kathy thompson photography

Monday!

Such a busy blogging week last week, no? I'm proud of myself :)

Alright, a new week and more to share!

How was your weekend?

You may wonder, what does Emma do when she's not absorbed in higher learning, or socializing, or making a mess when she's home, or putting in the miles on the treadmill? Funny you should ask! 2 weekends ago, she did this:

 

That's right! She modelled in a wedding show! My friend and (former - don't get me started!) co-worker Jessie asked if she'd be interested, of course she said yes. She had done a smaller one for Jess in October and had a great time, but this was the real deal - makeup, hair and a runway!

She rocked it, I have to say. Her fun spirit and beautiful smile showcased the dresses perfectly and it was a lot of fun to watch - taking pictures wasn't so much fun, spotlights, strobe lights, coloured lights, moody lights, dark lights (huh?) - well, you get it, the ISOs and shutter speeds got a work out!

Here are a few more shots:

The make up theme was "Kim Kardashian". . . hello! Fate or what?? (Now, I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but Emma is not used to having her hair done like this at all, and when she saw the combination of hair and makeup as she sat there in her hoody and yoga pants, she said "I look like a Pentacostal Tranny!"  If you know Emma, that's just so her. I think whatever I was drinking came through my nose at that point! Once the dresses were on though, the look all came together!!)

 

Look at that turquoise feather! Fun stuff!

 

very sophisticated:

 

this one got the biggest reaction of the whole show (15 models, 4-5 dresses each!), hard to tell in the pic but it's very "Grecian" and when she let it down it just floated:

 

this one with the one shoulder strap got a good reaction too:

 

 

I love this picture. These were the most challenging to get, you can tell by the lighting and the grain in them; it was the end of the show and all the models came out as did the owner and staff:

 

 

If you're wedding or prom dress shopping, I highly recommend Bella Promessa. Janice has impeccable taste and Jessie is in her element managing the boutique. The concept is wonderful; think "Say Yes to the Dress" on a much smaller scale!

Thanks, Jess, for including Emma, and thanks, Emma, for being so beautiful :)

Please vote for Champ!

My doggie nephew, Champ, is in a contest.

 

Please vote for CHAMP! 

He is an incredibly sweet dog, and his background is touching too: he was abandoned and found in a ditch when he was a few months old. Susan, Dave and Adam adopted him after losing their beloved lab, Carly, and he was just what they needed. He is loyal and funny and energetic.

If Champ wins, the money will be donated to the rescue society who brought them all together.

Thanks ladies, hope you're having a great weekend!

Ah yes, the scrapbooking post. . .

 Hello and happy weekend! Thanks for all the enthusiastic comments and emails about my return to blogging - I can't promise to blog everyday but I will try my best to keep the momentum up!

Thought I would answer a few questions on this topic. I occasionally get emails asking what the heck is up, sometimes from people I know, sometimes from blog friends, and sometimes from complete strangers. I read and love them all :)

Here's the deal; me and scrapbooking, we kind of needed some space. Truthfully, I became very disheartened with the industry as a whole, and I just got burnt out. I couldn't keep cranking out pages I wasn't feeling good about, pages that falsely portrayed a happy, perfect life. My life is far from that. It's real and it's messy. Sure, there are moments of perfection and happiness, mixed in with everything else!

I also went through allllllllll of my scrapbooks and any page that didn't tell a story or was just created to showcase product, got the heave-ho. Huge relief.

Any product I didn't love was sent on its way.

So now, I scrapbook a bit. I always have a page to accompany my article and I do scrapbooking digitally a fair amount, but that's really it.

This page appeared in my Winter article:

 

 

 

And this page is in the new SCT / PageMaps Calendar and could quite possibly be my favourite page of all time. I love those shots so much and the colour scheme is really fun too:

 

That assignent came at a time when I felt creatively depleted, so I love it even more now :)

So, I don't really scrapbook a whole lot anymore, and I'm ok with that. You can't force creativity. It'll come back when and if it's ready.

Oh, and for those of you who asked why I wouldn't be at ScrapFest Kitchener, I was all set to head back and a conflict arose. Sometimes life just works that way, sorry ladies!  It will, no doubt, be a spectacular event with or without me, Lisa and her team are top notch :) 

BTW don't forget to enter my giveaway on yesterday's post, it's super cute!

Have a wonderful weekend, ladies:)

Red + White + Fresh Snow + GIVEAWAY!!!

Hi there!

Ok, haven't I been a good blogger this week?

With Emma away at Uni and Rebecca giving me the death stare anytime I point my camera her way, it was wonderful to have subjects to photograph who actually wanted their photos done!

These two are both stellar hockey players, so the fact that I made them asked them to run through the pristine, freshly fallen snow a couple of dozen times wasn't a big deal; they were as delightful the first time as they were the 17th 3rd!

