Chalk and Playdough: A 1st Birthday Party

Date | 11th May 2013

If this little cutie looks familiar, you might remember him from this post back when he was just 3 months old. Now he’s a year old, and celebrated this special milestone surrounded by family and friends, as well as a very proud mum and dad.

Look at that face! How could you say no to that?

So how does this chalk stuff work?

I love how suddenly all these hands appear to prevent playdough going into mouth.

Someone got a bit shy when everyone was watching. Cutting the cake is a lot of pressure!

Yum! Cake!

How often can you get four generations of boys from one family together for a moment like this?

A Dress-Up Disco 4th Birthday Party

Date | 10th May 2013

What do 4-year-olds love? Playgrounds? Dancing? Cake? Dressing up? Well if you combine all of the above, you end up with this 4th birthday party! Held at Lollipops Playland, the first half of the party was the kids running around on the playground, eating party food and playing party games. But come 6pm, down go the ceiling lights, and out come the disco lights and foam machine. Cue crazy kids dancing, and going wild over the foam raining down on them. And it didn’t hurt that most of the music was from my own childhood.

The birthday boy soaks up the music as he catches his breath from running around.

Party games and slippery slides. What more could a 4-year-old want?

The girls enjoying the party.

The teacup ride clearly requires serious concentration.

Look! I’m in a big bubble!

Blowing out the candles is a big job, and needs a lot of concentration. And will everyone just stop singing already?

Down go the lights for the disco!

Foam! Foam everywhere!

Cousins are the friends you have from the start.

Trying on one of his birthday presents (Blatant self-promotion: Yes, I made this, and yes I’m kind of a crochet geek)

Wedding: Adrienne + Rhys

Wedding Date | 25th January 2013

Leading up to Rhys and Adrienne’s big day, fate seemed to be working testing their resolve. The wedding was originally pinned to be outdoors, but in the week leading up to the wedding, Queensland suffered some serious rain and flooding. This not only forced a last minute venue change, but highway closures both north and south of Townsville made it look unlikely that either of their families would be able to make it. But luckily, the rain eased up, almost all of the guests were able to get safely to Townsville, and as it always does, everything came together on the day. I was privileged to be invited to this intimate ceremony and honoured to share with you these candid moments that I took as a guest.

The photo on the front of this guest book might look familiar … That’s right, I made it using the photos from this engagement shoot!

The coordinating orange and white decorations.

I really love this photo of Rhys, taking a moment to relax while everyone else is signing the register.

Look at what I got!

Engagement: Adrienne + Rhys

Date | 20th October 2012

Ever since I found out that these two were engaged, I wanted to do something special for their wedding present. What I came up with was a custom-designed guest book containing engagement photos of the couple that the guests could flick through while they were signing. Of course, this meant taking the engagement photos. So one Saturday afternoon, we all headed down beside the river and this is what I came up with.

I kept almost all of the final photos a surprise from the couple so that they too could enjoy flicking through their guest book, seeing the photos for the first time themselves.

Below I’ve included a selection of the shots I took that afternoon, and at the bottom, a preview of the final guest book that I came up with.

Casual stroll by the river.

You’re never too old to hold hands and skip down the path.

Everyone say it with me: “Awww”

Never too old for playgrounds either.

Just looking at these two, you can see the real happiness and love come through in every photo. I love working with couples that are just clearly love each other so much.

I just think there’s something magical about the love between this couple silhouetted in front of the afternoon sunlight on the river.

And here is the final guest book layout that I came up with. You can view full screen by clicking the cross arrow symbol next to the blurb logo. If you have any issues loading the preview, right click on it and choose reload and it should work.

Christmas Family Portraits

Date | 25 November 2012

You might remember that back in June I took some photos of two sisters, part of which involved a cake smash? Well the girls are back, along with the rest of the family for some Christmas family portraits. The girls’ mum did a great job organising and coordinating all of the costumes and props that you see in the photos.

The littlest one really just wanted to climb all over Daddy.

I love the look on the younger sister’s face!

Checking out the fountain and the ducks.

She loves giving cuddles and kisses to big sis.

Formal: Belinda

Date | 17th November 2012

Some formals really stand out in your mind, and this is one of them. Not only is Belinda the younger sister of one of my best friends, she just looks so effortlessly stunning no matter what she does. So put her in a formal gown, and what you get is an amazing collection of photos. I’m so glad to have had to opportunity to capture this and I only hope that Belinda and her family are as pleased with the outcome as I am!

Belinda and her formal partner Christian.

Even wearing a gorgeous formal gown doesn’t mean you have to be serious all the time.

The train on the gown just loved to float in the wind.

Remember what I said about the train in the wind?

Belinda with her sister (aww!) and the rest of her family.

And just to make her arrival even more spectacular, bring in the classic yellow mustang.

Seriously, this girl has model material (Christian doesn’t look so bad either).

With any school formal there’s always the paparazzi.

Formal: Brad

Date | 14th November 2012

It’s great that I often get the opportunity to take photos of young men all dressed up for their school formals. May I present Brad, who graduated from Ignatius Park College in 2012, looking very swish along with his beautiful formal date Cristina.

Classic style never goes out of fashion, and Brad is rocking it here.

One of the things I love about taking formal portraits of guys is that most of the time you end up with something like this.

Brad with his friends who came along to see him off to his formal – what great mates!

Brad with his formal partner and family.

And of course you can’t just rock up in anything – enter the classic car.

A Wet & Wild Backyard 5th Birthday Party

Date | 21st October 2012

There’s nothing better as a kid in North Queensland than running around in the backyard, playing in the sprinklers. Add an inflatable pool and a Slip n’ Slide, and you’ve got the recipe for a great birthday party. The birthday girl had a great time playing in the water, bouncing on the trampoline and showing off her new guinea pig “Sophie”. It was a fun afternoon (besides the sunburn I got from not putting on enough sunscreen – oops!), and I hope these are as fun to look through as they were to take.

Cooling off in the pool.

Having fun on the Slip n’ Slide – it’s always great to see the kids’ expressions as the water hits them!

Some guests get special welcome hugs.

“Look! The cordial made my tongue red!”

Time to open some presents.

The poor piñata never stood a chance against all of those kids.

Cake time! Time to blow out the candles.

Fun with water bombs.

“Check out our new guinea pigs!”

Family Portraits

Date | 18th August 2012

I have been lucky enough to be able to follow this family over the last few years: through their wedding, pregnancy, and now introducing the latest addition at three months old. I can’t wait to continue following their journey and watch as bub grows into a thriving little boy.

Chilling out on his alphabet play mat.

Superman pose.

He loves cuddles from Mummy.

Such a cheeky little grin!

Look what I can do …

Playing aeroplane with Daddy.

What ARE you doing to me?

Family snuggle time.

Two Sisters: Portraits & Cake Smash

Date | 9th June 2012

I just love doing fun portrait sessions, and this was just that. The photos were to be used for invitations to a Christening, and for the youngest’s first birthday party, so we obviously needed two very different looks for the two. We started off with some formal portraits, both of the young models working so naturally in front of the camera. And then the real fun got under way with the cake smash! Both of these girls were so great to work with, and I had so much fun with this session. I also designed the invitations for both celebrations which I may upload at a later date once I have removed all of the specific details from them.

Our youngest model was a natural in front of the camera.