I already posted this on my Facebook page today, but it bears showing again. Also, Upworthy is a great site for many reasons. Specifically, at this moment though, you should check out This Video.

For the record, I am not the sort of photographer who edits my images to the point of not being able to recognize people. While 97% of my images are touched up at least a little (usually colour saturation, contrast and so on) and while I will usually touch up small blemishes, even out your skin tone and so forth, my intention is to emphasize your best features, not to make you unrecognizable to your own mother (as I believe the model in the video would be). Like a good make-up job, unless you're going for the super dramatic, it should look natural. Not scary.

I've probably mentioned before, but one of my other creative outlets in this world is choir. Music has been a part of my life from the get-go, and while I did piano and trumpet through school, more recently, Halcyon Chamber Choir has been the watch word, partly because it's an instrument you always carry with you, and of course, it's a different group of friends to meet/hang with than the ones I typically work with on a corporate or entrepreneurial level (although, there are occasionally cross-overs of course!)

In the last few seasons, I've done concert posters for the group, and since we've been trying to amp up the website, I've committed to bringing the camera along and getting some candids photos. In future, watch for more images, showing the gang during relaxed times. And for those paying attention, that's the group rehearsing Stabat Mater, a work by Karl Jenkins, which we will be performing on November 16th along with the Regina Philharmonic Chorus at Knox Metropolitan United Church. It'll be super fun! Hope to see you there!

Having some abstract fun... Here's a few of the better ones. Maybe you see something different? Like a Rorschach test, there's no wrong answer, feel free to comment!

Once in awhile, it's good to get in front of the camera. On our way to a Halloween party, I told my friend Corynn we should stop by my studio and get a few pictures. If you make the effort to get gussied up for Halloween, you may as well document it.

I don't know why I didn't do Snow White years ago (a Clark Kent told me I was Excellent). And Corynn's Cheshire cat fit the Disney spectrum too.

This will probably be more interesting to my family than others, but feel free to have a look at this little video if you like.

Slowly but surely I'm getting to this!

The Friday before I came home, I made a point to go on the Loch Ness tour. Hearing it would be a 12 hour round-trip at the start sounded a bit daunting, but as we stopped many times and just getting to see a small chunk of the countryside in Scotland, it actually did not seem like that long, in spite of being on a cramped bus. I made a friend, a girl (well, okay, woman) named Kimberly from California. We kept each other company and chatted through the day and she seemed pretty cool.

Picking us up at 8am, our coach driver Kenny seemed a bit stern to start with, driving home the rules of the bus, namely to not be on your cell while he was talking - giving us fun facts, and some historical context for the places we were seeing that day, as well as local info ("I don't like Inverness. It's a crappy town. The men are mean, and the sheep are afraid." Now read that in your head again with a Scottish accent!). He also stressed that we needed to be on time getting back to the bus whenever we stopped, that we were on a very tight schedule and he wanted us pulling up back at the Royal Mile by 8:05pm.

Kenny softened up a bit as soon as we loaded back on the bus - his stern lectures served their purpose, that was the most punctual bus tour I've EVER been on!

As we were so good about getting back on to the bus in a timely fashion, Kenny said that we could squeeze in a couple of more stops along the way. Our first extra stop was at Ruthven Barracks.

From there, after a very brief, but beautiful, stop, we rushed off through Inverness. Incidentally, "Inver" means "mouth of". So Inver-Ness means Mouth of the Ness. So... would Inverarity mean rare mouth? And very close to Inverness is Loch Ness.

Loch Ness is 56.4 square kilometres. Not that wide or long really (only about 36km long), but it is 1000 feet deep because as lies on a natural fault line. Kenny asked us how many of the 32 of us believed in Nessy. He was quite distraught to learn that only 2 passengers do/did. No, I was not one of them. But according to this article, she's been found! *Gasp!* I guess Kenny must have been right. Unbelievers will face judgement when the time comes.

which more or less just took us from the hotel site over to Urquhart Castle. Total tourist trap, but the sun was shining (not that you can really tell from this picture) and Kenny mentioned that this was very odd. We had patches of sunlight for most of the trip, and I've decided that this is (obviously) because God loves me, and God clearly wants me to take pictures without damaging my camera.

