I'm Back... with a few updates!

I had a wonderful holiday with my family in August, now it's time to get back to work, get ready for school and get organized!! While my time off was wonderful it was tinged with some sadness with a passing of a great friend of mine, so I did a quick trip to Vancouver to be there for her family. It also brought home the need to hug your kids, hug your spouse and tell everyone how much you love them, and how much they mean to you.

Right after my holidays I was treated to the beauty of two newborn babies, a cute boy and a sweet little girl. I also had the opportunity to shoot an 7 month old baby girl I met as a tiny one week old back in February. Read on, as I will dedicate a post to each, because each deserve their moment to shine!

Finally, my Photographing Your Children Photography Workshop is coming up in just a few short weeks. I'm looking forward to another fun session with parents and grand-parents teaching them how to use their SLR the way it's meant to be used and to start capturing the essence of their kids in a more creative way. There are about 4 spots remaining, and if you pop on over to my Facebook Fan page at: Christine Denis Photography on Facebook and become a fan of mine, you will qualify for 15% off your registration fee totaling $57 off!! For those who can not attend, but would like to offer up your 3-10 year olds as models for the practical session on Saturday from 12-3, contact me at info [at] christinedenis.com.

For more information on this Ottawa Photography Workshop please visit: HarryNowell.com.

Now stay tuned for some newborn beauty!

Teaching Mom ~ Ottawa Photography Workshop

Last month, I put on my Photographing Your Children Workshop which was a great success and loads of fun, unfortunately this Mom was on vacation during the course, so I put on a private workshop just for her. On Saturday, we met at a park for the practical session, bringing our kids along as our models. It was HOT, but the kids didn't seem to notice and had a good time sliding swinging and jumping off of picnic tables! I find it amazing how two strangers, 3 and 5 years old, can just meet and then play together so well for 2 hours, I only wish adults were so accommodating! ;) Here is a peek at our time at the park learning about, Aperture, Shutter Speed, and photographing your children - in the heat!

Ottawa Photography Workshop ~ Mom's Mastering Their DSLRs

This weekend was day two of the Photographing Your Children workshop held here in central Ottawa. First off, I must say that the moms attending my class are so fun! They are eager to master their DSLR's and get more creative when it comes to photographing their children or grand children!

Day one and the morning of day two covered the concepts of capturing their children and the "technical" aspects of their cameras - Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO and more. The afternoon of Day two was the practical session, where I recruited a few "models", to come out to a local park and just play! We had 5 beautiful little girls, all under the age of 6, and they were all excellent subjects. They gave our attendees a wide variety of personalities, all being interested in different things at the park, some willing to pose, others not, representing the reality that is when it comes to photographing your children.

I'm so happy to report that they went from knowing nothing about how their camera worked, just sticking it on Auto or P mode, to shooting in full Manual Mode for the practical session. I even had one attendee say that she had a glimmer of light start and understanding the concepts start to form! I was very happy and excited to hear that!

The final Tuesday will be all about "after shooting", touching on downloading, backing up, cataloging and post processing. But for now, I wanted to share some of the images I captured from the practical session, some of the students in action and some of the models in action!

For those who missed out, don't worry!! I'm going to hold the workshop again in September, after the craziness of school is done, and just before the leaves change, giving you the opportunity to master your camera for those beautiful fall pictures of your family. The dates are: September 14, 18 and 21st. Visit HarryNowell.com for more info or contact me!

Model Casting Call ~ Ottawa Photography Workshop

Do you have children between the ages of 4-8 who LOVE to play at the park?? My photography workshop in Ottawa South and will need a few kids to come out and help us practice what we've learned on Saturday June 12th!! The workshop is taking place near St.Paul's University on Main Street and we will be heading over to a playground nearby at 12:00 noon to 3:00pm to practice photographing children in action!

As a "Thank You" for helping me out, you will receive a complimentary 8x10 image of your children taken during the workshop, AND You will be entered into a draw to receive a $100 print credit with me!

Contact me info[at]christinedenis.com for more information and details!

Learn To Use Your DSLR Creatively And Capture Your Kids For Life ~ Ottawa Photography Workshop

Are you frustrated with the images you are taking of your kids?? Are they blurry, often of the backs of their heads as they run away, cheesy and predictable? Do you own a nice Point and Shoot or a Digital SLR, but have no idea how to use it other than in the Auto Mode (green box)? Do you want to learn how to shoot like a pro? Then I am happy to tell you that I have a workshop for you!

I'm proud to announce my new workshop for Moms - Photographing Children!! (Actually, it's not only for Moms but for Dads, Grand-mas, Grand-pas, Sisters, Brothers, Aunts etc... you get my point!!)

The workshop is broken down into 3 parts. During the first part, I cover the basics of how a DSLR (or nice P.S.) works in everyday language, so it's easy to grasp the concepts of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO (I promise NO MATH will be used during this entire workshop!!). I will go over basic composition, basic lighting, and explain the different types of lenses and how they work.

The second part of the workshop is using your camera creatively to capture the lives of your children, in every detail and emotion. The idea is to teach you how to use photography to tell stories by taking photos in a creative ways. The approach is to steer clear of predictable photos ("smile for the camera") and frustrating yourselves by "posing" active, and busy kids!

The third part of the workshop is reviewing the photos that were taken based on the "homework" I gave in the previous session; Teaching the basics of post processing images using Photoshop Elements or Lightroom. I will also go over storing/cataloging and backing up of your image files, and introduce digital scrapbooking or album design.

It's a 3 day workshop taking place on: Tuesday June 8th, 6-9 pm; Saturday June 12th, 9-3 (I will have "live" models here to apply all the skills you have learned); and Tuesday June 15th, 6-9. Location TBD, but it will take place in Central Ottawa.

Contact me, or visit the workshop website Harry Nowell.com to register! Space is limited!