Category Archive

Here is one of the lovely souvenirs my husband managed to pick up during our vacation in Chicago this past summer…

My family and I are having an Election Party tomorrow and if we could legally do so, we would all *totally* Barack the Vote!

To my American photographer (and non-photographer) peeps…I hope ya’ll have cast your vote!!

Well, my trips to Vancouver are becoming less frequent since it’s so expensive to ferry over with my car, but I will be in town soon to shoot another boudoir session at Yaletown’s Opus Hotel. Cindy…it’ll be soooo much fun!!

Since I do receive a lot of inquiries from Vancouver couples regarding wedding photography (and from families and individuals wanting portraits), I thought I’d put this out there: if you are interested in booking an appointment to meet with me while I’m in Vancouver, please either call or e-mail me asap to schedule.

I will be shooting in Vancouver on Friday Oct. 3rd from about 12-4pm, and while I’m planning on being in Vancouver from Friday to Sunday morning, my schedule is somewhat flexible.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Cheers,
cj

The Crown Colony of British Columbia was founded in 1858…and we’ve been celebrating this milestone all year so far! Today, B.C. Day, will be no exception with artists like Feist and Sarah McLachlan performing on stage tonight in Victoria’s Inner Harbour. So exciting!

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a fantastic long weekend and enjoying celebrations with family and friends :)

Cheers,
cj

Off to Vancouver once again to shoot. Of course, photos from the wedding will follow upon my return :) Feel free to dial my cell if you need to reach me.

***

Ummm…the songs from Wicked keep swimming around in my head!!! Funny enough…I also can’t stop thinking *and* laughing about the two gay guys I sailed with who broke out in their highly entertaining version of ‘Defying Gravity’. Matt/David…I soooooo wish we recorded your performance!!

Peak Freans Cranberry Citrus Oat Crunch biscuits. Get them. Seriously.

Oh…and Happy Birthday to yet another friend whose festivities I’ll be missing out on (sorry Ly, Liz, Nat, Bry, Claud, Cliff, Cheryl, lil Payton, lil Rylan, hahaha…I can’t even remember who sent me e-vites for what now). All I know is that whenever ya’ll get together and I’m actually *in* town, I’m always shooting or needing to get on a ferry to get back home and work! Even though I’m the loser friend who always seems to answer ‘no…I’m not coming”, I do appreciate that you still include me in the e-vites :) Whose gonna send me one next? Chiang twins b-day celebrations from Cheryl or Claudia maybe?

Alright…I’m out! Have a great weekend ya’ll!

cj

I’m heading out to Vancouver to shoot…so I’ll be back with some photos! Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I hope that some of you soak up some music at the Jazz Fest!

Peace.
cj

So…I just happened to be looking through my “little ones” gallery on my website, when I came across this image…

Pretty…but definitely not my image…nor is there a little one in it! It was mysteriously added to my gallery somehow. Weird!

Any of my photographer peeps out there recognize it??

I shot this image the other day…

…and it got me thinking…

I don’t drink, but I’ve *always* had an affinity for alcohol bottles (this probably contributed to the fact that we gave away miniature bottles of ice wine as gifts to all our guests on our wedding day). Anyway, I like bottle designs; their different shapes, sizes, and colours. I like the clean and simple labels and the wild and vibrant labels. I like their contents…gold flecks, fruit…hmmm, although I’m not of a fan of the worm myself. I just really love how they look.

Here are some really cool bottle designs that I’ve come across…

Wow. What an odd and random post.

***

Oh…stay tuned for Erin & Chris’s engagement session!!

Cheers,
cj

I’ll be out of the office tomorrow until Monday.  During this time, I will have limited access to e-mail but you can reach me via cell.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers,

cj

with my little Canon p&s…

Hoping that you and your families are enjoying the Easter holiday :)

Blessings,

cj

While my diet does contain a nice balance of chicken, fish, seafood, and more rarely pork and beef, it’s no secret that I do appreciate excellent vegetarian cuisine. In fact, I went completely vegetarian for a whole three weeks at one time, but I did find meal preparation to be a bit difficult. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t so much difficult as I was lazy about trying new vegetarian recipes. I will add, however, that as time goes on, I’m enjoying things like chicken, pork and beef less and less. I also have a problem with handling them in the kitchen and usually leave it to my husband to deal with!

