I really want to thank the “good samaritan” in the big black SUV who pulled over to keep other vehicles from running into us.  As well, the OPP officer who was so quick on the scene.  I also really want to publicly thank our tow-truck driver, Rick!  He got us out of the guardrail, hooked up and out of danger very quickly.  (We forgot to tell him the our dog, Leo, was in the cab of the truck) and poor guy – Leo – not Rick, tried to keep him from tying up the steering wheel.  Rick went above and beyond the call of duty by hauling us down to Hwy 9 for the collision reporting centre (at the Park and Ride) – there were a lot of accidents on the 400 on January 3rd.  Instead of dropping us off there and leaving us to our own devices to get home, he drove us home with the truck so we could unload after the New Year’s holiday.  Thanks and big cudos to him and Advanced Towing out of Alliston.

The long and the short of the story – I’ve had whiplash and a concussion (bumped my head on the passenger side window) - and have been unble to really work on any of NightinGail’s outstanding assignments.  I appreciate all of my clients’ understanding about the delays in delivery.  I will be getting back to working on the albums, photo sessions and shoots starting next week.

And on top of this, my mother-in-law is now in the hospital.  She suffered a more severe stroke last Tuesday and is currently resting comfortably at North York General.  She has wonderful nurses and doctors who are doing everything that they can but the prognosis is not good.  She has not been well for some time with limited eyesight and mobility and has suffered a series of small strokes over the past few months.  We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst which is all we can do at this time.   Your prayers for the family during the next few days and weeks would be most appreciated.

And just because blogs should have photos – and my mother-in-law loves all types of animals — here is Magic (one of my special animal friends from a wedding this summer).. this is for you, Mary Elizabeth!

We at NightinGail Photography wish all of our clients, friends, associates and families a big Happy 2010!  We wish to thank everyone who worked with us during 2009 and we are looking forward to more wonderful associations in 2010.

Enjoy the beginning of 2010 with a fabulous New Year’s Eve as you ring in the New Year. 

Please be safe and if you do drink during the festivities, don’t drive! 

From all of us here — See you next year!

It has been a wonderful year and NightinGail has been extremely excited about working with all of our clients who have become our friends over this past year.   So on behalf of NightinGail (and a fabulous team of second-shooters over this year – Shiri & Michelle, along with our non-shooting assistant, Donald), and of course, me — thank you for your patronage and support. 

We look forward to working with all of our clients again soon!

The purpose for the session was to have the family together and take some portraits as most people let time slip by without documenting these important moments.  As well, the birthday boy and his “love” are in the process of merging their families and moving into a new home sometime in the spring.  What a great opportunity to get those beautiful wall canvases for their new home of their new family.

Here are just a few of my favs from their session — the weather was wonderful and a good time was had by all!

 The Whole Gang!

We are all guilty of missing those special famiily moments so for the month of November & December 2009, call us and quote this blog post and receive your family portrait session at a 30% savings. Bring in a donation for the Food Bank and get 50% off.

Sessions are 30 minutes in length and this year, we will be photographing outdoors at Sunnydale Park in Barrie, ON.

Current available session times:

10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
11.30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Booked
1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Booked
2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Booked
2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Booked
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Booked
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Fee is due with session booking. Call today to ensure that you can get your chosen timeslot for our Christmas in October 1-day special!

Do you love photography? Have you ever wondered how the Pro’s do things? Would you like to learn from some of GTA’s top photography experts?

Well, now is your opportunity to learn from the best!

Eight of GTA’s top photography experts will be gathering in one location, for one day only, to teach you what we know!

Pre Register Now! Pre-register by November 30th and save $25 off the registration fee! Fee includes a Lunch and 8 hours of lecture/workshop time.

