On January 3rd, just as I was preparing for my planned maternity session with Felicity, she called me unexpectedly.  “I’m really sorry,” she began, “but I won’t be able to do the maternity session with you because I don’t have a belly anymore… I have a baby boy now!”  Alaric was born almost a month prematurely on December 31st.  Clearly he was anxious to get here in time for the New Year!

As a Montreal portrait photographer who does a fair share of maternity sessions, I was not surprised that Felicity’s firstborn came a little early.  You’d be surprised at how often this happens.  While I was disappointed that I was not able to photograph Felicity’s belly, I was thrilled when she asked me to come over and do a newborn session instead.  A few days later, when little Alaric was just 10 days old, I headed to his home and spent the day with this sweet little angel… and his favorite cat, Boris Bobo.  Boris made several cameo appearances and almost stole the show!  In fact, I think I may ask Felicity if I can borrow him for other newborn portrait sessions – he is a GREAT model!!

This evening I had the pleasure of sharing all the images from our session with Felicity, Alex and baby Alaric (who really seemed to enjoy the show!), so now I can share some of my favorite images from Alaric’s newborn session here on the blog. 

Enjoy!!

As the first day of 2012 draws to a close, I find myself looking back at 2011 and thinking about all the wonderful people who invited me into their lives to share their special moments with me.   I have photographed boudoir and engagement sessions, weddings, newborns and families, a fundraiser for the Dawson Peace Garden and patients at the Lakeshore General Hospital for the annual campaign.  I participated in photography workshops and taught my very first one over the summer.  I was published in Photo District News for the first time and won awards for some of my images.  I even collaborated on a book project with fellow photographer Stephane Brazeau.  All in all, 2011 was a busy year and I’m proud and pleased with all that I accomplished. 

I know that 2012 will bring many new opportunities and I’m looking forward to all the challenges that lie ahead.  In the meantime, here are some of my favorite moments from 2011:

Last year my sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl and I became an aunt for the first time.  More importantly, my mother became a grandmother for the first time – definitely a milestone for her, and one that she had been looking forward to since my siblings and I reached puberty.  OK, well maybe not PUBERTY exactly, but let’s just say that becoming a Grandma made my mom a very, very happy lady!  When Riley was born it was cause for great celebration and a healthy dose of happy tears.  My mom is kind of emotional that way, and while we all tease her about her endless blubbering and fawning over the baby, we know that it’s just because she has so much love for the littlest member of our clan.

Last Christmas, Riley stopped in at my parents’ house for Christmas with her parents (my sister and her husband) and she was greeted like a queen.  As the designated paparazzi, I took oodles of pictures and had planned to create a photo book to give to my mom for Mother’s Day.  Of course, to make sure the book was a big surprise, I have not given her any of the Christmas pictures… so EVERY time I have seen my mom since Christmas, she has asked me about those pictures and I have muttered an excuse and promised to get them to her “soon”.  When I went over for my birthday dinner a couple of weeks ago, as I was leaving, mom once again asked me about the pictures and once again I promised to get them to her soon.

After having a yummy home-cooked dinner with all my favorites, including my mom’s AWESOME pesto and pseudo-millefeuille dessert, I felt a little guilty about leaving her hanging until May… so I had the photobook made and gave it to her as an early Mother’s Day present today.  When I gave it to her, she was over the moon (which for my mom manifests itself as tears and blubbering) and could not put it down.  She kept grasping it to her chest and saying, “Oh. My. God” and “She is so precious”. 

I know that everyone thinks their baby is the cutest baby in the world, but I have to say, my niece Riley really is UBER-adorable.  See for yourself:

I designed the book cover to reflect my mom's style: classy, elegant and beautiful. The book measures 8" x 8" so you're seeing the front & back wrap-around cover here (Front is on the right, back is on the left).

It's all those little touches and details that makes my mom's home feel so warm and inviting for the holidays.

OK seriously, is Riley a little fashionista or WHAT in that gorgeous winter coat and hat combo??

'Tis the season to be jolly... especially when you have a Jolly Jumper!

Riley is already showing a little attitude to her dad as he tries to get her attention with a new toy. She gets the attitude from her mom

Riley is tasting her new baby book while her mom and dad open her mountain of other gifts.

