Peace Patience and Prosperity!

Barb

For now here are the details, and watch out for the next post!  It will be HOT HOT HOT!

More details to follow

~B

That weekend I learned a few things: Don’t let Kathy navigate to the airport, its OK to be intimidated, and to remember to bring a spare pair of undies. No not what you are thinking, but after listening to Arizona photographer Sergio BADASS Photographer ( for the life of me I can not locate his last name ), its time to to do some soul searching for the type and style of photography I want to try next. Don’t get me wrong, I ADORE participating in weddings and in the style I have developed over the years, I LOVE my brides and grooms, but I’d like I to start a few personal projects of my own and experiment with new styles and techniques. Sergio’s discussion concentrated on being true to yourself and to your own style, finding your WHY. I extrapolated this to include excelling in few select styles and  and its now time to figure out my own current WHY. Why do I love composing an image the way I do, why do I love stylizing an image the way I do, why do I love photography so-so much (this one is pretty deep I already know that )? Why do I put my true self out there for anyone to critique when I am so sensitive about my work? Why do I put my right foot into my pants first?  ….. why? Sergio’s slideshow showed a different view of a pro photographers vision on how he captures a wedding day, and his style is for a particular type of person- not everyone will love this style, but I liked that he put himself out there and found out his why early on, and be quite successful at it. One of his slides was a personal lesson learned on what to bring with you on a shoot…I’l let you guess which one that was:-)

We spent what little time we had after classes to visit the town of Mystic; we checked out Mystic Pizza, one time home of the legendary Julia Roberts, Pennywise (check the stitching on my new-to-me, barely there mini:-) and the harbour front. We were lucky in that a snowstorm hit while we were there ( lucky as in not in transit to or from the conference, flight delays are brutal!!), the area was quite picturesque.

Its that time of year when business slows down, so I will take this time to look back on 2010 and ask myself how could I have done “x” better, differently, or what I should stop doing all together. If you do have anything to share with me, constructive of course, please do so now, or forever hold your peace. So off to search for my WHY’s on this snowy day, might be something you’d like to ask yourselves too, WHY do I do “x”, do I like when I do “x”? how can I improve, change, stop doing, this particular “x”…and remember to bring a spare pair of undies!

Peace Patience and Prosperity!

Barb

Some folks thrive on change, they have faith in themselves to take that leap into unknown territory, relishing in the liberation a change can bring. There are those who are terrified of change, of any sort. Fear of the unknown, doubting yourself, anxious about the challenge of making changes. Why is change so hard? Because change requires an admission of imperfection, the knowledge of criticism, (from self or others), and takes effort and perseverance. We need to understand that recognizing the need to change is not a realization of failure, rather a beginning of success.

Lindsay and Mike and have had to make a few changes in their lifetime. This wedding was the start of a New Beginning for them both with a wee one on the way and for Lindsay’s children. The couple’s dedication to each other and to the children, was felt at each moment before, during, and after their New Year’s Eve ceremony.

Attended by immediate family, Reverend McNally performed a fire-lit ceremony at the stately Ancaster Mill in Ancaster, ON.  The lights were dimmed, music was playing softly, and at the first sight of each other they both broke into tears of happiness, joined in by their mothers and the children (I too do admit to crying… so much for professionalism- glad I had all that Kleenex for us

Lindsay wore a stunning dress from Light In the Box. When I first saw her I thought she looked like a China doll, all frilly and delicate. Her jewelry was from Etsy, and flowers from Shavers in Ancaster.

Mike describes Lindsay at a compassionate woman, her ability to care for others even during times of stress, is just one of the many qualities he loves about her. His quiet caring nature was evident whenever he looked at her and gently wiped away her many tears during that beautiful evening ceremony. I asked Lindsay what made her certain that this was the person she wanted to marry, her answer…” He fall in love with me-and with my children-despite how hard it was in the beginning of our relationship.”

Change can be good, it won’t be easy, embrace it. I’m not saying it will be all rosy firelight and happy tears, but good does come out of change – it might just take some time to see it.

From Lindsay and Mike “Thank you to our mother’s for wanting to be part of our magical evening, for The Ancaster Mill for providing outstanding service, in particular Jamie. Thank you to Barb for taking time out of her New Year’s Eve to capture our night. Thank you to my friends for truly being happy for us and always being interested in whatever issue I needed to vent about! Thank you to Reverend McNally for officiating our crazy little New Year’s Eve ceremony in such a beautiful way. Thank you to Rebecca for our beautiful and delicious cake. Thank you to the Crouchers for our surprise when we arrived home, and most of all thank you to our wonderful children for being so happy for us.”

Let’s hear it for changes, to the start of success!

Peace Patience and Perseverance

~Barb

Patricia and Andrew have that Movie Love story. They met four years ago to the day of their wedding on Dec 23, 2010. “I was running into Tim’s for a coffee after working all day and (literally) ran into Andrew and his coffee, spilling it all over him, the look on his face was certainly a Hallmark moment.  Of course I tried to help clean his white pullover.  This turned into getting another coffee together and later a bite to eat at a local pub …and I thought this only happened in the movies !“ commented Patricia “ I was convinced he was the right person to marry, because he always had a plan….never left me guessing, always steadfast and sure…”

As soon as I arrived at Langdon Hall, Patricia was giggling and bubbling over with pride and joy, she could not wait to start her photo shoot. She recalls one of their first dates. Andrew had made the arrangements for horseback riding on Boxing day in St. Jacobs. “ It was an incredible first date, incredible scenery, fresh snow,fresh horses.  Fifteen minutes into the ride and we were walking back to the stable without our horses laughing all the way.”  And the laugher hasn’t stopped.

Their elegant ceremony and intimate reception at Langdon Hall, one of the Relais and Chateaux properties, was coordinated by Michelle Oxley, Patricia’s recently engaged daughter. They chose traditional Scottish attire for their wedding, purchased in Edinburgh, Scotland, while attending the 100th year anniversary of the Gathering of the Clans, in 2009.  Instead of wearing either of their own tartans, they choose the “Heritage Tartan” commissioned in 2009 in celebration of the 100th anniversary. Their stunning cake was designed and provided by Melissa Kileen, a local specialty cake maker who was able to bring the tartan and memorabilia to life.

A word from Patricia and Andrew “ Thanks to Vera from Hairem for the magnificent updos and to Danielle from Mykos Spa for nails and makeup (Patricia is the owner).  I crafted the hair pieces myself, using silver leaf heritage clan ornaments and can be made to order…..just ask !”

“A very special thank you to Michelle Oxley, our wedding co-ordinator, we would not have accomplished this event without her, or within the timeframe we gave her.  We would like to thank our photographer Barbara Dubrawski who worked her magic with the lens, and helped make our day fun and delightful……in the snow.

To all our friends and family both here and across the pond, thank you for making our wedding day memorable.”

Here’s to Movie Love, and may your night out at at the movies never end!

~ Barb

Today I resolve to start to take the steps needed to get my Photography Show heading in the direction I’ve wanted it to for a very long TIME. See TIME is not negotiable, TIME ticks away and TIME passes, we can not stop the clock no matter how much we desperately want to. So much can change in a few hits of the second hand; they can be wonderful changes, enlightened changes, spirited changes, and sometimes the change is not so good (or we believe at that specific TIME).

Today’s change is a good change, that came out of a bad change. I am going to embrace TIME, keep pace with it, and make the most of what TIME I have. I will have more patience with my ladies, I will eat healthier foods (not giving up the Haagen Dazs mind you), and I will plan my TIME accordingly, yet allowing for those unplanned moments of treasure to be appreciated.

Miss K and her family know what TIME can bring all too well, her dad dealt with cancer earlier this year, and not too long ago Miss K had to endure her own treatments. I’d heard about Miss K through a friend of mine, I felt compelled to give them a gift, and what does photography do? It stops TIME, if even just for a little while. I want to share some images of  her family- The day was ending up pretty chilly, but the girls were bundled up in such gorgeous colours! I knew we had little light left and watched as the girls played in their grandpa’s yard. I caught some amazing smiles and enjoyed to see Miss K and Miss M play so well together. Eventually the sun had gone down and Miss K was too cold to continue, but we had some wonderful TIME to capture her smiles and giggles. Miss K is in remission, and I know her family is taking each day as it comes, because you just don’t know what TIME will offer you next.

Peace, Patience and Prosperity! Barb