Portrait Making

I want to share one of my favorite portraits that I've taken along with a few of the unedited shots from the same shoot.
The end product came to fruition through some crafty post-production work; by exercising some simple tricks in Adobe Lightroom, I transformed an ordinary portrait into something sublime. The first 3 are cute and work on a certain level, but once I changed the colour and gave it a warm tone to match the natural warm background, I ended up with something a little out of the ordinary. I also broke one of the first rules in portrait making... never centre your subject!
This image became my favorite of the shoot because all of a sudden it was no longer just a little girl posing for a nice picture; her gaze along with her placement in the frame suggest otherwise and give the viewer more to contemplate.
She is the centre of the world, yet she is all by herself.

Rocky Mountain Wedding

I am extremely happy to announce a baby girl; first born to my dear friends, Anna & Nick! The photo in my first ever blog is of my close friend Anna at 16 years old. She has always wanted a baby girl, so this is a very lucky and happy day for her indeed! Since the couple live in Australia and I am in Canada, sadly I will not be able to photograph the new bambina :(
I will instead share Anna & Nick's wedding photos which I took. I was the maid of honour so it made for some careful maneuvering! This was the first wedding I shot before I really understood the camera's full potential. I didn't have a digital camera at this time either so it was shot with film on my manual focus SLR. I am still very proud of these shots considering they are almost 3 years old now.
Congratulations on your baby girl my dear close friends, Anna & Nick!!!

[My] Beautiful Manitoba

I have lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba for 2 and a half years now and the more time I spend here the more I appreciate and love it for its beautiful landscapes, great people and thriving music/art scene (I am originally from Calgary). The city of Winnipeg is graced with rich history and stunning historic architecture & just an hour away, the country is sprawling with white sand beaches that line 100's of kilometers of freshwater lakes.
Where I live; Winnipeg, Canada is a spectacular landscape that continually inspires me. I can hardly wait to see and shoot more, as I've barely cracked the surface.

Photo School Pt. 2

Here are my favorite un-catagorized shots from the second half of photo school. I will be moving onto genre specific posts next. For example; Landscape, Wedding, Portrait & Performance Art will follow.

Photo School Pt. 1

I find myself wondering what I should share next. I'd like to get to my recent work, but my analytical nature won't quite let me. Instead I will post my favorite un-categorized shots from the first half of Photography School.

It was 2004

During my second year at Art College (2004) I was able to start taking some photography courses. I knew at that point that I wanted to use photographs as the base for my fibre work. These are a few of my favorite shots that I took during that year. They are all taken with a manual SLR on black and white 35mm film. I did not have nor did I use a digital camera at this point. I actually didn't purchase my first digital camera until 2007, not until after I had decided to focus on photography entirely.

Art School

Click the pic to get a large view of all these pieces

I am giving a brief history of where my work has evolved from, so to arrange my blog in a chronological order, I am starting from where my formal training began.
I went to art school while still living in Calgary at the Alberta College of Art and Design for 3 years before moving and receiving my diploma in professional photography at PrairieView School of Photography in Winnipeg, Canada. I would just like to share some of my fine art from this period in my life before I begin posting my recent work which consists solely of photography. After spending the first year of art school completing the obligatory drawing courses, I realized that the fibre department was where I belonged. Fibre arts incorporate materials that consist of natural fibrous materials. I made felt out of wool, paper out of pulp and silk sceened images from emulsified photos onto clothing that I had sewn myself. It was right up my alley.
I do not think, rather, I know I can not draw. It was hugely challenging for me to complete said drawing and painting courses, but I persevered and what I am displaying here is some of the work that came out of those first years of art school.

In the beginning

I thought I would start by posting the image that sparked my interest for capturing the unseen, thus beginning my career as a visual artist. I was 16 when I took this photograph of my oldest friend, Anna. It is taken with bulk black & white film that I loaded into the film canister, processed and developed myself. Anna and I are 3 months apart and have known each other since birth (our parents are close friends).
It was during our 10th grade art class, that we staged an impromptu photo shoot in the girls washroom of Western Canada High School in Calgary, Alberta. My art teacher did little to encourage or even notice me as an artist causing me to not take it very seriously at the time. Fortunately my father, who is also a fine art photographer, recognized that I too may have the eye. His encouragement and fondness of this photo helped spark my enthusiasm for pursuing a career in photography.


I would like to dedicate this blog to my family and friends who have been such solid support for me over the years; whose constant inspiration helped get me through numerous difficult assignments while still in school. I'm especially thankful to my Mom who has always been there for me, no matter what when or where.