Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES | Re-Visit the Dress Winter 2014

I absolutely love winter photo shoots! I'm so happy with this session and how everything came together so beautifully! I had an excellent team to help make this concept come to life. Big thank you to Shannon of Beauty has Endless possibilities for doing an awesome job on make-up. And Angela of Anjera Hair Design + Anjera Kanzashi Design  who did hair and supplied a beautiful gold sunburst necklace. My aunt Raelene who found me the fur stole at a little boutique in Vernon that I was so desperately searching for. Our lovely model Jodi, who braved the cold, and to Opal of Opal Michel Photos for collaborating with me again on this Yuletide concept. A BIG Thank you to you all :D

After seeing an image posted on Kamloops Photographers Network of a pipe that had burst out at Pine park along Tranquille creek we knew we had to check it out as a possible location as the snow this year has been a little scarce. When I went out there scouting it was a beautiful sunny day and I actually passed the location with the pipe burst the first time without noticing it lol. On my way back I thankfully seen it and investigated further, I'm glad that I did ;)

Although on the day of the photo shoot the icicles were more ice blobs from all the build up in some areas and there aren't as many pine trees as I would have hoped for - seriously don't know why they called it pine park- I'm happy with how the images turned out and had fun despite the cold, poor Jodi, what a trooper. So without further adieu ......

Kamloops B.C, Photographer XO CAPTURES | Winter Portrait Photograpy 2014 -

I was delighted when I received a text from this beauty asking if I had any time for a winter photo shoot. Not only do I love winter photos but I really liked working with her this past summer as she's so sweet and wonderful to be around.

I live just north of town and the snow seemed to be getting heavier, so I warmed up my vehicle and set off a bit earlier so that I wouldn't be rushed if the roads were bad. It wasn't snowing as hard in town and by the time we pulled up to the location the snow had moved on.

I felt bad for my lovely client all dressed up and looking good in a skirt and here I am bundled up like a marshmallow and still chilly. We had a nice little walk/ tried not to biff it on the sheer ice on parts of the walkway. Seen a hawk chilling on a branch - took these lovely images ... then speed walked our frozen tushes back to the tramp ( aka my crv - has horrible tribal decals which I refer to as tramp stamps) I love snowy images so I added in snow falling in post processing - giving her both the edit with and without the snow in case it's not to her liking. I think it was worth venturing out into the cold and will be doing it again this Thursday for my creative collaboration with Opal Michel Photos  , Beauty has Endless Possibilities and Anjera Hair Design. Stay tunned and stay warm ;)

Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES | Artistic Portrait Collaboration with Opal Michel photos - Behind the Scenes + More

As promised.... a little bit of behind the scenes from my collaboration with Opal Michel Photos.

Opal did hair and make-up on our lovely model - who believe it or not has a 4 month old! Props to her for coming out and spending the day with us. 

We started off with combining a few concepts - some big wild hair to start of course

Alexis putting o her younique mascara which she so kindly convinced me to try lol it really was a pretty amazing difference.

then we moved onto make-up - something bold 

Always a good idea to have your concept inspirations at hand ;) Pinterest is my fav

Adding a bit of red as a finishing touch. And off to our location we went.

The lighting in this spot was pure magic. I was in awe of the images I was capturing and the amazing haze we were getting. Here's Opal chimping with our model, showing her how awesome she looked ;)

A few adjustments - addition of the antlers that I borrowed from my Uncle and I make-shift attached to a headband with some black lace so that I could easily return them without any damage.

And Bam! 

Here's a SOOC ( straight out of camera ) and finished edit  Before and After shot. 

Thank you again to all those who helped out or contributed to this stylised session. It was nice to be shooting something totally different and have such creative freedom. And just one more image from this lovely session .....

Be sure to check back for the upcoming Winter beauty session in early December ;)

Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES | Childrens photographer - "little angel"

I haven't had a chance to take any Christmas photos quite yet as I was hoping for snow ;) but really wanted to re-create an old postcard that I had seen. It was a child posing as an angel with her hands under her chin and looking up, as if she was looking towards heaven. I found it so striking and had to give it a go with my little angel  - who by the way was a little devil during this shoot! There is a possibility of me re-doing this shoot but I thought I would share anyhow :) 

Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES | Artistic Collaboration With Opal Michel Photos

This past Tuesday I paired up with Opal Michel Photos to do an artistic collaboration and it was really nice to do something a little different for a change. The day went by so fast! We started with Opal doing hair and make-up while we all chatted and got to know each other and then off we went to our location.

We had gone out and scouted the location prior and because I wasn't sure where the path actually was, we made out own, kind of. Ya we pretty much were crawling around in sage brush and cactus thinking what have we got ourselves into lol. We ran into a couple and decided to see if they knew where the path was located and they unfortunately had the same question for us. Oh well, I really like hiking and I didn't mind the poky things and dirt that filled my shoes all that much and the occasional cactus that found its way onto my pant leg or sole of my runners. The next day I got a guided tour from my aunt who is part of Kamloops Ventures, so she actually knew where she was going, unlike myself. Thankfully that path, that was actually a path, was far less steep and wasn't riddled with cactus.

It was such a beautiful sunny day and our lovely model was so easy to work with and up for anything, which was awesome because we strapped some antlers on her head that I borrowed from my Uncle (thank you again). Everything went great and we had some pretty sweet lighting going on, especially at the end when we were pretty much running down the path to the grassy area at the bottom before the sun disappeared on us - or at least I was lol. All in all I would say that the shoot went well and I am quite happy with how things turned out. Opal was great to work with and it's really neat to see how two people can be in the same place and taking the same shots and they can look so different. I love that we could learn from each other and share our knowledge.

