Michele Dyson Photography » Blog

Here she is….the Birthday Girl in all her glory!!! The party was as successful as a room full of wee ones can be – we had a lot of bodies crammed inside on a cold day and it was a bit chaotic to say the least!….now I understand why women plan to have warm-weathered babies! The littlest Miss enjoyed all the kiddos, her presents and especially the cake. SO very different than her sissy was on her 1st. Nevaeh was oh-so delicate, almost prissy – not wanting to get even a finger dirty. But Eve on the other hand? She dove right into the raspberry colored icing and covered herself in it in a matter of minutes. Hair, face, clothes and even her eyes were smothered. It was fabulous!  Thank you very much to my Mum for flying in to celebrate  (and help out), Brooke for helping with the decor and Brandi for pointing me in the right direction for Eve’s dress… I was looking for something not so light and airy like we always do for parties ( I kind of wish I’d gone with the light tones as the decorations could have hung in her room….I’m going to have to start renting this stuff out so it doesn’t go to waste)!

As for the lack of “people” pics….other than the birthday girl, of course ?! We had so much chaos going on that it really was tough for B or I to get behind a camera, but I’m loving what I do have to remember Miss Eve’s special day. I have to admit I cheated a bit and took a bunch the day after:) Thanks for your photo contributions Brooke…love em!

Found this gorgeous Asian inspired dress at Tea Collection. Love it! The flower is a hair clip I made for Eve…super easy and very sweet….click here for the how to :: Mum and I made one for each girls’ plate – the plan was to attach each to a pin so they could leave with a brooch. Of course, not enough time for that.
Miss “La” with the birthday girl…..at least next to her buddy she still looks like a baby!
The brown flowers are made from 6 paper lunch bags….easy- peasy. Click here for Martha’s how-to. The favours for the party were these beautiful campanula plants – they almost made me forget it was still yucky outside!The aftermath of her first sweets…..by the time she finished she was covered, I’m talking  sleeves of raspberry icing, a pink mohawk, and stained eyebrows from rubbing it all over her face. Quite entertaining for us all!Obviously pre-cake. And if you’ve noticed the multiple hair clips? It’s not because I’m indecisive……the little monkey is a typical one year old and won’t keep a darned thing in her hair.

Well, here it is. Time has passed oh so  quickly, and the Littlest Miss is nearly one. This time last year I was driving my friends, fam and especially my hubby nutso trying everything in my power to get this girl out. She made her entrance ( with a little help) on February 22nd and has kept us smiling since then. I’d thought at first that she was going to be this sweet, passive, girly little thing….but I may be wrong. The last few weeks she’s been showing us another side. A very sassy, very in-your-face kind of side. Oh no, am I going to have TWO fiesty girls?!  Anyways, here I go on rambling again…..the point of this little shoot was to take some “portraits” of Eve in her birthday clothes – before the craziness of the party. Well, she didn’t want the dress on ( yes, that has started already) so I put her in some cozies and then decided that my big girl needed some new “pretty” pics as well. I bribed her with a popsicle:)  I can’t say it was easy getting the shots….my house was seriously trashed; it took all of 10 minutes to make a huge mess while moving quickly to keep Eve relatively happy, and Nevaeh? Well, like I said – she’s old enough to bribe. Oh yeah, I do it when necessary…..

So, here they are – Eve’s One Year pics as well as some of her big sissy……I sure do love these two munchkins.

** Brooke, you’ll be happy – I finally captured Eve’s “cartoon” smile…the last photo of her ( yes, I know…she’s still toothless, takes after her sis:) SO glad I got it!

Lately the days have flown by even faster than usual. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that Eve is busier than what I’m used to, that I’ve been going to 4 workout classes a week, Brooke and I meeting most evenings on launching our new joint venture, or the many albums I’ve been trying to work on……that’s a whole other story ( who does everyone use for album companies, as I’ve literally wasted 2 weeks of work with the current company…..what a waste of staying up until 2a.m.)! Whatever the reason is though, I am so thankful that I have photos of the girls….I still need to work on taking more snapshots, but it’s a tough thing to do when you automatically look through lens with “the shot” in mind. I found these oldies from the summertime; I think Brooke may have shot these ( if so, thanks B)! as for the others of Eve…. I took these a few days ago – isn’t she getting so big?!  We’ll be celebrating her first birthday next weekend and I just cannot believe it. I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring……

And for those of you wondering about the new business goodies Brooke and I have been losing sleep over…..it will be debuting on Valentine’s Day. Stay tuned here on the blog or else catch up with me on Facebook or Twitter. It will be well worth the wait. I promise you:)

Now on with the pics…that’s why you stop by, isn’t it?!

