Kites! Bubbles! Twins! Awesome Family Portrait Session :)

Twins - obviously - means two of almost everything. Not just two babies, but a double stroller, two cribs, high chairs, car seats, wardrobes. Maybe bunk beds when they get a bit older. And, as we learned in our recent family portrait session with Nicola & Andy and their twin boys, it also means twice the fun! See for yourself..

 I especially loved the way the boys would set each other off, and their giggles were contagious :)

If you've never seen the look on a child's face the first time he flies a kite, I highly recommend it. Absolute joy :)

 And then - bubbles!! So much fun!!

Time to relax a bit after all that excitement :)

 Nicola & Andy - no kidding, this was one of the most fun days we've ever had :) Maybe all your days are like this, but we felt very lucky to be invited along to capture the love and joy of your family! Thank you so much (and thanks for being so well prepared!), and can't wait to show you the rest of your photos!!

xo
Jessica + Norman

Baby Oliver Turns 1!!

We've actually been photographing Baby Oliver since he was still in his Mommy's tummy, and had such a fun year capturing this little guy as a newborn, 3-month-old, and 6-month-old baby :) The year has flown by, and before we knew it we were at Baby Oliver's first birthday party last weekend! We had so much fun, and - as you can see from the pictures - so did everyone else..

The Birthday Boy :) It was so great watching him play with the bubbles!

Sarah did a fantastic job as always: making rainbow cupcakes as well as this mini three-tiered cake for Oliver to enjoy. She even made a bucket full of colourful felt monsters for the kids (and photographers!) to take home :)

One of the entertainment highlights was this inflatable pool full of balls - I love this action shot of Big Brother Cameron! And how heart-meltingly adorable is the little snuggle sequence below?!

There was also a circus tent and crawl-through tube that were as fun to photograph as they were to play in! Plus - balloons, which were second maybe only to bubbles in terms of popularity :)

I love these images above - Oliver covered in berry juice, and Mike and Cameron giving 

him fits of giggles!

And then.. drum roll.. cake time!! (Cameron did a great Big Brother job of helping to blow out the candle)

The cake was a big hit :) And how sweet is that perfect tiny icing hand print on Sarah's jeans??

 

Just over a year ago, we took a photo with a stack of three hands.. and now there are four :) 

Happy Birthday Baby Oliver!!

Sarah & Mike: True story - on our way home, I got a bit nostalgic and said to Norman, "I wonder how many more years Cameron will think it's hilarious to be tickled and chased around the room? I wonder how long we've got until these boys aren't young enough to think that playing around with us grown-ups is fantastic, and instead we become embarrassing weirdos?" and he said, "I guess that's why it's important to Sarah and Mike to capture this while they're still young." You guys are awesome, and thank you so much for sharing your special family moments with us!

{to put it in a bit of context, this is now the 10th time we've photographed Cameron in his sweet little life, and the 12th time I've photographed Sarah & Mike, so it's maybe understandable that I'm pretty attached to this lovely family ;) }

xo Jessica + Norman

Sweet Baby Seija at 7 1/2 months :)

From the first time I met Baby Seija, I was struck by her intense gaze - it was almost like she was working really hard on figuring things out. And then all of a sudden, she would burst into smiles :) A few months later, she definitely still has the intense gaze, and still goes easily between that and a huge grin.. and now there are two shiny new teeth to show off with that smile :D Between the smiles and the big blue eyes, she completely charmed us when we were there to capture this super-sweet moment in her little life..

Seija's toes are pretty much her favourite thing in the world right now :) I love her pretty little beaded anklet too! 

 Here's that serious face ;) And then more smiles :)

Cheryl & Jonny - you guys have such a sweet little girl! Thanks so much for having us over to capture all her moods, expressions, and teeth :)

xo Jessica + Norman

{do you have a little one with a sweet smile you'd love for us to capture? Get in touch and tell us why this is the perfect time to photograph your family!}

Welcoming Baby Oliver to the World :)

Almost 3 years ago, we saw how naturally parenting came to Sarah & Mike when they had their first baby, Cameron. Now that baby Oliver has arrived, we noticed that big-brothering seems to come very naturally to Cameron :) Admittedly, it's not a huge challenge with a baby as sweet as Oliver! It was so amazing to watch the two of them together.. If Oliver started to fuss, Cameron would take his hand and sing to him, give him kisses, and coo "It's okay, Oli-bear" - and Oliver would immediately calm down :) We spent a lovely afternoon with the family.. here are some of my favourite images from the session..

