My good friends Ilana & Jordan just had their first baby! Parenthood really looks great on these two. :-) Here is handsome little Harvey at just 20 days old. What a gem, and look at those eyes!! I was so excited to meet him for the first time.   

I wanted to take the opportunity to share a few things about Ilana.  She’s an artist and creates the most beautiful works.  There is no end to her creativity.  She once made me an awesome large scale charcoal portrait of my dog Misiu, amongst other pieces.  Harvey’s room is filled with her work, as well as the rest of her apartment with large scale landscapes.  Pictured here are two small paintings, painted with oil, on wood panels with resin coating on top.  A wooden night light, with a forest of autumn colours. Let Your Light Shine engraved with a woodburner on a panel of wood.  The little stuffed cloud, the fabric H, the pompoms with string and photographs display.  There’s nothing this woman can’t do.  Check out her work and pieces at www.ilanavanzyl.com.  In fact, her mom is quite the crafter.  She’s a professional quilter, and Ilana along with her mom created the quilt you see in the photos especially for Harvey.  Ilana made most of the quilt top by hand and Essie finished it all off by stitching a beautiful pattern overtop the whole quilt to make the fabric pop!  Obviously made with pure love.  Check out her work here: www.quiltsbyessie.com.

One of my close friends (and fellow photographer) asked me to take some family photos.
We planned to go somewhere where the kids would have activities, so we headed to Whittamore’s Farm in
Markham, Ontario. Not only did I shoot family portraits, but documented their play and interactions which was so
much fun, and memorable. We shot family portraits, the kids mined for jewels, sat on hay stacks, jumped on
trampolines, rode a tractor, ate hot dogs, went through a corn maze, threw rocks haha. I love this. I love this family
too. The boys are growing up so quickly!  

Here’s another creative I shot, sports and beauty shots all in one session, we had a great time in the studio!  I’ve been playing around a bit with fitness/athletic portraits lately.  In this particular one I wanted to introduce a bit of illustration in to the photos.  Just love the portraits of her in the dress as well!  What a radiant smile!

Assistant - Shannon Laliberte