racheljphotography

I thought I’d share about my personal experiences over the last weekend of February. Friday began with the PPOC (Professional Photographers of Canada - Alberta) print competition. I did well in the competition and for the first time ever had all four of my prints accepted into the print salon. Friday evening was enjoyable listening to Chris Keating, a family portrait photographer from Calgary. I want to thank Tyler Meade for teaching and speaking on Saturday about commercial photography. I learned a lot and look forward to improving the commercial work I do in 2010. Sunday was spent with Scott Robert Lim, an inspirational wedding photographer I have admired over the last 2 years. His story brought me to tears and I was able to talk more with him about my photography as well. He even mentioned one of my images during the day which definitely made me blush of embarrassment, but it was still pretty cool to be mentioned. The image he was referring to was The Tryst that won a Merit at the Print Competition. This image brought a lot of discussion among the judges there. First it was the title. 2 judges didn’t know what a tryst was, which I thought was really interesting since I took a poll of people of various education backgrounds and ages and 9/10 of them knew the meaning. To the people who didn’t know that a tryst was a secret meeting or secret love affair it was astonishing that because of this lack of knowledge it affected how they judged my print. One of the judges really enjoyed the image and asked for it to be rejudged and I ended up scoring higher which was awesome. Overall it was an image people remembered and was talked about often over the course of the weekend. I enjoyed having dinner with Scott and Chris Keating with several other photographers on Sunday evening. We’re all just normal people who love what we do and we got a chance to share and ask questions. Monday was incredible. Dane Sanders came to speak to us and man - he was inspiring and got to the hearts of many in the theatre. Guys and gals were in tears throughout the day hearing our colleagues speak. Through Dane’s words, he pushed a lot of us to share our real stories with colleagues we didn’t know. I got a chance to share with Javier Salazzar and him with me and it truly was an amazing experience. My friend Shaun Scade from Scade Photography posted on his blog last week his incredible journey and the story of his life and how he came to be the incredible photographer he is today. Here are some random thoughts that are sticking with me from the weekend:

I have realized that there is a cost to everything. If it doesn’t cost us anything, we simply won’t value it. Whether this is a gorgeous display of potted flowers from a greenhouse or a portrait of our children. I know that when I buy flowers, it cost me some money and therefore I better water the flowers and keep them alive and thriving for as long as the season lasts here in Edmonton. I value these flowers but it did cost me something even if it wasn’t a large sum of money, it still cost something. When it comes to photography - I feel it’s the same thing. I value portraits of the important people in my life, my friends, my family and the environment that surrounds me. I feel that capturing the relationship and tenderness between a couple is so important, that the little smile a child gives his/her mom or dad is the most precious thing in the world. The love that we share with our families are experiences and memories that pass so quickly. Having photographers capture and retell your story and life through imagery and art is something that many of us should treasure more than we do. When my clients tell me after they pick up their prints or albums that they would’ve paid me more, I know that what I have just given them is a gift that they will treasure and sometimes you can’t put a cost on these moments. They are special, sincere and slam the heart with emotion. We all need to love one another more and this brings me to the next thing I have been thinking about. 

Change. I want to the change the conditions so that change happens. I realize that there are many things about my life that I want to change. 

1. I want to change my relationship with fear. 

2. I want to change my attitude.

The last thing I was encouraged to do over the weekend was really go all in. What does that mean for me? I think this will be a continuous thing that I’ll be working towards but to me it means connecting with my peers in a more personal and supportive way. Connecting with my clients by sharing more of who I am with them and by being authentic. I want to make sure that my family is always first and my work is second. I need to take better care of myself so that I can better love others and have the energy to do my work and enjoy my life. I want to move people with my imagery and be a more creative and artistic photographer. I want to continue to mentor other photographers and be a leader. 

I know this is a mish-mash of thoughts but I wanted to share with you how important the Exposure Symposium Weekend was to me. 

Thanks for reading. I wish you all an incredible 2010 full of growth and positive change!

Love,

Rachel

PS. Below is a photo I took at a delicious Thai restaurant we visited last week called Sy Phay. Get their soup. Mmmm….