 

 tiny baby parts, and Oliver's "Mommy's Friends Blanket" :)

to decorate the nursery, Sarah crocheted rainbow bunting, and Cameron made the cutest collection of animal portraits at daycare! 

If Oliver's first 13 days are anything to go by, this is going to be a pretty adorable year for the whole family :) I can't wait to see how much fun we're all going to have at his 3-month session!

Sarah & Mike: congratulations on your beautiful new baby boy! It was so great to spend time with all of you, and we're really looking forward to watching Oliver grow over the coming year :) And thanks again for the rhubarb!

xo

Jessica + Norman

{if you're expecting a tiny new addition to your own family and would love gorgeous maternity and newborn portraits of your own - email us now for more information! We also do gift certificates and registry - inquire for details!}

Michael & Saira's Sweet Family Portrait Session :)

Michael & Saira are an awesome couple, so it should come as no surprise that their kids are awesome too :) Full of smiles, and super-cuddly and sweet, they were a joy to hang out with. We even got assigned our own dinosaur names! This family also has one of the greatest book and record collections I've ever seen - which made for a fantastic setting for photos :) Here are some of my favourite images from the session..

Photographing siblings is my new favourite thing - I love how these images below capture the joy and struggle of having an older sister who wants to hug you, or a younger brother who can't stop grabbing for your hair :) 

How great is this rocking moose?! Pretty great, that's for sure :) 

something else that I love - those chubby little baby parts!

Michael & Saira: you and your little ones were fantastic and so much fun to photograph :) Thank you for sharing this moment in your lives with us, and I can't wait for you to see your finished album!

xo Jessica

{Looking for someone to candidly capture the childhood memories in your family? We'd love to do it! Get in touch to tell us what's special to you about your family, and why you'd like to capture this moment in your history :) }

Ben Becomes a Big Brother to Baby Sam :)

I swear - it seems like just a few months back that we were photographing Jane & Ned's wedding.. and then just a few day ago that we were there to capture their new baby, Ben, at 7 days old - but time flies; Ben is now 2 1/2 years old (!), and has just become a big brother to tiny new baby Sam :) It was amazing to see the whole family, and to be able to capture this newest stage in their history..

the only thing cuter than little nursery things is little baby toes!

 as you can see, Ben is auditioning for the role of "photographer's assistant" with his 

chicken puppet skills below ;)

This was my favourite - Ben has been a big brother for all of 10 days, and he's already an expert at soothing baby Sam.. first some gentle "shh-ing", then a nice pat on the head, and finally a kiss to make it all better :D I also love that I took pictures of his mom & dad doing all these things for him when he was that size :)

 This final images matches perfectly with one we did of Ned holding Ben when he was the newborn baby in the house :)

Jane & Ned - it was such a pleasure to photograph your family again! What a joy it is to see the little boy that Ben has become, and we loved meeting baby Sam :) And - as always - thanks for the yummy sandwiches!

xo

Jessica + Norman

{if you're expecting a tiny new addition to your own family and would love gorgeous maternity and newborn portraits of your own - email us now for more information! We also do gift certificates and registry - inquire for details!}

Sunny Panama - Family Portraits at the Beach :)

While we were in Panama recently, I had the pleasure of photographing wee Jackson and his Mommy & Daddy one morning down at the beach. In spite of weather that had me starting to sweat at 7:30am, Jackson was so enthusiastic in his exploration of both sand and sea that he kept all of us on our toes! Here are some of my favourite moments from our session..

I'm not sure how many of his shells got to make it back home in the suitcase, but for that morning he was the richest collector in all the land :)

How cute are these father and son hats?? 

