put siblings on the same couch and they do nothing but fight!!!

So the night before a wedding I usually have a pretty quiet evening, tonight that wasn’t to be. As I have mentioned our delightful neice & nephew have been visiting this holidays. Last night their mum flew in for a very brief visit before they leave tomorrow night. With me shooting the wedding tomorrow - tonight was the only time for the family to get together. We haven’t had many people over since moving in, so it was really nice to catch up and see everyone and show them the house. It was also great to have Ryans sister & brothers all in the one room. Of course this monumental occasion required photos. But getting these 4 in a shot, was just as hard (if not more so) than with the kids!!!

would you believe that these shots involved biting, tickling & hair pulling???

The kids didn’t prove to be that much easier…at this stage Mr. Ryleystole his sisters headband, put it on and said “look at my fringe”…chaos followed not long after.

and of course we had to get some shots of the big kids with their mum

not sure that Jan will forgive me for making her do this (or for telling the kids to call her old Granny!)

but she can’t be angry for too long when she has this memory for life

and the whole Broome clan…. (minus myself and Shonti…sorry if i spelled your name wrong missy

and with good old self timer mode I grabbed Shonti (who seemed more than a little shocked!) and got a very rare photo with my in it with everyone.

As much as we live close to alot of our family, everyone is all grown up now and leads their own busy life that it sometimes seems like forever in between visits. Its been a few years since all the family has been together, and I hope it happens again sooner. I grew up with a large extended family and it is something that I have always wanted for our girls.  So on that sappy note - a big hug to all my family…

keep safe.

j.

8:30am. Williamstown Beach. 8 degrees. Icy wind….and someone was swimming!!! CRAZY!

After recovering from shock that some crazy person would swim in icy cold water,  I got to work photographing these little spunks. Erik & Martin are 15 month old twins and it was such a flashback to when my girls were that age. I have said it a million times - but I have the worlds best clients. After our shoot these little guys and their parents took me out to breakfast. How nice is that??? My clients know the best way to my heart is with food and lately I have been treated to a home cooked bacon & eggs breakfast and a yummy MacDonalds lunch! How on earth did I get so lucky??? Ok while I am waiting for dinner to be ready (lamb chops & potato bake if you were wondering) on with the sneak peak.

thanks for a  fantastic morning. It was great to meet you all.

j.

It has been almost 2 years since the girls have seen their cousins. Jordan and Chelsea are only 3 weeks apart (with Chels being the older, and bigger baby at birth…not that you could tell these days) and the Ry-man is in between Maddy & the twinnies. My brothers have yet to start having kidlets with one in high school and one in primary school (but Paul & Emma…its about time you give me some nieces and nephews!) and my brothers in law are still young too. So its just the girls and Jordy & Ryley. They live in NSW so seeing them is rare (which sucks). Yesterday they arrived for 2 weeks holidays and today we took them all out. The only time my camera left the bag (shame on me) was when we realised we had looked at the saturday bus timetable and had 20 minutes to entertain the kids at a bus stop in the middle of the industrial district!!!

The serious Ryley

The ever beautiful Jordan

Maddy - who wasn’t much in the mood for a photo that didnt have a drink bottle lid in her mouth and a strange face

Audrey & Harriet

and my gorgeous Chelsea bear

and because I thought I would at least ATTEMPT a photo of all 6 of them….

hopefully I will manage some more shots before they go home!

keep safe everyone.

j.

About a year ago I photographed a very new little Oscar. His mum’s friend then booked me to photograph her daughter India. Today I had the pleasure of photographing Oscar again and India and her mum came around at the end of the session to say hello.

Here they are one year ago

and India today

and seeing as how this was actually Oscars session I should show a few more of him

and so far I think this is definitely my favourite from the day.

I have to say it is so nice to be able to watch little people grow…to watch families grow…to go to a house and have it filled with framed images that I took…I LOVE my job.

