Merry Christmas!!!!

Another successful Christmas has passed! I just LOVE this time of year because I'm blessed with amazing family and friends, all of whom I spend excessive amounts of time with laughing, eating, and enjoying life.

I've pretty much spent the last few days consuming far too much, exchanging gifts, and simply loving the holidays…you know, all the things that make my heart explode with gratitude.

I think for next few days all I can eat is salad.... sadly I have a fridge full of wonderful leftovers!!! Perhaps the salad eating will need to start in the New Year!! :)

Merry Christmas and I hope your Holiday was filled with unadulterated love, goodness, and joy!

Due Date.....

Well, today was my final due date for the next two weeks. It has been a very long December and I finally feel all caught up!!! I'm sure most of you know the feeling of accomplishment and relief to have met your deadlines and move on to the next project. It feels GREAT!!! Now, I have to start Christmas Shopping.... errrr... Not looking forward to that, but that's not until tomorrow! Secretly, I sort of like leaving it until the last minute, everyone is so festive! The stores and the malls have that warm Christmas feeling to them. Just makes you want to get a hot chocolate and sit and people watch... I will be unable to do that considering I have a lot of shopping to do in two days, but nonetheless, I'll get to enjoy that feeling! Any present suggestions are much appreciated....

I'm off for the next two weeks and have some very exciting things coming up. First up is of course: the shopping; three parties on Christmas Eve; two breakfasts and two dinners on Christmas day; another on Boxing day and then it's off to Mount Saint Anne for some snowboarding; and Quebec City for New Years. I'll be ringing in the New Year for the second time in a row in Quebec City and can not wait to be standing at the Ice Bar outside in Old Town sipping Bailey's and Coffee. I'll be posting randomly with updates over the holidays.

The New Year starts in full swing on the first weekend of January with several shoots. If you're looking to book a lifestyle session or a wedding consault, shoot me an email @ lindsay@lindsayvanderbeek.com -- The calendar is certainly filling, which I am really excited about. I'm already looking forward to the 2008 weddings and have some very creative clients scheduled for lifestyles, which will make for fantastic images.

NOTL

This weekend as a little break from the December Craziness.... Steve, myself and a group of friends went to NOTL and stayed at The Stable Bed and Breakfast, which was of course awesome! A bride from the summer, Jenny (of Jenny and Adam ) owns the B&B and offered it to us for the weekend as she and Adam were away. The B&B was right downtown and I highly recommend it to anyone that feels so inclined to enjoy all that NOTL has to offer... There were 11 of us in total and we liked (therefore purchased) a lot of the wine we tasted! All of the sudden, we have the beginning of a wine collection. It was a great weekend and much needed break!

Here are a few of the images....

Oh course we had to start with a very competitive game of...

Paige and Griffin

A few months ago, I shot Robin and Rae-Anne's beautiful wedding at the Ancaster Old Mill. Last week I went to their home for an infant session with their two beautiful newborn twins!! These two babies were so animated. They were very tiny and just so expressive. Often babies, are not too keen to have their portraits taken, however, Paige is clearly going to be a model, she seemed to love the camera. Griffin on the other hand, wasn't quite as happy with me as his sister... He just wanted to be held by either his mom or dad. I am so looking forward to watching these two grow!

Congratulations Robin and Rae-Anne, you're very obviously going to make wonderful parents~!

Here are some of the images....

Better Late Than Never

I realized that I did not post any images from the brief afternoon I spent in Dallas Texas... Sorry about that! We had such a great afternoon on the Sunday following the wedding. Steve and I went downtown Dallas to the Sixth Floor Museum and became what some might call slightly obsessed with John and Jackie... We have in the past been known to become a little obsessed with political leaders... Last year, about this time actually, we were all over Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Seriously, it was a lot -- to the point where we got matching PET t-shirts for Christmas...The good news is that for Trivia night, we've always got all the answers in this regard!

