Spring is near
Oh wow! It’s going to be the end of February soon. Things have been slow and fast around here. I’m not sure if I’m going to do any sessions this year. I think I hit “photographers’ block”. It’s hard to admit it when you are doing a business.
I’m not actively advertising but if you have query, just contact me.
In the meantime, I’d like to share some pictures I took recently. It has been a long since I photographed wildlife. I don’t have the long bazookas (that’s what I liked to call long zoom lenses). So when I was there, I was flabbergasted by all these bazookas other wildlife photographers were using. 500mm, 600mm, 1.5 extender and what not.
I only had my trusty 200mm. Most of these pictures were cropped but I liked how it turned out.
Enjoy.
FYI: Migratory snow owls at Boundary Bay, Delta.
Be crazy!!
You know you have those vacation photos which everyone stood around in front of something, smiling and all that. It’s great memories but after a few vacations don’t you think it would be more interesting to do something different in front of Disney & Mickey statue or something? 
This is something I tried with my daughter at Coronoda Beach in San Diego. Captioning it on your printed album will be an added bonus!
Mommy practising Darth Vader’s Force Pull on her daughter.
But alas, the Dark Side doesn’t win. Daughter gave Mom a Jedi kick and sent Mom sprawling. As Yoda says, “Size matters not, … Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”
Try something crazy for your vacation photos. Heck! Try it on any day
A little dessert for a monday afternoon — japanese purin
I regularly frequent food blogs to get ideas or new recipes to try. A food blogger was talking about japanese purin they bought from a store in Port Moody and decided to try making it themselves. I decided to make it today as it’s very easy to make with regular ingredients which you have in your pantry & fridge all the time.
It’s similar to flan and it’s a bit too sweet for me. I like the smooth texture with caramel. But it’s not something I would want to eat every day
If you are interested, here’s the receipe from About.com. Japanese Purin
Another weekend…
another something from my kids.
As previously mentioned, my son had some tummy probs. Then, the next weekend it was my daughter’s turn. Lost her appetite in the afternoon and threw up at night. For her case, it was two days. By the 3rd day, she was feeling for a McD nugget. So I guess she got better then. At the end of that week, I was joking with her teacher that another weekend, hopefully nothing more.
How wrong I was.
We went for dimsum with my father-in-law and Metrotown Fortune House on Sunday. After we were done, we all walked down the stairs (the one from the skytrain level to the bus level) and my daughter did her 2 steps jump, slipped and landed wrongly. She went “It’s ouchy. It’s very ouchy.”
One thing you should know about my daughter’s cries is that it provokes you to laugh. I’m serious. Even when she was a baby, the way she cried just made us laugh. There are some babies or kids whose cries just make you feel so sad and you just want to cuddle and comfort them. But my daughter’s…..
Anyway, the ankle swelled. We tried to rent a crutch for her but the major ones (like London Drugs or Shoppers Drug Mart) didn’t have shorter ones. On Monday, I scrouged medical supplies stores. One of them helped me to call a pharmacy he knows in Langley (Valley Evergreen Pharmacy) and yes, they have one. But it was raining so hard and I didn’t want to drive there. So, I called places, drove north and then south to those places to let my daughter tried it. Finally, we hit jackpot! Pharmasave at 16th Ave. Thank goodness.
So, if the need arises and you need to rent a pair of crutches about 37″ long, go to Pharmasave. Their rental is the cheapest too. $20 deposit. $5 a week. $15 a month.
The girl is at school being mobile and showing off her crutches.
Another weekend is coming and 2 weeks of spring break. Fingers crossed.
At the beach
We spent part of Thanksgiving Monday exploring the east beach off Crescent Beach. I got to know about this while searching locations on Google Map. You can approach this area from Crescent Beach itself or like what we did, drive till the end of 24th Ave @ Christopherson Rd. There’s very limited parking here as you will be parking on the street. There’s a long flight of stairs down to the beach which my kids love running down.
The beach itself is very cobblery. It was a beautiful afternoon. The light was good, the tide was coming up. A great way to spend some time as family.
Took some pics of the kids (of course) with my iPhone.
The stairs down.
The beach.
My kids went out to the rocks where the tide was slowly coming in. They love it.
“The plane boss! The plane!”
All kids love balancing.
This tree is such a great prop.
Finally, hubby & I.
It’s a great place to have a family walk while the kids will enjoy playing there. This will certainly be a place for me to do future sessions.
Have a great day!
3 more weeks till school!!
Yay!! But the downside is that I have to start waking uo at 7am again. 
