Housestories

06/04/2023

Some moments can only happen on a living room couch

03/04/2023

What makes a place beautiful?
If it makes us feel safe. If it makes us feel loved. If we can sink into it. If we miss it when it’s gone. Beauty isn’t just a place, it’s a time, a memory, a Sunday morning, a Wednesday evening, a last hug before bed, the first light of morning.

14/03/2023

I was recently thinking about how cool it would be to have a photo of every set of keys I’ve had throughout my life. This would include my first set of car keys, with a bike key and a little toy tiger key chain attached, eventually it would include my first set of house keys, a different keychain, keys to sheds, keys to work, keys to all the different places in my life. The keys in your pocket are always changing, always evolving. Keys are just keys, functional little objects, but how fascinating would it be to go back and see your life change through the lens of something so ordinary? Of course past keys are long gone, and the story they share will never be told, same with the story of every pair of shoes I’ve worn, every book I’ve read, every blanket I had from a baby to now, or every toothbrush I’ve ever owned.

There are so many different ways to tell the story of a life, of a person, of a family. There are countless stories sitting in your home right now, and how wonderful would it be to capture some of them before they fade into the past.

What is a story from your life that you would love to have captured?

10/03/2023

There are things we leave behind, and things that we keep, things we remember, and things we forget.
This might be my favorite gallery wall that I’ve photographed. When Kierstin (of ) and her partner Bart bought their 1950’s house, they found each of these items left behind. Each of these artifacts is a remnant of another lifetime. All of these things were once part of somebody’s life, maybe not deeply sentimental, but perhaps symbols of everyday moments, and I love that now, in their own way, they are part of new life.

06/03/2023

Homes are full of hello’s and goodbye’s. Later this week we’re going to be tearing down our garage to make way for a new garage suite, and so I’m saying bye to my humble little workbench. It’s not clean, and it’s not fancy, but it’s the first workbench I’ve had, and it’s a place that I could easily spend hours, whether I’m making something useful or just putting things together and seeing what happens. Eventually I will get to build a new workbench in its place (perhaps a better organized one), and I can’t wait to see what new things will come out of it.

27/02/2023

You might be tempted to think that Housestories is about photographing homes, and you’d be partially right. You might also be tempted to think that Housestories is about photographing families, and you’d be even more right. Mostly however, Housestories is about capturing the things that are here today, but won’t be here tomorrow - the quiet moments that live in our everyday, the little things we love but probably take for granted, the things we’ll someday miss, the things that seem to go by all too quickly.

06/02/2023

Often change happens so slowly that you don’t even notice it. Sometimes change happens quickly, and I’m reminded of why I started Housestories in the first place - because fast or slow, better or worse, life is always changing.

Next week my wife and I will be welcoming our third child to our family. I have no idea what our home is going to look like after that day, but I know that it will be exciting, chaotic, sleepless, and loving, and completely different.

01/02/2023

This is a long overdue post of a shoot and interview I did with Kierstin Smyth of

This 1950’s Edmonton home has a ton of character, and Kierstin (as always) did an amazing job with her renovations and decorating. Click the link below to see more.

Edmonton based interior designer Kierstin Smyth ( Kierstin Smyth Design ) helps people turn their homes into places that they love waking up in. I’ve had the opportunity to photograph a number of Kierstin’s projects, and they’re always some of my favourite shoots. I recently joined Kierstin in...

30/11/2022

For the last two years I have been offering mini Christmas shoots in support of the

The shoots are about 30min shoots are $185, with a portion going directly to the Boyle Street Centre. They are typically done at your home, and include portraits of your family, as well as some of the little details that makes your home warm and festive during the holidays.

If you would like to support the local in-need community and have some beautiful photos that capture the magic of your home during the Christmas season, send me a message and we can organize a time. These are available throughout December.

22/11/2022

If you haven’t heard much from me lately, it’s because I was working with doing school photos for the last few months. This involved a lot of early mornings, a lot of setting up lights and equipment in school gymnasiums, and of course a lot of photographing students - from little tiny ones at the very beginning of their school journey, to much bigger ones with their entire childhood in the rear view.

I’ve photographed hundreds of children throughout my career, but here I was photographing hundreds of kids each and every day. With each student, I wanted to capture the beautiful spark of who they are, but I had to accept pretty quickly that this was not always possible with just the minute or two I had (though that never stopped me from trying). I know as well as anyone that it isn’t always easy being in front of a camera, but I hope that I was at least able to offer a glimpse who they are, and give them something special to look back on.

Now that the school photo season has come to an end, I'm excited to jump back into Housestories, writing children's books (I'm also a published author), and being around in the mornings to make breakfast for my wife and kids.

28/07/2022

I had a couple of great helpers at a shoot I did recently at the Highlands location.

Thanks Maddy & Jasper for all your hard work as ice cream models 🍦🍦

14/06/2022

As you know, I’ve started a project this summer called Roots & Branches, where I explore the beautiful friendship between children and their grandparents. As grandparents age and children grow up, the moments they’ve had together will be sone of their best memories.

I’m currently offering a small number Roots & Branches shoots in the Edmonton area at special rate throughout the summer. If you have kids who absolutely love their grandparents, I would love to capture that relationship for them. Send me a message and I’ll let you know all the details.