so 9 years after our lovely wedding (yes we are coming up to almost 10 year married!  how crazy does that sound!) we were asked to help with the photography program they offer during summer camp.  of course we agreed and were so excited to get back up to muskoka.

so here is a slideshow of all the kids from that program and the week spent with them.  enjoy!!!

go tayus go!

i love this next one…

wittle toesies!!!

as you can tell, tayus is a ham for the camera, jomei tends to shy away from the lens.  we all had a good laughs, good quality time and good memories of summer beach fun.  can life get much better?  well, how about adding another sweetpea to the mix?  baby #3 is due in just a few short weeks!!!!!!!!

nanda grew up in the northern part of india and had a pet elephant. yeah, exactly – his stories of childhood are amazing and certainly not average!!!  he was raised by his grandparents and tells the story of when he was three, his gandfather said “you are a man now, come with me”.  he handed him two lion cubs and said “here, these are now your responsibility”.  even with beginnings such as this, he studied to be an economist (which in the end he obviously decided was not for him).  he now has a big cat “farm” in which he houses 2 adult lions, 5 cubs, 2 cougars and a black panther (this combination changes all the time)!

anytime you talk to nanda he has a crazy story.  his life is seriously not normal.  he told me one day michael jackson called him for advice about his pet monkey.  he has worked on movies such as “into the darkness”, “bear” and “jungle book”.  side note: remember the black panther in the movie called bagera?  well nanda has his son who he calls cara (more about him later).  nanda was also flown to south africa to offer direct input on the development of kruger national park.  how cool is that?

so with all this “fame” what does he focus his energy on?  the conservation and preservation of these amazing animals.  he cares more for his animals than anything in the world.  they are literally like his kids (he raised them from cubs in his livingroom)!  i even got to play with a baby lynx in his house one visit!

a very sad fact is people in the past have tried to shut him down for various reasons: thinking it’s unethical, unfair to the animals or poor conditions – all of which are untrue.  as nanda would put it, he’s a lover not a fighter.  raising lions and tigers is not an easy task, and it’s certainly not a money maker!!!  he is all about keeping animals in the wild but he believes in education and the importance of their existence on our planet.

i suppose if we cared for animals more, things would be different – but it’s not.  we obviously care about “stuff” more than animals.  i mean it is so sad to hear him  say “one day it’s a jungle, the next it’s a mini mall”.  when you hear nanda talk about this, you can see his heart breaking.  you can feel his true sadness and it makes you want to do something.  this has been a crazy year for me – from going to haiti and seeing extreme poverty to having a mentor pass away, to wanting to help nanda “save the world”.  i feel the need to just keep doing – to just do whatever i can in each situation that is given to me.  nanda is a do-er, he will never say you can’t do something.  if you have a dream or a passion he will be the first person to encourage you.

this guy is so generous, during a visit about 8 years ago he randomly invited me in for dinner.  we found ourselves talking about more than just lions but instead, discussing some of life’s toughest questions.  he is an amazing person and makes you feel like you are one of his kids.  genuinely and honestly he gives you 100% of his attention – like nothing else matters in that moment.  he got me excited about life and thinking about the possibilities.  he is definitely on my list of people who have inspired me along the way to become who i am today.  i have to thank him for giving me advice and for the memories.

he told me today he’s had 3 strokes and was recovering from a recent heart attack (3 weeks ago).  he is 72.

this winter he is going to siberia to help with a lion breeding program.  as well, he’ll be sending these two cubs to kenya.  believe it or not, they are becoming endangered!  who would think two cubs raised in canada, in captivity will be released back into their native country to help a population?  a bit backwards don’t you think?

this is tayus’ impression of a lion.

this is jomei finding out that there are only 14 panthers left in the world!

to see jomei’s face when nanda said this was so sad.  i mean jomei will probably only ever see this one panther, and to know it is one of 14 seems so hopeless.  it was blowing my mind watching jomei listen to nanda.  it hit me way harder to watch my son process the fact that these beautiful animals will probably no longer be around.  what is so wrong with our world that this sad injustice has to rock the mind of a 4 year old?  just add it to the list of many things us humans are doing to ruin our world.

i feel honored to have seen and played with cara the panther.

wow, ok – to lighten things up a bit… out of nowhere tayus started tickling nanda!  funny eh?  tayus was just laughing so hard to hear a grown man giggle.

somehow tayus just knew, nanda had a love for life and felt comfortable enough to start tickling a man he had never met before.  i think kids tend to see through adult facade and i think tayus could just see nanda is a big teddybear and in many ways really like a kid himself.

if you are ever in the muskoka area, you should totally stop in and see nanda.  it’s $10 an adult (which is cool beacuse then you know you have directly helped the repopulation of lions in kenya – or the siberian project etc.)  he also takes donations.

here’s the info:

Guha’s Tigers & Lions

705.385.0847

RR#2, 752 Raymond Road
Utterson, Ontario P0B 1M0
Canada

i recently lost a teacher, a mentor and a friend to cancer.  gerry meant something to me.  gerry passed away in his home just a few short weeks ago and i wanted to just share my thoughts about how i felt about him.  i know that our blog is usually about the weddings we shoot and a bit about our life as parents and business owners…  but our company name is lifeimages.  sometimes i feel like it might be ok to write about life.

as some of you may know, i actually never went to school for photography, i studied to be an animator.  but never set foot in a studio.

