When thinking of what to write about Charmaine, the first word that quickly came to mind was radiant. The second was charming and then I thought DUH, that’s plagiarism. When she walked into my place for her shoot she was a little nervous but nevertheless glowing. She was the perfect candidate to glam up with moulin rouge lips and romantic eyes…she has that face that can pull off something that dramatic. Maybe a little too dramatic because the first thing she said when she looked in the mirror was “HOLY CRAP!” We laughed and I explained the makeup doesn’t exactly translate the same way on camera.

One thing I noticed about her is that her smile shows how she’s really feeling – not a good poker face at all – but again, extremely charming. This girl has definitely lived up to her name.

Introducing the lovely Charmaine…

Part of being a photographer is having cool photographer friends. Like Sherry. She’s cute as a button, has a wicked shoe collection and best of all, laughs at my jokes. Now there’s two people, including myself.

We met through Twitter where I found her super sweet blog and I ended up gushing to her telling her how much I loved it. That’s how I make friends, you know. We arranged a meeting one afternoon for lunch and I dragged her to my favorite pho restaurant where we chatted about photography, school, how we got to where we are and how much chili oil I was putting in my soup.

Our day didn’t end at lunch of course! We headed out to Lafarge Lake where we swapped 50mm 1.4’s just for fun, crashed a tennis court party, and basked in the beautiful January sunshine while twirling, jumping and posing to our heart’s content. Check out Sherry’s shots of me here.

I love how she rocks the sequined ballet flats! She brought the Micki Mouse ears because she hearts Disneyland and we both put them on to get the exact same shot of each other.

Here’s my view of Sherry.

My dog looks like a sea otter, wouldn’t you agree? I took pictures of her for maybe 30 seconds and this is the range I got. Best model ever.

This was my third shoot with Brooke. We got to spend a couple hours in Mundy Park in Coquitlam for her photo shoot and she was such a little darling the whole time. I learned this time around that Brooke has a sweet tooth and loves sour keys. Ironic. Obviously it’s the cutest thing ever to watch a kid eat something sour so we set her up on a log and gave her the sour key and I snapped away as her face pursed up, her tongue came out, and her eyes squinted with delight. So cute, right?

Their family is growing too! Brooke will soon have a little brother or sister. Mom is leaning toward a brother; it just feels different this time. It’s pretty neat that the first time I took Brooke’s picture she was only able to crawl and coo. Now we can ask her questions and she can answer them. She can run to where her next picture will be taken and she can chew on a sour candy with her teeth. I hope I get to document this little one as she grows up even more.

When I was editing the photos I thought I’d try adding some textures to a few of the pics so there are some before & afters. It took me forever to get the hang of it but I think they turned out all right! I also am rolling out my watermark. Little mini me and mini Punky to match my logo. Finally!

Anyways, here’s the always cute Brooke.

Being a photographer has benefits. For example, you tend to meet a lot of other photographers and sometimes they want to take your picture. Just for fun. How about a coffee and a photo shoot? Sure! Not a bad way to spend a balmy December day, is it? Now I can name drop. Oh yeah, I know Sean Norman. This guy.

When he shouted out on Twitter that he wanted to do a shoot with ME in front of the camera, I was pretty excited… but I was also nervous because a) I’d never met a stranger to take my picture before and b) I didn’t know what to wear or how to do my hair. There’s a cute thread of comments on his blog about the hair…It seems my stress was for nothing. He made every shutter click count in this set and I love every single picture!

I didn’t realize it would be so easy to get to know other local photographers and then find out they’re welcoming, warm and will share their thoughts on everything from life, family, friendship, the city, the world and even photography. Sean has that quality that every photographer needs just as much as they need the right equipment and technical know-how; he has the ability to connect. And you can see it in every single photo he takes and in every single blog post he writes. This kid’s going far (and he knows it).

No offense about the kid remark, Sean. So here’s a sample of his work with yours truly!

Seriously, Lauren. It’s not fair.

I’d stop there and you’d all know what I meant. But this girl is funny! That makes it even less fair but makes her all the more charming.  I had the pleasure of rocking a tandem boudoir session with Lauren and her friend Chelsea last December.