Details:

When: January 9th, 2010

Location:
Humber College
North Campus, 205
Humber College Blvd.
Toronto, ON,
M9W 6V3,
Lecture Classroom E303

Time: 9am – 5pm

Fee: $139 per person (fee includes lunch consisting of: Vegetables and Dip, Assortment of gourmet cookies, coffee, tea and assorted chilled beverages,Chef’s selection of Albacore tuna, egg salad,Black Forest Ham, roast beef, and Canadian Cheddarserved on fresh whole wheat and white bread)

Guest Speakers:
Margaret Diotalevi – http://www.avenue-photo.com
Irina Fortey: http://www.irinaphotography.com
Kevin Charlie – http://www.kevincharlie.com
Amber Richmond: http://www.amberrichmond.com
Gail Kenney : http://nightingailphotography.com
Cliff Spicer – http://www.cliffspicer.com
Jennifer Cavagna – http://www.jenniferimages.ca
Sebastien Auger: http://www.saphoto.ca

Video provided by: Martin Kolditz: http://www.mgxproductions.com

Schedule:

9:00am – Margaret Diotalevi– http://www.avenue-photo.com
Photography basics, if you are the kind of photographer who relies on “p” for program, then this lecture is for you. You will learn the basics of photography including, aperture (f-stop), shutterspeed, ISO settings, depth of field, and more.Feel free to bring your SLR (single lense reflex) camer along.

10:00am – Irina Fortey– http://www.irinaphotography.com
The Business of Photography,everything you needed to know about the business side of photography, including pricing your work, marketing and branding yourself, and learning how to organize your workflow.

11:00am – Kevin Charlie – http://www.kevincharlie.com
Inspiration, Creativity and Composition, learn how to see things with a professional eye. In this lecture you will learn how to be inspired, get creative and compose like the pros.

12:00pm – Amber Richmond — http://www.amberrichmond.com
Large Group Photography, learn how to master large group photography from posing to lighting and everything in between. If portraits are your specialty, you won’t want to miss this lecture!

1:00pm Lunch
A scrumptuous lunch including coffee, tea, cold beverages, veggies with dip, cookies, and a delicious array of sandwhiches will be served.

2:00pm – Gail Kenney — http://nightingailphotography.com (THAT’S ME!!)
Posing for Better Photos, learn pro techniques on how to give direction to your subjects for more professional looking photos. A “Walk Away from a Snap Shot” – A lecture you must not miss for portrait or wedding phtotography enthusiasts.

3:00pm – Cliff Spicer — http://www.cliffspicer.com
Location Lighting with Minimal Equipment, learn how to light the scene without using bulky, time consuming,expensive equipment. This invaluable lecture can be applied to any kind of photography that relies on the location light as a photographic light source.

4:00pm – Jennifer Cavagna — http://www.jenniferimages.ca
Photoshop Techniques, learn the basic Photoshop techniques that you absolutely must know to produce better quality images. Learn why you should shoot in RAW, how to compensate your exposures, add contrast and drama, increase colour saturation, convert to black and white, remove red eye, remove unwanted distractions and much much more.

5:00pm – Sebastien Auger — http://www.saphoto.ca
Slideshow development; Give your images greater impact and emotion with professional slideshows. Now that you’ve learned the techniques for editing your photos, present them in their best light, with a professional Slideshow. You’ll learn how to make a Slideshow as well as all of Sebastien’s own techniques for perfecting this awesome photographic presentation.

Martin Kolditz — http://www.mgxproductions.com
Video; Martin will be video taping the entire event so that you may purchase a copy to use at home in order to review the material covered in this one day lecture series. Aa perfect gift, or purchase for those who are unable to attend the actual conference.

(Can’t make this date? Don’t worry. You will be able to purchase a video copy of the entire conference after the event. Email me for details)

You can view all the details and register on the website at www.bluembers.ca

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This is an 11 x 8.5 Signature Album with hinged pages that lay flat for ease of signing and regular pens can be used by your guests. These books are a wonderful addition to any wedding collection and do come in a variety of sizes. Call us today at 416-721-0541 if you are interested in booking an engagement or wedding collection that includes this beautiful signature album.

Then a last minute quick trip up to Haliburton for a mini relaxing weekend which turned out not to be what we expected. Off on Sunday to visit my Alberta client who had flown in so saw their private venue for their wedding next year. I’m so excited about this rooftop terrace location overlooking Lake Ontario. I simply cannot wait — and congratulations to Jaime & Geoff who will be celebrating their day on July 31, 2010 in Whitby.

