BIG news

I have finally given in to the pressures of this blogging thing, and set myself up with a fancy new blog. It is pretty awesome, I have to say, with it's huge (comparatively) pictures, and slide show header. It is still a work in progress, but go on over and check it out. And feel free to leave a comment. It makes me feel special when you do :o) . I will be importing this blog over there, but I won't be updating here anymore.
Without further ado... click here:

http://www.carmenvandyckphotography.com/blog

busy, busy

I know, I know, it's been a while. But my lack of blogging does not mean that I have not been busy taking pictures. It just means that blogging is the thing I'm letting slide these days. Life has been crazy lately! It's true what they say, life just gets busier the older your kids get, just busy in a different way. I think it's partly because I have kids in all three stages of the game right now. One in Grade school, one in preschool, and one toddler that doesn't understand the words "sit still". So they are my main source of busy-ness. And I do love (almost) every minute of it! :o)

And then there are my fabulous clients! You people are keeping me crazy busy! I feel so blessed for the work I am given and am able to do. With the number of photographers out there, I honestly feel so honored every time I am chosen to capture your families on camera. I LOVE what I do, I am so blessed to do it professionally. So thank-you. I am currently booked all through June, and most of July, at least for weekends. I will have some evening availability throughout the summer. All that being said, if you were hoping to have me photograph you or your family in the near future, I would suggest booking as soon as possible! I already have bookings into September!!!

And now, the reason I am blogging today...this little dude:



I recently had the honor of visiting this little guy and his mom and dad in their home in Port Moody for some photos. This little guy is 8 weeks old in these photos, and his parents are just crazy about him. It is so fun for me to see the awe of new parenthood! I alway am excited to see first time parents, the absolute awe of love and joy a new baby brings. It never gets old. It just grows and changes.

Anyways, wee man here was happiest in mommy's arms, or having a little snooze. So we let him set the tempo, and got some great shots.







I love a sleeping baby... no matter how old they are. My sleeping six year old "baby" still melts my heart. Funny how my sleeping husband doesn't quite have the same effect. hmmm.
Speaking of "hmmm..." isn't that what this picture makes you think:



He just looks like a cute little thinker. Finally, I have one last family photo, of mom and dad lovin' on their little man.



And now I am off to the great outdoors to enjoy this 30 degree weather we're having, but I promise, I will be back soon with more. I have some cute babies, some fabulous bellies, and one of my favorite families all lined up to be blogged about, so check back, I'll get back on my game soon!! :o)

and the winner is..

thank-you to everyone who checked out my new site and was kind enough to leave a comment! I am really excited about the new site and the ease with which I will be able to keep it updated, so keep checking back, I promise to keep it up to date!!

So this afternoon I wrote out all the names of those who commented, both on the blog and through my site, on a piece of paper and cut them up and had my little darling :


pick a name out of the strainer. Yep, I sad strainer. And she handed the slip of paper to her baby brother:



who toddled it over to his hero, aka big brother :


Who read the name "Chelsea B" out loud to me. So congratulations Chelsea!!! I will contact you to make some plans! And for all of you who didn't win, but did leave a comment as my thank-you I would like to offer you 20% off your shoot, but only if you book this week! Thanks again!!

Oh, and after the momentous draw, we all headed to the park for the fun fair at school. What a day!


(posts are just more fun with pictures!) Happy Mother's day all you mommies out there!!

bryn (just cause I like the name so much!)

First...if you are looking to WIN a FREE session then go on down to this post and don't forget to go checkout my newly updated website and then come back and check out yet another adorable baby I recently had the honor or photographing:



I told you she was adorable. You may remember her adorable family from their recent maternity shoot. Well, this sweet girl made her appearance not too long after those photos were taken. And mom is already looking amazing, and baby is settling in quite nicely with her doting siblings.





This baby was such a "third child" :o) She was so laid back, even when I took these photos:



...she just laid there, totally content. I was impressed. But I already feel a special bond with her, cause I sort of helped name her :o) right "mom"? I love her name. I'm glad you chose it, seen as there will be no more girls for me!!
And then, believe it or not, I even got a little smile! At a newborn shoot! That's unheard of; she must be one amazing little girl!



Okay, I know there's a lot of pictures, but I'm trying to give mom a few options for her birth announcements at the same time as her sneak peek. I know, very clever. So just a last couple (sort of) with mom and dad. And maybe an extra one with mom, just because she looks so darn good







Okay, off to bed. Don't forget to comment to win, only 5 more days...

sweet stuff

I have had the honor of photographing a lot of tiny little newborns lately, and I am loving it! There's nothing like a sweet new baby to make you just feel like the world is a wonderful place. And this little guy:

did just that. Check out his sweet 'do, and how he's already flexing and showing off his cuteness to all. He had me at ...hmm, he didn't talk, so maybe at fist glance? Yep, it didn't take much. What a cutie! And man, was he sweet. Just a pleasure really!

Oh, and his parents were there as well, and they were pretty cute too :o)

Hmmm... I wonder where he gets his "sweet 'do" from.