I was dying to get a great flirty laughing shot of Chelsea and asked if Lauren could help out.   I figured if anyone could make someone laugh, it was their good friend.   Not the geeky photographer.  The now classic “Charlie bit my finger!” was in Lauren’s bag of tricks and it worked wonderfully.  I had no idea what the deal was at the time, especially since Lauren enunciated it (perfectly) like a 4 year old British boy.   Nevertheless, I was happy that I got some beautiful photos out of it.

Thanks to my beatiful comedian assistant, Lauren for helping me get those shots and thanks for spicing up my blog a little bit too.

This is the lovely Chelsea. This girl came in with a PLAN to the shoot. Her and her friend Lauren (whose pictures I’ll post soon) tag teamed the session, coming in full makeup and hair, taking about 5 minutes to change and then alternating outfits to get the most out of the session. While shooting Chelsea, Lauren would get ready. 25 or so frames, then switch! Lauren’s turn while Chelsea changed. I loved this strategy. Boudoir maximization! When I told them I wasn’t a clock-watcher I think things relaxed a little but we still managed to get a huge number of 5 star selections from the shoot.

I knew after emailing back and forth planning the shoot that she was going to be bubbly, bright and full of smiles. And that’s exactly what she was when I met her. Though we never met before the shoot, I know that we will continue to stay in touch. Chelsea is just one of those people that is easy to talk to, easy to relate to, and easy to photograph. A photog’s dream come true! As a matter of fact, she will be doing makeup for my upcoming Valentine’s Boudoir Sessions!

This girl’s got some adventures of her own to share. Check out Chelsea’s sweet little blog here.

Chelsea, it was so nice to meet you and I’m glad our paths have crossed!

This is my girl, Trisha. She had me at “roundhouse kick to the face.” I’ll explain later.

Yes, this is the same girl you’ve seen on my blog several times. When we first started working together at an insurance company, she thought I was stand offish…a mild snob. I thought she was nice but that she could definitely warm up a bit. Neither of us realized that there was a connection there…we just didn’t know it yet. We were wrapped up in our jobs as people tend to do. Not once did either of us try to reach out in over a year of working in the same office.

When I changed departments and she became my trainer, we clicked instantly. It was like we found that person that could get us through the long, routine days of insurance. I looked forward to going to work for a change! Laughter flowed, candy was shared, office politics were discussed. We talked about Chuck Norris. A lot. One day the Chuck Norrising got out of hand when Trisha pretended to give me a roundhouse kick to the face, only to have her size 5 shoe fly off into the reception area. I cried with laughter. The receptionist didn’t.

This girl should have been born in the 40’s. She is a total pinup! And those shoes…such good taste!

I am so excited to be hosting weekend boudoir sessions right before Valentines! I will be working hard over the next couple days posting more on my blog of some lovely ladies that have done boudoir sessions with me recently. So stay tuned for that!

I have been soaking up as much inspiration as I can lately and I can tell that 2010 is going to be the year of boudoir. Dior has a beautiful Spring Boudoir makeup collection. And just check out what hit the runways of Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs and Dolce & Gabbana for Spring 2010 collections. More romantic than early 90’s, the looks still retain some of the in-your-face attitude of that decade. Can you say Strike a Pose?

Sorry, yes, you may remember this post from a few days ago. Well, woopsie doodle, I deleted by accident! Thank goodness Google archives sites and I found it to share, again.

This is Mina. I call her my spicy Persian firecracker. She is one of those people who can walk into a room and grab the attention of everyone, and you love her for it. Once you see her (more likely: HEAR her), you will want to meet her, converse with her, laugh with her, dance with her. She WILL bring out the best in you and you will be better off for having met her. I know I am.

I’d stop there but I wouldn’t do her any justice without mentioning she is the amazing mother of TWO fabulous children (look for them on my blog: Jasmine & Mikayla). It’s not luck they turned out to be wonderful little people; Mina has taught them to love with all their hearts and to know they are loved, deeply. When its my turn to have children, you better believe I’m going to soak up all the parenting advice I can from this lady.

And here she is: rockin’ the corset and lookin’ lovely as ever.