Now as promised for India’s mum (India has the BEST accessories of any little girl I have ever met) the link to some of the coolest shoes I have ever seen!

www.shoefairy.co.nz

We also got to chatting today about some of our favourite places for unique childrens items - both myself & Indias mum swear by etsy.com for unique & handmade products. I personally love the childrens prints & artwork you can find on there with Kiki & Polly and Art and Philanthropy being some of my favourites. Another great place for artworks by up and coming artists (with amazing talent) is DeviantArt with one of my all time prints being this one.

enjoy.

j.

Well I guess the sneak peak is actually for his owners, Amy & Sam…but what can I say? I’m in love. I asked if I could take him home, but they declined!

It was great to photograph you guys again. Enjoy your sneak peak!

here is the poser! I swear this boy has personality! He would tilt his head and I swear he was smiling at me!

and here he is again - trying to be big tough guard dog

and I guess I should show some photos of Amy & Sam too!

I think this one is my favourite from the day….not my usual style, but I do love it.

thanks again guys…hope you are having a fab dinner out.

j.

Of some of the new products we are offering! They are just yummy. Especially some of our new albums. So without further ado:

The very groovy “one” albums. These are fantastic. A super wide range of colours and fabrics…numerous ways to mix and match them (I have even seen the traditional black leather right through to one awesome red leather and zebra fake fur!!!) to suit your style and personality.

we also are now offering the exclusive range of Christina Re wedding albums!!!

We also have some very very very cool Floating Acrylic Wall Mounts. These come in 12in square and 16in square. We highly recommend  the 12in in a set of 9 and the 16in in a set of 3 or 4.

and the lucky last thing I can give you a sneak peak of are the image boxes. There are two types - the proof box (perfect for weddings and can hold up to 700 photos for the single or 1500 in the double) and the Image Portfolio (in 4 sizes 11×14in, 8×10in and 10in and 13in square) which holds 15 matted prints.

have a great weekend guys.

j.

I am not entirely sure how it happened….but it seems my good friend Stacey and I were elected onto the Victorian AIPP (australian institute of professional photographers) tonight. While at PMA we got to talking about going along and seeing what the council was all about. Of course we were in amoungst the pros who got us all psyched about it. Then over a few bottles of wine at the big get together dinner, we decided we should join (together…saftey in numbers after all). When sober we agreed to go along and just check it out…somehow us checking it out was neglected to be mentioned and were are now members of the council! Of course it isn’t a bad thing (just wondering where that will fit in with ACOCP, the kids and the studio LOL) in fact it was amazing to be sitting with so many talented photographers and hearing them talk.

After the meeting we went to a wedding seminar and I got to congratulate the one and only Mercury Megaloudis who won this years Australian Professional Photographer Award. I was lucky enough to hear him speak a few months ago and just WOW…he has such passion for what he does and that shows through in his work. If you want to check out his winning entry (and some amazing other winners of the other awards) you have to visit the AIPP site. The works will also be travelling as part of the Canon travelling Awards exhibition, and if you have time I highly encourage you to go see it. While I was lucky enough to see some of the winning works at PMA (as well as some of the judging) I will definately be looking forward to seeing this exhibition. It is being held 12-26 of October in the Rialto Foyer. I will be sure to remind you all as it is coming up.

Everytime I attend an event held by the AIPP or just meeting with other photographers, I am always inspsired. In Australia we have so much talent it is just CRAZY (just check out the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International winners to see how many Aussies not only win, but take out 1st, 2nd & 3rd in a catergory!

The only downside to being so pumped up and inspired…..is that I am here blogging about it at 2am LOL. It might be time for me to try to quiet my brain and get some sleep.

keep safe.

j.