Well, this is a first for me. A Monday night wedding which has been planned very quickly by Anna and Bill. Bags are packed, checked and Shiri will be meeting me at the Markham City Hall Wedding Chapel promptly at 5 p.m. Stay tuned…and I’m off shortly

As most of my friends know, NightinGail Photography was the “photographer with the RED” website for a couple of years. It was my brand!! We were “KNOWN” for being different. And they say that copying is a form of flattery.. well, that’s OK but over the last 4 – 6 months, more and more photographers have selected “red” or versions thereof for their websites and blogs. So it was time for a change..

We have selected to go with the more classic white but with my quirky offshoot of the “magenta” and gray. That’s me.. a little off the wall but nobody will ever be able to say that you won’t have FUN when you work with NightinGail Photography. And most of the time, when you choose to work with me, I’m always laughing and having a GREAT time!

My graphic designer (who put together my new logo) is Shiri Shapiro from Focus Studios. Shiri knows me well.. she’s been second-shooting with me for about 4 years. She is a professional photographer in her own right (and I second shoot with her on a regular basis, too.) She also works as an associate photographer with NightinGail if I am unavailable. She has just opened the graphic side of her business and I was one of her first clients. I love the final design of our logo and business card…

Anyway, I was looking at “branding” and came across a great blog by Ron Davidson. It was a real eye-opener… and made me think about why I wanted to change how NightinGail Photography looks. Not our style of photography, not how we treat our clients, not our customer service or anything else that really identifies NightinGail.

Our philosophy is that the client is always right — our images are unique because no two artists (or other people for that matter) see the same thing when we look at the moment in front of the lens — and it’s our vision that creates the photographs that are special for each of our clients.

Our clients choose us because I am NightinGail Photography! PERIOD.

10:00 a.m. –
10:45 a.m. – booked
11:30 a.m. – booked

In the afternoon, we will be photographing at Riverside Park East, Guelph.

1:00 p.m. – booked
1:45 p.m. – booked
2:30 p.m. -
3:15 p.m. -booked
4:00 p.m. -booked

We look forward to seeing you all soon at our on-location mini sessions.

Now.. get outside and enjoy that beautiful weather!!!

Anyway, there were 30 photographers in attendance to hear and see [b] in action. I was in the 2nd day group.. along with Charalynne (Serenditpity Photography), Joel (Joel Robertson Photography), Krista (Edison Photography), Sandra (Sanda Riger), Dave & Charlotte (David Biesse Photography) were just a few of my friends in attendance.. along with Patti Miller (Patti Miller Photography) who had the greatest RED shoes I’ve very seen. Patti.. I WANT them.. but in MAGENTA…

Listening to [b]‘s frank discussion of marketing and work process was absolutely amazing… watching him work with everyone was really something to see. And the best part, he took head shots of everyone there (can’t wait until he gets back home in Orange County from New York so we can get our copies!!) You can see him taking my photo on my facebook page (thanks to Krista – Edison Photography for catching the moment!).

It was fabulous meeting some new friends as well —

[b] .. come back again soon!!!

Lorianne & Danny’s Signature Guest Book

These books are one of our most popular add-ons to NightinGail’s wedding packages as they are all custom-designed by me with a hard photo cover.  Each client can choose up to 15 images from their “Love” session to be included in this 11 x 8.5 book.  They may select their own quotations or special poetry for their book or I can choose something that fits with the images that are included. 

Like to have one?  Call me at 416-721-0541 and I’d be happy to chat with you about photographing a “Love” session just for you.

The Ultimate Wedding Photographer

One of my other photographer friends posted this on our NoBS forum.  It is just too funny not to share– although I have NEVER had clients who made me feel like this!! 

Call us today to make sure that your photographer doesn’t have this attitude towards you and your family.

NightinGail has been most fortunate with all of our wedding couples who have been sweet and wonderful as we worked together to make sure that their wedding day images were beautiful, romantic and captured the esssence of their day. 

Wouldn’t you like to be a part of the NightinGail client family? 

Have a great one!

