Each November I transform the home studio into some sort of insanely festive photo set for our annual Holiday Photo Sessions. In 2017 the inspiration came from Canada’s 150th birthday celebration earlier in the year. The result is this amalgamation of Christmas and Canadiana.
The best part of these holiday mini sessions is watching families grow up in front of my lens. Lots of familiar faces in this crowd!
Enjoy the gallery.
Want to see more?
Check out this 2017 holiday season compilation.
I love this family. We met years ago through my husband and other mutual friends, and I’ve been lucky enough to photograph their growing numbers in a variety of different sessions over the past few years.
The day we selected for our photo shoot happened to be in the midst of a late summer heat wave and the kids were happy to run around the farm in Scotland Ontario that they call home while soaking up the last rays of September sunshine.
Then that sunset happened! Love it when I get to end a shoot with a sunset and smiles.
Hope you enjoy looking at the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.
I’ve been meaning to share this vibrant little fall family photo session from last October at Rockway Gardens in Kitchener. In my experience, husband + wife + baby always = a great photo shoot, and these three were no exception. These new parents were lovely to talk to, easy-going and great with their baby, all of which made for a wonderful laid back, low key session with lovely golden evening light. When the family placed their portrait order, I was pumped that they specifically asked for bright, bold colours during the editing process- my specialty. Fall portraits are all about those sunny warm tones and vibrant foliage. (A super smiley and cute baby like D. helps too.)
Thanks to this family for choosing me to document your baby boy’s first Halloween season. It was a truly a pleasure.
If you’ve been following along with my photography career even a little bit, you probably know I’m sort of obsessed with Halloween. Its my fav holiday- even though I hate horror movies and gory stuff and anything eyeball related. (I cringed just typing that last sentence.)
It probably goes back to my childhood obsession with playing dress up and perhaps the movie Hocus Pocus. One of my very most favourite kids sessions of all time involved a bunch of little witches, a real cauldron and smoke bombs. I just adore the time of year and the autumn colours and the wild outfits and pop up costume shops and the spooky home decor.
This past Halloween I brought the garden indoors, went hunting for a Beetlejuice-esque striped backdrop, and setup a spooky set for some styled sessions featuring little ones and some witchy mamas too.
Thanks to everybody that participated in these sessions. I always have so much fun doing these holiday setups.
These images tell a story that begins and ends in Algonquin Park. My cousin Cicely and I have always been very close, even though we don’t get to see each other much. When we do get together, its often just a few days each summer at our beloved family cottage in Algonquin Park. Cic grew up spending her entire summers at sleep away camp in the Provincial Park, and eventually became an accomplished canoer and camper, spending up to 50 days at a time traveling through remote wilderness with a close group of young women that remain some of her closest friends.
Five years ago (to the day!!!) I had the joy of documenting Cicely and Dan’s glorious Christmas themed wedding. When we learned that Cic would become a mother, right away, long before the baby arrived, we began talking about how we could possibly rendevouz at my place during the summer for a creative photo session. The logistics were going to be tricky. You see, my beloved cousin and her baby are American. They live in Cincinnati. Nevertheless, Canada holds a special place in Cicely’s heart, and we both wanted to commemorate her baby girl’s first trip to our mutual favourite place on earth- the cottage. At the same time, Canada was still riding the celebration from our recent 150th anniversary on July 1st. If ever there was a time to dream up a Canada themed photo shoot, this was it! We spent less than 24 hours together in 2017, but we sure did make the most of it. So without further ado, its my pleasure to introduce you to Cicely, and her beautiful daughter, sweet miss Louise. I’m so pleased I could capture their relationship and this special moment in our history.
Sending hugs South of the border. xoxo
Do you remember back in February when EBI had a draw for a free family photo session? Meet the winners! The idea was to give back to my wonderful group of clients, but it turned out to be a great experience for me as well. The contest introduced me to Lindsay and her beautiful blended family, and after a few e-mails back and forth and an inspirational Pinterest board, we arrived on a mutual vision for a fun family photo shoot that would involve bold black and white stripes and oversize handmade pink paper flowers.
The setup took a bit of effort to assemble, but it was well worth it when I saw all the elements come together. To top things off, I arranged to borrow a minty green vintage style bicycle from some friends (thanks Fraser and Ellie) and accessorized the set with all sorts of white flowers. Lindsay and her family arrived with black and white and blue outfits and these great vintage updos that pulled everything together. We ended up with alllll kinds of great shots to choose from, and in the end the fam opted to add several extra images on top of their complimentary portrait package. Here are a few of our favourites.
Spring has finally sprung, and with the changing of the seasons, a number of my regular clients have been in touch, asking me, “Hey what’s going on with spring minis? Are you doing kids photos any time soon?” Well, yes and no. No I don’t have any styled mini shoots scheduled at the moment– not until annual holiday minis in November anyway. But yes I am still offering up my home studio for individual sessions! This means we are free to customize the set for your family’s unique needs. 
This is one such family, some devoted clients that have just been blessed with a second son earlier this month. (Congratulations C & A!) This family didn’t want a full scale newborn shoot, just a handful of images that would capture this moment in their family’s story. We were able to plan a 30 minute shoot within days of our initial e-mail. During that time, we took photos of the entire family, the new arrival, his big brother, and the two of them posing together for the very first time. I’m proud to report that I was able to turn this particular shoot around pretty fast too, just 7 days from shoot, to proof gallery, to finished order.
