A Nightmare. 4 Chapters In.

Well I got "The Shack" in the mail yesterday, and although I thought maybe I was "read out" from studying all day (yep, I am a college girl again), I could not put it down once I opened it. I think this is partly because I was so upset by what was going on, I never ever want to imagine going through what this family had to go through. Finally I had to turn off the lamp and go to sleep, but the first thing I did when I woke up this morning was reach over to my night table and pick it up again. There had to be a redeeming aspect, and I needed to reach it so that I felt some peace. I was not expecting what came! But at least I am at a point where I can put it down for a little while....but I can't wait for this evening to pick it up again and keep reading! I still haven't figured out if this book is really based on a true story - he makes it sound like it is in his Forward - but then again I am not sure since it is classified as a Fiction. Anybody know? Anybody reading it or have read it?

The Shack

Last night I finally did it. I ordered William P. Young's book "The Shack" from Amazon since I was already in book-ordering mode for my husband (he had me order him "Wisdom of Crowds" for work). I actually feel deep down inside that I am supposed to read this book. Do you ever get that about a book and then as you read that certain book it deposits something into your soul that in some way changes you for the ordinary? Well, I don't want to ignore the feeling because I don't want to miss out on something that God wants to teach me, or reveal to me about Himself and His love! To be honest, I ordered "The Shack" without even knowing what it was about! (That is rare for me). But it has come up subtly about 3 times. Just the mention of it in passing. The confirmation came today when my cousin - Ashlee - and I were about to get off the phone with eachother when she said "oh, I can't forget, I have a book I need to mail to you".... before she told me I knew which book it would be. I've already ordered it for myself so she can pass it on to some one else!

I am passing it on that I would like to have a little "book club" meeting sometime at the end of October for whoever is in this area and is interested in reading it too! I'll post more about it :) And hey, maybe once it actually arrives and I start reading it I will post a little here or there about it :)

Take care!

Your Baby Announcement

Hey Stefen and Chelsea,

Here is your first sample Announcement for Gavin. What do you think?

Chelsa

Sugar Shacks & 16

My Sister took this cool photo as we were flying from Alberta to BC. The yellow canola fields that line the prairies is one of my favourite things about summer in Alberta!




This is my brother, Carson, & me on his 16th birthday! (and he's a great driver!) The following photos are snapshots of his birthday party with lake friends...







My cousin's daughter - Stephanie - came out to the lake all by herself this year! She taught me something very important with these balloons... how to suck out the helium & then talk like a chipmunk. Her mother would be very proud :) These last shots of the day are some of my favourites - everything is just bathed in sunset :)

Camping, Hotsprings, Rodeos & Rides

These are totally out of order! But sometime in the middle of my trip - after my sister, Lindsay, & I took our little road trip out west, we hooked up with all my sweet relatives at the infamous Calgary Stampede.

Becca & I rode that crazy ride together...you'll see a snapshot of it if you scroll down!

Oh yes, the Calgary Tower! All during the Stampede weeks, you will see pretty much 4 out of 5 Albertans wearing some kind of cowboy getup. Apparently soon after Red Deer has its Westerner Days, and Edmonton has Klondike Days...I think we all have a little cowboy in us...


This cowgirl is my cousin Jenna! She rode the crazy ride with her friend, as did both my aunts!



This is my incredibly fabulous cousin Nicole. When I first arrived in Canada, she came out to the lake with my family to hang out with me & keep my mind off of missing Ben!

Lindsay & I decided to take a spur-of-the-moment road trip out to the Rocky Mountains - past Radium Hot Springs - & "camp" for a night in the back of our dad's Denali. hmmm. Not such a great sleep...
But we ate good thanks to Lindsay, and man, those natural hot springs were something else....I kept thinking "if only i could transport ben here somehow so he could soak his sore muscles.."

Yours Truly :) Stay tuned, there are so many more Summer 08 photos!

My Friend Amanda

Wow, I sure have a lot of catching up to do here! Blogging as well as just going through the photos that I have taken in the past 2 months while I was up in Canada. I really have no excuse for my neglect of the blog other than the weather was just too nice, the friends & family too fun, and the Okanagan Lake calling my name. As I work through some of the photos, I will post some up of a few of my beautiful friends and family.

I was blessed to be able to spend the last 6 weeks of my husband's Ranger School up in Canada. And I am grateful to have the friends and family that I do, they definitely kept my spirits up and kept me busy during that time apart from my man!

I will start with my friend Amanda. Amanda and I went to high school together back in the day! She's one of those friends I know I can always count on - even if we are half a world apart. In the past 2 years, she has spent a number of months in Ghana, working alongside her University doing projects in community development. She is planning on going back to Ghana for another 2 years any time now!

Now let me tell you about this little Portrait Session. We did this as kind of her "grad photos", but it's a good thing we had our friend Nate along to stand guard. Early on in the session we heard this big growl, and me, not knowing a whole lot about "growls", didn't think anything of it. Apparently it was a bear. Yep. Bear Country. So Nate stood guard, and would give us updates every so often on the bear's movements (it was in the bush so we didn't have a visual). Anyway, you know how hard it is to pull yourself away from a photo session when you are in "the zone" - bear or no bear - but there finally came a point where Nate highly recommended that maybe we move our session elsewhere.

