Me :)

About Justine Russo

Avid reader and wine drinker. I have a deep appreciation of Harry Potter, chocolate and the colour purple.My favourite pasttime is coffee with a good friend and I LOVE to cook. Both my hubby and I are the oldest in our families so our stubborness with a touch of control issues comes out daily....but our goofiness and long cuddle sessions while watching one of our MANY TV shows keeps us smiling. My son is the busiest thing in my life and by far the most energetic little person I have ever been blessed to know.

Our last few weeks…

May 20th, 2012

Our last few weeks have been INSANE. As in I can’t remember the last time there was a blank calendar date. It’s been nuts!! Thank goodness this weekend I blocked off a few months back as a no work weekend so I have had a chance to breath, relax and look forward to some visiting, and a bbq!

Here’s a few pictures of our last few weeks…starting with our latest visit to Kelowna….

We spent Mothers Day going for a walk along the Vedder River, and then for dinner at my Moms

Man I love where we live.

I love this next one so much….growing up we used to go for walks along the Vedder River with my Papa, he would always bring rocks home to put along his garden, or randomly around the house. I, at 8 years old would pick the sparkliest rock I could find, while I thought it was so boring how my Papa always picked the smooth rounded ones. My Papa passed away when I was in Grade 5 and I always find myself looking for smooth rounded rocks whenever we are at the river.

My all time most favourite flower ever….it smells sooooooo goooooooooood.

This morning, my brother in law came over to visit for the weekend and we headed out to the Othello Tunnels for a walk. I had never been there before and LOVED It!

Had to take this one at ISO 6400 it was SO dark even 6 feet into the tunnel. In the middle it was too dark to even see where you were going.

Why I love where I live!

Happy long weekend! :)

Posted in Our family, Personal | No Comments »

Mark and Rianna: Kelowna Engagement Sneak Peek

May 18th, 2012

These two are the most fun ever!!! They are getting married this Fall in Vancouver but had their hearts set on their engagement session on his parents property in Winfield! I met them there last night and we spent almost two hours driving around the gorrrrgeous property getting some shots! Rianna is the bubbliest, most fun person I think I have ever met, and Mark is so easy to talk to and so down to earth!

They had a good laugh at me during the session at all my giggles, fist pumps, and happy dances…it was the craziest, most amazing, weirdest lighting I have EVER seen EVER!

Here’s a sneak peek of their session!

Posted in Engagement, Kelowna, Sneak Peek | No Comments »

Aaron and Chelsey: Kelowna Engagement Sneak Peek!

May 18th, 2012

I LOVE these two!!!! Marco and I have been good friends with them for a few years now and I was ecstatic last year when Chelsey left me a voicemail saying she had a “referral” for me! She then left their names, and it took my brain a second to register it was them!!!

We met at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf Course in Kelowna and had the most gorgeous sunset to work with!! :)

Here’s a sneak peek of their session on Tuesday!

Posted in Engagement, Kelowna, Sneak Peek | No Comments »

PASS and no more discs!

May 17th, 2012

I have had lots of people asking about PASS and my decision to switch over to it and get rid of discs completely so I thought I would write it out in one spot to make it easier!

I understand that it’s hard to not receive something tangible from your session/wedding but I am working on something to supplement that! Trust me though, PASS beats discs in every single area they are compared!

PASS is an online image storing and sharing program that stores the images in an online cloud. This means that you can share, view and download your images from ANY computer ANYWHERE, EVER. It also stores your images online for ONE YEAR with the option to upgrade to 5 years or continue paying an annual fee of $30 to keep your images stored online….which means in case of a fire, or computer crash, your photos are safe!

From my end, once I am done editing your session, I immediately upload your images into your personal PASS gallery. This gets you your images about a week quicker than with a disc….it is saving me time in the burning of the disc, the packaging of the disc, the drive down to the post office, and the time it takes to get to you! It’s also eliminating the few scratched, or broken discs that would sometimes arrive in the mail!

