B2 Photography | Winnipeg, MB

There are no words to describe how much I adore these three little girls.  Every time I leave a shoot with them I wish I was 7 again, and if I was i’m pretty sure we would be fast friends!  Today’s shoot was out of this world, and this is just an itty bitty peak into the magic that happened.

The firecracker…Natalie

Sweet, sweet Myla

The littlest princess, Emily

Thank-you girls for letting me into your world!  I treasure all the time I get spend with you, documenting your special sisterly bond

xoxo

B

Well it wasn’t exactly a parade, but it was a very special photo shoot for this young lady’s 15th birthday!  Thankfully the rain only kept us inside for a little while.  Stay tuned for more!!

This weekend, my gal pal Erika and I planned to go out and take some photos.  Chris, aka my husband, aka Radtke Studios just got a new camera so he decided to come along and get some video footage too, so it turned into a fun outing for a whole bunch of us.  At one point in the day I was taking pictures of Erika and Chris was beside her filming and she looks at his camera and says “this is where it all started….” and right she was…it all started with a camera, a roll of film and me and Erika in a field somewhere.

My very first job was at IGA in Winkler working in the photo lab and lucky for me working in the lab got me great discounts on cameras.   One day I decided “I should buy a camera, me and Erika could have some serious fun with one” so in 2001 I bought my first SLR film camera!  As soon as I got it Erika and I bought a couple rolls of film and went out on our first little photo-shoot.  I dropped the photos off at the lab and when I got to work the next week the girl who printed my photos asked me to take her wedding pictures!  I had shot 2 rolls of film and this girl trusted me to take her wedding photos…perhaps she was crazy…and perhaps I was too for saying yes….but I did and the rest is history.

In the beginning years, I would study Seventeen magazines looking for inspiration in ads and editorials.  Then I would drag Erika out with me and we’d spend a whole day practicing, learning about composition and taking two rolls of film and hording those frames for the best shots we could come up with.  Then we’d develop those pictures, critique them and find all the things we needed to improve on…..”we need to really start getting closer, filling up the whole frame”….and then the next shoot we’d concentrate on close ups.  Things were so different when you were limited to only as many frames as the film could hold.  We took so much care setting up each shot and it really taught us so much about getting a great shot!  Years later we still love going on those self-indulgent photoshoots where we spend hours together taking pictures of each other and get giddy about finding beautiful light or capturing the shot.

More to come of Erika but here’s just one that I luuuuuve.

Thanks to my uber talented husband Erika and I now have a memory of how crazy we look while we’re taking pictures of each other.  In all seriousness, I LOVE this video, it really does capture how much fun me and Erika have on our little outings.  I wouldn’t trade the memories I have of our little outings for anything!   I love our photo dates so much!!

You’ll notice a few extra faces in the video….keep your eyes open for guest appearances by Erika’s brother Carl and her fiance Malcolm.  AND if you watch really closely you might catch a reflection of Chris somewhere too!  Oh ya….and there was also a gopher or some kind of wildlife! lol.

All you brides that haven’t booked a videographer yet, what are you waiting for?  Don’t you want a whole bunch of fun little movies like this of your wedding day?!  Head on over to Radtke Studios and tell Chris his wife sent you

Today I got a big yellow envelope in the mail, I was SO excited!  I LOVE getting mail.  I looked at the printing on the envelope an thought to myself “I know this printing!”  And I knew it was Hutch even before I opened it, because that’s just like her…sending packages in the mail….she does special things like that.  One time she bribed me to come to Church on a Wednesday night when I would have rather just stayed home…she said to me “maybe you’ll meet you’re future husband tonight, and i’m leaving you a surprise in the bathroom cupboard” and sure enough, I did meet my future husband that night and she did leave me a surprise.  It was the most special card….with a picture of me and John Mayer on the cover, and the inside was filled with little tidbits about how special our friendship was.

Hutch is the sweetest and most kind girl you will ever meet.  Kinda of shy at first, but not shy at all when you get to know her!  She’s always up for chicken fingers at Grapes or pizza at Pasquales, she will travel anywhere to see a good concert (namely Justin Timberlake or John Mayer), she will go crazy if she eats McDonalds or has Caffeine, she’s okay with turning the heat to MAX in a hotel room, she is dedicated to any activities she joins (especially swim teams!) and she can dress in layers like nobody’s business!  Hutch is the kind of friend who is ALWAYS there for you, will always listen to you vent and is always thinking of others!

