Whenever I am home to Glenwood, I love to travel around to the places I went as a child, with my own children. So, I took my mom, the kids and the dogs on a whirlwind tour around the deep South. First stop was "Lone Rock" or as it appears to be named "The Glenwood Erratic" . A glacial erratic located in the middle of a pea field. As a child, I always wanted to climb to the top of it, but never have yet. Whether its entirely accurate, my mom has a legend that goes with the rock. She says that there was a native warrior with a young bride who were being chased by the mounties. The warrior hid his wife on top of the rock to elude capture. I have yet to actually find any record of this, but I heard the story all my life. If you happen to read this and you know more about the story, I would love to hear it. The next stop on our travels was the St Stephen's chapel near the Alberta/ Montana border crossing at Carway. Surpisingly, the chapel was actually open and my son and mother went inside. I didnt realize while we were there that it was, but they told me after we were on the road again, so sadly, no pics of that. The chapel was actually built on the South Hill in Cardston in 1901, but before it could be officially dedicated and put into use, terrible winds came, blew away a good deal of the structure and it had to be rebuilt. Over the course of the next few years there were continued difficulties with weather etc and so finally a parishoner donated some land southwest of Cardston and the church was relocated to its existing spot. The next stop was my Great-Grandfather's homestead in the shadow of Chief Mountain. I wasnt exactly sure how to find it as the last time I was there was probably close to thirty years or more. I called my uncle and he said to simply find a dirt road not too far from the main road. A little vague, but in the end the directions were good. We found it, but had a hard time finding anywhere close to access it with a vehicle. Undaunted, we took the dogs and kids and make a trek of it through the grass which was taller than my daughter. After visiting the homestead we traveled further East to Police Lake. As a child my grandfather took me ice fishing to this lake and we would catch Rainbow Trout. It made a permanent impression because he drove his truck way out into the middle of the lake, and the entire day, I was terrified that we would fall through the ice. I think I was 5. On this trip, the weather was extremely hot and muggy. We walked out to the island and had a feast on Saskatoon berries all along the way. The dogs even took a dip in the muddy waters. After the lake, we hopped back into the truck and traveled West to Waterton Lakes National Park. Since I spent so much time in the park as a child, I didnt have a deep burning desire to head back in there for just an hour or two. Instead, we drove through the buffalo paddock in hopes of actually seeing some buffalo, and we were not disappointed. Sadly, there were quite a few other vehicles so we were not able to get very close or stay for long. One last stop before we headed home. Another Prairie church on top of a hill in a seemingly somewhat random place. It always makes me wonder about places that thrived at one point in history and then simply cease to carry on.
This church does have a dwelling behind it and it is well maintained, so I am curious if it still isnt used for functions, funerals, if nothing else. One of my favourite families, I have been fortunate enough to watch this family grow from just Mom and Dad to now 2 beautiful little angels.
This little boy has such a lovely big sister to take care of him as he grows. For the past few weeks I have had the great fortune of being able to work once again in a classroom setting. I have been teaching photography to students ages 3-13. An exciting endeavour to say the least. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a whole lot for myself. Since its all work with minors, unfortunately there isnt a whole lot that I can share for pictures, just because of privacy concerns.. However, here are one or two shots from our lessons. In April I was also able to meet some new faces in the Real Estate market. Headshots are always a great way to advertise yourself through Social Media.
(Preface: If the colours are seeming a little off to you, they are for me too, but my prints NEVER look like this, so please, dont judge my work based on the blog shots. And if you know how to fix this colour issue on my webpage, please drop me a line.) The Christmas season is perhaps the busiest time of year for Sunley Photography, and for myself personally, so getting posts done individually just doesnt make sense. Here are some highlights from the last two months. This beautiful young lady made her way to Disney for some auditions. Some time in the near future, you might just see her face on something from them, you never know. And just for fun, I made her a little festive for winter. Some familiar faces at Sunley Photography, these beautiful little ladies were getting their annual portraits done. I love spending time with their family, they always have such fun events. Grandma and Grandpa even posed for one shot even family friends get in on the attention. But baby Stella sure has gotten big since the summer time, she couldnt be ignored. Sometimes I get the opportunity to spend time with good friends, and they were perfect. An added bonus of course is the adorable children they have. Another terrific family with some seriously angelic looking children. even though he didnt want to smile, this fellow was adorable. Big brother is no slouch either. Gorgeous Mom could have easily taken up a career in Modeling. Seriously, Dad could have easily pulled it off as well! Beautiful Family on an early August morning.. They were so much fun, and just had a great time playing.
Say hello to the S. family. IF you recall, I did a post called BABY LOVE. That was their new son. They were so excited for those portraits that we decided to do a second shoot outdoors when the weather was gorgeous.
When we went outdoors, their little girl came to life. She was so excited to see the ducks and geese at the pond. So adorable. This year has been so busy for me that I have not had the chance to catch up on the blog.
But here goes the first of a few posts to get me caught up. This is the G. family. They are huge fun. I love mom's choices for outfits. Not to mention the cutest little girl. It was such a fun shoot because they had some specific ideas about what they wanted to do. The most fun had to be when we went to the harley shop and posed with Daddy's Harley. This has to be one adorable family. And the kids are incredibly charming. I love it when I can get little ones to co-operate for some lovely shots, and these kids were so in the mood. Gorgeous, both of them.
(click on the images to view them enlarged.) This little man could not be any more adorable if he tried. He was such a content and happy baby. He is so lucky to have a super creative mom who came up with some really unique ideas for this shoot.
I love helping clients bring their ideas to life. The Jelly beans were actually saved from his Mom & Dad's wedding nearly ten years ago. What a very special image for them to have. |
Brandie Sunley B.Fa, B.EdPhotographic Artist. Archives
October 2016
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