Once they are up on PASS, I send you an email with directions on how to download your gallery to your desktop! This is a TWO step process! I am going to show my Grandma how to do it so she can see and download pictures of her grandson! If she can do it, anyone can!

Once you have downloaded your gallery, you simply log in with either your facebook account or email address and you’re in! From here you can download the images to your desktop, flag your favourites for me if you have ordered prints, canvases or an album, and upload them directly into a facebook album!

My favourite part?! There is an iphone and ipad app! Meaning you can login to and view your images wherever you go! Just last week I went out for lunch with some relatives, and I was able to bring up my PASS app on my iphone and show them some recent pictures of my son without having to go into facebook, or bring my laptop and insert a disc!

My other favourite part is for weddings….if the bride and groom supply me with all the necessary email addresses, I can add family, friends and the wedding party to the gallery so they can download the images they want as well! This takes so much pressure off the bride and groom! I don’t think my wedding party ever even got to see all of our wedding photos, let alone get copies! This is an easy way to share the photos with them, allowing them to download the ones they want, and have some printed for themselves!

And last but not least, with PASS being so new they are constantly adding cool new features, and upgrading the software to make sure it’s always working perfectly! (hmmm sounds like I work for them hey?! haha nope I just love it that much!!)

If anyone has any questions before or after their session on PASS and how your gallery will work don’t hesitate to ask! I am more than willing to walk you through the two step download process once your session is uploaded!

Posted in Photographers, Photography | 2 Comments »

being nice.

May 16th, 2012

“Whatever happened to just being nice?”

I say this to Marco more times than I can count. What did happen?

Today while driving on the highway there was construction…(urgh it’s that time of year!)…and I let at the car infront of me merge in. No wave. Nothing. Not even a one flick wave. nada. What happened to waving a thank you to the person behind you who let you in?

Yesterday while shopping for sunglasses for Luca, I overheard two moms out shopping with their kids, gossiping (LOUDLY) about this poor lady at their church. I won’t go into all the details (which they talked about in length for the entire store to hear), but from the gist of it this woman had gone through a terrible event in her life and these two were bashing about how she should have gotten over it already, and how it was going to take her forever to lose those few extra pounds she had gained while in the process of dealing with the situation. Whatever happened to not judging others? Especially when in times of distress….when they need our support the most?!

Last week while grocery shopping I saw a mother with her three young children coming out of the store with numerous heavy bags in her arms, while trying to keep her kids close. The man ahead of her, opens the door, and just lets it go. Just like that. It slammed in her face. What happened to checking behind you before leaving a buidling to make sure no one was right behind you…especially someone like this mom who looked like she needed a break!

It’s my biggest pet peeve in life. That some people aren’t able to bite their tongues, take that extra few minutes of their time, make that small gesture and just be nice. You never know, your nice action today could be remembered and passed along to someone else. Why not go out of your way to be nice to others?

It’s the biggest reason why I LOVE our move to Chilliwack so much. Chilliwack still has that small town vibe…just last week while walking to the mailbox (which is ONE block away) I passed EIGHT people, yes 8. Out for a walk, walking their dogs, out with their kids. And EVERY SINGLE PERSON said hello, two even started a conversation. I just love that small town, happy, simpler way of life. That sit on your back patio starting at the trees and mountains kind of feel. That feeling that everyone is your neigbour…that feeling that you can leave your front door unlocked (okay maybe not, I watch too much Criminal Minds to ever do that!!!)

So maybe I am old fashioned, maybe I am a bit cheesy, but I honestly believe that being nice to others is one of the best things you can do. Going out of your way to make anothers life happier, fuller, more meaningful. Personally, I would much rather be remembered by that Mom as the nice man who opened the door for me and  helped me carry my bags to the car, than the jerk who slammed the door in my face…

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

| Next Page »
 

  • Recent Posts

    • All Images Copyright Justine Russo | Blog Theme Created by LJP & SLR Lounge