Category Archives: Personal Projects

Springtime Florals, From The Potting Shed

On Sunday, it finally felt like spring was about to make her debut. For months now I’d been meaning to drop in and check out the floral experts at From The Potting Shed, and Sunday, at last, the stars aligned, the sun came out, and we we able to meet the team at their monthly open house. What a breath of fresh air! Visiting this stone cottage was the perfect way to start spring 2017. Finding the location in Galt, Cambridge was a bit of a challenge, but once my husband and I arrived it was easy to see why the business has chosen to call this spot home. The abundant natural lighting alone was enough to make me swoon. Add heaps and heaps of blossoms, and I felt like I’d found a little slice of heaven perched on a hilltop in Cambridge.

My mom is somewhat of an aspiring florist and I had hoped to bring her along for the tour, but that aspect of our plans didn’t work out. Luckily I had my camera bag with me, as we were en route to my grandmother’s birthday party. After our complimentary tour, I couldn’t help but ask the owners if I could snap a few shots, and they were gracious enough to allow me 10 minutes with my camera and their florals. I’m sharing these images because they are beautiful, but also so my mom can see what she missed while she was busy hosting her mother’s birthday party. Thankfully, I know there will be lots of other opportunities to visit FTPS with her in the future.    

These folks do some great work, and I’m excited to have them make me up some floral crowns for our upcoming boudoir feature this May. Thank you very much to Elaine, Kathy, Nicole, Bill and the rest of the team for your hospitality, and especially for the little customized bouquet. My grandmother loved it.

The next open house for brides is April 8 & 9 if you want to check out this beautiful business for yourself.

http://www.fromthepottingshed.com/

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Dinosaur Mini Photo Shoots

ebi_6821e_blogdinominisDino 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.ebi_7112edit_blog

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.ebi_7700e_blog

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?!?  ebi_6946edit_blogebi_7714e_blog  ebi_7177edit_blog ebi_7243edit_blogebi_7491editcropsq_blog ebi_7335edit_blogebi_7713e_blogebi_6937edit_blogebi_6821e_blog ebi_7382editsquare_blogebi_7210edit_blog ebi_7626e_blog  ebi_7417edit_blogebi_7141editcrop_blog

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! ebi_7354e_blog

Curious to know more? Visit the Facebook Event page for Dino Minis here.

May Flowers Mini Photo Shoots

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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.

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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.

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A Kitchener Waterloo Portrait Photographer’s Top Shots from 2015

EBI_2798instaEDIT__Emily_BeattyWhat a year! For me and EBI, 2015 turned out to be a flurry of excitement full of extreme highs and lows, big life changes and unprecedented career opportunities.

The year opened up with elaborate plans for my own “glitter garden party” wedding scheduled for June, escalated with Easter minis, continued with the honour winning a YWCA 2015 Woman of Distinction Award, got complicated when I learned who my true friends were in the spring months, and peaked in June when I vowed (on literally the rainiest, stormiest day in 6 years) to stick with Todd forever. Just our luck.

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Me and my business hit the ground running in August and the number of jobs I had on the go steadily increased until holiday minis and then the Christmas rush were upon us. After some personal tragedies and the deaths of 2 family members and my beloved bunny, Todd and I had plenty of opportunities to test the strength of our new marriage. I’m pleased to report that through all the various challenges 2015 presented us with, the two of us have become a stronger team than ever. With his support, I shot and edited more portraits for more clients this holiday season than I would have believed possible in the recent past. For weeks on end I was running on coffee and editing around the clock as Todd delivered photo packages for me all over town. I actually had to turn potential clients away in December because there just weren’t enough hours to fit everybody in before the big deadline on the 25th. I would have liked to help those families out, but I admit it also felt like a bit of a milestone for my business to have reached a point where I can afford to turn people away.ebi_0425editCrop__Emily_Beatty

At long last, it feels like I’ve got a substantial client base rooting for me, and what excellent clients they are! In a classic example of Murphy’s law, when my new husband and I finally got a chance to slow down on Christmas day, Santa blessed us with food poisoning and we both rang in the New Year in a rather disgusting state.

