2009 December | Mandy Jill

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Archive for December, 2009

Millie at 8 months.

December 30, 2009

Say hi to Millie. The happiest, most fun loving baby I have ever met in my life. Not to mention absolutely beautiful! Everything made this girl smile, which made me smile. When Millie’s mother Lori let me in to their apartment, Millie was just finishing up lunch. I took one look at that round little face with food all over her chin and knew this was going to be an awesome shoot. She felt the good vibes too, because she gave me the biggest, messiest, most food drenched smile ever. She got cleaned up pretty fast and on went the Santa hat and matching shorts. A couple wardrobe changes and some nudie shots later and I had a set of photos I was in love with. Millie gave me perfect smiles, perfect expressions and perfect poses.

She even posed with the cat and when I saw Millie grabbing a fist full of fur and pull it out…with a smile and a squeal…I was a bit squeamish. Apparantly, the cat LOVES it and they do this fur pulling bit all the time. Cats are weird.

She may slightly disagree in a few years but we think her bare butt shots are just priceless. Millie, until you are old enough to say otherwise, your mother and I agree that they’re too sweet to hide away. Millie, I’m lookin’ forward to our next shoot in the Spring!

Posted in Kids | 5 Comments »

Baby it’s cold outside.

December 29, 2009

My first frigid shoot of the year, done at 9am on a morning with sub zero temperatures in early December. Why, you ask? Well, we posponed the shoot at least 5 times in November due to rain (It was a quiet November for Mandy Jill and her camera, thanks to Mother Nature) and there was a Christmas Card deadline to meet. The Dawes family braved the cold and we met at Maple Ridge Park. I was so glad they chose this spot when I first drove up.

It was a breathtaking morning. Mother Nature apologized for giving us a crappy November! Yes, she was in a good mood this morning. This is the type of morning that makes your entire WEEK seem beautiful. The low sun shining through the frost-bitten willows was simply stunning to behold. But it was still damn cold.

We captured some sweet family photos for the Dawes family…without jackets at first. The request was for just a few photos without them but that was enough for little Kloey. She quickly let us know how cold she really was and started crying. Her tears didn’t stay long enough to freeze and luckily we were still able to capture some sweet moments before wrapping things up a bit early. It was just to cold to keep on going, unfortunately. I find tears endearing, especially on Kloey’s sweet little face. However, for some reason, Christmas cards don’t usually feature photos of crying children (*sarcastic – you got that right?*). We tried.

Posted in Family | 2 Comments »

Va va voom.

December 28, 2009

J’adore boudoir. Need I say more? I have been using my home as my studio and it just works, if I do say so myself. The key is subtle decor and tons and tons of natural light. You see, I have a gigantic vaulted window in my living room that lets in all the luscious light I need, no matter what it’s doing outside. Natural light only at my place! The softness, the subtlety, the way it makes my ladies’ skin glow in all the right places. Love it. Can’t do without it. It’s the only source of light that does the feminine form justice.

Here’s one of my gorgeous ladies looking extra beautiful at a recent boudoir session at my place in Port Moody.

Posted in Boudoir | 3 Comments »

Candy. And a Christmas afternoon walk.

December 27, 2009

So this kind of reminds me of a time I was in Mexico a few years ago and my love of cheese overtook my good senses. In a lovely open-air restaurant, I ordered a dish called “Cheese with Cheese”. It ended up being a bowl of melted cheese. Served with a spoon. I ate it all.

I call this photo “Candy with Candy”. My family knows I have very high metabolism and Jeff has a strong sweet tooth; otherwise why would they give us such a huge stockpile of candy this Christmas? How many boxes of Pot of Gold can one possibly consume in a year? Chicken Bones! (Ew, right!? They’re pretty tasty actually.) After Eight! Toblerone x 3! Fruitfulls — my favorite! Maltesers, straight from England. The X-Large marking on the package is laughing at me now. Lindt. A Chocolate Orange. What’s Christmas without Ferrero Rocher and Bailey’s chocolates? Heaven. Pure heaven. I have a long, and very happy road ahead of me.

I won’t dare do a progress report on the candy because I fear it will be embarassingly shorter than it should be.

One of Jeff’s young cousins got a nifty Nikon for Christmas so we went on a walk, enjoying the light from the falling mid-afternoon sun on Boxing Day.

Posted in Inspirations, Mandy's File | 2 Comments »

Bring on the Christmasness.

December 23, 2009

Christmas seems to have been an all or nothing gig in terms of spending the past few years. In years past my boyfriend and I have spoiled each other ROTTEN. This year, we had to take it easy because our dog had surgery that devoured our savings and snuck into our credit. Our gift to each other turned out to be a dog that will be able to enjoy the many years she has left without having to hobble around. WORTH IT! Every penny. Unaware that her crazy gait causes people to stare, she speedlimps toward other dogs, she races toward the next tree, head bobbing because she just doesn’t have the same range of motion. She could care less that she has a giant incision running up each leg and ther hind quarters have been shaved. It’s maybe three degrees outside and she seems content through it all. Dogs are much more resilient than we are, I’ve come to realize.

And now that we’ve got our presents wrapped, our bags packed, groceries bought, we’re heading to partake in 3 days worth of Christmas cheer with the family. I love this time of year.

So see you all on the other side of Christmas!

Posted in Mandy's File, Punky's File | 2 Comments »

Port Coquitlam Kids.

