The Keys

During our time in Florida, Mom, Dad and I took a day trip out to explore the Florida Keys.  What are the Florida Keys...... great question, I really had no idea!  The Florida Keys are an archipelago (cluster of small islands) in the southeast United States. These islands are all connected by bridges and along the way, one sees Key Largo (yes like in the Beach Boy's song Kokomo!) and eventually if you go far enough south you will reach Key West. The southern most tip of Key West is only 90 miles from Cuba.  The best part of this day was not knowing what to expect but then to instantly fall in love with such a beautiful romantic city. Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West during the winters and wrote "A Farewell To Arms" during his time there.  His house still remains.  Being in Key West, one can see how artistic expression could be born and thrive there.  The houses are all wonderful bright colours with such character. Blues music from a piano wafts onto the street as people pass by on their way to fish, swim in the warm ocean, or curl up with a good book on a stoop of a magnificent old plantation style house.  If I could dream big, I would dream that in my retirement, I would move to Key West and live in a lovely old home and paint and take photographs all day long.......

Welcome to Miami!

At the end of March, I had the opportunity of going on a warm holiday with my Mom and Dad. It was one of those once in a lifetime chances that we all had the same week of holidays and decided to take advantage of it.  It was kind of cool too as it had not been just the three of us since my brother, Daniel was born when I was 2!! After a grueling day of travel, we finally got to our hotel and collapsed in exhaustion.  The next day, we woke up, opened the door and stepped out onto our little deck seen the most amazing view of the ocean and the sun which was just about to rise.  The colours were like nothing I had witnessed before. We quickly changed and went for a walk along the beach.  There is just something about walking on a beach, swimming in the ocean that is so good for the soul. I loved the time in Miami but more so loved the time relaxing and laughing with two amazing people - my Mom and Dad!

Artistic Outtakes

A few outtakes from the photoshoot!  Always cool to mix a little art with business!

Dr. Chélise Kasun

While I was in Victoria, I had the honour of taking photographs of my sister-in-law, Chélise Kasun.  She recently purchased her first dental practice in Victoria, British Columbia. I was asked to take some photographs for her website.  I can't say enough about Dr. Chélise Kasun and Artisan Dental.  It was amazing to photograph someone who is so passionate about her practice and about her patients.  Just speaking to her about the vision for her practice and her love of dentistry, I think she is going to make a wonderful difference in so many patient's lives.

Dr. Chélise Kasun - Artisan Dental: http://artisandentalvictoria.com

Vancouver

One more quick post about the trip to Victoria/Vancouver.  On the second last day of our trip, we went over to Vancouver to watch a Vancouver Canucks game.  On our way, we stopped by the Vancouver Olympic Cauldron.  This was the same cauldron that Wayne Gretzky had lit in downtown Vancouver and strangely enough we were there exactly 1 year from the second last day of the games.  What an honour it was so see it and to appreciate the symbol that it had meant to all of us one year ago.

Victorian Snow

On the second day we were on the island, I woke up with intentions of revisiting Butchart Gardens. The last time we were there, my husband, Dustin, had proposed to me so we were quite excited to return to our special place.  When I came into the living-room, to my surprise there was about a foot of snow covering everything.  This snow continued to hang around for the rest of the week that we were in Victoria, definitely not the weather what we had expected.  Luckily the snow is what I like to call "romantic snow," the beautiful, lacy snowflakes that fall slowly to the earth - so I didn't mind it all.  We enjoyed the 45 minute walk to down town Victoria. I loved shooting the cherry blossoms covered in snow and at one point I photographed a lady feeding seagulls in the snow.  It almost seemed like a fairytale in which the snowflakes turned into birds.

Hello Victoria!

My husband, my brother, and I headed out on February break for a little rest and relaxation on Vancouver Island.  It was a total family affair as we went to visit my husband's sister, Chelise, and her boyfriend Furey. On our first day there we travelled up island to appreciate the beautiful scenery.  We spent an hour walking along the beach, collecting sand dollars and listening to the soothing sounds of the sea. It was amazing having the time to just be with nature, appreciate the beautiful textures that the earth has made, and to enjoy the peacefulness.

Ethan

I had my first photo shoot with a little one on Feb 13.  This is baby Ethan, son of my good friends Andrea and Jon (they were featured in my Project 365 on Day 322, though I must say that Ethan looked a whole lot different at the time!).  Every time I do a photo shoot, I learn 10 new things and that is an amazing part about the process.  Lesson 1: taking photos of a little one is much harder then one would assume, rather then the photographer running the show, the little one runs the show.  But I think that is what makes photographing a baby so special.  You have to wait and be ready to catch a lovely photograph but when you do it is shear magic and when you view it after you can appreciate the miracle of life which makes our world so beautiful. It was an honour to photograph Ethan and a photo shoot that I will never forget. 

The Launch....The New Beginning!!

Hi Everyone,

My name is Crystal and I love photography.  I love appreciating photographs, I love capturing great moments that may never be replicated and I love the sense of freezing a piece of time in history.  I think there is just something lovely and honest about it all that excites me.

I have always loved art.  My first love was drawing and crafting as a kid and when I grew up I all of a sudden found myself studying Art History in University - who would have ever thought!  After one fateful black and white photography course I was hooked!  After a six year hiatus from art, and pursuing dreams of way more left brain career opportunities, I all of a sudden was in desperate need to get back to my creative side and bought a digital camera.  I started taking classes in photography and began developing "my style" which is still a work in progressive but is oh so much fun to be on a quest to find.  Last year was a huge year for my growth as an artist.  I worked on a project with three other photographers in which we took one photo a day for 365 days!  Whew........ what a big project but on January 9, 2011 it was finished and is a body of work that I am still so proud of completing.

As stated by my last post in Project 365, The End Is Just The Beginning, well it is time for the next beginning. Today is the the official launch of my website, my new blog, and many new hopes and dreams. I am not sure where the next stretch of the road will carry me but I am excited for the next chapter and to see where it will go.  I hope to use this new blog as a way to show some of my favorite photographs from projects that I am working on and to share photos and stories of great people that I get to meet along the way.

So sit back and enjoy!  Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.

Cheers,
Crystal