I'm sure everyone will have fabulous memories of this week in the sun, and I'm so glad that we got to capture some of them on this morning at the beach :) Thanks to Vanessa and Jon - it was a pleasure spending time with you and your super-sweet little boy!

xo

Jessica

{want unique art for your walls and amazing memories for your family? We don't only do family portraits on exotic beaches ;) Email us now to book your family portrait session!}

Lauren & Michael's Awesome Panamanian Wedding Adventure (part 1 - pre-wedding fun)

 Right from our first skype chat, I knew that going to Panama to photograph Lauren & Michael's wedding week was going to be tonnes of fun - I've rarely met a couple as welcoming and laid-back as these two are, and they carried that through in all the planning and details of their wedding. Because they actually live in Panama, it was a bit different from most "destination" weddings - but it was at its heart an amazing relaxed week on the beach with lots of friends and family :)
Emily and I were fortunate enough to be there for the whole week, which meant not only a great chance to get to know everyone before the wedding day, but also lots of other fun stuff to photograph! Here are some of the highlights, including a "beersbee" tournament on the beach, and an early-morning surfing lesson..

I've never even attempted to surf before, so I was super-impressed by the progress made by all the first-timers - in spite of taking a huge beating from both surf and boards (including at least one black eye!), everyone stuck with it for the whole 2-hour lesson! 

 You've seen Point Break right? It was exactly like that - first everyone had to practice "surfing" on the beach, on boards traced in the sand..

 ... and then the real challenge came!

An awesome time was had by all! 

And that was just the first few days! I can't wait to share some of my favourite images from the wedding day - stay tuned!

{p.s. We love to travel! If you've got a destination wedding in your future, please get in touch!}

Baby Kayla's 9 month Valentine session :)

I've been photographing Kayla's mommy Kym since my first year of photography school about 17 years ago (!), and had the honour of photographing Kym & Adam's wedding almost 7 years ago - so even though she's just turned 9 months, I sort of feel like I've known baby Kayla for much longer than that. We were lucky enough to catch her *just* before she started crawling, and she was kind enough to show off her shiny new teeth for us :)

 In her little red tutu and heart-speckled top, baby Kayla was the perfect little Valentine :)

One of my favourite things about photographing a baby is watching the huge smiles on her parents' faces when they're playing with her :) 

I can't believe the next time we photograph her, she'll be 12 months already! Time flies when you're having fun ;)
Kym, Adam, and Kayla - can't wait to see you soon and show you the rest of the images from this super-sweet session!
xoxo
Jessica + Norman

{If you know or have an adorable wee one, we'd love to capture this amazing time in their life :) Please get in touch and we can chat about ideas!}

Re-branded!

Belated Happy New Year to you all!

I think this is going to be a great year, and to kick it off we've got a shiny new website!

We've actually been working for months on a complete re-branding and re-structuring of things over here at Jessica Lin Photography - new logo, new products, new services, even new team members! Norman and I are both still here (LOL) and we will still be your photographers, but we've been joined by our new cinematographer Emily and assistant Kristen. They are both great to work with, and it's made my life way easier finally learning to delegate some things ;)

Not to overwhelm you or anything, but we've also added vimeo, pinterest, and etsy to the list of ways you can follow us and see what we're up to (don't forget there's always facebook and twitter). We'll be continuing to add new content, so be sure to "like" and "follow" and stay in touch :)

We've been so lucky the past few years to work with so many amazing people, and we're happy to have collected many new friends as well. So give yourselves a pat on the back, because you're the ones who make it possible for us to keep doing what we love best, and for that we are eternally grateful :) And a special thanks to Dave Dick at Toy Rabbits Design for all the hard work on our great new logo, website, and everything that goes along with it.

So what are you waiting for? Check it out! And let us know what you think :)

xo
Jessica + Norman

Sweet Baby Asher Is One :)

If you're just meeting Baby Asher for the first time, it's worth taking a second to check out his adorable year in photos - starting with the maternity session we did with his mommy & daddy, followed shortly by his grand debut at his newborn session, and showing off his "sitting up" skills at 6 months.. at our most recent session, he was all smiles and keen to show off his 4 shiny new teeth :) He's also a lot more mobile now, so he kept us all on our toes!

He was so proud of his Hallowe'en costume, which was super-cute!

I love his little face in the middle image - "Dude! Gimme back my birthday balloon!" I also love that he still curls his wee toes together like that :)

 It was a gorgeous day, so we headed down to the beach for a bit of sun and sand :)

Happy belated First Birthday little man! It's been such a joy watching you change and grow over the year, and I can't wait to see your charming smile again very soon :)

xo
Jessica + Norman