Well, back to Dallas, it really was a great experience to see Downtown Dallas. After we went downtown we went back to the Grapevine and had lunch with bride and the rest of her fantastic family ;) We had real life Texas Ribs on a Patio! Those who know me, know that I have a grand appreciate for Patio Weather, never mind Ribs! It doesn't get much better than that.

Here are some of the Images from Dallas....




























And Steve's great photg skills.....

Short on Christmas Present Ideas Anyone??!!

I know I am...
Sorry, should I say: I was!
That's right, I have solved all my Christmas present woes without even going to the mall!
Everyone on my list is getting a Gift Certificate for Lindsay Vanderbeek Photography!!!

You can get them in any denomination and they really do make great presents. You can either buy a Portrait Package for someone or you can give them a Gift Certificate for a dollar amount to put towards the cost of a package.

Maybe you know one of my great 2008 wedding couples? Perhaps your daughter just had a baby? Maybe you know someone who just got engaged, or that wonderful family who needs to get the Walmart White background posed photo off their wall, sorry...updated with a lovely Lifestyle session! The list really is endless.

If you're interested in purchasing a Gift Certificate, please contact me at lindsay@lindsayvanderbeek.com


Because this IS a Photography Blog... We have to have a photo with ever post...

So, here is one of the Hotel Frontenac in Quebec City from 2006.....

Rob, Laura and Taylor

These photos were taken just over a week ago which was the very day that Rob, Laura and Taylor were going to Toronto to get on a plane to the Dominican Republic for their wedding. Let me tell you -- It was chilly and they were still all smiles! I couldn't believe that it was the day there were leaving and they were so organized that they had time for a photo shoot. I was very impressed, to say the least.

Taylor was just perfect for the shoot, even in the cold when we put her in the leaves... she was still happy... but when we tried to get the classic "LV" bottom half of the body shot... Taylor was not too impressed... I had to include the image in the blog posting, since its just too cute.

Congratulations on your wedding Laura and Rob, you're going to have a wonderful life together!!

Ps. To all those who are booking destination weddings -- I do travel for weddings with very affordable travel fees. Please email to inquire about any upcoming destination weddings. I've always got an valid passport and Dual Citizenship ;)

Here are some of the images....

Kohana May

Isn't that a GREAT name?!! Here are some images from a infant shoot a did a couple of weeks ago. Kohana was such a pleasant baby! She was all smiles nearly the whole time. I really don't know how these parents do it!! All the little models I shoot are so happy! It really makes my job a much easier and a lot of fun....

Here are some images....

Readers Choice Awards....

Well it was brought to my attention today that I had been nominated for the Reader's Choice Awards for the Hamilton Spectator. The voting is over and I missed out... but I wanted to say thank you to all of those who voted for me! It was very exciting to learn that I had even been considered! I'm not saying that in the speech type way that you're supposed to say... I mean it! I was so fired up to learn about this... yes it was a little late, but hey... there's always next year!! Thank you!!!!!

Precious little ray of light!

I thought I would post something today in an attempt to start making my blog a little more personal. I am going to post some more about me in an effort to allow my clients to get to know me a little better. So to start... this is our sweet little Sophia.... it's her 5 month birthday tomorrow and we were just discussing how it feels like she's been with us forever. Little Sophia has taken over our lives (in the best way possible!) and she's just the most well behaved, sweetest, tiniest, cutest little non-sheder in the world! We were truly blessed to have a shedding-free Chocolate Lab... Not a single hair to date... knock on wood...

Introducing Sophia...





Sophia and her best friend Cash....

Rob and Sheri Lifestyles.....

A few weeks ago I shot a lifestyle session for Rob and Sherie and their three children. We met at their home on a Sunday morning. I was just coming down with a cold (that has yet to go away!) and was not feeling very well on my drive to their home. After I was there for a few minutes, I felt so much better. They were all so happy and pleasant to be around - Especially for a Sunday morning! Again, it was not hot out and those boys warmed themselves up by running around and burning off what appears to be endless energy!

Here are a few of the images from the shoot! I hope you enjoy them....