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Rachel Ludwig Photography | Abbotsford Portrait and Wedding Photographer bio picture

Welcome to Rachel Ludwig Photography!

Come on in, grab a cup of coffee (or in my case, that would be a non-fat, sugar-free vanilla, earl grey tea misto) and take a browse through my site. This is where I share images from recent sessions, post updates about Rachel Ludwig Photography, and sometimes I even sneak in a few pictures of my own family.

Want to know a little bit more about me? I've been married to my husband Tim for 11 years, and we have three loud, crazy and fun kids: Ethan (7), Arden (3) and Hudson (1). I also love to take pictures. I'm a lifestyle portrait and wedding photographer based in Abbotsford, BC and I photograph a little bit of everything, including babies, bellies, families, engagements, boudoir and weddings.

Oh....and don't be shy! You can leave a comment, pop me an email or use the contact form at any time. I promise I don't bite. :) I'd love to hear from you!

(Photo byTraci at Real Photography.)

Monthly Archives: September 2008

Langley Portrait Session | Gale & Ron, Margeaux, TC and Ace

I loved that Gale & Ron’s son Chris purchased a gift certificate for a portrait session for his parents last Christmas. It took us a bit to find a date that worked with our schedules, but it was certainly worth the wait! Gale & Ron are avid horse-riders, and spend many an evening and weekend riding at Campbell Valley Park, so they chose this location for their session with their two horses and their dog. It was a beautiful evening to stroll through the park, and I truly enjoyed getting to know not only Gale & Ron, but also the gentle souls of their horses and their feisty dog Ace.

Ron made a comment that the animals must’ve added a bit of challenge to the session, but I’d have to say that they were much easier to photograph than my two year old! :) So for any existing or potential clients, please don’t hesitate to ask about including your furry family members in your photo session.

One of my favorite images…I just love how the light created such lovely shadows:

This barn added such a great burst of color, and happened to match Ron’s shirt perfectly!:

It took a bit of convincing Ace to go for these shots (he knew I wasn’t his boss!), but it was well worth the coaxing:

Ron rides Western:

And Gale rides English:

One very blinged-out Margeaux. I loved this fly mask!

Ace loving being able to roam:

Enjoy the sneak peek Gale & Ron…I hope to be in touch with your slideshow before the baby makes his/her appearance! :)

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Langley Wedding | Darlene & Larry

I thought I’d share a quick sneak peek of some of my very favorite images from Darlene & Larry’s wedding from last weekend. Darlene had to go back to school today, so I hope this helps cheer her up. :)

I really wanted to share these to show what troopers they were. Neither of them so much as blinked when I asked them to lie down in this patch of dried grass right besides a busy intersection. And even after discovering that tiny pieces of said grass were stuck in Dar’s veil and hair, she was still totally cool with it all and totally trusted me. Thanks so much for being so accommodating to my crazy requests, I think the resulting images were worth it. Thanks for such a fun day, I truly enjoyed being a part of your wedding!

I hope the two of you had a few wonderful and relaxing days away before getting back into the grind. Enjoy your sneak peek, and I’ll be back soon with some more images to share here.

(and yes, I’m still playing around with some vintage post processing, but I’ll have some of my standard color and B&W in my next more detailed sneak peek.)

The beautiful couple:

I can’t get over how incredibly beautiful and serene she looks here:

A shoe shot I’ve been wanting to do forever! I was so glad that the wedding party came along with black socks and the right shoes for Larry so we could grab this shot at this location:

hmmm mmmm mmm. love this shot:

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Abbotsford Family Session | Kelly & Jason, Adysen and Presley

Kelly and Jason along with their adorable two girls (and their dog, who somehow missed out on all the pictures!) came out from the North Shore for a photosession here in Abbotsford. Such a wonderful family…and a good looking one to boot! Kelly tried to tell me she wasn’t photogenic, but I have to say that I totally disagree. :)

One of my favorite parts about my job is being able to meet and connect with people. And this family was no exception. I love it when I discover things that we have in common (ie that we like a lot of the same books) or that our daughters are super close in age, and happen to have the same boots, or that they too have dealt with speech therapy. The list could go on, but I’m always a little sad to say good-bye at the end of a session!

