hi all, 

i know it's been months since i've blogged and i know i always plead being busy... but it's more than just being busy. i haven't really made the time to pop over here and write down what's been happening in my life because i really don't know where to start. in fact, i don't even remember where i left off! *goes back to check when last blog post was* ........ july, that's not so bad. 

as most of you probably know, i spent the majority of july on vacation - a week travelling in italy and then a week on a mediterranean cruise with my family.  what a treat. once i get all my photos edited, i'll be doing a couple of separate blog posts on those (i hope). the one on venice should be making an appearance within the next few days.  

august was extraordinarily busy. i photographed three skating competitions, two under my own business name. thank you to everyone who made minto summer skate and thornhill summer skate such huge successes for me. i enjoyed meeting each and every one of you and i wish you all the best in the coming season. i hope i'll get to see you all compete again

in between skating competitions i also had the opportunity to do a little photoshoot for one of the new pairs teams (made up of two familiar faces) at kwsc for a brochure they are appearing in for an ice show. i'm excited to see how this pair develops. here are a few of the photos i took of shalena rau and rob schultz:

 in addition to photographing shae and rob, i also got to photograph kwsc's starskate campers in their week-end show, which was great fun! the there was zombies, and boy, those kiddos did not go half way with the makeup and hair! 

apart from that i have been uploading thornhill & minto photos into their respective galleries, editing vacation pictures and making collages to wish good luck to the skaters who are competing on the junior grand prix circuit (skaters going to kosice, slovakia stay tuned - yours is coming tonight or tomorrow). 

oh, and last weekend my mum and i drove up to port carling (near muskoka) for their "beat the heat" ice show, put on my the port carling figure skating club and the brian orser foundation. here are a few photos and the review i posted for sport-folio.net. 

•  "I loved the show, it was a blast. I got to talk to some of the skaters parents and chat with them outside of a competition environment, which was nice. Gabby & Zach Daleman's mom is such a nice lady! 
• The show itself was very entertaining. Very casual and relaxed - lots of cheering for all of the skaters not just the big names. Everyone skated their short programs, so it was kind of like a "simulation" of sorts - with a standing room only audience. 

• Javi skated his new short, which reminded me a bit of his 2011/2012 short (the one with the yellow sweater vest). He skated well - possibly doubling a jump so as not to land on the VIP seats! I can't be too sure of any of the jumps though as it is hard to tell through the clicking of my camera! 
• Jeff skated a beautiful exhibition piece that I had never seen before. It was too a fairly well known song that I can't remember the nam of at the moment. It was lovely. 
• Kurt skated to a mambo-type number with a hat as a prop. It was very entertaining. His double axels are still AMAZING. He's still got the hight to do a triple if he wanted to IMO. 
• Kento Nakamura skated a bit of a rough short. I think he had a few jump errors, but I do like his footwork. 
• Junior ladies, Anna Pevtsova (RUS), Samantha Cabiles (PHI) and Michaela du Toit (RSA) as well as Stephie Walmsley all had good and entertaining skates. So did Jarret Melanson who did a Kurt-inspired number. Nam had a couple of bobbles throughout his program but it was good nonetheless (he skated better in Mexico City). 
• All in all I'm very glad that I got asked to go, otherwise I would have never known about it! It was definitely worth the 3 hour drive to get to Port Carling (which is a beautiful little town BTW). 
• I'll definitely be heading back next year if I can"