Secret Shoot

Remember back about a month ago I said that I was going to be doing a 'secret shoot'? Now that the cat is out of the bag (or the gift has been given, rather), I can finally share some of the pics!

These 3 sisters approached me wanting to do some pictures for their Mom's birthday. What a great gift! On Mother's Day weekend they all got ready, dressed in their 'photo clothes' (with other clothes on top so that their Mom wouldn't know what was going on) and went for a "walk". Between breaking out into song a few times, the crazy faces that the youngest sister made and the things they were willing to do to get a picture these girls cracked me up!

Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this special gift for your Mom, girls!



We snapped some pictures here because their mom loves willow trees - how cute!

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other New Beginning's End

Yes, it's the words to a popular song and a quote by a Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD; but the words are so true.

This week I had the pleasure of photographing two beautiful, new babies. For one family, this "new beginning" meant that they were going from a family of 4 to a family of 5. A family with 2 little girls, to a family with 2 girls and a boy. For the family that I visited this afternoon, this "new beginning" meant that they were going from being a couple to a "family". Husband and wife to "Daddy" and "Mommy".

I love being able to share in the joy and excitement that new parents (and grandparents!) have over the addition of a baby to their family. Today I watched as M's Daddy gently wiped her eye, her Mommy lovingly snuggle her and her Grandma 'oooo' and 'ahhh' and her cuteness.

And here she is....8lbs of cuteness!

Thank you A & T for inviting me into your home to capture these moments with your sweet little girl!

Rough Life

Babies have it so rough, don't they?
Sleeping wherever and whenever they want...

not a care in the world...

all the snuggles they want...

and lots of kisses too!

It was such a pleasure to snap work with this little man on Wednesday! He is the 3rd baby of my good friends, Sarah and Ian. While they are experienced in having children, this is their first boy. I'm so happy for them!

Staying Connected

Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like for my grandparents 'back in the day'. Typically they only really saw family that lived a fair distance away on special occassions because it was just impossible to visit often.

It's at times like this that I am SO thankful for the technology that we have! How incredible is it that today I was able to shoot some new pictures of Erika while my sister (who is at school in Alberta...a heck of a long drive away!) watched on Skype. SO amazing! I get a kick out of watching my Grandma talk to my sister on Skype because she is so baffled that it is free. :)

Family is so important and staying connected with family is an important part of those relationships. Every full family/maternity/newborn photo shoot booked before the end of April will receive $25 off. These photo shoots must occur before the end of December 2011.


Nearly 4 months of sweetness :)

Listening intently to Auntie Rache

"Hi Auntie Rache!" *She's going to kill me for this...*

New fave pic of my sweet baby girl!

Good things come in 3's

3 months ago Erika was only hours old.
3 months from now she will be 6 months old! That's half a YEAR people!
She is such a happy baby! She makes all these cute little noises and faces. When you smile at her she smiles back with the biggest toothless smile that makes the world around you stop.

When Josh went down for his nap this afternoon, I did Erika's 3 month pictures. Leah was a big help with this! Of course, it helps to reward her with being allowed to play little games online (using Playhouse Disney) afterwards. :)

Notice anything different about these pictures? *hint - it's blue!*



If you guessed the background, you're totally right! Remember I mentioned at the end of 2010 that there would be big things happening? One of those big things was that I purchased backdrops and flooring! I am SO excited to use them! So if you'd like to be one of the first people to use them with me, let's chat! :) E-mail me at taracollyer@rogers.com

Not so sleepy Miss Charlotte

Another friend of mine had her first baby just over 2 weeks ago. Little Miss Charlotte was overdue, but tipped the scales at just under 7lbs. I had the chance to meet her on Monday and I couldn't believe how tiny she looked compared to Erika who is just over 2 months old!

Charlotte's mommy had warned me that she was not your typical 'super sleepy' baby and liked to eat often. When it came time for her pictures she had just been fed (which is usually the perfect way to get baby to sleep) and should have been ready to go, but instead as soon as her mommy put her down she started to get very upset. Her poor mommy had to feed her several times off and on and she still wasn't too happy about having her pictures taken. Instead of forcing her to sleep we just went with the flow and snapped a few shots of her where she was most comfortable - on mommy. We did manage to get a few shots of her looking peaceful.

In somewhat related news, you may have noticed on my Facebook fan page that I mentioned I'd be doing some 'birth photography' in June. I am SO excited about this opportunity! I've never been in a delivery room (other than obviously when I had my own kids) so that is exciting in itself. But the fact that I'll be capturing a baby's first moments is just cool to me!

Quite a few of you have asked about 'birth photography' since my posting a few days ago. I think one of the best responses was from my sister who said 'what is this digustingness?' or something to that effect. Birth photography, in my opinion, is not a graphic/gorey/weird thing. Instead, I am looking to capture the moments leading up to the birth (the waiting, anticipation and yes, sometimes the uncomfortable faces due to contractions) and babies first moments (mom holding her baby for the first time, etc). There will be absolutely no pictures from the foot of the bed. These are meant to be pictures that you would look back at and remember how beautiful (and yes, sometimes painful) the experience was.

Maybe birth photography isn't your thing, but who doesn't love a squishy, sleepy newborn? I'm always up for a newborn shoot but it's best to do them before the baby is 2 weeks old. If you are pregnant please be sure to contact me right away for your baby's first photos and we'll set up a date (and yes, it's flexible because we all know babies never come on time! lol!).

2 months!

My sweet little Erika is 2 months old today. Can you believe it? I can't! But I'm sure I'll say that about every milestone with each of my kids.

With each of my kids it has been so important to me to take monthly pictures of them during the first year. For example, Leah was born on the 1st of the month so each month on the 1st I would do a mini shoot of her. These little shoots allowed me to capture little features about them that had changed and compare to the month before. They change SO much during that first year and I'm SO glad that I did this for each of them.

Today, after Josh went down for his nap and Erika had been fed I kept her up a little while and snapped these pics of her 2 month old sweetness. I wish she could stay my little baby forever!