Sandra Regier Photography

Wow!  What a fantastic weekend!  Full blog posts will follow later this week, but I had to share just a sneak peek of my pics from the weekend.  The weather couldn’t have been more fabulous and between shoots this weekend I did manage to slip to the beach with my family and also spend a very late night at the drive in… we LOVE the drive in.    Anyway, I started off Friday night with Tyler & Tara for some maternity photos.  Tara was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but check out these photos!! Such a beautiful night to photograph such a beautifiul couple!

Saturday night I took a few quick shots of my newphew Scott and his girlfriend Cassidy before they headed off to prom.  Another great looking couple!  Hope that had a fun night!

And today I got to meet the winner of my Mother’s Day Contest – Melanie.  To read about why this mom is so very special you can check out the blog post here. It was fun afternoon and a great way to end my shoots this weekend! 

Look for more photos from these session this week!

Let me start off by saying this is probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make! All of the mother’s who were nominated were so deserving of  a prize that picking a winner was almost impossible.  I received 24 entries and I wanted atleast to mention them all in this post.  Each one of these ladies was nominated by someone who may not actually call them Mom, but has a deep love and respect for them.  The nominee’s were:  Nancy Brown, Janet Hoggarth, Christa Ducharme, Justine Greenland Duke, Colleen Smyth, Nicole Prentice, Bonnie Keller, Christine Chad, Pat Steenstra, Crystal Brennan-Yeo, Darlene, Bette Moxham, Isabelle Edwards, Gerda Burgsma, Edith Yeo, Virginia Steckle, Ruth Zeilman-Zehr, Melanie Burgers, Chris Courtney, Dianne Waun, Jennifer Ramer, Amanda Hudie, Lee Thomas, Anne Bedard, Shannon Brennan and Becky Veen.  It was such a tough decision that I called in a recruit – my wonderful Mother-In-Law, Mary Faye to try and give me a hand in the decision making.  Mary Faye helped me narrow it down to five finalists – Virginia Steckle, Dianne Waun, Christine Chad, Nancy Brown and Melanie Burgers and after reading throught them all again and again, this was the final entry that I (with the help of my husband) picked:

When I first saw the opportunity to enter this contest, I jumped at it. Not just for the shot of a prize, but to put it out there and make it known that my mother is the most beautiful person I know. She is a business owner, artist, designer, and mother to three grown girls. Her youngest daughter, Chelsea is mentally and physically disabled, needing 24 hour supervision – she can not speak or use sign language, feed herself, change or bathe herself or use the restroom herself. Basically she has the mental capacity of an 8 month old baby, though she is 19 years old. Melanie has been changing diapers and making bottles 5-6 times a day, everyday for the past 2 decades, and those are the easy things!  She has also raised two older girls (and I have to admit sometimes I am sure I am more of a struggle to deal with than Chelsea), supported them through schooling, and operates her own business!  She started her business as a hobby in order to stay home to raise the three of us while my father worked, but over the past 15 years it has developed into a very successful and very busy company.  Between taking care of Chelsea and running her business she rarely has a minute to herself to relax, or treat herself because she puts her family’s needs (and wants) and those of her friends and clients before her own. Sometimes family members (no names will be mentioned!) make note of how “tired and exhausted” she looks, and I’ve watched this deflate my mother’s spirit. It breaks my heart.  I think they just don’t realize how much she does… She is gorgeous. Inside and Out. Because both my parents work very hard, we’ve only ever had 2 family pictures taken. The most recent taken 5 years ago and before that was oooh 1993! And while we love to look back at these Sears-style pictures and laugh about the almost-buzzcuts hairstyles on all three girls, my mom’s then-cool afro , our dad’s feathered mullet, and Chelsea’s hilarious, oblivious faces, we would all enjoy looking at more current photos of our family.  I would love for my mother to be recognized for the beautiful soul and courageous women that she is.  Mostly I want my mother to know how grateful I am to have her as a mother, and for all the things she has done for us.  I want her to know that because she lives everything she believes in, I am able to do the same

Melanie Burgers – I can’t wait to meet your whole family and capture the love that you all share!  You have won a free family portrait session as well as a Portrait Purse with your families photo on it.  Thanks so much to your daughter Sayde for sharing your story!  You are an incredible woman I hope you have a fabulous Mother’s Day! 

And now since no blog post would be complete without a photo on it I had to share a shot of my own five kids that I took this winter.  Bailey, Rachael, Caroline, Warren and Victor… the five of you mean more to me than I could have ever imagined and it is an honour to have you each call me “mom”.  Love you heaps!

