If you are not consistently trying to improve then you are doing your clients and yourself an injustice.  There are two different awards, one is voted on by my wedding clients and is awarded for customer service, quality of product , value and of course photography.  The other is purely a photography award where you enter prints and they are judged by other photographers.

I don’t plan on judging the success of these by winning or not but by what I get out of it, if I can see areas where I can improve or change as a result then that will be great.  In saying that I am a highly competitive person so of course I would love to win!

I can’t post any of the images that I am going to enter into the awards until they have been judged but below is a little teaser of what type of shoots we will be offering later in the year – more news on that soon!

There is going to be some funny & interesting things of our Facebook page coming up, as well as prizes & giveaways so click on the link & like our page to be a part the Movember action – you won’t be disappointed.

There will be prizes and giveaways as well as a great portrait special all based around our FACEBOOK page – go there now and ‘like’ us to be involved.  Each new ‘like’ and comment etc we will be donating money to Movember so ‘like’ the page so you can be apart of it.

No blog post is complete without some photos so below is a few shots from a recent portrait shoot we completed in the school holidays.

It is great when wedding venues go the extra mile and create different and beautiful dishes for weddings as the guests and couple really appreciate the extra effort.  It also sets them apart from the traditional beef or chicken alternative.

Although I don’t usually do many shoots like this it was a bit of fun to mix it up and try something that I wouldn’t normally do.

Enjoy!

They have both been through a lot for a young couple; they also lost their first son a few years back, so we went down after the ceremony and got some beautiful images at the cemetery in Warrandyte, which was one of the most picturesque and tranquil places that I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

It was a joyous day and a real celebration of Tatum & Paul’s life, love and testament to what a great relationship they have.  Once I know the back story to a couple it really helps me capture their day with relevant meaning and compassion.  I therefore know what images are going to be important, what style is going to suit and how best to approach the day.

There was a real sense of fun, celebration and excitement in the air all day being that the wedding had finally arrived.  I left just before the reception started but everyone was in the mood to party so I think it would have been a great night.

Enjoy the images!

This post is a bit different in that I am going to give a few tips to take great photos of kids outdoors this time of year.  Just to clear things up this is just to help you get better images at home as you can’t get professional images done every week, so this will help you fill in the gaps between professional shoots.

These are just general rules to help you achieve better results and will work better with a digital SLR instead of a point and shoot as you don’t have much control over the settings with them.  Rule number 1, don’t place them in sun and facing the sun.  I see this all the time at weddings etc firstly they will be squinting and you will most likely get dark rings under their eyes and isn’t very flattering.  What you need to do is find some ‘open shade’ this might be under a tree on veranda where there is directional light coming in which is more subdued.  This also helps highlight their eyes and bring out the colour in them.

An example of this is the image of Jess below.  The sun is actually behind her but because I have put her under a tree canopy the light actually becomes directional from the front highlighting her face.  In doing this you also get some beautiful highlights and enough light to illuminate the background so it isn’t too dark.  Now this scenario is created the easiest in the morning or afternoon when the sun is lower in the sky.

There are a few more examples below as well, you can see that where Jess is placed in the garden and where the light is dramatically changes the feel and look of the image.  I hope this helps you to get some better image of your family, if you have any specific questions or you would like a one on one lesson just shoot me and email and I would be happy to help.