eve’s personality is really becoming apparent, and I’m pretty sure she isn’t going to be the quiet, mellow timid little thing we’d first thought. She may just follow in her “big sissies” footsteps and have a very outgoing “look at me world” kind of outlook.  As long as they can pause for a moment once in a while for me to snap a few shots of their cute little faces, I don’t mind.

Be forewarned, this post is ridiculously long…..I never realized just how many photos we really do have. And to think that the majority of these are the “portraits”.  I’ve been working on a coffee table album for my blogover the past year, so had to include these faves for the end of it. Wondering who I’m doing it through? Blurb. They will actually “slurp” your blog and print it up all fancy for you to hold onto. Something to show for all our late nights, right?! A big thank you to my hubby for never complaining about how much I work in the evenings( well, rarely complaining)! I promise that 2010 will include me coming to bed at least a few hours earlier each night. And of course I couldn’t possibly post with saying thankyouthankyouthankyou to Brooke for capturing all the pics of our fam , as well as a bunch more in this post; love each and every one of them and feel insanely lucky to have you around.

So, here it is. The biggest post ever. And just so you know, it was never intended to be so lengthy….I just started to get all mushy and sentimental and, well…they’re just so darned cute!  I suppose this post was kind of for me to look back at ( perhaps when I’m having a “yuck” day and wish I could have an on call nanny to deal with not-so-fun Mum stuff)! These are pretty much guaranteed to make me smile:)

Enjoy…..

These were taken a few months before Eve arrived :: thanks Brooke!

I think this is a contender for one of the warm-fuzziest belly pics EVER!
33.5 weeks ( yup-I’m counting the .5) It was -14 degrees outside and Brooke still managed to make me laugh!February 22nd, 2009 at 3:30 she arrived. Eight pounds one ounce and easy-peasy. I guess it was a hint of how she was going to be as a baby…..we couldn’t have asked for a sweeter little thing.Eve was under 5 days old in the pics above, and just a few weeks here. What I can’t believe is how much Nevaeh has grown up since then…she still looked so wee here!

Possibly the best little ballerina pic EVER….look at all those hungry bums!Father’s Day. Love these.This image needed a LOT of editing to salvage it; bad lighting and a lot of noise to start with, but it is one of my absolute faves….Eve was just 12 weeks here and looks like such a little doll..

These were taken by Brooke on her daughter’s 1st birthday… I’d photographed Miss Isla and Brooke decided to grab a few of us. So glad you did.

Nevaeh at almost 4 years old and Eve at 6 months. I could just squeeze them in these pics…..Our biggest girly-girl. Love you Miss.
Okay, come ON! If this pic doesn’t make you have baby fever I don’t know what will. Absolutely my favourite shot of her. Mmmm. Thanks again Brooke, man I adore this image.
Baby Miss. 
These don’t really fit, I know….but here are some summertime pics of B and I. Thank you thank you to Andrea Blair for the images us together – so much fun!

My besties of the girls together. An impromptu session at home while Nanny was in town for a visit. Homemade tutus +cardboard crowns = adorable! Miss Nevaeh + her 4th Birthday Party :: Alice in Wonderland Style Perhaps the best “real” moment I’ve captured of them…..I can only imagine what Eve was thinking here!Christmas-time pics…..At last a family pic…..this really truly was the 1st taken of the 4 of us; not even a snap before this one. I dragged B out in the cold and had her shoot us for 10 minutes before she met another fam. Couldn’t have been more thrilled. Love you so, SO much !!!! Mwah! xoxox

A bunch of my faves from the year…..there were so many images I adored it was tough to choose, but these were some that made me smile the biggest. Thank you all for workin’ it in front of my lens, and for having me be the one who got to capture all these wonderful little moments.

Michele

You may remember a previous post from back in November when I decided to find a family who would benefit from a family session free of charge. Although I received quite a few heartwrenching and heartwarming stories, I decided to choose a family close to home here in Penticton. Thank you so much to Lisa Halquist for nominating the family. Her and her colleagues at Summerland Physio were sponsoring this family through the Food Bank, and they sounded like the perfect recipients. A Mum, a Dad and two girls aged 8 and 18. Your typical family except that Mum is very ill and Dad is out of work. I can’t think of anything better than being able to take them out and document their love as a family, their relationships with each other and just, well…..them enjoying being able to document their family at this stage in life.  I don’t know their names due to confidentiality reasons, but am looking forward to photographing and meeting them in the Spring.

