It's always nice to hear when a couple has been together for so long. And this occasion was very special for me because these two beautiful people are my parents.  
My mom wasn't really a fan of the camera but I broke them in slowly and they ended up laughing, joking around,  and having a great time. 
Growing up around such a loving and supporting couple has only shown me true love is out there.  

love you both! 

Wow,  well to start off I must say Happy New Year!  And secondly I send my apologies for not keeping up to date with blogging.  last year between moving and other life events going on,  plus photo shoots, I let the blogging part slip into the back of my mind.

But no more of that.  I am back at it and ready to keep you all informed and updated with all the stuff going on with my photography and the behind the scenes of some great photoshoots! 

I have to say that 2014 was a great year for me.  From May - Dec 27/2014 I had 40 wonderful photoshoots and 5 weddings!! It was the first time I went all into my photography and it turned out great.  I am looking forward to what 2015 brings.  Plus I am very excited because I already have 2 weddings booked.

If you didn't know,  I work for lifetouch taking school pictures.  This year for the grade 12 grads I feel that it's been my best year yet photographing.  And that only makes me more excited to bring all the studio experience into the field with me plus into my own studio I have been slowly building at home.  I now have some wonderful backgrounds and some cute props. I'm very excited to work with. 

Well if you are In the area and need a photo gal just send me a message and I would absolutely love to work with you.  
Keep coming back and taking a peek at some wonderful shoots. 

Through Word of mouth I met the Balazs family, and we got some great shot's at the Belle River Marina. Which is now one of my new favorite places to take photo's. There are so many options for pictures. 
This family was awesome. I got some great shots and they all had their smiles ready. We may have had to fight off some ducks, but nothing I couldn't handle.

Now this family was willing to do whatever to get some great shots. From putting their feet in the cold water, climbing on rocks to sit on, and walking out towards the light house barefoot on the rocks.  
Thank you so much for letting me take your long awaited family photo's, I hope you enjoy them all!

I love puppies! And with that being said, I had such a great time taking photo's of two husky pups named Thor and Isis.  Not only do they have awesome names but they are such cute and energetic little pooches.

We took them to Willistead Mannor and let the little cuties off the leash and let them be themselves.  Not only are the good lookers but they listen great.  And they sure do love their treats. 
They are brother and sister and they are 13 weeks. I love the two different eye colors on these two.  They are the pup's to my cousin and I couldn't resist requesting to take their photo's.  

So thank you "cuz" for letting me play with Thor and Isis, I will be by soon with my pup for a play date. And believe me when I say this won't be the last time you see these little cuties. 

Here are what customers say about Sarah McDonald Photography 

"We received our pictures from Sarah and all I can say is WOW!! Thank you so much for your incredible patience with us and the amazing work you provided us. You had allowed our son to choose some of his own favorite poses and it completely made his day. You certainly captured amazing shots. If you're looking for a fun and energetic photographer Sarah is your lady. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts!!!                                   - Amanda Fowler 

"Received our family photos from our mini shoot...Sarah you did a wonderful job! We absolutely love the pictures! We have received so many comments on them. You truely love what you do! You went above and beyond our expectations!!Thank you so much! "                                  -                                     -Ulana Djeckic 

"Sarah did a photo shoot with my two boys. She did an amazing job! She worked extremely well with both my kids. She was patient and friendly. The pictures were absolutely adorable! I have recommended her to all my friends and family. I was very happy with the work she did and can't wait till the kids birthdays to have her come again!"
                                  - Danielle Marie

Its that time of year all parents look forward to! Back to school. I myself am very blessed and I have a job where I can be home with my children all summer. I go back to work when they go back to school. (So technically its back to work time too!) 

Being a mom I was thinking what would be a fun way to start a fresh new year? That's when I thought of my back to school mini shoot.  Its a fun way to get kids excited and for parents to have new creative photo's of their children as the start a new adventure. 
I have fun props, and locations in mind that would work great! I can't wait to get some real beautiful and creative shots for parents, that arn't your every day school photo's.  And it's a mini shoot so kids don't have to try and stay focused for so long. Along with some prints and all photo's on disc, there's lots of pictures for mom and dad to choose from. All without a huge cost!
So here's to making lunches, early bed times, new clothes, and wonderful smiles! 

Sarah

While I drink my tea during my late night "business building"  google search I have noticed a common trend among photographers.  A trend that honestly urked me just a little.

I understand that photographers get big,  their business grows,  it may even be their main job,  so obviously their prices are high for shoots.  Which is fine,  I understand and I'm sure eventually as my business builds I will be making changes too.  But with these higher prices they offer 25-60 min shoot time but the client is only receiving anywhere from 12-15 photos.  One site I even saw after paying $150 the client recieves 2 photos!  Maybe it is just me but when I am with clients for a hour I have well over 200 photos. 

Now obviously I'm not going to give clients from a family shoot 200 photos but they are guaranteed at least 50.  If I am getting paid for a shoot I want my clients to get what they paid into.  So these photographers only giving a dozen or more should really be doing 10 min shoots because they would be able to get those photos in that amount of time. 

But that is just my opinion. I just know that I want my clients happy with their photos.  I want to give them a variety of options,  without overwhelming them(aka  200 pictures) .  So if I need to give them 40-50 photos to choose from and share,  I would much rather give them more bang for their buck then giving them such a limited amount of product for the time they contributed. 

Memories shouldn't be costly,  and when your in that moment you should be able to get all you can out of it. 

Sarah.

This wonderful couple gave me the privledge of taking their wedding photos (Wedding is next month!) and in their package the choose they get a engagement shoot.  And man they are such a photogenic couple.

What was even better was that they had an awesome vintage theme with their outfits, and if you know me I LOVE VINTAGE! Melanie's dress was so cute, it was perfect. And you can never go wrong with a guy with a bow-tie. 

After we went to Malden Park for some formal photo's. We went back to their house to add some family to the photo's.   Enter two pooches! 
In their beautiful backyard we got a bunch of shots with the dogs to finish out the shoot.  
It was a great session, and I can't wait for their wedding. Im sure we will get a bunch of wonderful shots then too!!

Sarah

After a long 6 weeks of waiting, I finally became the proud owner of this little guy. Meet Axel.  He is a purebred Boxer, a very energetic little fur ball too.  
I have wanted a dog for quite a while but with two kids and work it just seemed like something I should hold off on. So I waited a year and now we have our pup.

Being a cat owner, and the last time I had a dog was back in grade 10, I learnt something really fast.... puppies are like babies!! They wake up to pee in the middle of the night, you feed them 3 times a day, and they nap a whole lot. There has been many times i have told the kids to play quietly while the dog slept so that I could get some cleaning done! But luckily he's growing pretty fast and all of that is becoming more normal. He has even gotten use to his kennel. 
Boxers are known for their high energy, being silly and goofy, and for being loyal. Seems to be the perfect family dog for us. We love our little Axel, he's now part of the family.  (And we all can't wait for him to lose his puppy teeth and stop chewing too! haha)

I got a email from the Thornburn family who were looking to get some family pictures taken.
We decided on Ojibway park since she was going for a country feel. It was later on in the evening but the bugs didn't stop us from getting some great shots

With 4 wonderful children, and the youngest being only a few weeks old they were all great sports and did a wonderful job. All the photo's were full of smiles. And I even took some pictures of just the baby alone, a few of them with him holding his parents wedding rings. How cute is that!

I had such a fun time doing this shoot. And if you know me, when it comes to babies I am such a marshmellow. He's a little cutie.  
Thank you Thornburn Family, And i hope you enjoy your photo's!

Sarah