Archive for 'Toddler'
Clients often ask me if they can bring their dog along to their family photo shoot and the answer is always YES! A family pet is as much a part of our lives as any other member of the family so i’m delighted to include them in our sessions whenever possible!
The golden retriever in these shots is called Rufus and he was ALMOST as adorable as his two little playmates : )
I do enjoy it when a client gently shoves me out of my comfort zone by suggesting a location that i’ve never held a family photo shoot at before. It gets me out and about exploring the local area with local knowledge and introduces me to all that is most beautiful in the Illawarra and South Coast regions. This gorgeous family introduced me to the famous (little did I know) and very beautiful Sandon Point and what a lovely spot it is. Thanks for adding another amazing south coast photography location to growing list : )
Earlier this year a producer from the Kyle and Jackie O show contacted me about helping out a family that had been in touch with them. Just before Christmas, Michael was diagnosed with Terminal Liver Cancer and his sister wrote to the show to ask if they could help them. One of their dearest wishes was a family portrait all together and I was delighted to donate my time to help these guys out and create a beautiful set of images of their family for them!
Such a dear family and these kids…they were the cutest! So good and beautifully behaved. Not that I mind a cheeky little tantrum-throwing kids that run off every two seconds…that is after all the challenge of my job to keep them engaged, happy and interested but it is nice to have an easy job occasionally : ) Little stars, these two!
Alimah and Michael, you are doing an awesome job. Rooting for you guys and I hope all the news is good!
I have so much respect for this dear mum… three beautiful children under three. One second from unleashing them for their pram and all three beautiful girls run in three different directions with wild abandon…so happy to be free to explore. I so loved photographing their happy energy and independent spirits!
So in this job the weather plays an pretty massive part in determining the outcome of a family shoot. Sometimes the weather is my best friend (gratefully, here in Australia that is more often then not)…at other times, well, sigh…it just rains and rains and rains every weekend for a month! When this happens the best thing is just to go with the flow, take joy in having a pyjama day with the kids, watching moves, eating popcorn and juggle everything around to slot the shoot into another day.
This dear family was booked in during one of the worst months of weather this year had to manage a number of reshuffles (my own family watched A LOT of movies that month!). In the end we decided to stop trying to reschedule into a specific date and just to call each other when a beautiful evening finally presented itself….and lo and behold just look at the magic light and conditions we ended up with : ) So happy we decided to just go with the flow!
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!
I was never a morning person. Before I had children I would happily indulge in marathon sleep ins, dozing till past lunchtime on weekend given the chance. Then, of course, Murphy’s law would have it that I give birth to children that wake up at 5am. every. single. morning. without fail.
I resisted, resented and finally accepted. Life has a funny way of pushing you in uncomfortable directions to teach you something important. All those years of early mornings showed me how beautiful, still, and silent the world is at this time of day, how fresh the air is to breath into your lungs and how perfect the the light is for photography. I was missing so much by sleeping away those hours.
Now my children are moving past the stage of waking up quite so early, my BEST days are when I’m jumping into the car just as the sun is peaking up over the horizon, stopping by their bedrooms to smile gratefully at their sleeping faces, and spending an hour or two making beautiful images in gorgeous morning light with my families.
I’m so grateful for my clients that choose to share this time with me and keep getting me out of bed in the mornings!
This little boy was everything TWO…full of beans, smiles curiousity and the explorer spirit. He wanted to explore the rocks, jump in puddles, drop stones and shells in the water to watch the ripples, but always with mum or dad within arms reach. He was a delight to observe and photograph with the bonus of a few moments of good conversation with his lovely parents!
I look at these photos of this gorgeous local Kiama family and I am reminded again by how fortunate we are to live in this place. To raise our kids surrounded by such natural beauty, large empty playgrounds…just add imagination and the freedom to explore at will.
