Following instructions from the internet, we tried to attract its mother, but sadly, she didn't return. We took it in and cared for it as we tried to find it a more suitable home.

I've never seen a baby squirrel, ever! Not only was it adorable, but it was also friendly, and had a personality that I kind of never even thought of squirrels as having. Oh, and they are really 'grippy'! I see squirrels scaling trees easily but you don't get a real sense of how incredible and effortless their grip is! "Little Twig" stuck to us like velcro as he climbed up our shirts and into our hoodies looking for a warm bed.

I'm a Montreal photographer who specializes in weddings and lifestyle family and newborns. A different kind of newborn photo shoot, but I couldn't help myself! Being so big on personality, and so cute when sleeping, I decided to give Little Twig his very own spotlight in front of the camera.

I've always had an interest and fascination with people and behavior (evident due to my Psychology degree!) so working with personal events (weddings, family) was more interesting to me than commercial or product work where elements are highly stylized and scripted. The "realness" of real events and relationships captured in photographs appeals to me on a very human level, and I get to explore that through this career path.

Fresh with a degree in Psychology out of University, I started to work in the marketing sector and built a career in the area of loyalty marketing. After joining a small creative agency, I was involved in managing web projects and that included searching for relevant stock photography. This sparked my interest and I started to experiment at home on my own with a small point-and-shoot camera, eventually submitting a small portfolio to microstock agencies.

When my husband gifted me a DSLR camera for my birthday in 2008, I enrolled in a night class to learn how to use it. This led to more courses at the University level, and that eventually led to a 2 year full-time (night) program in Commercial Photography at a local college. For as long as I can remember I've dreamed of working for myself, and realized that photography was the path to make that happen.

I love cute animal photography as much as anyone else, although I prefer to have more freedom in my photography than animal photography would provide - it requires a lot of handling, adjusting and patience whereas I enjoy the more spontaneous pace of weddings and families with young children or newborns. I also enjoy the human connections I'm able to make through my work; often seeing families grow through the years, and developing friendships. But, I won't say never! I think the reward of a great photograph of a wild animal could be something I might gravitate towards, especially while traveling. I traveled throughout Newfoundland Canada last year for four weeks, and love some of the frames I was able to capture of the puffins! I also realized the limitations of my current equipment for wild animal photography, unless a baby falls into my lap like the squirrel did!

The garden photos were easier since lifestyle is my thing and I went with his flow. The posed newborn-styled ones were more challenging because baby squirrels are squirmy and easily woken too, which makes it hard for posing. A heating pad helped to create a cozy nest, and lots of patience finally paid off!

My goal in photography is to be able to fully master my craft in the wedding and family genres, and offer photographs outside of the mainstream. If everyone is doing it one way, I want to explore the opposite! This means really tapping into my creative soul more heavily and seeing what lives there and developing that creative vision. As an example, my first instinct with my baby squirrel was to capture it in a natural environment, but then my imagination kicked in to photograph it in the spirit of a studio newborn session. I enjoyed people's reactions to that unexpected twist! I am also building my own marketing agency, ShineSparkL so that I can use my many years of experience in the marketing field to help newer photographers in building their businesses.

I received an update from the farm that the squirrel was given to, and it still lives around the property!