Third Place

I was very excited when I received an email a few days ago informing me that one of my images received the third place prize in the Start Shooter photography contest. Star Shooter is a non-profit organization whose mission is to equip underprivileged children with a tool for expression using photography. All proceeds from this contest will help purchase cameras for the kids...how awesome is that?!

My winning photograph is a shot that I captured earlier this year of my good friends daughter, Grace. Thank you Christina for having such a gorgeous kid and for letting me photograph her whenever I want :) You can see the original blog post of this image here.

Head on over to check out the winning images in this fabulous contest by clicking here. Once you are on the web page, click on the "third place" link at the bottom. Thank you so much for running such an amazing contest Johnna!!

If you would like to make a donation to Start Shooter to help equip children with a tool for expression using photography and allow them the opportunity to discover the star within themselves, please visit http://www.starshooter.org/ and click on donate.

xoxo

Love Patricia

Update and Photos!

My poor little blog has been neglected long enough! I have just been soooo busy over the past few months and updating my blog always seems to get pushed to my "to do" list for tomorrow. It's been quite a while since I have shared new photos and stories detailing my exciting photo sessions. My friend Jennifer has been on my case for not updating my blog often enough so I'm going to try my hardest to keep her happy :) Over the next few days I will be sharing a ton of new images so be sure to check back often :) You may be wondering exactly what I have been up to since my last post. I have been working, working and working! I have had some amazing sessions that I can't wait to share and I am currently drowning in a sea of digital photo files to be edited. So lets start this frenzy of blogging off with a few photos of a sweet little cutie pie.

I love being able to document children as they change and grow. These are a few images from a mini session that I did with Ryan just before his first birthday. The first time that I photographed Ryan was last year and he has grown so much since then! It always amazes me how much kids change in the first few years of their lives. 

Here's an image of Ryan from our first session:

And here he is seven months later:







I'm pretty sure that this little guy is going to break more than a few hearts when he grows up :) What do you think?

Love Patricia

Happy Birthday To Me!

My birthday will officially be over in a few minutes as I write this post. I turned the big 30 today and honestly don't feel any different than I did yesterday. I remember when I was a kid I thought that 30 was so old, but now that the big milestone is here I find it really hard to believe that I'm actually 30. I still feel like such a kid at times! I will say that I have learned a lot in my short 30 years. There have been plenty of ups and downs in my life so far that I feel have prepared me for whatever is to come.

I had a great day today. The sun was shining as I drove to a friends house to take some pics of her little boy (such a cutie!) and to hang out for a bit. I received a ton of birthday wishes from friends and family...thank you! For the most part I had a pretty relaxed and low-key day.

Ian surprised me with an iPod as my birthday gift! 

I have been wanting one for a while and quickly filled it up with music from my iTunes library. I draw a lot of inspiration from music. Aside from photography, music has been a huge love in my life ever since I was a kid. I love to sing at the top of my lungs in my car on warm Summer days with the windows rolled down. At home I attempt to play the guitar but I prefer to have someone else play while I sing:) I even did the whole Canadian Idol thing a few years ago and made it quite far (but I'll save that story for another post). I love how certain music can take you back to a specific time or place. I love that music has the ability to stir emotions. I just plain old love music and can't imagine it not being a part of my every day life.

What have I been listening to lately? A better question would be "What don't I listen to?" For those of you interested, the following are a few songs already loaded on my new iPod and in my "favorites" list.

KT Tunstall - Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

Fisher - I Will Love You

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly (from the awesome movie "Once")

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart

Modest Mouse - Float On

Stereophonics - Dakota

Aqualung _ Something to Believe In

Keane - Everybody's Changing

Ryan Adams - Wonderwall (Oasis Cover)

Sarah McLachlan  - Fallen

I have been shooting a lot lately and will have tons of photos to share soon! I apologize for being such a bad blogger and hope to post more often in the future. For now, I invite you to check out some of my favorite music from which I draw inspiration daily. I would love to hear what you are all listening to! I am always interested in checking out new music so share some of your faves in the comments!!

