I am happy  because the new layout is more me, it was more customizable, it shows of my photos better, and it is what I wanted this blog to look like when I started this one!

I am sad because to have a new blog I have to give up this one :(  I am also sad because this will be my last post on this blog :( No point in having two blogs! I am sad because my new blog doesn’t have an option for people to email subscribe to my posts. So for those of you who are subscribed to this blog  THANK YOU for your support, and I hope you still find the time to follow me on my new one!

I will still keep this blog up and running so people who had their photosessions featured will still be able to share their posts!

Check out my new blog at www.justinerussoblog.com!

I met Sheree at the show I did at St.Josephs Elementary School back in November. She stopped by my table to inquire about a maternity session (she was very very newly pregnant then!)

I met with Sheree and her husband Blake at Knox Mountain. When thinking about locations for this session, Marco and I went for a drive one night to do some location scouting. When he realized I had never been to Knox Mountain, he drove me to the top.  I was SO excited! I knew I had to do a session here! It was stunning!!! Long grass, stunning views, thick forest, and lots and lots of lake! So I was beyond excited when Sheree and Blake agreed to have their photoshoot done there!

Sheree and Blake were amazing! Sheree is just glowing, and she has fantastic hair! :)  They are both so excited to meet their baby girl sometime around the end of May!

They were so in love! Their kissing pictures were so romantic :)

I LOVED Sheree’s choice for shirt colour! It’s her favourite colour!

Congrats Sheree and Blake! Can’t wait to hear all about your daughter when she arrives! :)

Last week while grocery shopping, I stumbled across the book “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin, and in the spur of the moment bought it. I am SO glad I did. This book is literally changing my life without changing it. It is so full of amazing ideas, that I read most of the chapters twice! I have found my project! Here is the “back cover commercial” that hooked me in the store!

Gretchen had a good marriage, two healthy daughers, and work she loved-but one day stuck on a city bus, she realized that time was flashing by, and she wasn’t thinking enough about the things that really mattered. “I should have a happiness project” she decided. She spent the next year test driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Each month, she pursued a different set of resolutions: go to sleep earlier, quit nagging, forget the results, or take time to be silly. Bit by bit, she began to appreciate and amplify the happiness that already existed in her life.

So starting May 1, I am beginning my Happiness Project. The book clearly says that not everyones happiness project will look the same, or take the same route. If you are interested in starting one along with me, check out her blog where she has tools and ideas for starting your own!

 I can’t wait to see where mine takes me!

I am also not delusional enough to believe this to be true. I can see the look on Marco’s face everytime I dance. I have heard the laughs of my sisters as I used to dance in the kitchen while washing the dishes. And today, when dancing to Adele with my son he laughed at me. My 18 month old, sweet, and adorable little son laughed at me! It was too funny to not laugh back. So yes I am very aware of my HUGE lack of dancing skills. I am a 6 foot 1 Volleyball player…what do you expect?!

For my birthday Marco’s parents got me dancing lessons. (Lucky Marco he gets to come with me!) This Monday we learnt to Salsa. Once again in my head I was wearing this super flowy sequined bright pink dress and high heels.

 I was awe-some!

In reality I was wearing LuLu’s and a gray t-shirt, and at one point the instructor told us to “put some life into it”. I caught Marco laughing at me, and he said I had the deepest look of concentration as I counted the steps….one, two, three pause…five, six, seven, pause…over and over and over again. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. But after a few practices we nailed the steps with two turns, and a New Yorker! (and just like that I was ready to sign us up for a competition!)

So my moral of the story is… who cares what you look like on the outside…I think it’s all about how you think you look in your head! :)

When I first started my own photography business, Sherri was my go to person! She put up with countless emails, numerous questions and she had so much great advice! She has been a huge part in the starting of my business going so well! Thanks Sherri!

I was given the opportunity to 2nd shoot for Sherri in March, and I was so excited!! First to get to work with Sherri and second to get to work at Newlands!

I got to shoot with my camera, but using her 70-200mm 2.8mm IS USM lens, the lens that is next on my list to buy…but at $2500 it’s a HUGE purchase, so I was glad I got to try it! I fell in love with it! It is definitly worth the money! We worked so well together, and I had a blast! We ended the evening off after the wedding back at her house with a drink on her patio! Thanks Sherri for an awesome day!

