It's all about family.

One of the number one things I remember learning when I was growing up and listening to successful people in various fields was that their number 1 regret was not spending time with their children when they were young.  This made a great impression on me in my youth and though it was not popular with most boy's, I always dreamed of having a family.  This was a strong instinct for me for a long time, though I will admit there was a stint when I thought it would not happen and it was less important.  Eventually this passed and I was fortunate to meet the woman who would become my wife and the mother of my two boy's.

Prior to Cool and Luke being born and before I was married I had immersed myself in photography and basically lived and breathed it 24/7.  This changed when these two fine young people entered my life and today I am proud to say I am a father who is fortunate to have a career (photography) that has allowed me to have an active role in their lives. So the last few days have been very busy with a variety of events as the school year winds down.  It has made it a challenge for my photo of the day as all of the day has been dedicated to them.  Still I managed and the photo's from the last few day's feature my boys.

So on this father's day I pay tribute to the two special fellas that have so enriched my life and make me one proud Papa.

June 13  Cool preformed in his school production of 101 Dalmatians.  It was not a featured role but he played his part with zeal and enthusiasm as one of the dalmatian puppies.  He had a couple of lines but sang a number of songs.  I shot these with my Canon 7D and the 70-200 lens using the available stage lighting.

June 14 was a busy day cleaning the house and yard in preparation for the family coming over to celebrate the boy's birthday on Sunday.  As the day wound down I was in need of a photo and so I chose a Knickknack of the shelf, a crystal candle holder.  Using a white sheet of paper for the background and the iPhone I recorded this image which I think works very well.

June 15  Cool had another performance, this time at a recital for his piano at Steinway of Calgary.  There were about 40 other youngsters and though he was nervous he played beautifully.  A couple of the other parents commented afterwards that he looked so confident in front of everyone.

June 16  Father's Day.  Both Cool and Luke have birthday's later this week as there is just three days difference between their dates.  Thus we always have the family get together and celebrate both on the same day.  Those of you are parents know the preparation that goes into such a gathering.  I shot a few photo's but decided to share this as the photo for today.

I want to close with a couple photo's of Luke as I have featured Cool a fair amount.  These photo's are from earlier in the week.  On Tuesday his grade 1 class had a field trip to Boston Pizza as a reward for being so well behaved for the entire school year.  They each had the chance to make their own pizza and here is look preparing his cheese pizza.

Luke loves the water and can soak in the bath for close to an hour.  Very often he will call and ask me to take his photo.  I shot this one with the iPhone as he looked so cute and calm in the water.