I have a New Blog!

I have recently updated my blog – and will no longer be posting on this one. Please come visit me at:

http://www.marlenesdesignerportraits.com/blog

Thank you for visiting!

Later.
Marlene

I had a wonderful Christmas!

One of my first gifts was a fabulous gift basket from Leanne Unger (lju@xplornet.com) and Ilene Goschke (egoschke@mts.net) from TPI Travel Professionals! They helped with the Disney Trip giveaway and I thank them for their contribution! Thanks Leanne and Ilene!

Once again, Christmas celebrations for me took place in Brandon, Manitoba with my very best friend, Inge and her husband, Michael. (Note: I went to Africa with Inge and Michael.) I left home on the 23rd of December and headed on out to Brandon. The weather was breathtaking.

When I arrived the dogs greeted me with much affection for “Auntie Marlene”. They are joy to watch and I spent many an hour cuddling with them!

Hunter was the first to arrive in the Skliros household!

Then came, Grissom… (The boys like to play and spend time together – my favorite shot is the one of the two of them on the ‘forbidden’ sofa – isn’t it hilarious?

Inge and Michael had the place beautifully decorated…

Inge has an extensive Hippo collection and she ended up displaying some as ornaments on her tree – I loved it!

More photos – see the bottom right image? That is a photo of the house on the corner – this fellow really decorates the outside of his house – and the cars kept coming throughout the time I was there just to see the house – it is pretty amazing!

Christmas Eve dinner was wonderful… (The menu was fresh salad greens and Shrimp Quiche – fabulous!)

Christmas Day we enjoyed another hot tub – wonderful!

Here are some images of Inge – doing what she does best! Cooking and photographing! We had Christmas Pudding for dessert on Christmas Day and she doused it in alcohol and lit it – the dogs loved it! What a site!

Christmas Dinner – Roast Turkey, Baked Yams, Potato and Carrot Roasties, Brussels Sprouts, Stuffing… and yes – we were stuffed!

It is wonderful to spend time with your best friends!

Peace…Love…Joy

To all my clients and friends… I wish you much Peace, Love and Joy this Christmas and for the coming year!
Marlene

Disney Trip Winner!

Well, my 15 month celebration ended last evening with a “Champagne & Cupcakes” party. As many of you might know I have been in photography for 30 years now and as you might know, I am a huge Disney fan! I have been to Walt Disney World in Florida 10 times and I was wondering how I could celebrate such a milestone in business and it came to me – I’d give away a Disney trip!!!! Since most of my clients are young families, I decided that I would give a trip for 4 to Walt Disney World in Florida. I asked my friends and clients, Leanne Unger and Ilene Goschke if they would help me with this and they both jumped at the chance! Leanne and Ilene both are part of Travel Professionals International. They are also a huge part of this fabulous trip of a lifetime!

Well, I was originally going to be drawing the winner of this trip at the end of the year – but I thought that it might be a fabulous Christmas present and decided to give it away at the beginning of December – that was yesterday – December 5th. All those that qualified received an invitation to the party (but they didn’t need to be in attendance to win). We had 388 tickets in the draw, so the chances were great to win this prize!

We had cupcakes from Sweet Impressions and they were fabulous – everyone mentioned how great they were! Krista at Sweet Impressions was wonderful to work with and when I walked into their business at noon yesterday the aroma of chocolate permeated the air – it was wonderful! The cupcakes were fabulous looking – and tasting.

Look at their clever way of using the logos as little cookies on top of the cupcakes! They used the TPI logo and the ‘M’ from Marlene’s Designer Portraits!

Anyway on to photos of the event! I don’t often decorate a lot for Christmas – but this year I decided it was necessary for the party! Look at some of what we did!

I opened my home for people to wander around and look at some of my art pieces on the wall – and I had a little “Charlie Brown” tree set up in the dining room.

This is what my front entrance to my home looks like…the walls are painted “Neon Red” and showcases some of my artwork as well. It has somewhat of an Asian theme.