Lara and Kevin opted to have a First Look done at Bear Creek Park in Surrey! Kevin and his groomsmen got there first to get ready!

Poor Kevin had to wait almost 15 minutes for Lara to walk all the way down from the car!

…it was worth the wait

oh I love first looks!

They both got a bit teary eyed and yes I did too!

I was a tad obsessed with photographing her bouquet! Newlands does AMAZING bouquets. (and I was a little biased….her bouquet was almost identical to mine!)

Lara’s flower girl was just adorable!

Lara and Kevin’s wedding party was amazing! The guys were a blast…always cracking jokes, and Lara’s girls were so attentive…always making sure every hair was in place, and her dress was perfectly laid out!

About an hour into photos Lara lifted up her dress to surprise us with her amazing shoes!!

After Bear Creek Park we headed back to Newlands for the ceremony……Isn’t she just the cutest!?

After the ceremony, Lara and Kevin took a moment alone around the corner from everyone to celebrate those first few moments of being husband and wife!

From the ceremony we headed over to the Newlands owners house to get some photos in their yard. It was so green and fresh! A great Spring day! Sherri and I were so glad the rain held off until later that evening!

I loved their cake!

Congrats Lara and Kevin! Thanks for letting me help photograph your special day!

I first met Michelle, Jay and Mitchell when I took Michelle’s maternity photos way back last July! Linden made his appearance in August and I took his newborn photos last September! Michelle emailed me a few months ago asking me to photograph Linden at 6 months! Wow has he ever gotten big!

I absolutely love it when I get to photograph maternity, newborn, 6 months and on year! It’s my absolute favourite! I get to see and photograph that amazing journey from belly to busy one year old! I just love it! Watching them grow is so fun! Linden has definitly grown and has quite the fun little personality! He was full of smiles and his two eye teeth definitly make him live up to his nickname “vampire boy” haha!

Mitchell is still the proud and protective big brother! As long as I got lots of pictures of just the two of them together he was happy! They are such a great family and I can’t wait to photograph Linden at one year! Can’t wait to see the mischief he is up to then :)

I just love how smitten Mitchell is with his little brother!

Some Mama and baby photos are always a must :)

This one is by far my favourite!

So I thought I would go through what I do to every picture from the minute it is taken to the minute I burn into on a disc for my clients!

First I upload the image to my computer….it looks something like this… (I HATE showing people what the RAW files look like…they are so boring, and look awful!)

Once I have uploaded all the RAW files into their own folder I import them all into Lightroom 3. In lightroom I touch up the exposure, the contrast, boost the colours a little bit and finally export them into Photoshop. Here is what the photo from above looks like by the time I export it out.

Much better hey? This is where I will leave a lot of the photos. Many of them don’t need too much done after this point. My favourite photos, I will take into Photoshop and play around with. Try some different actions, and filters to see what happens. I will turn many of them into black and white as well!

Here are a few I liked!

Most of them are very subtle differences but differences that change the entire feel of the photo! Some are warmer in colour, others are brighter, and some more contrasted! I usually play around with the photos until I get my favourite mixture and then I save!

After that I watermark my 10-15 favourites and put them on my facebook page and upload them to my blog for my blogpost! I then burn them onto a disc and either hand deliver or mail the disc to the clients!

Time wise a portrait session takes me anywhere from 2- 3 hours and a wedding can take anywhere from 6-10 hours depending on the amount of time I spent at the wedding and how large the wedding was!

Hope that helps! :)

This afternoon we took Luca for a walk. Growing up my Dad was all about the walks…every Sunday after church we would head to a local trail and go for a walk. As a child I greatly disliked this, but now that I am older I so appreciate that time we spent together. So today we took Luca for a walk! He LOVED it!

Luca just loves my Dad (Papa)! He follows him around everywhere yelling “Pa-PA!, PA-PA” and gets to excited everytime he sees him. No one, other than Marco, can get Luca laughing like my Dad does! So for about an hour Luca chased after my Dad!

I was so excited to see before we went for a walk some of my Dad’s flowers up :) Spring is really here!

Luca smelled the pinecone!

Luca of course had to stop and pick up everything that looked interesting!

Helping Gramma push the stroller!

