{portrait} i am...

This is why I L.O.V.E. photography!  Being creative, trying new things and having a blast doing it!!
Last month my small group girls and I got together and had another girly-night.  Food, photos, makeup and LOTS of laughing! Before the night began, we all came up with words to describe each of the other girls.  Words to exemplify our individual personalities, motivations and uniqueness.  I chose one word out of each list and we built our photo shoot around it.  I call it the i am... Series. These women are so much more than one word of course, but I think we were able to capture at least a small piece of what makes each of us...us.

{portrait} love is in the air...

I got together with my gorgeous BFF Jenica last week!  She is an amazing graphic artist and the owner of Love is in the Air Wedding Invitations. She's already designed my logo (I love it so much Jen!!) and business cards and soon will be working on some disk packaging for me.  Check out her website for all your event stationary needs!  We always have such a great time when we get together; we eat, we talk, we try our best not to ignore our kids, haha!  Jen wanted a new pic for her website so this time we had a photoshoot too!

Love you Jenica, you are beautiful inside and out!

{family&children} big family, big fun!

When my amazing and wonderful masseuse, Lisa , asked me to photograph her husband's extended family for her father-in-law's birthday, I was so excited. I come from a small family...like really small.  I'm and only child and my mom and dad only have one and two siblings respectively.  So when I get an opportunity to shoot a big family, I soak it in.  This family was so fun to work with and getting to photograph them at the St. Thomas Railway Museum was like icing on the cake!

captivating photography at st. thomas' mom to mom sale

Captivating Photography is going to have a booth at the Mom to Mom Sale in St. Thomas' Pinafore Park this May 14th.  We'll be there from 8:30am to 4pm among some great vendors and are so excited to be part of this local tradition.  Come on out and make sure to stop by our table for great promotions and a brand new contest!

{maternity} un nuevo bebé!

She's a Spanish beauty, he's the manager of a cookie factory and a volunteer firefighter...what better combination could you ask for in a creative maternity shoot?? 
Our good friends Josh and Raquel are expecting their first baby and I was thrilled to be able to celebrate that with them in this indoor/outdoor session. Raquel is absolutely glowing and they are both such fun and creative people. We are so happy for you guys and we can't wait to meet Baby Lunshof!

The photo idea below was inspired completely by the work of Laura Rauch Photography. I thought the concept was so original and fun. Thanks Laura!

{maternity} ooh, baby!

My recent maternity shoot with Lisa and Eric was an absolute blast! I took photos for Lisa a couple of years ago when she wanted to surprise her hubby with some gorgeous personal photos.  She was a dream to photograph so when she called me again to shoot her super-cute baby bump, I jumped at the chance.

They are such a great couple and were so patient and trusting.  They let me have my way with them and didn't even balk when, at the end of the shoot, I brought out the multi-coloured paint! The full shot is a bit risque for Blogsville, but I added a little teaser for you at the end of this post. Thanks for trusting my vision guys! 

{engagement} snowflakes that fall on my nose and eyelashes...these are a few of my favourite things!

What better way to beat the winter "blah"s than to embrace the snow with an outdoor photo shoot!  I am so lucky to be able to photograph Becky (can you handle those dimples?) and Brad's wedding in July, but their February session was anything but summer lovin'. The temperature was below freezing and the snow was deep - and okay, it might have been a little unfair as I was bundled up in snow pants and a scarf and they went in just their sweaters! - but they braved it and I think it was totally worth it. I hope they think so too. Congratulations guys!

{family&children} toddler love

I am so excited to start off my blog posts with one of the most understanding and easy going families I've been privileged to work with this year. Erin is my family's optometrist and is such sweetheart. She instantly sets people at ease with her bubbly personality and, as soon as I met her husband James and their adorable son Andrew, it was clear that sweetness runs in this family!  We hit a lighting snag and time seemed to run away with us a bit, but their smiles didn't skip a beat and the photos turned out great.  Thanks so much for welcoming me into your home and into your day guys!

welcome to captivating!

Hi and welcome to my Blog!

Before I get this puppy up and running with some posts of my most recent photo shoots, I wanted to take a moment to share a little more about myself, and explain why I named my business Captivating.

In 2008 I had the privilege of photographing four of the most amazing women I know.  We had the girliest of girl’s night where we did each other’s hair and makeup, listened to empowering music and laughed until we cried. We had all been through a pretty rough year including infertility, marital discord, sickness and death in the family and battles with self-esteem.  We counseled each other, lifted each other up and challenged each other to face our fears and test our limits.  We called the weekend “Captivating”. 

Based on the book of the same name by John and Stacy Eldredge, the concept was this: To embrace who we were as the feminine, beautiful creatures we were formed to be. To look at ourselves, not through the world’s, or even our own eyes, but through God’s eyes.  To see ourselves as fully alive and truly captivating. 

This concept is still behind every photo shoot I do.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this Blog!

Sarah