Full post coming soon.

- Calla

If you just can’t get enough Samson, check out his first birthday film here.  A little Super 8, a little video, and a lot of love.

And if you’d like some pictures just like these ones of your chubby bunny and family, drop me an email.  I have a special on family sessions that will continue until May.  I’m also currently travelling (more about my present location soon) and will be in the UK from March 21 – April 4.  If you’re in that neck of the woods and are looking for some fun family portraits at that time, let me know and I will hook you up with a deal.

Now enough typing and onto the cuteness.

- Lots of love, your Auntie Yaya (Calla)

One of the advantages of bringing a photographer along for your destination wedding is that I’m there to photograph events outside of the wedding day.  On our final day in Punta Cana, Kat, Yosef and their guests headed out for a day excursion.  SO much fun.

- Calla

The day I arrived I was able to meet up with Kat and her girlfriends and family for some favour assembly and a quick engagement session with her and Yosef around the resort.

Later that night there was a fantastic BBQ on the beach and a little pre-wedding partying.  So much fun.

Up tomorrow, Kat & Yosef’s big day.  Their portraits are some of my favourite of the year, you don’t want to miss them!

- Calla

You can see how well that’s going.

However, I just delivered my last wedding of the season (Hi Talia & Jamie!) and now I have three fantastic weeks before our next awesome wedding (Hi Gail & Brim!) in which to catch up on the blog.  Hurray!  And what better way to start things off than with my favouritest little person ever.  Samson.  Or Mr. S.  Or Peanut Pants.  Or Mr. Pants.  Aleks and her husband brought this little guy home on September 26th, and I rushed right over the next day to introduce him to his Auntie Calla.

Look how smitten he is with me already.  Love at first sight.  The rest of that day was pure awesome.

I know I’ve talked about Aleks a few times on this blog, about what an amazing friend and business partner she is, but to see her and her husband Nathan as parents has been beyond words.  I can’t wait to see the little man Samson grows up to become, but I know he’s going to be fantastic, with the foundation that Aleks and Nathan have laid for him.  He’s come into so much love and warmth – he’s such a special little buddy already.

And of course, he’s making a FANTASTIC model.  His first session was just a couple of days later.

And that was just the beginning, dear blog reader, for the next month we had a little session at the beach.

Helllllooooooo hot mama!

Next we attempted a family portrait.  Didn’t quite work out as planned.

And a bath at the end of the afternoon.  So cute.

A few weeks later we headed to PUMPKIN LAND!

Unfortunately it was a little windy in the land of pumpkins.

But we were able to find a quiet, out of way corner.

And the a few more weeks later we had a little mini-session for Ollie Golightly, makers of some very awesome baby things.

By the way, this was right around the time Mr. S started laughing.  I do not believe you will find a better sound in all the world than that.  Nope, nope.

And of course, there was the obligatory Christmas session.  I don’t think I would do this for anyone other than Aleks, and even then we meant it to be tongue in cheek.

Of course who’s Santa without a reindeer or two.

And now, if you made it to the end of this post, prepare yourself for a MAJOR CUTENESS OVERLOAD.  At almost 5 months, Samson is a giggling, drooling, teething, rolling over, jumping (with a little help), cuddle machine!  You have to be kidding me with those gorgeous blue eyes.

And yes, that is a wooden camera.  Etsy is awesome.

Oh Mr. S, you are loved by soooooo many people.  I’m just happy to be one of them.

Love, your Auntie Calla.

On Monday I woke up just feeling that little Peanut was going to be born on Thursday.  Wednesday (yesterday!) was his due date and early in the morning Aleks tweeted the following:

From then on I’ve been glued to my iPhone and computer, savouring every update and tweet.  Looks like my feeling was correct, and today’s the day.  I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am for Aleks and her husband Nathan and how absolutely beside myself with excitement I am to finally meet their son.  SON!  It still doesn’t feel real.  I’ll post some baby pictures as soon as I can, but in the meantime, enjoy these shots that we were able to take over the course of Aleks’ pregnancy.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so beautiful.

(I think this is one of my favourite pictures of Aleks and me)

This time of year is a little less busy then, say, the middle of July when we’re knee deep in shooting and editing, so some photographers are able to find time for other things.  Me, I’ve taken up Bikram Yoga.  Aleks, well, she got a little crafty with her husband and made something very, very awesome.

I’ve already gone out and bought my mug.

On a personal level, I am beyond excited about this recent development and I’m sure Aleks and Nathan are even more excited for me to stop asking “so… baby?” at least once a month since they’ve been hitched.  If you read my blog entry last year about Aleks on her birthday you know how very special she is to me and while I can’t wait to be the BEST AUNT EVER I am a teeny tiny bit sad that I won’t be spending every weekend with my best friend.  However, after extensive searching, I’ve found some of the very best photographers in the GTA (and beyond) to fill her shoes.  I’m going to be introducing them on the blog over the next few weeks and I really can’t wait.  While Aleks and I had developed quite a strong working relationship, I’m looking forward to the challenge of working with new second shooters that have different strengths to bring to the table.  It’s not like Aleks is disappearing either, she’ll be shooting up until the beginning of July and is planning on making some appearances at weddings later in the season.  And of course she’ll still be producing all those awesome fantastic album layouts our clients love.

So take a sec, stop on over at Aleks’ blog, and remember to tell her what an amazing wonderful aunt you think I’m going to make.

There are a whole lot of other wonderful, fantastic, talented photographers taking part in this canned drive.  For a partial list click here.  And while you're clicking, don't forget to click on a past blog entry (or 10) and get giving!