My Little Monkie #3 (aka Cutie Pie)

My Little Monkie #3 is almost 3 months and I have yet to blog about her. This little one has been behaving so far, altho' we are still in the 3 hr routine. The other 2 monkies love her so much - talk to her, play with her, calm her down and needless to say, they kiss her all the time. And she smiles and laughs all the time.

 

Look at her... full of different expressions...

 

Many of our friends said that the little one and I look alike. What do you think?

 

Summer vacation is coming to an end... while the boys are back to school, mommy is getting ready for another course to start. She's also glad that 2 mini-sessions are upcoming. Getting busy and stay tuned for more posts in the Fall. Feel free to drop me a note if you'd like (or you know anyone) to book a session. 

Nom nom nom

I usually get some treats for my monkies when picking them up from the camp. 2 weeks ago, I decided to try out the cupcakes place that I often pass by - Dolled Up Cakecakes at Meadowvale Town Centre. I got 6 mini-ones... rainbow, vanilla, chocolate, key lime, cookies & cream and banana. They all tasted good and my fav was the key lime. My monkies loved the rainbow 'coz all 7 colors were layered nicely instead of getting mixed together. Since then, I always wanna go back for more. Of course, my belly asks me to better behave :P

 

Daddy monkey has reached his 1 year milestone at his current job this week, and he's pretty excited about it. So I've decided to celebrate it with a couple of cupcakes. Hee... got a good excuse. Today, I got the toasted coconut and raspberry bliss... nom nom nom... Most of the cupcakes out there got really sugary icing, but this place doesn't. I would say this place is better than the famous one located at FCP downtown.

 

Before they went into our tummy, I did a few fun shots of the cupcakes. Still remember from my Small Product course that cupcakes and donuts are the two difficult items to shoot - swirls, holes, cuppies, etc. They all create shadows and it's not easy to get rid of them.

 

Below are my shots in 2 different styles. What do you think?

 

 

Baby Charlie

Since the new addition (mini-monkie) has arrived to our family, I haven't have much chances to pick up my gear. A couple of weeks ago, I was happy to have the opportunity of taking a mini-session with Evelyn of Veedo Photography.

 

The little cutie pie is a newborn as well, just a few weeks younger than my mini-. Baby Charlie is such a handsome guy who's full of expressions.

 

 

 

Mother's Day = Happy Valentine's Day

Mother's Day was last weekend and hope that all moms had a happy and relaxing one. Mine's peaceful, at least the monkies behaved okay and I didn't have to yell or shout at them :P And on Saturday, we went over to Brampton in the afternoon and had lots of fun at the Peel Police Community Day.

 

What did I receive from the little monkies? Crafts. I enjoy the ones from Little Monkie #1. His school emphasizes a lot on creativity (see below). He picked his colors, glued the feather and painted the rock himself. The other one is a little booklet about what they think only mommy can do. One cute quote is: "my mommy can carry baby in her tummy"; and the other says "mommy cooks the best rice" and he drew on the pages too. Very cute and sweet.

 

 

This is the rest of what I've got from them. Some were nicely written and presented. I personally prefer something that shows their true talents.

 

One thing to share... when Little Monkie #2 gave me his work to me, he said Happy Valentine's Day... lol...

To all moms, Happy Mother's Day Happy Valentine's Day to you :)

My 1st French Play - Les Miserables

 

 

Today, Little Monkie #1's school has a special event, called the French Café. Parents were invited to attend. I was a bit hesitated at the beginning because it's in the middle of the day. Finally, I've decided to take a day off and show support (as it's near to my mat leave anyway... why not take a little break from work :))

 

I'm glad that I had today off. 'coz my Little Monkie #1 asked if daddy and mommy would be going. He was excited when I said 'yes'.

 

When I arrived today, I swung by his classroom to let him know that mommy's here (and he still asked me how come I was late... I was in fact half an hour early... @@).

 

Soon after I've settled down, the performance has commenced. The little one was one of the many peasants in one of the scenes. As soon as he stepped onto the stage, he looked around to look for mommy. This is the look when he spotted me.

 

 

Smile...

This is the scene they're in. His whole class is little peasants.

 



 

A close up... glad to have this one in focus.

 

The play's done... back to the class. Look at this peasant - dirty and tired. Grandma (my mom) thought that he played in the mud and didn't clean up... lol...

 

Little Monkie #1 was actually right... that mommy should have arrived early. When you're sitting at the back, you set yourself in a difficult situation to capture good shots. And mommy wishes that she could pick up more French 'coz the whole play was in French and she didn't understand much other than "monsieur", "je m'appelle", etc.

 

Anyway, have a nice weekend everyone :)

It's fun time!

Recently, I've joined the Mompreneur group. One day, one of the ladies was asking if anyone could donate prizes for her daughter's school. It's intended for a fundraising event for their new playground. After learning more about this, I said 'yes'. Photo session is something that I could contribute and here is what I've come up with.

  

I feel honored to be part of it. If there's enough money raised for this, students could have timeless fun time at school. As a photographer, I would also have some fun time doing things I love - photo shooting.

Cheers :)

Maternity Session

One of the assignments in my most recent course was to take a self-portrait, which has become my profile picture :) Since I'm expecting the mini-one, I was thinking about taking my own maternity shoot. Of course, it's always easier to say then execute...

 

Not only you need to have the right lighting, but also right moment, right background, right composition, right settings... and the list can go on and on. I'd tried it once with Little Monkey #2 in one morning, which was a quick shot. He's a bit out of focus and the composition wasn't ideal.

 

 

When I tried it again, he faked his smile already. After that, we had no chance of doing it 'coz we got plans over the weekends.

 

My friend Evelyn, the photographer of Veedo Photography proposed to me that she could take the maternity shoot for me. I turned her down a few times 'coz I really wanna try it out myself. In the end, I know I'm running out of time (as you can see the size of the mini-) and it would be a nice experience to see how the others set up their home studio. So we went last Sunday. Howard, the photographer of ToU Photography was the main photographer of the day (they needed models for their new line of business). Evelyn was the 2nd shooter who took candids.

 

It's kinda a unique experience with the photographers in different styles being in the same photo session, in different roles. To me, being a model can see things from a different angle. Photographers always want to stretch themselves to take from different angles/lighting/posing for the best ideal shots. As a model, you'll be exhausted very easily, particularly when you were asked to pose and hold it.

 

On the contrary, being a photographer, it's easier to share my ideas and communicate with the shooters. Let them execute what it is in your mind and see the result below...

 

(Photo Credit: Evelyn Chan of VeedoPhotography)

 

This is 100% more natural and better positioned. Although we were all exhausted afterwards, however, we were happy to see the nice pix. It'd be a nice memory for us to keep it for years. Click on the above link of Veedo Photography to view more pictures. Once again, thanks to Evelyn and Howard.

 

You know what... I haven't given up my idea of taking self-portrait. My next plan is to have do my own birth photo session, provided that the nurses and OB let me do it... haha... Anyhow, I will get my gear ready in the labour and delivery room. Will keep you posted :)