here come santa claus

If you grew up celebrating Christmas in North America, chances are good that at some point when you were little you made your way to your local mall, wearing your Sunday best or an outfit scarily similar to your siblings, and stood in line so you could sit on Santa’s knee and smile for all of three seconds. It’s a holiday tradition that seems to satisfy parents looking for a festive photo and scare sweet babies into screaming at the top of their lungs. Watching moms and dads make silly faces, bribe their young ones and hope they’ll get a great family photo has always made me chuckle so discovering a whole website of funny, weird and scary Santa photos has weirdly enough brought a smile to my face this holiday season.
Personally, I’ve always liked Santa. A cheerful, jolly old man who is going to bring me presents and likes cookies? Really, what’s not to like? And I have to admit that I still wish he was real. It took me a long time to stop believing that good old Saint Nick wasn’t really flying around the world delivering presents to all the good little girls and boys because I really didn’t want to stop believing, I didn’t want it to be a lie. Believing in Santa was magical. Waking up one Christmas morning many years ago to find a Polaroid of the big guy in red sweetly watching over my sister and me as we slept was such a treat…and finding out that our neighbours had the same photo with the same Santa Clause caused so much excitement and only sealed the deal that he was certainly real. A few years after, I remember having a discussion with some friends, the great debate of Santa’s existence, and while most of us decided that it didn’t logically make sense, one friend, who wasn’t so well off, argued that there was no way her parents could afford all the presents she and her three siblings received each Christmas morning. Well, that was enough to convince me for at least another year that the Pere Noel really did exist.
This Christmas, I’m lucky enough to be celebrating with my two-year old and four-year old nephews who have been behaving extra well these last few months in the hopes that Santa and his reindeer will stop by and I cannot wait to see their faces come Christmas morning…Santa let me in on a little secret and I happen to know he’s bringing some pretty exciting gifts!

Did you believe in Santa? Do you want your children to?

how to quit your job

You can call it crazy and you can call it crass but you can’t deny that this girl is creative! According to the story, this gutsy young lady sent an interesting email to her coworkers. The email, containing 33 photos (see them here!) that tell a story, not only announces that she is quitting her job but also calls out her boss for, among other things, spending a ridiculous amount of time online on Farmville. While not something that I would ever dream of doing, I have to admit that I am slightly in awe of her aggressive resignation tactic!



I’ve had to quit a couple jobs in my life so far and I have to say that leaving every one of them, while for good reason, made me want to avoid eye contact and get it over with as quickly as possible. Quite the opposite of taking photos, sending an email and having a permanent reminder of my exit make its way around the internet. However, I’ve never had a boss whose disrespectful and embarrassing behaviour could overshadow any type of scene I could potentially make. Personally, I think this type of clever communication could be used to land you a job not to leave one. My job applications have always been formal and professional and I’ve envied those who’ve found creative ways to get noticed. However, when this witty woman goes to her next job interview, they won’t have to ask her reason for leaving – they’ll probably already have seen the proof.

UPDATE: It's not for real...but still funny!

Any other creative ways to quit? Or to get hired?
Should quitting a job become more than just handing in a letter of resignation?

sizzle boom bang

I often can’t decide how much I really like fireworks. I tend to “ooh” and “aah” as the beautiful colours sizzle and sparkle and light up the sky but I always come away just a little bit disappointed. There’s something about going to see fireworks that gets me excited…and maybe it’s just the idea of going out with something to celebrate, laying out on a blanket staring up at the dark sky. But when the fireworks are finished in a flash and I’m fighting traffic, I sometimes wonder why I even bothered to come in the first place. One thing I do know for sure is that I can never get a good photo of the fabulous pyrotechnic pulses that seem so artistically planned but chaotic at the same time. With Canada Day and the Fourth of July having just passed, I definitely should have written about this before the two days of celebration…but when holidays and extra days off work come around, I find it hard to buckle down to the computer! However, thanks to Jo-Anna of Bucci Photography who was thinking ahead, these 11 tips from Photojojo for capturing the sparklers in the sky will certainly help for future firework photo success.

simple smiles: leaps and bounds

I’m kinda a nerd when it comes to taking fun photos.
Okay, I’m a big nerd when it comes to taking fun photos. It’s one of those little things in life that really makes me smile. So when I got my wedding photos back last night I was thrilled with the way the photo below turned out.


Thanks to Jessica Balfour for the fabulous shot.

The bridal party was a tad skeptical…and who wouldn’t be? Can you please jump as high as you can in your cocktail dress or tuxedo so the bride can have a fun photo? Probably not ideal but it’s the kind of photo that I take in most (okay, all…) places I go. So when I stumbled upon this post from Hi + Low about Philippe Halsman’s recent photography exhibit, I was happy to know that I’m not alone. It makes me smile to know that someone else out there is taking photos of people jumping; a simple act that we do less and less of as we get older. I think it captures such an interesting moment, it really brings out a different side of the subject without them realizing what facial expression you may be capturing or where exactly their hands, legs, arms, or feet may be when the shooter snaps the shot. It may be silly but it’s something simple that I can’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

What makes you smile? Do you like doing silly things in photos?