about a year ago, i was randomly thinking about who has influenced me along the way and gerry came to mind.  i decided to put myself up to the challenge of taking pictures of my teacher.  i approached him, he said sure. and so, as the sun came in the windows, i photographed gerry in his small and simple home.  he was a private man so i was honored to cross that boundry between teacher and student.  he let me into his life for a minute.  the photos that are at the end of this post are the result of that day.

if anyone knew gerry, you would know he was very enthusiastic about life drawing.  he would do life drawing all day and still have energy and insight at the end.  i remember breaking down one day and confiding in gerry saying “i am not talented enough”.  imagine telling a teacher that?  i still hear gerry in my head, talking over my shoulder about design and shape and other elements of a good drawing. i keep thinking about how much he inspired me to realize all these elements are in every day life, not just drawing.  light, texture, mass, color and shape.  he never took life for granted and i never looked at life the same.  even a ball was complex and how the light moved around it was inspiration to gerry.  he definately got you excited about the visual things of life.  he was very soft, but somehow everyone wanted to please him.  you wanted to make him proud.  he pushed so many people to better themselves.  he somehow manage to explain things just enough that they would finally just understand and they would seem to get better, almost over night.  it would just blow my mind.

i think there should be more people like gerry in this world.  he believed in what he was doing, i guess that’s what passion is.  to gerry it was more than a job or a career.  he was one of those people.  anyone that was around gerry loved him.

i think people who dedicate their life to their passion should be recognized.  these are people who think and dream and add a new flavor to art and life.  my lesson from this is take time to recognize the people that influence you – gerry’s gone but i had my opportunity to thank him and for that i feel blessed.

thank you gerry for being patient with me.  you will be missed.

here is the article about gerry in the the globe and mail.

steph & joey were totally up for anything, including location.  alex made them drive out of town a good 2 hours to niagara falls on canada day – and they were game right from the start.  in the end it turned out to be a perfect spot for them.  they are fun lovin’ kids totally in love.  alex came home just raving about how much fun they all had – like belly hurting gusto laughing the whole time.  life is good you know?

jump kiss…

the hemp tree….

obviously they couldn’t be at niagara falls and not do the ever tacky (but ridiculously fun) carnival part of this crazy tourist destination.

and this is where it gets really good.  steph & joey are super funny and full of life but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t pull off some absolutely stunning model shots.  alex wanted to do some more “fashion inspired” engagement shots.

wow, steph & joey you guys totally rocked it!!!  you guys are awesome!!!  your wedding will be so amazing – we can’t wait.  thanks for choosing us to photograph you and thank you for being willing to work so hard for us!

lifeimages. – wedding and engagement photographers

i am soooo excited!!!

i still have a few weeks left. ok well 7 weeks actually but i am convinced she will come early.  she has to… my belly is gigantic… i don’t think 7 more weeks of growth is humanly possible!  so in these last few weeks i guess i am “nesting”.  i find myself doing random projects to get ready for baby.  nothing essential, (i still have not a diaper in the house) but silly crafty things that i just need to get done before she comes.  like painting some craft store letters pink to match her new silk pillows i found at homesense… oh and recovering a chair. that’s right, recovering a chair!!!  but, admittedly i am having a blast.  i have been researching design blogs like crazy (like decor8), collecting inspiration for little sweetpea’s pink room.  i have had such fun transforming a boy’s playroom into a perfectly girly pink retreat.  i promise i will have some good photos of the finished project – it’s almost there.

as i am officially not shooting anymore weddings with alex this summer, i am home while he is shooting the wonderful peter & tassia wedding today.  i can’t wait to hear all about it (and obviously post some photos later) but for now, it is 1 AM and i am waiting up for him to come home. here’s a pic of my gigantic belly (and the letters i’m painting):

yes, those are painting in the background, still waiting to be hung!  the letters spell “dream” in case you are trying to figure it out and yes, i set up my point and shoot camera on timer to get that photo!!!  ha!  the things you do at this time of night!!!

and here is the chair i decided needed some tender-loving-care.  it was actually super easy!  i just took the seat off by unscrewing the underside, added a bit of new foam, stapled on some new fabric and voila!  a new chair that totally suits the decor (it was a boring brown before).  fun eh?

so how about you out there in blogger land?  do you “nest” while waiting for your precious bundles to arrive?  any cool projects or ideas?  anything crucial i am forgetting to do before baby comes???

]]> http://www.lifeimagesblog.ca/personal-photography/2010/07/nesting/feed/ 2 http://www.lifeimagesblog.ca/wedding-photography-3/2010/06/sweet-seraphine-bridal-paletta-mansion-wedding-fashion-shoot/ http://www.lifeimagesblog.ca/wedding-photography-3/2010/06/sweet-seraphine-bridal-paletta-mansion-wedding-fashion-shoot/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:32:36 +0000 lifeimages http://www.lifeimagesblog.ca/?p=5184 ok, so every now and then, alex gets to shoot a project that he gets totally excited about.  wait… that’s like every shoot he does.

he recently had the opportunity to shoot with sweet seraphine, a bridal shop in oakville, trula finch (makeup), disegno donata (jewlery & headpieces) and paletta mansion (a wedding venue in burlington).  he had an amazing time, check out a sneak peek of these amazing images.

sweet seraphine wedding dresses - www.sweetseraphine.com

disegno donata (jewlery & headpieces) - www.disegnodonata.com

make up (trula) - www.montana-bridalmakeupandhair.com

wedding venue - paletta mansion, burlington

here’s just a little glimps of india.  by the way this is one of our favorite bollywood songs (from one of our favorite bollywood movies)!!!