What a shock today was…I always sit nervously viewing everyone’s prints during the judging and today I was personally awarded 1 Merit print and 3 Accepted prints into the print salon. I have been a Professional Photographers of Canada member since 2003 and typically enter fine art, pictoral and architecture images into the salons, but this year decided to enter some portraits and one fine art image. Because all 4 of my entered prints were accepted into the print salon I am up for the 2010 Portrait Photographer of the Year Award in Alberta + Saskatchewan. This year the competition is strong and there are a total of 4 of us!! 

I know you’re probably curious as to what I entered so here they are!! I hope you like them. :)  

Below is the print that scored Merit and brought a LOT of discussion. It also got called back for more discussion…I loved John Beesley today for fighting for a higher score on the print. :) 

THE TRYST (for those of you who don’t know what Tryst is - it’s a secret meeting place)

The image below holds special meaning for me photographed the week my grandfather passed away. 

STANDING OUT OF THE CROWD

 The below image was photographed at Perry & Sandra’s wedding in Kivik, Sweden in May of 2009. The church is a 12th century monastery and all the guests had rice that they were throwing at the newlyweds as they excited the church after the wedding ceremony.

RAINING BLESSINGS

The wedding below was one of my favorite weddings of the year that I photographed. This was the last image scored today late in the afternoon. After I found out the print was accepted, I jumped up with a huge smile on my face and ran to hug my friends at the back door and out I went. I was so happy, shocked and I guess I was squealing and crying all at once with another nominee out in the hallway at NAIT. Ummm…I am 32 years old now as today is my birthday. Having four prints hang in the salon is a splendid birthday present and nominated for Portrait Photographer of Year for 2010 is even better. How crazy is this?!? Some people I’ve talked to aren’t surprised, but honestly, I never thought this would happen! I also want to shout out and give a special thanks to my friend Lane Collison from Sydney Rae Photography who took some time to work on some of these prints with me.

QUEEN FOR A DAY

This past weekend was full of hard work and a lot of fun. I had Roxanna Froese from Roxanna J. Photography here for a few days from Chilliwack, BC. She’s a great photographer that has a lot of talent and wanted to learn from me this past weekend. I spent the last three days mentoring her. We photographed Amber + Michael’s wedding as well as a family/maternity/child session on Sunday. It was an amazing weekend full of learning and shooting! 

Here are some of my favorite images from Michael + Amber’s wedding day. It was a cool, sunny, winter day and quite lovely for an Edmonton February day. :) 

Congratulations Amber and Michael!! I wish you much happiness in your marriage. 

Hugs and love,

Rachel

Below Amber is tying on her gorgeous winter cape in her bedroom.

The ultra adorable Talyn is putting on her headband. I just love the gold beads!

Amber’s six year old daughter Camille has the most beautiful eyes. 

 The wedding ceremony was held at the Union Bank Inn downtown Edmonton.

 I love Amber’s expression in this image.

 The handsome groom and his groomsmen.

 We relaxed for a little while in one of the hotel rooms before the reception started. It was fun to get these images with Amber and Michael alone.

 Camille is peeking out from under Mommy’s cape. 

 The sweet kiss from Amber’s daughter…

While I was photographing Helga + Peter’s session this afternoon a flock of pigeons suddenly flew off the roof overhead and I quickly pointed my camera up at them and shot…not really thinking that I’d get anything in focus or whether it worked and I was astonished that I actually liked what I photographed so decided to edit it a few different ways and show it to you. You’ll notice Canada Place is in the bottom right hand corner of the frame. Hope you like this image! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone and have a fabulous long weekend with your family and friends.

Much love to all,

Rachel

What a fun time I had with Helga and Peter today! I photographed the first of many sessions for the winners of my blog contest. Here are my favorite images from todays mini session…They are such an awesome, loving couple and I really enjoyed photographing them. Helga, is a colleague and friend of mine from Helga Himer Photography. Congrats to you both for winning this session. I hope you enjoy these images. 

Love, Rachel

Awhile ago I posted a couple sneak peek photos from this session. Here are a bunch more for your viewing pleasure of sweet little Ella and her parents. Story time is something they often share together and it was really precious seeing how Ella cuddles with both mom and dad too. Enjoy a glimpse into their home and their lives. 

Rachel

 Ella has the most beautiful eyes and don’t you just adore the bow in her hair?!

