Photographer: Lisa Pickard

                   

            I am such a lucky lady in that I have so many talented friends in my life- one of these talented folks- Lisa Pickard has recently ventured out on her own to follow her passion for photography- she is a great example of someone who had a hobby and is turning it into a business she loves. Recently Lisa launched Lisa Pickard Photography- I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce a very talented lady and lend her voice to this space a bit- here in Lisa's own words is a bit about who she is and what inspires her!

         I'm a family, children and newborn photographer who works with natural light. I prefer the look and mood achieved with natural lighting, although it can be a bit challenging in Vancouver’s winter months.

        I’ve always had an interest in photography. I remember pouring over photo albums as a child and I built my first “camera” out of Lego blocks. As a teenager I would go through my magazines, tearing out the photos that I liked the look of and scrapbooking them. Even though our styles are completely different, I’ve always loved Annie Leibovitz’s work and still have a lot of the Vanity Fair covers that she did.

       Like so many children’s photographers out there, my passion really blossomed when I had my first child. I bought my first digital camera and took courses to learn how to use it in its manual mode. Basically, I just practiced, practiced, practiced on my kids. A lot! I always joke that they probably thought their mum was just one big eyeball for the first few months of their lives.

       I like to capture families and children in natural moments. While I think it’s important to pose subjects to make sure I get a good shot, I think it’s equally important to capture those milestones. A lot of the time that’s when the best photos occur! You can really capture a personality that way. It’s such a lovely keepsake to look back on a photo of a child in the midst of doing something that really makes them unique. Maybe it’s just a baby playing with their toes or a child making silly faces; those moments are beautiful to me.

     A few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to have our family photos taken by Lisa out at Jericho beach- it was one of those perfect Vancouver nights and Lisa had picked the most perfect location. Working with Lisa was so easy- she has great rapport with the Littles- she is a Mum of two after all and knows how to handle excited five year olds. She quickly put everyone at ease including the Mr. who perhaps was not as keen on having his picture taken as the rest of us!

        Until now our family really had no great pictures of all of us together- as is so often the case for many bloggers I am usually behind the camera- but thanks to Lisa we have these lovely family keepsakes to treasure. She managed to capture our family's spirit- the perfect Vancouver night and the perfect location which incidentally happens to be the backdrop for many of our family outings- we love Jericho beach! Thank you Lisa for a wonderful experience and these lovely images of our family- all of us!

P.S.- please check out Lisa's web site- Lisa Pickard Photography, show her some facebook love here -as well as her charming blog Mummy Unscripted- a love letter to her children!