Shari + Mike Photographers

Meet the adorable Nova. She was born just days before Christmas + we were so thankful that we were able to meet her before we headed back to Vancouver after the holidays. It was a quick meeting but I managed to sneak in a few shots of her while she slept so perfectly. I love watching families grow + be a part of capturing the journey. It was just in the fall that we met up with Steph + Chad for their maternity photos + now baby Nova is here!! She is such a precious little lady.

Last week we posted Part One of Katy’s maternity session. Today we bring to you Part Two.
When Katy + I were discussing an idea for her maternity session, Katy basically told me she wanted me to be as a creative as I wanted to be with the shoot. A canoe + a lake were part the initial concept but when a canoe could not be found it was back to the drawing board. I remembered seeing a picture of Katy in a polka dot bathing suit on Facebook + thought it would adorable to have her wear it for part of the shoot. I emailed her right away to see if the bathing suit would still fit with her growing belly and when she said yes, I knew we had to use it. Katy was so brave to not only put on a bathing suit at full term but also to let me put her in the river for some of the shots. Marks + Charlotte also joined in and I loved Charlotte’s nautical bathing suit + vintage swim cap. Adorable + perfect. It was fun to bring what I imagined for this shoot to life!

The days of social media = knowing people before ever meeting them in person. For the most part this has been my relationship with Katy. Although I met her at a wedding I photographed a few years back, since then our relationship has consisted of commenting on facebook status’ + keeping up with each others busy lives on instagram. It is sometimes hard to imagine what life was like before these two things were created. It was so good to finally connect again with Katy this summer after she contacted me about taking some maternity photos before her second beautiful little lady entered the world. This post is Part One of her maternity session…it was hard to keep this one down to a minimal so decided to break it up into three! I also have to point out how adorable Charlotte looked in her vintage blue dress + yellow shoes…such a great outfit for her blonde hair + big blue eyes!

2012. A year of goals being met, countless hours behind our cameras, growth, change, seeing place we’ve never seen, expectations being exceeded, taking risks, and getting to meet so many incredible people during the last 12 months of this journey. When we think back to this year we can only say that we are truly blessed. We love what we do + getting to capture life with our cameras is a gift that we are so thankful for. We got to witness so many beautiful moments this year + you are about to see a few of them. At first, the task of picking some of our favourite images was a bit overwhelming. Thousands of pictures were taken this year + how do we narrow it down to under 200 images? So we might not have picked the ‘best’ or even your favourites but they are the images that make us feel something. I’m not going to apologize for the length…instead I’m going to warn you that it’s a long one so you may want to grab a coffee, put up your feet, and take a few moments out of your monday morning to enjoy a few of the beautiful moments we saw this year.

Thanks to those who allow us to do what we love.
Thanks for supporting us + encouraging us.
Thanks for being awesome.

I know we are a few days behind but we still wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!! Mike and I have been hiding away in Saskatchewan/Alberta for the last couple weeks for Christmas holidays + have finally made our return to Vancouver. Christmas at the farm is my most favourite thing. I love the snow, getting to bake cookies with my nieces + nephews, the simplicity of life, skating on the creek, feeding the cows with grandpa, seeing the men head out to hunt, and playing hours of games. I have been looking forward to our trip home for so long + was sad to see it go by so quickly. There was one thing that almost did not happen before we left. I had waited all week for it + at the last moment, it appeared. FROST!! I know there are many beautiful things in life, but frost in the winter is hard to beat. I woke up on New Years Eve to find the most beautiful frost on all the trees + had to take our cameras out to capture the beauty. I must give a shout out to my amazing parents for taking the photos of Mike + I together. It has been so long since we have had a non iPhone photo of the two of us :)

With a New Year comes new goals + a renewed vision. On our drive home through the mountains Mike and I spent some time talking about what we are going to believe for personally + for the business in 2013. It’s a long list :) I think the biggest thing for us this year is to travel. It is one of the many things we love to do together and since moving to Vancouver four years ago, it has been put on hold while we settled into life in a new city. But the travel bug is back + we are excited to see all the places we will get to visit this year!

Happy New Year from us to you. May this new year bring much adventure, joy, and life to you all!