Standard processing for a family session is 3 weeks but lately I’ve been cutting that down, so don’t hesitate to ask if you’re hoping to have pictures in time for Mother’s Day. There’s still time if we get started shortly! 
These indoor studio shoots will be my focus for the next couple of months while we Canadians wait for the weather to warm up enough for outdoor sessions. Need a gift idea for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day 2017? Studio photos are always a hit with parents and grandparents. Right now, for a 30 minute studio session with your choice of 2 different backdrops, minimal props, and 5 edited digital portraits (including print release) the cost is just $250 plus HST. Considering updated portraits for your own family? E-mail emily@emilybeatty.com to inquire about a session or to request a personalized quote. 
Thanks for visiting!
Oh hello! Its February, the world feels a little crazy right now, and that means here at EBI we are celebrating LOVE. Todd and I have recently relocated to a house near Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener, and plans to construct an on site full time studio space are underway. There have been a lot of sleepless nights and pinching pennies, but at long last our dreams are taking shape! I want to thank you personally for helping me get to the point in my career where a full time studio space makes sense. It feels like high time to show some appreciation to the clients that have been with me from the start. That means its time to announce some new promotions. You’ve earned it.
First of all, all 2016 prices will be extended until March 1st 2017. Book a portrait session on location or at my temporary home studio this month for big savings.
Next up, take a peek at our VALENTINE’S PREPAID PORTRAIT DEAL. Maybe you’re looking for a Valentine’s gift for your love, or maybe you are just a smart shopper planning ahead for when you know you are going to want photos later this year. I designed this feature to give devoted customers an option to get the best possible value for 2017 portraits. The idea is you purchase a photo shoot voucher now at 2016 prices, and use it anytime in 2017.
If you’re a returning EBI client and you redeem your voucher before October 2017, you’ll also receive an extra 5 edited digital files with your package. That’s $125 worth of free photography to say thank you for your loyalty. If you know you’re going to want family portraits or maternity or newborn photographs this year, planning ahead and purchasing the prepaid portrait deal could save you hundreds of dollars! 
Now technically, this is a Valentine’s Deal, but there’s definitely no rule against treating yourself this February 14th! Give a voucher as a gift, or hang on to it for your own family later this year. Choose from any of the six location or studio portrait packages listed on the investment page of the EBI website for your voucher value. Options range from $200 to $450 including tax. 
You can contact me via Facebook or by e-mailing emily@emilybeatty.com to order a handmade voucher until February 14th. Book your photo shoot right away, or wait until summertime and be one of the first people to enjoy our newly constructed Kitchener photo studio. 
Stay tuned for our next blog post, 2017 EBI BOUDOIR FEATURES!
Dino Minis! What could be more fun? As a kid, there were exactly 2 types of library books that I would check out: big photographic volumes about whales, and illustrated books about dinosaurs. Apparently huge, mysterious creatures have always fascinated me. Its a love I share with my husband, and its a photographic theme that has been floating around my head for years now. In the spring of 2016, I decided this would be the year, and I set about imagining how I might construct a dinosaur themed mini photo event for my clients.
Eventually, I settled on a prehistoric tropical jungle themed dinosaur set, for families that wanted portraits with some extra pizazz. The botanical background is a paper background that I had already hand painted for some wedding clients earlier this year. The handmade green paper succulents had also been a part of the wedding wall, but this set needed something brand new to bring it to life. Inspiration struck when I saw a window display with large paper leaves on a most excellent crafting blog called Sew Yeah. The night before the first photo shoot, my devoted husband and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning cutting and shaping all of these green, orange, yellow and purple leaves that you see in the photos.
Quite the last minute plan, but I actually love the way all the paper components came together once I had them taped and tied in place. I added a rustic fall muslin backdrop for the “dirt” with pillows underneath to make “rocks” and added a few plants from our deck to fill out the lower portion of our jungle set. We had lots of toy dinos and unique props to keep the kids entertained during their photos, and there was no shortage of smiles as the kids explored our set and the dinos inhabiting it. It worked out that half of our participants were turning either 1 or 2, and these sessions gave their families a unique way to document their child’s milestone without doing the typical balloons and birthday cake smash type of photo session. I’m so glad I just went for it and forged ahead with a very random mini theme. How unique and fun are these images?!? 
Thank you so much to the families that came out to help me realize my dino dreams with these mini photo sessions. Extra special thanks to Theodore for lending us some of his very most favourite toys for these photos, and to Melissa for her excellent assisting work and her sweet puppeteering skills. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Until next time… roar! 
Curious to know more? Visit the Facebook Event page for Dino Minis here.
The flower wall. I had no idea how popular it would become when I started making these giant paper flowers in preparation for our wedding back in the winter of 2014. I experimented and played around and eventually ended up with the combination of white, blue, pink, turquoise, yellow and orange flowers that would be the colour scheme for most of my life for the past 2 years. After all the “I Dos” and hullabaloo, I was left with the wall. THE WALL.
Each individual flower represents at least $5 worth of paper and 1-2 hours of my life. This baby took me so long to make that I knew it had to get set up at least once more so that I could properly photograph it myself. Thus the idea for “May Flowers Minis” was born. I enlisted a handful of gorgeous young ladies for May Flowers portraits and we set out to create joyful photographs that would celebrate springtime 2016. Here is a handful of my favourite shots from our styled mini sessions. Thanks so much to all the lovely ladies that participated in this endeavour.
