August - What to Wear guide for Family Sessions

Here's this month's style guide.  Don't you just love that dress for Mom?

Beautiful Bridget / Kanata Teen Photographer

I love working with teens...they're so fun!  Bridget is graduating from Grade 8 this year and wanted some grad photos done.

Bridget loves to dress up so I brought a few flower headpieces to play around with...I thought this big pink one looked great with her beautiful eyes!

we made mom get in for a few photos as well...I love this one!

Thanks for the wonderful session Bridget and good luck in High School!

Teen Photography / Ottawa Teen Photographer

My daughter recently came home with some proofs for grad photos that got taken of her at school.  She was very embarrassed by them and I have to admit that I didn't like them either so didn't order any.
They showed her sitting in front of a bright blue background and wearing a cap and gown plus she had the fake "cheese" smile...it didn't show her as she truly is at this moment in time.  I want to remember her as she is now, before she moves into a new phase in her life in September when she'll be entering high school.  She's beautiful, fun, caring and has some "teen attitude"...she's still happy to hang out with her family but is making that transition to her peers being more of an influence.

I decided that there are probably other teens and families of teens that also have the same attitude about school photos as me so decided to start a new branch of my Photography Business geared for teens.

It's still a work in progress but I have a facebook page if you would like to check it out.  If you like the page and stayed tuned,  i'll be offering a fun contest for teens in the near future.

Here are a few pics of my daughter from a mini shoot I did with her on Mother's day weekend, I love all the flowering trees!

Steak Modern Steakhouse and Sushi/ Ottawa Business Headshot Photographer

I had the pleasure of taking head shots for the new owners of a fabulous restaurant in the market called Steak Modern Steakhouse & Sushi (http://www.steakottawa.ca/).

Lee Wagner is the General Manager/Co-Owner and has had many years experience in the restaurant industry as a manager and a professional Sommelier.  He has been presented with 5 Spectator Awards as one of the world's leading wine lists as well as 5 Epicurean Awards for such accomplishments as best service, wine and food.  

John Leung is the amazing Executive Chef & Co-Owner of the restaurant.  He has had an impressive career working in restaurants such as Nobu London, The Four Seasons Hotels in Toronto and Boston and as the chef for the British High Commission in Ottawa and has received several awards including the gold medal in the Canadian Federation of Chef and Cooks National Apprentice Competition.  Steak Modern Steakhouse is sure to have an amazing menu under his guidance!

If you're looking for a great place for a date night, go in and check them out (ask for Lee and tell him I sent you :)).

New Contest - Win a free Headshot Photo session

I've had several people request Headshot photos recently so thought it would be fun to make that the subject of this year's contest.  If you look on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook you'll notice that most people don't have a very professional looking profile picture...they're mostly just snapshots taken in bad light and are often blurry.  Social media is a very popular tool to network and help increase business so having a professional image is very important especially if you're an entrepreneur, business owner, real estate agent or even just looking for a future spouse on an online dating site!


Would you like an updated Profile photo?  Here's the perfect opportunity to win a
Headshot Photo Session plus two digital images.
($150 Value)

Here's how it works:

Go to this link http://bit.ly/Y73w8M and upload a photo of yourself before 11pm on Thursday, February 14th.  Make sure it's a photo of you and preferably one that you've been using as a profile photo so we can see how badly you need a new one!  :)  No professional photos allowed.  (option: email me your photo and i'll add it to the contest for you)

From February 15th until the end of the day on the 24th, people will vote on who they think needs a new photo and the winner will be announced on February 25th.  That's it...how easy is that?!

This year's contest is going to be run through my Michelle Barbeau Photography facebook page.  If you have friends not on facebook that would like to vote for you, they are welcome to email me at michelle@barbeau.net and I will add their vote (voting does not start until the 15th).

A few rules:

•  one entry per person
• participant must live in the ottawa area or be willing to travel to my home studio in Ottawa
• participants must be 21 years or older
• winning photo session is for one person only and must take place before May 31st, 2013

Good luck, I look forward to seeing all your photos!

Feel free to pass this along to anyone that you think would benefit from a free Photo Session


Here are a few headshots from recent photo sessions:

My Favourites of 2012 / Ottawa Family Photographer

I love going through all the photos of the previous year and reliving all the fantastic sessions with my clients.  I feel very blessed to meet so many wonderful people that allow me to capture a special moment in time for them.

Here are a few of my favourite photos from the past year!

I'm looking forward to all the amazing people i'm going to meet this year!

Michelle

52 Week Challenge - Week 25 and a Little Sneak Peek

This week's theme was "swing".  Yesterday I was fortunate enough to spend a beautiful sunny morning with a really fun family and managed to get a little swinging action.  We had a blast walking around the gardens at the Experimental Farm.

If you would like to play along, next week's theme is "Red & White"

Twice the fun - Ottawa Newborn Photographer

What's better than a visit to the studio from a newborn?  A visit from two of them!  I had such a blast with this adorable set of twins and their super cute older brother!

What a proud big brother!

 I love how you can see the difference in their sizes in this picture of their heads

 Mom had this awesome idea of trying to create a yin/yang type of photograph.  I love the way it turned out!