Danielle + Family Mini Session - Centennial Park

My first of many mini portrait sessions to come over the next month or so took place earlier today with Danielle and her amazing family at Centennial Park. It had been a while since she last had portraits taken of her family and their parents were in town, so it was perfect timing.

Going into any session I have an idea of what I want to capture but all bets were out the window once I met Rosie. She dictated the entire 30 minute session, and it was so much fun. I have never gotten so many photos of a child running away. She just never stopped moving! But, I also got so many great candids of her and everyone else too, in the process.

It was also their parents anniversary so, we also made sure to get at least a few formal portraits. I still can’t believe how fast the session flew by. I’m just happy I was able to keep up and capture some memorable photos of Danielle’s family.

Andre + Danielle Family Portraits - Friendship Gardens

I know the heading says Andre and Danielle, but this session was really all about Darius. Since he was born, he’s had a rough go of it, but has always had a smile on his face, even through all the pain. I have know Andre and his family for quite some time now, and when I heard that Darius is going for a very dangerous surgery in August, I offered to capture some family portraits and a short video of everyone. We chose Friendship Gardens as the location and it ended up being the perfect venue.

Upon arriving, Darius was ready to go. He had endless energy and there was always something to see with him. We did manage to get him to sit still for some posed portraits but otherwise the rest of the photos were just candids, which are of course my specialty. He got to interact with a little dog and he also saw some ducks in the pond which really piqued his interest.

At the end of the session, some bagpipers were arriving and he instantly heard them playing their pipes. As I was driving away, I saw him banging on one of the drums and smiling like he was the whole session.

I can’t imagine how hard it has been for Andre, Danielle and everyone else. It’s not much, but I hope they can look back on these photos and video with fond memories. My prayers are with Darius and his family this August and I know he will battle through any obstacle in his way!

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Danielle + Steven Engagement - Centennial Park

I will be photographing Danielle and Steven's wedding next year but we decided before it got to cold out, we had better get their engagement photos done. We did so this past weekend and the weather turned out to be pretty cool. The location was Centennial Park and upon arrival, Danielle looked at me and seemed just a bit hesitant, not completely sure if we should still do the photos. Mainly because it was starting to snow pretty heavy. Well, I assured her that the photos would turn out fine and the snow would only add to the character, which it definitely did, as you can see from the photos below. 

We kept the shoot fairly simple and laid back, as are all of my sessions. If you look at my previous posts, you will see that I have had quite a few sessions at this park but I will never get tired of shooting there. Plus, with the snow coming down it provided a very unique atmosphere which I took advantage of. I made sure to get in close for a lot of the photos and also pull away to get some far away shots. Danielle and Steven were complete naturals behind the camera and it really came through in the photos. Even with the last shot, they pretended to put their tongues on the cold metal pole. At least I think they were pretending ... it looks pretty real. :)

I'm very much looking forward to capturing their wedding next year, and if this engagement session is any indication, it's going to be so much fun.