I spent many days in January photographing various groups from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra for their upcoming 2010/2011 Brochure. I really enjoyed these sessions and working with the musicians. The theme for the brochure is food and music and we had the opportunity to photograph at various locations around the city that support the ESO. Here are some of the images that you will see in the upcoming brochure! Hope you like them!

 Here are the Christmas themed images that I took in December 2009.

Below is Broddy and Eric toasting to the upcoming year at The Hardware Grill. The Hardware is definitely one of my personal favorite restaurants in the city. I even got to try the yummy appetizer and some wine on the shoot. Fabulous time! 

Below are the fabulous percussionists at Sobeys Urban Fresh downtown. We had some fun in the bakery. This was my quickest session! This image was taken for the kids concerts.

 Below are the E-SWAT…fun group! We took these on a cold Saturday afternoon a couple weeks ago.

 Here is E-SWAT again in the Old Strathcona Farmers Market.

 The lovely violinists at Three Bananas Cafe located in Churchill Square. This is a great after concert location to get a coffee!

Below is my flute teacher from my University days, Shelley Younge, shown with Chris, Kathryn and Nora. Here they are enjoying pasta and salad with a beautiful Chianti at Il Forno. The owner sent Pam and I home with our own freshly made pasta with Italian sausages. The sausages are made from scratch. Sooooo yummy!! Thanks Il Forno and to the musicians for a wonderful hour of shooting, eating, drinking and visiting. 

 Below is husband and wife, John and Dianne at Tzin Wine & Tapas Bar on 104 Street. Kelsey was a gracious host and we thoroughly enjoyed our time getting to know each other and taking some unique images in this small and hip wine bar. Can’t wait to go back!

 Bill and Lucas are below after enjoying a wonderful lunch at Skinny Legs Cowgirls Bistro on Jasper and 122 St. Check it out!! The food here is fabulous and another favorite restaurant of mine. Susan, the owner, also made Pam and I some lunch and it was delicous!! Thank you thank you! Great vibe in this lovely place.

 Here are the principal instrumentalists of the ESO taken in the main lobby of the Winspear Centre.

 And here is your Edmonton Symphony Orchestra!! Come out and listen to the beautiful sounds these musicians make. Visit http://www.edmontonsymphony.com/ for more information. 

So this is more of a personal post, but since I was playing with my iPhone and different photo applications I thought I’d post an image I photographed this evening while my daughter Linnea was taking a bath. She is 21 months old now and growing much too quickly for me. She looked up just as I was pressing the shutter and I captured the image seen below. I thought it was pretty unique and wanted to share it. 

Leanne Regehr is a family friend and someone I grew up with at church. She even babysat me and we reminisced about those days. :) She is an amazing pianist I have always admired and she’s inspiring to many. It was an honour and privilege to photograph my friend Leanne and provide her with new headshots! Here are our favorites!

Thank you to all those who voted in my contest this past week. 

Here’s my husband Jeff now…He wants to write the post. :)

Hey all you Blog Peeps! When Rachel told me she was doing this competition, I immediately saw the flaw in the game. How do any of you know what her favourite picture is, other than what she tells you. So in the interest of introducing a modicum of objectivity, no matter how fictional, I volunteered to testify to the correct image. It was approximately a week ago that I was trying to get some work done, at midnight when I usually get something done before the day ends, when Rachel called me into her office (very quietly so as not to disturb Linnea - the real tactic for summoning is for her to simply start talking in her office, forcing me to come into the room to hear what on earth she is talking about…) to share her excitement in this image. “Isn’t it the most awesome engagement image ever in the history of all things photographed?” is pretty much how the question went (yes, she really gets this excited about taking your pictures - this is not an uncommon question). It was indeed a nifty capture - complete with rustic brick building, extreme camera angle, a good looking couple and billowing steam from the marvel of engineering that is Edmonton’s water waste system. Magical. So yes - I support Rachel’s assertion that this image she purports to be her favourite of the session, is indeed the one she originally claimed as her favourite.

Congratulations to the winners! I do want to mention that the vote of Image #7 was my SECOND favorite image. Thanks again for taking part in the fun and I look forward to photographing the mini winter sessions for the below winners!

CONTEST WINNERS: Jen Caithcart, Norma Whittle (who lives in Bolivia so this session will be somewhat difficult to do), Lindsay Albert, Kathryn Anderson, Erik Hornung, Irina, Shannon and Helga Himer.