A few favorites:

Four year old Adysen, just so cute and sweet, and totally into pictures!

Both of these girls have the most amazing eyes:

I couldn’t resist posting this. A little blurry, but just such a capture of a two year old (who happens to be just two days older than my daughter…and I found so many similarities between the two of them, especially their hair!)

Big baby blues…so adorable.

Some rabbit ears fashioned from grass…I’m all about incorporating play into the session so they don’t get bored with the pictures…and it usually results in some of my favorite images! Notice them giggling? I never quite want to know what the parents are doing behind my back to get the kids’ attention, but I’m glad when it works! :)

I think this has to be one of my favorites from the shoot. Love how it captures their ages and personalities so well.

I love love love it when I say…”you wanna?” and they start running for the ice-cream truck. It didn’t matter that none of us had money to actually BUY anything (and if this had been my kids, full meltdown would’ve ensued once they realized no icecream would be forthcoming! But the girls thought it was fun, fortunately), and I think the driver got a bit of a kick out of the fact that we were taking pictures of his truck.

A big thanks to my friends Julie & Dion from RossDown Farms who happen to live just up the road from us, and have these fabulous old barns that they let me use for this session. I felt so bad for Presley who has a super super sensitive nose (like me!) and was having a tough time with the chicken smell.

The girls thought it was pretty funny that mommy and daddy were kissing. I can’t help but giggle when I see this picture:

Some more lovin’ (told ya Kelly is photogenic…don’t they both look amazing here?)

And then I happened to look over and saw this. hahaha! I could barely stop laughing to grab this shot. Monkey see, monkey do, right? :)

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A little bit of this and a little bit of that

This is a bit of this and that kind of post…the first days of school, momentous teeth occasions, and the last few days of summer all documented with a few photos (and lots of jabbering from me, which you are most welcome to ignore. I can get a little verbose when it comes to my kiddos!).

It’s been a super busy few weeks as I’m wrapping up my final shoots before my maternity leave. Today I did a commercial shoot for Vanderpol’s Eggs, tomorrow is my last (but certainly not least!) wedding of the season for Darlene & Larry, and on Monday I’m going to be doing a shoot involving some horses and their owners at Campbell Valley Park. Add into that portrait orders, assembling albums, answering emails, lots of editing, and more…it’s been busy. But I’m loving (almost!) every moment of it, and I know I’m going to miss it when I’m in the middle of kid and babyland in the next few months.

Amidst the busy-ness, I still try to take the time to pull out my camera to capture my family and the every day stuff that happens around here. Sometimes I go into photo session mode trying to get the ‘perfect’ shot, but I usually try to let the perfectionist side of me go and just grab some fun shots. That in the end turn out to be perfect in their own way because they capture a slice of our life.

So here’s a few from my son Ethan’s first day of school, losing his top two front teeth, and an afternoon spent outside with Arden picking blackberries and lounging on the grass.

First day of Grade 1 (where did my little boy go??). A little apprehensive, but excited too…he settled right in when he found the place to hang his backpack and his desk all set up with a little project to start the day:

From the first day of school too. He had just lost one of his very very loose top teeth, and after the blood and tears were over, he was pretty darn proud of it (and mom was excited that he was going to have a missing tooth for his Grade One school pictures!).

The second one was just hanging there by a thread, so we finally convinced him it needed a little more encouragement to come out. Let’s just say he was excited after it was out. Most certainly not during what he deemed to be a harrowing dental procedure.

We’ve been enjoying the nice weather the last few days…I’d be quite happy if the warmth and sunshine continued all the way until October (even though my swollen feet might not be so keen on that idea)! So Arden and I headed outside to see if we can find a few blackberries. Yum!

