The Simple Things: Growing Up

cjvphotos — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:18:30 +0000

A lot of times when you are a photographer you get caught up on striving for perfection. You always want the perfect light, the perfect expression, the perfect picture. Because of this need for perfection, we as photographers, sometimes forget to take shots of the every day. To help us remember these important shots of real life, a group of photographers that I am involved with have decided to start a little blog series called “The Simple Things.” Each month we will shoot one of those simple moments in our lives that we have been neglecting with our cameras. At the end of the month we will make a blog post and share our stories. At the bottom of the post we will share a link to another photographer in the group so you can read her story. Then at the bottom of her post she will share the link to another talented photographer, and the circle goes on and on.

We have five children, all of whom we homeschool, and next month, our firstborn will be graduating from Grade 8. That means she’s growing up! We are members of a very large local homeschooling group, through which we are able to participate in countless different sports and other activities, one of which will be the formal graduation ceremony next month. Vanessa and I hit the mall last month and found her a lovely floor-length gown, practices for the grads’ song are in full swing, and plans for the grad party at our house are underway. Only one more thing was needed: a current picture for the baby-to-grad powerpoint slideshow. So I took Vanessa outside for a mini-session and snapped some shots of our lovely growing-up grad:

Now check out Kristina’s take on The Simple Things, on her blog here.

Expansion Plans

cjvphotos — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:54:03 +0000

Big Beautiful Baby!

cjvphotos — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:11:43 +0000

I think I’m in love with this smooshy face… ♥ ♥ ♥

Down on the Farm

cjvphotos — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 02:07:54 +0000

John & Jen are moving their brood off of the farm and back into the city, but they had me down this afternoon to take some pictures before they leave the homestead…

Family Flach

cjvphotos — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:14:34 +0000

Had this lovely family down to see me today…and since it’s a big family, that means it’s a big sneak peek. Enjoy!

Baby Bo

cjvphotos — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:58:56 +0000

Had the most content little man in the studio this morning; he only slept for a few winks, but he was just so happy the whole time!

The Simple Things — Skating

cjvphotos — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:01 +0000

A lot of times when you are a photographer you get caught up on striving for perfection. You always want the perfect light, the perfect expression, the perfect picture. Because of this need for perfection, we as photographers sometimes forget to take shots of the everyday. To help us remember these important shots of real life, a group of photographers that I am involved with have decided to start a little blog series called “The Simple Things.” Each month we will shoot one of those simple moments in our lives that we have been neglecting with our cameras. At the end of the month we will make a blog post and share our stories. At the bottom of the post we will share a link to another photographer in the group so you can read her story. Then at the bottom of her post she will share the link to another talented photographer, and the circle goes on and on. Please take a moment to sit back and enjoy these posts of “The SimpleThings.”

Every Tuesday during the winter months, the kids and I go ice skating. Last year they could hardly skate to save their lives, but it’s amazing what practicing each week will do! Because we homeschool, we’re able to go during a day-time slot, and it’s extremely rare for anyone else to be at the rink at the same time as us…which gives us lots of room to goof off and have some fun!

* Because I didn’t want to risk falling on the ice and breaking my best equipment, I went with my back-up camera and one of my secondary lenses. This meant I had to crank up the ISO to get enough light, and the resulting pictures definitely suffer in quality because of that. It’s a challenge for me to post these to my business blog, but I’m reminding myself that the purpose of this exercise is “to help us remember these important shots of real life…”, and technical perfection is not necessary to create memories.

Now be sure to visit Sonia’s blog to read her story here, and then continue on through the circle. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Isabel!!

cjvphotos — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:00:25 +0000

Lovely Isabel came into the studio with her older brothers this week for their first ever professional portrait session. Aren’t they gorgeous?

When I learned that it was Isabel’s first birthday just three days after our shoot, of course we had to turn it into a cake smash session! Isabel was not shy at all, and just dug right into that cake! After trying to lick the icing off first, that is.

Happy birthday, Isabel!

Best of 2011 Contest

cjvphotos — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:53:54 +0000

2011 was a great year for me, and to thank my fabulous clients for a wonderful year, I’d like to give something back to you. I have chosen one image from every client I worked with this year, and have loaded them into a photo album on my Facebook page…head on over to view the album and place your vote. All you need to do is hit the “like” button on an image to vote for it. Comments are not required, but are always welcome. You can “like” as many photos as you wish, and be sure to get your friends and family to vote as well! Not only will their vote help you win, but I will also be randomly drawing one name out of the list of voters to win the Voter Prize.

Chandra Vanderboom Photography Facebook Page

Voting begins today, January 2nd, and continues through Friday, January 6th at 6pm.

First place — The photo with the most votes will receive a free session with me, including the Bronze Collection (value $250). The winning client has the option of using the credit herself, or gifting it to a friend, but either way, the session credit must be redeemed for use before September, 2012. Should one of the eight showcased clients who are not local to me win this prize, they may select either the free session, which they may gift to a friend local to me, or a mounted 16×20 print of the winning image. Alternatively, if they have plans to be in my area sometime after September 2012, they may contact me to see if we can still work in a session for them.

Second and third place winners will receive a mounted 11×14 print of their winning image.

That leaves us with the Voter Prize. There’s fine print with this one. What’s the fine print? Due to Facebook contest restrictions, I cannot select a random winner from the votes on the Facebook images. So, in order to be entered to win the Voter Prize, each voter must COMMENT HERE (on this post) with the statement: “Please enter me in the contest for the Voter Prize.” Be sure to include your full name (first and last) so that I will know who you are if you win! Each voter may only comment here once. With the help of www.random.org, I will select one voter to win a $100 credit with me (if the winner is local), or a copy of my current favourite coffee table book, the stunning On This Earth – Photographs From East Africa by Nick Brandt for a winner who is not local to me.

Get voting!

2011 — Year in Review

cjvphotos — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:18:49 +0000

2011 was a busy year for me. A huge thanks to all my clients, for a great year!

January & March (I didn’t shoot anything in February):

April:

May & June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December: