Congratulations Jim!

A big "YAHOO!" to Jim Cuddy for his Juno nominations this year -- Songwriter Of The Year and Adult Alternative Album Of The Year. Sa-weet!

The Blue Rodeo lads are also being inducted in the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame this year. Wonderful. I remember hearing them for the first time at the Markham Fair while in my teens. They were playing a concert on the fairgrounds and the music made its way to me while I was riding the ferris wheel. The moment is etched in my mind (and ears), and I've been a huge fan ever since. That I get to take portraits of them now simply blows my mind.

2012 And My Life As A Blogger

Ahem.

I seem to recall mocking myself back in 2010 for my poor blogging skills. Since then I've noticed my whopping number of blog posts in 2011 -- two. That's right. Two. And one of them didn't even have any text.

Double ahem.

Truth In Advertising

Kara Lang

Last year I had the great pleasure of shooting Canadian soccer player Kara Lang. I'm a big sports fan so it was a real treat. She was such fun to work with, and was very gracious about the zillion questions I fired at her during the shoot.

At 15, Kara was the youngest player named to the National Woman's Team, and still holds the record for the youngest female player to score a goal in international play. Sadly, she retired from soccer in early January at the young age of 24, knee injuries having taken their toll. I shake my fist at you, knee injuries! Shake shake! Shake shake!

Canada plays its first game of the FIFA Women's World Cup tomorrow, and I'm going to miss seeing Kara out there.

Oh Susanna -- trooper!

I've had the pleasure of shooting the remarkably talented Oh Susanna a couple of times. (Please understand that as a photographer, "shooting" people is a good thing.) I'm a fan of her art, and I'm a fan of her person.

One shoot we did took place on a very cold Canadian afternoon in February. We wanted the shots to look more "summer-y", which involved a great amount of intestinal fortitude by Suzie. (Did I mention is was a very cold Canadian afternoon in February? Did I also mention that we were shooting in an old, breezy, unheated barn?)

She looks pretty warm and summer-y in these photos, no? That's because Suzie is a champ.

The truth of the freezing shoot can be seen in this quick snap of Suzie and our marvelous hair/make-up guru Jess (please note the earmuffs):

Habitat For Humanity

For anyone who knows me, the sight of me wielding a hammer or, sakes alive, a power tool, is enough to send them away screaming.

I'm not handy. I've tried. I've read numerous books. I've studied my share of Ikea instructions. I even took a woodworking course once. And by once I mean I went to one class - after my first lesson on the band saw I was entirely certain I was going to lop off a limb. I've grown attached to my limbs. (I still plan on building a bat house one day, but it may have to constructed out of popsicle sticks.) I admire it in others, but handiness just isn't a talent I possess.

Because of this "handy-lessness", I never thought I'd get to volunteer for a Habitat For Humanity build. Habitat For Humanity (habitat.org / torontohabitat.on.ca) is a wonderful organization and I've always wanted to lend a hand. Never thought it would happen. And then my friend Stef, who has volunteered with Humanity a number of times, forwarded some information about Humanity looking for volunteer photographers. Perfect!

Short story shorter, I was able to volunteer for Toronto's inaugural ReTooling Build in September.

And my heart grew three sizes.

I'm A Bad Blogger

That's right. I'm a bad blogger. I don't call... I don't write... My Christmas cards are always late...

Time to pull up the bootstraps.