finally made her decision...

she will not be attending ACAD in Janurary.
she has decided to venture onto a slighty similer, kind-of-sort-of, path...

Photojournalism.

i want to be & make a difference.

Failure.

i’m not going to lie, this 7-letter word scares the crap out of me.
it’s a word i try not to think about.

as i put more time, energy and money towards building Captured Design, the more it pops into my head.

the more i achieve with this, the more it demands.
all of sudden, there is a million and one things that need to be done.
i feel like i need about 3 more hours in the day, just to get caught up.

i’m sure anyone building their own business feels this way.

so many come and go in this industry, you have to be completely on your game to survive and grow.
it's kind of scary.

but then again,

if you never try, how does one ever succeed.

im going to remind myself to smile when i feel overwhelmed...
because im lucky to be able to have this opportunity to do what i love!
and that there's a crazy amount of people rooting for me.

<3

do what you believe in.

One of the true perks of being a photographer, is being able to volunteer your skills to local causes.

To help provide awareness to the great people & groups that help our city out soo much.

I'm truly honored to be shooting on behalf of Homeless Awareness Calgary, for their 14th Annual Homeless Awareness Week.

September 17th to September 25th, 2010

A week completely filled with truly interesting experiences, talks & fun.

Please visit http://www.homelessawareness.ca/ and get involved this week and all throughout the year.

saturday nights at home.

this turns into this

Pasta with Rosemary Shrimp Scampi

Coarse salt and ground pepper
12 ounces spaghetti
1 pound large (31 to 35) peeled and deveined frozen shrimp, tails on (if desired), thawed
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti until al dente; reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Add shrimp to pot, and stir. Immediately drain spaghetti and shrimp, and set aside (the shrimp will continue to cook).

2. In same pot, heat oil over medium. Add garlic, rosemary, and red-pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until garlic is golden, 1 to 3 minutes. 

3. Remove from heat; return pasta and shrimp to pot. Add lemon juice and enough pasta water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Serves 4

welcome to studio lighting 101...

One of my shots....

me, myself and the photo class.

looking back, i’ve come a long way…

pictures are completely different to those a few years ago. i had talent but now those shots are not even comparable to the ones now.

damn proud of that.

i use to be content with just teaching myself (because its just photos - haha) and had only started this photography program to get that certain piece of paper that would say ‘hey i kind-of-sort-of know what I’m doing’…

it was the best decision I could have made.
i quickly learnt that, even with everything i understood before walking into the classroom, i barely knew anything.

i’ve been blessed with instructors that are amazing, talented photographers.
soo willing and excited to teach what they love.

these classes have been invaluable. experience, tricks of the trade & just the networking alone. but most of all, their passion fuels mine.

soon this program will be over and to be honest, this makes me sad.
i wouldn’t be where I am now without this.

i wouldn’t have people booking me for weddings & events.
i wouldn’t be the official photographer for anything.
i wouldn’t be making the next step into photojournalism.

this whole ‘professional photographer' feels really surreal…