laughter

tiny light- sam

sam and his story: 

humbled by this gift i get to give:)

xo

Schedule a photoshoot and I will give the Full session fee to Haiti

EDITED TO ADD.... We have so far raised $1050.00... THANKS to all for your generous giving!!

xoxoxox

I am editing this post with some updates:

Via twitter... (which I love) @anastasiaphotog

I was linked to this blog.... ALSO WHICH I LOVE!

KELLY DIELS

and found her post introducing the:

Help Haiti Blog Challenge

I wanted to add it to my previous blog post.... I love the idea because it is a bigger idea. It includes just not what I can give to give to Haiti but also helps me to help you to give what you have... and...

I LOVE THAT!!

So what do you have to give? Would you join us?

Would you pass this along... so others can give?! Just click on the sidebar HelpHaiti button!

AND on that note... I still have sessions open to this. So book your sessions. You need to book this month... but the session can be scheduled later in the year if that is a better fit for you.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

i know we are all riveted right now by the images of what is happening in Haiti... it is devastating.

if you are like me... you will be wondering what you can do... who you can give to.

chad and i spoke about it this morning... and wanted to give.

so for the next 4 families that book a session your sitting fee will be 100% donated to the needs in Haiti.

$1400.00 total

its not a lot... but it is what we can do right now... and i think that is the question each of us can be asking ourselves... what can we do?

one of the largest needs as i understand is water.... so we will be donating through our favorite charity called "CHARITY WATER"

If you were wondering how to give... and if you want fantastic family photos in the mix of the giving...

then please book a family session with me this month!

call to book.... first come first serve.... 604.902.8111

Thank you!

xo chad and stace

masiphumelele YOUTH project

This last month Chad and I had the great honor of being apart of this amazing project in Africa. 

Endorsed by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the youth center in Masiphumelele, a township outside of Cape Town will provide sport recreation, education, skills training and sexual health services for adolescents. 

Approximately 23 percent of the Masi population in HIV positive, 40 percent of which are youth, and in particular young women aged 20-29. 

The event brought in Desmond Tutu's daughter and grand daughter, doctors who work in the area and a young lady who grew up in the area. During the speeches I could barely photograph the event... I was so inspired and captivated... by the words, the vision, the need and the hope. 

here are a few images captured through the evening... 

for more information about this project contact:

Michael Hayden

[email protected]

moments with Ryder

was honored to spend just a few moments with Ryder and his mom the other evening.

i was inspired by son and mom as they accept the reality of cancer.

i am both humbled by their love, and angry at cancer... today feeling stuck in the midst of that tension.

i love this job for many reasons..... but this is the top of my list...

giving photos like this... it is my joy.

rachel...

in january i had the honor of photographing a family in vancouver. 

the mom had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and they wanted photos for her children when she was still feeling well. and so... we met at the beach and we captured this and it was lovely, and beautiful, and sad, and hard, and joyful, and hopeful, and resolved. 

and in the months that followed, i kept up with this family through mutual friends, through reading her story, through a few plays at the park with our kids being the same age. and i found each time that i was so inspired... inspired to be a better mom, to live each day more fully. to love and laugh more. to know God. to understand the gift we have been given as mothers... to be thankful. to slow down... to rest. 

it was a short friendship, one in which i was given more then i gave. 

i am thankful, and humbled to have been invited into her life even for such a short time. 

that through photography i was granted a very special place to see her family interact... to see the courage, and love, and bravery through my lens. 

on July 2nd rachel passed away peacefully in her sleep. 

and... it is sad. i am sad. 

please keep her family in your prayers... 

and when you get time... go here... listen to her story... 

xo

 

just something hopeful...

life is funny sometimes... 

life is about ups and downs... 

life and death... 

funny full laughter moments... and seasons full of tears. 

sometimes fear... sometimes hope. 

sometimes confusion. 

it seems as though life these days is full of a bit of everything. 

it seems as though it has been a season/ or a year of a bit of ups... and a bit of downs. 

i was wondering what to blog tonight before i go to bed. 

should i blog more photos of the baby that was just born.... should it be a few boudoir photos from the weekend.... or should it be some photos of the boys ice skating at the big show from this last weekend... maybe some of the engagement session we did this afternoon. 

but then... in the midst of life... and in the rain i hear tonight i decided it best to blog this... 

i was listening to it tonight... 

