Nikki on the other hand…WOW! I think she should be pregnant all the time!  You know how people say “you’re glowing”, well I was never “glowing” when I was pregnant, but I can honestly say that Nikki is more then glowing, she’s got this beautiful aura surrounding her and her baby and quite frankly, I’m a weeee bit jealous !  I met Nikki on the day of the shoot, although we had emailed back and forth.  I was a little intimidated meeting her, because she’s a model, and from pictures I had seen, I knew she was going to be gorgeous!  And she is!  My anxiety upon meeting Nikki quickly diminished when she opened the door and greeted us with a big smile and hurriedly ushered us in! She had baked us some croissants and wanted us to eat them while they were still warm!  Gorgeous…and NICE! Darn it, I really wanted to dislike this girl!!   Not gonna happen! I love this girl! We chatted and laughed as though we had been friends for years! 

Nikki and her hubby Demetrius are going to make awesome parents.  If Demetrius has his way, baby boy will come into this world, rocking it out on a baby guitar!  Or better yet, maybe the drums! Instant band and you never even have to leave the home to practice!  I can just tell that Baby will be playing a musical instrument before he can probably walk or talk.  I need to make a separate trip to photograph Demetrius on his own with all of his guitars!  What a fun shoot that would be! (hint…hint…)

Nikki’s makeup was done by the incredible Zenah who is a professional makeup artist and has been in the industry for over 15 years! If you need your makeup done, drop me a line and I will get you in touch with her.  Zenah is truly talented in what she does!

Without further ado…the shoot:

See, 8 and a half months pregnant, and absolutely beautiful!

and cause sometimes I can’t decide between colour or black and white…

Time for a quick clothing change…We had to “sneak” some quick photos on this table, cause the security guard in the lobby left the room! 

Introducing Demetrius in black and white…

and in colour…

Nikki rocking it out!!! YOU GO GIRL!

Love this next one…

and as the saying goes…”that’s a wrap!”  Nikki and Demetrius, thank you so much for allowing me into your home and your world for a few hours!  I feel very fortunate to meet such great people in my travels.  I can’t wait for the opportunity to hopefully photograph your newborn!   

I finally feel like I’m catching up…err…well…somewhat!  A few days before I left, I had a chance to photograph one of my favourite “models” as she celebrated her 6 month birthday! (No Cake Smash yet, saving that photo op for the BIG ONE year birthday!)  She is such a cutie!  It’s been a long, cold winter so I asked Lauryn’s mom if we could go outside for this photoshoot and maybe she felt the same as me, cause she quickly agreed.  So off we went to a nearby park.  This was Lauryn’s first “run-in” with grass so we weren’t sure how she’d feel about being set down in it.  She loved it! 

The look on her beautiful face says it all!   Mom had to keep close watch cause she’s still learning to sit up, the grass though, kept her pleasantly distracted.  At first she wasn’t sure what to make of it, but then as she got used to the feel of the grass and realized it wasn’t so bad she seemed to enjoy sitting in it.   The last time I saw this cutie, she wasn’t even close to sitting up.  I would imagine in a flash she’ll be crawling around with a mischievous grin on her face…I can almost picture it, and hopefully I’ll be able to photograph it too!

She is sooo cute! Like a doll and such a great personality.  So easy going! 

Just one b&w cause we were enjoying the colors of spring way too much!

See this next one…told you, she’s a doll! Always smiling, always happy! (Her mom and dad may have a different opinion on that! But when she sees me, she’s always happy!)

Finally, because all sessions seem to end this way with me…it’s not the sharpest photograph by any means, but it does tell the story of how she was feeling about me after!

I met Janet…oh maybe 8 years ago now, we played fastball together.  She was a pitcher (and an extremely talented one at that) and I was her catcher (I made her look good! Sorry Janet, had to go there!!)  But really, if you’ve ever been in a catcher/pitcher relationship you have to have good chemistry and bond well with your pitcher/catcher, cause really you make each other look good.  And for as good as I made Janet look, she made me look even better!  We had the opporunity to play on the same team for a few years, and we quickly bonded and became fast friends.  When the chance came for me to play hockey with Janet’s hockey team, I jumped at the chance, and we became defence partners!  She saved my bacon on more then one occasion, and to thank her, I thought it would be funny to skate at her one day, lose an edge, and fall in a heap on top of her! OOOOPS!  I’ll never forget her face as I skated towards her completely out of control!! Umm…We laugh about it now…

Anyhow, I lost my defence partner last year to pregnancy, and as much as I missed her, I couldn’t be happier for her and her hubby!  A month ago, they gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and as much I told them that “Elaine” as a name works for both a boy and a girl, they decided to call their precious boy, Maxim.  He’s a cutie!! The spitting image of his dad.  I’m wondering if his parents will let me teach him some of my “skating” moves…something tells me NO!    Without further annoying bantering by me, here is the cuteness that is Maxim!

Told you he’s a cutie!!!!

I love this next one…

I kind of love this next one too!!

We tried and tried and tried to get him to fall asleep, but he wanted no part of it!  He was even holding his head up to see what I was doing!

