Click on the title of the blog post to view the entire entry.
You may have seen in an earlier post here, that I’m thinking of taking a trip up to Brisbane at the end of May.
I still have three spots free at the moment before I can confirm the trip, so if you were umming and ahhing about whether or not to go ahead, there’s no time like the present!
All bookings are on a package deal which includes the CD of digital negatives of the fully edited proofs from your session.
Drop me an email and I will send you further details!
It’s time for another instalment of my favourite online comic strip – What the Duck!!
Cracks me up every time!!
(Oh, and you already know what camera I have if you read my blog 
)
… since our wedding day, and I love him even more now than I did then.
He’s the other half that makes me whole, my friend, a father, my love.
Happy anniversary
xx
Today’s entry is an educational one.
I call it “How not to take an Easter photo”
Happy Easter everyone!
It was a gorgeous day for a Saturday afternoon today. The weather was glorious! Perfect day for a photoshoot.
My gorgeous little subjects today were two adorable sisters and utter pictures of perfection. I had a wonderful afternoon with their family. The title of the post comes from when I asked one of the girls what her all-time favourite book was that she had to read. Do you know what book she brought out?
Awwwww! Doesn’t it just melt your heart??!
That’s when I got the opportunity to snap my fave photo of the session:
“Big Sister” Ashleigh was a glorious poser – she was very interested in the things I had brought with me, and loved having her photo taken (even if it was only to see the end result on the LCD screen after we’d snapped a few! Hey… keep them happy is my motto!)
The “Little Sister” was Shae – with some of the biggest baby blues I think I have seen for ages. She spent most of the afternoon chatting to herself in her own little language. It was such a pleasure to sit there and listen to her talk away. Every now and then she’d give me one of these…
But her stares were just as beautiful too!
{Michelle – I hope you enjoy the sneak peeks of your girls. Thanks for the lovely afternoon and I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend with the family}
The weather at the moment has been horrible… last night was apparently the hottest March night on record. Not a record I want to beat again anytime soon either. And, to top it off when the ‘cool’ change finally arrived, let me tell you, it wasn’t that cool!
I adored today’s session. I spent the morning with the most gorgeous, cheeky and intelligent two year old I have ever met. Honestly, this kid was amazing. He can already count, actually read letters of the alphabet, pick out colours…. he’s my little Einstein!! I’m sure his poor mother kept hearing me say “I can’t believe it” oh-too-many times today because everytime I thought I couldn’t be impressed anymore, he surprised me with something else! What a wonderful and beautiful little mind this world has in store for it.
So – anyone want some good looks with those brains? Check…
How about a cheeky smile? Check…
And a gorgeous giggle? Surely not…!
Want to see where he gets those good looks from??
This is his drop-dead-gorgeous-could-be-supermodel-material mother Twyla. I openly admitted to her I had a bit of a girly crush on her (I promise I’m no stalker Twyla!! haha) at the session – here she was, two weeks from her due date with her second baby and absolutely radiant beyond belief. She was a beautiful soul, knew how to work the camera, and really made my job a matter of just pressing the button at the right time! Bliss!
And let’s just finish with an ‘Awwwwww’ moment, shall we??
My baby sister turned 22 yesterday so in typical Aussie style we had a family BBQ to celebrate.
To mark the occasion, we tried to get a nice portrait of her. This was our attempt…
{See… and you all thought I just snapped the perfect shot everytime! haha}
Happy birthday Em!
She is the reason I do what I do…
{Happy 10 months Miss Mia}
I’m a new proud parent!! My babies have arrived home!!!
