constancepohlphotography.com

Brian and I met up with this gorgeous family a couple weeks ago. Mom had contacted me with some very specific ideas about images for their home. The ideas were simple, classic, and absolutely gorgeous! This family was absolutely gorgeous. We played, laughed, and even took a trip in a rocket ship during one of our breaks. These kids had incredible patience. We had a long morning and they hung in there until the end! Baby E was especially cheerful and was so easy to shoot! We had a blast! Thanks for having us in your home, your family is wonderful.

I have a few female heros in my life.  1. Smurfette.  How she managed to be the only girl in a group full of boy smurfs and keep her sanity I’ll never know.  2. Jasmine Star – because her images rock, she’s from San Diego (where I want to live when I grow up) and she has the best branding on the face of the planet. 3. My mom (whole other post)  #4. And my sister Karen.  It’s no secret that I want to be her when I grow up.  I’ve looked up to her for child rearing advice, how I want my house to look someday, and I admit if not for her and her husband’s giant leaps of faith in recent years of starting their own businesses I likely wouldn’t have started my own photography business.  So I’m all too happy to get in a fall session with her and her family.

I’ve taken a few pics of my various family members this last year.  But Karen looking for some specific pieces for her husband’s new office and the extended family ones weren’t going to work.  So on a whim we headed to the mall to put together coordinating outfits for a family shoot we weren’t quite sure when I’d have time to do.  As we walked out of the Gap I knew right then that I would MAKE time this week to get this shoot in.  It was so fun shopping with her to get the perfect outfits.  And I will likely use many of these as examples to my new clients of how we can mix and match colors and patterns but still have everything cohesive and work together!

I have been photographing Miss M for a year.  In fact we realized in our session that it was exactly a year ago that I had I photographed M’s 6 month pictures.  At the time I wasn’t even in business yet – it was a pie in the sky dream I had to someday start a photography business.  But her photos still grace my website – a tribute to what a beautiful little girl she is!  In fact if you go to the clients section of my website you’ll see her gorgeous big eyes staring back at you.  Added to that she bears an uncanny resemblance to my own little girl Adelle. (who is of course the most gorgeous little girl in the world – not that I’m biased or anything *wink*)  So much so that my son will see pictures of M and say…”Oh Agelle…so cute.”  And I agree – M (and Adelle – her sister from another mister…that is to say…different parents…erm…nevermind) are SO cute!

When her mom first approached me about this session she wanted graffiti, but she wanted to do some studio so that we could do some with my pink couch. Inside I started jumping up and down (because inside I’m still five…and will always be…) and asked “can we put a couch in front of graffiti? Can we? Can we?

It was the best of both worlds!

The only damper on our morning…was that it was a little damp (haha damp… I’m so cool). And cold. M did amazing but there were a few grumpy times. She’s cute even with that big lip. But because of the cold we really had to work for those smiles…

All in all she’s a beautiful girl – one I hope to keep photographing for a long time!

ETA: I have to add this one so you know I’m not exaggerating…Crazy right?

M                                                                                                                                                Adelle

It’s been almost a month since I last blogged. Completely unacceptable I know. It’s been a busy month though. We took a trip up to Grande Prairie to photograph my dear friend’s baby boy. Then a few days later I flew out to San Diego to visit some friends from an online photography group and work on our portfolios together! I will definitely have some shots of that coming up. It was amazing. My series of weekend trips ended with our Thanksgiving whirlwind trip out to Winnipeg! All in all – over 9000km travelled in 2.5 weeks! There is enough pictures and stories for at least 3 separate blog posts from all of that! However I am going to back up to mid September when I got to spend a little time with some great families as we updated their portraits and planned Christmas cards. Here are a just a few from a couple of the families…

Thanks to the ones who took part in my fall digital mini sessions. I had so much fun working with each of you!

10 years ago – about this time – I was starting my 2nd year at PRBI.  I was unpacking clothes in my dorm room when I heard a big loud laugh coming from the room across the hall.  Knowing that one of my good friends from the previous year was due to be here by now I barged in barely pausing to knock on the door.  And there was Patti.  Not actually my friend – but my friend’s new roommate.  She was actually pretty good about the whole stranger bursting into her room.  We chatted for awhile and then went back to un-packing.  I think our friendship was solidified within a couple of weeks.  Thinking back I wonder when it clicked for us…could it have been the night we wandered around the dorm bored and a little too mischievous for our own good?  Or the time the majority of the dorm girls decided to get back at us by switching around all our stuff?  That year was one of the best years of my life, and Patti still one of my best friends! (Though really as I wracked my brain for stories I could tell about her I realized that the majority of them are completely inappropriate for public telling…truely the stuff the best friendships are made of)

Miles of highway as well as our busy lives and families mean we don’t see each other as often as we’d like, but this last weekend Brian and I packed up the kids and my camera equipment to drive up to Grande Prairie for a visit and to welcome their newest little one born at the beginning of this month! Isn’t he adorable?

We still have some open spots for our mini sessions!  Saturday is our first mini session date and it looks like it’s going to be a fabulous (27 degree) day!  Update your family portrait, and receive a free set of 5X7 custom Christmas cards!  For those of you thinking “yes I need to do that…later” – This is my last Saturday booking available until November 14th which is also the last day you can have a session and get cards out in time for Christmas!