As I mentioned earlier, Sweet Impressions supplied all the cupcakes and they were presented in beautiful boxes tied up with red ribbons! They really know how to package their product!

As well as making a beautiful presentation, the cupcakes were delicious!

Albert Wiebe (husband to one of my past employees) was the first one to sample the cupcakes and he definitely approved of it!

This is a photo taken early in the evening. It features Janie (on the left), my baby sister and co-ordinator of the event (she’s amazing) and Frieda (one of my previous employees), Barb, who recently left to pursue a job that she has always dreamed of and Heather, my newest employee! I’ve been so blessed with some wonderful employees!!

Throughout the evening we gave away door prizes (you needed to be present to win). Following are the winners of the prizes given out.

Oh yes, I can’t forget the guests that brought in a tin of food or an unwrapped toy for the Southeast Helping Hands “Feed the Need” campaign and “Christmas Toy Drive”. Here is a photo of their generous support – Southeast Helping Hands supplies over 500 hampers at Christmas time to families in need during the Christmas season!

The winners of the Disney Trip were not present, but I’m thrilled to announce that Craig & Nicole Miller were the winners of the trip! I called them this morning to let them know they were going to Disney World and they were thrilled! Craig & Nicole just moved to Landmark a short time ago – before that they were living in Brandon, Manitoba, where Nicole worked at a lawyer’s office – okay – this gets a bit long and complicated – but Nicole worked for Henry Carroll who is a great friend of Inge Skliros (my best friend and another photographer in Brandon). Inge photographed Nicole and Craig with her first pregnancy and then when Piper was born and when she found out they were moving to Landmark – she told them they had to come and see me if they needed photographs! Nicole and Craig soon found out they were expecting another child and I had the privilege of photographing their maternity session as well as newborn session of Davilyn!

Congratulations to the Miller Family! When I called Craig this morning he said they would definitely be back to see me again…. thank you – I can’t wait to photograph your precious family again!

At the end of the evening, I took a few more photos and captured Janie and Barb and Heather just relaxing and chatting. I’m so lucky to have such great people believing in me and helping me in my business!

I have to say that I have had some wonderful people working with me in the past 10 years (before that I thought I could do it all on my own). Joyce Loewen was my first employee, Frieda Wiebe came after that, and then Barb joined the staff here and most recently, I’ve welcomed Heather Warkentin! All of these ladies have been a huge part of my success and they have all contributed in their own way and I want to just say how much I appreciate them all and wish them well in their new jobs. And Heather is just very new (since the end of October) and is already proving herself to be a great asset!

I want to end this with a photo of a wall hanging I came across several years ago. When I saw it, I knew I had to buy it. It sums up what Christmas means to me.

“Ingredients for a Merry Christmas”…. Family, Giving, Memories and Friends and I think the most important is the Memories. I hope and believe that what I am giving to my clients is “Memories” that can never be replaced or taken away. Memories of happy times – photographed and captured forever. A story they can share with all those viewing the images. Of course “Family” is the most important. Without a wonderful family – our lives would be lacking so much. “Giving” – giving of yourself to others. That’s important as well! And “Friends” – I truly believe that all my clients are my friends. I would never have met many of these people if they wouldn’t have come into my studio and I hope that when I have created a lasting memory of them and that they too, will feel we are friends.

Thank you to all those that have come to see me and trust me to photograph their families over the past 30 years and I hope to see you all in the future. 2009 will bring some wonderful new elements in my business and studio and I invite you all to come and see my new vision!

Merry Christmas to all!

Riley visits the studio for the 1st time!

Riley’s mom called me up a couple of months ago. She had just moved back to Winnipeg after living in Calgary for some time. While there, she had portraits taken of Riley by Laura Grove of Sunflowers Photographic Creations studio. She asked Laura who she would recommend in Manitoba and she gave her my name.

One of the benefits of belonging to the Professional Photographers of Canada is that you get a chance to meet other photographers throughout Canada and they become your friends! Thank you Laura, for sending Riley’s mom to see me!

