Merry Christmas! We are taking some time off to hang out with our family and enjoy the holidays. Xander has developed extensive plans for us that include Lego, Lego, snow, candy, Lego and playing Wii. Lexi has filled her itinerary for us with peeling oranges, candy, dollies, colouring, dollies, food and reading books. It reminds me of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes stating, “The days are just packed.”

Before we disappear for a few days, we want to take a moment to wish you a Merry Christmas and thank you for being a part of our life.

Click here to see a sneak peek of an album design we did of Xander and Lexi for our parents as their Christmas gift.

Congratulations to Mandy, Holly, Alicia + Becky, four sisters who are the winners of our Giving is Awesome promotion. Thanks to their friend Karen who nominated them. We will post more about these amazing women who have shown courage and love in the face of adversity when we do their session.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate a friend or family member. We were moved by the many email we received. There are a lot of deserving people out there!

After seeing some of the photography we did for The Reach, Hugh Condon Marler Architects in Vancouver contacted us to do some photography of the new Rec Centre in Abbotsford that they designed. It is part of Plan A where there are several large projects being built in Abbotsford. Here are a few favorites …

A lot has changed in Cian’s world since he last came to us for his newborn portraits. He’s now a busy, one year old with things to do and places to go. He’s a scooter and Jason was impressed with how fast he could scoot across the studio floor! Here are a few favorites …

K1 Technology contacted us to do some photography of some wine for Rollingdale Winery. Knowing how challenging it is to light and photograph a round, reflective object in a flattering way, we jumped at the opportunity. We tried out a few things in our studio and here’s what we came up with …

Ben’s twice as old as he was at his last session and I think he’s twice as cute with his red curls. He came to our studio for his two year old session. We actually photographed Jeff + Chantelle’s wedding a few years ago in our pre-blog era and we always enjoy keeping in contact with our wedding couples.

Obviously, Ben has taken over their lives with his energy, enthusiasm and entertaining personality. He does a great imitation of someone pointing their finger saying, “No” to him (see below). I’m not sure where he picked that up.

He loved the tractor we brought. Jeff works with my Dad at Avenue Farm Machinery where they sell these adorable *red* ride on tractors. I believe Ben may find one under his tree. Shhh … hopefully he doesn’t read this before Christmas.

Here are a few of our favorites …

Comments:
For each comment you make on our blog, you will be entered in a draw to win a $150 gift certificate to Revival Arts Studio. The draw will happen at the end of each month. Your chances this month are looking pretty good if you enter!

Giving is Awesome:
We are giving away $1000 worth of photography to someone who can’t afford custom photography, but who would cherish it. Please take the time to send us a quick email nominating someone in your life. If your nominee is chosen, you will receive a $300 credit to Revival Arts Studio. More information here. We will announce the winner on Christmas Day.

Classes:
Our photography classes for 2009 are filling up. If you want to register, please contact us soon. The options are …
How to Take Better Photographs – for people with point and shoot cameras who want to learn a little about composition and lighting to improve their snapshots. Artsy and inspiring.
SLR Overview – for people who want to learn more about the buttons and settings on their SLR camera. Technical and informational.
The Cliq – for people with SLR cameras who want to get out with their camera and learn more about photography in a laid back environment. Fun and educational.

You can read full descriptions here.

Gift Certificates:
Yes we have them! Please call 604-864-6339 or email to arrange yours.

Christmas Orders:
We are no longer accepting orders to be printed by Christmas. We are still printing and assembling previously placed orders and will be calling or emailing clients when their orders are ready. If you’re wondering where things are at with your order, please feel free to call to check up or to arrange your pick up.

Dexter is the newest addition to our neighborhood. He came with his parents (of course) to our studio for his newborn pictures at 3 weeks. He is one laid back little guy. He’s already mastered some pretty impressive skills like finding his thumb and sucking it and he can roll around when you lay him on his back. I was pretty impressed! Here are a few of our favorites …

We’ve been so busy this fall that we haven’t had much time to do photography for fun. Jason decided to go out on his birthday earlier this month to do some photography with one of his favorite vintage film cameras. So the Yashica 635 twin lens reflex camera got dusted off and taken out on a field trip.

He also decided to make a pin hole camera out of an old camera cap and a piece of pop can. He was inspired by this information on Flickr. Here’s what he came up with and what sort of pictures it made with our D3. Exposure times varied from 8-20 seconds.

Here’s a closer look at what you get when a $0 lens produces an image on a $5000 camera sensor…

If we run out of eggs or flour or butter and are in the middle of baking, the first door we go knocking on is the Kotyk’s. Their domestic life appears to be more organized than ours and they seem to rarely run out of the necessities although they insist otherwise. We love going over to their place for dinner as they make the best ribs and roast chicken! We’ve just learned to watch out for green food items.

They have three adorable girls that Xander and Lexi love to play with. Xander spends hours making gourmet dirt cakes with them, riding bikes and chasing them pretending to be a scary monster. He covets their pink Lego and Lexi likes their little people doll house. All in all, we think they’re awesome neighbors and friends.

Here are few pictures we took of them recently at our studio …