Okay, a couple more of mr. cutie (love, LOVE these two!)




And the last couple are of the new family of three. Another blessed baby to have such adoring and wonderful parents!




Congrats you guys! What a fantastic baby you have (even if he peed on my leg :o) I'll still photograph him anytime!!) I know he will continue to bring you so much joy! It was a pleasure to spend a couple hours with you all!

three

Not too long ago, this great couple were dreaming of their baby and wondering what "it" would be. And now their sweet little (is a 10 pounder considered little? :o) GIRL is filling their home with her sweet presence, and here the little beauty is:

Serious cuteness or what!?!

She is well loved and cuddled and spoiled this sweet girl. Here are a few of my favorites:




I was all excited to get to use my girly pink polka dot back drop, and dad didn't even complain! In fact he informed me that their wedding was all pink, so he is rather resigned to the color that is filling their home these days.


I made this one black and white just for dad :o)


I love her sweet face in this one. (and mom had the flowers their because her middle name is Violet. We weren't entirely sure that these are in fact violets...but they'll do the trick.)


And one last sweet little snuggle *sigh*


Congratulations you guys, I am so happy for you and your beautiful family. She is a little doll!

MY WEBSITE IS LIVE!!!

My VERY exciting news that I had mentioned is that my new website is now up and running and I am so very excited about it!!! To celebrate my launch and because it puts me in such a great mood, I am feeling generous and like having a little give away! So...if you head on over to www.carmenvandyckphotography.com and leave a comment either here on the blog, or through the "contact me" section of the new site then I will enter your name in a draw for a free session! (and if you leave a comment both places I might even enter your name twice! You have two weeks, I will draw and post the winner on Friday May the 8th!
Good luck and happy viewing!

a day at the beach

On that wonderfully warm first weekend in April I got to head down to Crescent Beach to photograph these three siblings:


They wanted to get some shots together for their mom for mothers day (cause seriously, what do moms love more than a gift like this!!) and before their "little" bro takes off to be a world traveller. It was a fun change for me to get to photograph just adults. I didn't have to make funny faces, play any silly games or even honk my clown nose. When I said to look at the camera, they just did! It was very novel for me :o) Here are a few favorites:







And my favorite of each of them:


Okay, I have to admit that I have a bit of a thing with graffiti. I LOVE it. If it's up to me alone, I would almost always find a way to sneak a little graffiti shot into every session. And a new spot every time. I mean like skate parks and random walls of really cool looking graffiti, not random vandalism or spots of it on a train (but just think about how awesome a train that was entirely done in graffiti would look!) Anyways, I digress... My point, is when we happened upon this great wall, I thought I'd won the lottery. They weren't sure it was a real "mother's day" type of look, but humored me anyways, so here are my FAVORITE shots of the day :o)

(seriously, click on them to make them big and see how rad they are, that's right...I said rad!)


Have I mentioned that I love graffiti?

I hope you enjoyed these shots!! And I hope your mom enjoys her gift! And anyone up for a little more graffiti action, give me a call! :o)

and baby makes five

A few weeks ago now, this family of four became five. They welcomed this sweet boy:

I love this shoulder shot on mom because I have one almost like it with his big sister when she was just a new little one. It took some doing to get together to do these shots, and then it took a little convincing the big siblings that it was a fun idea :o) but in the end we got some beautiful images and here are a few from the day:





Let's just say we had to laugh at the sometimes challenges of getting three kids to all look, let alone smile, at the camera. I literally laughed out loud at some of the faces we caught on camera. M - I threw a few of the funniest ones on your disk so you can have a good laugh. But this shot was a favorite of mine the three of them (cause seriously how sweet is baby's expression?!?):


And even though the light's a little off, I still love this shot


A couple more with mom and baby


And one last one of this sweet little guy who is simply adored by his amazing family.


Congrats you guys! He is a little doll, can't wait to see what he looks like blond :o) I look so forward to watching him grow and many more photo ops in the future!!!

such fun, such fun...

I am so excited to post this shoot. Once again, it's from a while back, so I have had to wait far to long to see these images and I know this family is looking forward to seeing them as well. We got a beautiful day so we went and checked out a few of my favorite spots in and around Fort Langley.

Mom is expecting her third little one in early summer, so we went out to get some family and maternity shots


They had two little boys who were just so much fun too shoot. I couldn't help but smile as I looked through all of their images because these boys were just so full of energy, and you can see it in their photos, and I LOVE that!!!

(just click on any of the images to see them larger.)



We then headed over to the train tracks and had a little more fun climbing on the tracks. I had so much fun photographing this family. The boys just did their thing, having fun and letting me tag along.


Oh, and mom and dad were there too :o) I wish I had met her BEFORE my last pregnancy. She had some great anti-nausea advice I only wish I'd known! *sigh* oh well, I am so glad she is getting to enjoy this pregnancy a little more because of it!




And finally, a couple of shots from one of my favorite places, and again, probably a couple of my favorites from the day:





I hope you enjoyed your peek, I put a few extras up because it took so darn long :o) Thanks for your patience, and for a very enjoyable afternoon! See you soon!