https://www.marieskerlphoto.com » Marie Skerl Photography

  • Welcome

    Hey friends! I'm Marie :) A photographer and storyteller specializing in engagements, weddings and portraits. I'm passionate about living every day to the fullest, having fun and capturing real, beautiful moments you will cherish forever. Currently residing in Vancouver, BC.

    Learn more about me here, check out my pricing here and contact me 104,101,114,101ereh! Can't wait to meet you <3

    Photo by Danielle Dobson

Hey beautiful, amazing friends!

Guess what!? It’s that time of year again. It’s time for the VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY!! The one time a year I give away a FREE portrait session! Since it’s 2020 I thought I would make this even more interesting and not just give away 1 free portrait session, but 10!!! I know. This is madness. How am I going to afford to do this? I’m not. But, I know there are so many people and small businesses that this could mean a lot to.

These will be mini sessions (30-40mins) except for 1 full portrait session winner which usually lasts about 1.5-2 hours. So, 9 mini sessions and 1 full portrait session. I might be crazy haha but we are doing this!

This giveaway isn’t just for couples in love, it’s for everyone! This photo shoot could be headshots, a lifestyle family session, a boudoir session, a best friends shoot, branding photos, whatever you want. The winners will receive a free portrait session by me. 🙂

How To Enter:

At the bottom of this post you will find a box with ways to enter the Valentine’s Day Giveaway. Each type of entry has a number value. You can tweet about the contest, share it on Facebook or share it on Instagram once a day and get multiple entries from doing so. Remember to use the hashtag: #marieskerlvday2020 and tag @marieskerlphoto when you are posting so I see you.

My instagram: @marieskerlphoto will also have a separate contest going where I will pick 5 of the winners from! You will just have to follow me and tag your friends on the contest post photo <3

Four years ago I added a new form of entry; “Do a Good Deed.” Because of the success of that we are doing it again and it’s worth the most entries by far (5 per day). I really want people to take the time to do something special for someone else. Let’s spread the love this Valentine’s season! Make someone smile. You might buy the person behind you in line their coffee order, make a surprise dinner for a friend, leave someone a note of encouragement, buy me dark chocolate…wait what!? Haha just kidding, but not really because last year someone actually did mail me dark chocolate and it was amazing. Thanks Amie! Do these good deeds everyday for the most possible entry points.

The more entries you make, the more likely you are to win. The winner of the contest will be picked randomly using Rafflecopter on February 15. Entries will end at midnight on February 14th, Valentine’s Day.

Because no post can be without photos, I have included a selection of some Valentines-y photos taken in 2019.

Good luck you wonderful, brilliant and awesome people! Enter away.

Lots of love, Marie <3

PS Don’t be shy to enter if you aren’t living in the Vancouver, BC area. I travel quite frequently and will be in Oregon, California, Utah and Nashville this year to name a few.

 

GIVEAWAY CLOSED: Winners are listed below (Bryan, Michael, Jackie, Sam, Joy and Jennifer) and on Instagram: @sydsthings @breezybaby_29 @lyshgodlien @victorialharvey @desireeavril <3 <3 <3

Congratulations everyone!!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

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  • Ryan - Currently ready How to Win Friends and Influence People and finding it very interesting. Would recommend it for anyone.ReplyCancel

    • marie - I read it years ago! It is a very interesting read, might read it again soon 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Joanne - It’s amazing that you do this every year Marie! 💕ReplyCancel

  • Lindsay - I love that the sun came out today!ReplyCancel

  • Lauren - I am loving seeing spring and summer clothes hit stores, bring on the sun ☀️ReplyCancel

  • Dora - I am loving that my dad seems more alert and cheeky than he was in NovemberReplyCancel

  • Jackie - I’m living for my AOS dance classes, tea, gearing up for spring musical and flying to London for Spring Break!ReplyCancel

  • Sarah - I always love you’re photography Marie!ReplyCancel

  • Michaela - We just moved into a new home in Langley and got to hang up our canvas prints, one of which is a wedding shot you gifted us all those years ago! I was thinking of you and how thankful we are for those photos!! 🙂ReplyCancel

    • marie - Exciting! Awww yay! I am so thankful I was able to be there <3ReplyCancel

  • Lysandra Chan - Since the start of 2020, I’ve been meeting my friends daily through video chat to do exercise together!ReplyCancel

    • marie - I LOVE that!! Such a good idea and great way to encourage each other, stay healthy and catch up with your friends 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Amanda Emery - I love your photos!! And my cats 😁ReplyCancel

  • Jessica H - You take such beautiful photos! Thanks for having this amazing giveaway!ReplyCancel

  • Anna H - Hi Marie! Always looking forward to this contest! I hope you are doing well.ReplyCancel

