Have a spookylicious Halloween!

How did it get to be October 31st already?!?! Right, that time thingy. It just keeps chugging along.

I'm going to a Halloween costume party tonight for the first time in years, so I'm off to try on my costume. Fingers crossed it's not lame (my costume that is, not the party).

Happy Halloween everyone!

p.s. If you live in Montreal, you might want to watch out for the mummy invasion. Last I heard, they're past the Olympic Stadium now and are headed straight for downtown.

Cemetery sorrow

We have an especially photogenic cemetery here in Montreal (Cote des Neiges) that lies along the side of Mont Royal. I love wandering around it, photographing small details, especially in the fall. There are so many textures and little vignettes to be found everywhere.

A girl and her tutu

Last weekend I had a wonderful session with Naomi, the adorable daughter of my friends Dina and Steve. She was happy to frolic around in the park while I photographed her for well over an hour. All she needed was her tutu, her army green hat (purchased on Etsy), and her little plastic dinosaur, and she was good to go. Can you even bear all this cuteness?

October gave a party

The annual autumn show is winding down, with more leaves on the ground now than on the trees. October is such a bittersweet month for me. Autumn would probably be my favorite season, if it wasn't followed by winter. As such, the beauty is always tinged with a bit of sadness, and the knowledge that the days will continue to grow colder and shorter. If I'm lucky though, we may get a few more glorious days like these.

The suitcase photograph is available as print in my main store and my Etsy shop.

Wash your mouth out

With soap that smells so yummy, you may well be tempted.

My soap order from Etsy seller CrowleyManor arrived yesterday and I almost ate my Kahlua soap upon smelling it. There are so many great sellers of natural, handmade soaps on Etsy and I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you.

1. Kahlua - coffee sweet almonds and vanilla by CrowleyManor
2. Chai tea shea butter soap by Dennis Anderson
3. Coconut mochi by Savor
4. Black raspberry vanilla soap by Morgan Street

Truth or fiction?

I recently discovered the fascinating work of photographer Alison Jackson, who ostensibly shows us celebrities caught unawares, causing us to do a double-take. Here we have, for instance, a typical morning in the Cruise household:


Or is it? In fact, she uses lookalikes to create private moments that fill in the gaps of our imagined celebrity landscape. It's an intriguing study of our perceptions of celebrities and how we feel we know them.

It's easy to blame the media entirely for this phenomenon. But, as a former student of Psychology, the psychological aspect of a phenomenon is always of interest to me. And, according to the research, celebrity culture is merely playing to our innate tendencies, not creating this phenomenon. Basically, our brains don't realize that seeing a face on TV or in a photograph is not the same as actually meeting that person in real life. While our brains were evolving, anyone with a familiar face was considered an "in-group" member, and, therefore, someone who it was important to keep track of. Obviously, due to our saturated media culture, we now can recognize hundreds or thousands of people that we have never actually met, nor will likely ever meet. However, our wiring hasn't changed, and so, on some deeper level, we really do feel that celebrities are our friends (or enemies I suppose, if our values are vastly different).

All in all, it's a fascinating topic, and to that end, here are a few more of my favourites:

Martha in jail:
Bush choking on a pretzel:
Mick doing a spot of ironing:
Bill Gates dancing with his ipod:

The magic of lanterns

If you live in Montreal, or are visiting during the month of October, be sure to check out the Magic of Lanterns at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. The event runs until October 31st, and the gardens remain open during this time until 9 p.m. so that you can see them in their full splendour.