{vancouver family photographer} mother & daughter & a sunset adventure

I am in love with Tower Beach and photographing family sessions there - even if I experience momentary regret when the session is over, and it's time to walk back up several hundred stairs. It's still so worth it.

Leana is the most incredible mother, and these two are simply a joy to photograph - they have such an obvious bond, built on trust, and adventure, and silliness too. As I've photographed them together over the years, I've seen her daughter grow into such a wonderful little girl  - curious and goofy, sweet and ridiculous, and with such a desire to learn about everything in the world around her. I know this is due entirely to her amazing mom, who pauses in the middle of the session to describe the trees surrounding them, who challenges her to take risks, who teaches her to care for even the small creatures on their pathway, who comforts her at the end of the evening when she stumbles on a pebble, and who tickles her until they're both nearly crying of laughter.

I have so much love for this sweet little family of two.

scintillating sunwashed spanish banks family session

All the S's in that title remind me of a book we were given, called Alpahebetics: An Aesthetically Awesome Alliterated Alphabet Anthology (by Patrick & Traci Concepción). 

My favourite page from the book is Q, which goes like this: "Quinn the quail queen quietly queued for the quintessential quinoa quiche."

Amazing, right? All of this, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with this session, but I believe it was a very worthwhile sidenote.

Steve spent a few months last summer pastoring at our church, and I had the opportunity to photograph this (ADORABLE) family together one sunny August evening. Linsey is a talented writer, their little son is probably the most active child I have ever met, and his little sister is such a sweetheart. We miss you guys!

{jericho beach family photographer} - flower crowns & blackberry stains

Katrina is a lovely photographer friend, and this is her sweet family.  It seems a little ridiculous that one family could be THIS ADORABLE, right?!  That's what I think too.  

As probably happens to many photographers, we both realized we hadn't done family photos in a while.  So we had the crazy idea to do our two family sessions...at once.  We arrived at Jericho Beach at sunset, with families and cameras in tow, and took turns snapping photos.  Thanks to our cooperative husbands (and less cooperative children), it was actually a lot of fun.  (For us.  Maybe not for our husbands.  Sorry, darling.)  

This is what happens when I get to photograph stylish, happy, carefree clients in beautiful light.  Katrina had on the same dress she wore for her engagement photos (I know - after two kids!) and Katrina's mom made the flower crowns for herself and Aletheia. They weren't overdressed or stressed, they didn't mind that the kids smeared blackberry over their faces, and they didn't feel that they had to smile at the camera for every photo.  They tickled and laughed and loved on each other, they interacted with their environment, and I was able to capture their real moments - which is always a gift for the photographer, as well as for the family.  

 So much loveliness.

{tower beach family photographer} - sunflares & pebbles

I love this family session.

A November day dripping with magical, translucent winter light & filling my heart overflowing with happiness.  A day in which the sunflares found my camera & we lost our breath with the colours of the sunset.

This family is beautiful together; we picked berries & leaves, ran down forest pathways, gathered smooth handfuls of pebbles and watched pink-stained skies drift into yesterday.