The Amazing Journey

Finally, after 10 legs (aka courses) of the certificate program, I have reached the final leg and received the certicate in hand.

 

 

I was thrilled when I received the confirmation email from the college and that my GPA qualifies me for graduating with an honour.

 

Like many other mom photographers, I started because of my monkies. Throughout these years, many of my friends have asked me... Why are you in the program? What does it do or what does it mean by enrolling into the program? You could have learned photography by practicing, practicing and practicing. True... But I am more a in-class person . This also allows a little bit of "me time".

 

This also means the full support of my family, particularly my husband. He has to take care of the monkies in the evenings or whenever I am out for shootings. In addition, talking about the investments in equipments, it's a LOT of money. He totally understood that you need the right equipment in order to do the right job. He is also very encouraging. Without his supports, I couldn't have done it.

 

To me, it's an accomplishment... a huge accomplishment. It's a lot of work and practice and effort and brainstorming to get through these courses - small products, travel, history & theory, studio, wedding, portrait, etc.

 

Now, I'm done for this part of the journey. What's next? First, to update my profile on my facebook page that I am no longer pursuing my certificate, but a GRADUATE. Then, keep on shooting :)

 

Last but not least, thanks to all those who have helped me out: being my models, shooting with me (love all my group members/classmates), giving me the guidance & advices (to my instructors)... special thanks to my first ever client Catherine for trusting me to capture your wedding (which means a lot to me). Of course, I wanted to thank those who continuously liking my work & posts!

 

Thanks all!

A beautiful morning at a lavendar farm - Terre Bleu

It seems that I haven't been blogging for long... it's a busy summer... back to my full-time job, finishing my last course of the certificate program in photography & busy having fun with my monkies. But so you know... I have created another blog for wedding related stuff, which is called Wedding Photography by Gigi

 

You will find a few posts up during this season of love.

 

Talking about love... umm... romance... How about a field of purple lavender?

I always want to visit one... but the one close by is still far... how far? 6 hours of driving all the way to Quebec. With the 3 monkies? huh... don't even think about it...

 

Recently, we were introduced to the Terre Bleu farm. Where is it? Just in Milton, Ontario, which is only 15-20 min away from our place. Sweet...

 

Last week, we visited the Terre Bleu Lavendar Farm.

 

 

Here is the stunning look of the field. Lots of busy bees working around.

 

 

Staff were very friendly and proactively offered us guided tour. Ian explained to us that there are actually 250 kinds of lavenders (wow!) and they planted 6 in considering the super chilly winter here. They've harvested most of the them and the one we see above is called Grosso.

 

 

Other than the staff, mosquitoes did welcome us with their "hugs & kisses". My Little Monkie #1 was a bit upset at the beginning 'coz of the mosquitoes & bees (he got "kissed" before). I thought lavender is one of the natural anti-mosquito repellents. Ian said it is... however, we're in a open field and there are so many different factors involved. 

 

Okey... So when we're in the nature, so be part of the nature and enjoy. See my Little Monkie #2's happy face :)

 

 

 

My Little Monkie #1 posing.

 

Other than the lavendars, they also have a distillery with a huge steamer imported from Portugal to make essence oil. They also keep some hives on the other side of the field. There are lots of lavendars products and they make them out of these. There is a small store at the entrance and ladies, you will love this place.

 

They also keep 2 horses there. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to meet them. It's okay... next time :) This is their first year of opening to the public and I'm sure there are many chances for me to visit. This is such a beautiful place. And you know what... they're open for photo shootings and weddings. If you're interested in having me capturing the timeless moments for you, flip me a message/email.

 

I got mine - my Little Monkie #3.

 

 

For more pictures, check out my FB page at: www.facebook.com/GigiFanPhotography

 

And don't forgeto to 'like' my page. Thanks ^^

New thing learned - Gif

I was retouching the pictures of a mini playdate section last week. For a few pictures I asked little Charlotte to blow some dandelions. I like them all and thought that it`d be lovely if I could put them as a collage.This is something that I`m not good at, but was trying to google for some advice (let me know if you do, I`m still interested)...

Then the word `gif`came up and a whole bunch of tutorials got displayed. It`s actually an animation clip that you make a video using images. First trial failed using CS6...somehow the make frame function could not be found on my version. Glad that I haven`t uninstalled my CS5 and it works!! Played around with it for a bit and uploaded on Facebook.