    • marie - Hi Anna! Always glad that you enter it 🙂 Thanks! I hope you and your family are doing well too!ReplyCancel

  • Jessica - I have been following you for a few years and love that you do this for people to celebrate love- romantic, self, family, pet etc. It is awesome!ReplyCancel

  • Tiffany - I am loving that it is staying lighter later in the day now and it feels like Spring is just around the corner! I’m definitely READY for Spring!ReplyCancel

    • marie - Agreed, so happy for more daylight and ready for spring too!ReplyCancel

  • Caleigh Goulding - I’m loving learning how to make cocktails at home! Amaretto sours are my faveReplyCancel

    • marie - So fun. Amaretto sours are MY fave too!!! It’s my go-to drink.ReplyCancel

  • Gloria - You are the only person that I know that does this vday giveway!! Also that picture in the rocks…. is unreal!!! 😍ReplyCancel

  • Jeremy - Only photographer that’s doing a vday give so stokedReplyCancel

  • Katherine S - I’m loving travel planning! I’m SO excited. Loving my daydreams of taking photos like yours in Greece <3ReplyCancel

    • marie - Travel planning is so great, love having a trip to look forward to. And thank you, you will! <3ReplyCancel

  • Janelle Castro - I’m loving the sunshine today and the chance to get outside with my two boys !ReplyCancel

When you can’t make it to your friends wedding in the Netherlands, you go to their honeymoon in Santorini! That is basically what happened for this shoot and I am so glad it worked out.

I wasn’t the only one that joined in on Tia & Paul’s honeymoon, they invited other friends too, about 11 of us in total. So, I wasn’t just third wheeling the whole time haha, not that I would have minded.

We planned to do this shoot our second evening in Santorini, it was a beautiful night! It was windy, but that made for some pretty epic veil photos later. 

We just let the veil and the wind do their thing.As we were stepping down from taking these sunset silhouette photos I see a man setting up something that looked like a metal corner piece. I asked him what he was setting up and he said “Fireworks!” And I asked “When?” He said “20 minutes!” Ummm amazing! So, we got to end the evening with fireworks!! It didn’t get much more perfect than that. Thank you so much Tia & Paul for hiring me to take these gorgeous day after/honeymoon photos for you! Anyone else want to bring this photographer along on their honeymoon? <3 

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Hey beautiful friends!

Guess what!? It’s that time of year again. It’s time for the VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY!! The one time a year I give away a FREE portrait session. <3

This isn’t just for couples in love, it’s for everyone! This photo shoot could be headshots, a lifestyle family session, a boudoir session, a best friends shoot, whatever you want. The winner will receive a free portrait session by me. 🙂

How To Enter:

At the bottom of this post you will find a box with ways to enter the Valentine’s Day Giveaway. Each type of entry has a number value. You can tweet about the contest, share it on Facebook or share it on Instagram once a day and get multiple entries from doing so. Remember to use the hashtag: #marieskerlvday2019 and tag @marieskerlphoto when you are posting so I see you.

Three years ago I added a new form of entry; “Do a Good Deed.” Because of the success of that we are doing it again and it’s worth the most entries by far (5 per day). I really want people to take the time to do something special for someone else. Let’s spread the love this Valentine’s season! Make someone smile. You might buy the person behind you in line their coffee order, make a surprise dinner for a friend, leave someone a note of encouragement, buy me dark chocolate…wait what!? Haha just kidding, but not really because that would be awesome. Do these good deeds everyday for the most possible entry points.

The more entries you make, the more likely you are to win. The winner of the contest will be picked randomly using Rafflecopter on February 15. Entries will end at midnight on February 14th, Valentine’s Day.

Because no post can be without photos, I have included a selection of some of my favourite shots from portrait sessions taken in 2018.

Good luck you wonderful, brilliant and awesome people! Enter away <3

Lots of love, Marie

This gorgeous girl was the winner of the Valentine’s Day Giveaway last year! 🙂
a Rafflecopter giveaway

GIVEAWAY CLOSED: And the winner is Kristy Johnson!!! Congratulations! 😀

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  • Katherine Sylvester - I’ve been making regular trips out to Thrifty’s Foods in Tsawassen to pick up their West Coast Trail cookies! They’re delicious and my whole family loves when I bring a bag home. Super excited about the Valentine’s day giveaway 😉 I love how you have set up the entries Marie!ReplyCancel

    • marie - Ooo those cookies sound amazing!! Aww yay! Thanks beautiful girl! Me too <3 And thank you, I can teach you how to do that super easily :)ReplyCancel

  • Stacey kashuba - I don’t consider “one deed”….. I try to be kind every day. Even a small smile, one kind moment. Life is too short to be angry, every day is something we can all do, to just be a kind and compassionate human .ReplyCancel