Early August, we took a coach trip to the Canadian Rockies. On paper, it sounded wonderful. 4 days 3 nights. From Vancouver to Kamloops, Banff, Jasper to Calgary to Kelowna and back. In reality, it is one tiring journey. We decided to take this tour because (1) 2 other families we know were going (2) we didn’t want to drive because my kids especially our daughter always whine when she’s gonna get there and how bored she is every 5 mins. That drives us nutty even when we only drive to Maple Ridge. (3) we took the discounted package (less meals)
Sitting on a “luxurious” coach has its advantages. We are seated high up and the AC’s great. The down side to it are you can’t really photograph the scenery as reflections appear on the windows and too much information on minor stuff but still I learned a lot about the Fraser River and the mountains and how important everything is. Rightly so. And secondly, the driving takes about 2 hours from anywhere to somewhere.
Here’s a map of our route.
Day 1: Kamloops for lunch at Tim Horton’s. Earlier we went to a ginseng factory. We weren’t that interested in the process. My mother-in-law requested me to buy 2lbs of cut ginseng for her but the price was exorbitant! Then off we went to Spahats Falls. It’s a bit impressive to me – the sheer height of the ridge. My daughter will tell you that there were too many mosquitoes chasing after her. It was a surprise to see someone you know from the city visiting the same Falls.
Then it’s another 2 hours to Valemount for the night. The next morning, we had to be at the bus by 7:15am. We drove a short way to Mt Robson Visitors Centre. The early morning cloud was shrouding the top of Mt Robson but it was a beautiful morning. (pic below: Mt Robson on the right)
Then, we drove again to Athabasca Falls. I am more impressive with his fall because the water was like thundering down crazily from a very lazy river. I guess like macho waterfalls.
Atabascha Glacier is next. The last time, I was there in 2001 it was November and bloody cold. Now, in summer it’s pretty warm. What hasn’t changed is how bloody touristy it is over there and the food is still as expensive as ever. Nevertheless, as much I like to groan about it, I like sitting on that snowmobile and being on top of that glacier.
Top Pic: Panorama of Atabascha Glacier.
Left: Going up the glacier.
Below: My kids on the snow mobile.
To be continued.
I need the sun!
What a lousy week weather-wise! I can’t wait for the sun to show up again. My this week’s sessions were all rescheduled to next week or the week after. I’m so bummed that I couldn’t get to photograph the new baby and a little girl. Fingers crossed for good weather from Tuesday till end of summer!!! LOL!
So, yesterday I asked my daughter if she would want to be photographed by mommyduring a break from the rain. She agreed if only she wore her favourite skirt and got to play with the umbrella. No problem, babe. So, here’s the pics from our session. Trying to find inspiration on different processing. I was feeling a bit vintagy — you know, lower saturation of colours and all. It was a fun session until she slipped on something slippery. 
You might like this too..
if you don’t know about this products by now. They were all new to me. I’ve thought of rambling how I’ve gotten these things but I think not. Anyway, this antibaterial foam wash from The Bath & Body Works is terrific! The one I have has blackberry and vanilla scent. Each time we wash our hands with it, the bathroom smells just a tinge of it. My kids are washing their hands more nowadays. LOL! 
Next, cupcakes! But not your average cupcakes. These are by Original Cupcakes. Nice looking and good stuff.
Thank you. You know who you are!
I received my Harry Potter First Day Covers in the mail. Still missing in the Owl Service is the stamps, presentation pack and another something. I feel like partipating in the midnight Harry Potter book release tonight although I’m not buying the book till later.
Monitor Callibration Tool
Many of us can’t afford to get those expensive hardwares to callibrate our monitors but then a lot of us don’t always spesifically use the computer to view pictures. But here’s a free simple tool to adjust your monitors so that you are seeing the colours /contrast that I see. Monitor Callibration Tool
Oh, it’s raining :(
But I guess it’s good to get some rain. Just that it’s forecast to rain everyday till Saturday. I mean, it’s summer. It rains all the time from September and our summer days are only these many.
Time to bring out some summerish pics to chase the clouds away! Last week, I took my kids to the wading pool at the park. I highly recommend parents to take photograph their kids at wading pools because on certain angles & composition, it looks like somewhere posh! 
We went to my husband’s company Family Day last week at Fraser Foreshore Park. Nice day and the kids enjoyed themselves. They went straight for the bubbles.
Face painting:
I thought it was a dinosaur but I was corrected that it was a kangaroo!
What’s a day without balloons, right?
It’s really nice to carry a small camera with me nowadays. Anyway, I haven’t done anything “dark” for sometime. Took this at the Richmond Dike Trail. Thought it warrants something like this.
