Tag Archives: Halloween minis

Halloween 2017 Minis in Kitchener

EBI_9445-2'17editIf 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.

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Thanks to everybody that participated in these sessions. I always have so much fun doing these holiday setups.

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!

Spooky Styled Halloween Minis

KnightCard2014Witch_**Its no secret that Halloween is my favourite holiday. I’ve always loved the anything goes atmosphere and especially the dress up opportunities that come along with October 31st. Since becoming a grownup, putting together the set for Halloween minis has become my new favourite annual tradition. I always spend way to much time and money collecting new orange, green, black, white, and purple items to decorate with. Next I spend a small fortune on Bulk Barn candy, and finally I visit Nauman’s Farm in St. Clements to select picture perfect pumpkins to dress the set.

Minis are great because they give me an opportunity to fully celebrate Halloween for an extra day, while playing dress up with my favourite little clients. We don’t get any trick or treaters in my neighbourhood, so this is my excuse to get in on the cuteness even though I don’t have any kids of my own yet.

This fall I had 11 cuties from 3 weeks to 14 years old come out for a short and sweet mini photo session. It was a noisy, sticky, laughter-filled, joyful kind of day. I felt especially lucky to be visited by several brand new babies that I’ve been waiting an awful long time to meet. These are just a few of my favourite images from our spooky styled shoots. Enjoy!*_EBI8338edit_web _EBI7551edit_web _EBI8086_webhalloween_pattern_4*_EBI8436edit_web _EBI7995edit_** _EBI8306edit_web _EBI8146edit_web*_EBI8355edit_web

_EBI8555edit_web _EBI8038edit_**_EBI7967edit_**halloween_pattern_4_EBI7705editGRACE2_webThis shoot marked my first collaboration with Shawna of Kissing Bridge Krafts. She provided most of the cute knitted hats and handmade headbands that appeared in these images. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with to embellish our holiday mini portraits. Thanks Shawna!

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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