Chan-Ra Photography

varela-bryce family portraits...

just in time for the holidays... we did these portraits in late fall. romal & yeni do family holiday cards every year but this is the first time they hired a photographer. i love working and meeting different families. i learn so much about family dynamics. sometimes it makes me not want to have kids though... lol. aryana so smart & energtic. andrew is definitely a mama's boy. he didn't want to be in any photos so we had to get creative and find ways to sneak photos. 

i love it when clients show me what they do with the photos. i always encourage clients to do something... either prints, a book... or in this case cards. it's so much fun. and much better than looking at them on your computer. when you print a photo... it only gets better with age. when you look at photos on a screen, it doesn't have the same feel. yeni told me that she loves the photos even more everytime she looks at them. and why wouldn't she? she has a beautiful family. yeni does this every year so she was comfortable making these cards herself. but i always offer to help clients with products. it's my job.

(here is a scanned copy... it looks much better in real life)

Annie at the Beach...

looking back at these photos makes me miss the summer so much. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to enjoy the sun this year as much as I did. little portrait sessions like this just combines sun, beach & photography.

little annie is growing up so fast. everytime i shoot with her she shows me something new. this time, it was her many faces. she is such a cute little girl. every mom thinks their little girl should be a star - but I definitely believe Annie has the talent. she gave me sad, happy, 'not impressed', 'I see you but I'm not looking at the camera' look. kids are still very challenging to photograph but Annie made it worth the effort. i just tried to capture the family enjoying a day at the beach. there weren't too many posed ones.

i've known amber & mason & annie for a long time now and i'm so happy they called me up and wanted to do this. it's nice to catch up and take some amazing photos. thanks guys!

liza & kevin & noah

i've known this family for a while now, i'm like their official photographer. i've seen noah grow from a baby bump to now 2.5 yrs old. it's always a pleasure to see them. noah is such a bright kid, he's actually too smart now. i think he figured out that he runs the show. he likes to make me work really hard. 

this was a beautiful day for family portraits. we went to chinguacousy park and even needed some assistance from noah's grandma and aunt. they were great babysitters as i took photos of liza & kevin. but the funny thing was that noah would always try to get into the shot. he was just teasing us though because when we did want a whole family portrait, he would run away. 

UPDATE: these photos were taken about a month ago and on Friday July 29th, liza & kevin welcomed their second baby, Ava, into the family. i'm super excited for them, they are great parents. and i'll be seeing them again shortly for more photos.

alexia all grown up

recently i did some family portraits for alexia as part of her first communion. i've never been a part of one before but i knew it was a very special event. what i didn't realize was how eerie similar it was to a wedding day.

i always wondered why little girls pretend to get married or how women pick out wedding dresses well in advance. but after this day i wondered no more. it's because our culture starts them off really young. alexia is only 7 yrs old here but looks all grown up. she had her hair done and got all dressed up. i could tell she was excited. she wasn't shy about showing off her dress and loved just being surrounding by her family. in my mind i was thinking, 'how do i shoot these portraits?'. so i decided to shot them like any other time i see a beautiful girl in a white dress. i borrowed a lot of poses from my wedding portfolio. but alexia did such a great job. she's not shy and loves the camera. she's gonna be more than ready the next time she has to wear a white dress.

stewart family portraits

the fall was super busy for me but how could i say no to this beautiful family. you may remember chris from the portrait session i did for his business card. yeah so apparently he's married to a former CFL cheerleader and they have these beautiful kids. they have won the hearts of anyone who has seen these photos. but what people don't know is how worlds apart the two boys are. anderson is the older one and he is so fun to shoot and really hams it up for the camera. cooper on the other hand is much more shy and tends to run away from the camera. i had to use every trick i had in the bag to get him to look at the camera. chris & mo mentioned how they don't have a lot of pics of cooper so i did focus a little more on him. you can see him playing in the puddle. don't know what it is with kids & puddles but this kid had the time of his life. i can't imagine what laundry was like the next day.

oh it was also the 5 yr anniversary for chris & mo so i did pull them aside for a few close ups. congrats you guys!!

noah 2 yrs

i met this little guy when he was just a baby bump. now it's all grown up (sorta)... ok he just celebrated his 2nd birthday but it's an annual thing now where we always do family portraits. this year we went to springridge farm where they had a fun harvest theme. lots of pumpkins to pick and fall things to do. the whole day he was in his own world. it didn't matter what we wanted him to do, he just kept doing his own thing. i spent the day just following him around. the funniest moment was his run-in with the turkey, i thought he would be scared but he went up right to it and started petting it. 

oh and if his face looks familiar, it's because his parents sent in his photo to the disney channel for birthday day shout-outs, i think they showed his photo everyday in the month of october. good for him, he's famous now!

 

noah one year

one of the last outdoor shoots i did last fall. noah was one years old in these photos... about 18 months now. it's funny how i've become the official family photographer for a few families now. noah has become a superstar. getting in front of the camera is second nature for him. i was there for his mother's pregnancy, his newborn, his family christmas portraits. he is one lucky baby though. he's been on a cruise boat and a trip to disney land...  which i haven't even done yet in my old age. i was asked to take photos at his first birthday party but i was not available that day. yes i missed out.. but did get to catch him the day after for this shoot. he came out ready to smile... dressed in his baby GAP inspired attire. we went to the park, the hockey area and back home. it was a fun day and can't wait to do it again...

little Annie

thought i would share this family portrait i did earlier this month. you've seen amber & mason a few times on my blog, but this is the first time you get to see Annie. she is 7 months old and this is her first christmas. if you have ever tried to take photos of babies, you know we are at the mercy of their schedule. i think we had a few time outs & a feeding session. but Annie was terrific and gave us some great shots. the tutu is a gift from a relative, i don't think there are many opportunities to wear it around so we made sure we got a few shots of her in it. i think she is ready for the cover of today's parent. amber is using one of the photos for a greeting card and i told her i expect one in the mail =)

just want to wish Annie & her family and anyone else who is reading a happy holiday!

happy father's day

what a great weekend, nice weather, start of the summer and father's day for all the father and sons out there. my father is is low key, usually doesn't like to celebrate things. for his birthday a few months ago we just had a BBQ and had people over. he's semi-retired so i guess he enjoys just spending time with people. but unfortunately he's out of town this weekend so our family will br celebrating later.

but i did have a chance to hang out with another father & son yesterday, sam & jalen. i did an impromptu photo session with jalen when he was about 18 months old. now he's much bigger, and saying lots of cute and funny things that kids say. he'll be turning 3 years old in a few months. he was a little shy yesterday, mainly because there were lots of unfamilar faces around. but i'm hoping i can meet up with them and do a real portrait session soon.

80 years young

on sunday, i was the photographer for bridget's birthday celebration. she was surround by her family and close friends. but if the cake didn't say so, you would never know she is 80 yrs old. she didn't sit much at all, she was busy greeting people and making sure everyone was having a good time. bridget is actually the grandmother of one of my clients who i did family portraits for last year. one of the gifts she received was a framed picture-collage from her grandchildren and their significant others. it was cool because they used pictures from the family portrait session.

you'll also notice bridget's husband, joseph who is also 80-something. they've been married for almost 60 years, their 60th anniversary is coming up. i asked bridget what their secret is and she said, 'just keep going'. i think that definteily describes her.