So….what was in that big yellow envelope?  Rolling Stone Magazine.  And not just any Rolling Stone Magazine, the very hard to find in Winnipeg Rolling Stone with John Mayer on the cover.  It made my day!!  Hutch, JM and I go waay back.  On Saturday I asked Hutch to type out the Rolling Stone article so I could read it all (lol), I guess she figured getting me my own copy was easier

This past Saturday when it was very stormy outside, Hutch and I found shelter inside the Millennium Library and we took some photos and chatted over drinks and snacks.  Here’s the first bit of our fun shoot!

I’m not sure I was was alone in this, but as a kid I loved going back to school….even as I got older and was in university…still loved going back to school.  My favorite part was all the new supplies!  There’s nothing like a brand new eraser or new highlighters or fun post-it notes!  I still envy kids at back to school time because I would love to be the one getting to walk through the aisles of Staples picking out new stuff!  Apart from the supplied another thing I love about back to school is the tradition I have with these three girls.  We’ve been doing back to school shoots since before the youngest was even in school!  And this year the oldest will graduate!  So I thought we may as well go to the laundromat to show her how she’ll be washing her clothes when she hits the real world! Lol, just kidding Ashton

As always it was a pleasure to spend time with you beautiful girls!!

Once upon a time, back in my previous life as a figure skater, a very special woman entered me and my family’s lives.  I was probably about 10 when Shelley started coaching me and little did I know then that she wasn’t going to be just a coach but another member to my family.  When Shelley first enetered our lives she had one daughter who would often play in my parents basement while we were at the skating rink.  I remember vividly, coming home to find Alyx still playing away and her mom telling her it was time to clean up….then they would sing “the clean up song” together and put all the toys away….because that’s what Shelley does, she makes the most mundane things special.  I have learned so much from her, and not just how to do a mean double lutz, but lessons about life, love and family.  I have so many letters, notes and cards saved that Shelley wrote me over the years and they still bring tears to my eyes.  She has a way of using words like noone else does, she has the gift of encouragement and does such an amazing job using that gift.  If you haven’t gotten the picture already, I love love love this woman!  

Years later, i’m not a figure skater anymore, but Shelley is just as important in my life as when I was.  Today Shelley has three beautiful daughters, Alyx, Kenzie and Danika….they are the most polite, kind, happy and talkative girls.  I loved getting to spend time with them this week,the relationships between sisters are so special!  Our time shooting was very short….we got rained out at TinkerTown after about 10 pictures, but the evening was still pretty special just visiting over ice cream.  

Bright and early tomorrow Alyx leaves for her second tour with Disney on Ice and her family and so many others will miss her like crazy!  Alyx you’ve grown up so much since the little 3 year old that used to play in our basement….i’m so proud of you for living your dream!! I can’t wait until the show comes to Winnipeg….i’m guessing that i’ll be fighting for front row with the hoards of other people who love you so much!!

Had a super fun photoshoot this evening with the Sapphires Gymnastics Club.  MUCH more to come next week….because as of tomorrow I’m on HOLIDAYS!

Thank you to Tracy for enhancing the girls beauty, thank you to Kara for being such an amazing girl to shoot along side of, thank you to Sonya and Joelle for being such amazing subjects to photograph (you were such troopers lasting the whole day!), thank you to Jen and Ben for letting us take your car, it made it feel like we really were on a road trip and thank you to Dennis the snow cone guy who was randomly on the highway on our path.

Choosing a few pics to blog tonight was SO HARD, but I know i’ll get a chance to share many more, so I closed my eyes and picked 3 (well not quite).  Here are a few i’m lovin’.

This weekend the sun finally shone so I head out with Amber for a fun anytime session.  I was a little scared about the weather because even though the sun was shining it was not too warm outside!  Thankfully by the time we went out it had warmed up some.  This was her first time in front of the camera for something like this and she was a total natural!!  She really is always just as happy as she looks in the photos.  She has one of those bright and cheery personalities that you can’t help but love this girl!  We had so much fun and i’m already thinking about where we can go for our next fun day out together!   P.S….this is going to be a long one!  If you make it all the way to the bottom, thanks lol.