Living in The New Year Now with Gratitude

Ok so here we are again another year another chance to finally do ONE thing we said we
"do in the new year".
For me it was "doing" more fun things like stopping to talk with a friend if I saw them
instead of opting to go to "work".
Being there for people just leaves you feeling "good" that you took the time and what did I get out of it?
I noticed it was sunny out...not alot of that happening these days.
I felt more connected with real time and not just "facetime".
I got to renew our friendship. We met two more times that day as it turned out. One was at a funeral
of a woman who truly lived life her way and the other the university at a talk about
Astrophotography. Both were so uplifting for so many reasons as they gave me new perspectives.

Have to say that funerals of wonderful people who have had time on this earth and
have time to say goodbye is not so sad.But I also had a celebration of a family friend who died suddenly at the young age of 66 and that was a whole lot harder for the family. I had photographed them when they stayed with us this past spring.How glad I did this with them.

 I see how I life my life so that I do not take things nor time for granted.  Trying to
 "do" the "it" whatever the "it" it is you and I keep putting off..and I am not just talking about photography but with the people in our life, and doing thing you want to DO.
Are you spending time with them? Quality time? I can't always answer this honestly with a YES but I sure do try.And do I do things that I have always wanted to do ..well I am getting better at this one.
I will tell you about one in the another blog.

An earlier Portrait of Sophie who died in her 80s last week.Cliff was 66.
The trees infront of my friend Alison's home as we talked
I noticed how gorgeous they were in the sunshine.
Keith is the man in the bottom image as he talked about how
he photographs Nebula s &Clusters.
I so appreciated all these people and their gifts .
You have all added to the fabric of my life truly Thank You.

Endings and Beginnings.

I want to wish you Happy New Year and wanted to share with you my extended family photo taken on Dec 30th. 
Things don't always go perfectly in taking a family photo..and this time it was with our family pets that stole the show . And that is true in life too eh.

Thank you for all your wonderful support throughout all the years and I so look forward to serving you as your photographer in 2015. 

And for those asking, I was doing this shot on a timer with a 100 mm lens so I had to run like the Dickens to get into the shot so I look a little odd as this was the third attempt at it.

Your Humble Photographer...philomena

Modern Love..Video

Lots of fun was had when we created this session for our clients .

So to help you think of what you can give him or her ..we made a little

video for you.

Watch for more videos as we would love to photograph you .

Time to drop a hint a BIG hint by giving a session to the one you love

and that can be for yourself too btw.

Call us at 564-3033

or email phil@phughesphotography.ca

Its less than 2 weeks till Christmas!! Yikes.

Hope we see you in 2015.

Give the Gift She/He Really Wants in a GIFT CERTIFICATE

The Festival of Trees...and Studio Fair always are the signs of Christmas in the air for me..but truly we have been working on our Christmas gifts for our clients since August as we have to photograph it first and then work on the orders to have them ready for your Christmas. So if you haven't had that chance you can still ask us to be apart of your Christmas by pre purchasing your Gift Certificate and then let's book you in for your 2015 Session.It can be a updated family session,Glamour ( bring your beautiful outfits/dresses etc) and maybe your daughter/mother for one of these popular sessions.
A Maternity session or Grad Session or a Boudoir Session ( exclusively designed studio for these particularly sessions)  ALL SESSIONS are $385 which include hair ,makeup and photo session.And we also include a second session for you to either share with a friend or use your self in the same year. Yup, hair makeup and photo shoot included.  Merry Christmas.

PS We donated to the SPCA Festival of Trees Tree..for their pet portrait!! Can't wait to meet who that will be !!

Halloween On Elm Street

Avalon Ranch Doggie Daycare Owners popped in with ther son.

Previous clients enjoying the mild weather and each other.

Patricia Blvd

ELM ST.

Finally saw a " Kruger". Have to have a Spooky House too!

Oh Halloween,who knew the Irish invented this Night??Mom told me.The origin of Halloween can be traced to this “ancient pagan festival celebrated by Celtic people over 2,000 years ago,” states The World Book Encyclopedia. “The Celts believed that the dead could walk among the living at this time

Ok I walked amongst the living

 around the neighborhood ...Elm Street being the most famous at this time of the Year for all you who know why I won't say. So thought I would share some of the sights from last night. Hope you had as much fun too one way or another. You can follow me on Facebook or Instagram ..just go by name - nothing fancy or difficult  to remember ( other than how to spell my name !!)

Christmas Ideas.....looking for one??

Sharing these before and after pics is one of the most popular blogs we get feedback on.
This gal came to us for a gift for her groom to be for her wedding in Sept. Now that the wedding is behind us
I can share these with you.He was thrilled to receive them and she was super happy with his response!! 
We sent Our Client to have Her hair and makeup done by Analise of Pinups Punks & Pretty Things Hair Lounge.  (250) 960-9305 if you are looking for an awesome stylist/makeup artist.
 
She was really happy with how it looked that she wanted to repeat the look for her wedding!
Keeping her images private of course is our promise so unless you know this gal this is all you will see. We have makeup and hair included in our sessions for your glamor or Boudoir session.So
keep us in mind ....Christmas is coming! You will need to book NOW though to have it ready on time to slip under the pillow!!

FAMILY PORTRAITS..Who Does Mine? A Professional of course!

Yup, I do get this question asked and it is generally followed by don't you just use a timer and do it yourself!! Hard to believe eh. I am a professional and I truly DO hire a professional to do my family portraits over the years. How could I not . So just thought I'd share a couple of them with you starting with our last one done

the day our son was headed back to Edmonton to study. We had one chance at it and thank goodness the weather was wonderful and our Professional Photographers? Kevin and Laurie Wallace of Wallace Studios in Vanderhoof ( http://www.wallacestudios.ca/). Others in town have done them over the years but we both  have kids the same ages and their daughter stayed with us this spring while she did her practicum for University,

so it was easy to ask them. Our daughter naturally got a piggy back off her brother..and Kevin was quick enough to take this as we had already finished the shoot at this point. ( to get to the greyhound on time!!)
One is done with our pets - Xi'an , a black Labra doodle and Finn our Golden doodle. I feel that our pets should be in the picture..but not for all of them as they do take attention and do not understand all the "standing " around stuff.They sure look well behaved but if you ask our son he didn't think so or our daughter as they had to handle them! We think it was our photographers "bark" that really did the trick.

I truly appreciate "good" photographers and even better good image that really capture us and those that are important to us. So next time your family is gathered for a special event..take the time to hire a professional and you too will have the experience we did with these kind of results.