Catching up with family in Canada

While I waited with excitement for the launch of the Pink Turtle Photography website I travelled to my homeland Canada to catch up with family and friends.

The trip was wonderful mix of reuniting with Mom, Dad & Carol, visiting favourite spots like the Bruce Peninsula, the shops at Yonge and Eglinton, the Avenue Road restaurants, spirited card games where I laughed till I cried, family BBQ’s and of course photographing those near and dear to me.

Together we captured some new stories about our family. I had the unique opportunity to photograph my niece Danielle at the bridal salon where she has worked for several years. Though I prefer to shoot outdoors the warm salon lighting that showcases the detail in wedding gowns was the perfect environment to tell Dani’s story about this step in her chosen career path. Afterwards we had a good chat together about the positive changes we’ve made in our lives this year.

Family portraits of my sister Carol’s family had been scheduled until my youngest nephew Sean and dad Jay departed earlier than expected to represent Canada at the Junior Worlds Championships.

Plan B quickly became capturing images of both my sister, Carol, and nephew, Lee, at their local canoe club. We had a great day together. I tagged along in the boat while Lee coached a group of kids who compete in Dragon Boat racing. While the kids got organised in their boat we briefly followed Carol and her friends practising C4, which is boat speak for a canoe with 4 paddlers.

Back on dry land, with all my camera gear unscathed, all of us returned to Carol’s to build their new back deck. Very few photos for a couple of days while I made trips to the tip and helped prep and stain the timber boards. Great fun a few days later helping Carol spend her money on new patio furniture.

Good photography means going with the flow and keeping an eye out for alternative opportunities. I wasn’t able to photograph Carol’s family or my friends Donna and Paul on their sailboat but Jenny was able to come to Toronto on very short notice and we did a brief shoot amongst the maple trees at a nearby park. Jenny had modelled for me when I completed my photography studies so it was great fun to reunite for some new photographs several years later.

On the last day of my visit I managed to convince my camera-shy sister Carol to sit for an individual portrait session. I’ve always told her she is very photogenic and perhaps she is starting to believe me. Some women are pretty in pink. Carol is beautiful in blue.

We captured different stories to what we’d planned and I’m already planning several photo shoots for my next visit.