Don’t you LOVE the drool….luckily thats’ stopped for a while…and still no teeth to show for all the wet shirts she went through.  * This image edited with get TRA get faded neutral at 20% and Kubota’s magic sharp. Okay…looking back the headbands were obviously overkill, but Nevaeh insisted. I love this shot:)  * Processed with Nichole Van’s light black and white, TRA burn out- oh snap at 15% and of course Kubota’s magic sharp.
The goods for the next 2 images::  Canon 5D, 105mm macro, 1/240 f.4.0  For processing I used TRA’s lighten up ( LOVE this action) faded neutral at 15%( I masked off her eyes)-burned the edges at a low opacity and finally Kubota’s magic sharp…..yes, her eyes are this incredible all on their own. Of course the macro didn’t hurt either:)
Thank you to my “ex” neighbor Ella for the great chair…….LOVE it!

So, the last time I photographed Miss Milla she was all of 5 days old ( peek here). It was a challenging shoot to say the least, but ended up being one of my favourites. And her Mum…..I mean, come on! You can see here where the wee one gets her looks from; lucky lady!

Now, you’re probably wondering about how old this little beauty is; believe it or not she is almost 2 months younger than my little Eve. She is just 6 months in these. Amazing, right?! And the hair….it was a given. Mum Lindsay the owner of  the chicest salon in town, Heiress Salon & Boutique , so she just had to have great locks! Milla rocked it out for this session – I’m not kidding you. She was hands down the fastest baby I’ve ever seen. Rolling, twisting and trying to dive head first off my bed. She’s a busy little lady, this one! Good thing I had my fast pants on for this session….we flew through it in less than 20 minutes. Phew! 

Linds, I hope you love these – and I am totally looking forward to doing your family session up at the mountain. Can’t wait! 

Thanks again, 

Me.

It’s Thursday. I’m tired. And I was really looking forward to taking an hour break from the computer this evening and watching Grey’s. Sadly, it wasn’t on for what ever reason…which of course at the time I was pretty annoyed at. But, as I always say…it was for a reason. I was trying to find something upbeat to watch while I attempted to hoist up our 8ft tree; by myself ( yes, I’m that impatient)! and I came across a CNN special on Heroes. Well, it was humbling and inspirational to say the least. There were 10 nominees, and each and every one of their stories brought me to tears, and made me want to jump on a plane and change the world. Well, I am a Mum to wee ones, plus my hubby would think I was crazy – so I knew that was definitely out of the question. The only thing I could reasonably come up with was to offer up what I do best. Nope, not burn everything I put onto the stove or scratch the side of my vehicle EVERY time I go through Starbucks drive-thru ( yes, it’s a problem)…..take pics, of course! I do believe with all my heart that this is my calling ( for now, anyways) and I am crazy passionate about it. Soooo, here’s my thought, and I’m hoping you guys can help me out. …..

You know someone. You know someone who’s experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, a single Mum holding down more than one job, or someone who is volunteering selflessly although their financial situation is far from steady. You know someone who can’t afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a gift of art, love and memories. 

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography — $575 dollars worth. Included in the package is one 90 minute session at the location of their choice, 12 artistically edited high resolution images on disc as well as 3 8×10 and 4 5×7 prints. They will also receive all untouched images on disc as well.  

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a complimentary sitting fee for their family. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be, people?

The rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must truly be incapable of purchasing custom photography. ( Not being able to go on their annual vacation and having to cut back on their hired help doesn’t count:)

* The person you nominate must live within one hour of Penticton, B.C. or Victoria, B.C. as I do frequently visit there as well.  Tell me about the person, what they are experiencing and why you think they would be great recipients.  Please include a way to contact your nominee and yourself. 

* Please email me the full story to michele.dyson@hotmail.com

*Please pass this info on to others as they may have the perfect person in mind! 

The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve , so get on it!!  

Open your hearts and minds this Holiday season……I’m looking forward to hearing from you:) 

Of course we always need to end with some eye candy, so here’s one of each of my littlest heroes:)  

Here is my first little “man” shoot I’ve had all summer….it’s been a summer of girls in our neck o the woods, so it was great to try out my skills on someone who wasn’t bundled in pink! Baby Dex was just over a week old in these photos, and although he wasn’t as curled up as a super-newbie, he cooperated just perfectly. You may remember Mum from her belly shoot….you can see here where Mister D gets his great looks from, I mean come ON….those lips are just so, SO smoochable !  It was great to be able to snuggle such a sweetie, and even with my littlest Miss in tow for this shoot, Dex still managed to give me a bit of baby fever. Thanks alot guys!

Hope you love em’ !