The moral of the story? It is good to have guys around that know a thing or two about bears :)

Check out the rest of her photos

Erica & Rick - Sneak Peek #2

Aren't they the most stunning couple?! More than once I have found myself smiling as I process their images - they are SO beautifully in love and they compliment one another so well!

Erica and  Rick, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to capture the love you two share for eachother - as well as your family and friends - on your wedding day. It was an honor to be there, and to witness the way that you honor one another, serve one another, and lift each other up. It was wonderful to see how much the people in your life respect, admire, and care for you - and you for them!

All the best! We'll keep in touch as your photos and designer album come together :)

Erica & Rick | 06.07.2008

Your favourite spot :)


A mom & daughter moment ...

And your stunning wedding rings !

Despite the slight "blip" that today was supposed to hit record highs (100+!) Erica and Rick were still the most lovely bride and groom to be around! There is so much to say, but already it's after midnight and today has been a long (and wonderful) day... yet I couldn't possibly sleep without playing with a few photos and getting them up for a quick peek before I can get to the rest of them:) Enjoy!

Chelsa

Out of the Box...

I miss my incredible husband - who is doing Ranger School at the moment - so I have been digging up some of our wedding photos and playing with them :)

Chai Tea Recipe

I woke up this morning and decided it has been too long since I have made homemade brewed Chai Tea...and then looking into the pot I though, "It's too pretty not to take a picture, & too good not to share"... I love this recipe, it's gentle, lovely, & good for you :) I got it from my Aussie friend - Pheobe - while staying with her family for a while on the Sunshine Coast of Australia back in 2005.

Try it hot or cold, & as sweet as you like :)

Money Matters

I was blog browsing some of my favourite Photographer's this afternoon and came across this response to the following question and thought I should post it because it is so true and very informative! Feel free to post comments and share what you think :)


Here is a response posted on the Digital Wedding Forum on an explanation of why we (professional photographers) charge what we charge:


Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?

(This article has been very well received by the photography community, and is now referred to by many Photography websites across the country)

In this digital age where everyone has digital cameras, scanners and home "photo printers", when people upload their photos to a local drug store website and pick them up a few hours later, we hear this all the time - How in the world do Professional Photographers charge $55 for an 8x10 when they cost just $1.50 at the drug store?

Here's why.

Simply put, you're not just paying for the actual photograph, you're paying for time and expertise. First, let's look at the actual time involved. If you don't read this entire page, at least read this first part.

For a two hour portrait session:

- one hour of travel to and from the session
- two hours of shooting
- 30 minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc.
- 30 minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gb of data)
- 30 minutes to back up the files on an external drive
- 3 - 4 hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, color, sharpening, saving a copy for print and a copy for the internet and backing up the edited photographs
- 2 - 3 hours to talk to the client, answer questions, receive their order and payment, order their prints, receive and verify prints, package prints, schedule shipment and drop package off at Fed Ex.
- For local customers, we also print a set of all of their photos, and meet them at our studio to review the photos and place their order. Meeting and travel time averages 2 hours.

You can see how one two hour session easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a $200 session fee for a two hour photo shoot, you are not paying them $100 / hour.

For an eight hour wedding:

- I won't bore you with the details, but an eight hour wedding typically amounts to at least two to three full 40 hour work weeks worth of time. Again, if they are charging you $4,000 for an eight hour wedding, you are not paying them $500 / hour.

Now for the expertise.

Shooting professional photography is a skill, acquired through years of experience. Even though a quality camera now costs under $2,000 taking professional portraits involves much more than a nice camera.

Most Professional Photographers take years to go from buying their first decent camera to making money with their photography. In addition to learning how to use the camera itself, there is a mountain of other equipment involved, as well as numerous software programs used to edit and print photographs, run a website etc.

And let's not forget that you actually have to have people skills, be able to communicate, make people comfortable in front of the camera - and posing people to make them look their best in a photograph is a skill all by itself.

Think of it this way - the next time you pay $X to get your hair done, a pair of scissors only costs $1.50. But you gladly pay a lot more to hire a Professional.

What about the cheap studios at the mall?

Please don't compare us to the chain store studios. But if you must, consider all of the time and work that we put into our photographs, compared to what they do. Good luck getting a two hour photo shoot at a chain store. Not to mention they won't come to the beach! And of course, look at our work compared to theirs. You get what you pay for.

The truth is, most of the mall and chain store studios lose money. In fact, in 2007 Wal-Mart closed 500 of their portrait studios because of the financial drain they were putting on the company. What the chain stores bet on is that you'll come in for some quick and cheap photos, and while you're there, you'll also spend $200 on other things. They don't have to make money, they are just there to get you in the door.

Conclusion

We hope that those who have taken the time to read this page will have a better understanding of why professional photographs cost so much more than the ones that you get from your local drug store.

A Homecoming Moment...

If a reunion of this sort isn't a sacred moment in life, than i don't know what is. Remember i took photos of Ashley & their beautiful children for Wes when he was serving oversees? Well he is finally home and they asked me to document their homecoming reunion - what an honor to be there! After 15 months of separation, like a lot of Military wives, Ashley had been waiting for weeks to find out the exact day of Wes' arrival knowing that it could be in two days or in weeks! She stayed strong, and it was so great when she called me on a Monday and said he was going to be in at 3am that Wednesday! After all their sacrifice she was so sweet and said she would understand if i didn't want to show up so late...but seriously Wes & Ashley, it was the least i could do - You are such a beautiful couple, and it is so good to finally see your family all together! What a great family!