“Six for me, one for you mom! Hey, stop taking my picture and eat! Eat, eat EAT Mom!” (ok, that was a translation of what she would be saying if she was fully verbal at this point, which she’s not yet, but the Eat, eat EAT part was! LOL). And yes, it’s quite common for her to be this dirty…she just happens to be a total dirt magnet.

This girl pulls the craziest faces. She was having fun trying to run away from me as I tried to keep her close with my feet and snap a few shots. She thinks exercises like these are a ton of fun, and they generally result in about 47 blurry shots, and one keeper. And the one keeper was most definitely worth it, as was hearing the giggles that resulted from our little game. (oh, and those are blackberry seeds in her teeth, not cavities or fillings!)

I’ll be back next week with some sneak peeks. Stay tuned!

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Aldergrove Couple Session | Michelle & James and Bailey

I love it when people contact me to book a session ‘just because’. Just because they want to capture where they are in their lives right now. Just because they want some fresh pictures on the wall. Just because they want to have some pictures taken for the heck of it! This is why Michelle contacted me, and I love these type of sessions. They were super laid back and up for just about anything…and most of my clients know I will ask for a lot! Michelle & James weren’t shy at all and didn’t say no to any of my crazy requests and it resulted in some amazing images.

So much fun to capture this little family just as they are right now. Michelle & James decided to bring along their adorable little dog Bailey, and she sure added some spice (and a few minor challenges, although, nothing a lot of treats couldn’t handle!) to the session.There’s nothing quite so fun for a photographer as finding new locations. As Michelle and James had just moved to Aldergrove, we decided to tromp around the town and we discovered some great spots. Thanks so much for a fun evening you two!

** Observant readers might notice some changes to the pictures being posted here. It’s all part of my ongoing re-branding process. Let me know what you think!

Just a little bit of spice :)

I’ve been dying to do a shot like this for ages, and every shoot I seem to forget (can you say pregnancy brain??). Thank goodness I didn’t forget this time around…one of my favorites from this session:

My clients and regular blog readers probably know I have a small addiction to feet shots. And with a cute little dog? So fun!

I have been eying this little bus stop for years and years. Perfect punch of color and some fab graffiti. Music is fun you know! ha! :)

Welcome to your new town!

Shortly before this session, Michelle and James went on a family trip to Europe, and hit up several countries including each of their ancestral homes: Croatia and Holland. Of course they had to bring home some souvenirs that showed their soccer rivalry. :)

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Chilliwack Family Session | Kim & Clarke, Heather, Nicole and Jenna

I worked with Clarke for quite a few years, and one Christmas party as I started talking to his wife Kim we realized we both had a love for photography. We hit it off and have been friends every since. Kim was much further into her photography journey than I was, and she has been a great mentor to me and taught me so much in the process. I have never been able to thank Kim enough for her willingness to teach me and share her wealth of knowledge, plus she also took some gorgeous pics for me during my last pregnancy and of baby #2.I was so happy when I had the chance to repay some of her kindess and generosity by doing a family session for Kim and her family.

Kim wanted an urban setting for their images, so we had lots of fun tromping around some not so glamorous places in downton Abbotsford (and let me tell you, I’m glad Clarke is a big tough guy, cuz there’s no way I would’ve ventured there without someone like him along to watch our backs!).

So here are more than a few of my favorites…I had such a hard time narrowing them down!

Their girls are not only beautiful, but so much fun too. Nicole (the middle daughter) was being super goofy and quickly got the other two into the act as well…I loved it!

It’s so much fun playing with shadows:

I’m thinking she was whispering some spicy little nothings…apparently Clarke was liking what he was hearing :)

And finding a shopping cart at my favorite blue wall? So perfect, and they were totally game:

Clarke is more than a little outnumbered in his household…their way of telling him how much they appreciate him putting up with all the girly stuff!

I couldn’t resist this picture…love how just seeing it makes me feel happy!

And I know I’ve shared a ton of pictures from this shoot, but I just have to share this one, one of my faves of the three girls, aka Charlie’s Angels :)

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