To me, this was a great time to practice exposing snow correctly. It was midday and it was blindingly bright. I obsess over making my photos as sharp as can be, and I knew to expose the white and the red and the skin tones properly, I'd have to be paying attention.

What all that reflective light did allow for was really high shutter speeds so that was just wonderful.

Aren't they cute??

Thanks girls!

  
 

 
 
 

Snow can be challenging to shoot, sometimes ending up greyish or bluish. I offered up a few tips in the Winter issue SCT - did you read it?

I'd like to offer a really fun giveaway!

All you have to do is share a snow pic you've shot recently with me (email is in the top left corner), I'll post them on my blog and draw a random winner next week! To be fair, I know some of you are in areas without snow, so any 'winter' pic will do!

Here's what you're playing for:

 
 
How cute is that?? It's a miniature DSLR model set! I have one and it made me so happy I gave one to a very good friend for Christmas! And now you can win one!

Good luck and let's see those winter pics!

Changing things up!

 
Good Morning!

Before scrapbooking took over my life, I used to love decorating our home.

The time has come to rediscover that love, starting with our master bedroom.

I last painted it in 2003. Don't judge. The paint is still pristine, but it's dated. The colour is Benjamin Moore "Straw" and at the time it was the perfect warm shade I was going for.

This time around, I'm going for cool and restful and calming.

I've settled on a grey/blue/white colour scheme:

 
 

I debated and debated on what colour to do the walls; I wanted something current and clean and sophisticated, but not trendy? We've settled on Cumulous Cloud by Martha Stewart:

 

I picked up some gorgeous bedding for a steal, and I hope to get a white drum ceiling light fixture
like one of these:

 
 

or wouldn't this silver one fit in nicely with my wintery theme??

 

I plan to keep the colour-scape somewhat monochromatic with tonal drapes like these:

 

These photos served as inspiration:

 

 

 

 

The good news is, I'm really excited about this new project. It's a big room and won't be a quick weekend thing, but I am anxious to get started.

Then I can move onto the laundry room!

The bad news is, that due to a teeny tiny bit of water staining after a big storm last year and prior to replacing our roof, I have to paint the ceiling. Boo!  HUGE job. Any tips?

So I have now shared my plan. I have to go through with it now, right??

Are you working on any home decor lately?

Me again. . . didn't I just post yesterday??

Trying to get back into the blogging habit!

Thank you to all  of you who read yesterday's post and left comments, it's so nice to be missed . .  :)

Let's go with 'random' as our theme today, shall we??

1. Thrilled beyond thrilled about this:

 

I can only hope they'll come to New Brunswick, because the latest news is that not all Zellers stores will automatically become Targets; some will just be closed.

2. This  was our book club book for December:

 

My review: sweet book, easy read, beautiful descriptive writing, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

3. Now this is our current read, chosen by yours truly. I have a slight obsession interest in Polygamy, it all started with scrapbooking and all of the Mormons who basically founded the hobby, and learning more about their faith, and that leading to this part of their history.

I then stumbled upon Big Love (one of the best shows HBO has ever done, in my opinion), and that further fueled my, ahem, interest in this subject!

So far, I am really enjoying it, the characters are starting to come to life and the writing is witty and sharp. Jim surprised me with a Kobo for Christmas, so this is the first e-book I have read. My opinion so far is that I think it'll be great for travelling but I am missing holding a real book!

 

4. Through Lee's blog I found Stone Soup. Love this concept. Made these brownies the other day with only minutes to whip up dessert and they were great!

 

                                ~ : photo source : ~

5. Do not blame me if you start spending far too much time on pinterest. It's a very cool concept and just so much fun! It's a 'social catalogue' and it's just. . . random I guess? You find stuff like this:

 

and this:

 

and this:

 

and this:

 

I could go on and on. Go check it out!

6.  Lastly, for Christmas we got an amazing new TV and a PVR, and I am proud scared to admit that I have become addicted to these lovely sisters  , their crazy lives and all of their spin offs:

 

Am I alone? Tell me I'm not!

And on that soul-baring point, I will sign off for today!

Well hello!

Helloooo. . . .? This thing on? Wow, where did I go?? Took a blog break. Didn't have a whole lot to say. Was sidelined with a case of the January blues. Thankfully, my spirit seems to improving, maybe it's the longer days? Although the cold here over the last few days has been just ridiculous, windchills of -35 to -38. Way too cold. The kind of cold that just doesn't let you warm up, even with the heat up and the fireplace on.

I have lots to share! I'll start with these photos I took of my sister and her family (ahem, way back in October when I was in Ontario for ScrapFest). I love these. The light was spectacular and the pumpkin patch was amazing! My very favourite one will be appearing in the next issue of SCT so I can't share that one, but these are all favourites too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and my 2nd favourite because I had some fun with the processing:

 

Thanks for sticking around if you're reading this, I promise to post regularly, I have a few more fun shoots to share as well as some random blabberings too!

Hope you're staying warm :)