Alyna and Jamil were recently engaged and are planning a 2010 wedding. They are also the final winners of the Love Bucket photography contest. This shoot was done on a very cold November day in Edmonton. We hung out at a few places around Whyte Avenue including the Varscona Theatre, the Saskatchewan Drive bridge and Old Scona High School. Alyna and Jamil really came preparred with outfit changes (including a change of shoes!), and “up-for-anything” attitudes. Besides being ridiculously cute Alyna and Jamil are also lovely people. They were even good sports when we hit a few technical glitches with our off camera lighting…cold weather and rechargeable batteries are not a good match (lucky for us Harv with his crazy MacGyver skills pulled a few extras out of his pocket).

Here’s our personal favorite of the day…those eyes could rob a bank!

Shantel is a grade twelve student from Edmonton. She is really interested in photography and has volunteered to be one of our high school representatives. These shots were taken on a freezing cold, windy October day…typical for Edmonton. Shantel was a really good sport and even braved some shots without her parka!

Back in September we had a contest for a free photo shoot and I’m sure our loyal followers a wondering  ”who won?”. Well, there are two fabulous winning couples. First here are Tiara and Jose. They were very excited and came ready to have some fun!  In the first photo you will see them each holding a balloon (Jose’s balloon popped on him while he was blowing it up but he didn’t even hesitate to grab another balloon and try again!). These two love birds are both university students, so it’s fitting that we shot this session at the University Of Alberta.

Don’t forget to leave them some comments.

So now you’re wondering “what do those balloons say?” And “what is the meaning behind it all?” Well, for this shoot we asked them to write one word that comes to mind when they think of one another. Tiara wrote “Love” which is very fitting for these two but Jose cheated and wrote “Devastatingly Beautiful”. Who can blame him though? Not us.


We ended  the shoot with Jose playing a little guitar to Tiara on the bank of the North Saskatchewan river. Jose said he plays on and off but whoa… the man is amazing!

Friday, October 23rd Harvey had an appointment to get his 4 Wisdom Teeth removed at the oral surgeons office in Edmonton. This day has been a long time coming. We’ve had to play out every possible scenario for a month now! He is really nervous! It’s his first time “going under” and I think that is the worst part for him…worse than the pain even! He was loopy and wobbly and confused and whiny for three solid days! This weekend has been full of relaxation for him and constant, vigilant supervision for me (honestly it’s been like watching an infant)! Harvey promises to return all your emails on Monday and if he has already replied (despite my best efforts to encourage relaxation and recuperation) and it seems odd… please forgive him, he’s on pain medication.

Oh yeah and the first thing he requested after waking up…gravy! Piping hot gravy (yes he actually said “piping hot”). And no, just in case you’re wondering, it’s not on the list of liquids you can drink after surgery. Go figure.

-Samantha

Stef is very outgoing and was up for pretty much anything. The shoot was a last minute kind of deal and she showed up ready to roll!
Here’s a few from our day together