hope to see you soon.

and below are a few words from Jess & Brett with Our Life in Balance about their beautiful connection session last year.

“Last winter we had the pleasure of working with Gabe while attending WPPI in Las Vegas. Driving out to Red Rock Canyon we found the most perfect warm winter backdrop for our photographs. While shooting, Gabe was very gentle and unobtrusive. He gave simple direction, but let my husband and I fold into one another in a very natural way. He allowed us to just be; which was refreshing, and made us extremely comfortable.

My husband and I are photographers ourselves. We know that the majority of photographers have an artistic eye, true. They pay close attention to detail, capture stunning scenery, and compose beautiful shots. But every now and then, we come across a photographer that stands out from the rest. They see the world more deeply. They allow their intuition to guide them, so that not only do they compose a beautiful photograph, but they see things beyond the surface. These individuals create art that doesn’t merely capture the way someone looks, but captures their core. Consequently, their art is tender and natural, with a somehow tangible connection. This is what my husband and I see in Gabe’s work.

Upon receiving the photographs that Gabe took of us, we were blown away. He saw straight through…to our essence, and captured a moment in time that spoke volumes about who we are, together. If you are considering having a part of your life documented by Gabe, please do yourself a wonderful favor, and allow him to capture you through the eye of his lens. Seeing your world through his eyes is a wondrous privilege.”

as seen on NEWLIFE imagery

we never dreamed you’d be so beautiful…
in all of the times we tried to imagine
every last detail of who you would be,
thru all of the nights we spent quietly thinking
of how we would feel
when we first looked at you,
we patiently waited
and silently wondered.
We hoped and we prayed
and we tried to imagine…
but we never dreamed you’d be so beautiful.

so this post is for them. this is for you. each one of my extraordinary couples. thank you for bringing me along your journey. thank you for allowing me to document your celebration. thank you to your families for treating me as family and not just the “photographer“. thank you for all the laughs. the honest emotions you shared with me and my camera. the connections you allowed me to capture. i am forever grateful to each and every one of you. you allow me to do what i love so i am able to spend time with those i love.

thank you.

that which is loved is always beautiful

here are a few of my favorite connections from 2011.

only if you find peace within yourself will you find true connection with others

slowly making my way through my images of 2011. complete post coming soon. do you have a favorite image?

then…

lunch on the Monday, Aisha says to me, “dad i’m cold.” my thought is how can you possibly be cold when it’s 38ºC…? we chalk it up to a wet bathing suit and an ocean breeze. we finish lunch and play a little longer at the pool before nap. 15 minutes after lunch Aisha is lying on the beach chair. clothed and using a towel as a blanket. it’s not that breezy. we take her temp and it’s just a touch over a 100ºC so we give her some tylenol and head in early. Aisha’s asleep before her head hits the pillow and the same with Ella. both are fast asleep and we hope that all it is, is too much sun. a little time out of it, will do the trick.

not so lucky.

during nap time Ella begins to sound like a 65 year old trucker whose been smoking 6 packs a day since he was 12 and on top of that, her head is hot to the touch. now two kids with fevers. OH WONDERFUL. they both wake up after a few hours. both on fire. both with fevers around 101ºC and both with coughs. we decide to go see the resorts doctor.

5:00: arrive at the doctors. she’s not there. sign on the door reads, “24 hour medical doctor on site” hmmmm thinking “24′ish hour medical doctor on site.” would’ve been more accurate. we decide to go get a snack, walk around and come back later in hopes to catch her.

5:45 – tylenol seems to be working as both fevers have subsided, but the coughs still remain. head over to the doctors.

6:15 – doctor sees us and checks out the girls. determines that they both may possibly have an ear infection, but she is most concerned with Ella’s chest congestion as she says it sounds quite bad. she recommends we head into town to the hospital to see a pediatrician. AWESOME. we tell her that we would like to go grab dinner before we make our adventure to the hospital, because as anyone with kids can attest to, hungry kids mean grumpy kids.

7:00 – all this is happening on the same night that a Disney show is taking place on the kids stage. something that Aisha has been looking forward to since first hearing about it days ago. both fevers have dropped, we decide to let the girls head over and watch the show. we can see Aisha is not feeling well…not her usual self, but she toughs it out and enjoys herself..or at least tries to. now at one point Aisha decides to sit down and watch the other kids. noticing that she is not feeling well, Ella takes it upon herself to sit down beside her big sister. she puts her arm on her back and not being able to talk, she gives Aisha a look as if to say, “it’ll be alight.” this moment brought tears to my eyes. (see black & white images below)

8:00 – show is over. Jen and i are trying to figure out if we should head to the hospital or let them sleep on it and see how things are in the morning. we keep asking ourselves, “would we run to the doctors day 1 of a fever back home?” probably not. but we’re not back home. we’re in the Dominican. a beautiful country. but it’s not Canada. so we decide to go.

9:00 – we arrive at the hospital after an exciting ride in an ambulance (they don’t mess around) we check in and are brought to a room. we wait. and wait. and wait some more. no one really speaks english and no one really seems to be doing anything. finally after 40 minutes in the room, the pediatrician arrives, checks the girls over and concludes that they both have a minor infection. she prescribes us some medication, some antibiotics and tells us to watch the fevers.

so there it is. an infection. nothing too serious. nothing life threatening. it wasn’t malaria like Jen started to stress about at one point. it was a simple infection more then likely picked up at the pool or on the plane. did we need to rush to the hospital? probably not. but better safe then sorry i guess. eventually the fevers went away and the cough subsided a little. they both never really got back to a 100% until back at home, but we think they enjoyed themselves the rest of the trip.

it was a holiday that we’ll never forget. a holiday that was never really relaxing for Jen and i. but it was still a holiday. i felt the sand between my toes. i felt the hot tropical sun on my balding head and i watched tall palm trees sway in the breeze while lying below on a beach chair.

as seen on NEWLIFE imagery.

even though you’re both growing up before my eyes, you will always be my little girls.

love dad