The girl with many names. To think I initially wanted to call her Kayla….she is most definitely a Madeline. In just 2 hours my 2nd daughter will be turning 7 years old. After a few months of debating about names her father and I sat in our typical afternoon ritual of cartoons and on came Madeline. It was a unanimous decision…a small nod and that was it. When she was born the debate started as to how to pronounce it…Ryan called her mad-e-LINE and I called her madalyn….however by the time she was just a few months old it was obvious she was a mad-e-LINE. Of course my little brother couldn’t quite pronounce it (he was just 3) and so she became “mangamime” then as his prononciation got better “mangaline”. Believe it or not she actually answers to all those names (and goldilocks as her friends and teachers call her as her long blond hair goes down past her backside).

As far as children go the best way to describe Miss Maddy is - eccentric. She quite possible has the best sense of humour I have ever known in a child. She loves purple, butterflies and spiderman. She is creative. Compassionate. Sensitive. Her current clothing style would have to be something cross between goth and punk (loving suspenders, black, white, red and anything stripy or having skulls on it). The thing I love most about maddy moo is her uniqueness. She isn’t a follower…she isn’t guided by what other people think she should be….she just is. Over the years when family or friends have asked me how the kids are i will rattle off what ever the others seem to be into, but maddy always tends to get the same answer “she is just….well….madeline”. This year I have watched her come into her own. With a wide circle of friends, a quirky teacher that gets her and a best friend that is into butterflies as much her - she seems to be happier than I have ever seen her. I know all parents are proud…but she just makes me beam. I couldn’t ask for more in my children - I have been completely and utterly lucky to have been given 4 unique and wonderfully weird children to teach me. and tomorrow will mark the passing of another year. I know I shouldn’t be sad….I just wish time could slow a little bit, just so I can savour the moments just a bit longer.

what would this post be without photos?

thank you to Lee of Luvlee Photography for the photography of Miss maddy moo moo…and for allowing me to edit them (though something I never wish to do again…interpreting someone elses photos…way too hard!).

happy birthday Maddy.

j.

What a weekend! I have just spent 4 days in Brisbane for the annual photography convention (PMA) where I had to opportunity to meet fantastic photographers (including Ken Duncan and Marcus Bell), found some very cool new products that will soon be on offer, hear some amazing speakers, get my hands on some new software that will make our work flow more efficient and try some lenses and cameras that were TO DIE FOR (anyone have a spare $14k for the 1d mkIII???).

On top of alol of that , I was also in business on work. As alot of my clients and readers know I am proud to have been a a part of the Australian Charity of Child Photographers since its beginnings. The work we do helps the healing process for so many families, and it is an honour to photograph them. With so many of our members heading to Brisbane anyway it was the perfect time for our AGM and some workshops to help our members learn a bit more about what we do, as well as giving them an opportunity to give back. First of all I was blown away by how many members came from interstate. It was truly wonderful to meet you all and you know that I am just so greatful for everything that you do for the ACOCP. It was also great to hear first hand what our members thought we could do to make a difference and improve the organisation. But after all the work was done most of us sat and had a few drinks and some yummy food and finally got to know each other a little better. Most of us were mums who hadn’t been away from our little ones for quite sometime so it was great to let our hair down….of course, you wouldn’t believe it….but there isnt a single photograph to prove that it even happened!!! WHo would have thought that getting 20 odd photographers together would result in more talking, and less taking photos!  Of course I didnt even take my camera with me. can you believe that? I didnt take a single photograph the entire time I was gone….sorry, I stand corrected….I took a few photos of my brother on my phone, but I dont think it counts.

There is just so much going through my mind at the moment. There was just so much that I learnt and cannot wait to share with you. But now the weekend had finally caught up with me. Im still cold from all the rain (beautiful one day, perfect the next - i dont think so!) and exhuasted from taklking all night and still slightly shaken up from my plane almost crashing in the wind upon landing (so much so they were actually inspecting the wing that almost hit when we were getting off) so I am going to go get some much needed sleep, and as promised all emails and phone calls will be returned tomorrow morning.

keep safe,

j.

The slideshow

reminder - we will be out of the Office until Tuesday the 3rd of June as we will be in Brisbane for the annual photography convention. All emails and phone calls will be returned after this date.

have a great weekend.

j.