Giving Back’ Category

One thing that we feel very strongly about is that we need to give back, to share our skills with others. We feel so blessed to be able to do the work that we do and to live the life of privilege that we do. By privilege we don’t mean that we live in a giant mansion or that we have oodles of fancy things. We feel privileged just to live in a beautiful city where we are free to do what we want, to have a roof over our heads, to have the love of our family and friends and to be able to look after our basic needs without worry.

That is why we work with the Tiny Light Foundation locally. We also have been lucky enough to be able to donate our photgraphy overseas. Roger went on a trip to Northern Thailand in 2007, photographing hill tribesmen for a small NGO. In 2008 we went to Cambodia and visited a few different orphanages around Phnom Penh taking pictures to help NGOs with their fundraising efforts. The photo above is one that we took of an adorable little girl in an orphanage in Phnom Penh. We have it hanging up in our studio as a reminder to us to give back.

In February we are going back to South East Asia to visit Vietnam. The trip is a vacation for us, however we still wanted to find an NGO that we could work with while we were over there. We thought about going back to Phnom Penh to revisit the orphanages however we realized that we would like to help some new people. We were about to start searching for an NGO when we received an email from our dear friend, Craig, in Tokyo who we are going to visit at the end of the trip. He told us that he has a friend who is working with families who lost everything in the tsunami last year, taking pictures for them to help them rebuild their family photo albums. Craig asked us if we would like to participate in the Photohoku Project and without any hesitation we said yes. Craig is very kindly trying to coordinate our 4 days in Japan with the Photohoku Project. It will be an unforgettable experience for us for sure. The thing is, we’ve found that when we give to others, we are always blown away by how much we receive back.

Last week we photographed our second Tiny Light, little Daniel who was born with a heart condition and had to undergo surgery in his first few days of life. When we met this precious little guy, he was 14 days old. He was on the mend and doing really well, which warmed our hearts. Daniel comes from a large family and has 6 big brothers and sisters. Having all 9 members of the family in our studio was so fun. They really burst our studio into life. I asked Daniel’s parents, Amery & Christiane, if their house is ever quiet. Amery told me that when it is, they know the kids are getting into trouble. We really enjoyed meeting this remarkable family. Daniel is surrounded by a lot of love, that is for sure.

Thank you, Christiane, Amery, Daniel, Stephanie, Michelle, Emilie, Cole, Jacob & Andrew, for a great photo session.

Holly & Roger

Daniel supported by his family.

Isn’t he sooo cute?

A cry and a cuddle from Dad.

Little Daniel with his Mom & Dad

Don’t you love all of his hair?

The whole family!

We were very excited to head out and do our first family portrait session for the Tiny Light Foundation. Our first Tiny Light was the adorable little Nicholas who was born a month early on Christmas day. Just 2 weeks after he was born Nicholas was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Nicholas’ mom, Sheryl, wrote into the Tiny Light Foundation hoping for some cute baby photos of Nicholas. We were so happy to head to their home and help capture Nicholas in his tiny and sweet stage of life. Nicholas’ big brother, Jake, was also adorable smothering his little brother with lots of love.

Thank you, Sheryl, Jake & Nicholas for welcoming us into your home. We really enjoyed spending time with you.  We hope we’ll get to see you all again soon.

Holly & Roger

I loved how Nicholas’ golden hair was glowing in the sunlight. So so cute.

Isn’t he precious?

Proud big brother and pretty cute himself, Jake.

Nicholas is such a little sweetie.

These photos of the boys together are so sweet.

This is one of my favourite photos from the session.