Baby Sofia

by | Nov 16, 2019 | Newborn

 

Newborn sessions are my favourite. I love photographing these admirable little miracles. Their tiny hands and feet, their heavenly baby scent…

A few days ago, I had a little client who was almost 2 weeks old but the size of a few days old baby 😊 Before they arrived, as I always do, I prepared a few different settings. Pink & white theme with a little wooden bed and a tulle bed canopy, blue theme with the bean bag covered with blue knit blanket, and a basket with a white/cotton theme with an alternate Christmas theme on the side.

When baby Sofia arrived, she was awake. I didn’t know that she was not going to sleep for the next 1.5 hrs. Being awake is not a problem itself, but if the baby is looking restless and unhappy, then it is a problem. There is no way, you can get those adorable shots from a discontent baby.

To find out what was wrong we went through the regular checklist:

Diaper? Checked √

Feeding? Checked √

Gas? Checked √

She must be ready to sleep. So, what can it be?

She was happy only when she was feeding. Then we came to the conclusion that she was going through a growth spurt and dad had to go to the nearby Safeway to get extra formula for the baby. She got the extra milk, and some more and some more… Finally, at the end of a 1.5 hr period she was full and content. She fell asleep with no tense muscle on her face, so I could start my session. Since the time was limited, I didn’t do any naked poses, but I managed to do all four settings for the baby as well as parent poses. Happy ending for everyone ♥♥♥

 

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Cake Smash Experience

by | Nov 6, 2019 | Cake smash, Studio Sessions

Cake Smash Experience: Celebrating 1 Year Milestone

 

Today I had a cake smash session with little Owen who just turned 1!

Like most 1 year-olds, he didn’t taste much of sweets until his birthday. He was quite skeptical about the cake when we first introduced it to him. Later when he put some in his mouth, he kind of liked it and started exploring what else he could do with a cake. Finally he discovered that he can roll it on the floor like a ball. Paint on the paper with the colored icing. If you leave it to kids, you’ll see the possibilities are endless 😊

Big brother, who was watching Paw Patrol at the moment appreciated home made banana cake better than the little brother, taking short breaks from his favourite show to have little pieces from cake rolling on the floor. LOL.

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Preschool Portraits

by | Oct 25, 2019 | Kids, Preschool

This week I was at the University Heights Preschool  to take 2019 student portraits. It was amazing to see how such young kids (3 & 4 year old) can follow posing instructions and surprise you! Some were shy, some were like a rockstar, but results for all of them are beautiful. I am not a traditional school portrait photographer. As soon as I get the “school” type of look, I switch to “free style” and try different poses and let them lead the way. When you leave posing to them, they can be really creative and unbelievably cute!! You can see some of them below.

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A day in the fall

by | Sep 22, 2019 | Kids, Outdoor Sessions

 

A Day In The Fall: A Fall Photo Session At Nosehill Park

It’s Calgary, as everybody knows we don’t have lengthy falls and winter can show it’s face any time with a surprise snow storm. Before this happens, I wanted to capture the beautiful colors of the fall and chose this Saturday as our photo shoot day.

I had a dress from my 20’s. I thought it would be a wonderful photo prop for fall photos. It was big for my 7-year-old but worked fine. She was going to be my model for the day. My son was my assistant holding the diffuser and pulling my equipment wagon. He was very happy with his job unlike his sister who was whining non-stop and refusing to look pretty. I promised them to pay for their work at the end of the day, and she cooperated. The timing was just perfect, we arrived at the park late afternoon and stayed until the sunset. I didn’t know the Nose Hill Park would make a prefect place for fall photos as there are lots of bright yellow trees which are human height so you can easily get beautiful bright fall colours in your portraits. I brought a children size guitar, a wooden stool, some flowers, books and an umbrella. I just loved how all these props worked with the dress. Little country girl in the fall wilderness. I think we can call Nose Hill Park “wilderness” as you can see cayotes and deer wondering around, lucky us, we didn’t encounter any cayotes.  When we got to the top of the hill, I started taking as many pictures as possible in the time limit my daughter was giving me. We emerged into a beautiful meadow which was covered with high grass and unfortunately lots of thorns. I enjoyed the golden hour through my daughter’s occasional whining and took some more sunset photos.

The moment I said, “thank you guys, we’re done” they jumped in the air and  started enjoying themselves/ one is riding the wagon, the other one is pushing it down the hill, screaming and laughing. And I? of course I was running behind them with my camera trying to capture some action shots. Photography is like an uncurable disease and what I love the most is capturing candid photos of people living that very moment in all its reality and emotion. I am sharing here some of the couple hundred photos I took that day. When I asked my kids as we drove back home what was their favourite part of the photo shoot, they said “the wagon ride of course” LOL, I knew it. I paid $10 each for modeling and assisting. What a slave driver! :))

Give me a shout for your fall family photos.

www.alpinaphotography.com

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Balloon Voyage

by | Sep 8, 2019 | Family, Kids, Outdoor Sessions

Balloon Voyage: Kids Photo Session

 

Kids photo sessions don’t have to be in a studio. If you put some creativity in it, you can make a super fun event for everyone. I always found hot air balloons fascinating. The big deep baskets that Home Sense sells just gave me a great idea and I decided to make a hot air balloon prop for a kids photo session. I sew sand bags from canvas and filled them with styrofoam beans and attach them to the basket. The yellow flower garland was a great addition to the balloon basket. I got one of those big party balloons from a party shop, inflated it with helium and decorated with colourful banner. I hauled everything to the car and headed to Confederation park. I thought it would be a perfect place to launch a hot air balloon 😊

I arrived earlier than my clients to get the basket ready. Tying the balloon to the basket was a little stressful as the balloon was big and wanted to rocket into the sky so badly. Thankfully, I could keep it under control and didn’t let it fly. When the kids saw the hot air balloon, they got excited. They thought it was a real one and a little afraid to go in it as they didn’t want to part with their moms, lol. I guaranteed that it will not go up even an inch from the ground hahaha! But it would be cool to make it look like it’s flying. So I used a little portable table for that. I placed the basket on it and took a photo from below. Making the balloon size a little bigger made it look even more awesome. Heart shaped black board came in handy to put each child’s age on it when taking single photos, as this was a milestone session for the siblings that were 1, 2 and 4. Each kid had their own photos in the balloon basket. I just changed the paper number on the wooden heart board.

It was a beautiful sunny day. Everybody had a great time and enjoyed their session in the park. For the kids, it wasn’t even a photo session, but a pretend play with the hot air balloon

If you have a specific idea on your mind, give me shout, we may be able to make it work. www.alpinaphotography.com

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