Fingers crossed for sunny (but not hot) days this week despite the forecast or else I will have to reschedule two more sessions to another week.
I learned something new today.
How to make a tutu. My new prop for all the cutie girls. Here’s my daughter with the tutu. She wouldn’t want to get up.
HEATWAVVVVEEEEEEEEE!!
It is going to hit 37 deg today. It is already so stifling in my small apartment. Aaarrghhh. Need to hide at Starbucks and slurp my Frappy.
Here are my kids & their cousin playing with the phones.
Here’s my hubby & me. 
Summer fun!
Summer has just started and my kids just broke the record for most falls and injuries to their knees. Last week at the a session at Deer Lake, I saw my son and S running and I was commenting to S’s mom, Lynn about how scary it is to see kids running as if they will fall flat on their face at any second and SPLAT! My son fell flat on his face. He didn’t had a serious graze but it was bleeding all the same. He didn’t cry I think there were two girls there. Yesterday, my daughter fell and grazed her knees bad. She was crying during her short shower last night. So she didn’t go for her swim lesson this morning.
In my previous post, I mentioned that I bought a Canon point & shoot camera. I broke mine earlier this year. The LCD wouldn’t work anymore and I doubt the cost repairing it will justify the price of the camera. After much researching, I decided on the Canon Powershot SD1000 and I am having FUN with it. It’s really nice to take a small camera with you wherever you go instead of a huge DSLR. I mostly like to do videos of my kids so this camera works well. I highly recommend it if you are looking for something small right now.
Here’s us making funny faces.
Hubby likes this pic of me. I don’t see what’s so good about the subject in this pic.
Happy Monday!
For a change, there’s sunshine and some blue skies. Yesterday was Canada Day and the kids wanted to go to Canada Place for the celebration instead of Deer Lake. (Mommy wanted to go Deer Lake instead because they have cakes and it’s nearer) So off we went to the skytrain station. Boy, was it crowded and nothing, NOTHING has changed. Same ol’ expensive hot dogs and drinks. I only saw one juggler. The kids entertainment area was crazy and my son joined in one game. Then we got tired and hungry.
I was surprised to see “wheels advertising” on a taxi! Ok, ok. It shows I don’t go downtown often. LOL!
This year, I didn’t see that many crazily dressed or tattooed people celebrating Canada Day. Just saw this guy.
A tiring (yester) day..
I volunteered to supervise a group of kids for my son’s school trip to the beach. We had enough parents volunteer this time that each parent got 2-3 kids to supervise. The weather yesterday’s morning was horrible. Dark clouds, windy and cold and we were going to the beach! The kids (being kids) were excited. We boarded the bus at half past nine and reached the beach area by 10-ish. Since there was information that the beach was crowded with a local school, we headed to the Park to chill out. We literally CHILLED in the wind. We took a break for snack and then the kids played at the playground. At 11:15am, we all marched to the beach about 20 mins away. Lucky for us, the sun broke through and it was sunny and warm for the rest of the time we were there.
I got a bit bored with the scenery and saw this on the sand.
My hometown is a tropical island with nice sandy beaches, coconut trees waving in the breeze and waves rushing to the shore. So coming to here (two years in a row) and looking at low tide mud beds, sharp stones and pebbles isn’t my cup of tea. I wish we can go to Spanish Banks instead of here next year.
Anyway, I got a nice pic of my son with his favourite teacher, Ms. C.
Ahead of myself…
I’m going to be so busy these couple of weeks and I AM SO HAPPY about it. I’ve got a list of kids to photograph. I do hope I won’t run out of kids after this first list.
Today & yesterday, I photographed two newborn babies. A boy who is a month old and today, a girl of 8 days. Both didn’t want to sleep at all during their sessions. I am rescheduling a new session for the girl. I will post some favourites here after I’m done post processing.
What I am excited about today is there’s a new chick camera bags store. Well, they are sold in most camera stores in the US and online. I’ve never heard of them and their website just went live today. The bags are to die for. The designs are by Jill-E. All the bags on on back-ordered so I’m not even sure if I can get one if I wanted to.
Playing again…
How was everyone’s Father’s Day celebration yesterday? Mine was tiring.
I’m just waiting for better weather here in Vancouver to do my shoots. Summer is this week and it feels like late autumn!! Today is particularly chilly.
Still playing with the RAW actions I bought. Can’t decide on which I like more.
Comparison and decision making again. Just found a clip on YouTube of George Michael singing “A long and Winding Road” one of my favourite Beatles song. Kinda cool. This weather is depressing me to bits!
Many times I’ve been alone
And many times I’ve cried
Any way you’ll never know
The many ways I’ve tried
The Beatles’ version.