It truly was a crazy year, full of far more challenges, joys and sorrows than I ever could have anticipated. These are the images, personal and professional, that stick out for me after the last 365 days of living life and pursuing my dreams at full speed.

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Fun kids portrait photographer in Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge, Elmira area. _EBI9790_ZOE__Emily_BeattyEBI_4840e__Emily_Beattyebi_6710edit__Emily_Beatty_EBI0108CropEDIT_montage_Emily_Beattyebi_6496edit***__Emily_BeattyEBI_4955cropEDIT**__Emily_Beatty_EBI4286edit*__Emily_Beatty_EBI7921edit*_montage_Emily_Beatty_ebi2261eCROP*sqEBI_3341eebi_3200edit_montage_Emily_Beatty_EBI4480edit__Emily_Beatty5385edit_montage__Emily_Beatty30th_EBI_4783__blog__Emily_Beatty_EBI6015edit*__Emily_BeattyEBI_3523edit__Emily_Beattyebi_0425editCrop_montage__Emily_BeattyJ&B-412__Emily_Beatty

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Thanks so much for being here and for taking a few moments from your busy day to glance at my pictures. Wishing you love, peace and joy in 2016.

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Little Witches, A Hocus Pocus Inspired Photo Shoot

“Come little children, I’ll take thee away, into a land of enchaaaaantment.” You just sang that out loud, right? If you didn’t, you need to get yourself a copy of Hocus Pocus. This year I only watched it 3 times. Best Halloween movie ever. No one will ever convince me otherwise.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a witch. Like, the rides a broomstick, waves a wand and wears a pointy hat type of storybook witch. Long before Joanne Rowling changed her moniker to J.K. Rowling and introduced the world to Harry Potter, I was casting spells on my little sister and concocting imaginary potions in the cauldron that my family used for a huge corn roast party every August. (Ok fine, there’s a chance I was a weird kid.) We often pretended to have magical abilities in the exact location you see here, a place we called “Fairyland” when we were growing up. Super original name, I know. Guess what we thought lived in that mossy little circle of trees???

Now a photographer in my thirties, I love Halloween wholeheartedly, and normally I put together a spooky styled minis event leading up to October 31st. This year, 3 weddings and ton of portrait orders made that impossible. Instead, I decided to invite my best little friends to dress up and spend an afternoon pretending to be witches, just like mini versions of Winnifred, Sarah and Mary Saunderson, and just for fun. I ended up with 4 little witches, but I figured the more the merrier. The other facets of my inspiration for this project included the cauldron I suspected was still hanging around in the long grass at the back of my parents’ countryside home, and the one remaining smoke bomb I had left over from my wedding party pictures. Its not every day you encounter the means to have a genuine cauldron full of colourful smoke surrounded by tiny witches, but my sister and 2 friends agreed to bring their kids and so I set out to purchase all the tulle and other materials necessary to whip up a handful of costumes overnight. My sewing machine is on its last legs but I was able to whip up a couple of stretchy tops, a corset type thingy and some rough tutus. Somehow, we managed to plan and execute this shoot within just a couple of days.

I guess we did alright, as 2 of the 4 girls elected to wear their costumes out for Trick Or Treating. My niece, L doesn’t seem to grasp the witches concept and considers her tulle ensemble a “Fall Princess” costume, but I’m just glad she agreed to wear it. While I think the girls and their mamas enjoyed themselves, it was my Godson, Mr T. who clearly got the last laugh. His mom had the great idea to stick him in to the cauldron surrounded with little witches. To be honest, we figured he’d scream for 10 seconds, we’d snap the shot and then pull him out for a snuggle and it would be a hilarious moment for him and his sisters to look back on many years from now. No way, he loved being the main ingredient for our potion! Smiles for days. Just loving life in that dirty old cauldron.

Enjoy the results of our first little witches styled shoot!