Thank you so much to each and every person who participated, and to Lisa and Summerland Physio for the winning nomination…..see you in the warmer weather!!

Christmas morning, 7:30 a.m. We woke up to two sniffly girls, the littlest with an ear infection who had barely cracked a smile in the past few days…but once they got up and saw the twinkly lights and prezzies, they were both grinning ear to ear .  Even Eve, at 10 months old was seriously into tearing into her biggest box. And Nevaeh didn’t surprise me, she was thrilled with every little thing right down to the packs of undies, if not a tad overwhelmed with everything ! We had a great day, a little crazy…..Aunty A even got Nevaeh dolled up in a dog collar choker- I think she really thought she looked cool. Great. Thanks Andrea!   And a big thanks to all the family for spoiling the girls ( really, Nanny……STOP it)!  and more importantly, for all making it to the same spot this year; maybe next time we won’t be feeling like sickos and I’ll be able to kick you -know-what at the beer-pong table.  Look out people…….

And enjoy the pics!

 
The four grandgirlies hanging proudly on Nanny’s tree…..We decided to abandon the actual “Christmas jammies” on Christmas Eve and replace them with the cutest jams EVER….they say ” bear hug” on them; I seriously could have squeezed them both alllll day…I swear the excitement of the toys was a better cure for her than the prescriptions……Eve’s big prezzie….she adores it!
The card was written by Nevaeh for Mummy’s gift……A post-present story break with Papa. I believe she was enjoying her snuggle time, and was very unimpressed with me for interrupting yet again…they’ll love me for it later, right?!
Oh yeah, it’s a dog collar. Thing that bothers me the most is she looks freakin’ cute in it! ( If not mildly crazy in that first one)!
Hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating ‘09…..and thank you ALL for stopping by!

Christmas baking with Nanny. What could possibly be more fun for two 4 year olds?!  Nevaeh and her cousin Ellie, who are 7 weeks apart ( oh yeah, Nevaeh lost out in the height department)! spent the morning with my Mum baking away. Sugar cookies, lots of icing and decorating and birds nest cookies filled with jam. Yumma-yumma! We were quite impressed at the job they did, and I’m pretty sure they were as well, judging by the amount of cookies they ate!  Anyways, thank you Nanny, and enjoy the pics!

Michele

Batch 1….finger lickin’ good, apparently! Taking a break for a Christmas show….Nevaeh didn’t like the bad guy at ALL!They’re pretty darned cute, aren’t they?!Batch #2 Something about this one just makes me smile:) Didn’t they do a fabulous job?!

Cookie “cheers” ! 

I’m writing this in the wee hours just 4 hours from when I need to get up and at ‘em for our trip. Mike and I are headed to the Mayan Riviera for a little vacay as I will be photographing my first destination wedding. It is a much needed break for us as we haven’t been away together since we were married almost 6 years ago. Nope, it wasn’t even the honeymoon, we’ve yet to find time for one of those! We were working our tails off in Bangkok, Thailand….hectic, crazy schedules each week, which looking back on of course we should have taken more time for ourselves. Hopefully this trip is just what we’ve been waiting for. Relaxation, peace, quiet, sunshine (if we’re lucky) and of course some great photo ops!  I will obviously be missing my girls like mad…..I have had many restless nights wondering if I even wanted to go. Ughhh….it’s going to be tough ( really) but it will be so, so fantastic once we’re back and get to soak up all of their pure goodness!  So, for now…..some of us. All four of us together, not only our first official family session, but our first photos EVER together. Don’t ask me how that happened, but there wasn’t even a single snapshot of us together. You can guess who took these….that’s right- my great friend Brooke. She was a trooper and did these in all of 10 minutes before another family session that day . I wouldn’t stop talking, the hubby was complaining a tad, Nevaeh was freezing her butt off ( hence the expression on her face) and Eve, well…..she was happy as usual, and yes she LOVES her tongue. I’m so glad she decided to make her silly faces in these. So her.  I seriously can’t believe we got as many usable ones as we did ( good thing I love backlighting)!  Of course I was impatient, drove to B’s house for the disc then came straight home to edit them. So, the images are courtesy of B and the processing on these few are the work of yours truly.  And yes, I am in LOVE with each and every one of them. Brooke, thank you:)  Mike and the girls……love you heaps:)  Mwah!