this is the talk of one of my clients Rachel from this last year. 

and i find it very inspiring.... i hope you do too.... best to be heard with a cup of coffee. 

death is not dying

xo

a hero...

my friend sent me this story that her 9 year old daughter wrote... you will recognize her from many sessions throughout this blog... i immediately thought of this image i captured of her on the slide 2 years ago right before one of her major surgeries... 

you will have to click on the image to read the story... 

xo

some from the beach...

xo

rachel

I received this forwarded email from my friend a couple weeks ago... i was so inspired by her words, courage and faith... 'the celebration of life' was of course extended... and i was so thankful that it was accepted. I lost my mom when i was 9 years old to a car accident and i cling dearly to any photos i have of her... they are more precious to me then anything... and i am so thankful that i have as many as i do... i was so thrilled, humbled, honored... to extend the gift of photography and memories captured to this sweet sweet family. 

(I have deleted a few personal things from the email... but i wanted to put it here... to inspire the many readers that come upon this blog... )

...the cancer has spread to my liver and bones. It is in over half of my liver and has also spread to virtually every bone on my spine and perhaps elsewhere.
 This, obviously, is not good news.
 There is no cure... I do not want to spend any more time waiting for appointments, getting bloodwork, having scans, etc. when that time could be spent with my family.
...everyone is wondering "how long" and the truth is, we don't know. It is likely several months but it could be less or it could be more. How I hope it is more as the tears flow freely when my mind wanders to the birthdays, Christmases, summers at the cabin - all the moments I will miss. This is, by far, the hardest part of this for me: leaving my family. Serving them is my joy. Loving my husband and helping him has been the most wonderful privilege I could ask for. And being a mother has been a gift that I did not deserve. My children are treasures that were entrusted to me for a time and I am grateful that I was able to be their mother for these years. I struggle, of course, with the knowledge that I will not be there for them for much longer and wonder what life will be like for them without me.... i am gently reminded that there is One who loves them even more than I do. And so He gently reminds me again... Last Friday night in the hospital, as we sat on my bed and we weeped together at the news we had just received, we said, "God is still good." And He is. We will not doubt Him now when the road ahead is dark. He will use this for good and for His glory. There is no doubt. And, in the depths of my sadness, that makes my heart glad. ""

celebration of life...

i do not always highlight which of my sessions are 'celebration of life' ... but at times... i with the participant feel like the story could be one of hope and encouragement to my readers... 

this family is that... an encouragement... and a story of hope. 

Catriona was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 2 3/4 years. She has battled chemo, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant (from her 4 year old brother). This last year she relapsed in her spinal fluid and is currently on chemo again (a new trail drug). 

So.... that is this sweet fun beautiful girls journey over the last almost 4 years. 

But when i met her... her and her brothers and parents... i did not see ANY of that... the words chemo and radiation... of transplants and sickness... that was not what i saw. 

I saw love... and brothers and sisters... and fun, and play... and love. I saw deep care for one another and compassion. I saw love, and i saw closeness... i saw laughter, and love. I saw curiousity, and inquisitiveness, i saw hugs and love. 

I laughed a lot during this session... i hung back a little more then normal and watched... 

it was incredibly easy to capture a crazy realness in this family... for them... they have no time to pretend. It is a raw love... a vulnerable love and I am once again completely and utterly overwhelmed and honored that i got to be apart of it.... if only for an afternoon at the park. 

To read more about Catriona go here.... http://www.thelegges.net

Her mom emailed and said simply that they are living life to it fullness everyday... 

its a good reminder for all of us. 

xoxo

remembering Ava...

Today is Avas funeral in Australia... I have spent the day thinking about her... her family... the heart ache.
After the funeral they are going to release pink balloons into the sky... today myself and many other photographers around the world joined them in this... a way to remember her little life. I wish I could share with you some of the images that have been pouring in today of everyones balloons... the creativeness of people blows me away and this symbol of life and hope that people are doing.... it is astounding to me... I feel honestly at a loss of words.
My little one told his friends at the park where we released our balloons that they were going to Heaven... to Ava... I love that. I love the imagery that that portrays for me... life after death... laughter... joy.

Here are my images... and with them prayers for this family as they walk out life without Ava... Sheye, Crayton... you are in our prayers... and we will remember her forever with you.

love Stace

I could do without...