Thank you to everyone who had a part in making this come together :)
Thank you Opal for sharing this experience, your knowledge and mad skills. Thank you to My Aunt Raelene who took me out to show me the way around and also for my awesome fur blanket ( b-day gift) I love it ! Thank you to my Uncle for the use of your antlers. Thank you to Alexis for being a part of this project and being an awesome model. It was great to work with you and thanks for letting me try your younique mascara lol. And thank you to all my friends and family who are ceaselessly supportive of all my hair brained ideas. And to you for actually taking the time to read this - I assume that you must like what you see - so that makes me happy.

I will be doing a behind the scenes post but be patient with me though, I'm getting old ya know. So for now here are a few shots for you to enjoy :)

Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES | website under construction

I just thought that I would let you all know, in case you were wondering why the images from my most recent sessions aren't up on the website... www.xocaptures.com is currently under construction and will be fully updated in January. As soon as it's published everything will be up to date!

 I believe that there is always room for improvement and aspire to keep learning and improving my craft. I do dabble in many forms of photography but have decided to concentrate primarily on Maternity, Newborns and Beauty as my main focus. I have some projects under way that will start unfold throughout the coming months which include collaborations, so stick around and I hope you like what you see :)

Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES - Christmas Cards

SO I thought that I would post the Christmas card templates for those of you who are interested in adding a personal touch to their Christmas card this year. For those who will be booking their family sessions 20 cards + envelopes will be included in the price. There are the options of folded or flat cards. The insides of the folded cards are customizable so that it can say whatever message you'd like and the backs of the flat cards can have a messaged added if you'd like as well :) 

More info of Christmas packages coming soon - to stay up to date follow XO CAPTURES on facebook 

Folded 5x7 card options

card 1

 card 2

card 3

card 4 

card 5

 card 6

Lay Flat 5x7 Christmas Card options

card 1 

 card 2 

 card 3

 card 4

Kamloops Photographer - XO CAPTURES | Portraits Autumn 2014 | J

The other day I got to spend the afternoon with my very awesome childhood babysitter - turned friend. 

Not only did we manage to capture some beautiful warm autumn colours but some gorgeous images of someone who is a truly amazing and beautiful person, inside and out. I also snapped a couple quick shots of the lovely young lady that she takes care of and her boyfriend who tagged along with us.

Thanks for the lovely afternoon J, and as I always say...

" Friends are the Family we choose for ourselves."

Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES - Autumn 2014 The Great Pumpkin

Only 20 more days left until All Hallows Eve!!! One of my favourite days of the year! Probably one of your child's favourites too? Perhaps that has something to do with the candy? Am I right? I know I like free candy so I can't blame them. So as some of you know for the past 3 years I've shared one of my favourite new traditions that I will only actually be using for the first time myself this Halloween! This year will be my first time taking my daughter out which I'm super excited about !!! :D 

But back on topic... A wonderful Halloween tradition which allows for you to perhaps convince your child into giving up some of those sweets - willingly! You can find the absolutely FREE printable here and The steps as listed on the Shabby Blog site are listed below.

 You can do as you please with the candy - I know I'll personally end up satisfying my own sweet tooth - and boy has fun sized has seriously shrunk since I was a kid! I mean they should really call them indifferent sized bar or something like that because when your chocolate bar is an eight of the size of the real thing its not fun, just plain old disappointing.

Enjoy, and if you think this is an awesome idea or have a great tradition of your own please feel free to leave it in the comments :) I'd love to know that someone out there is actually reading these posts lol Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving weekend 

1.  Dress up, have fun, collect candy to your heart's content.

2.  Let each of your kids choose 6 pieces of their favourite candy from their stash that they can gobble up right then or save for later...which they never do.  (You can set that number at whatever you want, of course, but I found that 6 is enough to give my kids enough sugar that they are excited, but not so much that Child Protective Services comes to lock me up, you know?)

3.  After they have taken out the candy they like most, put the rest in The Pumpkin Pot.  We use a picnic basket that I spray-painted orange and tied cute ribbons on, but you can use whatever you want!

4.  Get in a line and march around the house, costumes still on, making an ungodly amount of noise to let The Great Pumpkin know what you're up to.  End your pumpkin parade just outside your front door where you will place your The Pumpkin Pot and (dramatically) kiss that candy good-bye!

5.  Send your little ones to bed giddy as can be because they know that while they are asleep, dreaming of hayrides and heaps of leaves, The Great Pumpkin is coming to your house!!!  He comes after midnight and takes their sugary heap of candy so he can then give it to the fire department or the police department or the armed forces.  One year he even gave my kids' candy to a local food bank.

- See more at: http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.ca/2012/10/the-great-pumpkin-i-printable.html#sthash.rJ4TOWCs.dpuf

HALLOWEEN + FALL FAMILY MINI SESSIONS - Kamloops Photographer XO CAPTURES

HEY! I completely forgot to post about my mini sessions here on the blog! Yikes! The website is currently under construction  - Always room for improvement right!? Anyhow that means that silly old me did not update the mini sessions on my events page so I've merely been posting on facebook about them - So in case you missed one of those posts here's the run down ....

HALLOWEEN MINI + FAMILY SESSIONS 2014 

October 6th -15th 

Fall Family Sessions - 1 hour outdoor session  / 20 images via online gallery $100 

Halloween Mini Sessions - 20 minute outdoor session at the lovely Rae Mor Park / 5 images via online gallery + Facebook timeline cover $50

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!!!! Donate new unworn socks and receive $10 off your session price for #SOCKTOBER! All Socks are donated to the homeless within our community! 

Email-  xo.captures@gmail.com to book -or- go to the contact page on my website www.xocaptures.com