Dragon Hare Studios

How patriotic are you? Move out of your country for ten years to a country that undergoes a terrorist attack and then goes to war. My experience of living in the US during trying times has definitely given me a new understanding of what it is to be Canadian. As much as I missed “home” while I was gone, I do appreciate what that absence taught me.

So it is with great pride today that I say “Happy Canada Day”. And just as a little aside - since it is an important day in Canadian history - if you want to test your knowledge of Canadian history, why don’t you see if you can pass the Canadian citizenship test. This is the exam that all immigrants must take and pass to earn Canadian citizenship! Brian will be studying for this test hopefully in the next year!

In honour of Canada Day, I want to post some images of a recent wedding we photographed. This wedding really touched a soft spot with me as Brian and I are from different countries/cultures!

Charlene and Paul celebrated an international marriage - I loved how they incorporated their differences into the day! The yard was decorated with red and white, the colours of both national flags (Canada and Switzerland) and of course flags from each country. These are some of the decorations from the day: (the yard was decorated by Marj of Marj’s Greenhouse - she did a beautiful job!)

Charlene and Paul were married in their beautiful backyard. They walked down the aisle to their gathered friends and family, surrounded by red and white flowers, decorations and flags.

The celebration was very colourful as Paul and the attendants wore traditional Swiss costumes.

And finally, this photograph speaks volumes to me. It is the reason Brian and I photograph together at a wedding. I was photographing the formal portraits of the new family, Brian was watching for the emotion of the day. He caught the bride gripping her new husband and hanging on tight! I love this photograph for the emotion that is captured. I could not see it as this was behind the groom’s back - but two sets of eyes, two cameras and the moment was forever captured!

Congratulations Charlene and Paul. May your marriage be full of love, laughter, tears of joy, and always be as colourful as the day you were married!

I want to send out a thank you to my blog readers so, for the month of July, we will be holding a posting challenge. At the end of the month, we’ll reward an iTunes gift card to one lucky person who has posted on the blog in July. Want to increase your odds? Post frequently - each post gets you one ticket into the draw!

Good Luck!

I watched from my kitchen the storm clouds start rolling in 30 minutes before I was scheduled to meet with Carrie. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted to achieve with Carrie’s session (she wanted portraits of her playing basketball) and storm clouds were not part of it! But, as the mother of four youngins, I’ve learned to go with the flow and so I did!

I am so glad I did as I think the storm clouds just added to the drama that I wanted to capture with Carrie. Thank you Carrie for sticking it out with me!

I would like to send my congrats to the Hallmark Institute of Photography’s class of 2009! This is a phenomenal school and is an extremely intense course. I loved every single second of it and would love to do it all again! To the newest alumni - we wish you the best of luck in your career’s and suggest you “trust your education”, it will take you to heights you couldn’t imagine!

It’s hard to believe it has now been two years since I graduated! Time sure flies when you are having fun!!!!

I feel blessed and privileged in my work. I continually am amazed at the stories I hear and the journeys I get to photograph. I often sit back and say “wow”. This session was another one that made me say “wow”. It brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face at the same time.

I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich. ~Dan Wilcox

The Rains are a rich family.

When Audrey and I spoke on the phone, she told me she wanted portraits now and portraits again in six months. She went on to share that she and her children have revamped their entire life and because of this, they have lost an astronomical amount of weight together! She wanted to document their weight loss journey so far, and she wanted to come back in six months and record it again. I jumped at the chance to provide this family with images that could showcase their success!

During their session, Audrey, Cindy and Patrick began to share more of their journey with me. They have recently lost the man that made their family unit complete - husband and father, Art. I was touched by their determination, strength and their ability to celebrate the life Art had with them. Audrey told me they had made a list with Art of things he wanted for them before he had to leave them. She said they finished everything on the list but one thing - a photograph of them together towards the end of Art’s battle with cancer. I have volunteered with hospice to do just this and I am sorry that my own journey did not bring me here in time to do this for them.

Congratulations Audrey, Cindy and Patrick on your weight loss. I am looking forward to photographing less of you in six months! Thank you for being a family that is so rich it brought a smile to my face and thank you for allowing me to share in your journey and document it for you.

To my blog readers - please join me in celebrating their success by leaving a note of encouragement to this family. They deserve it!

What has become a Dragon Hare signature image!

“Daddy’s hands were soft and kind when I was crying,
Daddy’s hands were hard as steel when I’d done wrong,
Daddy’s hands weren’t always gentle but I’ve come to understand,
There was always love in Daddy’s hands.”
- from “Daddy’s Hands” by Holly Dunn

My father is a carpenter by trade. I love sitting and watching him shape wood into whatever he dreams up. When we were little, we’d love to spend winter days in my Dad’s wood shop watching him work. He always let us “create” whatever we wanted beside him out of wood from the wood pile. We’d hammer and saw right along with him. My children have the same memory as Poppa always makes time to create a little something out of wood for the kids - from swords, to airplanes to a sailboat!

When I heard this song by Holly Dunn, it immediately made me think of my Dad’s hands working with wood. I love watching him shape something out of nothing! In honour of Father’s Day, I am posting this image of my Dad doing what he loves best.

Thank you to all of the wonderful fathers that I am blessed to have in my life: Daddy Don, Brian, “Grandpa Great”, and “Grandpa Darrell”, and to those that I no longer have but who’s memories continue to keep them close: Uncle Art and Uncle Ken.

Dragon Hare Studios is currently looking for models from the Class of 2010. If you enjoy being in front of the camera and will graduate in June of 2010, contact us today as we want to make you an offer you can’t refuse!!!!

The Vermilion Standard is currently featuring a special Class of 2009 edition. Check out our current ad and congrats to all members of the Class of 2009. May you remember to reach for the stars and achieve all your dreams!

I have been neglecting my blog so I thought tonight I would add in a couple of features that I haven’t done for awhile! I also wanted to give you all a heads up - we are currently attempting to update our website/blog. It has been in the works for awhile now and I figure if I “announce” it here, it will be more incentive for us to get the project finished!

I love to do family portraits on location. When I suggest that we go out around town to clients, the response I get is “in Mannville? Seriously?” I just laugh and point out some of the portraits that were taken around town. I had a request this week to post some that I have done around town. The first may not be as obvious as the second but both were photographed in Mannville a few days ago!

I was worried the most about my oldest daughter suffering through yet another move. Its our third major move in three years. This past semester she has really thrived with dance. As I mentioned below, she dances all the time now. We often hear her chanting her dance moves/timing out as she dances down the hall or around the living room. In the morning before school, she begs me to put on some music and she dances after she is ready for school.

I was attempting to edit some extended family portraits when I came across this series of images from Michigan. They just made me smile and for that reason, they are my new image of the moment.

Jorah dancing on the beach: