Sophie Evelyn

Stephanie Chan January 30, 2018

2018 began with new babies! Back to Back babies for people I know from back in highschool who happen to be friends and live in neighbouring condos overlooking beautiful False Creek. I love how life comes full circle. I love how highschool is a petri dish of hormones, bad decisions, blind immaturity, and closed-mindedness, that nobody can see who and how the future might bring people back together. I guess this isn't necessarily true of all experiences, but I love that it is mine. I love being able to re-enter the lives of those with whom I share history (great or small), see who they have grown to be and witness the love for their young families spill out like liquid gold. It's a beautiful thing to be vulnerable. I love connecting with people and I love being a part of so many people's special moments. There is so much beauty in how we live day by day, in just who we are, in our humanity.

A few special moments with little sister Sophie and Mama Jess.

Baby Wren

Stephanie Chan January 23, 2018

My last family session of 2017 was with a sweet trio I met through my cousin Nik. They moved up the road and across the Tsawwassen/Point Roberts border into a sweet little rancher to start this new period of their lives. Like us, they moved into a new place with a new baby and renovations to be had. This pushed our newborn session to a 3 months old session which, honestly, was just as delicious. At 3 months, new Mamas have developed a system and babies have plumped up into juicy morsels asking to be bitten all over...

I met them in their new home on a beautiful sunny afternoon the first week of December. Everyone was in a cheery mood, including little Wren who was all big shiny eyes and bubbly gurgles of laughter. It's hard to know these days are gone for me. After waiting what seemed a lifetime for babies, I have somehow already birthed 3 and they are all no longer these tiny helpless creatures covered in down with sweet breath. It is a wonderful thing to be able to revisit this preciousness through my work and I am so grateful to pour my hindsight into creating memories that will shine through the foggy memories as they grow older.

A select few from this warm cozy collection...

Abandoned X: Amercian

Stephanie Chan January 21, 2018

Another fun event out in Downtown Vancouver was the Opening Reception for photographer Antonia Jane Allan. Her show, Abandoned X: American, took place at MakeShift Spaces, a pop-up space dedicated to helping small businesses, artists, and speakers to achieve exposure.

It's been quite a while since I've attended an art show (my last gallery visit was at the VAG whom was hosting the dinner conference I was shooting...) and I am pretty sure that checking out more art is on my TO DO list for 2018. Antonia's scenes were rich in colour and textures. Abandoned places never lose their creepy interest. Seeing past lives decay and their spaces be left vulnerable to mother nature reminds us of our own temporary stay here. When we are gone, what is left behind of us? I've started reading becasue 2018 is also the year that I am trying to exchange scrolling for digesting actual physical books. One line I read the other night from The Essex Serpent is quite a fitting description for this Abandoned collection:

"All that is solid melts into air ... whole empires are brought down by nothing but ivy and time."

So very true.

More gallery shows and more books. 2018.

Alex + Sarita

Stephanie Chan October 14, 2017

I had so much fun shooting this adorable pair of human beings!!! The internet has gifted me with some of the coolest friendships, including this beautiful goofball of sunshine, Miss Sarita. These friendships are exciting and mysterious, falling in love with people you have never met in person but feel like you know so well after months of connection and laughter. It's cool to physically meet them and feel the presence of that same spirit you have connected with just through photos and words. I gotta say, I was really stoked when Sarita asked me to photograph her with her long-distance beau, Alex, who was visiting Vancity for their one year anniversary. Up until this point, these intimate sessions have been exclusively family, young parents, or occasionally newlyweds. This was my first time shooting a couple still fresh in their relationship, full of all that honeymoon goodness, and it was so deliciously fun! We met in my old stompy grounds of Mount Pleasant, the area of my young and stupid days, drinking more than sleeping days, barely considering consequences days of yore... It is always a bittersweet visit but I was distractedly excited for this session as we would be meeting specifically at the new Andy Dixon mural that went up this summer for the mural festival. If you don't know Andy Dixon, do yourself a favour and check out his work and join the rest of us in being obsessed HA! We got in trouble trying to climb a building to get some shots and I laughed as Sarita pulled a ME and sweetly begged the guy to let us just have a couple shots.

Ok, too much talking. Photos.

Cates Park Family Sessions

Stephanie Chan June 25, 2017

A few favourites from up in beautiful North Van for some fam jam mini sessions at Cates Park.