This may not be the most coherent blog post, so I'm going to apologize in advance for that. I'm on my third cup of chamomile tea this morning, each one drowned with a cup and a half of honey. Or a tablespoon. Whatever. Last night I got pretty violently sick and was just not having a good time to say the least. I went to bed real early--but couldn't sleep. Slept in this morning and I'm attempting to chug along here. I have an engagement session in an hour and I leave for Palm Springs tomorrow. I'm determined to be feeling 100.5% when I step onto that plane in the early morn.

Onto the real purpose of this post, my lovely friend Christy Joy. Christy is a photographer from a little town on Vancouver Island called Duncan, BC -- she's the daughter-in-law of my parent's very good friends. I've gotten to know her over the past three years a couple times a year and recently she discovered a passion for photography. Not only a passion, a talent for photography! She contacted me in the summer about a learning session and we set one up for October. These photos were taken months ago, but I wanted to blog 'em and give a little shout-out to Christy Joy. Stop by her blog and encourage her in what she's doing--so proud!

P.S. I get a lot of emails asking about my photographer learning sessions as I've been bloggin' about them. I used to have information on my blog under the contact page, but I've taken it down as I am saying no to teaching for the time being. This year is crazier than I have ever experienced. I think I'm going to hit 26 weddings in about 23 weeks? Do THAT math. That's some craziness right there. I want to focus on shooting, not teaching. Maybe November 2010? Early 2011? We'll see. But thanks for the interest!

At this current moment I'm in the lead for Photographer of the Year, but it's within a handful of votes, so I need you. Click HERE. Install the voting app, CLICK HERE again, then vote. Please and thank you.

Katya is more than just a gorgeous face. She's an incredible businesswoman with an amazing website, a contagious personality and a very promising 2010. Born in Ukraine, she's been living in Edmonton, Alberta for the past few years. At the end of last year, she picked up her life and moved out west to beautiful Vancouver. She lives downtown and is in a lot of ways creating a new life for herself here. She literally knew nobody when she moved out besides one friend! I simply cannot imagine.

Katya and I met up for a four-hour learning session last week at Starbucks and we chatted away non-stop. It was one of my most laid-back learning sessions to date! I really enjoyed hearing her vision for her business. I admire her strength and courage in life; moving to a new city alone is something I could never do. She's hard-working and driven, she knows what she wants in her business and I have no doubt she'll succeed. At the conclusion of our time together I snapped a few photos of her and oh my goodness, I loved having her in front of my camera. She just lights up the frame. Every shot.

First week of November I ventured to New Orleans, Louisana for the Pictage Partner Conference. If you missed my conference wrap-up post you can find that HERE. I met a lot of fun photographers as I walked around the small convention but I also had the opportunity to hold a quick learning-session with Lacey Rabalais. I met her for two hours at Starbucks, literally just before my flight left, and we spent the afternoon talking about branding, attracting the kind of clients you love to photograph and setting goals for your business. Lacey also dropped me off at the NOLA airport after our quick bio photoshoot and saved me a cab fare. So thanks Lace. ;) Pleasure to meet you! Check out Lacey's website and Lacey's blog and look at her beautiful face below: