when the sun shines...

yesterday i was working at my desk, thinking how lovely it was that i finally got around to organizing my space (er, should i say re-organzing, since i moved my workspace from my bedroom into my living room) and that i am actually sitting at my desk instead of on the couch or at the kitchen table or in the cozy chair next to my desk. you would think that after being a student for fours years i would have become used to the concept of working at home, at a desk. but no. in fact, i usually wrote my papers and did my reading curled up in a comfy chair or propped up in my bed. oh the life of a student!

these days however i am challenging myself to do my work sitting at a desk to create a separation between work hours and personal hours, something that many work from home types are familiar with as a difficult task to do, especially in the beginning. i am a fairly organized person; i love to organize spaces and create plans, however it seems that my organizational skills seem to break down when it comes to compartmentalizing my time. thus, i find myself always working!! not a bad thing when you love what you do, but i actually find i am more productive and inspired when i set time boundaries for myself, and i feel less guilty when hanging out with friends, or watching a movie, or reading a novel, when my work and personal time are clearly defined!

if there were ever an inspiring reason to sit at my newly organized workspace it is this: at about 4pm the sun begins to stream in through the window where my desk is situated, filling the room with light and warmth. and by 6pm, if i am still seated at my desk working or seated on the couch relaxing i am privileged to watch to sun as it makes its decent  down towards the horizon. breathtaking. this is sure to help me achieve my time management goals!

love & sunshine,

shannon-may

wedding wednesday

i love to plan parties. i always have in the back of my mind a list of ideas for party planning and there is a box in my storage room closet that is dedicated to collecting various party items such as candles, candle holders, napkins, table decor and other bits that i like to have on hand in order to dress a table beautifully or create a nice atmosphere in my living room when i have guests over. i also jump at opportunities to assist others with their party and event planning. i would love to help someone plan a wedding - this is the ultimate party!! actually, my first college experience was in floral design. my plan was to dabble or work in every area of business that related to the weddings and then start my own wedding and event planning business!  so funny, last year when i decided to put law school on hold and pursue more creative interests one of the things i considered doing was event planning. i thought about all the weddings i attended when i was a little girl, and the more recent weddings i have attended - how styles have changed and the diy trend has taken weddings to whole new levels of awesome and amazing, or as my friend lindsay would say "amazome."

fortunately, my first creative love won out and party planning remains a personal endeavor, but in the process i have discovered that i can (sort of) have both worlds! as i continue to develop as a photographer, and a wedding photographer in particular, one of the things i am aware of is the importance to being up-to-date with trends and being informed about what people want for weddings and their photography, which means i get to read about wedding planning ideas all the time and in my head plan weddings!! i love that idea, but i would do it this way. if i was to plan this theme typed wedding i would do this and this and this.  i also realize the importance of knowing who in new brunswick are working in the wedding industry and provide to vendor service, where to buy great bridal wear, and what wedding blogs brides and grooms are sure to take tips and ideas from.

i want to be more than a wedding photographer. i want to be a resource for my brides and grooms so that i can provide them with recommendations to wedding vendors in the their area or share tips on planning a wedding as i come across them. when i was in chapters last month i even contemplated buying a few of the more popular "wedding planner" guides they had advertised. i may still invest in a few of these planners... i found them so helpful even from a photographer's prospective to see what brides and grooms are being advised as they plan their wedding.  my favorite resource so far that i picked up as soon as it hit the shelves was the 2011 issue of "real simple weddings."

i love, love, LOVE "real simple" magazines - the aesethic of the whole magazine is beautiful and the content is always perfection. more over real simple has an awesome blog peppered with tips for planning you own beautiful wedding!

over the next few weeks i am going to be blogging about wedding tips i pull from real simple's wedding issue and some of my other favorite resources!! i am so inspired - both as a girl who loves parties and as a wedding and portrait photographer - by all the resources available out there and i want to share what i learn about with you so that you too can be inspired as you plan your own wedding and start thinking about what kind of photography you want, especially since your photos will be tangible memories of one of the loveliest days you will ever experience!

in the meantime, check out a few of my favorite wedding blogs!! these ones i just love, love, love!

green wedding shoes
real maine weddings
100 layer cake
style me pretty

hope you're having a good day!

love & sunshine,
shannon-may

getting down to business!

i have been seizing time lately and busying myself with web designing. yup. a website for shannon may photography is enroute. just a few more tweaks, some proof reading (an absolute must do especially for me), and a few clicks on the keyboard and my very first website will soon be up! in the meantime, you'll notice the changes to the blog... this is a little taste of what is to come!

and just a heads up, shannonmayphotography.com will be the new home of my swanky yet oh so sweet website, and the blog will return to shannonmayphotography.blogspot.com until i can figure out how to link to the two with a 'sub-domain'... oh the techy talk that i must get familiar with!

