All posts in Personal

I have stepped away from this blog, immersed in the daily rhythms of life at home with 2 littles and searching for that elusive balance. Balance between work, mothering, educating, learning and the myriad of other tugs and pulls that compete for attention. This space was lovingly created and re-created and has housed so many personal memories and the stories and photos of our dear clients. I treasure each image on this blog and website and although I haven’t written much here or updated frequently this blog and our work here hasn’t been far from my thoughts. I’ve avoided writing this post out of a fear of letting go, letting go of what we’ve built and a fear of being seen as a failure.

I’ve recently come to the realization that it is only our own perception of our life that I need to be concerned with, and that the opinions of others should have no weight in our decision making process. Wedding photography has give us both so much joy, so many connections and we’ve grown and learned so much over the years. But it is no longer something that we wish to pursue, the editing, the countless hours in front of the screen, the booked up weekends, the negatives outweigh the positives for us now to justify continuing to book wedding commissions. I want to live an authentic life, and that means constantly re-evaluating where we are, how we feel, and if we’re being true to our dreams and goals.

It’s hard to let go of something familiar, to admit that something that once brought so much joy and excitement is not anymore, as a gemini through and through it’s also freeing and exciting to realize it is no longer working for us, no longer serving us and that it’s okay to move on to try something new.

There is beauty and freedom in change, in analyzing honestly where we are now, where we dream of being in a year, 5 years, what kind of life we want to surround our girls with and in moving forward in that direction.

We’ve opted out of public school for our girls and we’re allowing them the freedom to pursue their interests at their own pace, the freedom of unstructured time and the joy that comes from living a simpler, less hurried life.

We would still love to photograph families and couples (no need to be recently engaged, beautiful photos of you and your love shouldn’t be reserved for just once in your life)

Over the next few weeks we’ll slowly re-organize this space to reflect these changes. I also wanted to thank each and every one of our clients, friends and family that have supported us and our business and have contributed to where we are today. It’s been a fantastic journey and I’m thankful for every step and everyone who was a part of it.

I’m excited and nervous to move away from weddings but I know this is what is best for our family right now.

Just because every post is better with a photo (or 3) here’s our girls now at 5 years old and 17 months.

Geminie-Photography-Cambridge-Family-Photographer

Geminie-Photography-Cambridge-Family-Photographer-3

Geminie-Photography-Cambridge-Family-Photographer-2

xox,

Cristina

I love spring, the air is fresh and change feels so good. After our crazy long winter, this spring is feeling especially sweeter! Amina decided she wanted a change and this is what she went with:

Geminie-Photography

She absolutely loves her new cut!

Geminie-Photography-2

And I love seeing her so confident in herself.

Geminie-Photography-3

xo,

Cristina

I’m so happy that I followed my curiosity, that I wasn’t scared of failure, that I first picked up a camera and decided that I would do whatever it takes to learn to create beautiful images. Today and tomorrow and 20, 30, 40+ years from now I know this feeling will only intensify. Because of them:

Geminie-Photography-Family-photos-Burlington-Oakville-Toronto-family-photographer

Amina- “mom it looks like a crown, she’s a princess”

Because I can freeze time for a second, document what I see and create a back-up for my memories (let’s face it I’m the most forgetful person ever)! And because of our beautiful clients, the families that come to us with their stories, their love and we have the privilege of freezing time for them too πŸ™‚

When was the last time you took time for family photos?

(And speaking of family photos… I know we really really need to update the Meet Us page! I can’t wait for spring to come)

xo,

Cristina

You might have noticed the cobwebs collecting in the corners around here…. but things have been quiet for a good reason, promise πŸ™‚ We’re excited to announce that we’re expecting baby number two in November! It’s been a rocky few months with all the usual, extreme fatigue and quite persistent morning sickness but I’m happily feeling much better, and hopefully I’ll be back to my usual self in no time.

We headed to one of our favourite parks in an attempt at some new family photos:

Geminie-Photography-Baby-2-Due-in-Nov

My younger brother Dan, was tasked with the goal of taking a photo of the 3 of us… but with a cranky toddler in tow things don’t always turn out as you expect!

Geminie-Photography-Baby-Number-2--Nov

Maybe next time πŸ™‚

xo

Cristina

I have been thinking more and more about what it means to be a soul living and experiencing everything that this world has to offer (both the positive and the negative), and the more I contemplate this, the more I feel connected to everyone and everything.

There’s a certain joy that comes from this knowledge and a feeling of peace. I feel that we’re all individual drops of the same ocean, separate in a way but inexplicably tied to each other. I could go on for days about this.. but this is not what this post is about (unless you’d like me to go on…please post your thoughts in the comment section below!).

It’s about love, a love for people, for human experiences and how I want to impact the lives of those around me in a positive way. Whenever we read stories about people doing random acts of kindness or “paying it forward” we can’t help but smile. Being on the receiving end of unexpected random kindness from strangers can change your entire day or week in a beautiful way.

We all have gifts that we can share with each other, gifts that will bring joy happiness to those around us. The gift of music,dance,humour, or art…. & hundreds more I’m sure. The gift that I can share with you is my photography.

I can take your photo. But not just a snapshot. My goal is to capture something more of you in the images I create. Something that goes beyond just your physical presence in front of my camera. If I succeed in that or not…is another story πŸ™‚ (I’m trying!)

So with that said, we’d like to introduce a new type of session. The-Pay-What-You-Can Session. It doesn’t matter who you are or what event/type of session you need photographed, a wedding, a new baby, a celebration of family… money shouldn’t stand in the way of having beautiful images to remember a special event by.

Starting this month, today, we’ll take on 1 Pay-What-You-Can booking per month. This won’t be made public in any way, just fill out our contact form and let us know if this is something that you need. Our prices are posted on the Investment Page and if you love our work and want to hire us but don’t have the funds to… now you can, and just pay us whatever you can.

February 14th is a day to celebrate love, and all the way it manifests in our lives. We want to help you celebrate your love, and hope that by doing this we’ll be able to offer the gift of photography to a special client each month.

Happy Valentines Day!

xox

Cristina

p.s. I couldn’t leave you with no photos, here’s some beautiful families we’ve had the pleasure of recently photographing! (full blog posts coming soon)

Sweet Michaela and her doting grandparents:

Geminie Photography Toronto Family Photographer-2

Little miss Liza and her mommy + daddy:

Geminie Photography Toronto Family Photographer-3

And we’ve just had the pleasure of photographing Mattea again who’s now a big sister to baby Rafaela:

Geminie Photography Toronto Family Photographer-1