New River, New Friends and Sunshine

In a couple of weeks my Saturdays will be occupied with the demands of the wedding season and opportunity to play with friends and explore the gorgeousness of the Fundy Bay region will be far and few between for me. So last weekend I seized the opportunity to spend some time in the sunshine with my good friends Shelley and April, and their friends from Fredericton!

Since moving to Saint Andrews and finding new inspiration for creating balance between business and personal time, I am learning the importance of not taking time for granted. I have been reflecting on my season last year and created a work schedule for myself that will give me the permission to take Sundays and Fridays off for myself, so that I can make guilt-free plans to enjoy my town and my friends, and to care for myself and my home! As well as to enjoy Saturdays that are not booked with a wedding!! This past Saturday was a good test run to see if I actually would turn the computer off and just be!

A beautiful drive out to the beach, a picnic of sorts, kite flying, a little informal maternity portrait session with beautiful mama-to-be Ashley and some laughter was the perfect recipe for this day!

Love & Sunshine,

Shannon-May

I shot of these images with my old Canon Rebel XT and a 50mm 1.8 lens, which will be a staple item in my purse this year instead of using my iPhone for pictures!! LOL. 

What I've Been Up To...

I have been a little silent lately on my blog and Facebook page... or at least it seems that way to me. This is mostly in part because I moved apartments at the beginning of March, and with that I made March about Me (and will continue this vain a little bit into April as I prepare for the official onset of wedding season). Although I have been meeting with Brides and Grooms, making business plans, doing a little bit of shooting, and keeping up with responsibilities, I have tried to spend little time at the computer so that I could organize my new space, enjoy my new town and allow a new weekly rhythm to set in.

My new apartment is almost set up. I had shelves that I ordered for my kitchen installed last night, which means I will be able to finish unpacking the rest of my boxes and finish the organizational part of moving in. I am happy to get this done so that I can move into the decorating and personalizing part of setting up a new home!! I have a DIY to-do list that I am eager to tackle that includes repainting some furniture, ordering some fabric for some decorative pillows, and recovering a chair! I also have some prints I want to have made from my 2007 and 2008 travels to South East Asia and Europe, and want to create a collage of canvases and framed prints over my desk with favourite images from last year's wedding season! Theses things will keep me busy over the spring and summer when I carve out personal time in the midst of the busy wedding season! I also want to paint, but I am saving that task for when my parents come out for a two month visit towards the end of the summer (it's on the Daddy-To-Do list!!).

I have been blessed with some pretty awesome weather since moving to Saint Andrews, motivating me to get out and walk. My apartment is walking distance to the grocery store, the coffee shop, and little shops filled with beautiful things to look at; I love walking along the main street of shops. I feel tall and at home here. Loads of people are always out walking their dogs or running errands, and it is always nice being greeted by my fellow townies!! I also live right by the ocean (it's basically across the street) and I am only a seven minute walk from a large beach where I love to take my dog for longs walks (she loves it too because I let her off leash!!). I actually find myself craving to get outside for a walk, anxious to feel the fresh ocean air and soak in the quaintness of Saint Andrews (except for today when the wind is bitter and cuts right through every layer).

In taking time away from the computer and enjoying my new home I have recognized a new rhythm unfolding that is making it easier for me balance more of my time between personal and professional commitments.  Since beginning my business in 2011 I have found it hard to separate work and non-work time, especially since I mostly work from home (except when I am shooting of course). I have rarely scheduled myself regular days off and if I am home I feel that I should always be working on something... photos to edit, emails, etc; the problem with this is I am never as productive as I should be, I never exceed expectations, and I can never fully enjoy down time because I am always thinking I should be working!  This past month of taking each day at a time, paying attention to how I spend my hours, and thinking ahead to this summer when I will be shooting a wedding nearly every weekend beginning May 18th until the end of September (I have a few breaks in there, thankfully) I have realized a work schedule that is going to allow me more balance, more productive work time and keep me on track to exceeding the expectations of my clients, which is my number one goal. Changes to how I run my business are coming, but they are good changes!!

Love & Sunshine,
Shannon-May

And because every blog post is better with a picture, here is a little peek from a "just for fun" spring inspired (but it was freezing outside) shoot I did earlier this month.

When the Sun Shines

I've had a lot of reasons to smile lately...

A new apartment just a short walk from the beach and my favourite coffee shop on the east coast in the most picturesque town. I have met some amazing Brides and Grooms who have asked me to be their wedding photographer. My best friend has set a date for her wedding so I know for sure at least one trip I will be making home to BC next year! While unpacking I came across a series of short papers I wrote in my first year of university that made me smile because of how bad the grammar was (and it is not much better now!). I spent an evening with two lovely photographer friends photographing each other and then talking about our mutual love of photography. I remembered that garbage day was today so I put out the bags last night! My macro lens did not break when I dropped it the other day. This weekend I get to celebrate my friend Shelley's birthday with her in Fredericton. I feel pretty content most days.