Thank you so much to the friends and family that made this shoot possible! Most notably, my mom and dad for moving the cauldron into place and helping me add all the fall decor to the set, my friends Linnea and Megan for bringing their little witches (and the frog) to the shoot and for throwing together some phenomenal last minute costume components, to my sister and her daughter for their smiles, and of course, thanks to all the models: L & M & T & L & P. Hopefully you all got a kick out of our little experiment. Now that I know the smoke bomb works really well in the confined space of the cauldron, I hope this is something we can pull off again in the future. Happy Halloween!

EBI Has A New Boss

Emily Beatty Self Portrait 2015 Hello dear readers, and welcome to the next chapter of EBI! That’s right folks, Mrs. Lister is in effect. My name has changed, but my vision hasn’t. I’ve been slacking in the social media department, but I’m here to tell you that ends now.

Last week I found myself having coffee with a close friend in my living room, and saying something to the effect of, “I don’t think I’ve ever gone so long without a big creative endeavour on the go. I feel like I haven’t produced anything cool in a year.” My friend laughed, because she was seated in the opposite direction, facing a brand new gallery style wall chock full of crafty and colourful photos taken at our wedding. Now I’m looking back on the preceeding months and trying to figure out if this has been the most or least prolific period of my career.

If you ask any of our close friends or extensive family members, it was a crazy vivid year of glitter art, party plans and whimsical expectations. There was a month or two where you literally couldn’t get into our home without tripping on some kind of spray painted, decoupaged, sparkle encrusted wedding craft. I busted our vacuum by exceeding its sequin and glitter capacity. Seriously. All my life I’ve loved making pretty things, and as I recognized the early stages of photography related burnout, I decided to embrace party planning like it was my job. It was a new way to channel my creativity within an industry that I’ve been a part of for several years now. The trouble was from my clients’ perspectives, I’m sure it looked as though I was just hanging out. While my personal contact list was getting tired of seeing so many images of cakes and dresses and tablescapes, those of you who have always supported my art and my business saw a dramatic decline in my engagement with social media as I allowed my focus to drift away from EBI in favour of more romantic pursuits.

I didn’t shoot anybody during July. And that for me, is a big deal. It was a decision I made many months previously, a decision to slooooowww things down and get my bearings. For awhile there you see, I was charging forward, camera in hand, digging myself deeper and deeper into a pile of projects I couldn’t begin to imagine my way out of. When Todd proposed, all of a sudden my creative to-do list doubled. I guess you could say I spent the majority of the past year in over my head. Thank goodness I had my mom and my sister and my partner’s fantastic family keeping me organized and focused when it came to planning our big day.

I was awake for what felt like a week solid during mid June as I scrambled to get everybody taken care of so that I could go well and truly off the grid for a week or two following our nuptials. I sent off the final client photo gallery an hour before we had to go to our rehearsal dinner. Then somebody told me the forecast for our wedding day. Oh boy.

Worst summer storm in six years. Perfect day to get married. Our devoted friends and family members pulled together to throw us the garden party wedding of our dreams in teeming wind and rain that never once let up. The party was confined to a tent in my parent’s backyard, but oh the marvels we had crammed into that tent! At the end of the night we were all very cold and wet, very tired, and very glad to be married and moving on from all the matrimonial mayhem that had dominated the last year of our lives.

I’m so glad I had the sense to step back and enjoy the bridal period of my life. It was a whirlwind that I was thrilled to revel in at the time, but now I’m more than ready to get back behind the camera where I belong. To kick off this new era in my photography career, I challenged myself to put together a self portrait featuring as much Emilyness as I could pack into one small faux-wallpapered square. This was also my first attempt at making floral crowns with fresh greenery, and I have to admit I’m rather pleased with the result. I think I see more DIY tutorials and more self portrait projects on the horizon. After all, I’m the only model I know that works night shifts for free with absolutely no prior notice, and the crafty component is something fun and unique that I can bring to photo shoots. Its worth all the effort, because nothing feels as good as capturing an idea out of thin air, translating it with a camera, and eventually watching it roll out of my printer in real life. At long last I feel recharged and reinvigorated to pursue my passion: connecting with awesome individuals by photographing life’s best moments in vivid colour. Thanks for sticking with me!

