Livin' The Dream :)

As many of you already know, last weekend was my first time exhibiting at The Artist Project Toronto. It's an amazing show, and actually what inspired me two years ago to begin my own collection of personal work, so just getting accepted and being part of that felt like a big hug from the Universe. The experience itself was so great.. I met lots of lovely people, saw many friends both in the crowds that visited and in the booths around me, and had beautiful conversations. Someone cried in my booth (the second time that's happened), which I took to be the highest compliment. People asked me questions that ranged everywhere from "how do you do that?" to "where did you stay when you were in Nice?". People saw things in my images that I'd never noticed or thought of, which was inspiring.

And I basically got to spend 4 days surrounded by images and telling stories about art, photography, love, and the magic of chance. Because if you haven't had the chance to see this collection in person yet, I'll let you in on a little secret: it's about beauty, and colour, and texture, and layers, and all that good stuff. It's about the South of France, and Paris, and a trip that I took by myself just over 5 years ago. But for me, the collection represents something bigger..

The Absolute Magic of Chance.

What happens when you go as far as you can out on a limb, and then just jump. Without really knowing what you're jumping into, or what will happen, or if it's a good idea. But having a gut feeling that it's the right thing to do.

Because as well as taking about a million pictures in my 3 weeks in France, I also met a man. A handsome fellow with a great accent. He was from Belfast, and was in Nice to go scuba diving. We were staying at the same hostel, and met in line for dinner. That man is now my husband :) Those images have grown up to be my first collection of personal fine art pieces. That trip changed my life, and I could never have seen it coming.

So even when things are not working perfectly, or are much harder than I think they should be, deep down in my heart I feel so blessed at how things are turning out. At how the adventure of my life is unfolding. So if you see me in a booth full of images that look a bit like fairy tales, it's because that's how I feel about that trip. To see my work is to see how I feel about Love, Adventure, and Romance.

I hope that each and every one of you follows your dream - even if you don't know what it is yet :)

xo
Jessica

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!}

Getting ready for The Artist Project!

It's now less than 3 weeks away - my very first indoor show - so I'm busybusybusy finishing up some new pieces and designing my booth. This would be pretty exciting no matter what, but The Artist Project holds a bit of a special place in my heart and here's why..

Two years ago, my friend Carolyn and I heard about this art exhibition at the CNE called The Artist Project. We decided to meet up and spend an hour or two checking it out. We spent six hours there - eyes lit up and imaginations set on fire. We're both creative people, but at the time neither one of us would have dared to consider ourselves "artists". Since then, we've both set up studio spaces and started devoting time to explore creatively. To make pretty things for the sake of making pretty things.

One of the most touching moments in my life was at my first show (the Queen West Art Crawl), when Carolyn walked into my booth and started crying - because she was there when the seed was planted. When I realized that it was not only possible, but really important to me, to create and show (and hopefully sell!) personal work, it literally changed my life. Don't get me wrong - I love photographing weddings, and tiny babies, and kids being kids, and locally designed fashion, art, and craft - but all those things are other people's creations. And I wanted to make something that was just mine. To ask for advise and opinions and be able to completely ignore them if I wanted. To take the love and joy I have for colour and texture and line, and make it into something that someone else can love too. To take the thousands of images that I have from years of travelling, and turn them into pieces that capture the way it felt to be on those trips.

So - here we are - two years later. I applied for The Artist Project months ago, and held my breath. I feel so honoured and fortunate to have been selected to hang my work among a crowd of such talented artists. I feel excited. I feel terrified. And it's all awesome.

And to honour the occasion, I've been working on some new pieces - collections of sets of 3 small pieces that go together - which I'm totally in love with :) They are the cutest and most colourful pieces yet, and I predict that they'll be crowd pleasers. Each and every one of the "birch panel" pieces that I've made are one of a kind (because I hate how reproducible photography sometimes is), so if you love any of them be sure to grab them before they're gone!

 

Bonus: I have two pairs of tickets to The Artist Project show in Toronto February 21st-23rd - if you're interested, just mention this on facebook or twitter and be sure to tag me so that I know to enter you in the draw (here I am on facebook, and here's me on twitter) - like my facebook page and follow me on twitter to get 4 bonus entries!!

Thanks a million for all the support and hope to see you at the show!

xo Jessica

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

My Perfect Wee Nephew at 3 months :)

I'm going to start this one on a personal note (it's my blog after all!)..