Love you guys:) ….now to decide which of these goes onto the wall; input, anyone ?! I have  a spot for two of these babies only and am thinking #2, 3, or 5…although I do love 4 as well, arghhh – and #1.  Why is it so tough, and WHY can’t I have more wall space !?????

I’m thinking these may be my last few outdoor posts of our girls ; the weather has now changed, and aside from a few Winter Wonderland shots I’d like to attempt up at the ski hill, I’m not planning on torturing the wee ones for much longer….although they don’t really seem to mind that much:) This is a long post as it’s a mixture from the past month or so…..a few from my stay in Nanaimo with a couple shots of my girlriends’ very photogenic kids, of course since the girls were tagging along I needed some of them on an actual beach too; MAN I miss the ocean!  We then ventured to Victoria where my Mum and 3 of my siblings live. I’d promised Mum I would attempt pics of the 4 grandkids together and it actually worked out …the girls were a bit chilly, dirty, sniffly and wild but in the end they had fun and we all got what we wanted ( us-photos, the rugrats got tic-tacs and cookies…YAY for treats)!!!  

It was a good trip, but of course we’re happy to be home and getting into winter-mode. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that quite yet; luckily the hubby and I are heading to a warmer climate….I’ll be shooting a wedding in Playa Del Carmen in 2 weeks; good timing as Mike and I haven’t been on a holiday together since we lived overseas 5 years ago and it IS TIME!!!

Now on with the good stuff…

This first image may just be my fave of the girls….I can only imagine what Eve was thinking:)
She really does adore her big sis….lucky little thing:)
The Holland kiddos….thanks for having us guys!
 

Cousins…my sister’s girls and mine finally in a photo together…..man, I give kudos to child photogs – it is HARD work!
Can you believe that Nevaeh and her big cousin next to her are only 7 weeks apart???  That’s right, my girl is lacking in the height department, that’s for sure…..luckily she makes up for it in personality:)I just love this shot of Sam’s grubby little toddler hands…I believe I was bribing them with food in this one ( she was just 16 months in these photos and it worked like a charm)!

This is my Mum, “Nanny” to the girls….she’s been asking me for two years to redo her headshots for work and sadly it’s taken me this long. Well, I’m thrilled with the results and we honestly took about 5 minutes to get these. Mum is one of those people who ( up until now)! looks MUCH better in person…she’s been told that the photo she’s been using the past 6 years for marketing makes her look about 60 –  definitely not the case anymore; you look smokin’ in these and I’m so glad we pulled it together!  

While on the Island last month I got the chance to spend some time with my girlfriend Janine and her family. It was great getting to know her hubby and daughter Ava better, as I feel somewhat responsible for them meeting!  Okay, I can’t take all the credit……Janine and I met while working at the bank about 5 years ago. I had just returned from almost 4 years traveling and working throughout Asia with my hubby and although I was thrilled to be back in B.C., I missed Asia and still had “the bug”. So, when Janine started mentioning that she just wasn’t happy with how things were going where we lived, I  suggested selling her car and moving away. Far, far away…..I’m sure her parents loved my suggestion, especially since their little girl was not yet 20 years old! Needless to say, Janine moved to Taiwan, where I myself had started out my adventures and a few months later her and Emon met, fell in love and ended up getting married in his home country of Nigeria. Ava was born a year later back home in B.C. and now they’re all together anxiously awaiting their second little one. I’m so glad to have played a small hand in such a fabulous couple meeting. I wish you all the best and can’t wait to get my hands on your new baby:)

My fave .

Janine, you are STUNNING!  Pregnancy totally agrees with you
Ava wins hands-down for best dimples. Love.

Hugs, 

Michele