Today, my smile is attributed to the brilliant sunshine that was pouring into my bedroom as I woke up this morning! Normally I keep my curtains closed until I am dressed, bed made and everything and everyone is presentable, but today I had to open wide the window coverings to let in the light. As it filled my room with warmth, a smile of contentment and happiness crept across my face and remains.

This little hairball who sits upon her throne is also a regular reason to smile. Oh Ruthie...

Love & Sunshine,

Shannon-May

If All Else Fails, Just Dance

I'm meeting up with fellow photographers Genevieve and Christina today to spend some time in front of each other's lenses and then go out for some wine and shop talk. I'm so looking forward to connecting with these ladies and the fun that is sure to ensure... however I am feeling quite trepidatious about having my photo taken!

This is something I have been putting off having done for too long but I know that being in front of the camera will actually make me a better photographer because I will get experience what my Brides and Grooms experience when they are in front of my camera. Plus, I am sure it would be great for the internet to have some recent photos of me!

I know we are going to have a great time, because if Genevieve and Christina are anything like me, after about fifteen minutes of having a camera in hand, confidence levels will rise, our quirks will make each other laugh and inspiration will overflow. And if all else fails, I'll throw on some music and we can put down our bags and dance...

Love & Sunshine,
Shannon-May

Packing Boxes, Mailboxes and Paper Moons

This week marks a big changes for me. Really big! I don't think I'll really know the brevity of this change until a few months from now, or perhaps even a year.

After living nearly two years in a very small and confined bachelor apartment where there is no separation from sleep, work and cooking space, which is really no more than a room with a walk in closet and bathroom, I am moving in to a larger space! This little bit of home in St. Stephen has served me well over the last twenty-two months. The sacrifices I made to this space home made it possible for me to start my business and to invest everything into it. At times I thought I could live here long term, especially on the days where I spent time dreaming about having my own studio space where I could invite my Brides and Grooms to for coffee. But this past fall it became clear that my business and I have outgrown this space and it is time to move into something bigger where I could spread out a little more and have a larger space devoted to my office. So as I sit here at my desk I am surround by moving boxes waiting to be filled and on my desk sits a set of mailbox keys for my postal box.

There are tons of things I am looking forward to with this move. Firstly, I will officially be a Saint Andrews NB resident!! This became even more real when I picked up the key to my postal box this morning (everyone living in Saint Andrews has a postal box - how cool is that!). Other things I am looking forward to: organizing and decorating a new home - I have tons of Pinterest ideas just waiting to be tried; buying new furniture; cooking in a real kitchen again and inviting friends over for dinner parties; being within walking distance to Honeybeans and the beach; standing on my teeny little deck and seeing ocean; having enough floor space for morning stretches, floor exercises and five minute dance parties when I can't sit at my desk any longer!! But I think the most important thing I am looking forward to: the positive long term impact this will have my business as it moves me closer to my goals.

And speaking of Saint Andrews and goals... I am so thrilled to have wedding featured on an online publication!!! Keisha and Andrew's beautiful Saint Andrews wedding has been featured on Paper Moon Weddings... check it out!

Wedding Dress Shopping with Candice

Candice and I have been friends since we first met in grade six at Willoughby Elementary. And sometime in the last ten years we realized that we had been friends for more than half our lives. We have grown up together through the awkward years of adolescense, through post-high school directionless-ness, through rough patches as we outgrew our friendship in out early twenties, and through the rebuilding of our friendship as we let go of the twenty-something angst and entered our (ahem) thirties with maturity. And although we live on different sides of the country Candice holds much of my past and our friendship is one of the relationships I treasure most. She is apart of my family - the sister I always wanted but never had -  and one of the first people I call when I book my tickets home to BC; she is often making plans for my trips home before I have even had a chance to update my calender with my travel dates! 

Last year Candice became engaged and this year she is finally beginning to plan her 2014 nuptials to her man Michael, so when I told her of my travel dates home she immediately went into planning mode and booked a wedding dress appointment so I could be there when she tried on dresses for the first time! The night before her appointment I texted her with excitement... and the morning of her appointment I texted her again :) 

You see, other than my sister-in-law's wedding dress appointment wherein she tried on for us the dress she had already decided upon, I have never been to a wedding dress appointment before! Can you believe that!!?? Me, a wedding photographer and lover of all things wedding!! So, I was eagerly looking forward to Candice's turn to try on dresses and to experience with her the joy and delight of trying on the dress that girls always dream about wearing. I was also looking forward to the overall experience of seeing my friend be pampered and waited on, as all Bride's deserve when trying on The Dress. 