Riley is now 4 years old and he came in a bit shy – but he immediately did as I asked him.

It didn’t take long for him to be comfortable and we got some wonderful images of him! He had quite a range of expressions, and that is what I love most about photographing children!

Not every photograph needs to show smiles – both mom and I really loved this image!

We then brought Mom into the portrait…

These were my some of my favorite images from the session…

Later.

little Brigitte and her parents

Beautiful little girl! Brigitte’s mom called me on the 3rd of September asking about my portraits. She was new in town and had heard about me and checked out my website. I invited her in for a tour of the studio and to talk about what her vision was for the portrait. At that session I found out that she had a 1½ year old that she wanted portraits of, as well as the family of 3. We decided on a date (October 25th, after I came back from my African adventure).

Little Brigitte arrives with her parents that day – and she is extremely shy – at least it seemed that way. She looked at me suspiciously but she was wiling to do what mom and dad wanted her to. We started off in my window light room – and we tried to get her to sit or stand in a certain place, but, you can’t tell a 1½ year old what to do! You just go with the flow. She had a few of her favorite toys, her special doll and her books with her. Eventually we got some absolutely amazing images of her – doing what she wanted to do! Why do we even try to tell young children what to do – I’ve discovered that we just let them lead the way! That is the best way to capture their personality and spirit in a timeless photograph!

Here are some of my favorite images from that session…

When we finished photographing Brigitte, the family went outside and photographed the family. Brigitte was fascinated by the leaves!

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this image!

More favorites…

I love it when my clients write in my Comment book! This is what Anna wrote… “You really captured the busyness of our daughter. We love the family shot – thank you for helping us put a memory on our wall!” – Markus & Anna

No – thank you Markus, Anna and Brigitte – it’s clients like you that make me love my job!

Africa Trip – Part 2

Well, it has been one month since we arrived at Spurwing Island. It seems like forever ago! I have been extremely busy with clients – Photographing, Premiere Showings, Consultations and Production – and I haven’t had a chance to go through more of my African images!

Today I’m heading to Brandon to spend some time with my best friend Inge and her husband Michael. Inge was the person that convinced me to go on the African Safari and we’re going to be reminiscing about our trip! Catherine – the 4th member of our party, will be joining us on Monday evening for dinner. I can’t wait to talk about our trip!

Following are more photos taken on our first day Safari. Can you tell I love elephants? ;-D

Does this elephant know we’re watching??

On our way back to Spurwing Island after our first Game Drive – this is Catherine on the boat back.

One of the children living at the Game Warden’s compound in Matusadona National Game Park.

This is the Game Warden’s daughter – a bit shy at first – but she warmed to us!

The very elusive Lilac Breasted Roller in flight!

Elephant Trek…

A lone zebra – watching us – the lighting was unbelievable!

Another shot of an elephant – their trunks are so beautiful – graceful!

An elephant uses his feet to disturb the ground – looking for food? They eat trees, shrubs, grasses…

Did I mention how wonderful the light is?

A rare hippo on land – mostly they stay in the waters…

A great shot of a Water Buck standing in front of a termite mound.

While at Spurwing Island we woke up at 5:00 am to prepare for our first Game Drive of the day. This is the view that greeted us from our tent. Bliss…

Off to Brandon! I’ll post more another time.

Image Competition – I still got it! :-)

Since coming back from Africa on the 19th of October – I have been going ‘full tilt’ with catching up on orders and photographing new clients and all that happens at this time of year! Christmas Rush!

I have wanted to post more African images – but I haven’t even gone through all 8850+ images as yet!

But on Monday, October 20th, I attended the Awards Banquet of the Professional Photographers of Canada-Manitoba. I drove in to Winnipeg, still quite jet-lagged. It was great seeing old friends.

The banquet dinner was excellent and one of my jobs as Honours Chair was to present three very deserving photographers with their Honour of Fellowship Ribbons and Certificate.