Anyway, this past Christmas, my husband gifted me with a vegetarian cookbook: Rebar - Modern Food Cookbook. While I liked the whimsical and colourful cover and took note of some interesting recipes that looked worthy of replicating in my kitchen, I thought it was another one of those gifts that my husband got for me only because he really liked it himself! Hahaha!

Here’s an excerpt from a review I found on the internet…

The Angle

Rebar modern food cookbook is a compilation of upscale mostly vegetarian cuisine, with about 25% of its recipes vegan and some additional recipes easily made vegan. The book does contain several fish recipes, which can be conveniently ignored for a vegetarian menu, or included for a pescivorous plan.

The recipes lend themselves to fresh, seasonal cooking. Nutrition and nourishing are obviously important as well. Rebar practices what it preaches by using healthy whole food ingredients, including some more obscure items like wheat grass. Recipes for from-scratch basics (that most home cooks stopped preparing with the advent of the ice box) provide a base for more involved recipes.

But don’t be fooled – Rebar is definitely not an old-school vegetarian hangout. In fact, it has risen above the stereotypical vegetarian fare (so, so, far above) to include modern delicacies such as Rebar Caesar salad (p. 18, no anchovies!) and yam and pepita quesadillas (p. 102). Its gourmet brunch recipes are fantastic!

The Audience

Rebar is not a cookbook for beginners; though its scope is broad. Some recipes (such as kung pao noodles, p. 167) have ingredient listings as long as your arm - and heaven forbid one doesn’t read the entire recipe first, only to discover halfway into cooking that one “ingredient” is actually a separate recipe found in the “basics” section. Other recipes are shorter and sweeter (such as brie bagel melt, p. 89). For the more experienced cook, rebar provides opportunities to experiment with new flavours and exotic ingredient like sui choi, sambal oelek, and wild mushrooms.

For most of us that fall between these extremes, there are plenty of everyday gourmet recipes interspersed with dinner party-worthy fare.

Anyway, Cameron and I have recreated fourteen recipes so far and I now deem it my absolute favourite cookbook! If you’re vegetarian/vegan (or not), you like to cook and bake, and you like to try new recipes with exotic, complex, and exciting flavours, I definitely, without hesitation invite you to check this awesome compilation.  As mentioned in the review, some of the recipes are fussy…like *really* fussy…but the rewards far surpass any hardships you might endure in the kitchen :)

Please do yourself a favour and go check it out on Amazon now!  Rebar - Modern Food Cookbook

Ha! I just came across this little gem…it’s a seating layout of my own wedding reception venue. Drawn by yours truly in Powerpoint! *lol* Not surprisingly, the venue manager said that she had never come across such an organized bride. Organized??? More like obsessive compulsive. I’ve got a case of OCD no doubt and I readily admit it.

My wedding planning had taken over my life and my dining room table on which crafting implements were strewn about. Don’t even ask me how long it took me to design our wedding invite…which might I add was pretty damn awesome if you ask me!

Anyway, a well thought out plan and super organization kept us on top of everything leaving us so relaxed during the days leading up to our wedding. On top of this, our wedding played out super smoothly and Cameron and I were completely able to kick back, relax, and enjoy the beauty of our wonderful day!

So to all you couples out there planning for your big day…have a good plan but as I’ve said before, don’t sweat the small stuff (even all ya’ll fellow OCDers). Enjoy the journey as well as the destination!

It’s a surprise gift for her husband-to-be so we can’t run the risk of him finding out before their wedding day! If you’d like to see what I was up to in Vancouver this past weekend, please e-mail me for the post password.

Cheers,

cj

p.s. - the images are uber hot :)

Like many others, I have heard portions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech over the years.  Simply powerful words.  However, the first time I watched the original footage of Dr. King delivering his speech in entirety in a college class a few years ago, I was somewhat surprised at my reaction.  My upper lip quivered uncontrollably and tears quietly rolled down my cheeks.  I was somewhat thankful for the cloak of darkness that concealed my red eyes, but as soon as the professor turned up the lights after the speech played through, I realized that I wasn’t the only one in the room who was deeply affected.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

***

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

ELF!!! I’ve already watched it several times, but I never get tired of it. It’s such an incredibly funny and heartwarming movie!  Will Ferrell is a comedic genius as far as I’m concerned.

