Echo....

Is anybody out there still?

I've jumped ship (in this case, blogger is the ship) and moved my blog over to my new domain at www.amandastratton.com. So my blog will go on at www.amandastratton.com/blog and I even plopped a fresh post on there to bait you.

And here's a link right to the RSS feed, so you can go ahead and put that in your reader right now ;)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AmandaStrattonWaterlooWeddingAndPortraitPhotographer

See you over there, I hope!


BTW, this will stay here, and blogger has been an awesome platform for the beginnings of my blog. I love all things google, including blogger, but I wanted something that fit in with my site a little more smoothly, so there you have it :)

Feeling Stressed?

... then head on over to my facebook page, and get yourself in on the draw for 30 Minutes of reflexology from Revitalize!

Each time I hit a milestone in the number of members that have joined, I give something away. At 200 fans, I gave away a $20 coffee gift certificate. At 250 fans, it was 25 cupcakes of the winner's choice from Cakecetera!

Well, at the end of last week, we hit 300! Since I did 20 then 25, now I'm doing 30 of something. I know that September can be a bit of a stressful time with back to school and the end of summer, so I thought there are probably lots of people who could use some help releasing tension.

I knew right away that if I was going to give away something to help people relax, it would have to be some time spent with Jenn from Revitalize. She is honestly one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and she's great at what she does!

So, if you're local and need a few minutes of just-for-you time, head over to my facebook page, and enter yourself in the draw!

Here's a link to the specific place where you need to enter:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4002630&id=113494292106&ref=nf

And to my page in general:
http://www.facebook.com/amandastrattonphotographer

Worldwide Moment

Today I participated in the third annual Worldwide Moment. The idea of the Worldwide Moment is that at a predetermined time, people around the world take a photo for peace. The photos are collected into a gallery online and eventually in a real live gallery.

Here's the answer to the question "What are you hoping to achieve with this?" on the Worldwide Moment website:

We hope at least one person from every country participate, so that we can literally achieve a moment of worldwide peace between every nation. We hope this Moment is just the beginning of what's to come.

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, and I was all set to submit a photo of my evening lecture (more on that later) but I ended up forgetting about it and just as the girls and I were headed out for a run (which is really a walk with short bursts of jogging at 3-year old speed), my BlackBerry reminded me about it.

So here's my Worldwide Moment photo, taken on my BlackBerry, of the girls and I out for a sunset run at 09.09.09+09GMT@09:09:



As for the earlier part of my day....

Today I got up bright and early, got myself ready for school, made myself a blueberry smoothie, got the girls dressed, out the door, and dropped off, and pulled in to the University of Waterloo parking lot for the first time ever. That old feeling--the one that comes with the pursuit of higher learning--came flooding back as I made my way through froshing first year students to my building. I paused for a moment and thought it was odd that the first year students were still froshing, but I thought maybe that's how they do it here at the UofW. Who am I to argue? I got to my class, opened the door, and it was totally dark. Nobody in there. In fact... nobody in any classes. Nobody milling about in halls. No professor-types hanging around. Then it hit me. Class starts next week.

If you follow me on twitter, you'll know that I consider this to be Classic Amanda. Just the sort of thing I do, really, except that I'm rarely early at all, let alone a week early.

So I got a student card, checked out my fancy new health and dental plan (hallelujah!), tried with no success to get a parking permit, and just generally wandered and got my bearings, feeling kind of silly and being glad nobody could tell that I'm a tool. Well, until I posted it here on the internet for everyone to see. It's okay to mock me, just please don't point and laugh.

Jayden: Portrait Photography at the Beach!

I love the beach in Goderich, so when Mandy told me that it was where she wanted to get some family portraits and Jayden's one-year pictures done, I was really excited. The beach can be awfully tricky for shooting. Lots of wind and very little shelter can make it a bit difficult, but we had a great time, and even though it was kind of chilly, Jayden was happy as could be.





I used my Swing, Swing focusing and shooting technique (and some tickling) to get some shots of Mandy and Jason pushing Jayden on the swing.


I know it almost seems wrong to show a beach picture in anything other than colour, but I saw this one in chocolate as soon as I took it.


We didn't roam the beach quite as much as we did at Meaghan and Jonathan's engagement session, which spanned all three beaches - we stuck to Rotary Cove, but there was great variety there, too! I love this shot because it was so obvious that Jayden is the center of his parents' worlds, and you can see how much they adore him.





To me, these are the shots that say "Hi, I'm one year old!" because Jayden was really interested in his shoes. It must be awesome to find that world that fascinating.


Toward the end of the shoot, we went to the water to let Jayden get his feet wet, and I think he liked it!



Loook at those tiny little feet!


You can find more shots from this session on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/amandastrattonphotographer

This was really a fun shoot, which was in no small part due to Mandy and Jason being such wonderful subjects and being so relaxed with Jayden. Thank you guys for a fun evening at the beach!

A Morning Shoot: Family Photography

The very best light for photos, in case you were wondering, happens in the morning and the evening. For about three hours after day breaks and about three hours before night falls. For most people, the evening works best, but for this shoot, morning did, and it was one of very few opportunities that I've had to shoot in the morning light.

We brought Bruce along for this shoot, too. He's the skateboard tied to a rope dog you see the kids walking in these pictures. Imagination is a wonderful thing!


The kids also showed me their fort, which unfortunately for them, involved letting the cat out of the bag about them climbing trees in their fort. Oops!


Aren't these kids gorgeous??


I wanted to share just a few photos of these two awesome kids for now. We caught their baby brother at a bad time, and he just wanted to sleep, so I'm going to go back for another shoot with him, and then I'll share some more of this family, including an album design!

Thanks to Amanda for having me come out and shoot your family! Your kids are just wonderful, and I had a great time!