December 23, 2009

Introducing Hannah and Cole. They’re the two kiddos of a co-worker of mine and they’re rad. Good kids from a good family. Hannah has a heart of gold just like her mother and she pours her soul into her relationships with friends and family. During the shoot, one of her friends was having a bad day and Hannah was utterly distracted trying to make sure he would be all right. It melted my heart! I could tell she’s got a fun streak in her — she had these awesome lace up boots that reminded me of a Bratz doll. I shoot a lot of kids with cool footwear. I just love shoes…of all types.

Cole has that little boy charm that gets me every time. He has a movie-star raspy voice that the girls in our office adore. Every time he comes in it’s: “Heeeey Cole!” He coyly replies “Hi.” and runs to his mom’s office with a smile. He knows he’s gonna be a lady killer — he’s dark and handsome. All he needs is the height and he’ll be all set.

At the end of the shoot the kids wanted to get in my car for a couple last shots. At the end of the set you’ll see Cole: Italian Job style.

Posted in Kids | 3 Comments »

Back to work.

December 21, 2009

It’s been a crazy week! The last time I posted I had some great news and now that we’ve all had a chance to come back down to earth I’ve got some family goodness to post about. Not my family. The Siemens’: Kristi, Rod, Jake and Taleah. I’ve known Kristi for years and when she asked me to take photos of her young family I obviously jumped at the chance. Then we had to reschedule due to rain. And then again. And the third time we said let’s go for it and see what happens! We met at Lafarge Lake in Coquitlam and as soon as they arrived it started to drizzle. Of course. But then we were lucky — the sun peeked out long enough to get some lovely sun-glowing family shots. Then back to cloud. This is life in the Lower mainland.

This is one good looking family. So photogenic! Jake is a typical two year old and his favorite word is no. He loves his Tonka truck more than anything and that’s why you’ll see it make cameos in a few pictures. He also loves to stick out his tongue so you’ll see it making a cameo, too. Taleah is just the most adorable little thing with her pink bow! She has squishy little cheeks that I just love.

Posted in Family | 3 Comments »

The proposal.

December 17, 2009

It’s official. I’m now engaged! With the help of two of our very dear friends, Trisha and Clint, my amazing boyfriend Jeff proposed to me on a perfect snowy Sunday afternoon in Newport Village. Almost 4 years together and almost the same amount of time as friends before that. He and two of our close friends turned a planned Christmas photoshoot into some pretty awesome memories.

The first few photos were before I knew what was going on. I was just sassy, by myself, in front of the camera. Then the couple shots. There were some pretty good shots for the Christmas cards. Before we really had time to change locations or angles or anything to make the photos more interesting, our friends kept saying, “We need more poses!” This had all been planned down to that last line and before I knew it, my guy was on his knee asking me to marry him. PRO-posing. Shutters clicked, I cried, his hands shook (just a little) and we were engaged. Champagne flowed briefly before we headed in to celebrate with our friends.

It couldn’t have been more perfect.

Posted in Mandy's File | 8 Comments »

Outer beauty is good too.

December 10, 2009

I had a bunch of photo inspiration laid out one day that featured boudoir photography. I was trying to soak in the beauty and analyze the technique. My boyfriend commented on which one he liked: the raciest of all 20 or so photos. I didn’t need to wonder why he chose that one.

It did make me wonder who exactly boudoir photography is for. For the woman? For the partner? I think it is a wonderful gift to give to your husband/boyfriend/significant other but I think there’s something else there too. Something more inward-focused.

I think that a main motivator behind boudoir photoraphy is the woman’s desire to feel beautiful for a day and then to be able to remember that day forever, regardless of who else sees the pictures. So SHE can remember how stunning she looked at that age, whatever that age was. Boudoir photography is a way to convince ourselves that, YES! I am smokin’ hot! even if that thought never crosses our minds otherwise.

It’s empowering to be able to get over the fact that you’re letting someone take pictures of you while you’re in lingerie (And sexy shoes. Never forget the shoes.) You did it! You had that camera pointed at you and you felt…nervous. But you got over that. You felt sexy. You felt beautiful. You felt like a freakin’ Victoria’s Secret model, if only for a day.

And now some dessert for the eyes a la Jen. You’d never guess how nervous this girl was before her shoot. Gor-jus! So even if you know you’ll be nervous, just remember that it is my job to make you look and feel anything but.

Posted in Boudoir | 2 Comments »

Newport Village.

December 9, 2009

Port Moody used to be somewhere you drove through, or avoided, to get to Vancouver. These days, people actually come here to visit. I grew up in Port Moody before it was considered a nice place to live. I always held a special place in my heart for Port Moody. I remember my paper routes on St. George hill, tobogganing in Rocky Point, flattening coins on the train tracks, the yellow sulfur (the icon of industry), Golden Spike Days, the years at Moody Elementary and the teachers that I adored, buying candy from Casey Jones gas station, the geese and everything that comes with them…

Now that I live in the heart of Port Moody in Newport Village, with my camera in hand I can actually record the details that I might otherwise forget. The deep blue winter sky speckled with geese (why haven’t they gone south yet?) The produce market I’m so happy to have right outside my door. The shops and especially the kitschiness of the children’s toy store. The empty metal seats outside the gelato store that look so cold this time of year. Coffee and improv shows shared with friends at Gallaghers. The playground that 9 months out of the year echoes children’s laughter up to my balcony. The pansies that border the Brown’s Restaurant patio in December. The Scottie doorstop that holds open the door of an upscale men’s clothing store, where inside an unpredictable Yorkie cross barks away.

I love it here and I’m glad to be back.

Posted in Inspirations | 2 Comments »