Patricia

My E-Mail Account Has Been Hacked.

You never think that something like this will happen to you. If you're like me, you believe that people are basically good and would never do something like this. Perhaps I have gone through life completely naive, but I now have personal proof that there are really malicious and mean people out there.

My hotmail account was recently hacked by an individual that is obviously out to ruin my photography business and give me a bad name. After receiving a message this afternoon informing me that I did not show up for a planned meeting and that the same thing apparently happened to other individuals over the past few weeks, I began searching through my e-mail sent messages and was shocked to find that there were messages in the sent folder apparently written and sent by myself that I did not write or send. I receive and respond to a large number of messages on a regular basis so it is not uncommon for me to have a large number of received and sent messages in my account. Over the past few weeks I have apparently missed a number of scheduled consultations and meetings that I DID NOT set up. Someone posing as me has been setting up these meetings (which I would obviously not show up for due to the fact that I was completely unaware of them being scheduled). This same individual would then pose as me and send messages of apology to these individuals and sometimes set up a second meeting that I would attend. By this time, my reputation has been tainted in the potential clients' eyes and trust has been broken. I am afraid that due to this unfortunate violation of privacy, I have potentially lost clients and that word of mouth will spread that I am an unreliable individual. I believe that the individual that hacked into my account has also deleted numerous messages before I would read them and then empty the trash folder to erase any trace of the messages. I believe that there were also messages sent by them that were then trashed and completely deleted out of the trash folder. I have no idea how many messages this individual sent posing as me. I also have no idea how many messages were erased without any response from me whatsoever.

I'm not sure if this note will make sense as I am furiously writing and probably babbling due to the fact that I am so upset at the moment. As a new business owner this is one of the worst things that could have possibly happened. The only individual that would do such a thing obviously wants my business to fail for one reason or another. Through research, I have discovered that my e-mail account was hacked possibly as far back as three months ago. If you or someone you know may have sent me a message during that time, it is possible that I did not receive it due to the fact that it may have been deleted by this individual or you may have received a response that was not actually written or sent by me.

I believe that it is most likely an individual that knows me personally as crimes like this are very personal. Through reading some of the messages sent by this individual posing as me, they obviously know a lot of my personal information and day to day activities. It does not look as though this individual actually attended meetings posing as me or taken money from anyone as deposits for weddings or portraits, but if you have any concerns that you met with someone who may not have actually been me, please contact me as soon as possible. If anyone has met with this individual you may be able to provide a description which will help the authorities.

My hotmail account will be deleted as soon as all necessary information has been looked into by the authorities. From now on, I will be using a Gmail account and ask that all future messages be sent to psphotographics@gmail.com. I ask that you please inform me if you have had a scheduled appointment with me over the past few weeks that I did not attend. I am doing everything that I can to rectify all of the damage that this individual has caused to my business and reputation. If you receive any further messages from my hotmail address, it is not me writing or sending the message and I would appreciate it if you could let me know that you have received a message from that account.

Halifax is a very small city so my business thrives on word of mouth referrals. I have received unkind messages and comments from individuals that believe I have been not showing up for scheduled appointments. I can only ask that people try to understand my frustration at the moment due to this violation and I am doing everything in my power to rectify all of the damage that has been caused. If you are frustrated due to a missed scheduled appointment with me, imagine how I feel right now. These appointments were not set up by me and I am now suffering the consequences. Identity theft such as this is very personal. This individual was not out to steal my money, but to ruin my reputation as a business owner and an individual.

The success of my business is my number one priority. I feel sick to my stomach at the thought of all the damage that this individual has caused. This is such an unbelievable nightmare for me. Everything is being done to find out who would commit such an awful crime. Legal action will be taken, but I am afraid that my reputation has already been ruined.

Patricia

Best Friends Forever

Kathleen came into the studio a few weeks ago for some graduation photos. Her best friend Jess accompanied her (for moral support of course!) and I absolutely loved the connection between these two girls! The jokes, the teasing, the giggling and laughing....it all made for a great session. At one point I asked Kathleen if she'd like a few pics taken with her friend Jess. Of course the answer was "Sure!!". These girls seem to have such a wonderful relationship and I think that it really shows in the few images that I captured of them.





