Feeling Free
When do you feel free? The kind of uninhibited, unrestricted, six-year-old-you-free? One of the things I love about photographing children is that I get to witness them feeling free. These moments unlock my own sense of freedom and aliveness. When I witness somebody...
Collaborating for Change
Three Collaborations Making a Difference One of my goals for the year is to make a bigger impact through creative collaborations. As humans we are meant to work together to survive and thrive. It is our nature. We forget this sometimes. 1. Working Together to Empower...
Seeing Music
The news yesterday about Kobe Bryant and his daughter’s death was heartbreaking. I watched a bit of the Grammys last night with my daughter and it was powerful to see how they were honoured and mourned. I loved that Alicia Keys was hosting the show and setting the...
Childhood Friends
On Friday, I was sitting at my desk doing some planning for my upcoming Friendship Portrait Event when I got a message from an old friend that contained the above picture that she had taken of me when we were 9. Harmony and I spent many lazy days together when we were...
Heart Sight
I’m feeling so much gratitude this new year. Just returned from a camping adventure in Nevada and Arizona, in a mostly unheated RV. It was colder there than it was in Toronto. And, it rained for 5 days straight in the desert. But, it was still wondrous. I was grateful...
Motion + Stillness
It’s been a month now since we have been back in Toronto from our epic New Zealand road trip with children in tow. Camping and travelling in the camper van with a 6-month old and 8 year old we were told my many how brave we were. It didn’t feel brave to me - it felt...
A Year of Imagination
It’s no secret that I’m passionate about play and creativity in children. I created Imagination Sessions because I believe that we should nurture a child’s natural inclination to play and be curious. I also believe that the natural sense of wonder and imagination that...
The Beautiful Truth
I believe that what you focus on grows. I have spent the past year really working on focusing on joy and wonder in my own life and have seen results that affirm this truth. I’ve been hearing many messages around me lately that echo this idea. Even in the face of...
The Becoming of Music
If you have read my blog posts you will know that I am passionate about encouraging creativity in children. I am also passionate about photographing the creative process, whether it is with dancers, musicians, or visual artists. Music photography for me is really...
What if…
What if... What if we never lost our ability to imagine? Would we live in a world where we are more empathic because we can imagine how the other person feels? Would we care more about the environment because we can imagine what might happen if we don’t? Would we...
Documentary Family Portraits
Documentary Family Portraits Fall is a popular time for family portraits. It’s a great time to get outside and enjoy the changing colours and to get some gorgeous photographs of your children and who your family is at this moment. I call them Documentary Family...
Life’s Instructions
Here is a list my seven year old daughter and I made up for "How to have a great day". Get a good sleep Get up early Have breakfast Draw Do yoga Go to school Go to circle (morning community circle at school) Do good work (try your best, try to enjoy it) Drink water Go...
Whales and an Invisible Ball
Summer in the country is different than summer in the city. It’s slower, fresher, both contemplative and adventurous. I have lived most of my life in a city. My husband grew up in the country with wide open spaces and days upon days of nature adventures. For the past...
Boulders
Last week I was lying in bed with my daughter as she was falling asleep and she said “Mama you are my boulder. You and Dada are my boulders." And then she listed all the names of our family and said "they are my boulders too". I asked her what she meant and she said...
Wormy
We brought home a dead worm wrapped in a paper towel, carefully placed in a used tupperware container. My daughter was determined to give the worm a proper burial. This, after finding the worm barely alive on a walk through Riverdale Farm. ... She picked the worm up...
En Plein Air
Painting en plein air became popular in the 1840’s with the introduction of paint in tubes. French for outdoors, it means painting outside. French impressionist painters like Monet and Renoir enjoyed painting outdoor scenes while sitting in front of the scene itself....
Caring is the New Cool
When I was a kid, I never felt “cool”. Maybe the cool kids never really felt cool either. Even as young as 8 years old, I knew who the “popular” or “cool” kids were and did not feel a part of that. I didn’t feel actively excluded, but there was something about my...
A Sixth Sense: Wonder
I'm buzzing from a weekend of Mini Imagination Sessions! On Saturday we played, imagined, created, and wondered in High Park. I love doing Imagination Sessions because I get a window into the world of childhood and get to capture moments of wonder with my camera. ......
It’s not a race, Mama.
My daughter turned 7 last week. We had a busy week of party planning and spending time together. There were many ideas swirling through my head today when I was thinking about what to write and as I was looking through my notes, I found a story I wrote when my...
Defining Moments
I just returned from a six day retreat called Big Heart Dance Camp. I was the camp photographer and also got to experience some of the amazing workshops that were offered. My daughter and husband came for the weekend and we all did a writing workshop together with the...
Make Something Beautiful With Your Body
Creativity is something I care deeply about and have been investigating in practice for my whole life. Leading up to launching Imagination Sessions I began to talk to adults who consider themselves not creative to see if I could tease out why some people identify with...
Yes, and…
I’ve always been a positive and optimistic person. I am hopeful and adventurous and expect the best from people. I owe this to my parents, who raised me to trust the world and people around me. I am incredibly grateful to have had a happy and safe childhood. I see my...
The Art of Becoming + The Becoming of Art
My daughter’s school had their school show last week, called “Imagine a World”, and I got to photograph it. It was a musical featuring Beatles songs, and it was AMAZING. This school is a true community, where people work together to make a difference and to make art,...
Rock. Paper. Scissors.
I had the opportunity last week to photograph dancer Caroline Niklas-Gordon’s rehearsal of a piece she is working on with her 5 year old daughter. It's called Rock. Paper. Scissors. and it's gorgeous. I feel deeply about the importance and beauty of Caroline’s...
Love and Light
Last week I sent out an email to my community about losing a friend to breast cancer. Jasmin Fiore was one of the most positive, generous and joyful people I knew, even in the face of her struggle with breast cancer. I was fortunate to meet Jasmin in 2013 as a...
A Tree on a Hill
Looking at this picture of a tree on a hill without any other spatial reference, how do you know it is a tree on the hill? Do you assume that trees grow straight up toward the sun? Why? What makes us any different? I’m in San Francisco today for a retreat. Every time...
This is not a hat. Igniting imagination in your inner and outer child.
The truth is that we are ALL children. My daughter will be 6 this year. She inspires me daily with her creativity. I am learning so much from her. One of the unexpected gifts of motherhood is that I get to reconnect with my inner child. I’ve been thinking about...
Bowie and the Importance of Dreaming
Art matters. In the days after the passing of David Bowie, I find myself thinking a lot about the power of art. I feel sad that we lost a great artist who touched people deeply with his music and spoke truths about life and love that are particularly profound now....
Shadows + Water + Love: Family Photography At Home
I love being a photographer. Each time I photograph a family I feel honoured to be invited into their space and emotional lives. I learn about love and relationships. The girls in this family (aged one and a half and three and a half) were comfortable with me right...
Cottage Life Fairy Adventure
Feeling grateful. This past weekend I photographed the family of a long-time friend at their cottage in Muskoka. The last time I was up at her cottage we were both in our youth, no kids. Now she, her brother and I all have daughters. There were a total of 5 little...