Archive for 'Infant'
This was the second shoot in a series of four we have planned to document the first year as a family for these lovely folks. You can view the first one here.
Already Baby S is crawling and so cheeky with her smiles and cuddles. I really appreciate the opportunity to photograph a family multiple times in the same year. I love how relaxing it is when my clients already know what to expect from their session. The ease in which they immediately relax into “just being” and enjoy the time away from all the usual stress of daily life, soaking up these special moments with their loved ones!
p.s Also, Balmoral Beach just never fails as an awesome location at this time of year. Gotta love how it is almost deserted in these months leading up to colder weather even though the day was actually so warm and inviting!
I grew up in the UK and my parents still live there. I moved to Australia eleven years ago and I still remember how wonderful it was to have family or old friends visit in those first few years of relocating and settling into making my new place in the world feel like home (actually what am I saying, even after eleven years a visit from my people never gets old!)
I’m so fortunate that my siblings have now also crossed permanently over to the other side (my sister lives only two minutes down the road from me in Kiama, and my brother is shacked up in my old flat in North Bondi). Whereas my sister moved around the same time I did, my brother took another 8 years of almost yearly visits to finally take the plunge. A visit from Uncle Will was always, and still is, a much anticipated event in our house. He is by far the kids FAVOURITE uncle (not to be diminished by the fact he is actually their only uncle!).
So I was delighted to be asked to a capture a few photos of these two sisters and their children. One lives over here in Sydney and the other back in England. They had big plans for their time together – a campervan trip up the coast, loads of quality time for the kids to play together and get to know each other and finally, to rack up serious beach hours (remember they are coming from UK in the middle of winter so its been months since anyone has seen the sun!). Unfortunately they hit some of the worst weather the NSW coast has seen this year. Rain and windy storms and a exhausting dose of cabin fever for the little ones confined to their van!
But the wonderful thing was watching them laughing about it together. Even as their best laid plans went awry, time spent together, even if not as idyllic as imagined, was the most important thing… tamping down the foundation for their family’s stories for years to come!
So you might have heard that the South Coast experienced several tornados a couple of weeks ago? The very next morning I jumped into my car to drive to Werri Beach to shoot this beautifully wild and windy maternity session… the stormy sea and wild waves captured forevermore. At the time I hadn’t watched the news, so I was shocked to see every second tree uprooted and a beach house with a roof ripped clean off. Little did I know that streets of Kiama had suffered much of the same… only later once my friends started texting me cryptic messages asking if we were OK did I start to wonder. We were very fortunate to have slept the night through oblivious to the carnage happening only a kilometre or so away.
The day after the tornados hit was also the day that their adorable little baby girl made a memorable entrance into the world. Maybe to bring some balance to the universe she was the calmest and most easy going of all babies I’ve ever photographed. Many of her extended family had travelled far and wide to be here to celebrate her arrival and it was wonderful to observe her settle so easily for all the family to enjoy long cozy cuddles. This is one loved and adored little baby girl!
There are people that I’ve met along my journey to becoming a successful photographer that have always been my biggest supporters. People that fed me with their faith in me, their kind words, their smiles and unconditional support when days were hard. Without these people i’m pretty sure I’d have been propping up the statistics in the next Sydney Morning Herald article about failure rates of small business in this country.
Jo and the wonderful ladies at the Lane Cove Occasional Childcare Centre have always been those people to me. Not only did they wrap their arms about my children and feed them with love whilst my attention was turned to my work, they have always been the first to like or comment on a new post of mine on Facebook and offer welcome words of encouragement when I’d pick the kids up after a hard day editing at the computer!
When Jo was heading off for maternity leave they all clubbed together to buy her a gift and I was so happy that they choose me to photograph her beautiful baby boy and her family! A wonderful opportunity for me to give back a little for all the faith they’ve invested in me. Also, to see Jo as a mummy to her own precious little baby after all the years she cared for everyone elses, now that was pretty special too : )
Amanda, the mum in these photos, runs a wonderful local business teaching the young people of Kiama the latest and greatest Dance Sensations! This newborn session was an incredibly generous gift from all of her students and their families and gifted just in time to capture Baby A’s very first Christmas. This dear family seemed so happy and content with their new life as parents and their divine baby so calm. A true delight to capture in these photographs.
There are some years when one family photo shoot is not enough and maybe two or three would be ideal to capture a time when the little ones change so quickly. A baby’s first year is one of those times but three full family sessions would just be too much of a hit on the back pocket!
So for any existing client booking in a photo session within 12 months of their original shoot, I’m offering mini family sessions. 45 minutes on location, 10 images on CD, 5×7 reference prints of those images + a framed 5×7 print for only $695!
The photos below are an example of this kind of mini session shoot. This dear family is one of my most loving, generous and loyal supporters so when they approached me with the idea to do another shoot only months after their newborn session, I had to look after them well… and so was born the idea for mini sessions for repeat clients : ) The idea behind the shoot was to capture some photos of baby Tessa at this gorgeous cute 6 month old smiling baby stage, and especially some of her with Mum… but we also couldn’t resist grabbing a few family shots at the same time!
One truly pleasant and unexpected benefit of this job is the opportunity it presents to catch up with old friends. Out of the blue emails from good people I haven’t seen for years (note: birthing two babies only 19 months apart lead to a terrible if utterly expected decline to my social life) asking if you’d like to photograph their new family…ummmm let me think about that… YES please! The chance to catch up on the intervening years and compare notes, I love it.
Apparently this little dude never smiles for the camera…. could have fooled me : ) Jones beach in Kiama Downs is one of my new favourite spots for family photo shoots. Always deserted, always beautiful, always so bloody windy xx
The beautiful newborn baby Amelia at home with her mum and dad… how smitten by their dear daughter they were! Always so special to visit a family with a brand new baby…I don’t photograph newborns so often but I do so love it when I do xx
It has always surprised me how quiet the family photography business gets over the winter season. It is generally welcomed in the industry as an opportunity for worn out photographers to catch up on office paperwork, shoot personal projects, spend time with their families and take a well earn holiday.
That is all well and good but sometimes I just want to stamp my feet a little. I wish more clients wanted to schedule their shoots in the cooler weather… it is not like our antipodean winter is really that cold, snowy or even that frosty here on the coast. In fact today Kiama had a top temperature of 16 degrees with the most glorious blue sky you have ever seen. I spent the first 23 years of my life growing up in England and today would have been considered the finest of summer days…shorts and t-shirts and a picnic in the park kind of day!
But, the thing that makes me most miffed about the lack of sessions in winter is the truly magical winter light. So soft and so low…so perfect for my style of shooting. The sun sets so much earlier so you can have an afternoon session that wraps up a 4.30pm and get the most amazing light. In the summer you have to wait until past 7 o’clock for this perfect light so with my younger clients it is usually not possible!
Still need convincing… here are a bunch more reasons:
- cosy and warm wooly jumpers with lots of wonderful texture
- colourful scarves
- cute knitted beanies
- pink cheeks
- warm hugs
- brilliant blue skies
- deserted beaches
- but forget all that, did I mention the magical winter light??
So just to encourage you all from your warm little nests, here is an offer too good to refuse: 50% off your session fee...only $90 till the end of August 2012! (for sessions in the local Kiama area (from Wollongong to Nowra, South Coast NSW)
