Thank you, Rama, Bill, Sean & Nikka, for a great family photo session. We really enjoyed meeting all of you.

Roger’s lighting set up in the trees.

We loved seeing Sean & Nikka making each other laugh as only siblings can do.Aren’t Bill & Rama a lovely couple?

We were so touched when Sheryl booked us to take some baby photos at home of the new addition to their family, little Alexa. You may remember Alexa’s older brother, Nicholas, who was our first Tiny Light. We were thrilled to see the family again and to see how well Nicholas is doing. Nicholas is cuter than ever and he still has awesome crazy hair. His big brother Jake cracked us up. Jake even told me when we came in that he remembered that I was allergic to dogs and that he was always thinking. Alexa is absolutely adorable.

Thank you Sheryl, Tim, Jake, Nicholas & Alexa for a great family photo session. We really loved seeing how much the boys have grown and getting to meet Alexa. Thank you for having us in your home.

Isn’t Alexa super cute?Big brother Jake was being his usual feisty and hilarious self.At first Nick wasn’t sure what to make of usBut he warmed up quickly and made us all giggleAnytime we’re feeling a little down we just have to look at these photos of cheerful little Nick. Doesn’t he just melt your heart and make you smile? I love these photos of the family together

We were so thrilled when Anita & Eldwin called to let us know that they needed another belly to baby photography session since they were expecting their second child, Ethan. It is really special for us to capture such important moments in Anita & Eldwin’s life together as their family grows. Roger photographed Anita in our studio for her maternity photos (didn’t she look great?) and then we went to their home for Ethan’s newborn photos. Ethan is absolutely adorable and Caden is just as feisty as ever.

Thank you, Anita, Eldwin, Caden & Ethan, for letting us capture your family memories.

Oh those cheeks! We couldn’t believe how big Caden is now!

Well, friends, we are taking off for a much needed vacation. We’re escaping the grey Vancouver winter to backpack around Vietnam. We are so looking forward to having this adventure together. The other day we realized that the last time that we had a trip with just the two of us with no other purpose other than to explore was our honeymoon 3 years ago. Long overdue, for sure! We love South East Asia and we can’t wait to see more of it. Above is one of our pics of Angkor Wat from our trip to Cambodia in 2009.

Our lovely friend in Tokyo was trying to organize a trip for us shooting with Photohoku which unfortunately has fallen through. We are bummed about this but you know what? We realized that is OK and we’ve given ourselves permission to just relax and play on this trip. Who knows, maybe along the way another oppourtunity to volunteer with our photography may pop up.

The best way to get a hold of us while we’re gone is by email at roger@unionphotographers.com or holly@unionphotographers.com. We won’t be checking our voicemails while we are gone. We will be back at work on March 10th.

Enjoy the next few weeks. We’ll think of you while we’re having our daily drink from a fresh, cold coconut. Mmmm.

We were so excited when our super fabulous web developer, Steve, told us this he and his wife Jordanne were expecting their first child. We had Steve & Jordanne in the studio in December so that Roger could capture some maternity portraits of beautiful Jordanne. When their son, Lucas, arrived we headed over to their home when Lucas was just 11 days to take some newborn portraits of his tiny cuteness. It was so lovely for us to see how happy Jordanne & Steve are and we adored meeting Lucas. He is so so cute.

Congratulations, Steve & Jordanne, on the birth of your son. We are so very happy for you three!

Holly & Roger

Isn’t Lucas so adorable?

Hanging onto Dad

More major cuteness. Poor Jordanne & Steve had to listen to us constantly comment on Lucas’ adorableness.

Lucas’ tiny little feet

Quit bugging me, Roger, I’m trying to sleep!

Kisses from Mom

So much joy

What a lovely family

Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve we met up with Chris & Belanina and their family for some family portraits in Stanley Park. The whole family were in town for the holidays so it was a perfect time to take some portraits. We loved how Belanina and her sister Serena happened to have their children so close together. Their boys are are few months apart in age and their baby girls are about a month apart. Isn’t that so lovely? The boys, Hayden & Griffen, were so cute in their jeans and ties. Roger lit the portraits since it was a bit of a gloomy December day. We lucked out in that the rain held off until right at the end of the portrait session.

Thank you so much the Brants, the Gomes’, the Reeves and Great Grandma Maria for a lovely portrait session.

Holly & Roger

I love these portraits that Roger took at the end of the session of Hayden & Griffen. Aren’t the boys so cute?

We were so excited to get to meet the newest member of our Union family, little Ollie, son of the lovely Gabi & Mike. Ollie is an adorable little guy with big chubby cheeks and a gorgeous gummy smile. We loved seeing how happy Gabi & Mike are and to see them full of love for Ollie. We feel so honoured to help Gabi & Mike capture these amazing milestones in their life together.

Congratulations, Gabi & Mike, on the arrival of Ollie. He is so so cute! We hope we’ll see you all again soon.

Holly & Roger

What ya doing, Roger?

Come on, Ollie, give us a smile!

I won’t smile for you, Holly. I look too dashing in my cardigan and don’t want to ruin my image!

That’s what I needed! Kisses from my Dad, tickling me with his Movember mo.

And some snuggles from my Mom.

In the end all of the excitement of the shoot tuckered little Ollie out.

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.

On this cold and dark wintery day we’re enjoying getting some sunny cheer looking through the photos from the lovely Ritchies family photo shoot on the beach in Stanley Park. Roger photographed Jen & Dave’s wedding when he was starting his career in wedding photography so it was really fun for us to see them again and meet their adorable girls, Marlo & Gemma. We spent the shoot with them digging in the sand, running on the beach and giggling like crazy. Needless to say, we had a ball.

Thank you so much, Jen, Dave, Marlo & Gemma, for a really fun photo shoot. We loved capturing you hanging out at the beach!

Holly & Roger

Ah, sisterly love!

Such a lovely family.

The girls loved running straight at Roger

As you can see!

We had to get a few photos of just Jen & Dave.

Isn’t she such a sweetie?

We wish you all a very happy Christmas. We’re taking some time off to relax and enjoy the holiday. Our studio will be closed starting on December 22nd and we’ll be returning to work on December 27th. Come back next week when we’ll share the slideshow we’ve created of our year in pictures.

Merry Christmas!