Little Boy Blue

Meet little boy blue. He is sweet, sweet, sweet and he reminds me why I love two year olds so much!


They have boundless energy, endless curiousity, and a love for their Momma that is simply the best thing there is. This little man is no exception . .


And let me tell you, the love goes both ways!

I have known his Mom since we were school-girls . . and although we don't often see eachother, our families remain connected in the ways that are important. In the ways that mean that when you see your school-aged friend in the eyes of her child, you can't help but remember that it was not that long ago that you both were as energetic and as curious and as full of love as he is now.
And how truly remarkable it is that the universe keeps great people in your life.

A&B, you have a gorgeous little boy who is so clearly cherished and adored. Thank you for sharing those baby blues.

p.s. This post was alternately entitled 'boys and their balls . . .' - A, thought you just might understand :)

p.p.s. Just in case you are wondering, these photos were taken at Mom's work - Athletes Nation - a supercool St. Albert fieldhouse/sports performance centre that is an off-season training home to the likes of Jarome Iginla and Fernando Pisani! Check it out -

And the winner is . . . .

. . . . canvas #4!!

The little dude with the big brown eyes was one of my very first portfolio building sessions way back in May of last year. This year, he is awaiting the arrival of a new baby in his family and has grown leaps and bounds.


His Momma was a ruthless competitor and shared news of his canvas debut with many, garnering 76 individual votes of a total 236. She described herself as "shameless" as she distributed the link to many, many far and wide. Hello? I love it.

She will have a beautiful canvas of that image . . she chose the 11x14 size with plans to hang a second one of baby #2 underneath it in one more year. Can't wait.

So, none of the charity canvases won -- they were #5, #7, and #12. Thank you to those families for lending their images for a great cause! But I get to make the rules and I say that a donation is still in order . . .

I'll be forwarding a donation to CAIRD - the Children's Aid International Relief and Development Association. They are a Canadian humanitarian organization located here in Edmonton. They offer help to children who are orphaned and in need in Romania and South Africa. The programs and initiatives that they support are numerous. Their Mission Statement holds my heart:

One child is so much.

You can find CAIRD contact information here. Thank you to everyone who participated in the canvas contest. You made my first launch week so very exciting to watch!

Stay tuned this week for a quick mini-shoot preview of a super sweet two year old . .

mmm, mmm, mini-magic

Wanted to share some previews of a little magic mini-session I had this past weekend! Mom and Dad in this case might laugh at me a bit for calling it magical. This couple love having their picture taken. They love it so much, they want to marry it. Ha ha! Right, guys?

But that's my point.

What made their session sparkly and glittery in my eyes was that it was happening at all. The magic comes straight from the fact that they understand that their babies are changing every day and they want to preserve and cherish that. And even more, that they know that it is important that their love for their children and each other is captured too.

Simple. Beautiful.

Part of what makes children so magical is how they move . . .

Tip-toe, tippity toe . . . so big.

I love love love the monster-truckin' in this image. Meet Mr. T's best buddy, Excaliber.

Oh, who am I kidding? It's pretty obvious who his best bud is:

And this is what it is all about. This image tells the story of sweet baby J who just turned one and got her first tooth. All at the same time, people.

Thanks guys! You did great (even despite the nutter in your living room with a camera of all things). Who invited her?

A little something else: OVER 200 VOTES ON THE CANVAS CONTEST!! Yay! In all of my canvas contest excitement, I've decided to gift the winner a bigger canvas! 16x20! That is exciting news!! Haven't voted? Scroll down and get at 'er . . . you have until Friday at 4 p.m.!

CANVAS CONTEST: Now THAT was fun - let's try THIS

Woo Hoo. THAT was fun.

I had a complete blast putting my website out there over the weekend!! It was a chance to share a bunch of beautiful families and a bit of myself with lots and lots of people in my life. Now let's hope others take a peek . . .

I was nervous . . . but I want to say THANK YOU for all of the support and amazing emails that have been sent my way. So many of you told me that watching the galleries made you smile and laugh and cry. And oh, I did not want to make you cry, but I LOVE THAT YOU DID.

You see, aside from my love for photography, this work has enabled me to see children, families, and the love that brings them together in a way that breathes new life into me. Children are a precious gift, let me tell you, and I am so thankful to work with those who get that and want to capture it and hold those memories tight. Love it. Thank you.

