Early January I received a new, bigger, shinier beautydish for my flash. A whopping 43.5″ (110cm) in diameter it looks not unlike a big metal wok (albeit just a little bit more expensive!) I scheduled in a test shoot to have a play with my new lighting toy and I was stoked to have  Piper Oneill model for us.

Yvette from Ethix makeup also joined us and did the gorgeous makeup.

This weekend coming up I’ll be on the sanddunes near Port Stephens shooting some more bridals over a number of days.

lighting for beauty shots is actually quite difficult and I found I have a lot to learn

silliness is always encouraged

after I got bored of taking photos inside we headed down to Fitzroy Inn in Mittagong for a few shots…

then onto another secret urban location…

…and back to editing.

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We’ve had a sick household recently and work has been piling up – so this is a shorter post than usual.

Jeff & JB were married back on the 15th of January! They had their ceremony at Kangaloon Uniting Church, then we went back to Fountaindale Grand Manor for a relaxed, fun reception. As it has been in the past few weeks in Robertson, it was a very foggy day. I must say I do love fog – it really adds to the ambience of a place like Fountaindale.

J&J’s wedding was Nurses meets Navy. The boys wore white, the girls wore blue and their guests were really there to have fun!

kiss outside the church – in a pool of petals they were just previously bombarded with…

helloooooo sailor!

I’m sorry if you are the owner of this wall…

one of my favourites…

a photoshoot at Fountaindale always needs traintrack shots. Not within 5 seconds of telling the bridal party that trains never come by, one did!

J’B found some old suitcases especially for these photos…

this time of year in the area there is orange foliage everywhere – I am in heaven!…

Yvette from Ethix did the makeup. She is incredibly talented. I’ve worked with her with a number of different looking brides and she always does gorgeous work that makes my job easy!

some inspiration drawn from the uber talented Fusion Photography…

For guests who want to see the crazybooth photos – click here. (passcode is J’B’s maiden name in lowercase)

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Usually when the phrase ‘like a kid in a candy store’ is used in our household, it is referring to me in a camerastore. This time it was Josiah in a party-store!

Two day before Josiah’s 5th birthday I took him to All Things Party and let him go nuts choosing anything red he wanted for his party. Pushing a small child-sized shopping trolley around he was very selective -

‘that one… um… that one and…. that one’,
‘Ah… THIS one!’ ‘… and balloons – lots of balloons!’

With a car boot full of red – and a credit card seeing red we went home and started preparing.

We had decided ahead of time to have a colored theme for his party. At the time his ‘favouritest’ colour was red. That afternoon he stated very-matter-of-factly that red was no longer his favouritest colour and it was green. I told him in no-uncertain terms that red was the new green, the shop wouldn’t take back half a dozen filled helium balloons and we had already made a red cake. Not to mention all the guests coming were told to wear something red.

‘umm… ok I like red now!’

- don’t you love the effect of rationalisation on a 5 year old!

Anyway – he’s a few happy snaps from his big RED 5 party…

Pinata time first – this sucker was tought to break… Daddy to the rescue!

about 2 seconds later… out masterpiece was decimated…

weeks later – Josiah’s scalp is still red… we have to explain to everyone it’s not sunburn + neglectful parents

and of course why not some crazy photos as well…

Happy birthday Josiah – our lives are forever blessed and enriched with you as our son. We love you heaps!

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The day after Trevor & Davina’s wedding was Nils + Rose’s! It was that insanely hot day back on the 9th of January. It was that hot, I actually arrived at the girls wearing shorts (I changed later (: ) They had a gorgeous outdoor ceremony followed by reception at Killara Golf Course. Makeup by Leah – Cheek Makeup. Thanks to Steve Conti for helping take photos of the boys / wedding day.

Here are a few photos from their lovely day…

Naturally Rose had a pink and rose theme for her wedding which was stunning!

Nil’s other pride and joy – “…the best things come from Germany”

both Nils & Rose were all laughs the whole day…

they were spending their honeymoon at the snow – I love the cake topper!

love the simplicity of this one…

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The first time T+D+Me met up it was what we now refer to, fondly, as a ’speed date’. We had a very small consult – flicking through albums before I had a wedding. I obviously interested them as they came back for a proper look later on!

Fast foward to the 8th of January they had their beautiful Bowral wedding. Davina prepared in her parents house in Mittagong, before we left for the church, just down the road. Janelle conducted a beautiful wedding ceremony, before we left with the small bridal party – 1+1 for the location photos.

Davina’s Dreamteam:

Makeup: Yvette – Ethix Makeup
Video: Daniel – No Limit Pictures
Ceremony: St Stephen’s Church, Mittagong
Reception: Centennial Vineyards
Flowers: Kate – Absolutely Flowers
Cake:  – Olivia – I do Cakes
Hair: Sensoria

a wedding is always completed by the details…

D made a stunning bride – you can’t see any nerves in these photos!

onto the church and it was all smiles the entire time…

this cute girl was running in and out of Davina’s veil and having a great time…

then back to Centennial Vineyards for some more photos…

Davina’s themeing was gorgeous…

their beautiful first dance -

Davina must have spent a small fortune on props for the crazybooth… we had boxes of them!… made for some very fun photos…

Everyone else – leave Trevor & Davina a message in the comments below.
Also make sure you check out the rest of the crazybooth photos on their gallery here.

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I looked forward to Dan & Cassie’s wedding – it was the first wedding for 2010 and because I went to school with Cassie. They had a rocking e’session – so I knew it would be a very fun day! Her wedding was like a mini 10 year high school reunion with lots of teachers and classmates! We watched the weather turn horrible from Cassie’s parents where she got ready for the day but things fined up enough for their ceremony and some quick photos down at Shelley beach, Manly. Big thanks to Clare Day who was visiting from Perth who helped take photos and my lil bro James for parking cars and holding lights.

Wedding ceremony – St Matts, Manly
Wedding reception – Manly Golf Course
Cassie’s dress – Sarah Devine
Bridesmaids – SABA
Makeup – Renee Rodgers – Kiss and Makeup Artistry

I loved the colours available for their details shots…

Devine gowns – always gorgeous…

Cassie’s sister Pip, made her a coffee…

Renee did a stunning job on the makeup…

no rain was gonna stop this girl smiling and having fun!

what a groom to come down the aisle too… (Naomi says)

Dan sees Cassie walking in…

the one and only Roger Climpson did one of their bible readings – Dan’s Grandpa!

lets see that last photo closer…

Shelley beach was of course packed… we arrived to a standing ovation from the beach-goers!

one beachgoer mumbled – “why would you bring a bridal party to such a busy beach…” maybe she should see the photos

if you’re funny infront of my camera… it will make it on here

Cass had a great idea to use the bridal bouquets as centrepieces – they looked great and you had somewhere to put them on the tables!

Dan was the first groom I’ve seen receive a fish as part of the brides speech! (Dan is a big fish-head!)

Thanks for letting me be a part of your amazing day guys – and for the best wedding to start the year with!!

Everyone else – make sure you leave Dan + Cass a message in the comments below!

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The last wedding of 2009 was Sam + Anna’s (or Sanna as I called them) on the 23rd of December! Their wedding was the first tea ceremony I photographed myself. (I’d shot one previously with Jenny Sun to see what they were etc) I found it absolutely fascinating what goes on during a chinese wedding. There was lots of red, hugging, tea drinking, more hugging, games, fun and family / friends! I admired the big respect shown for friends and family at the day along with the beautiful and funny traditions. Special mention to Martha of D’Makeup Station for doing the hair, makeup and touchups the WHOLE wedding day!

I arrived at the Meriton Serviced Apartments where the games began. Basically, for Sam to see Anna, he had to prove himself to Anna’s friends and family by completing their ‘challenges’ set before him. These challenges involved: Eating super hot food, doing physical activities (situps / pushups) and…

having part of his legs waxed…

… reading outloud and signing a love ‘contract’ and paying an exact amount of $$ specified to see Anna…

then we all walked down to the Chinese Garden of Fellowship in Darling Harbour for their tea ceremony…

after that we had some photos of the two of them in their traditional dress around the gardens…

I love this one…

then we went back to the Meriton, had a break for a while and then they started getting ready in their european wedding gear. We went down to The Rocks and Sydney harbourfront for some more location photos…

after that they had their ‘european’ wedding ceremony at their reception location, at the Kam Fook in Chatswood Westfield…

lots of fun and more crazy games followed…

afterwards I popped out and went Christmas shopping at Westfield! Thanks Sam & Anna for a beautiful, very different wedding – I was humbled to share it with you.

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James and Adele were originally getting married at Milton Park, in Bowral – but changed their plans and are now getting married in Perth. To save them looking for another photographer all over again, we decided I’d make the trip over in March for their wedding! AWESOME! I’ve always wanted to shoot with the sun going down over the water (I’m not an early-riser) and with James & Adele – it will be an awesome wedding. We had their e’session on-location at Milton Park and despite the lousy- scottish looking weather we still had alot of fun! Here is a handful from their shoot…

I love this wall…

then out near the venue’s heli-pad I spot a field…

I half joked they should be up this tree… next thing I know they were!

the rest of you e’session photos are available over at my client galleries here.

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Again back in December we squeezed in Jeff and J’Belle’s (JB) e’session before their upcoming wedding at Fountaindale. We pretty much just walked around the heart of Bowral for their e’session and they were such easy-going fun people to be around. This was the first time I had met them, J’B’s mum had done most of the organising for the wedding as they are out of town. I am really looking forward to their wedding – it sounds both quirky and fun – exactly what J&J are

… the rest of your e’session photos are on our client galleries here.

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Earlier last year Jerry came across my work over on Flickr. I am always stoked when another photographer books me to shoot their wedding! I met him and Nathalia at my studio and then headed out for their e’session. They were both positively in love and their wedding in the following weeks will be utterly gorgeous! Here is a few from the shoot…

their e’session was in the middle of the day… my flash helped out

beautiful…

… the rest of your e’session photos are up on our client galleries here.

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