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

The Birth of Tristan (my nephew!) - Birth Photography Coverage

My little sister is officially all grown up. A few weeks after my sister Janine got married last year (see pics here) I received a phone call from her. She told me that she had some big news and I was instantly curious. "You're going to be an aunt!" she said excitedly into the phone. To understand my response to this you must first understand that my sister and her husband have a little pomeranian dog, Odie, that literally goes everywhere with them and they have spoiled like a child since the day that they brought him home. When Janine informed me that I was going to be an aunt I automatically assumed that they were getting another dog because Odie is often referred to jokingly as my nephew. "Oh my god! Are you getting another puppy?!" was definitely not the reaction that my sister was expecting from me. Once she explained that she was pregnant I was flooded with emotions. The reality that my little sister was going to be a mother took a few days to sink in. The excitement that I was going to be a first time aunt hit me right away!

Tristan James Creelman was born at 6:35am on May 8th 2009. He weighed 6lbs 8oz and I fell in love with him as soon as I layed eyes on him (even though he was born with quite the cone head!). All joking aside, I absolutely love this little guy and look forward to watching him grow and spoiling him like crazy.

I wasn't lying! He really did have a big cone head!

Checking out his grammie.

My dad...such a proud grandpa. He can't wait until this kid is old enough to go for drives with him on the Harley Davidson!

The proud papa!

Winking at his mommy :)

The proud parents :)

I will be sharing photos from Janine's maternity session in the next few days and also a few newborn pics of Tristan that I took when he was three days old so stay tuned for more photos!

Love Patricia

Grace and Innocence

Every now and then when I am photographing a child I will witness through my lens a transformation that will happen in mere seconds. The child that I am working with will stop running, jumping, laughing (and sometimes screaming) and will become quiet and still. It is in that moment that I am reminded there is true innocence in the world. This image is one of those moments that I was lucky enough to catch with Grace.

Patricia

My Little Sister is All Grown Up

My childhood is littered with memories of growing up with my sister. Sharing a bedroom until I was 13 in which we would talk and giggle into the late hours of the night, sleeping out in the tent together on summer nights in the field next to our house, watching the Smurfs every Saturday morning, riding our bikes, days spent at the beach...everything that I can remember about my childhood includes my sister. As a big sister I learned so much from her. She taught me how to be patient, how to forgive, how to share and how important it is to have a really good hiding place for anything that you don't want your sister to find and show to your parents :)

My little sister, Janine, got married this summer and I was lucky enough to be able to capture the day for her with my camera. Janine and Arthur had a very small and intimate wedding with only immediate family present for the ceremony. They exchanged vows in the very same church that my parents were wed in 30 years ago by the very same justice of the peace. Janine looked beautiful in her wedding dress and as I was snapping away with my camera I was hit with the realization that my sister is all grown up. She has a husband, a house, a dog...all the things that as a little girl you dream about having in your future. To me, Janine will always be my little sister, sitting next to me on the sofa wearing fleece Smurf pajama's that matched mine.

Congratulations on your wedding Janine. I wish you nothing but the best in the future. You are now a wife and all grown up, but to me you'll always be my little sister.

Love 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