What else will Cameron and I watch during the holiday season?

Die Hard movies (Cam’s favourite)

Probably something animated since I love cartoons (I especially love watching them at night)

Some episodes of The Office (the original British version…sooooo freakin’ hilarious)

I’d say 24, but we’re up-to-date! Cam and I are in *love* with Jack Bauer.

ELF!

I really want to see March of the Penguins again. Baby animals melt my heart, but baby penguins are just completely on a whole different level. No doubt I’ll be constantly squealing out loud and saying “Oooooooh…I WANT ONE!!!!” while watching the show.

Anyway, I’m not sure how much time we’ll really have to watch everything since we’re currently in the process of renovating at the house.  Renos around the holidays seem to be a regular occurence with us Scotts, but it’s always well worth it especially since I’ll be moving into a brand new and awesomely spacious office separate from our immediate living space.  Yay :)

Alright, gotta get painting.  Happy Thursday folks!

cj

…the holiday logs are on tv.  I even waited once for that mysterious hand + poker to appear on the screen and stoke the fire!

Christmas is coming and the Scott household is already buzzing with holiday joy.  Our tree is up (it smells sooo nice!), the decorations are out, and Cam and I are thoroughly enjoying our advent calendar chocolates.  Hardcore Christmas baking of cookies and other awesome treats will begin tomorrow and hopefully I’ll be done with my shopping this week!  Of course, I’ve been making sure to shop a little bit for myself as well…haha.

Hey everyone,

I will be out of the office to attend a seminar in Vancouver until Friday and I will have limited access to e-mail.  I can, however, be reached via cell.

Have a fantastic week…I know I will :)

Cheers,

cj

A cold.  I thought I could go all year without catching one, but unfortunately, I caught one.  No…correction…it caught me!

Of course, it doesn’t help that this irritating cold virus happily incubated in my husband first.  Needless to say, editing while intoxicated on a cocktail of acetaminophen, pseudoephedrine HCl, dextromorphan HBr, and the other stuff you find in Nyquil, can be rather difficult.  In fact, after ingesting a dose of this yucky medicine yesterday afternoon, I sat at my desk thinking I could still edit no problem.  Instead, I felt myself crashing quickly and I think I just stared blankly at my computer for the longest time.  You know…like when you’re in bed reading a book, but due to sheer fatigue, you just end up reading the same lines over and over again.  Especially funny since you know that you’re tired and sleepy, but for some reason, you just won’t put the book down?!?

Unfortunately, this won’t be a resting weekend as I will be shooting again in Vancouver…a wedding on Saturday and my first boudoir shoot on Sunday!  Despite my cold, I know that it will be great to visit Vancouver again.  So…I will be out of the office tomorrow and back after the weekend.

Stay tuned!

Cheers,

cj

Some much needed comic relief…and a quick break from editing!

If you’re interested, check out this article in popphoto.com about this hilarious photographer duck and his creator, Aaron Johnson.

BTW…right-clicking and saving any of my images here is a big no-no!!!

I hate to say it, but you do sometimes get what you pay for.  For real.

Ha! This is me lately!!

Hahaha!  Please don’t get it all twisted though folks…I do what I do first and foremost because I love it.

Cheers,

cj

I’ve been editing like a mad woman for a while now and I can’t quite see the light at the end of the tunnel just yet. I will surely do a dance of joy once I finally get a nice long break!!! In the meantime, Amy Winehouse has still been keeping me company. Totally killing her CDs in here. I get crazy like that though…if I really like a song, I can play it for what seems like forever before I get sick of it. I won’t say how many times I’ve played her albums.

So…to mix it up a bit, I started pulling some older CDs off my shelf and rediscovered Marc Anthony’s ‘Libre’ album (viva Puerto Rico!). Probably one of my most favourite Latin albums ever. I know every song, and while I might garble some of the words, my singing in Spanish isn’t too shabby! I’ve also listened to Lauryn Hill’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ album ad nauseum. It seriously rocks my world. Just her voice and her guitar…no fluff included.

