I’ve been waiting to post these photos for a while! The session actually took place back at the end of April, but Claudia had these planned as a special surprise anniversary gift for her husband — so I didn’t want to blog them until I was certain the big day had come and gone.

Claudia found me while searching online for portrait photographers in Kamloops, and fell in love with my photography. Well, the moment I met her – I fell in love with her! We sat down over coffee just before the shoot, to break the ice and get to know each other a bit before jumping into the photography part of the evening. I could have sat there all evening, just listening and talking!

Eventually, we looked at the clock and knew we’d have to get going to meet the sunset. We had a blast! Quite possibly the most laughing I’ve ever done during a portrait session.

So now, I present to you a sweet, beautiful, strong Chilean woman named Claudia:

Scrunchy face! That setting sun was bright.

Close-up! I just love her beautiful, intelligent eyes!

A great shot by my fantastic second shooter, Nate:

Choosing a favorite from this session is very difficult, but my eyes keep coming back to this one. There is such timeless beauty, strength, and nobility in this profile of hers.  I also love that last glint of the sunset on her hair, and the gentle curve of the horizon.

It all speaks so much to me.

If I had to wrap this entire photo session into one word, it would be “FUN” — Chris and Jessica were hilarious to work with. Along for the ride was my husband, Nate, working as my assistant, and I think we all pretty much spent the entire evening laughing. It’s difficult to see this as “work” when you are enjoying yourself that much!

Due to the unpredictable weather we’ve been experiencing this spring, my vision for a sunset session had to be tossed aside as the thickly overcast sky made for an unfortunately rapidly darkening evening. We took it in stride and pulled out a flash and a handy reflector and started to play!

Who can fathom the love between a man and his car?

Introducing Shawn and his sweetheart, Camille. She’s a work-in-progress Celica that Shawn has been painstakingly restoring over the past year or so. They drove over from Salmon Arm in mid-May to meet up with us for this fun sunset session.

Classic Shawn look:

Shades of blue in the changing light of sunset:

Liam is an all-round super nice guy who goes to my church and lives down the road. When I heard he was contemplating shaving his beard of epic proportions, and possibly cutting off his long locks – I snagged him for a before and after portrait session.

Things weren’t as drastic as he had planned or as I expected. There’s still facial hair, and his mane only received a bit of a trim. However, it was still fun times and great to get a record of that beard of majesty!

This shoot doubled as a bit of a training session with my newest second photographer/assistant, Nate (also known as my husband). Nate did a fantastic job and I’m excited to be working with him more as the photography season gets busier!

It’s now become an annual tradition to do a portrait session with this little one and her daddy on her birthday. This year, she turned three and is as busy as can be!

Going into the shoot, I was a bit worried about weather and lighting for our location – when scouting the previous day I found the wind to be painfully cold and the sun kept popping in and out from behind the clouds. The day of, however, I couldn’t have asked for better conditions! It was nice and light, with just enough of a cloud cover to soften the shadows. And, no cold wind!

It’s funny sometimes to realize that I am a photographer that lives in a house where no one likes to have their photo taken. I don’t like being in pictures. My dog HATES the camera. And my husband avoids being the subject as much as he can.

At the same time, my husband is probably the hottest man on the planet. So, I’m trying to train him as a model. Maybe someday I’ll get more shots like this:

This darling little infant and her family were such a joy to work with. The first half of her session was a challenge – she kept waiving her arms and legs around non-stop and just wouldn’t fall asleep! The second half, however, proved that her Daddy has a calming effect on baby, and she was fast asleep.

Towards the end, we included the rambunctious doggies in the backyard. SO much energy, but they love people and we got some great laughs. Enjoy the pictures: