Misadventures of a snowbound photographer

Tonight I have to direct you towards another url.  As I’ve already chronicled this particular misadventure on my photography website.  I do promise though, the many photographs of our frosty day are well worth the visit.  I know you’ll laugh as much as we did as we battled the environment to get these important shots.

http://tdphotography.me/2013/an-unexpected-snow-filled-adventure/

Hip deep, completely stuck, immobilized by the snow and ice.

 

And a big thank you to Jamie for not only volunteering as my assistant today, but for capturing the entire thing with her iPhone.  LMAO

Our Big News!

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been relatively stressed and eager to share.  This blog is really where I go to hash out things I’m concerned about, to put dreams into reality, to work out problems, to find ideas, and just to get stuff off my chest.  So not sharing THIS?  That’s been really freakin’ tough.

This? Oh, this? Ahhh, it’s nothing. ;P Yeah, just our NEW HOUSE!

 

Yep, what you see above is the MLS listing for our new house.  We signed off on the conditions on Friday.  It was a little stressful there for a bit… see, we’d sold our house in less than a day (with multiple offers) LAST Friday.  So waiting for financing and the home inspection so we could officially call this place ours?  Yeah.  Stressful.

We love our crappy little house.  We really do.  But the girl is ready for her own bedroom, and well, as much as I hated to admit it, we’ve outgrown it.  620 square feet is fine for a couple, or even for a family of three when the third is still tiny.  But Lily-Ann is ready for her own space…  and that’s not going to change.  Thankfully, many of the things we love about our home we’ll still have in the new place.

Our lot will still be a double lot, in fact, we’re adding a couple of feet.  LOL  Our current lot is 50×122, our new lot is 50×124.    And while we’re gaining over 400 square feet of space inside, the house itself is still really cozy, cute, and cottage-like.  We’re also still in the same neighbourhood – which I love so very much.  And get this!  We’re going from having a seven block walk to school to a two block walk.  How fabulous is that???

We’ve got a ton of work ahead of us.  We’ve lived here nine years, so that’s a whole lot of life that needs to be boxed up.  And right during my busiest crafting season (which I’m not thrilled about).  So this year we may end up having to purchase a lot of our Halloween costumes and accessories instead of having home sewn/made ones.  But that’s a relatively little sacrifice.

Our possession date is November 10th, and we hand over the keys for this place on the 15th.  That gives us four days to move house and clean up before we have to be out of here for good.  I’m going to miss this place.  Yeah, I know.  It’s falling down around us.  Heck, the recommendation was to tear it down and build a new place when we bought it – even back then we purchased it for the land value.  LOL  But it’s seen us through a lot.  It’ll be weird seeing it torn down.  I’ll have to take a bunch of pictures after we’re all boxed up…  to remember all those little details I put into it.  I’ll have a new canvas now, a new place for my murals and inspirations.  The girl is already cooking up all sorts of projects for her room, and I’ll only be too happy to oblige.  And…  I have to admit, my wheels are turning already too. 

This house is going to be amazing.  It really is.  I’m so looking forward to spending the next phase of our lives there.  It’s going to be great!

Big thanks to Chris Craik (http://hallmarkrealty.ca/agentdir=3831/index.html) for all his help in finding the perfect place for us, and selling ours so darn quickly.  As well as to Sandra Scheiss (www.leadingedgebrokers.com) and associates for landing us our new mortgage, even when we weren’t sure it would be possible.  Only one step left, and that’s to send everything to the lawyers – which, after everything else, is definitely the easy part.

 

Win a Free Photo Session!

Sooo…  who wants to win a FREE PHOTOSHOOT???

Well, you could very well win yourself one.  I’m giving away a session of choice (limited to my “a family affair”, “sweethearts”, “it’s all you”, “pawtraits”, and “headshots” sessions) to one lucky Facebook fan.  All you have to do to enter is pop on over to FB, like my page if you haven’t already, and then share both my page and this note:  https://www.facebook.com/notes/td-photography/win-a-photoshoot-with-td-photography-saskatoons-photosmith/422511161133793  Make sure you pop back over to the note afterwards to let me know you shared and to claim your entry.  You can get yourself as many as FIVE entries by simply sharing in a variety of places in a variety of ways.

The give-away is open to both new fans and past clients.  So hop on over to my FB fan page at http://www.facebook.com/tdfoto and start sharing your way to a free session!

 

Lindsay & Daniel’s Engagement Shoot

Not too long ago I had the privilege of getting to know Lindsay and Daniel, a charming couple who (I’ll admit) remind me quite a bit of Damon and myself…  And not just due to their physicality (us gurlz are both 5’0″, the boyz are both six foot or taller.  us gurlz are blondes, the boyz have dark hair).  LOL  I enjoyed watching them interact with one another, and seeing the same dynamics I find in my own relationship.  I have a very strong feeling that this couple will still be making time for one another, and making each other laugh in forty years.

Lindsay and Daniel, thank you for choosing me to do your engagement shoot.  I really did enjoy our time together, and hope it was memorable for you as well.  I wish you nothing but the best.  May your love continue, strong and steadfast, for a lifetime together.  I hope you enjoy the preview!

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The girl’s best day! (loaded with photos and videos)

Well, today was another busy one with the girl. And at her insistence I took pictures and videos throughout our afternoon. It was definitely one worth remembering. Heck, as we walked out of the school gym after taking a photo with the guys from Hoja she exclaimed: “BEST DAY EVER!”  So, even though it was bright sunshiny and beautiful when we left to walk to school, and (with no rain in the forecast or grey cloud in the sky when we got there) we gratefully had to borrow Ms. Tracy’s umbrella for the walk home?  It really was a lovely afternoon.

And in case you’d been wondering, Lily-Ann asked the guys from Hoja what their favourite farm animals are.  Turns out Matt (the fellow with the beard, who was absolutely amazing with the girl… seriously super sweet fellow who couldn’t have been nicer to her) loves cows.  He likes their bells and the silly way they move.  Dave and Jesse both prefer pigs; Jesse (the young kid in the center) thinks they’re cute while Dave (who received gasps from the students when he revealed – shockingly – that he is THIRTY) likes the noises they make.  The girl?  Being swayed by her animal sign likes pigs too.

You can check out Hoja at http://hojaworld.com.

My thoughts have been focused…

My thoughts, of late, have been focused on the upcoming Mosaics art and fashion show.  Today I finally made my decision on which pieces to debut.  And they will be:

• Fólkvangr
• Valkyrie
• Persephone & Demeter
• Venus
• Mass Consumption
• Packaged4Consumption

So there you have it!  But no, I will not post previews of them here.  LOL  They are DEBUTING at the art show, so if you’d like to witness their debut, you’ll have to go to the show. 

However, I will share the self portrait that may also make a showing there.  It, unlike the other six, is not officially a part of my Power of SHe project (which is now posted at my photography website at http://photography.tobi-dawne.com/Power_of_SHe.html).  And you may have seen it before, it’s me.  Yep, a self portrait.  Me at the Pink Prom.

Find out more about the Mosaic art show at these links:

https://www.facebook.com/events/415945375095621/

http://www.saskatoonpride.ca/#!June%2013th/csx5

Advance tickets are only $10, or purchase them at the door for $15.  See you there!

The Mayfair Community School Family Tree

Early in the school year, the staff at Mayfair Community School invited students and their families to come in and have their picture taken by a fauxtographer at no charge.  Normally, we wouldn’t have been interested.  However, this particular set of photos was going to be used for a special project – and we definitely wanted the girl to be able to be involved.

Since I have such a HUGE aversion (and rightly so) to posed studio portraiture, we dressed in a corny theme.  I figure if we’re going to have it done, let’s poke a little fun at the whole process while we do it.  So we each put on our Blue Jays jerseys – and headed off to the girl’s school.

It was everything I hate about studio shots by folks who really don’t know what they’re doing as far as composition goes (which is about what I expected).  Sit here.  Lean this way.  Turn your head towards the camera.  No, not that much.  Tilt your face to the right.  Put your arm here.  Now hold it….  There you have it!  The world’s worst family photo!  BUT!  It’s for such a cool project, so I suck it up, smile, and say nothing – until I blog all about it, and then I can rip on the entire process and mock the whole thing – ’cause that’s just how I roll.  heh heh

So, what was so cool that I felt the need to force us to endure such torture?  Well, it was the Mayfair Family Tree:

I couldn’t fit it all into the frame on my little iPhone…  but I think it gives you a good idea of what we’re looking at.    And it’s pretty darn cool!  Even better?  They put our family photo near the bottom, where the kid can actually reach it to show people.

Very much worth the humiliation of a terrible family photo, don’t cha think?

HCKOC Dog Show – Mark your Calendars!

Mark your calendars!  This weekend is one of two dog shows held annually in Saskatoon.  This one happens to be the Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club show, and will be taking place at the Exhibition grounds in Hall E.  And, quite unusual for us, this is our first show of 2012.

This weekend marks the show debut of Alice, one of the pups from my first ever Chihuahua litter.  I’m super excited to be taking a puppy I’ve bred into the ring for the first time ever.  I have high hopes for this little one.  She really is an outstanding pup with a temperament to die for!