Candice made her appointment at David's Bridal, and aside from seeing her in some stunning dresses and having a few laughs at ones that were so not stunning, the salon experience was... a let down. While I love that David's Bridal offers designer gowns at more affordable prices, it is not without cost. 

As a friend of the Bride there to support her and share in the experience I was disappointed that they offered a regular retail experience with multiple dressing rooms barely large enough for the bride and a dressing helper, limited guest seating (we even one of our chairs taken away) and little attention from the guest associate, other than fetching dresses and helping Candice in and out of her gowns. There was no attention paid to selecting silhouettes that would best suit Candice's frame or time given to seek out different dresses; the guest associate simply worked off a list of style numbers Candice had prepared at the suggestion of the store. There was nothing personal about the experience. 

As a business owner I could not help but make observations and judgements about the experience that David's Bridal offered. Even though they are a chain store and offer afforadbly priced bridal gowns and bridesmaids dresses, women are likely still investing a great deal more money into the dress than any other garment they regularly purchase and therefore I feel as though they should be offered an experience that differs from regular retail. Wedding dress shopping (in my humble opinion) should be a wonderful experience where the guest associate helps her Bride find a dress that not only fits her budget and body but also suits the vision of her wedding, and to do this she must take a personal interest in her Bride. The Bride should be served champagne and her guests should be seated in an area large enough for to see her reflection in the mirror without being hindered and where she can twirl and show off the gowns she tries on! And whether or not she finds her dress and says "yes" her guest associate should be attentive to her Bride until the very end of her appointment instead of moving on to another Bride.

(The Vera Wang that Candice is modelling above was by far my most favourite and the most stunning on her frame however is still wasn't the dress!).

Perhaps I am expecting too much. I tend to have rather high expectations and standards, and I am sure watching "Say Yes To The Dress" doesn't help matters! However the process of planning a wedding and preparing for marriage is one of the most important seasons in one's life and often comes with a large investment, thus I believe they should be treated with care and extra support during this time. I believe they should be encouraged and lifted up and that we in the wedding industry should make it our mission to ensure that Brides and Grooms have extra special experiences when planning their special day.  

In the end Candice did not find her dress but the day was still wonderful. She was able to see which silhouettes, necklines, fabrics and shade of white will suit her silhouette and personal style best; she had all her bridesmaids and BFF's together for the first time; and I took away an reminder that client experience is as important as the product or service one provides! 

Love & Sunshine,

Shannon-May

Tangible Memories

I remember using my spare set of keys to start and warm up my car in the morning and then using my main set to lock the car so that I could take Ruthie for a walk before we began our long trip to Vancouver BC. I used my keys to get back into my apartment and gather my suitcase and carry-on bag while my car continued to warm up. It wasn't until my friend Katie picked me in my car and I noticed my spare set of car keys in the ignition that I even gave this any thought. The next thought was where is my other set? When we arrived at my apartment I spent some minutes routing through my carry-on bag as this was the most natural place they would be but I knew they weren't there.

Losing one's keys really isn't that big a deal. Every key is replaceable with some effort and for a cost. Losing keys is more of an inconvenience than anything else. What is not replaceable, however, are the charms I had on my key ring. Gone is the gold heart with the personal message my parents gave me for my sweet sixteen birthday that I have had for more than half my life. And gone is the pink sparkly "S" charm I bought for myself to mark the beginning of my photography career when I attended my first WPPI in Las Vegas.

These things are just that things and losing them is not a tragedy. But like a photograph, these items were tangible memories for me. The gold heart prompted the memory of my sixteenth birthday, the special right of passage in turning "sweet 16" for which a key ring charm is the ideal gift.  And, the pink sparkly "S" charm prompted the emotions and uncertainty that surrounded that time in my life when I was facing my fear and riding the wave of love and encouragement I received from my family, friends and new industry friends.

For now my key ring will be embellished with the hand written tag my Dad wrote years ago, when I still lived at home, to mark my spare car key set. This too has a tangible memory and keeps my Dad's hand writing ever present in my mind and close to my heart. But one day there will be another moment in my life or another meaningful trip for which a key charm will be an ideal tangible memory.

Love & Sunshine,
Shannon-May

If You're Young at Heart

Like most philosophers, wisdom comes when I am washing the dishes. Or at least that is when the most unexpected but very much needed ideas pop into my head. Yesterday, the idea was in the form of song. Frank Sinatra's "Young At Heart" to be exact. The lyrics go something like this...

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you 

If you're young at heart. 

For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind

If you're young at heart. 

You can go to extremes with impossible schemes. 

You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams. 

And life gets more exciting with each passing day. 

And love is either in your heart, or on it's way. 

I am often critical of my childlikeness.  It was only a few years ago where I began to appreciate this quality about myself, and that was only after a friend pointed out that my childlikeness was a source of joy and entertainment for the other in the midst distress or hardship.  Historically, I always thought my easy-to-tease-ness, gullible-ness, excitement about silly little things, head-in-the-clouds-ness and propensity to put people on pillars was immaturity and ignorance. I spent many nights loathing this about my personality and worrying what others thought about me. But I couldn’t have been more wrong; and while was washing dishes I was reminded of the importance of being young at heart.

Being young at heart, or childlike, has enabled me to dream and remain hopeful in the midst of despairing moments. Being childlike has enabled me to maintain faith in others and continue to expect excellence from them even when trust has been broken. And being childlike has enabled me to believe in myself and continue working towards goals I set out for myself even when I let me down. Being childlike helps me to have faith in the human race when the news is full of despicable happenings. And being childlike has enabled me to holdfast to my belief in God during times when you can't help but wonder "where was He?" 

I needed to hear this song today and be reminded of these things I already know, for as I look ahead onto this new year of possibilities and go through the mental list of all the things I hope to accomplish, the people I want to have time to invest in, and the various creative projects I wish to plan and carry out, I get a wee bit overwhelmed and begin to naysay it all. But, as the song says, “Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you if you're young at heart. For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind if you're young at heart.” 

And just to make you giggle a little, here is a picture from when I was unabashedly young at heart.

HOME | Nephews and other people I Love.

At the end of October I had the happy privilege of flying home (again) to visit family and friends, but most specifically to welcome George as the newest member to my family. Here are a few pictures (okay there are a lot of them) from my time spent at home with the people I love. 

Kicking this post off is photos of my brother Marshall, my sister-in-las Kristina and nephew Maxwell. I spent a couple of days with them as they wait with great anticipation to grow from a family of three to a family of four. Went for a walk near their house, Max carved his first pumpkin (ever), and after bath time, Max modelled his "man-towel" for me.

I love the expression on Maxwell's face as his mommy pulled the pumpkin guts out of the gourd, followed the proud-filled smiles he expresses as he pulls the guts out himself!!

Maxwell loves books and story time cuddles.

Brushing his teeth just like daddy!

Maxwell and his man towel.

Ever since my parents and I did an east-coast road trip together when they both came to visit me two years ago, I always try to make a point of having a little adventure with them when I go home to visit. This ensures that I get some good quality time with them while I am home and it gives me lots of opportunity to tease my dad! This trip home we road-tripped to Seattle for the weekend and played tourists as the Public Market and the Space Needle.

Why yes, this is the first ever Starbucks, right across from the public market!!! And yes, I did line-up for a latte and the chance to say "I've been to the original Starbucks." Oh-cheese.

Our hotel room overlooked the harbour and my dad must have sat for a good thirty just watching the boats and cranes. 

The image below is the view from up top the space needle.

My dad people watching from the up top the space needle.

Image below was taken at this really cool bistro called Collections Cafe. Seattle Glass Artist Dale Chihuly opened this cafe and the decor features many of his personal collections that inspired his art.

And the main attraction for my visit home: George Thomas Pringle, born on October 29, 2012. He is beautiful and I was so glad to be there to capture his first few hours, his first bath and some snuggles with his happy (and tired) parents and grandparents!!

Along with my parents, I had the happy responsibility of looking after Maxwell while his parents and George stayed in the hospital. Maxwell enjoyed story time with Grandpa Pringle before I took him to his Mormor and Morfor's (Grandma and Grandpa Bell) for Halloween!! His Aunty Erica and I took him for his first ever trick or treating.

Max with all his loot. He would have opened and took a bite out of everything if Mormor didn't intervene!!

Towards the end of my trip I had some time set aside to spend with dear friends.

Cath, you are so cute!!!

Last time I photographed these three together, Nathan was still cooking!!! Now he is big at nearly eight months old!!! Love you Candice, Mike and Nathan!

 

Leaving was hard but I had some great things to come back to... however the snow that fell the day after I landed made me entertain the thought of wintering in Vancouver and only summering in St. Stephen ;) Seriously, there is no need for snow in November!

If you've gotten this far, I think you!! I really am trying to narrow down the images I post but there were too many beautiful moments!

Love & Sunshine,

Shannon-May