04/12 2017

The Country Show

Last week we went to the local country show. It’s a fairly big occasion for the region and as suburbanites, something we don’t often get to experience. Both my partner and myself had entered the show competitions and to our surprise we both took out first prize in our respective sections (mine professional photography, and his breadbaking). Despite it being a warm and sunny afternoon, the showground was filled with thick gooey mud, following all the rain we’ve been having. Thank god for gum boots because all the kids in our family, and some big kids, enjoyed it a la Peppa Pig. The show was crowded and the light was continually changing. The low light in the exhibition sheds and the darkness as night came over made it all a little tricky. What struck me though was the mix of bright colour amongst the darkness and I really enjoyed shooting with more intention – purposefully slowing down my shutter and playing with my settings to capture the energy and dynamic atmosphere.

04/3 2017

The Holiday

In late January we took to the road and went south to one of my favourite spots to visit. We rented a basic little beach house and lazed the days away at the beach, exploring the town or around the house. It’s taken a while to edit these and the edits are a bit hodge podge as the days are mixed up and my editing changed over the course of the few months. I can’t wait to turn some of these into a photobook so we can flick through our memories when I’m old and grey.

03/6 2017

Beach Life

Summer has just ended but is full of warm memories. I took way too many photos when we went on a family holiday in January and I’m still slowly making my way through them all. On this grey and rainy day I needed to remind myself of the fun we had on the last afternoon of our holiday so I thought I’d post some. Seeing O jumping around in the waves with so much joy – a child who previously wouldn’t set foot in it – and L with her usual exuberance for life running, fully clothed, through the waves before we could even change her really brightened my day.

02/19 2017

M Family Urban In Home Family session

I recently had the pleasure of being invited into the home of a beautiful little family living in the inner city suburbs of Sydney. In home sessions are my absolute favourites because I just love the way people are naturally more relaxed, and therefore more candid, in their own comfortable environment. I also love that I get to capture a fleeting moment in their lives that I know they will look back on with fondness in twenty or thirty years. Their house and all the things in it will be reminders of time and place and (hopefully) bring back memories of happy times spent there. We played, read books, chatted and took a walk to the local park together. The M family were so welcoming and I loved getting to know the very fun and talkative Mr 2 and I know he’s going to be a doting big brother in a few months time.

02/7 2017

Honeymoon Bay

I’m slowly making my way through our holiday photos. I made a beautiful photo book from our holidays last year and I had a vision of creating another for this one. Unfortunately I may have overshot the mark a little and will need approximately 600 pages just to fit them all in. It’ll take me a while to get through them all between client sessions and life, so I thought I’d blog the first set now. On our first day we set off to the bay only to to watch the sky become quickly enveloped by rainclouds. As the rain eased we ventured out of the car and some of the most glorious sun rays peeked through the clouds and illuminated the ripples on the water.

01/23 2017

The ‘good’ light

I always complain about my house being dark but in the darkness there is the occasional beautiful pocket of light. On a sunny day at just the right time the light streams between our house and our neighbours house just long enough to create some beautiful window light. It always seems to be at that time of the day when we have 6000 other things to do that this pocket of light appears and then disappears as I wander around shoving clothes into drawers, picking up dropped Lego or chopping things for dinner. I’d ignored the pretty light for long enough and when I saw her playing on her bed this one day I decided today was the day to spend five minutes documenting our life in the ‘good light’.

12/15 2016

The Muse

“Sometimes I think,
I need a spare heart to feel
all the things I feel.”
― Sanober Khan

I wanted to take a picture of him the other day so I paid him $2 for his time and cooperation. He is sensitive soul and being his mother I should have known that it would never work. In that moment I was so focused on the light that I failed to notice his discomfort at being so vulnerable and I got frustrated at his inability to look straight at my lens. The eyes are the window to the soul and for those who feel things so deeply it is too much to give away all at once, I should have known that. He curled his body over and let his hair fall over his face and I shot a few frames and let him go. When I loaded the images later I realised that I had I caught more of him on camera than I could have hoped for.

12/6 2016

Into the woods

From my house I have a nice clear view of the mountain. I love foggy days but we really don’t get too many of them around here, but every now and then I can see the fog settles beautifully on the top of the mountain. I wasn’t doing anything in particular on this day but when I looked out my window and saw the foggy mountain top I hopped in the car. I imagined how amazing the walking trail would look with a thick fog cover and got excited as we approached and drove up the long winding road through thick clouds of fog. Twenty minutes later and we reached the top of the mountain to discover not even the smallest sense of fogginess. Not a skerick. Not a trace. Not even the slightest hint of fog.

Regardless we enjoyed our stroll (sometimes jog) along the track with every stick transforming into sword and the added bonus of a few puddles to stomp on the way back.

11/30 2016

The Fair

We always have fun at the local school fair. But when you’re 2, it can evoke a rollercoaster of emotions. From the exhilarating highs of going on your first ride, to the crushing lows of being too small to ride (especially when your big bro is old enough) followed by the renewed contentment at your consolation prize – getting a giant ice cream all to yourself!