    • marie - So great Stacey. Agreed, be kind everyday <3 One of my favourite things a teacher ever told me was to smile because it can literally make someones entire day :)ReplyCancel

  • Janella Churchill - Awe! So cute to see baby Emmie for her 1st bday portrait session. We love your photos, Marie!ReplyCancel

    • marie - Yesss! She is SO sweet. I’m so glad you love the photos! <3ReplyCancel

  • Rachel - I’ve really been enjoying Rachel Hollis and have been so motivated and encouraged following her socaio media, live videos, and reading her book. Been learning a lot.ReplyCancel

  • Christina Camp - I love your pictures. I really want to win this for my son. See, I am a recovering alcoholic. My son is the oldest and has been with me and been my rock throughout my bad times and good. He has been my son and friend. He deserves every opportunity the Great Spirit will send him. He is truly a Rockstar. Now that I’m nearing my eighth year in sobriety, I don’t struggle with sobriety but I still struggle financially. He has two younger sisters and they are a handful. Jarrot is 23 and I would like to be able to win this so he can get professional Headshots for either his future modeling career or for his career in makeup.
    Thank you for giving us the chance to win!! — ChristinaReplyCancel

  • Andrea - I am loving audible for getting some good books in. Just read the “subtle art of not giving a f” by mark Manson and I’ve qued up Mel Robbins new book for this week.ReplyCancel

  • Alenka - I love your photos!ReplyCancel

  • Allissa - We’re loving this recipe currently: https://pinchofyum.com/the-best-detox-crockpot-lentil-soupReplyCancel

  • Steph Ingvalson - I am loving waking up to the snow, and the dampened sounds from it. So peaceful!ReplyCancel

  • Lauren - Something random I’ve been enjoying is smart sweets because I didn’t really eat them during my pregnancy 😛 and they are my fave! Still so happy with our pictures, you are so talented and sweet to work with! 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Stephanie - I have just been loving the stage my girls are in – watching them interact with each other is the sweetest, while still thinking mom and dad are the absolute best ❤️ReplyCancel

  • Lindsay Wiebe - I love the snow! I think I’m the only one but I love that it forces us to adapt a slower pace 🙂ReplyCancel

  • Amie - I am loving retro toys my mom has saved from my childhood that my toddler is now enjoying! We have an old tea set and super retro mini Tupperware picnic set that Mia has not stopped playing with since she pulled them out. It makes me appreciate the little things and ‘tea time’ with the little one 💕ReplyCancel

  • Janelle Castro - I’m loving the sunshine that’s decided to come out and being able to get back outside with my two boys !ReplyCancel

November 19th was Chris’ 26th Birthday in Heaven. It was also the 1 year anniversary of me getting two tattoos for him. This blog post might be slightly controversial as everyone has their own opinions on tattoos. But, I wanted to share my personal thoughts, photos and why I got these tattoos.

Growing up I never really thought I would ever get a tattoo, I just knew that if I did it would have to be extremely meaningful. It’s something that is going to be on my body forever after all!

When Chris passed away my entire world changed knowing that he wouldn’t be in it anymore. Having these tattoos is a reminder of his inspiring life and a way for me to still feel like he is with me always. I know that might sound odd to some and this might sound even more odd, but after losing Chris I actually found myself taking on quite a few of his characteristics. I became more fearless, more willing to make time for fun things, more athletic, more outdoorsy (in part thanks to Decoy) and more willing to put my phone away and just soak in the moment.

Anyway, after thinking about it a lot I decided on two tattoos that I would feel good about having on my body forever.

1: Chris’ Heart (my photography logo)

I wanted to be able to see this little heart every time I am photographing. The heart is taken from the last birthday card Chris wrote to me, he signed it with his name and this heart. Ironically the heart doesn’t connect fully, just like my photography logo (which I designed in photo school from my many heart doodles). So, it’s a nod to Chris’ heart and a little bit to my photography logo too.

Also, I see it whenever I read, journal and “cheers” as well, which I know Chris would appreciate.

2. Always Love

This tattoo is on my ribs, left side, close to my heart written in Chris and my wedding font. Before I go on, yes, this one was painful to get!

The words “always love” came to my mind as I was discussing tattoos with Nick (Chris’ brother) and praying for what I might get done.

One of my favourite songs, a song that Chris showed me before we were even officially dating (back in 2009) is titled “Always Love” by Nada Surf (it’s linked at the bottom of the post). It played on the TV show “One Tree Hill,” which Chris and I were both big fans of. The lyrics to the song are really beautiful and ended up being a real comfort for me through this grief. I will post the full lyrics below, but part of the lyrics are:

Always love, Hate will get you every time
Always love, Don’t wait til the finish line

Those lyrics in particular really resonated with me and the words “Always Love” serve as a reminder to me that I will always love Chris, always love God and always love in general. That I won’t close myself off to love, that my heart wouldn’t harden, but rather expand and love even greater than it did before.