Hmmm…what else? Oh, our vegetable garden has been completely neglected. I so don’t have the time to weed…or water…ha! Honey…if you’re reading this…I’m sorry but I just can’t keep up with the harvesting of the lettuce, pac choi or gai lan right now. And yes, I know that we have to plant the garlic…

Oh! Cameron and I checked into a hotel to ‘get away’ (downtown Victoria…lol) for the weekend. We wanted to do something nice to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary and just go somewhere to really rest and relax. I’ve been stuck at the computer for hours everyday and Cam has been busy with work and travelling to class in Vancouver every Monday evening and catching really early ferries on Tuesday mornings to go straight to work. So…we needed a quick break.

We slept a lot, watched a few movies, ate at nice restaurants (Pescatore’s and Sanuk), indulged in fine chocolate and that nice bottle of wine we received on our wedding day. We also had lunch at a cool pub in the charming Cook Street Village, dining on chicken wings and beer (for Cam) while we watched the Seahawks game :)

Honey…year five…back in NYC…even if we have a little one!

Alright, back to work. Happy Thursday folks!

cj

Jesh de Rox is coming to Vancouver to conduct one of his experiential workshops in November and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

I remember the first time I visited his website…I was up doing some late night editing and around 1:00 am, I started to tear up as I was unexpectedly touched by the beautiful imagery in front of me. Since then, I have returned to his site many times and I’ve cried more than once. His work is simply other worldly and while he is a man of few words, you can’t help but feel connected to him.

Jesh - it was an absolute pleasure meeting you last month and I look forward to seeing you again and the experience in Vancouver.

cj

Everyone has seen that interesting Dove Evolution ad right? The model sits down, the lights come on, the makeup artists and hair stylists get to work, the fan is switched on to get her hair blowing around, and the photographer comes along and proceeds with the shoot.

Next in line is the magic of any photographer’s friend, Photoshop. Lift, stretch, pinch, plump…the already pretty photograph of the model goes through a rigorous editing process for ‘enhancement’. Actually, the image wasn’t just enhanced…it was transformed. A creation of sorts…and quite amazing.

I personally prefer to only enhance an image. Get it right in camera off the bat, then lightly give it a bit of Photoshop lovin’. Okay…some images might need a *lot* more lovin’ than others, and while I’ve been guilty myself of over-processing in the past, I really do like to keep it simple (especially since editing thousands of images takes a lot of work and time!). All that being said, it truly is amazing the skill of some people when it comes to hard core post-processing.

We all like to look our best in photographs right? Now imagine if you were a celebrity and constantly under the scrutiny of the public eye? Talk about pressure hey? Check this out and click on ‘portfolio’ at the top. See the before and afters as you move your mouse over the images. Amazing! Even celebrities don’t always look picture perfect.

July 24, 2007

Vancouver Island takes the top spot as the best island to visit in Canada as well as the Continental US!

“Readers of Travel + Leisure magazine have named Vancouver Island “The Best Island in the Continental US and Canada,” in the magazine’s annual World’s Best Awards readers’ survey. Vancouver Island was also voted the sixth best island in the world in the company of exceptional island destinations such as Bali, Maui, Kauai, Galapagos, and Santorini.”

Check out the article here .

Of course people love Vancouver Island!  All you have to do is check out downtown Victoria to see all the excited tourists flocking around the beautiful Inner Harbour.  It also helps that Victoria has the mildest climate in all of Canada!  I’m so happy to call this place home :)

Because simple is HOT…according to the new album vendor I intend to work with :) Stay tuned for images of my new album!

So…keeping it simple. What does that mean to me and what I offer to you as a client?

You get me, my time, my vision. I shy away from offering 30 8×10s, 20 5×7s, 50 4×6s, albums in every colour of the rainbow with silk covers, metallic covers, plastic covers, prints in every size/paper/texture available, and other odd miscellaneous products on which you can imprint photographs.

Why not offer all those things?

Simply because I feel that it isn’t about the ’stuff’. It’s about the photography first and foremost. You get me without all that added fluff! Cool huh?

Happy Thursday, folks…the weekend is near!

cj