Melbourne Photographer | Wedding and Portrait Photography | Kids Photography | JD Blog

Family Reunion – Anglesea

JD — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:21:08 +0000

Well what a wild weekend and I’m not talking about the weather! as well as shooting a wedding in the middle of the crazy Melbourne weather this weekend I had a family reunion in Anglesea. It is a bi annual event that has to be seen to be believed, this year we had just shy of 100 people turn up. From newborns all the way up to the over 70’s staying in a dorm room type accommodation it definitely makes for a fun weekend.

It is great catching up with all the cousins, uncles and aunties every two years but next year I think we could do without the karaoke machine!

I have the pleasure of being the official group photographer and trying to organise 100 people into a photo is a lot of fun as you can see below.

stage 1

stage 2

stage 3

The oldtimers!

Melbourne – Pre wedding portrait beach shoots

JD — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:02:05 +0000

I have been pretty slack so far this year with my blog post as some of you have pointed out so I will endeavour to keep you updated weekly in the coming months! I have been doing quite a few pre wedding shoots of late, we do these shoots to get our couples comfortable being photographed and to get some nice casual portraits of them before their big day.

Below are two beach portrait shoots we did recently involving the couples much loved dogs. I love photographing dogs in family or couple portraits mainly because they are so unpredictable and they really make the whole shoot much more relaxing and tell the story of the couple by bringing out their personalities even more – also they are really cute and fun.

enjoy!

beach portrait

casual portrait

fun couple portrait

beach portrait

fun in the sun

what a cute puppy

capturing the moment

Best Family/Kids Portrait 2009

JD — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:11:34 +0000

In light of the success of the best wedding photo of 2009 I have decided to do the same with our portrait photos from last year. And as we took quite a few more portraits than weddings I made it a top 25. With my portrait work I try to capture kids and families as natural as possible and try and bring out their personalities and relationships. I have chosen a cross section of families, babies, children and couples from the year that depict my portrait work the best.

If you saw a picture on the blog during the year that you think should be included let me know and I will add it to the contenders. So to place your vote click on ‘comment’ at the top of the post and leave your name and comment (one per person please) The relevant family of the winning photo will receive a $900 voucher to used towards any past or future shoots with us as a prize for winning portrait print of the year 2009. Also those who leave a comment will go into the draw to win one of 20 $300 vouchers they can use towards portrait photography themselves so get you friends and family’s to vote!

Apologies in advance if your photos aren’t included right off – we’ve just got so many we love this year we couldn’t show everything so I have kept the initial batch down to 25 with a bit of variety between them.

the voting lines will be open for one week until the 16th February so get voting!

And The Winner Is!

JD — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:43:12 +0000

Thank you to everyone who took part and voted in this and a big congratulations to Amanda for her winning photo. Amanda will receive a mounted enlargement of this image as prize which I think she will be wrapped to have. We had over 60 votes and it was great to read some of the comments and start discussion on the merritts of each image.

When I am photographing a wedding I am trying to photograph it with the couple in mind, what I mean by this is I find out a bit about them, their background and personality and use that to determine what pictures I take and what style is used. This approach means that the images I take are different for each couple and have more meaning to them like this image because of the storey behind it. Quite a few of the pictures that made the top 14 probably weren’t the most artistic or striking images I took but they had feeling and an emotional connection which really is what weddings are all about.

Melbourne Zoo Weddings

JD — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:34:25 +0000

We have been lucky enough to photograph two weddings at Melbourne Zoo this month which is a real treat as you get a chance to photograph in some beautiful gardens and with animals in the background that you can’t get anywhere else. We were fortunate to have great weather and animals that weren’t camera shy which helped get some unique and fun images.

I am always looking for ways to better my photography and get a different and edgy look so I have been experimenting with a new lens with great success that you will see in a few shots below. I think it is important not only to have a photographic record of your wedding day but an artistic one and a take on your wedding that is unique and truly you, if I can capture that for every wedding then I feel I have done my job well.

On a side note the wedding photo of the year contest came to a close today so the winner will be announced tomorrow for all those interested.

groomsmen

groom

bride

bridal party

hosier lane

melbourne zoo

carousel

happy bride

groomsmen

groom

wedding dress

langham hotel

elephants

seals - Melbourne zoo

Just for fun…vote for your favourite wedding photo of the year 2009

JD — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:23:43 +0000

I photographed some incredible weddings in 2009 and had the pleasure of spending the day with some of the most entertaining, fun and inspiring couples. I really do have a great job! Scanning through all the weddings I photographed this year there were heaps of great photos I really loved – in fact, way too many to post here. But for a bit of fun I thought I would post a selection of these for everyone to vote on and come up with our ‘wedding photo of the year 2009′

Apologies in advance if your photos aren’t included right off – we’ve just got so many we love this year we couldn’t show everything so I have kept the initial batch down to 14 with a bit of variety between them. I actually took around 20,000 pictures at weddings this year so it was a hard task!

1 – This photo of Emma is one of my favourite photographs of a bride this year, it’s a really natural portrait and her eyes just pop

2 – love everything about this photo of Col & Fiona, the rustic look, the light streaming through and the feel it has.

3 – This is my favourite group photo of the year from Catherine & Brendan’s wedding

4 – Really like the casual vibrant nature of this portrait of Nicole

5 – This different slant on a bridal party portrait came together just as I imagined.

6 – once again the feeling and mood in this picture of Caitriona & Chris is what made it for me.

7 – A cute shot of Summer the daughter of the couple as they kiss in the background, she stole the moment.

8 – had to include a fun bridal party shot and this one from Cassandra & Neil’s wedding is great.

9 – Shot just before Rebecca and her dad walk down the aisle, you can see the excitement and anticipation in her face

10 – a beautiful portrait of Amanda as a tribute to her mum.

11 – Rebecca & Wayne’s bridal dance was the funniest and best I have seen, classic

12 – I like the classic look to this portrait of Melissa& Justin.

13 – There is rarely anyone prouder than the mother of the groom on a wedding day and you can see it in Liz’s face here, a lovely moment.

14 – My favourite father/daughter photo – this has extra significance as Carly’s dad Don was quite sick at the time and you can see them both enjoying the moment together oblivious to what is going on around them.

And that is the initial 14 images, all of them tell a storey about the moment, the people and their emotions at the time so I hope you have fun judging a winner. The cut off for votes will be 1st February, 2010. Don’t stress if your comment doesn’t appear straight away as it has to be approved before it shows up.

Have fun with it!