The Bright's

It was such an honour to capture the Bright family, who are dear friends of ours. The J-man and Natalie made the perfect subjects for our "bright" and early morning shoot at Springridge Farm. What complete sports they all were, traipsing around in the sandbox and on bales of hay with various props in the hot sun. Thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to capture these moments for you. xo

Happy Birthday To Us

A and I celebrated our birthdays together again, this year.  Last year we did the spa and dinner.  This year we did it with strawberry picking at Springridge Farm (fantastic place btw!) followed by a picnic in the park.  There was lots of sunshine, not so many strawberries, lots of laughs and a few tears.  Thanks to N, who was the only boy at the party, for capturing all the fun moments of the girls!

 

Seeing Red in Montreal

As seen on the streets of Old Montreal.

Lady Marmalade + Julius Caesar Part II

This is the Julius Caesar part of the ladies who brunch series, as seen here.

Our friend O played Calpurnia (Caesar's wife) on stage with Bard in the Park's theatre troupe at Kew Gardens in the Beaches.  She did a wonderful job as did the rest of the cast.  How on earth can they remember all those Shakespeare lines?  It got quite hot sitting in the sun, as you can tell by the coverups some of us threw on by the end of the afternoon.  

Boston: Panorama

Here's a panoramic shot of downtown Boston as seen from the Deluxe Ebersol Suite at the Liberty Hotel (scroll right).

Lady Marmalade + Julius Caesar Part I

On Saturday I met up with some of my girlfriends for brunch at Lady Marmalade on Queen St. in Leslieville in Toronto.
A brought her bubbly 16 month old daughter Jasmine (who you've met before from their family photo shoot last June!).  Jasmine is a favourite of mine to shoot, along with  Anokhi, another close friend's baby.  The two of them have been shot several times by me since they've been born; see them together here.  I've even photographed them before they were born, at A's baby shower and K's baby bump shoot)!  So it was a real treat to see Jasmine again and capture her cheery laugh and sweet disposition (can you believe she can hold a fork and feed herself on her own?)  After brunch, we went to see O in a performance of Julius Caesar at Kew Gardens.  Look for that in a Part II.  Since we're moving to Boston in a few months, these gatherings with my girlfriends are really important to me and I treasure them, as I do their friendships.  I shall miss you guys immensely.  (Pic of me holding Jasmine taken by A)

Boston in B+W

Here's a series from a walk on Cambridge St. towards City Hall.

There was an exhibit of shoes representing the number of deaths (1200) per day due to tobacco related illnesses.
I, of course, thought it was a shoe sale. :(

Taj Mahal Part III

This was my second time seeing the Taj Mahal.

The first time, I went with my Mom and there was a huge rain storm right before, where the water flooded up to our knees when we were standing in line. I was so disappointed that it rained even though it had been scorcing hot and sunny just a few hours before. In fact, I was complaining that seeing the Taj Mahal in the high noon would make for too sunny a photograph. Then it rained, and I stopped complaining. Luckily, it stopped pouring right as we got through and it was even more magnificent seeing the Taj Mahal glisten with rain and in the breaking sunlight.

This time around it didn't rain, it was scorching hot and it was around noon, but I didn't dare complain. I was ecstatic to be able to see it again with my husband. I couldn't get enough of the people with their reactions and their photo-taking. It really is an amazing wonder of the world.

Part I and Part II if you missed them.

Taj Mahal Part II

The majesty of the Taj Mahal is quite literally breath-taking, but it's also the little details like the intricate marble work that I couldn't get enough of and wanted to preserve in my memory and with photographpy. The first time I visited the Taj with my Mom, I noticed that the marble steps up to the top were quite worn in the centre from all the traffic and also slippery from the rain, and as they are quite steep, it's quite a dangerous climb for older visitors.

This time, the steps were covered with wooden planks. Much safer. Here are more details.

Taj Mahal Part I

I never quite finished my India posts, I'm slowly getting to those photos, now.

Here's our visit to the Taj Mahal, in Agra. Part I.

Mango Tea

When we were in San Fran in March '08, we met up with a friend who was also in SF at the time, and visited a tea shop near Union Square.  We tasted selections of teas at this shop and ended up buying three bags.  One of them is the best mango tea we've ever had and since then it's been a tradition to meet up with this friend over tea.  We had such a "ceremony" this past weekend.

Trinidad

Today I'm thinking about relaxation and vacation. What better place to revisit than Trinidad and its hot sun, soft-sand beaches and Richard's Bake n' Shark sandwich.  Yum.

Night Light

Here are a few low-light night shots, from Boston, Kauai and the last two, taken in Paris.

Life Is Too Short

One of our relatives passed away yesterday.  He was a father, a grandfather and a husband.  Losing someone is a very hard thing to deal with and it doesn't really get easier, one just gets used to it.

Take the time today to really show the people you love how much you love and appreciate them in your life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaipur: Painted Elephant

Growing up in Botswana, one of my safari memories is of an angry elephant stampeding behind our jeep as we raced away. I think I was six or seven. In India, it's quite common to see an elephant or several (as well as monkeys) walking along the main streets.   And it didn't matter how many times I saw them, I was always in awe.

All of these were taken in Jaipur, Rajasthan, where these elephants are decorated and used to carry tourists up and down the roads to the forts.