I. Am. Canadian.

WOOHOO! What an amazing day today. The weather was gorgeous, I had an uber productive and creative day, Vince and I are three days away from our Las Vegas trip, and Team Canada won gold!

In honour of the Olympics and the most golden of years, I made this necklace just after Sidney Crosby scored the game winner in OT (Vince had to work tonight and I think I heard his cheers all the way from the hospital). The necklace is my interpretation of the Olympic rings. It consists of 5 golden circles on a delicate golden chain. They sit one on top of each other but they move around so you can tell there are 5 of them. Sighs, making stuff always makes me happy.

Yes indeedy, it's been an amazing day today. In fact, it's been an amazing 17 days. Yay, Canada!

The Wedding Ring

Hooray, they're finally here! As some of you know, Vince and I got married last year on August 8. We had AMAZING wedding photographers - Irina and Mihkel of Irina Fortey Photography. After our wedding, they submitted details about our day to The Wedding Ring magazine and we were featured in the 2010 spring/summer issue along with 6 other couples. We received our copies of the magazine a few days ago and I'm so excited to share a few images!



Here is our feature! If you wish to read the full article, just click on the below images.



(Click on the above images to read the full article.)

A Day for Family

He laughs at me all the time. He chuckles when I wear thick bangle bracelets. He even goes so far as to tell me they're ugly. When I tell him they're stylish, he corrects himself to say that they look ok. His favourite story about me is when he prepared himself a gin and tonic, left the room, and came back only to find that I had downed it because I was hot and thought it was Sprite. He was concerned but I was unaffected. I was around 6 years old. He delights in telling me he found me in the garbage as a baby. When I probe him for details, he shows me the expression he says I made when I looked at him from beneath the newspapers.

Some of you have heard these stories before and will know that I'm speaking of my daddy. Aside from his delightful sense of humour, he is a stoic yet caring man with a heart of gold. I did a quick photoshoot for him recently and he could not stop laughing, which is not unusual for those who know him well.





We had the photoshoot in his office and I loved the colours and textures from his many many books.




Some of my favourite images were the headshots! I really like how these two images contrast each other. It just so happened that I got in a couple of serious shots - and I like how his more neutral expression works with the darker background. He was back to laughing again (or rather trying not to) and I like how the lighter background seems to complement this as well.



It was definitely fun to have a photoshoot with my daddy and I especially enjoyed telling him what to do! :)

Be Mine

Part of me has always enjoyed Valentine's Day. Sure, the commercial aspect is a bit much, but I love chocolate, pink, and hearts so you won't hear me complaining most of the time. I also like to celebrate pretty much anything - I'm sure I've even celebrated Anti-Valentine's Day in the past - thus, this quasi-holiday draws me in just a little.

This year's VD is kinda neat - not only does it fall on a long weekend because it's so close to Family Day, but it's also Chinese New Year, and Vince and my first as husband and wife. However, when we woke up this morning, I wasn't thinking about hearts and hugs at all. We had slept in and I was super groggy so I just wanted to brush my teeth and splash some water on my face. Then when I came out of the bathroom, Vince had vanished. Poof!

About half an hour later, he returned... with red roses and a heart-shaped box of Turtles and my favourite all-consuming Starbucks addiction - Soy Tazo Chai Latte. Gaaaaah! Cliché I know, and you're probably all gagging up your conversation hearts right now, but I was so pleased. Annnd, not only that but he had actually already bought me a gift. As I was transferring the flowers into a vase, he pulled out a small tote bag containing tights and pants from Lululemon. It meant a lot that he already had something for me but still made the effort to go out on a cold Sunday morning to pick up all the stereotypical VD extras.

Now, I'm settling in for a reaaally lazy day, watching the Olympics and gorging on Turtles. Then I'm going for dinner with my in-laws. It's definitely a great day - no, a fine weekend - for love. Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Memory Lane

One of the reasons I am so passionate about photography is because I have so few photos from when I was young. All the images that I do have, I treasure very deeply. What I love most about the photographs is that they provide a glimpse of my life as it truly was. This fundamental honesty has shaped my work as a photographer and is why I strive to capture real moments through my own lens.

Following are some of my most cherished childhood photographs. Yes, some are scratched and some are faded. Some may even be poorly composed and grainy and out of focus. But they are real moments. And they form some of my most precious memories.




Belle had this next image put on a t-shirt for me. Ha! It's so silly and I so love it.



As you can see, I loved to eat even as a little one. (1) My favourite treats by far were Handi-Snacks and Coke. (2) I also loved to eat processed cheese slices. I also had a puppy when I was little - I guess I didn't develop my allergies until I got older. (3) I have always enjoyed a nice box of Smarties!





I've always loved merry-go-rounds and am still fascinated with them (and ferris wheels) to this day.



Here I am in Hong Kong with my aunt and uncle - we all look so serious.



Finally, here are some images of me and my daddy. Soon, I'll be posting some more recent portraits of my dad but I love these photos of us together back in the day. Man, those sideburns in the last image are great, aren't they? My dad used to have a full beard too... I think I only have one or two photos of the beard. Shucks!

The Paperweight

It's been really difficult to meet my goal of posting on LWP every 2 to 3 days. So difficult that I haven't been doing it. However, I do have good reasons (excuses)! I've been working on a few new projects and I'm also trying to catch up on my personal blog of honeymoon travel posts. But I will get it together eventually... I promise.

Last year, I read a great book by Freeman Patterson called Photographing the World Around You: A Visual Design Workshop for Film and Digital Photography. Yes, a long title - no, a very long title - and it was basically a photography book filled with words but it really made me think about the visual building blocks to making great images.

Ironically, Vince recommended the book to me because he had read great reviews about it yet he never ended up reading it himself. I tell ya, the boy loves to read reviews about anything and everything. He's my own personal maven, which comes in quite handy at times. All I have to say is, "I'm thinking about buying such-and-such" and, within hours, he'll have done tons of research on the item in question - including the best place to buy it at the lowest price.

Oops, I got sidetracked there - now, back to the book! Freeman Patterson had a fascinating way of jump-starting his creativity. He wrote about throwing a hula hoop off the porch of his house and photographing (1) only what lay inside the hula hoop and then (2) only what he could capture looking out from standing in the hula hoop. This made me realize I don't have to travel the world to find interesting things to photograph - all I desire may be in my own proverbial backyard.

His other project, which absolutely amazed me, was his paperweight photography. A friend had given him a clear glass paperweight as a gift. One day, the light caught it a certain way and he was hooked. Over a span of a year or so (or perhaps it was over the span of a few years), he took over 2000 images of this paperweight and his sense was that his work with this object had just begun!

I only wish that my passion for photography and light will be such that I will continually find wonder in simple objects. As I was trying to decide what to photograph for my 365:2010 project today, I came upon a glass paperweight that's been in our condo for ages. It must've magically appeared out of nowhere because I cannot for the life of me remember where we got it. And thus, so begins my journey.



(365:2010 Project - Day 35: Thu Feb 04)