{Excuse the poor excuse for product photography – it is not my forte! That, and I was too lazy to get my proper backdrops out…}
I spent over three hours driving yesterday to bring my babies home, but oh-so-worth-it. I left around 3pm and I figured my trip would take me just over an hour by my calculations. I was all set. I had David’s navigator to guide me on my way (because I’m terrible with directions) so it was going to be so easy (or so I thought). For some reason, the navigator decided that going through Essendon, Carlton, the CBD, past Crown Casino (WTF?!) was the best way to get to my destination rather than using the freeway. At first, I thought it was strange but put my trust in this wonderful piece of technology to get there safely. By the time I had finally reached the CBD after taking this ridiculous roundabout route I was directed to take I had already been driving for an hour. I’d had enough by this stage so jumped onto the nearest Citylink tollway I could find which I knew went in the general direction I wanted to go.
The navigator didn’t like that of course and kept trying to have me exit off the tollway. I finally changed some settings and it seemed to like that ok, and told me to keep driving for 20+ kms down the freeway until I was supposed to exit. Of course, being the fateful day it was, the freeway traffic was horrible, and I mean HORRIBLE. I was driving at 20kph for most of the journey. I realised after a while that the navigator was being very silent and that’s when I looked down and saw the bloody thing had run out of power! Now I was stuck in a traffic jam, on a freeway I never travel, going to a place I’d never been to, and had no idea where I was supposed to exit. And where was the car charger you ask?? In David’s bag at home of course… where else would it be?!
I finally picked a random exit and got the good old street directory out (sooo last year darling…) and finally worked out a fairly straight way to get where I wanted to be. Finally, around 2 hours after I started my journey, I had arrived – double the amount of time I thought it would take.
Doesn’t matter though, as now my brand spanking new gear is in my hands – my Canon 40D and my Canon 24-70L lens. Mmmmmmm!!!! David better watch out because I’m thinking of divorcing him so I can marry my new camera (especially after that charger fiasco… I was not a happy woman).
Batteries are charged, memory card is in, and it’s ready to go (now, how do I use it?? LOL)
And my oh-so-gorgeous lens…
What a difference two weeks can make…
I finally got to meet little Cooper today, the newborn son of one of my previous maternity clients (see more photos from her session here). Honestly, this little babe was textbook perfect from start to finish. As soon as I arrived, he went straight to sleep, and allowed me to move him any which way and nothing bothered him in the slightest! He was a complete and utter dream.
This made me very excited of course as it meant I could shift him into whatever position I liked and he really didn’t care less – made my job a breeze and made it very easy to get lots of different photo ops which was wonderful.
I love these shots, this is beautiful textbook-style curled up newborn at it’s very best (and why it’s always best to try and get them within the first two weeks because they lose this very quickly!)
Some gorgeous detail:
And my favourite from the day:
{Deb it was so wonderful to see you again – you look amazing and your calm manner made you look like you’ve been doing this for years, not weeks! Enjoy the sneak peeks of your handsome little man}
Even as I’m sitting here write now typing up this post, I still can’t get over the AMAZING venue for today’s photoshoot… and I mean…. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
As if I wasn’t lucky enough to spend the morning with baby Darcy and his lovely family, I got to spend it in one of the most amazing houses I’ve ever been in. The lounge/dining/kitchen area was to-die-for gorgeous, and the floor to ceiling windows looking onto the courtyard meant lots and lots of yummy natural light for me to work with.
The courtyard area was divine… I wanted so much to be able to incorporate it into Darcy’s photos somehow, and so I did (and in the process ended up with one of my favourite shots of the day)
The dining room table was amazing. Above it hung these amazing lights and again, it was screaming to be photographed somehow! When Darcy decided he had enough and wanted a nap, we decided to use the moment to get some creativity flowing
And another view:
{Honestly, these small sizes cannot do these photos justice at ALL – they need to be HUUUUUUGE!}
Ok, enough about the gorgeous house because believe it or not, the house had nothing on baby Darcy. Complete and utter perfection. Lots of lovely eye contact, minimal fussing, slept wonderfully for some creative shots and then woke up from a catnap with some lovely grins! Couldn’t ask for more!