stay tuned.

love and sunshine,
shannon-may

getting in touch with the artist in me

i spent last weekend in seaforth nova scotia at the stunning home of john and judith brannen. i was amongst a group of students, staff, and alumni that gathered at their home over the weekend to talk about art, art as expression of ourselves and our relationship with God, to play with different medians and to just be together. this was a treasured time - a time carved out to focus on the creative that the Creator placed in each of us.

for many drawing and painting are not regular means, if ever, that we use to express ourselves. i have dabbled in the past with oil painting and water colours, and took various art classes in elementary school, and high school and through community learning classes. but i never really had the vision or patience to pursue painting beyond the classroom. there is something about a blank canvas that really scares me, and had trouble seeing the finished result in the midst of the process. the underpainting was often so boring or hideous that i failed to see the beauty of the painting when all the layers and colours came together... this kind sounds like some how us look at life and present circumstances, isn't it?? i wanted the finished product with one stroke of the brush.

as i played with water colours one morning and just kept plugging away, attempting to create shadow and capture light... mixing colours and brushing them onto the paper and carefully blending them until i had my desired result i began to feel to relaxed and released my perfectionist desire to have perfect results right away. i left nova scotia on sunday convinced that i needed to buy some basic supplies for water colour painting but after some thought and refelction upon all that is on my plate right now, and considering my personalty of jumping into things sometimes too quickly, i have put off buying any supplies until i have cleared some thing off my to do list!

i also left nova scotia wondering how i am expressing myself through my photography when i am focused on human subjects. how is taking someone's picture an expression of who i am and my relationship with God? the answer is easy really, but until i asked myself that question i had never given it much thought, as i rarely refer to myself as an artist! the fact is, i love people. i frequently experience moments of awe and wonder when i reflect on how unique and extraordinary people are. i remember going to bodyworlds when it was in vancouver bc and being so amazed at how intricate the physical body is - there was this display that showed all the nerves in a body. there hanging in a case was every single nerve in one person's body fully intact to themselves but completely separated from the rest of the body - sounds gross i know, but wow!! and what about the mind - what is the mind, the place where memories are held and how those memories can evoke emotion in a person, and vice versa.  and how does all this affect the way we love each other, hurt each other, take care of each other, think of one another...

i am incredibly fascinated by the greatest creation ever - the human person, especially because christian tradition says that we are all made in His image. by working with people and creating great experiences with them i am expressing myself - my curiosity through my photography, and by being so in awe of His creation, and wanting to know people and affirm their identity through photographing them, i am simply worshipping the Creator!!! wow. this convinces me even more that i am doing what i was meant to!

here are some images from the weekend that i believe tells the story of our time together...

mmm. dinner!

during our photography workshop.

a snapshot of some of the water color paintings created by the group - mine is the "portrait of an apple" in the center!

a close up of judith's workspace.

sharing communion together and reflecting upon "the imagination."

the group getting a little tour by ssu alumni leland maerz of the eastern shore - one of the fastest eroding coast line in the world

a little self-portrait in charis' lens!

taking a new perspective

the basis of my portrait business is my client, or my muse if you will. before i take any pictures it is always my desire to get to know my muse. this aids my ability to give my muse a portrait experience that he/she can feel comfortable with and that will produce photos that are meaningful, not just pretty! during today's photography workshop at judith brannen's i was given affirmation that my relational approach to photography is the right approach for me, and is founded upon respect.

drawing upon the widsom of freeman patterson, we were encouraged to examine our subject before placing a camera between ourselves and it/them. to spend a few moments getting to know it. this shows respect for it. to be honest, i never thought of this before. of course i am going to show respect for my human subjects, be courteous and kind. treat him or her with dignity. but somehow the idea of approaching a non-human subject with this same kind of respect has began a transformation in my entire approach to photographing human and non-human subjects.

this line of thinking is reminiscent of the jesh de rox workshop i sat in on during wppi 2011, wherein he drove home the notion that each person is extraordinary. to do this he had us make eye contact with a person sitting next to us and to hold that contact for more than a few seconds. this is so much easier than it sounds... (next time you are in line at the grocery store i encourage you to make eye contact with a stranger and then tell me how your experience was!!). the point was to give you time to really see the person and how wonderfully marvelous he or she is.

as i wondered about the property taking pictures of nature and still life (we were encouraged to photograph subjects that are not our norm, thus i strived to avoid photographing people) it occurred to me how often this portrait photographer takes for granted the being of a tree, or a field or a flower that often provides color, texture and interest within the frame of my portrait as i photographically tell the story of my human subject. thus, i chose an interesting looking plant or reed and sought to tell its story. i photographed it's appendages, its roots, its head, its surroundings, and i made it the subject of my portrait even when a human entered my frame! i personified my natural subject in effort to offer it the respect i have traditionally reserved for my human subjects.