Was so excited and waited to see the result... ehh... it`s still stationed. So more googling was done... apparently FB doesn`t allow gif animation file. But I really wanna show this... (I know this may  be something not new to you... :P), so here it is - on my blog ;)

Haa... now I'm happy and can go back to my retouching... have a nice evening all!

Kasen's Birthday Party - Lego Farm

A beautiful afternoon, no rain & not cold, which was filled with fun to celebrate Kasen's 6th Birthday! The theme of the party was Lego Movie: birthday banner, decor, cupcakes and the birthday cake were around the theme.

 



 

Look at the birthday cake. Isn't it amazing?! Credit goes to Kasen's talented mom, Rosa.

 

 

She has made the delicious cupcakes too.

 

 

To our surprise, there were other guests to the party - animals. The backyard was set up as a little farm.

 

Everyone could feed them and touch them.

 

And, kids could ride the pony as well. Love their smiles.

 

Of course, the part that the guests would look forward to the most is hitting the pinata.

 

 

For more pictures, please visit my facebook page at:

www.facebook.com/GigiFanPhotography

 

and choose the album titled "Birthday Party - Kasen"

Don't forget to 'like' my page if you like my work. Have a great day!

Aggy's Birthday Party

It's finally the time to blog about Aggy's birthday party. She turned 4 in March and I was excited to be there. It was the first session that I used my new baby - a full frame camera. Not only I needed to learn how to use the buttons, but also needed to download new software. Now I can communicate with both the camera & the computer and here are the happy pictures.



 



 

It was a fun party. There were endless activities like catching bubbles, hiding under the parachute, passing the obstacle course, and on and on. I guess the guests had a blast. Look at their smiles. And looks like the cupcakes tasted pretty good. Nom nom nom.

Once again, Happy Birthday to the Little Big Girl Aggy!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all lovely moms :)

 

This year, I celebrate it with an additional monkie and the day went nice. The monkie boys got some crafts done at school. Last year, Little Monkie #1 said that mommy cooks the best rice and he's still saying the same this year. Little Monkie #2 did it right this year that it's Happy Mother's Day not Happy Valentine's Day.

 

After school yesterday, they got me a bunch of my fav flower - tulip & a cute mother's day balloon.

 

 

Last night before we went to bed, they told that they're gonna make me a breakfast in bed. This morning, they still remembered and this was what happened.

 

 

Little Monkie #2 was all excited about this 'surprise' and ran into my room with giggles.

 

Little Monkie #1 walked in happily and carefully with my breakfast. Of course, we wouldn't forget about Little Monkie #3 - all say "cheers" ;)

 

And here's my breakfast, see the pancakes were in heart shape. And they're really serious about it that they got a menu for this... so cute...

 

 

And this is behind the scene.

 

 

Needless to say, I finished it all with a happy smile. In the evening, it was my turn to be master chef for the two moms - my mom and mom-in-law.

 

Once again, Happy Mother's Day!

 

PS - thanks to dada for making this happen!!!

Natural Light

Can't believe it's been more than a season since the last post... when we finally gotta say goodbye to the super long & cold winter, it's about the time to write & shoot again :)

Now with more daylight hours, I took the priviledge of capturing some pictures of the monkies after dinner this evening, under natural light. It's already past 7:30pm and the monkies were running happily from one bedroom to another and along the hallway. I was at one end of the hallway watching Little Monkie #3 walking towards me with supports (yap... time flies and she's almost 1). When she past by my mom's room, she was nicely lit.

How could I have missed this?! I quickly got my camera, did a test shot and grabbed her back to the other end. Let her come to me again. And this is what I've got.

Light source from the left, it got through the hallway and bounced to the white wall on the right. So this is a natural reflector that could lit the other side of the face.

Little Monkie #2 would love to join in (he loves his sis veerrrryyy much).

 

 What a great pose and smile, too bad that Little Monkie #3 has moved, so she became blurry. Little Monkie #2 has also blocked out some light from behind, so his face is a bit darker than expected on the left. I still like it tho'.

The sun was rushing to go home that I got only a few minutes for "one round of crawling". Below is another fav shot. If the continuous shooting mode was set, instead of single shoot, this may be a better picture. Oh well, let me try again next time...