NightinGail Photography would like to take a moment to wish everyone a safe and prosperous 2009.  Have fun this evening as we celebrate New Year’s Eve.  Remember to enjoy the fun but be careful and most of all, don’t drink and drive.  We want all of our friends, family, collegues, clients and associates to be here with us to start a brand new year.

All the best and we will see you in 2009!!!

Gail, Don & Leo

And from our client:

NightinGail is now taking bookings for our “Valentine’s Secret” sessions!!  What’s included?

• 2 hour session includes makeup and 1 hour of photography
• Props and other fun stuff
• “Little Black Book” – 20 – 5×7 fully retouched images
• CD of your images in colour & B&W
• On-line Proofing

And the BEST part – If you book a session on January 10 or January 17th – your “Little Black Book” will be $350 plus applicable taxes.   This is a 30% savings and the last time that this price will be offered in 2009!!!  Call us today at 416-721-0541 or 705-792-5105.

Don’t lose out on this fabulous Valentine’s gift opportunity!!!

from

Gail, Don & Leo

NightinGail Photography

Processing Client Work and Writing E-mails

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients, friends, family and associates who have supported NightinGail Photography during our 2008 season.  We just want to let you know that we appreciate and value all of the trust that you have placed with us.

Every year at this time, we reflect on what has happened over the last year and are grateful for our blessings.  As part of our Christmas celebration, NightinGail Photography contributes to Sleeping Children Around The World along with our NoBS family, members and friends rally together to support SCAW – Sleeping Children Around The World. For more informaton, please visit http://www.scaw.org.

NightinGail has also been pleased to be associated with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (http://www.cbcf.org) and provided some portrait sessions for their on-line auction in October.  We strongly urge all of our friends to support this worthwhile cause in finding a cure for this disease.  Were you aware that men can also get breast cancer? 

As most of you know, it’s been a bit of a trying year with Don’s heart attack; however, we are very blessed to be in full recovery and with all things going as planned, he should be completely recovered by the end of January 2009.  His doctor has already reduced some of his medication and his latest stress test showed remarkable improvement.

The one good thing that has come out of this is that we have both embarked on an exercise and health regime of eating better and I am thrilled to say that we are walking 2 miles at least 4 times per week plus eating our meals on those little side-plates instead of the full-sized dinner ones.  We both feel better and healthier than we have in years.  I’m really excited to be able to be even more acrobatic at our 2009 weddings (hanging upside down out of trees is NOT an option).

Our daughter has moved closer to us and we are thrilled to be able to see our grandson even more often now that she is only a few minutes up the highway.  She is really enjoying her new job in Orillia and Lincoln is adapting nicely to his new home.  We are also thrilled to be expecting Wes home from Alberta later today.  He has been working out there for the last few months and Jenn and Lincoln are anxiously expecting his return.

Our son is still in Brockville.  He has had a very trying year with the workplace injury to his hand.  It is recovering but taking somewhat longer than was expected.  WCIB has been very helpful and he is looking at joining us for Christmas this year when all of the Martins get togther to celebrate our Christmas in January.  What’s really great is that now that most of us are on Facebook so we chat almost every day! 

Make sure that you become a “fan” of NightinGail Photography on Facebook.  We are also on Twitter.

As you may know, Don got the “car” of his dreams this past fall.. “Mean Yellow”.  He has always wanted a convertible and he was able to purchase a 2007 Solstice for “fun”.  That’s right – it’s yellow.  But we had a lot of fun driving and touring around during the fall while we had all of the great weather.

NightinGail is also in the process of changing our blog and portions of our site are still not quite ready so please bear with us.  Our main photography site www.nightingailphotography.com is also undergoing a face-lift in January so stay tuned for our new updated sites.  Our blog is now self-hosted at www.nightingailsales.com/blog  as is our on-line ordering and viewing galleries for our clients.

And for those of you who just want to play around… http://www.the-north-pole.com/ … there are some fun facts, games and recipes for the Christmas Season.

Congratulations to Barb Kucher who purchased two of our certificates for this excellent cause. We are looking forward to photography the Kucher family shortly at Sunnydale Park in Barrie.

Thanks again, Barb, for supporting the Grandmothers to Grandmothers organization.