Best of 2018 Family Sessions | London Ontario Family Photographer

I wish you could have seen me putting this blog post together. First of all, it took a very long time. But most importantly, I smiled from ear to ear the entire time. So many beautiful families. So many favourites. So many. Some obvious ones that I previewed on social media and were stand-out favourites from the very beginning, and some that I had completely forgotten about, that for some reason didn’t really grab me during the editing process but made my heart sing during this yearly review.

As always, I feel the need to point out that my initial selection was so large it was ridiculous. In fact, one might argue that this selection is ridiculously lengthy. But I can only narrow them down so much, ya know? At the end of the day, whether a session appears in this compilation or not, I am so eternally grateful to each family that trusted me with capturing their memories - some for the first time in 2018, and some for the 8th time. It sounds so cliche, and we photographers like to throw around phrases like “I want to tell your story” and “capture your milestones” and “document your real life”… but it’s the truth. It’s why I do what I do.

Looking through all of these images made me so excited about the upcoming shooting season. For now though, I’m still reminiscing about the incredible year that was 2018. Here are some favourites!

London Ontario Maternity Photographer | Leah's Magnolia Blossom Maternity Session

My friend Leah is one of those people who, if you can believe it, is even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside. Here are a few favourites from her Magnolia Tree maternity session back in Spring 2017 (yes, that’s where I’m up to in my blogging. Oops!). Scroll to the bottom to see what we did when it got dark!

London Ontario Family Photographer | Karen's Snowy Maternity Session

I met up with this adorable family on a snowy afternoon last year to document maternity photos and capture some sweet family memories before they became a family of 4. Here are some favourites! :)

 

London Ontario Photographer | 2016 Favourites

I've been sharing my 2016 favourites on Facebook and Instagram for the last few weeks, and I've loved reminiscing about such a fantastic year of photos. For those who have been following along, you'll notice several images in here that were not featured in my daily favourites posts. But I'm weak and unable to narrow down things I love, so I simply could not exclude some of these images, nor could I keep sharing daily 2016 favourites into the Summer. So here are some of the images that spoke to me the most in 2016 - images that made my heart sing because of the emotion they evoked, or because of the artistic process that went into making them, or because of that golden delicious sunlight I am always chasing, or because I get that feeling when I look at them, that feeling that reminds me that I am so lucky to do what I love, and that makes me want to keep capturing moments and creating art through photographs for as long as I can. <3

London Ontario Family Photographer - Fall Mini Sessions

As I'm booking up this year's Fall Minis, I'm also reminiscing about last year's! They were held in a golden wild field - which is my favourite setting to shoot in during the Fall. I do love vibrant leaves, but there's just something about wild grasses in Autumn that inspires me. I am in love with all these mini sessions and am SO exciting for this year's Fall minis in October! Here are my favourites.

London Ontario Lifestyle Photographer | 2015 Favourites

2015 was such a special year for me, because we welcomed our second daughter, Naia Rose, into our lives. While I certainly didn't take the year off, I did take a few months of rest and a reduced workload for the rest of the year, which means I really got to savour every wedding and every session in a way that I don't often get to when I'm booking double or triple the amount of work. It's crazy to me that 2015 is already over, and it's been so fun to look back through the archives. Every year it is both delightful and agonizing to put this massive favourites post together. Delightful because I revisit my favourite work from the previous year and reminisce. Agonizing because I actually have to choose. I love all of my clients and walk away from each session and wedding with something positive, so this is by no means a list of favourite clients. Rather, it's a collection of images that, when I took them and when I looked back on them, made my heart skip a beat. Maybe it's perfect, delicious golden light. Or a sweet, candid mother-daughter moment. Maybe it's that moment a child is laughing so hard his eyes are squinting or a couple sharing an intimate look after saying "I do". Sometimes it's something more technical, like the composition of an image or the contrast between shadow and light that I'm really proud of.  Regardless of the exact reason behind each image, these are the images that make me the most proud and excited when I look back on my 2015 portfolio. I hope you enjoy scrolling through them! <3

London Ontario Wedding & Portrait Photography | 2014 Favourites

I've so enjoyed looking back on 2014 over the past few weeks and highlighting some of my favourites over on the Raw Footage Photography Facebook Page. Today I'm compiling those 20 images into a blog post and resisting the urge to add 20 (or 100!) more to the list. I am notoriously terrible at narrowing things down, and in the past my "yearly favourites" posts have included a ridiculous amount of images. I love all of my clients and feel attached to every session or wedding I photograph, so picking just 20 photos from the whole year was so hard. But I tried to pick the images that really speak to me as an artist, images I'm especially proud of and really represent my style and vision - either because they capture incredible natural light or raw, genuine emotion ... or both (my two favourite things to photograph!). Here are my 20 favourites from 2014 in no particular order!

 

 

 

London Ontario Maternity Photographer | Laura

If you're a past wedding client, you may recognize my stunning friend and second shooter, Laura. My brides and grooms-to-be getting married before September will be getting to know her, as well. Laura is a talented photographer and I'm honoured to have her assist me for many of my weddings. She is sweet and hilarious and absolutely glowing as she expects her third baby, a little boy after two beautiful girls! I'm so happy for you Laura, and so thankful you let me drag you out for photos. Here are my favourites from our little maternity photo adventure!