The Taylor Family takes on Westerner Days | Red Deer Family Photographer
Ever since having a family of my own, photographing parents and their beloved little ones has taken on a whole new meaning. I love tagging along on little outings or just spending some time documenting everyday life. This session was a first though! Thanks so much for having me join you at the Westerner Days Fair Taylor fam, I am so totally in love your photos! I hope that you are as enchanted as I am!Would you ever get your family photos taken at the fair? If not, where would be your dream location?!
May your portraits age like a fine wine!
The truth is I don't want your portraits be that cheap pair of flip-flops that broke after one summer of use and then were carelessly tossed into the garbage. I want your portraits to be that favourite pair of leather boots. You know the ones! The ones that just make you feel so darn gooooooood everytime you put them on! I want them to hang proudly on your walls or rest lovingly on your coffee table. I want your portraits to make you smile every time you walk by that gallery wall or flip through the pages of your album. I am wildly aware that this will not work for everyone's taste and/or budget and that's ok, because these days there are an incredible amount of photography options to choose from. But for YOU, you know who you are..... you think less just might actually be more, you would rather have 10 stunning prints for your wall than 100s of files lost on a hard-drive. For you, I want to create something one-of-a-kind, something long-lasting. Seriously though, is it egotistical of me to want the photos I take to be the ones handed down to your great-grandchildren? I imagine that they will lovingly look through them, perhaps they will need to smooth out a crease from it being accidentally folded into the gutter of a book, or maybe the ink will be slightly faded from sitting on that sunny livingroom shelf, and they will wonder to themselves about what life was like all the way back in 2018 with all it's strange, beautiful moments and trends.
Explore Edmonton
I jussssst realized that I have never blogged my session with the lovely J. She was writing a an article about hidden gems in Edmonton and I had SOO much fun wandering around some of her favorite neighbourhoods. Edmonton has become such a special place to me. It is where I went to school for photography, it's where Brad and I bought our first home, it where our oldest daughter was born!! And even though we live outside of the city now, it will always feel like home. I absolutely adore our frequent visits with it's places and wonderful people.If you are an Edmontonian or will be visiting this summer I highly recommend checking out Justine's blog posts about Highlands and Westmount. Below I've linked up some of my favorite stops, come tag along with us!
OK now let's hop and the car and head over to Highlands, shall we?
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Could we really part with everything we have built?
Maybe it's because I was completely exhausted from a 6.5 hour red-eye flight with two children. Or perhaps it was the cute little off-the-grid cottage that we stayed at in Maui (pictures above!!). Or it could have even been the wonderful simplicity of living with only a bag full of clothes and toiletries. But after two weeks of travelling, when I stepped back into the home I adore, it suddenly felt HUGE and overwhelming. I turned to Brad and said, "I've never felt more ready to downsize"It's something that has loomed in the back of our minds for a while now. But the truth is, we absolutely love our home. We built it ourselves, planted the grass and trees. We love it here and have hundreds of little (and big) projects in mind to make it even better. But neither of us can seem to shake the feeling that we just don't need the extra space, the extra stuff, the extra costs.The idea of downsizing is sort of intoxicating. But will it actually be a positive forward step for our family? Or will it turn out that cute little homes are really only practical for a two week vacation? Have you ever toyed with idea of downsizing your home? Anyone actually done it?! I would love to hear your thoughts!Warmly,Karmen
Karmen's Capsule Wardrobe Update #1
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I’m gonna be honest here, I haven’t made much progress on my capsule wardrobe research because #life. I have really found my enthusiasm for this project waning a bit. I mean will it really be worth the effort? It’s just clothes right? And, I am a person who truly believes that beauty comes from the inside; so how important can it really be to put energy into my wardrobe? But despite my apprehension, I decided to hit up google to see if I could find some answers.
I immediately came across a podcast episode from The Lively Show featuring Caroline Rector from the blog Un-Fancy. Podcast are my jam (I probably listen to 100x more podcasts then I watch tv), so obviously I was stoked! I hit that play button and set to work on some much needed spring cleaning around the house.Fast forward 46 minute later, and I am feeling so inspired and totally reaffirmed in my decision to create am ethically-sourced capsule wardrobe. It's time to dress like me, to feel good about myself, to simplify my daily routine and to buy clothing that is ethically made. While it threw me off at first, I LOVED Caroline's comparison of herself with Bruce Wayne (I hope I don’t need this parenthesis but…. Batman) facing his fear of bats; "he is crouched down in this dark cave and there are bats swarming all around him, it's madness. He slowly unfolds and stands up straight, and the music swells and he takes this deep breath. And he is ok." Intense right?! I would have never in a million years come up with that mental picture on my my own, but it is perfect. I won't ever be able to completely remove myself from the swarm of messages I receive via ads, music, magazines, social media, television, movies, etc.... but I can teach myself to be strong and confident. I don't need a perfect body. I don't need t0 wear the latest trends. I don't need to buy into the thousands of ideas that are being sold to me everyday.So I am setting some intentions for myself this week.
- Recognize when external media sources are affecting how I feel about myself and dictating what I think I ‘need’.
- Unsubscribe from all the stores that send me coupons, catalogs, etc. UNLESS it is company whose values align with mine. (this girl still loves a good sale!)
- PURGE. Let’s get this party started. The plan is to take EVERYTHING out of my closet (literally everything) and sort it into 4 piles: Keep - Store - Giveaway-Seasonal. And since I am waiting to do my shopping until I have completed my dreaded book-keeping/taxes (<- look at me being all responsible / let’s be real, it ain’t gonna happen unless I have some sort of motivation because book-keeping is the actual worst), I will have to make do with what is left in that 'keep' pile for the time being.
- Read more of Caroline's blog!! And do more research.
So there ya have it. Man, WISH ME LUCK! I think I am going to need it lol. And thanks so much for following along on this (completely non-photography related) topic. It honestly feels so good to have a little company on this adventure!Warmly,KarmenPS. Do yourself a favour and listen to that podcast! Episode #36 was packed full of helpful bits of information for the newbie capsule wardrobist. Photo Credit: www.un-fancy.com