New Blog!

I have a new blog, it's so cool and I'm so excited about it!!!  Thank you so much to Curtis for giving me the heads up about the wonderful and amazing theme developed specifically for photographers!!

The new blog is:

www.rebeccawhitneyphotographyblog.com

Now, starting tomorrow, I'll be finishing off my website so I can get that up and running within a week!!

ASHES dIVIDE

Last week Wednesday, Jody and I went to see our first live musical act together - yay so romantic!!  :)  The band is called ASHES dIVIDE, fronted by Billy Howerdel, who wrote all the songs and also played almost all the instruments on the album, and was, prior to this, in the band A Perfect Circle.  I of course just learned all this, but Jody had followed A Perfect Circle because it was fronted by Maynard James Keenan of Tool, and Jody loves him/them.  

Anyway, last week Monday Jody was checking out any new news on some of his favorite bands and performers, and I happened to go over when he was checking out Ashes Divide and I saw that they were playing in Winnipeg in two days, so we bought tickets and went!  It was at a cool little bar downtown called The Pyramid Club, and unfortunately there weren't many people there - Billy thanked everyone for coming to "their secret performance".  It was very cool though, and although loud and with very heavy bass, my throat and esophagus got used to the bass after a few songs, and their music was really very good (I've listened to it on iTunes since then and really like many of their songs) and I love watching performers play the guitar and bass cause it's incredibly cool for me to see how good they are at it! 

I called before the performance to ask whether I could bring my camera and they said yes, so of course I loved that!  It's not every day that I get to try taking photos of a moving band in super low light!  I had the ISO boosted to 1600 so all the photos have a super-cool grainy look, and I'm so happy with how almost all the photos turned out so it was hard to choose the best ones.

Before the band went on, we met a couple who told us they came to see the band for their friend, who was in a car accident a couple months ago and just recently emerged from the coma.  Ashes Divide is his favorite band and he had actually been, I think, fiddling with the CD in the car so the two of them could hear the band when they got in the accident.  Anyway, they had come to see the band in their friend's honor, and had both forgotten their cameras so asked if I could email them some photos of the performance to show their friend.  It gave me much more incentive to try to get some great photos, so I hope their friend likes them and I hope he's okay in the long run and hopefully is able to make a full recovery.

EDIT: I've decided to add a few more. Thank you to Jaimie from ashesdivideonline.com for finding my photos and linking to them, and for all the lovely things she said!!!

Tammy, Joel & family

Last month I photographed my friends Tammy and Joel, and Joel's two daughters, Simone and Katrine, after they attended a family wedding (so they were all dressed up and looking gorgeous!)!  We first took some photos outside the church, also with Tammy's mother, step-father and brother, and then I went with the four of them to the Legislative building for some more photos.  Joel is a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge with regard to so many things Winnipeg, so he was giving us all kinds of cool tidbits regarding the Legislative building and history and what-not.  It was really cool!

The day was absolutely gorgeous, all four of them were looking wonderful, and it was good fun and great experience for me.  We also saw lots of wedding parties at the Legislative building so that was cool as well.  I loved so many of the photos from that day so it was hard for me to widdle them down, but here are some of my favorites!  ::

Simone, Joel, Tammy and Katrine all looking wonderful!

At the fountain behind the Legislative building


I love this photo of Tammy and Joel!!


Sweet kissing shot!  :)


Portrait of Joel


Fun retro look :)


I absolutely LOVE how silly they're all willing to be!!!  It's so fun!!!


Inside the Legislative building, on the main staircase


This was a little earlier outside the church - getting ready to kiss dad's cheeks...


...and cracking up during it!  :)


Katrine and Simone


Tammy's mom and step-father right after I had them kiss, this is so cute!  :)


Tammy and her brother, Rod - so cute!  I also have a couple photos of her fake beating him up beforehand, to get him ready for the camera (he HATES being photographed, even though I think he photographs pretty well!)


Family hand-in-hand


Beautiful portrait of Katrine


Beautiful portrait of Simone


And one more shot of all of them together!

Spencer's Dedication

These photos are from awhile ago and I am finally getting around to posting them.  

I was honored to be invited to photograph baby Spencer's Dedication at his church and the family get-together afterward at his grandparents' (Marilyn & Tom's) home.  The event was in Kenora, Ontario, and it was so cool to see the topography change from the flat plains around Winnipeg to the hills, lakes, and granite of the Lake of the Woods area.  It was so beautiful and peaceful there and there were bodies of water all over, and little inlets and tree-covered islands all over as well.  Tom and Marilyn's house overlooked a quiet little inlet (I don't know if that's the right word), from which they could get by boat to all the other lake areas as well.  So cool and so lovely!!

The day started when everyone met up at Tom & Marilyn's house, and then we all went to the church for Spencer's Dedication ceremony.  He wore the same gown that his dad, Sean, and his aunt, Sue, wore when they were babies.  After the service and ceremony, everyone went back to Tom & Marilyn's where we took more photos, enjoyed the company of Spencer's large family, and ate a wonderful lunch.  Marilyn also bought the cutest little white suit for Spencer, which he wore for the pictures at the house.  I don't think he was fond of the little hat, but he looked so adorable!!!

Here are some photos from the day, and I'll finish the slideshow soon and post a link to that as well.

The church before the service began


Spencer and his mom, Stephanie


The proud parents, Sean and Stephanie, with Spencer


During the baby dedication ceremony


After the dedication ceremony, Spencer got to visit with his great aunt


I so love photos of dad's holding their babies!


Back at Tom & Marilyn's house, with Spencer changed into his new outfit for photos


Dad and baby


Stephanie, Sean and Spencer


The little family again :)


Spencer with his grandma, Marilyn


This is such a cool portrait of Sean!  :)


Little Spencer, who has the biggest eyes ever, he's so cute!!


Holding daddy's finger (I love this photo so much!  I also love the b&w version I made, I'll have to post that as well I think.)


Spencer and his mommy


Stephanie and Spencer again, look at his big big eyes!!!


Little baby shoe and sock


The love of a grandma


Okay, I had to post the black & white version of this photo, too.  This version speaks so much of innocence, strength and love.


And finally, the beautiful view of Tom & Marilyn's backyard



I'll post a link to the slideshow very soon!