Days like today...
For the last few days I have been following the story of a little three year old girl in Australia... a daughter of a friend of mine (met on an online photography forum/ workshop)... her daughter locked herself in a car three days ago by accident... by the time her family found her she was in a coma...
For three days we have been praying for her recovery and today we got news that she passed away.

It is truly devastating...
I have spent the day looking at photos of her... and just cannot begin to imagine what her family is going through... it is horrible... worse then horrible.

I was challenged today in so many ways.... wanting value to this life... wanting what I do and what I stand for to have meaning... wanting to hug my kids all day...
As I was proofing photos today i started thinking of the value of a photo... and in the midst of today... there is one. A photograph is such a powerful image... one that can literally stir a memory...
I am so glad that this family has so many amazing images of their daughter to remember her by... and although it probably does not mean a lot right now... it will...

Here is sweet Ava...
And i pray God's peace for this family...

celebration OF life

I have been so behind in updating this site!!! For those who check in... SORRY!! I am trying to take a little time off... and I am trying to get organized!!! I will be updating with photos in the next week but wanted to add this post immediately as I am just so excited!!

I am about to join the "CELEBRATION OF LIFE"... this is an idea I have been playing with for a while but have struggled with in terns of the right language for it... thankfully another amazing photogrpaher worded it perfectly and I am thrilled to join her vision... so in the words of Angela Shea...
"I have often come across people in my community who are going through something in their lives whether it be sickness, recovery, a birth that has overcome great odds an adoption, and my automatic response to those stories is that I want to reach out to them and offer them a photography session ( free of charge of course). Something that would document this time in their lives, whether it be to leave behind memories for those they love or to comemorate a happy and joyful time."

Here is how you can play a part....
I challenge you to nominate your friends or those you have heard of who are deserving of such a celebration. Take an active roll in those lives around you - Email : [email protected]

I will choose one family/person from those nominated every month for the next three months, and possibly longer...

Applications:

They must reside in the Whistler, Vancouver area. Your application of nomination must include your information (name ,email address and phone number as well as a detailed description as to why you feel this person or people deserve a session). Also you must include their name, email address and phone number.

What do they recieve?

A Linen 'memory' album with up to 20 photos from the session in 5x7 format. And an 8x10 print of their choice.

I too am hoping that in time this "paying it forward" will catch on and other photographers will participate in Angela's Celebration of Life Project.

Thanks so much, and I cannot wait to hear from you!!
Anastasia

This is Lily... and 9 months ago I photographed her in NICU in Seattle where she had extensive life saving surgery... last week this photo was taken to celebrate her life... her first of MANY christmases.... WHAT A JOY!!! xoxo to you sweet lily..

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

I have been so behind in updating this site!!! For those who check in... SORRY!! I am trying to take a little time off... and I am trying to get organized!!! I will be updating with photos in the next week but wanted to add this post immediately as I am just so excited!!

I am about to join the "CELEBRATION OF LIFE"... this is an idea I have been playing with for a while but have struggled with in terns of the right language for it... thankfully another amazing photogrpaher worded it perfectly and I am thrilled to join her vision... so in the words of Angela Shea...
"I have often come across people in my community who are going through something in their lives whether it be sickness, recovery, a birth that has overcome great odds an adoption, and my automatic response to those stories is that I want to reach out to them and offer them a photography session ( free of charge of course). Something that would document this time in their lives, whether it be to leave behind memories for those they love or to comemorate a happy and joyful time."

Here is how you can play a part....
I challenge you to nominate your friends or those you have heard of who are deserving of such a celebration. Take an active roll in those lives around you - Email : [email protected]

I will choose one family/person from those nominated every month for the next three months, and possibly longer...

Applications:

They must reside in the Whistler, Vancouver area. Your application of nomination must include your information (name ,email address and phone number as well as a detailed description as to why you feel this person or people deserve a session). Also you must include their name, email address and phone number.

What do they recieve?

A Linen 'memory' album with up to 20 photos from the session in 5x7 format. And an 8x10 print of their choice.

I too am hoping that in time this "paying it forward" will catch on and other photographers will participate in Angela's Celebration of Life Project.

Thanks so much, and I cannot wait to hear from you!!
Anastasia

This is Lily... and 9 months ago I photographed her in NICU in Seattle where she had extensive life saving surgery... last week this photo was taken to celebrate her life... her first of MANY christmases.... WHAT A JOY!!! xoxo to you sweet lily..