Finally I wore him out with all my stealth photography moves!

The perfect watch dog for Maxim!

Mama and baby

Rockstar!! You go girl!!

The last look he gave me before drifting to sleep…how appropriate!

Thanks for letting me into your home to photograph your beautiful baby!! May he be the first of many more to come!

I met Greg actually while playing baseball, he came to “coach” my women’s team one year.  I use the term “coach” very lightly cause again, it was more just to hang out and be around the ball diamond! And somehow he became a good friend.  If I could’ve predicted anything for Greg it would be that he would meet someone at the ball diamonds and fall in love.  He just spends so much time there.  Sure enough, that’s how he met Dina.  She came with a friend of hers to watch Greg’s men’s team play, and somehow in all that dirt, white-pant wearing, forward-diving lankiness that is Greg ;)  she was smitten.  But I think he was probably smitten first.  Once you see the pics of Dina, you’ll know why he would be smitten! Who wouldn’t?? The girl is gorgeous!! And yes, she has some rather ”strange” quirks about her (ie, peeling sausages…but that’s another story)but she’s got a great heart, and I have never seen Greg happier.   

When Greg and Dina asked me if I would take some engagement shots of them at the ball diamond, I jumped at the chance.  We had a blast, even though it was freezing cold, the wind was whipping our hair around and we had bright sun issues, I believe Greg & Dina rocked the session out!  (Well Dina rocked it out, and she just took Greg along for the ride.  She makes him look good just by mere association!) 

Told you she’s gorgeous!!

The Happy Couple:

Love…Love…Love this next one:

And this one…so peaceful:

I asked  Greg to lay one on Dina…and this is what I got, so sweet and soft:

Then I asked Dina to lay one on Greg, and this is what I got…Hmm….

I’m not even sure I requested this one:

After a few clothing changes, it was on with the ball gear for some fun and frolic:

And when it got too cold and too windy, they strolled off into the sunset…Congrats again guys on your engagement! 

Mario did alot for us in the name of “big brotherhood”.  He was always the one to give up his cookie or candy or desert, so me and my other brother could have one and not cry ourselves to sleep cause there was only two left, but three of us kids to share it.  When we walked to school, he had to walk with us to make sure we got there safely, even though I’m sure walking with two kids a few years younger was definitely not seen as “cool”.  When we played “wrestling” in the basement, it was always me and my other brother tag teaming against Mario, (and boy did we kick his BUTT! well…maybe not).   When it was TV watching time, if me or our other brother cried hard enough, we got to watch what we wanted to, and Mario was either stuck watching Charlie’s Angels or Battle of the Planets.    We were supposed to call him “Junior” but somehow we turned it into something that sounded like “Joan” and still does.  When he asked us to stop calling him that we tried our hardest, but it still came out as “Joan”.  Really COOL for him I bet.

He had some crazy ideas and because he was our idol and big brother, we went along with them.   Taking pictures of him in his “inside-out” gold colored-lined trench coat, with his hair up to HERE, doing his Prince moves, cause he was going to be a STAR!  I remember one of his piano recitals and he told my parents that “no”, he was not going to perform Mozart or Bethoven or the likes, instead he was going to perform “Root Beer Rag”.  My parents said “HUH?” and I know most of you just said “huh…what the heck song is that???”  But man he rocked it out.  I miss hearing my brother play piano.  He is one of those people born with a natural talent.  His is playing piano. 

  My brother played that, and it was awesome!  Billy Joel was his piano playing idol, and then he became mine too. 

Anything my brother liked I liked.  It’s how I became a Bruin fan.    I still to this day remember exactly how I became a Bruin fan.  I was about 5 at the time and we as a family were gathered around our TV set.  Montreal was playing Boston.  My parents and my other brother being the Montreal diehard fans that they are, were teasing my brother about being a Bruin fan (I won’t ever fully admit it, but I think Montreal was beating Boston pretty badly at the time!) So, I could still hear Mario cheering on Boston and I remember thinking, I’m not going to let my Big Brother be teased all by himself, so I may have at that moment squeaked out a “Go Boston Go”, not knowing a single darn thing about hockey, cause at the time there was no “Hockey-playing Barbie doll”.  And at that precise moment another hardcore Bruin fan was born, strictly out of defence for my Big Brother!  My brother bit his nails…and sadly, I did too (Thanks for that Big Bro!!) He played piano, and I tried too, but I never got over my fear of performing in front of people. 

So here’s to my big brother, the defender of the little people (me and my other brother, and our toys).  Thanks for always having our backs, and for always being someone we can count on. 