Oh, and their fur-baby Ernie?! SO adorable – I absolutely adore it when the whole family can be involved in their photoshoot
{Donna -I’m completely heartbroken that you’re moving to Singapore and I won’t be able to document Darcy’s first years growing up for you!! But hey… if you ever want me to come to Singapore….! haha. Hope you enjoy the sneak peeks}
There are some times when I’m sorting through proofs after a photoshoot that I open one and say ‘wow’ (yes, I surprise myself sometimes too!!)
It’s usually when I come across a moment that I either didn’t remember capturing or where the child I’m photographing does exactly what you want them to do for a split second, just long enough for you to press the button (trust me, try getting a child to do anything you tell them let alone in front of a camera!).
For me – this was one of those shots:
(Trust me, it’s far better HUUUUGE where you can see every single detail in her eye, but for blog purposes this will have to do. The huge version can be reserved for her parents… )
I love sibling sessions like today. I got to spend my morning with gorgeous little Emma who (as you can see from the photo) had the most massive eyes and pouty lips. Watch out dad – those boys will be after her!
She was a little serious one for me today – took a bit of coaxing but we finally managed to get that elusive smile shot her parents were hoping for!
Big brother Joshua was a classic – whilst Emma was fascinated by the camera, Josh knew to stay well away! We tried tickles, we tried songs, we tried playing with mum and dad – but in typical boy style, it wasn’t until we got him to show of his manly muscles that we finally got that smile (check out those guns!!!)
We took a walk down to the river near their house…
And had a play with their absolutely adorable fur-baby Zac
It was at this point that poor little Emma decided she had had enough (and I didn’t blame her)
And so we all came back to the house to finish up, including Zac who found the best possie in the house!
{Gayle – what a lovely morning! Thank you for having me capture it for you and I hope you enjoy the sneak peeks 
}
… to go, and go, and go.
Well, no ok – today’s cutey was not high on Milo (nor do I want to give Milo a free plug after that god-awful ad) but it had been a while since I had last had a session where the parents tired before the child did! She was on fire!
So here is a snippet of Frankie’s day!
What better way to cruise around the house than holding daddy’s finger!
First, we hung out in the lounge room
and made a few long distance phone calls… (“hello, Tokyo?”)
Then, we decided to go into mum and dad’s bedroom and have a play in there…
… and even get in some light reading
And then I turned on the charm for the camera
… but I think my stares are still to-die-for gorgeous too
Oh, AND I *heart* her name too… Frankie! LURVE!
{Enjoy the sneak peeks Emily – had a ball with you today, although now my craving for choc-cross buns is unstoppable thanks to you!}
I swear there is something in the water at the moment. I think I’ve lost count now at the number of newborn photoshoots I’ve done this month all over Melbourne – and today was another day of newly born bliss!
Little Riley didn’t think much of us wanting him to go to sleep while I was there – things were far too interesting for him! I think we tried just about every trick under the sun, but he was such a determined young thing. I swear they train them now in utero to make me work for my money… Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a few hours though than cuddle up to this little man.
Sarah – this was captured right before Riley’s great ‘aim’!
Here you go Jason – one nude curled up baby for you!
And finally, my favourite…
Move over Mr Bloom… there is a new Orlando in town, and I got to meet him today!
I just love saying his name over and over again, rolling my r’s – hey, it’s a cool name, you’ve got to try it. I must say, the red carpet was out today. Not only did I have a moment to stop and have a cuppa with my gorgeous clients today, the lovely Julieanne even baked!
Orlando was a treat – fascinated by the sound of the camera and loved staring into the lens. His cute trick was to bury his face every time he smiled – gorgeously cute for him, but hard for me taking a photo!! Still, we managed to get a couple of sneaky ones of him over the day which are too cute for words.
Check out my new heartthrob…
And see – there’s that gorgeous grin!
I must say – he was a little too stylish for my liking though . Nothing worse than having a 13 month old who has better furniture than you do…
Awwwwww….
{Thanks again for having me over Julieanne … I must get that recipe off you!! That cake was DI-VINE….}