That’s it… today’s the day.  If you haven’t already clicked on the link above to enter the Mother’s Day Contest, today is officially the last day you have to do it.  After that they will be sent off to my independent judge for marking…. I picked the most qualified mother I know…. my very own Mother-In-Law – Mary Faye Regier – mother to 10 and grandmother to more than 40!  I’m only giving her the written portion so all entries will be judge annonymously.  Good luck to all of you and thank you so much for sharing your amazing stories of love and dedication by your favourite mother’s!  I’ll be share to post some of the entries next week in celebration of Mother’s Day!

In celebration of Mom’s I’ve decided to hold my first ever Mother’s Day Contest.   The prize will be an outdoor or studio session for one deserving mom plus she will win her very own custom photo purse! Total prize value is well over $200 so please be sure to nominate yourself or a deserving Mom that you know into the contest.  Only one entry per person please!  You can click here to go to the contest form.

To give you some inspiration I thought I’d blog about a mom who I felt was so deserving that she actually received the same prize as her Christmas Present from me – my good friend Aimee Rau.  I’ve known Aimee since she was and I were we little girls, we didn’t really grow up together, but I somehow always remember knowing her.  As teenagers we hung out quite a bit and we went on in life to marry two great guys who happen to also be friends.  Aimee had her first child just weeks apart from my third.  Our two girls have always been good friends.  Our boys were born a little further apart, but still happened to land in the same grade.  Needless to say they also have fun getting into trouble together.  All of this aside, the reason I wanted to give something special to Aimee was as a little thank you for all the love and inspiration she gives to tons of kids each and every day.  Miss Aimee, as she is often called, is a piano teacher like no other I know!  She is caring and patient to each and everyone of  her “little Mozarts” and has inspired more young musicians that I can count – including 3 of my own children!  Here is a shot I took of her outside her music sudio “The Music Box” last week.

So hat’s off to my good friend – Miss Aimee!  A mother to two and mentor to countless!  Thanks so much for all the music and love you share with our community!  Girl you are the best!! 

Now if you know someone who would love a custom photo purse or if you’d like to nominate yourself… go to the form and tell me about this special mom – it can be funny or creative or whatever you like!  Just click here and nominate away!!

Photography Workshops Registration is Open once again!!  The courses being offered are the same as those I offered in January.  The only difference this time (other than the dates) is that I’ve simplified the online registration and also added a bonus for people who register for both the SLR and the editing workshop!  Spots are limited to 10 people for each class, so if you want to reserve your seat I suggest you click here and place your order!  If you have any questions please shoot me an email at info@sandraregier.com.

If there is one thing I hate it’s being late.  I get this paniced feeling and I feel awful at the thought that someone is waiting on me.  Travelling with Krista, Nataschia & Rosita is sort of a therapy for me…. the opposite I suppose of quitting cold turkey.  If there is one thing I’ve learned, especially about Krista, is that there is always time…. time to get a haircut on the way to the airport, time to stop and buy a little bit of chocolate before you get on the plane, and time for a good heart to heart with a good friend no matter what.  It’s amazing the calm and giggles this girl has even when it’s the last boarding call for your plane.  So even though they make me a little crazy and  I feel like I’m trying to heard cats, I know that deep down I need to learn that even though I’m feeling a bit paniced there is always time for the important things.    Needless to say we made it to Vegas safe and sound and are having an absolutely fabulous time.  Last night we decided after our classes we had lots to talk about and headed out on the strip to find a quite restaurant to have a good meal and long chat.  We decided that the Hard Rock menu looked good and asked the hostess to find us a quiet table if possible.  We quickly learned that our version of quiet and hers were two very different things.  The food was awesome and the staff…. well the staff was the hilarious.  You really have to take a minute and to go Nataschia’s blog to check out our crazy antics!   This photo (courtesy of Krista) is my favourite so far of the four of us on our adventures.  Front and center is Christian Smith our wonderful waiter.  He ended our meal with a tour of the third floor which has all the awesome Rock and Roll memorabilia.  If you ever end up at the Hard Rock in Vegas be sure to ask for him and please tell him the four crazy photographers from Canada sent you.

Only at the Hard Rock in Vegas does this happen:And to end my blog post on a somewhat calmer note, here a couple of shots I took of our hotel as we were walking back to call it a night.
Today I’m off to class to spend some more time learning from the fabulous Julia Woods! Hopefully I’m not late for class!! Having a great time in Vegas! Sandra