The Dumbest Smart Girl I Know

Today I attended my grand daughter Montana's Academic Awards at her school.  I must mention before I go any further that it was held outside...not in a gym......and it was cold.....and it started 1/2 hour later than I thought....I hate getting up early, that is one of the reasons I am a photographer....but I am also Nana and do not like to miss out on these special moments....(well maybe not sooooo special, but more on that later) Montana is 9 going on 19 and is very very smart.....academically.....she has always been bright, spoke full sentences at a year old, quick to learn, does her homework religously...a teachers dream.....BUT she can also be a "ditz"...how is this possible...lol.  Instead of giving you examples as there are many I will just say that she is your typical blonde.....and when I found out that her Dad uses the expression that I have chosen for the title of this blog, it just seemed to fit.  Now back to the awards.....being one of the first few people there I assumed I got a fabulous seat for taking pictures...front row right on the aisle....and then the kids came out of the school....with their chairs and of course all sat in front of the parents/audience, so much for my great vantage point.....Montana's class was one of the first to come out and she sat within viewing distance, but there was no Kevie's class :(...my grandson, who is in grade 1, they do not bring out the younger grades for the awards......

once the awards started I was glad to hear they where starting with the grade 4 class....what I didn't realize was that to receive the academic award you pretty much just have to come to school which is what a grade 4 student does....so as they called them all up alphabetically, they finally got to the "R's" and Montana joined the rest of her class and received a lovely dog tag type necklace commemorating the moment

after snapping a few (and I literally mean a few) shots I slipped out early to get into my car, turn on the heat and head to "Timmies".....

Your Papa and I LOVE you Montana and we are so proud to have you as our Grand Daughter....

~~Jon & Heather Engagement Session~~

It is always a special pleasure for me when I am asked to do a session with one of my daughter's friends that they went to school and hung out with growing up and Heather was no exception.  I met her fiance Jon for the first time on Sunday and what a perfect match he is for her.  The time we spent together flew by as we laughed and caught up on our lives since we last saw each other!  I am SO excited to be part of their big day on June 16, 2012.....thank you Heather & John for including me in your special day!!

It's Harder Than It Looks

So this weekend we had a "field trip" with our Architecture Photography class, our second one, woo hoo, I do love field trips.  Getting out with your camera and actually taking a damn picture instead of just talking about it!!  That's my thing, hands on, I learn by doing, as far as the technical aspect I'll be the first to admit I SUCK, but I still take a not bad picture, I shoot in manual and understand my settings...but I regress :).....This is our second field trip of the season, the first being "exterior" shots where we all met at City Hall in Hamilton, yes City Hall, I know, I know there are much nicer places but not our choice and apparently there is something special about the architecture and the time period when it was built that makes it special and talked about by.......well, architects I guess.....but I still don't get it.  Although I got some kick ass reflection shots,

but again I regress......so this trip was "interior" shots at Christ Church Cathedral and it is admittedly an gorgeous church inside, but also and this is in our teachers words "a nightmare to photograph" because of the different types of lighting.  Now I was aware of this because I had done shots inside a few weeks earlier and the green color cast is almost lime green and makes the picture pretty much a candidate for b/w and that's it.....but also because I had been there before I was fairly confident I would be able to get the "2" shots required for the assignment with ease and get a cool Facebook album out of it as well......One must be documentary style, showing 2 sides of the interior and the other can be artistic of you like.  You would think at my age I would know that when I think it's going to be a piece of cake, I am going to walk away with NADA!!!!  I took 144 pictures and I am hard pressed to find one that I am happy with.  Now I admit I can be overly hard on myself and I want my pictures to look like they could be in a magazine, in fact I want people to look at them and say "those should be in a magazine", but not so much at the CCC this weekend!  I do have a few favorites of the day but I'm not sure the coffee pots

or Sue and I in the bathroom mirror would cut it for the assignment :)....hehehe.

~~Scott & Sarah Married~~

What a beautiful day it was for Scott and Sarah's wedding and I can not tell you enough how much I LOVE this couple!! Thanks to my awesome friend Alicia Cleaves who recommended me, from the time I met Sarah & Scott for their engagement session I knew this was going to be a fun filled day! From using my Toyota as the Limo to the church, being told to go stand in the corner by the minister...during the ceremony and then being scolded at the train station for being on the tracks, none of this spoiled the day for the bride and groom as long as they where GETTING MARRIED!!! I was made to feel like one of the family and made some fabulous new friends as well.....My wish for Scott & Sarah is a long and happy life filled with laughter and love.....