Category Archives: Photography

March 17, 2017

Photo Session with Summer Innanen

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This fall I had the total pleasure of doing a photo shoot with Body Image Coach Summer Innanen.

We had such a blast. Body compassion is such a pivotal part of ALL the work I do both in my classes and photo sessions and most often my photo sessions focus on creating safe space for you to feel supported and empowered in front of the lens. To help you feel like you are standing in your power in your body right here right now, and have that reflected back at you in images that let you shine.

It was such a treat to get to do a photo shoot with someone else who also lives and breaths body acceptance and who really practices what she preaches. She radiated the same kind of compassionate body confidence that she helps other people find in themselves. It was such a delight to get to capture Summer through my lens.

She’s as kick-ass, empowering and authentic in person as she is through her work!

Summer had also brought along a scale to smash for her photos and it was seriously exhilarating to photograph the sledgehammer breaking a scale. I had broken my scale accidentally years ago (and took it as a sign to never get one again and step full force into my own ditching-diet culture path) but hadn’t had the chance to smash one and so I said “Heck YES” when Summer passed the sledgehammer my way too!

I wanted to share the photos with you now, as Summer just launched her brand new website and all of the images used on the site are from our shoot. It’s SO amazing to see the images used in this way and to see her empowering photographs all over her site.

I also wanted to share them today in particular because right now on Summer’s site she is giving away the audio version of her best-selling book, Body Image Remix, for FREE. It takes you step-by-step how to feel more comfortable in your body and stop caring so much about what other people think Get your free audiobook and check out Summer’s new site here!

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December 6, 2015

A Look Back at The Hours Project

About this time last year, I got invited to participate in a really wonderful collective project for 2015 called The Hours. I loved the idea behind it where each month, all of the photographers involved were going to take a photo at the same hour (in their own time zone of course). We started in January at 7am, February at 8am and so on…leading all the way to 6pm in December.

Each week more photographers photos are shared and my last photo of the year just went up on the Hours Website today (you’ll find it under the 6pm clock) so I thought in honour of the year coming to a close I thought I’d share a look back on the photos I shared for the project throughout the year.

I decided right from the start to make them self-portraits. Looking back, it would have made it a bit easier to have the subject matter wide open, but well…being a part of the visual story is just what I do. But other than a bit of myself in it, I let there be no pressure for it to be a certain kind of selfie so a lot of them did end up to include my hands!

I’m really glad I took part as it pushed me to get out and take photos in hours that I normally wouldn’t. I go on regular photo walks throughout the week but they are often in the 12-3pm range or around sunset during the springtime so this was a great challenge especially in the earlier and later hours of the day.

Head on over to the Hours website to check out the images from all the photographers!

7 am

8 am

9 am

10 am

11 am

12 pm

1 pm

2 pm

3 pm

4 pm

5 pm

6 pm

June 26, 2015

Be Your Own Light this Summer!

So many of us hide our light.

Hide from the camera.

Sure, we may shine in other ways, every single day.

But as soon as the camera comes near, we throw a blanket over our light…of old stories, of beliefs of what the photo is going to look like even before we take it. We don’t give our chance to see ourselves in a new light, from a new perspective.

That’s why I’ve decided to bring back the Be Your Own Light for a community session this summer.

Because I want to see you shine and not be afraid to stand in the light…in your life AND in front of the camera.

Standing in our light doesn’t mean we’re being vain.

It doesn’t mean we want to outshine anyone.

It’s not about that at all.

It’s a claiming of worthiness, a claiming of our right to be in that photo.

The Be Your Own Light, much like the Be Your Own Beloved class, is all about helping YOU let yourself shine. But the Be Your Own Light class is super fun because we also learn about light…literally!

Often I find that when folks might take a photo of themselves and not be able to see it with kindness…often it is that we might not be ‘lit’ well in the photo, that the natural light around us isn’t helping us shine.

So in this class, we learn about light and how to take photos that help us shine in a literal way as we build a relationship to light…but we’re also inviting ourselves into the frame each day with the light and stepping away from hiding into the shadows and letting ourselves stand in the light!

I also wanted to keep it at a summery, gentle price too so you can join in for this class for $39 for these 20 days of light & self-discovery.

Let yourself shine this summer!

January 9, 2015

My Photo Buddy

Over the holidays, most of my family gathered together in Portland. We have our routines when visiting there which include lots and lots of walks. When I had been there for my Nephew’s Birthday, he had received a cool kids camera from a good friend (its a VTech Kidizoom Camera).

So when we arrived for Christmas, I asked if he wanted to try it out and he was mighty excited. I was amazed how quickly he understood and could maneuver around the camera, capturing and checking out the photos. It was soon coming along on all our adventures.

I’m sure I was glowing every time the camera came with us. He knows I love taking photos so it was great to be able to talk to him about something I’m so passionate about. A super sweet moment happened when he, unprompted, aimed his camera at his feet and took a foot selfie on purpose. I’ve made him get in enough foot photos of the two of us that I’m sure that just felt natural to him!

I so hope that it ends up being something we do together on our visits!

As well, just as we were about to leave to head back up to Vancouver, I remembered that while I had taken lot of selfies with him, I hadn’t had a photo of the two of us taken though I had made sure to take a photo (or photos) with him and each family member. Remember…sometimes we’ve got to pass the camera to other people! So glad I did cause now it’s my new favourite photo of the two of us!

January 4, 2015

The Hours

I’m excited to share that I’m involved in a super lovely photo project this year called The Hours. The idea being that this collection of photographers (there are 40 of us) each share a photo we’ve taken at a specific hour, each month having a different hour as we work through the clock. For January it is 7am, February 8am etc.

My friend Audrey asked me to join in which definitely was part of why I said yes (cause she’s super lovely) but also because the idea of taking photos at a certain hour lights me up. I love going for photo walks but I do find they are often at a similar time of day when the light is the brightest.

Light has been one of the things that drew me into a love affair with photography. I especially adore late day light, as it moves so quickly and I’m reminded of the beautiful impermanence of it. So heading out for a walk in the dark to get a 7am photo felt outside of my ‘light’ comfort zone in the awesomest of ways.

I’m not sure if all of mine will be selfies. I’d love to give myself the freedom to take any kind of photos that arise. I’m also excited to be getting my DSLR out even more for this project, especially since my phone is my go-to camera so often.

Since there are so many people involved, there are 4 posts per month on Sundays. I’m a part of the first week crew so each month you’ll be able to check out my contribution over there along with the other inspiring photographers involved!

Y’all are welcome to join in with your 7am photos this month (and join us any month) with the hashtag #thehours2015 and you can find out more over at The Hours website or The Hours Instagram or Facebook Page too !