Truthfully, the weather was unseasonably warm most of the time I was in Scotland. Kenny assured us that the Scotsman melts at 20 degrees, so I guess it's good it hovered around 17 most of the time!

Because we'd run into some construction on the road, we were unable to get many extra stops in, but our last stop, a scheduled one, was at Glencoe. The most... stupidly beautiful area on the trip, in spite, or perhaps because of being shrouded in mist, Glencoe is not terribly far from where scenes of Hagrid's property were filmed for Harry Potter and the latter part of "Skyfall" were shot.

The only issue with it was that, as it's pretty much IN the clouds most of the time. Kenny had mentioned they have three types of weather; Heavy Rain, Torrential Rain, and Heavy Torrential Rain. While it may not be evident from the photos, it was raining small and sideways when we dismounted the bus, more misting really, so I was just able to get out, get a couple of pictures and get back on the bus.

Our final stop, because it was getting dark, was to see the "Harry Coos." Which is to say, is Scotspeak, Hairy Cows. (Kimberly agreed with me, Harry Coo just sounded somewhat dirty).

I actually purchased a postcard for family with a Hairy Cow, with a caption "The Highland Cow, ready to head-butt yet another photographer." So maybe it's just as well I didn't get to be any closer to them.

All in all, the Loch Ness tour, ripping through the Highland's narrow roads on a coach and seeing the sights was not super cheap, but it was well worth the time. Kenny played and relayed history lessons, where we learned about why Campbells are not well liked in the area, about William Wallace (or Braveheart, as you might know him, in spite of the fact the Braveheart nick-name should actually be attributed to Robert the Bruce who fought after William Wallace... and so long as we're getting persnickety, William Wallace was allegedly 6 foot 7 inches tall! That's tall by today's standards, never mind back then! How in the hell did little old Mel Gibson get to play him?!) and of Rob Roy, who as you would know, created Blackmail, in that he and his clansmen basically went around telling other farmers that they should pay them to protect their cattle. If the other farmers wanted to opt out of the program, Rob Roy McGregor and his brethren explained that they couldn't guarantee their cows' safety. Way to make a living hey?

So if you're in the neighbourhood, check out the Highland Experience Tours. Tell 'em Andrea sent you! Then give them your credit card, cause they won't know what you're talking about.

As you may recall, last week I had posted a call for newborns, wanting to expand my portfolio because I would like to offer newborn portraits among my services. I've worked with babies before, but not a lot of newborns, not recently, and certainly not current-enough stuff to advertise for it.

Marla was the first to answer the call, and brought in little Audrey to the studio. While I have little desire to go forth and procreate myself, I do find babies somewhat fascinating, and it was a fun shoot. This is just one (slightly) edited image from the haul we got. Hope you like it!

So in my working through Kathryn's wedding photos, and having a recent inquiry for next year's wedding season, I've been thinking image possibilities. And as I was taking a break (or getting distracted by BuzzFeed) I stumbled onto this posting.

Some of these photos are truly beautiful... Sadly, none of them mine, but still, worth a share. Have a peek at 24 Grooms seeing their bride for the first time...

So I'm slowly getting through Wedding photos, and other life stuff, so of course, I've not been posting like I should be. Doing quick and dirty edits for the castle, but it's something anyway.

If you like castles, Edinburgh Castle should be on your bucket-list. Hope for a clear (or non rainy-ish) day for some of the cobblestones are a bit smooth even when dry!

For those of you who may be on my Facebook Fan Page, you may have already seen this posted today. While I have done sessions with babies in the past, I've not had many opportunities to shoot with newborns. As such, I am offering some free sessions to try to expand my portfolio as it's a service I'd like to offer my clients.

So if you are expecting right now, or you know someone who is, please share this information with them as it's a good opportunity to get some decent photos done of their new bundle of joy!