Full Lyrics to “Always Love” by Nada Surf:

To make a mountain of your life
Is just a choice
But I never learned enough
To listen to the voice that told me
Always love, Hate will get you every time
Always love, Don’t wait til the finish line

Slow demands come ’round
Squeeze the air and keep the rest out
It helps to write it down
Even when you then cross it out

But Always Love, Hate will get you every time
Always Love, Even when you wanna fight

Self-directed lives
I want to know what it’d be like to
Aim so high above
Any card that you’ve been dealt, you…

Always Love, Hate will get you every time
Always Love, Hate will get you-

I’ve been held back by something
Yeah. You said to me quietly on the stairs
I’ve been held back by something
Yeah. You said to me quietly on the stairs
You said
Hey, you good ones
Hey, you good ones

To make a mountain of your life
Is just a choice
But I never learned enough
To listen to the voice that told me…
Always love, hate will get you every time
Always love, hate will get you-

I’ve been held back by something
Yeah, You said to me quietly on the stairs
I’ve been held back by something
Yeah, You said to me quietly on the stairs
You said..
Hey, you good ones
Hey, you good ones
Hey, you good ones

Always Love my dear friends!

Love, Marie <3

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  • Casey - This is such a beautiful post and you did such a wonderful job photographing the tattoos!! I’m so happy I got to be apart this memory for you and thankyou for thinking of me to tattoo it for you <3ReplyCancel

    • marie - Thank YOU Casey! <3 You have an incredible talent and I am so thankful I was able to get the tattoos done that day. It made it even more special.ReplyCancel

  • Taylor Ann - This is beautiful! I love everything about your tattoos and this post <3ReplyCancel

Something I have realized lately is that the more I open up about my personal life and losing Chris, the more I find that people have similar stories of their own. We connect in a sad, but beautiful and powerful way. I’m thankful for all the new people I have met who have been willing to share with me. I feel God calling me to do more of this, so I am going to keep doing it and see where that leads me.

There is a lot of loss in this world and especially this past year it seems. It can be really hard for others to open up especially to people they have just met, but I applaud those that do. It shows courage and vulnerability. I still get a lump in my throat every time I bring up the fact that I am a widow (yes, I have been using that word now). It’s not easy to say and it’s not easy to hear, I’m never quite sure how the other person will react. But, I think the more I talk about it the easier it becomes.

Also, I have been trying lots of new things lately! It has been really rewarding and brings me joy. There are a bunch of things I have always wanted to try, but never felt brave enough or like I had the time to do it – so I’m taking that time now. Travelling to places, doing handstands, taking fitness classes, taking art classes and modelling are all new things I am trying. I’m not afraid to fail, I’m just going to try and then see what happens haha! I have some of these things documented in the highlight section titled “some firsts” on my personal Instagram: @marieskerl if you want to check them out.

Who knows? The Marie Skerl Photography website might change a little bit in the future as I dabble in more things to do with fitness, beauty, travel and home decor. Would that be cool? I would love your feedback and comments! <3

Photos from my recent trips to hot springs near Whistler, waterfalls near Portland, Cannon Beach and California.

Opening_Up-MS-7storyboard002Opening_Up-MS-8Opening_Up-MS-9Opening_Up-MS-13Opening_Up-MS-14Opening_Up-MS-15Opening_Up-MS-1

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  • Kristen - Marie, you are a beautiful soul!! I’m so happy to see you adventuring and enjoying the beauty in everything around you, very inspiring!! Wish you all the best, always! XoxoReplyCancel

  • Frances - Hi Marie, we’ve never met but I stumbled across your blog through a mutual friend. Just wanted to say that even though you have experienced a tragic loss, I am inspired by your courage and ability to see the positive in life — and it is apparent through your writing. Stay strong 🙂

    One of my favorite scriptures that helps me to cope with loss & major trials is at 2 Cor. 4:16-18.

    Take care,
    FrancesReplyCancel

    • marie - Hi Frances, thank you so much for sharing that. I really appreciate it, it’s why I am going to continue writing and sharing <3 Thank you! Love that scripture. All the best to you!ReplyCancel

    • marie - Aww wow, thank you so much Frances. You are very kind. This means a lot <3ReplyCancel

  • Carol Molcar - Dear Marie,
    Just wanting you to know that you’re in our thoughts and prayers.❤
    I love your pictures posted here, especially the waterfall picture!
    Much love, Carol and DickReplyCancel

    • marie - Thank you Carol and Dick <3 I appreciate the prayers so much. I love that photo too! Much love to you both!ReplyCancel

  • Jasmine - Yes! I would love to follow along on your adventures – both travel & trying new things!ReplyCancel

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