Well the last couple weeks have been pretty hectic in life in general, what with my planned VFF volunteering, my full-time job, moving and the     Liam Biggs music video.

While I was so excited to volunteer with the VFF Photo Team again this year, I fell ill with the cold just days after it started! What started off as a planned 13hours of photography coverage, ended up only being 4 1/2 hours!

I covered the Pre-Fest Bash and the Opening Gala the first weekend of the festival and have added those images to the site under the “Events” section of the website.

As well, I have added photographs to the “Behind the Scenes” section from the Liam Biggs music video. It was a pretty interesting set to be on and I can’t wait to see the final product! Enjoy!

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I am currently undergoing the long process of re-designing my website.

The first step? Figuring out what I want and where to find it. It’s the worst part of the process and I’m stuck! If anyone knows an affordable web-designer who can assist me in making a new layout that is user-friendly and easy to update, please send them my way!

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For a limited time I am offering free band photography kit!

You get a photo shoot, a show photography and a CD of the images for website/facebook/myspace use…all for free! I’m only offering this for bookings made in February. The shoot and show can take place as late as April for this offer, but you have to confirm a spot with me for the photo shoot/show before February 28th!

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This week I signed up for a Studio Lighting course through Luz Gallery in Victoria, BC. I can’t be more excited than I am! I have always worked with natural lighting outdoors and only moved into the studio when there’s been no choice. The whole reason being..natural light is easy to use, you can’t fiddle with it..you have to find a way to make it work for you. Studio lighting is changeable and takes experience/skill to use. I’m looking forward to building that experience/skill and start taking advantage of Studio space more often.

As well, this weekend I am buying a Holga 120N camera from Camera Traders and will be taking it out this weekend to experiment with. I look forward to processing the film and seeing the results! I will of course add any image worth showing off to the site.

That’s about all there is from me at the moment. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cheers,

Natalie

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Now playing: Cold War Kids – Audience
via FoxyTunes

Hey folks,

I have no new photographs to show off, but I will soon! This coming Saturday(Jan 23) is the “Rally to Resume Parliament” all over Canada, and I will be taking part in the Victoria Rally, camera in hand of course! As a result, I will have some photographs to show you next week! If you haven’t heard about the rally and would like more information, please check out the Canada-wise Facebook Event Page or the Victoria Event Page.

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Just a quick note about booking for photo sessions:
Due to volunteering with Victoria Film Festival again this year from January 29th until February 7th, I will be not be available for photo sessions and almost completely unreachable during that time.
If you contact me about a photo session, I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. If you are able to contact me before the 29th or after the 7th, that would be ideal.

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Now onto Fundraising..there are two topics I am going to mention in this section: 1 – Haiti, 2 – Diabetes.

Haiti:
I’m sure everyone is aware of the earthquake that took place on January 12th. There are a lot of people suffering who need your help now! While there are various foundations collecting money, I have personally chosen the Canadian Red Cross Fund, Salvation Army Fund and the International Diabetes Federation Haiti Fund (there are over 300,000 Haitian’s with Diabetes who need supplies to stay alive!). Whether you choose one of those organizations or another, please remember there are still a lot of people out there with scam donation organizations trying to take advantage of those of us who want to help. Please select carefully!

If you are in the Victoria area, here are two fundraisers taking place:
Hope for Haiti (FB Event Page – Jan 28 @ Bear Mountain)
To Haiti with Love (FB Group Page – Gala Event Jan 22 @ UVic + Photo Marathon Fundraiser Jan 22)

Diabetes:
More specifically, Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes. I am participating for the 2nd time in Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s annual TELUS Walk to Cure Diabetes event taking place on June 13th at Beaver Lake, Victoria.

It’s true that with today’s technology, taking care of Diabetes has gotten easier, but it is still a daily struggle for over 300,000 Canadian Adults and Children! Canada has the 6th highest rate of type 1 diabetes in children 14 years of age or younger. I want to do my part to help those diabetics newly diagnosed and old timers like me have a chance to make this easier to deal with in day to day life.
My goal this year is to raise at least $460.00 (double what I raised in 2009). I hope that you will help me reach this goal, if not exceed it, for the 2010 event.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 16years ago just after my 6th birthday! I have been on Multiple Daily Injections of insulin for those 16years and calculated that based on my minimum required shots a day, I have taken over 20,000 shots in that time! This does not take into account additional shots for extra snacks/meals or blood sugar corrections! Children and Adults all over the world require Multiple Daily Injections of Insulin(or Insulin Pumps) to survive!

For information on how you can donate or assist me in raising funds, please go to the “Team Car RamRod – JDRF’s TELUS Walk to Cure Diabetes ’10” FB Group Page I have created. So far I am planning on hosting a Bottle Drive, Portraits by Donation, and a Live Music event in the months leading up to the walk. I would like to thank you in advance, whether you donated or passed the information along to friends who are effected by Type 1 diabetes.

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Well that is all from me for now folks! I’ll leave you with a link to a very peaceful and cute video: http://cuteanimals.todaysbigthing.com/2010/01/19

Cheers,
Natalie