Picture Perfect Pumpkins at Nauman’s Farm in St. Clements

_EBI4924Emily_Beatty_2014_*Since becoming a full time photographer, my new favourite seasonal tradition is selecting the most photogenic pumpkins in the patch for my annual Halloween minis. I think its an odd genetic trait passed down from my mother. For some reason, we both get strangely enthusiastic about decorative produce.

Three years ago my friend Jessi introduced me to Nauman Farm in St. Clements and I have taken my camera and left with a carload full of squash, gourds, and pumpkins every year since. What I like about Nauman’s is the extensive variety of seasonal produce that they have available. Every year there are new types of squash and pumpkins that I’ve never seen before. If you’re got the time, there’s also an extensive corn maze, and a pretty sweet selection of baked goods and local specialties like honey and summer sausage._EBI7316Emily_Beatty_2014_*

This year, I would like to thank my friend Susan for accompanying me to the pumpkin patch, and for doing all the heavy lifting, and for looking so darn stylish while doing it.

We visited the farm on a cloudy Thursday afternoon just before closing time, and apparently timed it just right. Bumping our way down the lengthy lane way leading back to the city, we paused to admire a subtle sunset that made the surrounding fall foliage glow and illuminated rows upon rows of pumpkins laid out in the fields. Only moments away from the farm, I found myself looking forward to next year’s visit. I know it will be here again before I know it!_EBI3119Emily_Beatty_2014_*_EBI5037edit-orange-pumpkin_*_EBI3031Emily_Beatty_2014_**_EBI5056pumpkins1_**_EBI7340Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI7379Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI7398Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI5073Emily_Beatty_2014_*_EBI3118Emily_Beatty_2014_*_EBI7367Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI7381Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI3046Emily_Beatty_2014_**_EBI7345Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI7349Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI7375Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*_EBI7314Emily_Beatty_2014_*_EBI7372Emily_Beatty_2014_Naumans_Farm_*

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Happy Halloween, Canada!

Canadian_Halloween_Flag_Emily_Beatty_webIt’s finally here, my favourite holiday. HAPPY HAPPY HALLOWEEN from E.R. Bunnicula and EBI !

I spent most of the day frantically Photoshopping festive montages for clients, friends and family, then I took a few hours off to go trick or treating with my sister’s 3 little ones in Elmira. One of the best parts of being an auntie is having a good reason to dress up and act silly on October 31st. I was super grumpy driving out there, but our family traditions cheered me right up and on the way home, I caught myself smiling as I waited for trick or treaters to cross the road. _EBI8890edit_web

 

I’m going to spend the rest of my evening watching Hocus Pocus AGAIN and blogging about the pumpkin patch and Halloween Minis.

This dress was custom made for my figure by the awesome ladies at Delirium Clothing on King St. in Uptown Waterloo.

This dress was custom made for my figure by the awesome ladies at Delirium Clothing on King St. in Uptown Waterloo.

What’s your favourite Halloween movie? I need some recommendations, let me know in the comments!

 

Mixed Media Art by Emily Beatty

_EBI9653edit_WEBSometime between grade school and high school, I switched from finger painting on paper to expressionistic mixed media painting on canvases. Its an art form I really love and I still indulge in a couple of times a year. In 2011, my parents redecorated their living room with an odd mix of warm and cool yellow orange, red and burgundy tones. My mom took me shopping for art to harmonize the walls and the furniture, but we quickly became discouraged at the selection of commercially produced, ready to hang art.

I told my mom to invest in me instead of buying some prefab wall art, and this triptych was the result. I think she likes it, because its still on their living room wall 3 years later.