This past October I turned 37. In and of itself, that's no problem. I'm actually thoroughly enjoying my 30's, and wish I didn't spend the last few years of my 20's dreading them so much ;) But since then - in the short 2 1/2 months that I've been 37 - I've had pneumonia (which sucks even more than I'd imagined), I had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics I was prescribed and ended up spending a day in the emergency room, we had our house broken into (while we were at home!), we spent a few days without power during the recent ice storm excitement, and both Norman and I have had bronchitis. So as the end of 2013 looms near, I can't say I'm sad to see it go. 

However. In and amongst all that craziness, we also spent a week and a half visiting with my sister, her husband, and their perfect new baby boy, Cooper. We were lucky enough to be there for his first trip to see Santa, his first experience of a Christmas tree, and his first time out in the snow. At three months, Cooper loves kicking, is *almost* rolling over, and loves to use his index finger to accentuate his cheerful chatter. Also, he giggles :) Years ago, a close friend of mine (also a first-time Aunt at the time) told me that nephew giggles could cure anything. I'm not 100% sure that Cooper's giggles actually cured any of the crap that was going on over the past months, but I am sure that they made up for it :)

And while I can't actually share his giggles with you here, I can share with you some of the fun we had together one afternoon..

My appologies to my brother-in-law, who isn't a huge fan of this hat.. I just thought it was totally irresistable :) A bit like Baby Cooper :)

We wish all of you a very Happy New Year, and many giggles!

xo

Jessica + Norman

Baby "Blue-Eyes" Ryker - 3 months old :)

We're a bit attached to Baby Ryker, since he's the very first baby either Norman or I had ever seen enter the world :) Now that he's grown up a bit, Ryker is already a charmer with his enormous super-blue eyes and his great singing voice.. I can't show you the songs he serenaded us with when we photographed him a few days ago, but I can show you what I mean about his eyes!

He was so alert the whole time we were there, and kept a careful watch on all of us ;) 

Oh yes - and he's also got one of the cutest little chins ever :) And here he is singing his little heart out (below..)

We had such fun getting to know this wee fella, and can't wait to see the whole family again soon!

xo

Jessica + Norman

Custom Holiday Card Templates Are Here!

It's that time of year again - time to dig out the mitts and scarves, trade your mojito for a Bailey's and hot chocolate, and watch the same movies you've watched every December since you can remember :) Time to think cozy thoughts. Time for bright starry skies at 5pm. Snow angels. And best of all... time to send out awesome holiday cards!
We're so excited this year, because we've been working with a very talented designer to do a re-fresh on our branding (more about that to come soon..), and he's created 4 amazing custom templates for our lovely clients to be able to send out the best cards ever! Here are a couple of examples of different images in each of the 4 templates available - which one is your favourite?
Scroll down to the bottom to get all the details about how you can order you own.. don't delay - all orders must be finalized by December 1st!

How to order your very own awesome custom holiday cards:

1. If we've photographed you and or your family this year, shoot us a quick email letting us know which template you'd like to use, and how many cards you will need. They come in sets of 25 4x6 folding cards + envelopes for $50 + HST. *Your order needs to be placed before December 1st!*

1a. If we haven't photographed anything for you recently, we've still got amazing cards for you! There are limited quantities of these three custom cards featuring images from a Festival of Lights that we went to in Pisa while we were travelling in Italy this past summer :) Just let us know which one you want, and how many sets of 25 (same pricing as above). Want your own custom cards for next year? Book your next photo session with us now!

2. Send your top 3 choices for which image to use (please be sure to specify which session if we've photographed you multiple times lately ie. engagement session and wedding).

3. We'll get in touch to see how you'd like to pay for your order. Email money transfer is preferred, but we can also accept Visa or Mastercard.

4. We'll choose the image that works best with your favourite template, and email you a mock-up by December 3rd for confirmation before it goes to print. Confirmation is required by December 5th at noon at the absolute latest.

5. You'll receive an email to confirm your pick-up time on Saturday December 7th. (If that day doesn't work for you we can make alternate arrangements, but I'm trying to get all holiday card orders printed and delivered as soon as possible!)

That's it - easy! 

If you know you want us to make custom cards for you, but are finding it difficult to pick a favourite template or image, just let us know and we'll send you a couple of suggestions to pick from :)

I'm so excited that we'll be creating such personal and colourful cards for all of you to share with your friends and families this holiday season!

Looking forward to hearing from you in the next couple of days..

xo

Jessica

p.s. here's the email address again, and feel free to call (416.806.1585) from 9am-8pm if you have any questions!