Catching the Rain | Cornell Family Picnic | Orange Bag Zimele Event

As promised, I am delighted to present to you the following two events that will be happening over the next two weekends. Find me at either of these events to ask any questions you have about photography, find out how to plan a session or just to hang out and chat about how fast your little munchkins are growing up. I will have a free kid's photo booth for dressing up and posing fun; a photography session giveaway; plus you'll be one of the first to see my new products and collections and get exclusive introductory pricing - available at these two events only.

Here are the details:

Sunday, August 14 - 11:00 pm to 3:00 pm
13th Annual Cornell Picnic
Benjamin Marr Park (behind Cornell Village School on Country Glen Rd)
A family event featuring live music, fun games, races, face painting, BBQ, Merchant Alley and more. The kick-off parade starts at 10:30 am at the corner of Cornell Park Ave. & Country Glen Rd. Join the parade with a decorated bicycle, tricycle, stroller or wagon and get a chance to win a prize!

Saturday August 20 - 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
The Orange Bag Zimele Event
Onnuri All Nations Community Church
63 Dunblaine Ave, Toronto, ON M5M 2S2
This is an event in support of women in South Africa. There will be women artists and vendors, crafts, food, music, artists, bouncy castles and more. A portion of all sales will go towards Zimele, an organization dedicated to helping South African women be self sufficient.

I hope to see you there!

Aaand, that's a wrap. Since all posts end with an image, here's a few of the rainy view from my front porch.

Hiatus.

Sorry for the brief hiatus. I’ve been busy working on some exciting new photography collections and products which I cannot wait to talk about and show you all. I've also been making some crazy long to do lists all in preparation for two upcoming community events where I will be showcasing my photography. For the first time. To the public. In front of hundreds. Scary and exciting - yay! All these details, I promise, will be revealed in the coming posts so please check back very soon.

In the meantime, a peek at some images from the annual Living Water Counselling Centre Walkathon.

Everyone, meet my mom (middle) and her two sisters. There's a total of seven siblings on this side of the family! My grandma, is one a brave woman.

Windsurfing Canada at Lake Scugog

Windsurfing Canada Photo Set, originally uploaded by cplus51.

Am I really that far behind? Yes I am. Photos from a Windsurf Regatta that I did for Windsurfing Canada in Lake Scugog back in July. Having never really done sports photography before especially while going crazy fast in a speedboat, getting knocked up and down by the waves - I have to say that this was quite a challenge. Just as I track down the racer through my viewfinder, by the time my lens focus, they are gone...then trying to hold the lens steady as the boat rocks back and forth and just as I'm ready to click the shutter, my lens get splashed by the crashing waves. Despite all that, I had a ton of fun, met a lot of nice people and got some neat shots while I was at it. A ton of respect for those sports photographers out there who do this all the time and still get amazing shots!

This was my ride! See that little space up in the front with the metal bars? That's where I was sitting (hanging on for dear life, mind you, for fear of my camera going overboard!)

Literature for Life Fundraising Event

Another fundraising event I attended last month that was held at the Gibsone Jessop Gallery in the Distillery District. Arti(you may recognize her name as one of the models who posed for me from an earlier post!) sits on the board of a charity called Literature for Life and asked me to take photos for this special evening. This organization is dedicated to helping young moms and families to create "a love of reading and building a culture of literacy." They do this through various outreach programs, reading circles held at shelters and youth centres, as well as a quarterly publication, Yo’ Mama Magazine which is written by young mothers for young mothers.

The evening included entertainment from the band Porkbelly Futures, a book signing session from author, Stuart McLean, and what I thought was the highlight of the evening, spoken word performances from some of the ladies who were involved with the Literature for Life programs. These girls were amazing and truly inspiring. Here's a few pics from the evening, the full set can be found here.

Porkbelly Futures

Spoken word performances

Stuart McLean signing a book from his Vinyl Cafe Series

LWCC Walk-A-Thon

LWCC Walk-a-Thon.

I do believe it is important to give back to the community so when the opportunity arises, I try to make the time to offer my photography services to a non-profit organization. This fundraising event was held at Milliken Park in Scarborough for a professional counselling organization called Living Water Counselling Centre. They provide counselling, parent education and training in professional counselling with a vision for healing broken relationships, strenghtening families, valuing marriages and enriching quality of life. The day started off with the walk followed by games and food for all who participated in the walk. Here's a few more captures from that day, as usual, the full set can be found on my flickr page in the set: LWCC Walk-A-Thon. Enjoy!