I am so happy to be able to provide the girls with these images. Friendship is such an amazing relationship to have with someone, and to have images that document this type of friendship is priceless. One of the reasons that I became a photographer was to be able to document moments in time and the relationships that we share with one another....as friends, lovers, parents and siblings.

These images of Kathleen and Jess make me so happy, but a little sad at the same time. My best friend of 22 years passed away three years ago and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and miss her. Losing her was my wake up call as to how incredibly short life can be. Paula and I were like sisters. We met when we were five years old and grew together as little girls into women. We had a sisterly love....we fought over silly things just as often as we'd buy new shoes! But we would call each other the next day and it was just like we had never argued about anything in the first place :) After Paula's accident I realized just how much I wanted to live my life to the fullest and do the things that truly made me happy. I always regret that Paula and I did not have any recent photos taken together before she passed away, but I will never forget her smile, her laugh, her hugs and our friendship. I feel so blessed to have had her as my best friend for all the years that I did. Thank you P....for always being my biggest fan, always giving me a kick in the butt when I needed it and for just being you. I love and miss you every day.

Thank you so much Kathleen and Jess for a fun filled afternoon of picture taking. My time spent with you reminded me that I am truly doing what I am meant to be doing with my life.
Patricia

Sweet Baby J [Sneak Peek]

This little sweetie was so much fun to photograph! It took quite a while to get her to fall asleep but once she did, it was totally worth it. I was able to try out a few shots that I have been wanting to do for a while :) I am truly loving photographing babies and children....much more than I ever thought I would. If someone would have told me how much I would enjoy working with children a year ago, I wouldn't have believed them. Children have got to be one of the hardest subjects to photograph, but I'd have to say that it is the most rewarding. I love being able to provide parents with images of their little tots!

On a different note, it is Easter weekend and I have been sitting at my computer all day editing photos and playing catch up. I'm looking forward to taking the day off tomorrow to visit my parents and do the whole turkey dinner thing. It's crazy that my parents only live a mere 25 minute drive away and I haven't been to visit them since Christmas. I know, I know.....I'm a terrible daughter! I've been so caught up in getting my business up and going that I've been spending all of my time working. I need to remember to take time for myself and to spend more time with my family. Life is far too short to continually put things off until tomorrow.

I hope that everyone has a great Easter weekend and takes some time for themselves and their families. That's what I'm going to do :)

- Patricia

Tired of This Weather!!

Today is supposed to be the first of Spring. Waking up to freezing rain this morning did not feel like Spring to me! I am so tired of this weather and can't wait for this damp cold weather to go away. I am itching to get outside and take some photos! I love doing outdoor on-location sessions and feel like I have been stuck indoors forever :( 

Todays posted images are some of my fave outdoor photographs taken last year. Can you tell that I'm dreaming of Summer nights, crickets, warm Summer days at the beach and freshly grown flowers? If you're tired of this weather and ready for Summer, drop me a line. I'd love to have someone to complain with :)

Patricia

New Blog

So apparently, blogs are all the rage right now.I guess that I must be behind in the times because I am just now getting around to setting up my own personal blog page.

Now, where to start?! My name is Patricia Sampson and I am a photographer/graphic designer located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I LOVE being creative and spending my time photographing people. I am in the process of opening my own business which will offer photography and graphic design services to the public. I have spent the past few months working on building a portfolio of work to show potential clients and have been having a blast doing it! I have met some wonderful people, learned some amazing skills and pushed myself further creatively than I ever thought possible :)

I will be uploading a few of my images to give you all a sneak peek at some of my work. I'd love to hear what you all think! I will be using this blog to hopefully promote myself a bit further and will be adding new images from every photography session.

Oh, and I am available to hire for photographic and graphic design work. So if you like my work and are interested in hiring me just give me a shout!

Patricia Sampson