The big open field was his favourite! So much to see :)

My Mom yelled “Freedom” when she took him out of the stroller, so he threw his hands up in the air and was so excited! haha it was perfect!

He carried that rock around for atleast half an hour! Such a boy!

Mmmmm tasty rock!

Showing Papa his rock :)

not so tasty dirt!

YAY Spring!

Papa tickling his nose with flowers!

Best seat on the way home!

Grant started his career as a mechanical engineer. After that he moved onto contracting, and he is now following his dreams and launching his career in Real Estate. He is hoping that his background in contracting will help him be an information source for clients. I have a feeling Grant is going to be very successful at this new venture! Not only was he so friendly, personable and easy to talk to, but he is passionate! He is so excited to help people get into new homes! He is also a wealth of information, and he LOVES the Okanagan! He welcomed me here, and was filling me in on where all the good beach Volleyball courts are! :)

He is currently working on getting his new website up and running! I have put his contact info at the bottom of the post if anyone is interested in giving him a call!

These guys were SO easy to work with, and I had such a good time seeing Nicole again and getting to meet her hubby and daughter! :)

Grant Waidman   Phone: 250-859-1747      Email: grant@grantwaidman.com

Marco is especially excited to see everyone cause he turns 25 on Sunday! (Yes for those of you counting I am 13 months older…I always tell Marco is is so lucky to have married an older woman :)

Now between me and Marco there is this ongoing joke that I don’t really know a whole lot about him. He tells me things…and I think I just forget :S  For example last year for Valentine’s Day I bought him a HUGE bag of cinnamon hearts because they are his favourite. Apparently not! Infact he doesn’t like them at all! A similiar scenario has happened SO often that it is now a joke between us. So when getting ready to make his birthday cake this year I wanted to make sure I was ACTUALLY making his favourite….

I knew chocolate was out the window….same with anything cinnamon heart related. Finally I came across a “Cookies and Cream Cake” which is his favourite chocolate bar…or so I thought. I had to phone him at work to make sure he ACTUALLY liked Cookies and Cream. Well he did! So all afternoon Luca and I worked on making his cake to take with us this weekend!

It is So so so SO hard to not sneak a piece of this cake!! It even smells amazing!

The most important ingredient is of course Oreos….man it was hard to not eat my way through the bag as I was baking!

I even had to sample the cake batter….it tasted AMAZING!!!

Luca was being so good watching me in his highchair, so I let him try his first ever Oreo….I guess he’s a fan :)

The finished product! :)

It’s drizzled with white chocolate (don’t worry he does like white chocolate…just not regular chocolate…I checked! :) And the grey-ish icing in the middle is vanilla butter icing with crushed up Oreo cookies mixed in…mmmmmmmmmmmmm.  oh and I sampled the icing too :)

Now I just have to figure out how to get it to Sunpeaks!

Happy Birthday Marco! I hope you like your cake! I hope you have a fantastic weekend with all your closest friends. Me and Luca love you so so so SO much and can’t imagine our lives without you. You are the best person in our lives, and I would be lost without you. Thank you, THANK YOU, Thank you for just being you and for loving me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

** A few people ask that I add the recipe to Marcos delicious birthday cake! Here it is!

Cookies and Cream Cake

Cake Ingredients

1 package white cake mix without pudding in the mix

1 package white chocolate flavour instant pudding mix

1 cup vegetable oil

4 egg whites

1/2 cup milk

20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped

icing ingredients

2tbsp butter

1 cup icing sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tbsp milk

10-12 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped

Cake Topping ingredients

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1 tsp shortening

8 Oreo Cookies for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of two 9inch round pans with parchment paper.

2. Beat egg mix, pudding mix, oil, egg whites, and milk in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed, until well blended. Stir in chopped Oreo’s and divide batter equally between two prepared pans.

3. Bake 28-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completley before removing.

4. Icing – mix butter, icing sugar, vanilla and milk together. Beat with electric mixer until smooth. Stir in cookie chunks until well blended. Place one cooled cake on cake plate. Spread entire batch of icing on top of cake. Place 2nd cooled cake ontop.

5. Topping – melt chocolate chips and shortening together in glass dish in microwave for 30-40 seconds. Stir to combine. Drizzle over top of cake, and top with Oreo chunks to garnish.

ENJOY! It was delish! :)