For a couple of years now, I’ve been volunteering for the Cambridge YWCA, and their excellent Girls’ Center. Later this month, I’ll be teaching a group of 9-13 year olds how to create their own identity themed mixed media art projects. I’m really looking forward to teaching the girls some of these techniques.

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Untitled Triptych, Emily Beatty 2011

Materials: water based oil paint, glass beads, acrylic polymer, National Geographic magazines, crackle gel medium, gold flakes, glitter paint, clear varnish, broken glass, copper wire, old book pages, scrapbook paper and Mod Podge

 

 

 

Winter Graffiti Art Photography in Kitchener

portrait photographer Emily Beatty“We are currently under a blizzard warning.” said the man on the radio as I gathered my gear. Perfect. I’ve been visiting the same hidden graffiti wall near the train tracks in Kitchener for over 5 years now, but this was the first time I’d ventured out in an actual blizzard. I figured it would add some interesting texture and sense of atmosphere to my photos. I didn’t imagine I’d have to bust my way through a snow bank nearly as tall as myself to access the hidden wall.

I think it was worth the effort, because once I’ve got a particular photographic scene in my head, I can’t rest until I see it it physically emerging from my printer. Translating an image from a dream to a reality is an incredibly rewarding way to make a living, and trudging through knee high snow drifts with five bags of equipment and props in -40 degree weather on a hunt for the perfect setting for my surreal clothesline image reminded me of what it was like to be a college student, just excited to be out the world with a camera.KW graffiti photographyOver the recent holiday season, Todd gave me 5 pairs of alarmingly bright two tone knee socks– because as I’m fond of saying, “I love a good gradient.” I so admired the socks that I envisioned a scene where they hung on a line in front of some fresh and colourful graffiti before they went through the wash a bunch of times and started to lose their vibrance. I hadn’t visited my usual wall for a few months, and expected some new artwork. Surprisingly, there was just one new piece since my last visit, so it was the one I chose to highlight with my crazy bright clothesline.

Emily Beatty

The wall in March of 2013, about 10 months before the clothesline shots.

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fun photographer in Kitchener

Jo Gnome, AKA F that S returns to his old stomping grounds for this photo series.

Chris Austin graffiti photos by Emily Beatty.

One more 2013 shot, featuring a super sweet shark by Chris Austin.

Kitchener graffiti

Taken using a special Lensbaby lens called The Composer.

_EBI3614editgraffiti photo Emily Beatty_EBI3700editgraffiti photography Kitchener_EBI3621edit72dpiIn addition to wanting to document my socks, I also wanted at least one good shot of my newly blue hair. In 2013 when my stylist and I spent 13 hours creating “peacock hair” using bleach, 5 shades of hair colour and about 25 foils, we only ever took one photo of the end result. (Which was pretty spectacular, I have to say.) While the blue took a mere 6 hours to create, I still figured it deserved at least one decent shot for the record books. Consequently, this was the first time I took a tripod to the wall with the intention of creating a self portrait. I took about 5 snaps, then gave up because I was beginning to worry that my fingers were literally freezing, and maybe I should have paid more attention to that weather dude that told me to stay indoors. self portrait by Emily Beatty

In my experience, the images I create for my own satisfaction are the ones that people respond to with the most enthusiasm when viewing my portfolio. This is why it is so vitally important for photographers that consider themselves artists to continuously pursue personal work and creative projects, just for the fun of it. Its easy to fall out of love with photography once it becomes your day to day reality and a means to an end.

My business philosophy involves the mantra, “do something you love long enough, and eventually someone will pay you to do it.” Here’s hoping! These photos may not make it onto anybody’s wall. They probably won’t inspire a bride to hire me for a wedding, or convince a new mother to choose me to document her brand new bundle of joy. Its unlikely that I’ll ever make any money off of them, and yet they are deeply satisfying to me. I’m using my camera to follow my heart… and so far it’s been a colourful quest!

If you enjoyed this post, kindly like it, share it, or leave a comment below. It is always much appreciated when you help me share my work, and bring new visitors to this blog. Have a most excellent day!