Vancouver Portrait Photography // Fiona and Andrey's 10th Anniversary!

When Fiona first asked me to photograph the 10th year anniversary party for her and Andrey, I imagined something simple. A few friends, some drinks and snacks, a typical gathering. What I did not expect was a glamorous winter extravaganza, but that is exactly what I saw when I arrived. The party was held at the Summers’ family home, and although I have been there plenty of times, the whole space was transformed. 

The rooms glowed with various shades of blue, and wintery decor was all around me. In the signature Summers fashion, no detail was overlooked. The living room, usually filled with couches, was transformed into a cozy banquet hall with the addition of round tables, each decorated with DYI crafting projects, no doubt a family effort. On the large flat screen TV in the back of the room, footage of their wedding looped, everyone looking so young and exuberant, a winter wedding with all the bridesmaids dressed in deep crimson. 

 Andrey and Fiona are witty, creative, hilarious people, and so it stands to reason that their friends would be the same. As I gathered everyone for photos on the stairs, I couldn’t help cracking up at everyone’s antics. One guy was teaching the others how to pose in a perfect imitation of a deep belly laugh, while a couple of the others were miming eating Fiona’s long-awaited gluten-free cupcake. 

What I will remember the most from this night is Andrey’s speech. I love, love, love speeches. Well, at least good speeches. As someone who hates smalltalk, hearing someone speak from the soul about what they feel is the perfect antidote to mindless half-hearted exchanges. 

When we heard Andrey speak about Fiona, the sheer passion of his love for his wife was enormous, and all of us in the room could feel it. The pride, the reverence, the joy he finds in her were so perfectly communicated by someone who just received his Masters in Creative Writing (or some such thing) were breathtaking. I wish I could remember the exact words that he said, because I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room when he was done. 

I wish them all the very best, and I look forward to photographing their 20th anniversary. 

Vancouver Portrait Photography // Lonsdale Quay with Hannah and Family

As a child from White Rock, North Vancouver was always a big mystery to me. It was fantastically far from my southern kingdom, and although I vaguely realized that we were in North Vancouver when we went skiing, the exact geographical details eluded me (much like they do today). When I got a little older, I braved the treacherous Sea Bus journey with my mom, and together we enjoyed the Lonsdale Quay market under the giant Q, with all its cute little shops and eateries. 

I did not give North Vancouver much thought until I met Shane, for whom it was a hometown. Suddenly, I found us regularly crossing either of the bridges onto the North Shore for visits with his family. I became intimately familiar with the roads around the local ICBC as Shane’s dad taught me to drive, eventually leading to me getting my license. I still get kind of anxious driving around the test route, feverishly trying to remember all the tricky signs and rules. 

When Shane first floated the idea of us moving to the North Shore, I was not convinced. I loved our downtown flat, our views, our ability to get around without driving. Sure, the streets were a little smelly, and our loft was technically just one large room we constantly both occupied, but that was all good. 

Eventually, logic won out, and we moved into Shane’s childhood home, where in the pantry you can still find markings as their parents recorded him and his brother getting taller. I am proud to say that my height has now also been recorded on that wall, and I have apparently not grown since 2017. 

The dock where I photographed Hannah and her family is the same one on which a couple years back Shane and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with a handful of strangers. I remember us walking quickly in the frosty December weather, and finding a good spot along the edge of the dock. We wore our Christmas cracker hats, and toasted with champagne, and watched the fireworks across the water. This northern shore is still new to me, but with each new memory, I put down more roots. 

Vancouver Portrait Photography // Peachland Family Christmas

When the Austins first suggested having Christmas in the Okanagan, I was not convinced. I am a city girl, and I am used to spending the holidays in the city. For the past few years since I have been with Shane, we have done some sort of combination of spending time with my family and his, usually ending up with having Christmas dinner at the Austin house, and meeting later for Russian Christmas or Old New Year (yes, that’s a thing), with my parents in White Rock. That was the routine and I was pretty comfortable with it. 

Now that I am older, Christmas has lost a little of its pure unadulterated joy because instead of just excitedly waiting for Santa to come, I in fact have to keep working right up until the holidays, while also attending various holiday events, and somehow still find the energy, during what are short, dreary, rainy, Vancouver December days to find and wrap thoughtful gifts for the whole family. 

You can see how the thought of having even less time to get all of that done, so that we can be ready to go to the Okanagan a few days before Christmas, was frightening. But, my brother and sister in law do live there full time, and after some consideration, I came around to the idea. And I am so glad I did. 

First of all, leaving home and driving the few hours instantly put me into a holiday headspace. What also helped was arriving to a snowy Peachland, something I have not previously experienced as I am usually there mostly in the summers. Walking along the lake in the evening, with a foot of snow on the sidewalks, and more falling was so peaceful, with streetlights illuminating yellow pools of snow. 

Of course, the best part was just having the whole family together, as we ate lots and lots of treats, hung out  in our pyjamas, watched Christmas movies, and (unsuccessfully) attempted a puzzle. Christmas morning was grander than ever, and Christmas dinner, hosted by Dean and Fadrina, was a warm and cozy affair. 

My favourite memory of the holiday was playing Cards Against Humanity with everyone after dinner. Watching our parents come up with the most hilarious answers, sometimes not even realizing what they were saying, and then laughing so hard they were crying. This is a moment I will treasure forever.

Vancouver Portrait Photography // Stella!