Here’s the info – Call us at 780.721.8976 or e-mail to mail@constancepohlphotography.com.

I have a large extremely close extended family.  My Grandpa Strom had 10 brothers and sisters and as long as I can remember we’ve been getting together every few years with that whole side!  This year almost 200 of the over 300 aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins, 2nd cousins children etc all got together at Southern Alberta Bible Camp.  All this should be leading up to some great pics from my reunion right?  Eep!  ok so here’s my excuse…my children.  Yes I’m using my children.  They were awful this weekend!  I barely took any pics at this marvelous camp because my children were making me think about ways to jump off the top balcony of the main building.  Thank goodness for “Mama and Pawka” (My parents).  I’m sure between Adelle and I one of us surely would have gone over the edge if not for their patience!

BUT on the very last day Adelle and Hunter both had fabulous naps and life started to look good again.  It was too late for the reunion though.  However it was in time for me to appreciate my old stomping grounds as we drove from the camp to the town I grew up in!

Here’s our little SUV and trailer… 

We pulled into the ThreeHills campground and met up with a few from my Dad’s family!  My Grandpa took us all to the GuZoo in the morning.  I am ashamed to say I had never been though I grew up in 3Hills and remember a Tiger being brought into my class at school once.  Anyway as I suspected Hunter LOVED the GuZoo.  It was a charming little country zoo – but they had alot!  Lions and Tigers and Bears (Oh my!).  We petted some miniature cows…

And rode a mini horse of some kind

Ok well really Adelle was saying “all done all done all done all done” but we thought it was fun!

Then we stumbled across my weakness…

Yup there they are folks.  I begged and pleaded to let me bring just ONE MORE home…but Brian didn’t think we needed a 3rd dog – even if he was the cutest blackest pug puppy in the world.  He wasn’t for sale…but I would have found a way.

We petted bunnies…ok kissed them even!

And then Great Grandpa offered up rides on his scooter!   I think it might have been Hunter’s favorite part of the zoo!

But then we got to have a truly unique experience – when the owners let us have a backstage pass so to speak and visit the Lemurs!  (Thanks Auntie Sheila!)  Oh they are so cute – in a monkey-ish way.  (The Lemur – although my Aunt looks pretty cute too )

Hunter says “Hey guy….hey”

And Adelle’s vantage point…she was a little less sure of the Lemurs since she was missing her nap at the time…

Lastly – I show you my favorite childhood flower.  I can’t find them here – I would love to grow them in my yard – or attempt to anyway.  They seem to be all over ThreeHills.  Maybe I can steal some stocks from someone.

A simple Hollyhock.  Why was it my favorite childhood flower?  Well the petals made great stick on earrings for a little girl who wasn’t allowed (at the time) to get her ears pierced….

This weekend was so wonderful.  It made me homesick for a simpler time, and a simpler life.  My heart dreams of living in a small town or in the country side again one day.  But I know I’m where God wants me, I am so thankful for the many blessings in my life.

This little guy was so into the world around him.  Not wanting to miss a thing, he laid awake even with all my usual tricks to getting a baby to sleep through my posing.  You see, getting a baby to sleep isn’t as easy as you may think.  I come to the house armed not only with props and blankets but also bring my handy rice bag, and an additional space heater.  Often I’ll plug in some sounds of the womb just to seal the deal.  Usually the heat, and a good feed is more than enough to get a newborn to sleep – especially if they are in the first week.  D was one week old and even though I didn’t get my normal posed sleeping pics he was content to let me snap away while he chilled.  I LOVE his smirk in the last shot.  He has two older brothers and I can just tell he’s going to give as good as he gets!

Those of you who know me in person know that I love babies.  I didn’t know I loved babies before I had my own.  But the love I had/have for my own kids kind of just spilled over so that hearing the sweet cry of one only a few days old just makes my heart do a jump even if they are no relation to me.  This little girl here almost feels like family though.  Little E’s mom shared a half duplex with us for a few years and I’m so happy for her and this new stage of life.  A few weeks ago we met up to take some maternity pics.  Now finally her sweet baby girl is here and we met up once more for her photoshoot.  She slept so peacefully for a couple hours while I posed her, and then opened her eyes so wide so we could see her baby blues.  So rare to have such great eye contact at 6 days!  Here were a couple of my favorites…isn’t she GORGEOUS?

This morning you could feel the bite in the air.  As we drove through miles of fog it felt more like crisp bright autumn morning than the August morning it was.  I wondered how photos in the fog would work out – I hadn’t been faced with that dilemma before – but as we approached the park we were meeting at the sun came out and started to do it’s magic – though we still had a bit of mist in the valleys.  We met up at Woodbridge Park – I had never been!  What a gorgeous place!

L had her photo debut when she was only 3 days old!  8 Months later we got back together for another Milestones session as well as to grab some family photos.  We hung out for awhile before the session while we let L continue a nap.  Her big brother and I discussed a subject near and dear to his heart…hockey.  He definitely had more to say on the subject than I!  What a good Canadian he is!   Then L woke up from her nap and immediately greeted me with a huge grin.  I knew were were going to have fun.  Gorgeous family and such fun kids – here is a sneak peek from the session!