Telus Spark
As a particularly science minded family, one of our favourite places to spend a bad weather day is the Telus Spark Science centre here in Calgary. I don't often bring my camera(even though one of my favourite past images of Jack was shot there), but I did this weekend. Thought I'd share what I am calling 'an exploration of light at the Telus Spark centre' :)
~ Dana
High School Grad Portraits
Calgary and Area High School Grads!!!
Now is the time to book your Graduation portraits!
Tired of the same old graduation portraits? Want something fun, modern and more YOU? There are two packages to choose from.
Package One
Session Fee: $150 Includes one 30 minute session guaranteed to produce a minimum of 20 amazing images. One location. One outfit. Weekday sessions only. Digital files: $500
Package Two
Session fee: $300 Includes one 60 minute session guaranteed to produce a minimum of 40 fantastic images.
Hair, make-up and styling included. Up to 3 outfits. Up to 2 locations.
Digital files $1000
My preferred make up artist is Love and Colour. She did the make up for most of the shots you see.
Book your graduation session now and save 50% off the session fee. Offer good until the end of March. Sessions must take place before the end of June 2014. There are a limited number of spots available. Contact Dana through the contact form on this site now!
*prints, canvas and other products also available to purchase
**gst will be added to all prices
It's Bigger On The Inside
These are my favourites from my most recent 5 Minute Project with Jack. I am truly enjoying shooting for this project, as well as, sharing the results. I have not been so quick to share in the last couple of years, but am feeling the need to put my work out there again. I'm excited to say that my next 5 Minute Project will be shot in NORWAY!!! Bob and I leave for Stavanger, Norway in just over a week and I am so excited. I can't wait to share what we find there with all of you. And, then, in April, we are off to Honduras as a family which is exciting as well. Busy winter!!! I hope to share some of the images I create in those countries with you all.
Make sure you hop on over to the 5 Minute project and check it out. Plus, we accept submissions that we share every Friday. Please submit some of your own little projects.
~ Dana
Science Rocks Birthday Party
For Georgia's birthday this year we had a super fun science rocks birthday party. Our kids are both super science nerds thanks mostly to their dad who has been doing experiments(or experiences as they used to call them before they went and grew up on us) since before they could walk. Couple that with the fact that Georgia LOVES home made birthday parties and we knew we had to put together something for her this year. I think it is super cool that Georgia is always super grateful to all of her friend's moms who put together cool parties in their own homes. I have done both--gone to a party place or hosted at home. I kind of prefer going somewhere(and taking the mess with us), but...there isn't much we won't do for our kids. So, an at home Science Rocks party is what we went with. I made a beaker birthday cake and used green cotton candy as the bubbly smoke coming out of the beaker(we have a cotton candy machine). I instagrammed a shot of it so if you are interested, you should head on over to my instagram account to check it out. When the kids arrived we had them put on their 'safety googles' which were Groucho Marx glasses from Target.
We did a few 'experiments'. Starting with home made bath bombs. These actually worked pretty good and it gave the kids a chance to get messy and make something to take home. I lead that experiment so there are no photographs of us making them, but here they are drying.
They are really so easy to make...and kind of fun. We went to a soap making supply store for most of the ingredients. This is the recipe:
Two parts baking soda, one part citric acid, one part corn starch, one part epsom salts, a little bit of water, a little bit of essential oils, and maybe some food colouring.
That's it. How easy is that? First you mix the dry ingredients, and then you add the teeniest bit(like start with a teaspoon) of the wet stuff and you mix it until it has the consistency of wet sand. Then, you pack it into a mould(which we also bought at the soap supply store) and they say to let it sit in the mould, but we found it pretty easy to pop them out relatively quickly. The one thing is...once this stuff dries in the bowl, it is no good so you have to get all of it in the moulds before that happens. Pretty easy when you have a bunch of kids doing it :)
Then, we did the exploding baggie experiment. We had each kid wrap a tablespoon of baking soda in a piece of paper towel to make a bit of a bomb. Then, we had them put a bit of white vinegar in a sandwich baggie. We had them drop the bomb and zip the baggie shut quickly...then, we watched them gradually expand and blow up. This was a big hit(like anything that explodes). This is best done outside.
We came back inside and did the ever Pinterest popular 'Elephant's Toothpaste'. We could not find the 6% hydrogen peroxide that it calls for so just used plain old 3% which is what you can buy at any drug store. It didn't have as big a foam response as the images you can find on Pinterest, but the kids still really liked it. We hot glued water bottles to tin trays, had funnels for everyone.
It was handy having a husband who is scientifically inclined to explain all of the reactions and answer the kids questions, but you can find most of these answers on the internet beforehand if you are thinking about doing something like this yourself.
After all of this fun, Bob pulled out what would be the piece de resistance for the kids--dry ice. They got to see it do all sorts of things--including make instant ice cream(just a note that if you do this, you must make sure that all of the dry ice is dissolved before allowing the kids to eat it...we smashed it into very tiny pieces before making the cream by putting it in a paper bag and rolling it out with a rolling pin). It creates a sort of carbonated ice cream which some of the kids liked, but most thought was weird. ha.
When all was said and done, Georgia declared the party a huge success. We each poured ourselves a large glass of wine the moment the kids went home. ha. True story. Then, we talked about the day that Georgia was born and how we cannot believe that she is already 9 years old. Time flies people. I simply cannot believe that my children have grown so quickly.
Georgia would like to tell you that science does indeed rock. One day she hopes to be a marine biologist who studies the wildlife of the oceans she adores. Or, maybe, an oceanographer who can help solve some of the major issues facing the health of our oceans. I can't wait to see what she'll become. One thing is for certain, her spunk and tenacity will get her just as far as her intelligence and quick wit. Love this kid.
~ Dana