Riley joins us at the dinner table, while my sister plays peekaboo with my camera!

Wearing those cheesy hats that are inside Christmas crackers has become something of a tradition for us.

Riley wants to play on the floor... MOM wants to play on the floor!!

Mom: "Do you see this? She's sitting up! She's SO smart!!"

Riley is all smiles sitting on Grandpa Paul's lap.

Gaby takes a turn holding the baby... a whole new experience for him!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Yes we trusted the two of them to hold Riley - under close supervision!

Let me start by saying that I don’t have children.  It’s not so much that I never wanted children it’s more that I am a complete sissy and the thought of childbirth scares the crap out of me.  Seriously, I need to lie down when I get a blood test and I have to take valium before going to the dentist.  The thought of going through labor… oof, I don’t even want to go there! 

So why am I bringing this up?  Well, because I was supposed to do a maternity shoot for my friend and client Karine.  We had talked about it and planned to do something really soft and soulful with flowy fabrics and natural light to show how beautiful she was while expecting her second child.  Unfortunately, she had a difficult pregnancy and was not feeling up to a shoot – but she really wanted to have memories of this time.  I thought about it for a while, and then I had an idea:

Ever since I tuned into the Zack Arias workshop on CreativeLIVE and “met” Rachel Thurston (one of the students in the class), I have been following her blog and falling more in love with her photography each time she posts new images.  One of the things that Rachel does is shoot births, at the hospital, IN THE DELIVERY ROOM.  She does an amazing job capturing all the raw emotions of the day, from waiting for labour to begin right through to the emergence of a beautiful new little human.  I knew that Karine was pretty open-minded, so I sent her a link to one of the “Birth” shoots on Rachel’s blog and asked what she thought.  Her reply was almost instantaneous:  “Let’s do it!”

Fast forward to November 14th at 10:00 and I found myself in the delivery room of Sacré Coeur hospital in Montreal with Karine and her husband Kam, waiting for Baby Justin to make his grand entrance.  Kam was relaxing in the lounger while Karine was fishing through their goodie bag for snacks.  Both were calm and relaxed; just another day in the delivery room.  I seemed to be the only nervous person present!

Karine’s water broke just before I arrived and she was READY to have this baby.  The nurses suggested that she should walk around a little to “encourage” her body to move things along.  Since her contractions had already started, her “walking around” was limited to pacing up and down the hallway, with the occasional pit stop to let a contraction pass.

As the contractions started getting closer together, it was back to the room for more waiting.  Kam was a total rock for Karine; holding her hand through every contraction, making sure she was comfortable and just being a steady, loving presence.

As the contractions got closer and closer together, Karine’s AWESOME doctor announced that baby Justin would soon be making his grand entrance.  She rallied the troops; an intern and two nurses and within less than 40 minutes of intense pushing (and I mean INTENSE, all the blood vessels on Karine’s face burst!) I witnessed the most beautiful and amazing sight ever, baby Justin was born.

Dad took no time at all to bond with his new son Justin, who stopped crying the instant he was placed in his father’s arms.  Justin looked up at Kam as though he KNEW that this was his dad.  So amazing!!

Karine gave her baby boy a kiss for the first time and in that moment, it seemed as though all the labor pains, the challenges and the discomfort of the past nine months vanished into thin air.  It was love at first sight.

Before too much cuddling could occur, Justin was whisked off for his physical exam, where he was weighed, measured and given his first vaccination.

Having passed the physical with flying colors, Justin was expertly bundled up by his nurse and returned to mom & dad.  Is that a wink from the little guy?  I think he likes me

As Karine, Kam and baby Justin got to know each other, it was time for me to go.  It took a lot of trust to allow a photographer to be present during such an intimate event and I am so honored that Karine and Kam put their trust in me to document Justin’s birth.  I respected and admired Karine as a mother before this, but after witnessing what she experienced first-hand, I am in AWE of her now – and did I mention that she did this with NO epidural?!  Yes, I am in total AWE! 

Thank you SO MUCH Karine and Kam for allowing me to be a part of this special day and to be present for this incredible experience – one that I will never forget!