Guess who is back on the blog! It’s Stella herself. I took these photos during Canada Day weekend, hence the fully red outfit. Sadly Stella will probably be appearing on the blog less frequently, as she, along with her parents, has recently made the move from the Sunshine Coast to Nelson. I’ve been to Nelson once, and I absolutely fell in love with the feeling of this town, so hopefully we will be able to visit every once in a while. 

A little while ago, I got to babysit Stella for an entire weekend. I was so excited, I pulled out of my paints and paintbrushes, and planned lots of fun activities for us. On Saturday, I took her to the Capilano hatchery to see some salmon up close. Apparently we were not the only ones with that idea, so I had to park pretty far away. It was a cold fall day, but as much as I tried to convince Stella to put on her coat, she refused, because she was a princess, and princesses don’t get cold. This is what happens when children watch Frozen. (Frozen: not even once). I ended up having to carry her to the hatchery, but she perked up when she saw all the salmon. 

Next, we went over to my friend Amy’s house to decorate some cookies. Luckily, auntie Amy loves to bake, and she had all sorts of fun icing and sprinkles, and that occupied Stella for a while, and also had the added benefit of distributing the sprinkles all over the floor of the apartment. I am sure uncle Bruce was simply delighted. 

On Sunday, it was all about Science World. Stella had never been before, and she was mesmerized by all the activities and experiments. I saw a lot of little Nadya in her, as she approached each station with the intention of bringing it to order, like collecting all the purple balls in one area, while other children just ran amok. She also made auntie Nadya proud with her great listening skills during all the demonstrations, she sat in a safe area, and politely raised her hand when they needed a volunteer. I haven’t visited Science World with a kid since maybe the time my brother was little, and it made me realize how perfect it is, with so many things to do, you never need to worry about short attention spans. 

Most recently, Stella was the flower girl at our wedding. She took the job very seriously, and her mom Melissa even got her a flower girl activity book to prepare her for her big day. The one hiccup we did not anticipate is that little girls love flowers, and throwing them on the ground felt sacrilegious, and required some convincing. I was not surprised to see her later on, picking up the flowers and returning them to her basket. 

Vancouver Portrait (and Floral) Photography // Easter Portland Family Trip

These photos come from a family trip to Portland that we took last Easter. It’s actually the first time in a while that we all did something together, and although we are four people who know the precise ways to best drive each other crazy, this was a great trip, and I am remembering it fondly. 

Our first stop was to see the tulip fields, which bloom in Washington every year. Mom is absolutely obsessed with flowers of any kind, and in the spring and summer, I get at least a couple of texts a week of the prettiest flowers she has seen on her walks. In the fall and winter, sometimes she spends her lunch hour in a garden store, so then I still get my fix of her flower photography. Needless to say, she was thrilled to look at all the different colours and varieties, and I enjoyed experimenting with shooting straight down into the tulips. 

We spent a night in Aberdeen, visited the Kurt Cobain memorial, and continued on our way towards Portland. Shane and I have visited the city a few times before, but it was fun showing my favourite parts to my family, and together we discovered a botanical garden I did not know about. Everything was in bloom, and we even saw a bunch of Canadian goose eggs. 

At some point we also stopped at Cannon Beach, and I took them to my favourite place for grilled oysters called River View Dining. The couple who run it have been at it for over 20 years, and their grilled oysters “with everything” are one of the most delicious dishes I have had in my entire life. 

The best part of the trip for me was getting to spend time with my brother. We shared rooms on the trip, and it was probably the most uninterrupted sibling time we have had for years. It was nice to just hangout, I introduced him to Portlandia, and we watched a bunch of it together on my phone. When we got bored, we would go on late night food runs, and crack stupid jokes over burgers and milkshakes. Overall, 10/10 sibling bonding time, would recommend. 

Vancouver Portrait Photography // Christine, Adam and Seymour: Family Photoshoot

First of all, full disclosure: I am obsessed with the cat you are currently looking at. His name is Seymour, and he is the best boy. He is not the cuddliest, but he is goofy and zoomy, and so curious and athletic, and just overall a 10/10 cat. 

He came into our lives about a year and a half ago, when, after posting a picture of the cutest kitten I have ever seen on her instagram, our tenant Christine approached us, and asked how we would feel about them getting a cat. I immediately asked if it was the one from the photo, and when she said yes, I looked at Shane with the biggest puppy dog eyes I could muster. Long story short, they got the cat. 

It took them a long time to come up with a perfect name, so in the meantime, we called him a wide variety of things, the best by far being Señor Black Balls (because he has huge black balls relative to his little cream-coloured cat body, in case that wasn’t clear). Even as a kitten, he was great at fetch. He has these yellow rubber balls, and he would go crazy chasing them, and then he would grab it in his mouth, and bring it right back to you. Never did teach him to put it in your hand. He was also really interested in shoes as a kitten? He would find a shoe and climb into it, and that was pretty freaking cute. 

It didn’t take long for him to make it clear that he did not appreciate being shut out from the top floor of the house, which turned us from tenants and landlords into roomies who shared a cat. I will say, Shane and I definitely lucked out on that deal, because we get all the cuteness with none of the litterbox. 

Seymour is obviously our favourite, but Adam and Christine are pretty cool too. Adam is the chillest guy I have ever met, and also a pro snowboarder who does crazy things on his board, and somehow makes it look easy. He also plays guitar, and as his upstairs neighbour, I am happy to say he is very good at it. Christine is a helicopter mechanic, which is badass as hell, and overall just a funny, kind, down to earth person. 

It’s been great living with them over the last couple years, and I simply had to take some family photos of them with Señor Black Balls while he was still small. The result is pure cuteness.