Happy 90th Birthday!!

This portrait was scheduled around Daphne's 90th birthday, when her family came for the weekend to celebrate! It was a fun session from the moment they walked into the studio! They all have good humour, and the session was full of laughter. You could really see the connection between the family.

Below we have an itty-bitty, which are custom created to go with images from your session. When you look at the family image you can see in her face, how proud she is to have her sons, daughter-in-laws, grandchildren and great-granson here with her. My favorite though, is the one of Daphne laughing!

Time at the beach.

The Whites came in for their family portrait before their oldest was leaving for college, last summer. We always tell our client of the importance of doing family portraits of the family before it starts changing, you'll always value the image of the core family before it changes. The other thing is that in years to come, as children go their own ways, making it work for everyone is always harder, so this is something that they will value in years to come.

So enough talking.... here is a beautiful image from their session! They all look so relaxed, especially Dutchess, their beautiful dog.

We always encourage people who have dogs to include them in the portrait, they are definitely a part of your family and your life, so its important to have them in the portrait that is going to hang on your walls for years to come!

Family fun x 12!!

This family portrait is multi-generational, and it's wonderful! Everyone looks like they are enjoying themselves, and you can see the relationships they share!

Getting multi-generational portraits done is a great thing to do, as you can capture a moment in time with everyone in your family. They are something that becomes even more important in years to come, as the family changes, and you are able to look back and remember these times together!!

Everything is perfect from her head to her toes!

When Abygail came through the door, she didn't fail to impress. This little beauty gave us wonderful smiles, sweet baby noises and lots to 'ooh' and 'aah' at! She was just under 2 months here, and already had so much personality.


The image is incredible - it really captures the bond between a baby and their parents! She has locked eyes with daddy, and you can tell mom just loves to admire her little girl.

Family time at the beach

This family came in last year to have their 2 beautiful girls photographed for the kids book "Kids of the North Island - A portrait of a generation" and it was then that we learned they had been wanting to have family portraits done too. They had a lovely session down at Kye Bay and Jerry came back into the studio with so many amazing images from it. This is one of the images that I just love, it really shows the strong bond that they share.

10 little fingers and 10 little toes!!

I would like to introduce you to this precious little guy! He came in for his 1st baby plan session, and did not fail to impress. He was full of smiles, giggles and sweet baby coos. There were so many images to choose from, so I thought the best way to share them would be in this awesome storyboard panel that was created.



Storyboards are a great way to show multiple images from your session in one place and really do tell a story of the session! You'll get to see more of this little guy over the next year as he is part of our "baby plan" which he'll be in for a 3, 7 & 12 month session to capture his cuteness! At the end they'll leave with a baby panel which will have one image from each session, showing the changes over his 1st year.

Family Time

This multi-generational family portrait has so many wonderful things about it, first this image represents 3 generations, next the session was in the families yard, and that blue car - has attended most grad's and wedding's for the family.

It is so neat to see families who still all get together and get portraits done together. Family is always changing and growing, so it's wonderful to see this image with all of them together.

The next image is one of the smaller groupings, and is a beautiful portrait, everyone looks comfortable and you can tell they really enjoy eachother! We just had this one up at the homeshow, and everyone loved the little dog (which is one thing that we always encourage, if you have a family pet, bring them along!)

Let it rain... let it snow.

A little rain didn't stop these two!! Toward the end of their portrait session, they asked if they could get some fun ones with the umbrella, and are they ever great! Portraits are meant to be fun, to be a true representation of who 'you' are, and I think that this image really brings out the playfulness these 2 have with eachother.

Next we have an image from a session that was shot in December, remember, when we had all that snow! Well, the snow didn't dampen their spirts, and Jerry came back to the studio with all sorts of great images.

The images are incredible, and really capture what a beautiful place we live in, even when it snows!

Check us out...

Last night we had our 1st annual book release party for "Kids of the North Island - a portrait of a generation". Which is a kids book, that was created to help raise money for the Help Fill a Dream Foundation, and in 2008 together with over 80 families in the Comox Valley we raised $6125.00!

Tonight on Channel 12 at 6:30p.m. the event will be on the news, so if you have a chance, you should definitely check it out!

We are starting up the 2009 book now, so if you or someone you know would be interested give us a call. Nomination fee's are $50 per child, or $75 per family with more than one child.

"I'm 2"

When this little sweetie came in to pick up the images with her mom, she looks at me and say's "I'm 2". These are her portraist from her 2 year session. Jerry has had the opportunity to capture moments for this family for years!!




From all the images you know that this little one knows she is cute... here is one from the session that is a favorite!

Down by the river!

These beautiful portraits were taken near the river, and what a wonderful background it is! You can tell by the images that the family is comfortable together, enjoys eachother and values their time together.

The storyboard panels are a very popular way to display more than one image from your session in one place, the parents, the kids, the family. It turned out beautifully!

Family Time

After shooting, Jerry came back into the studio and told us about the little white dog being a 'posing machine', and really worked the camera the whole time! How fun is that?!

This portrait was taken at Stotan Falls in Courtenay, what a beautiful place, the colors are amazing!

And We're Back!

Our studio is open again, and it feels great to be back!!

If you are interested in family portraits, please give us a call so we can help you create lasting images for you and your family.

Wishing you a Happy 2009!

Wow, 2009!! It is hard to believe that it is here - and already 2 weeks have passed.

All of us here at Van's would like to wish you a Happy New Year and wish you all the best in 2009!


Our studio will be closed until February 17th, and then we'll be back and ready to go! If you are thinking of getting family portraits this year, and are thinking that spring would be the best time - definitely give us a call, leave a message and we'll call you back once we are back in the office to start planning your portrait session.

Precious moments...

Precious moments like this can not be replaced, you get to enjoy these moments just once! What a great way to remember them! When looking at each image you can see the joy and excitement this little baby has brought the new mom and dad! What a wonderful feeling, what a wonderful moment!

These panels are a great way to display several images in one place - it helps tell the story of what happened that day!