a peek inside the fishbowl

25 Aug, 2009

portrait peeps

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Photography

I have three photography gigs booked for the coming weeks. I am really excited. In fact, I’m more excited than I thought I would be. Isn’t that strange?

I was going through some photos this morning and realized what it is I love about taking photos of other people’s families.

Looking at a collection of photographs about one family is like peeking into a window, and I’m thrilled to be able to catch an inside glimpse into some other family’s life.

I am so grateful to be entrusted with the Task of Taking the Family Photo and to know that in some small way I’m helping preserve their family history – pets and all. :)  It’s also one of the reasons I have also always enjoyed the interviewing aspect of my writing work. I get to call people out of the blue and ask them AS MANY QUESTIONS AS I WANT. It’s so fun.

Anyway these are a few of my favourite photos from a shoot earlier this summer. I had a great time hanging out with this particular family. They are open and friendly and generous with their time and energies.

I’m not sure which ones they ended up having printed (I always hand over all of my “negatives” – which is one of the things which drove me to do this) and the ones below also include a few which may never see a frame (I’m thinking specifically of the blurry ones) … but I love them anyway for the story they tell.

 I hope you do too!

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9 Responses to "portrait peeps"

1 | Lynn

August 25th, 2009 at 10:34 am

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These are really lovely…you do such an excellent job!

2 | Jennifer

August 25th, 2009 at 12:03 pm

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I’m blushing now ! ;-)
The pictures are more and more beautiful everytime I look at them. Especially Brawnson. Thanks.

3 | Natalie

August 25th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

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Congrats on the new endeavour Andrea! You’ll be great!

4 | lacoop

August 25th, 2009 at 3:41 pm

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I know that black dog! He’s great, and that is a great shot of him.

5 | andrea

August 26th, 2009 at 7:21 am

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Thank you!

And I’ll be picking up some new photog equipment this week – so I hope they’ll get even better in the months to come!

6 | Gwen

August 26th, 2009 at 2:02 pm

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Yay! I am so happy to be booked in with you! Loved looking at these pics, can’t wait to see ours :)

7 | porter

August 26th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

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yipeeeee!!! do you realize how excited you are just telling us about your pics????? it’s so awesome to read and feel your excitement.

they are beautiful, i am weepy and the two pics that touched were the black dog (reminds me of an old walter the farting dog….love our boy so much and he would absolutely need to be part of our family pics) and the one with the little girl wrapped in her blanket snuggling with mama. i felt that moment too…i’d be curious to know if mama felt something in that moment or not?

8 | Jennifer

August 27th, 2009 at 8:03 am

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Hi Porter, I’m the ‘mama’ in the pic and to answer your question yes I did feel something in that moment. Hard to describe but probably something most parents have experienced with thier children, closeness, comfort, love, warmth. It’s one of my favorites. Andrea managed to capture so many emotions like this in her pictures. She was able to tell our story in pictures so accuratley. She captured ‘us’ our lives, our home, what we do, how we do ‘it’. She was able to perfectly capture our family with her lense that I still cry a little when I look at the pictures (happy tears!).

And especially the pictures of the black dog, our beloved Brawnson. Brawnson died soon after these pictures were taken, very peacefully after living a very long and much loved life. Andreas pictures became all the more special to us. She truly has a gift it was an absolute pleasure to have her entrusted with our family story.

9 | porter

August 27th, 2009 at 8:36 am

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Jennifer, I’m so sorry about Brawnson. Here I am weepy all over again. Your Brawnson reminded me of our dog (his name isn’t really Walter the Farting Dog). I bet you miss him immensely, so sorry for you.

Thanks Andrea and Jennifer for sharing the pictures. I only wish Andrea and I lived closer to one another so that she could capture our family.

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The Obligatory Blurb

My name is Andrea and I live in Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Sunny who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. During the day I work as a freelance writer. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

If you're so inclined, you can read more about me here.

I've deactivated the commenting function as well as my contact form so if you want to get in touch, please drop me a line at quietfish@gmail.com. Thank you!

 


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