If you’re free this weekend, you should come on out.  The show will go from 9 AM until roughly 3 PM each day (except Sunday, which usually shuts down a little earlier so everyone who has to travel can start on their way home).  I highly recommend coming as early as possible though, as shows tend to thin out later in the day.  As people finish up with their dogs for the day, they usually head out rather than sticking around the show site.  So coming in the morning or very early afternoon means you’re more likely to encounter a wider variety of dogs.

Our approximate ring times on each day are as follows:

• 9:00 on Friday (in ring two)
• 12:15 on Saturday (in ring one)
• during the lunch break on Saturday (kid kid will be taking Alice in for Juniors)
• 9:00 on Sunday (in ring two)
• during the lunch break on Sunday (for puppy sweeps)

If there’s a particular breed you are interested in seeing, I recommend downloading the official schedule at http://canuckdogs.com/upload/DogShowDocs/2b117948-900c-11e1-bf94-46ab87a4a13a.pdf  It contains a listing of breeds that will be in attendance each day, along with the numbers of each breed and the break down of males, females, and specials.

To figure out an approximate show time for each breed you’re interested in seeing, take the number of dogs in the ring prior to the breed you are interested in watching, and multiply by 2.5.  It takes the judge roughly two and a half minutes to judge each dog.  So, if you want to watch the Irish Setters on Friday you’d multiply the 20 dogs in the ring prior to them by 2.5, giving you 50 minutes.  That group starts at 1:00, so you can estimate that they’d be in at roughly 1:50 on Friday.

So yay!  Dog show season!!!  One of my favourite times of year. 

A2Z – Pink Prom

On March 30th, Saskatoon had it’s first prom…  well…  first as far as I’m aware, and as far as my parent’s and grandparent’s are aware – and that’s as far back as this city really goes.  So I feel I’m pretty safe saying that it’s a first for this prairie city.  Anyway…

It was an amazing night.  Some folk I talked to were concerned about a city-wide prom, with people from any school welcome to attend.  There was talk about things like school rivalries and the possibility of fighting.  All I could really do was smile.  These were obviously adults who just didn’t get it.  This  was an event I knew our youth would rally around.

Prom is an amazing right of passage, and one we’ve never had here.  We’ve all watched the movies, read the books, heard the stories.  Prom is supposed to be amazing, and it’s something everyone deserves to experience.  And at 34, I went to prom… and just like all the teens in the movies, my parent’s bought my dress.

Saskatoon’s first prom was made even better by being a part of Pink Revolution (an anti-bullying week which made it’s debut this year).  So huge thanks to the Avenue Community Center and all their amazing volunteers for making it happen.  Both Pink Revolution and the Pink Prom were ground breaking events and I sooo look forward to them happening again next year.

As the official photographer for the Pink Prom, I organized my first ever photobooth.  No, it’s not my typical photography (usually on location in the study of life and love) but it was sooo much fun.  I was happy to donate my time and skill for something so incredible.

Yep, that’s me at prom.    Wanna check out the rest of the action from my photobooth?  Head on over to http://td365.smugmug.com/  Prints and other cool items are available!

A2Z – Heroes

Heroes.  They are something we should all have, and they come in many shapes and sizes.  Some may be the usual suspects, heralds of a cause, but others can be found unexpected places.  In truth, I believe everyone has the potential to be a hero.  And I can’t think of any better way to demonstrate this fact that to share a few of my local Saskatchewan heroes who also happen to be members of the acronym community.

Mikayla Schultz is the founder of TransSask (support services).  She is a tireless advocate and campaigner for equality.  Through tremendous efforts, she recently put government to the test and had many successes with the signing of a declaration formalizing March 25-31 as Transgender Awareness Week in communities across Saskatchewan.

Don Cochrane is a former University of Saskatchewan professor, who continues to educate everyone he meets.  His groundbreaking work into subjects of importance to the Sexual Minority and Gender Variant community continue to force change, improving the lives of everyone in Canada.  You can see his hand all over this province, and especially at the annual Breaking the Silence conference here in Saskatoon.

Sarah Houghtaling is a local high school student.  She strives diligently to make lives better not only for those who attend school with her, but for minority students across our province.  A student activist who’s name I highly recommend taking note of.  She’s one of the many young people who WILL change our world for the better.  If you are ever able to attend one of her talks, DO!  You will be inspired.

Kay Williams is one of the most outspoken allies you will ever meet.  A determined advocate for her son, and a helping voice in a confusing world for parents new to the world of parenting LGBTT2QI children and youth.  Kay is a proud volunteer, and one of the founding members of PFLAG in Saskatoon.  She also was awarded the Peter Corren Award for Outstanding Achievement this year at Breaking the Silence – and yes, I teared up during her acceptance speech (which I recorded, and will share at some point).

Four individuals, all unique, all at different stages of their journey, all willing to do whatever it takes to see things become better for those around them.  All four are heroes, and all four I’m proud to call friend.

Who are the heroes in your life?