GQing it! I wanted him to wear the gold trench coat…but well I think the 80s called and reclaimed it…

And for something a little different…love it…

All right, now that Tonia has made her Elaine Eve Photography blog “debut”, it’s time to introduce Mario!! He was a little upset that Tonia stole his thunder, but I think he’ll be over it once he sees his GQ posing.  Besides, the girl is supposed to steal the thunder! We make you men look good (sorry boys…)   But really, I was going to do a post entirely dedicated to Mario first  because he rocked the engagement photo session out too, but I know these two are anxious to see theses photos. (So Mario you’ll have to wait one more day)  I think I tortured them enough!  So here you are.  I don’t think either one steals the other’s thunder,  I think they both compliment each other, and if they ever had kids, WOWEEEEEEEE!! Can you say look out! hmm…just a thought…

(Note: All makeup again done by the incredible “Z”.  Need your makeup done for any event, drop me a line and I’ll get you her contact info!!)

Love the shot on the left of Tonia trying to kiss Mario and he’s looking at the camera as if to say “this is my lucky day!” LOVE IT!

STUNNING!

And because I love sun flare…

Coming up tomorrow…Mario…solo!

Tonia’s makeup was done by an incredibly talented up and coming make up artist!  “Z” is her name, and makeup is her game.  Drop me a line if you like what you see and need your makeup done, I will connect you to her!

Told you she is gorgeous!   What a lucky guy you are Mario!!!

And my personal fave…I don’t know who the heck Sasha Fierce is (ask Beyonce) but this is defnitely “Tonia Fierce”…You go girl!!

Stay Tuned for the actual “couple” shots! Yes, sorry boys, I did mention earlier in my post, she’s taken! So there really are engagement photos! I promise…

Even better, how he managed to get in front of the camera with some of the other models…hmm…talented, funny, helpful and Smart…(smart enough to get some pictures with the beautiful female models!) 

Here he is rockin’ it out with Hailey…he is the photographer and not the model in this pic, but you really wouldn’t know that except for the camera in his hand, I mean look at that posing! GQ all the way!

Here’s one with Alex,  he’s pretending to chimp, but really he just wants to be in the picture! I told you, complete camera HOG!!

I really like this next photo, except…umm…Adam’s in it! AGAIN! LOL!  Now he’s just outright blocking the model too.  Go figure!

Look at the relieved smile on his face below! No models all up in his space, trying to steal his thunder! 

And just in case I hadn’t proved my point enough, one last shot of Adam getting up close and personal with Hailey!  Thanks again Adam for letting us use your studio and allowing me the opportunity to play with your Canon gear!

We had just gotten home from Lonestar and decided to walk off our fajitas for 4!  I whispered under my breath, barely audible, except to the most trained ear, “walk”.  And boy did she come running!! If she could’ve put her own leash on at that point in time, I’m sure she would’ve.  Her counterpart on the other hand, had no clue what was going on, he was just excited cause she was excited.  Putting the “walking collars” and leashes on is an event in itself, the little one (dog that is) gives me such a hard time to put the harness on.  He really lives up to his nickname of Psycho dog, so lovingly referred to by me (the boys get mad at me when I refer to him like that but really if you met him, you would agree!)  Anyways, with our leashes in hand (forgot the poop bags! OOPS, good thing we didn’t need them for this one) off we went.  The sun was setting nicely up the street so I couldn’t resist grabbing my camera for hopefully a few good shots. 

Wow, was it freeeeezing.  I’m pretty sure the feelings in my fingers still havn’t come back yet.  Between the cold, balancing my camera, and dragging “psycho dog” on the leash, it was a sight to see I’m sure.  There were a few times ole phsych lunged forward and almost pulled the camera out of my grasp.  He’s strong for a 6 pounder!  But yet for the most part he strolled right beside me, marking his territory any chance he got.   Maxie on the other hand, pulled at her leash like walks are going out of style and this would be her last one.  She usually ends up taking whoever happens to be holding her leash, for a walk  instead of the other way around.  She has never once stopped to go to the bathroom when on a leash.  I kid you not,  NEVER!  Weird.  I don’t get it.  We have tried taking her for a walk as soon as we get home (after a whole day without going outside) and nothing!  She will wait til she’s in the privacy of her own backyard, thank you very much, before she does her business. 

She does tug on that leash though, she’ll run around in a big circle and tie you up, lie down on the neighbour’s lawn and not get up, find the biggest puddle and roll around in it.  She is in her glory when she goes for a walk, and on this day my oldest had the honour of holding her leash with pride (even when she lay down in the snow and refused to budge).   I was so cold, and when I asked him if he was ready to go back home, he said “Nah, I think Maxie still wants to walk”.  So away we went, a boy and his dog…following where the wind…errr…dog took us. 

Hailey, who is a Toronto Argonauts Cheerleader, was somewhat “new” to the world of modeling (but in a sense, they do it every day…but differently).  She really was a natural, and really a heart of gold.   We worked her for hours on this day, and she never complained once, never asked for a break, never stopped smiling (unless asked to).  

Told you she is gorgeous!!

The above photos were taken in a stairwell, with a great natural light window and one strobe to the right of Hailey…Now we move to the red ladder just hanging out of the ceiling…you know, cause red ladders just naturally hang out of the ceiling! (Did I mention what a great studio we got to work out of! Tons of locations to shoot, always something different!)

And as they say in the ‘Big Leagues’ : “That’s a Wrap!”  Coming up next, change it up a little, Adam!