Little girls and tutus

I had so much fun working with this gorgeous little girl who turned one not too long ago.  It is amazing to see little babies grow up before your eyes and having the honour of capturing the memories for their parents!  I just loved her eyes in this photo, how she peeks over the teddy bear.

She is a real little daddy’s girl.  I couldn’t help but notice how she held her daddy’s hand when they walk together and had to take a moment to take a photo of it.  I suspect fathers always see their girls as being this size, no matter how old they get!

I’ll be posting more from the photo shoots soon. I have the wonderful experience of photographing some of the new catalogue for Fairy Dance.  I don’t know who is going to have more fun, me or the kids!

The thing about ducklings

Kids (mostly) love baby animals.  At kinder, the kids have baby ducklings to learn about nature.  I have been photographing the gorgeous little ones with the ducklings. 

The kids have been queuing to hold them, though a few are really hesitant.  One wanted to know if the duckling was going to eat him!  Just too cute for words! 

And for the record: getting both duckling and toddler looking at the camera at the same time is slightly tricky!

Here is my nose…

This little cutie pie, who recently turned 2, was just so much fun to work with!  His mom sang the song and he pointed… Here is my eyes…

Here is my nose…

Then he missed… and we laughed… and it was all over!

Though he still pointed out his ear!

Yay!   The session was a success!

Kids at play

The last couple of months have been unusually busy.  I was working on my final portfolio for this semester and also got some commercial bookings.  Between learning new skills and working, the poor blog got sadly neglected!  Well, the portfolio is almost ready for printing, I have almost caught up with all my sessions and classes are nearly finished, so I figured I better start blogging again!  I missed sharing all my images!

My portfolio for this semester is about little girls’ dreams.  I got some studio lights and started practicing using a blank background. Then I lined up some willing little models and we had a ton of fun!  I will share the final photos when the parents have seen them.

I have so many more photos to share from weddings to newborns!  I will post them in the coming days.

After boys…

Life sure is different being home with the kids.  Maybe I am just around to notice the things they do more.  This morning I went to check on my youngest to see if she was ok (she was sleeping much longer than usual).  I found her sitting on the bed, putting clips in (on?) her dinosaur. 

“Look Mom!   They fit!”

Lighting a little girl

I got a few boxes of confetti on sale at the store recently and had an idea of how I wanted to use them.  The wind has been blowing quite strongly lately, so I thought it would make a fun image of the wind blowing my youngest’s hair along with the confetti.  So one afternoon late, when the sun was just beautiful and the wind blowing like crazy, I put her in her favourite dress and got the whole family to help.

 

So first a few practice photos, to make sure the light was set up right.

Then the boys started throwing confetti.  She started twirling all on her own, with the wind billowing her hair and the dress…

 

With the last of the light fading quickly, the confetti running out, we finally timed it perfectly. She became a little princess, being blown by the wind… 

I need to find some more confetti!  It makes for really special memories!  (and the wind can definitely stay too!  It is an awesome assistant!)

-this was lit with a flash, a reflector and sunset

Flashy kids

Just some quick photos of my kids from that first flash session.  My daughter is quick to pose and so is my younger son. 

 

Capturing the oldest is a bit tricky though.  Non of the normal lighting setups worked, so I broke the rules and lit him from below and voila!  My son as I know him!

 

 

I am rushing off to my first photography class for year 2.  Can’t believe I have made it so far.  Hopefully I will be able to get a few nice shots tonight of the city.

Over Her Head – iHeartFaces Challenge

I took this image not long after my youngest had her operation to have the lump removed.  She was as chirpy as ever and really keen to pose while I practiced using my new flash.  She allowed her brothers to pose for one or two, then she would go through her whole repertoire for me again!  She doesn’t always want to model for me, but when she does, she is brilliant.

 

More entries on the iheartfaces website.

Baby

I am so behind on my processing with everything that has been happening over the last few weeks.  So I stuck into it and stared on one side and am working my way to the other.  I am nearly done with these maternity images.  I love how she just glows!

And little miss is just too cute for words.  Don't they just look great together?

Learning

I feel like I have been lazy this week, not posting more.  The year just seems to be picking up speed!  Earlier this week the school had a barbecue for the parents, then there is class and poor hubby away again on a business trip.  I thought I would share some of what I learnt this week.

This is the ‘before’ image and ‘after’

Great fun!  So now I can change the colour of people’s clothes!  Amazing how the whole feel of the image changes when you change one thing.  (The only thing different is the colour of the hair clip and dress.)

Or turn a blue butterfly purple

The last image was taken on a windy day.  The grasses were blowing in the wind, creating the awesome blurred effect.  This one little stalk just trembled slightly, with the weight of the butterfly helping to keep it steady.

Angles – I Heart Faces

This week’s challenge is a not straight forward portrait.  Thought this one might do!

More interesting entries if you click on the logo above.

Red Balloon

The kids went to a birthday party today and got helium-filled red balloons.  I don’t think very many things are cooler than a balloon when you are small!  We took a walk through the neighbourhood.  Of course the balloon went with.  I just loved the look of the sky… then the perfect moment came!

PS Happy birthday to my dear hubby! 

Too cute

I just had to quickly share this shot before I rush back to homework and housework!

She was watching a dvd, totally enraptured!

A Beautiful Day

Today is such a beautiful day.  Firstly I wasn’t woken by squawking Corellas! 

 

The morning started a little cool, but with no wind and no clouds, it has become a bright and gorgeous day.  I just had to try and share how the day feels here in Melbourne.

My youngest just had to start the morning jumping on the trampoline, the sun creating beautiful patterns on the netting. (My daughter refused to look at me while jumping though)

 

The light created beautiful patterns everywhere.

The afternoon has been so peaceful, just bees, butterflies and beautiful birdsong.

 

Days like these are glorious.  Easy to forget it is autumn already. 

(For those interested, these were taken with a Canon 50mm 1.4 lens in my back garden.)

Fix It Friday – The Pinball Machine

This week’s challenge is to give a different look to this gorgeous little one watching her grandfather play pinball.  I just love the lights from the machine.  It gives a real ambience to the image.

 

I did not want to lose too much of the light and colour of the machine, but the colour of the jacket in the background was really distracting, especially when the exposure of the image was pushed up.  I filled in the white bits, which helped a lot, then played around with a few effects.

Pioneer Woman’s Vintage applied to the surrounding area

Pioneer Woman’s Heartland

Pioneer Woman’s Colorized

Pioneer Woman’s Soft and Faded run twice.

I just kept going back to vintage-feel images.

Be sure to check out the other contributors’ versions of this sweet image.