And in keeping with the thank-you luv, I'm wanting to send some of it back at ya! I'm running a canvas contest this week for some of the families that helped me put together my portfolio (and hence website), over the last year. Many of these grace my website. Some are simply my faves. Others are the ones that people have told me over and over that they make them sigh.

Check out the 12, count 'em 12, entries below and VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE. The contest starts on Monday March 16th and will close on Friday March 20th at 4 p.m.! The image that receives the most votes will win a gorgeous 11x14 gallery wrap canvas of their image as a thank you from me!

Rules and regulations: YOU CAN ONLY VOTE ONCE. And believe me, I can tell if you cheat. If you want others to vote for your fave, send them over here to get voting! Vote in the poll box that is in the right hand column of this blog!!
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Also . . . there is more than one image in the running that if it wins, I will donate the proceeds (in lieu of the canvas) to a fave children's charity of mine. I'm not telling which ones they are . . .

Get voting! And thanks again . . .

EDITED TO ADD: Holy smokes!! 139 votes on day one! And so very few cheaters ;) Seriously. You guys rock - six countries represented, too many cities, provinces, states, islands (?) to count. A few people also dropped me a line to let me know what their connection was to the images, and that was cool too - throw a comment in there.

KEEP VOTING. SHARE THE LUV! MWAH.

It's Up!!!

I'm officially official . . . . big huge drumroll for . . .

www.jennydrakephotography.com

I'm reeeaaaaalllly excited. And reeeaaallllly glad that I'm done.

Please please check it out and let me know what you think! Leave me a comment below or even better, shoot me an email through my fancy contact page!! Eeeeee. That's fun. Kind of feels like playing office at home when I was little with real staplers and highlighters my Dad borrowed from work.

And check back here this week coming up for some AWESOME RAD contests and giveaways. Seriously.

Hmm. I should say RAD more. And maybe SUH-WEET too.

Just about there . . . . .

Hi!! So the website is in final completion stages. Almost, almost. If I were more computer-savvy, I could post a snapshot of my splash page right here:

But, no. It's one of those simple steps that I'm missing. Cannot pull the "how to snapshot a webpage" from my brain. It's there somewhere . . . painful . . . still no.

So instead, I will do a quick share of my new logo:


It made a brief appearance in my blog header a couple weeks back, but now it is officially on my site. I hemmed and hawed about a logo, and gawked and gandered at so many other lovely photography related logos out there.

Turns out, I wanted simple. Happy. Clean. Colorful. I had it designed by a graphic designer and am completely happy with the results. Suits me.

AND, I got word today that I have artist permission to use some equally happy and simple and colorful music on the site . . . so it was a good day.

AND the site will be up SOON. Just about there . . . .

p.s. if anyone can give me a jump-start on the snapshot thing, it would be much appreciated.

Aggle Flaggle Klabble! Snurp . . .

ohmyword.

My family and I are so sick . . . turns out that when you opt out of getting the flu shot, you get the flu. Huh.

Don't worry everyone out there in the big world . . . we have kept our germs to ourselves and have been quarantined at home for the past week. I won't bore you with the gory details, but let me just say that our level of contagion and sickness has astounded me. My poor little boys. My poor husband (who doesn't have the flu but has to take care of us, which is worse?) But this too shall pass . . .

And strangely enough, turns out that one of the only things that seems to bring some sort of relief to my pathetic boys has been reading Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.


He's always been one of my favorites, but we have this one (on loan from the library of course) with the CD and the boys will listen to it over and over again.

Aggle Flaggle Klabble! has become our saying for oh-my-goodness-every-inch-of-my-body-hurts-make-it-stop. Grab the book and have a read. Too cute.

snurp . . . .

Oh, and mini-session update! I had huge interest in the just because i want to sessions. Yay!! And even more than that, I had lots of people booking full sessions for spring and summer. Double yay!! I actually had more than one family book mini-sessions and then cancel, holding off for bigger sessions in the coming months.

So . . . why am I telling you this . . . this means that two spots have become available for mini-sessions . . . one on the 15th and one on the 21st. Email for more info if you are interested. And if you are interested in a session come spring or summer, send me a shout-out and we will get things rolling for that too!

And send us some get-well wishes. We need them :)