this was a really wonderful exercise in seeing and respecting my subject. it proves the multiple perspectives one can take of a single subject, and it caused me to consider the beautiful presence of non-human subjects within my portraits. here is the story of a reed.

eastern shore, you have my heart.

i fall more and more in love with the maritimes everyday. if i had any doubts about where my long term home should be today i may have put them doubts to rest!

i am currently sitting in a b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l historic home that overlooks the eastern shore of nova scotia. let me describe it for you. big windows, exposed beams, refinished antique furniture or pieces made from repurposed items, wide plank hardwood floors, jars of pasta, beans and other goodies decorateing the kitchen, original art work by judith brannen (it is her home afterall!), and other wonderful bits of character that make this home wonderfully charming. it a peaceful escape for the tired soul.

i am here with ten friends for an art retreat. our weekend schedule consists of food, a discussion on art and the church, walks on the beach, a photography workshop, a visit to an art opening for eva brannen, and plenty of time for creating, laughing and loads of fun! thus far, i am loving this!

and, i think i may be relocating myself... this place is a dream. the space judith and her husband has created makes me want to find a little oceanside cottage full of character and live simply whilst surrounded by beauty. how inspiring this little piece of heaven must for an artist. my to do list now had listed: find oceanside cottage with heaps of character that i can make my home.

*sigh*. i dream. perhaps i will be satisfied by shooting some oceanside weddings!

love and sunshine,
shannon-may

dear las vegas, i love your bright lights and big colour!

as you know, i was lucky enough win a complete registration to this year's wppi, and because i have the most generous family and friends in the world i was able to actually go to wppi 2011 in las vegas!!

this was my first ever trip to las vegas, and while i could have done without the secondhand smoke (indoor smoking, really?) and i could have done without the loud cackling women in the hotel room next to me, vegas is probably one of my favorite cities. then again i love exploring any new city and each one quickly becomes one of my favorites.

i loved the local colour. my mom and aunt (who accompanied me on the trip) and i took advantage of the local bus system as an inexpensive way to explore the city... randomly, i met the same transportation-bus-security dude on three different occasions. a very brilliant man who loves his city and is grieved that the government would rather invest in the casinos rather than education. another bus driver provided some wonderful entertainment for her passengers on my first evening there. her wit had me doubled over with laughter. for example... an automatic message kept playing over the speaker on the bus, advising passengers to remain seated until the bus came to a complete stop; no one was to be standing while the bus is "in motion." some passengers found this message amusing and kept repeating it to one another. at this time, the bus drive piped up and said over the speaker while the bus was at a complete stop, "honey, if you think this bus is in motion, then you'd better stop drinking now!" hmmm... perhaps you had to be there.

on our first evening in las vegas, we rode the bus up to freemont street and enjoyed the 'freemont experience." freemont street is the original las vegas strip and is what i imagined vegas to be like... crowded, wonderfully noisey, impersonators galore and drag queens walking around. the street is closed to most traffic and has a huge canopy covering the street with a light show and ziplines creating a spectacular spectacle.

i love bright lights... my favorite time of day while in las vegas was at night after the sun had set and the lights from the casinos and traffic lit the city. i siezed every opportunity to be outside walking in the fresh air, taking in the sights and sounds - this was partly due to the fact i was in a conference room from nine am to eight pm all most every night, and partly due to my love for walking around new places and taking in all the local culture and watching fellow tourist indulge in famous past times!

one thing i personally indulged in while in las vegas was live theatre! i love live plays and musicals alike more so than concerts so i was thrilled to the opportunity to see the lion king at mandalay bay.  one word: magical. i could see this show over and over and over again. i was crying during the opening scene... the music and the way the performers moved cut through all my anxiety and weariness and overfilled my heart with joy! you have to go see it! you have to. and when you do, take me with you. oh my heart!

i still have so much share from my time in vegas, particularly all the tips tricks and sage wisdom i gleaned from the convention, but for now i am happy to share with you some fun photos of my las vegas adventure!

at our hotel the palm trees were getting some love and much needed pruning!

little purses made from m&m packaging! what a great way to up-cycle trash!

hmmm m&m's galore!

the freemont experience 

ziplining on freemont street!

ummm... some of the local colour!

the vegas strip from street level.

waiting for the bellagio fountains to begin.

bellagio fountain, one.

bellagio fountain, two

enroute to mount charleston

still enroute - joshua tree.

joshua tree up close.

inside the bellagio gardens - chinese new year theme.

foyer at the bellagio. the ceiling is venetian glass.

the paris.

the vegas strip from the top of the "eiffel tower."

the sugar factory - a store dedicate to sugar!

this one's for you krissy!

a big thank you to everyone who made it possible for me to go, and to all those i met while i was there. my life - both personally and professionally - has been transformed!