For the first time since 2004 I entered images into the competition (in the past few years I either was judging the competition or was Jury Chair and then you can’t enter). So I was a bit hesitant about sending in my 4 images as we are getting some wonderful new photographers that are doing some great stuff!

I was thrilled to receive 2 Accepted Images and 1 Merit Image. Two of the judges chose two of my images as their “Judges Choice” and I also received 2 Major Awards! I was blown away!

Needless to say – I’m still grinning from ear to ear!

But that wasn’t all. The President of Professional Photographers of Canada, Chris Stambaugh, as well as Nelson Simard, PPOC National Accreditation Chair, and very good friend, were both there to present one more Certificate. I was stunned and honoured to receive the “Honourary Life Member” Certificate and designation. It was completely unexpected and so special to have Nelson present it to me and to have Chris representing the National Association!

I can now proudly add HLM to my credentials!

Marlene Fast, MPA, SPA, F.Ph., HLM

Jack, Mallory and Macy!

I have photographed Jack before. He came in with his cousin, Carlie about a year ago. He was a busy little boy, and we captured a wonderful portrait of the two of them under a table! This was my favorite image from that session and I have it displayed on my wall!

Since then, Jack was blessed with two sisters! Mallory and Macy arrived four months ago and it was time for family portraits.

I have never met two more mellow little girls – they were so content just being close to mom and dad and big brother.

Jack was, once again, curious and all over the place – that’s what 2 year old children do – they need to explore this wonderful world! These are two of my favorite images from today’s session! Precious! I adore these images!

Africa Trip – Part 1

One week ago today I was on a plane from Cape Town, South Africa to London, England.

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I’ve come back from my African safari!!!

What a trip! What an experience! I can’t describe it in words, so I’ll try to do it justice by posting images. I did take over 8000 images on this trip – so it is taking me a while to go through them all to pick my favorites.

My trip began on October 1st. First plane from Winnipeg to Montreal – then Montreal to Paris and from Paris to Johannesburg, South Africa. (In total I was on 13 planes!) From Johannesburg we flew to Harare, Zimbabwe and we boarded a 6 seater little plane to take us to our first destination – Spurwing Island, Karibe, Zimbabwe. This is a photo of the plane after dropping us off at Fothergill Airport.

Not much of an airstrip, is it?

It was about 41 degrees when we landed. Shortly after we landed, we were met by Jill – the manager of Spurwing Island Safari Lodge and one of her head guides, Sean.

We were immediately given refreshments (very welcome and very much required at this point) and taken on our first game drive! We went on quite a few game drives during our 3 night stay at the Safari Lodge – some were on Land rovers, one was a walking Safari and another one was by boat. These took place at 5:30 am and 3:30 pm – so we had the most gorgeous light for photographs – and also the time of day that the animals were most active! The game drives were probably my most favorite part of the entire trip!

The very first thing I noticed was the abundance of birds and we spotted this Fish Eagle perched at the top of a tree.

The next wildlife I saw was this animal. Difficult to see – but we spotted it!

We drove through Matusadona Game Park and the first large animals I saw was the elephant!

This is my first glimpse of what came to be my favorite animal in Africa!

But we were quite far away from them. Before we got to see them up close – we encountered some zebra. Beautiful animals as well!

We were getting closer to the elephants!

This is Sean, our Safari Guide. He was very knowledgeable and my favorite guide of the trip! Look at how close the elephants were to our Land Rover!

Then we got closer. Aren’t these images fabulous? The elephants are so large – but you can barely hear them when they move around. We saw many little baby elephants. Do you know how to tell the age of a baby elephant? It is less than one year old if it can fit under the belly of it’s mother!

Okay, so now you know – I love elephants!!! But not all photographs taken were of animals – the vegetation and land was breathtaking! The earth is a beautiful red color and Zimbabwe is such a beautiful country! I did photograph other things as well – this is one of my ‘artsy’ landscapes.

And these were all taken on our first Game Drive – before we ever got to our first destination!

Stay tuned – more to come….