Carmen VanDyck Photography

I have been wanting to do this for a while. But there are always reasons why I can’t. You know, no time, too much laundry, sick kids, other peoples images to edit…busy life - you’ve heard them all, and I give them all. So tonight, hubby’s out kids are in bed, and I decided just to sit down and make myself do it!!

I thought I would tell you a little about me, and how I came to this place.

There are a few things in my life that I have always been passionate about. The main one is children. When I was younger and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I just knew that I would work with children. The other is photography. I have such vivid memories of my very first camera, and how much I wanted it. It was a cheap, used camera. I’m not sure if it was my parents, or if they got it for me. But I remember it well. How it felt to click the shutter. The oddly shaped film I had to use with it, and the square photos said film produced. And I have many photos of friends, and family, barbie family photo shoots (true story) and beloved pets. But it never occurred to me that I could turn this love into anything. After high school I travelled and did some modeling in Japan and Korea, and even then, I was always so interested in what cameras the photographers where using and the equipment they used. I loved keeping my polaroids (remember, this was the days before digital photography) and would count the reflections in my eyes to determine lighting, etc. From there I went on to teach preschool. And there, I would bring my camera, and take photos of all the children I taught. Others noticed my interests and would give me books on photography. Still it never occurred to me to do anything with this interest.

This is probably way too much information :o) I’ll try to make it short. It’s all a big build up :o)

And then…I had my son. And I was so madly in love with every square inch of him that I wanted to learn more about taking pictures, so I could take better pictures of every little detail of him. So I found a photography school and spent my saturdays driving down to Vancouver to take a couple of classes in basic and intermediate photography. Knowing how to manually use your camera opens up a whole new world, and I loved the knowledge I gained there. I would say that’s where it started. With my son. Taking his pictures led to friends asking me to take  their kids photos, and on, and on.

I started out as strictly a black and white film photographer. I never thought I would go digital, and I just didn’t like color photos. And this is where I stayed, for quite a while. I too, got into the scrapbooking craze. I bought the magazines and perused all the layouts, and some of the layouts just caught my eye. But it was the photos that I loved so much. I started realizing that they were all the same photographer…a Tara Whitney.

So I googled her, and found her blog and fell in love with her style. Her work. The way she wrote. So many things. I was so inspired. I remember calling one of my closest friends (and she remembers it too) and being just giddy with the feeling of possibility. I felt like I finally found what I really wanted to be… Tara. Haha. Okay, well maybe not her, but that was it! Suddenly neither color, nor digital were off limits. I was driving my kids crazy and bugging friends to experiment with this newfound love of color and non-studio-ness.

Anyways, I have “stalked” her blog for years. Dreaming of the day when I could be in front of her camera. To see how she creates her magic. There are others as well that completely inspire me, but this post is about Tara, and essentially, she is where my love of color and natural light started. We have family in California, where Tara is based, so three time when we had plans to head down south I contacted her, but she was booked solid, until the third time. The third time was the charm, and my dream came true. So here are just a few of my favorites from our time with her. Which was as perfect as I imagined.

*ALL PHOTOS BY TARA WHITNEY* ( www.tarawhitney.com )

I love how we’re kissing the wee man in the background above, right. She has referred to her style as “perfectly imperfect” and I love that. I just felt like she captured us. Who we are together. Partly because we were comfortable enough to be “us”. And I will admit to you, that my husband loathes to have his picture taken. And did this solely for me. But he loves the images too. Happy, happy. More…

Some of my favorites are the ones she captured of me and my kids. Partly because I’m the photographer and I never get to be in the pictures and I LOVE seeing me with my children. They are my life. And it’s going so darn quickly. I wish I could capture every moment, so they would see how loved they are. They are so loved, and I do feel like she captured that.

and me with him. Oh, how I love this man.

more…

I could post them all, and there are many. And there were many I loved in black and white as well, but seen as I was explaining how she made me love color, I figured I should post the color ones. :o)

Tara, I know I’ve said it already, but thank-you. For the photos, for the session, for inspiring me, and challenging me to strive to be better, and to continually grow and try new things and, well, “just be”… Thank-you. You are kinda my hero :o)