Finlay Family - North Brisbane Family Photographer

After I scheduled this gorgeous family photography session for our studio gardens, I had an email come through from one of the members asking if their little fur baby could be included.

I figured since the other sibling had their special baby included, why not include puppy Charlie as well?   And gosh it made for some fun!

One of the unique things about the studio is that we have these beautiful, colourful private gardens right on site. Literally this photo is taken as I am standing almost inside the studio looking out to the group.

Little Ellie was holding on tight to all her smiles at this point of the session, not giving any away just yet, while Charlie was so well behaved in his mums arms!

A short step away is the "fairy garden steps" as my children call them - beautiful natural stone steps that lead down to the front lawns. I love this spot particularly for black and white images with the lush hibiscus framing the family.

We have quite an eclectic mix of plans on the grounds and since the jacarandas had just started blooming it was only natural to incorporate those into the gallery also.

Wandering back through the garden we stopped at a few different spots along the way, playing with the different light falling through the trees as we went. Some glowing golden images and some soft warm images, but all just divine!

When we reached the lawns at the front of the gardens I sent the family for a walking photo, and they decided to do one without Charlie.

But it seems that nobody told Charlie and so it happened that I captured quite a funny outtake as he rushed back into shot!

Little Ellie had a moment on her own and this time, with some help from her Dad (because Dads always get the best smiles) we captured some very sweet little giggles from her.

To finish the day I brought the family back to the studio where they enjoyed refreshments while I prepared their big screen viewing of the photos. We had a great time looking through the gallery right away and designing three beautiful framed pictures for their walls.

www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Baby Declan Sitter - Brisbane Family Photographer

Declan and his family returned to the studio for his sitter session and my gosh he has grown a lot since I last saw him as a sweet little newborn!

So happy and full of smiles, he loved giggling at his mum and snuggling into his dad during his photoshoot.

I always prioritise family photos in my sessions because they will remain some of the most special images you will ever have. Photos are like a time capsule, where by simply viewing them your mind fills in all the blanks and takes you back to that time in your life.  The baby years are really so short, it is so important to document them.

So with the super cute family photos done, Declan took centre stage in his sweet little suit with tie and suspenders  and oh my gosh, can you even handle this much cute?

My wooden bed prop was next up and at first Declan wasn't too sure about it, which made for this incredibly sweet pout!

Before you could blink he was happy again and cackling away at his dad over my shoulder!

Since the warm brown tones were so lovely for Declan, I quickly laid him on a curly layer and gave him a teddy bear to cuddle, he was barely interested in the teddy bear but very intrigued by my camera hovering over his face! I just love how he looks so inquisitive in this photo, taking in the sounds the camera is making and sharing a soft smile.

For a bit of fun I love to finish the session with the Superman game! Most babies love this game where their dad will swing them through the air, almost like they are flying. And of course it does make for an awesome photo!

www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Baby Bryce First Birthday

This was our third session for Bryce, and after watching her grow from a tiny newborn to a sitting baby and now a giggly wriggly near-toddler, it has been an absolute pleasure to photograph her and her family the past year.

We were in luck to schedule her session while her Nanna was visiting from the UK, which makes these images even more special for them both.  I just love the beautiful connection that family have, and to have images like this in your home makes family feel so close even if they are half a world away. 

At Bryce's newborn and sitter session we had photographed some soft toys that her parents had collected in their travels, so it was only fitting that we did update photos with them this time around too! Since she had been tucked in at the newborn session and sitting in the sitter session it made sense to be standing at the birthday session. 

Her parents had brought along a really cute tutu in rainbow colours, which we thought would also look great in a standing up image. Bryce thought otherwise, and despite our best encouragement she was determined to stay seated for the rest of her shoot, and it still looks super cute anyway! 

With Christmas just around the corner, we also included a couple of Christmas themed images into the gallery. These are a lovey sweet addition to photoshoots at this time of year! 

I love documenting how much babies grow during their first year. Seriously, babies grow so SO fast. It feels like a long time while you are in those sleep-deprived years but looking back, it always goes way too quick. Im so honoured to be able to capture this very special time for families and to help keep those memories fresh and alive for years to come. 

www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Tigerlily Wilson - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

So often when babies arrive at the studio with their older siblings I find myself deep in conversation with the siblings before I even meet their new little brother or sister.

Sure enough this is exactly what happened when Tallulah arrived with her new baby sister Tigerlily! She's such an energetic little girl, not shy at all and within moments she was right in amongst all the toys in the play area!

So now it was time to meet the new addition to the family, Tigerlily. Oh the cheeks on her! She was so snuggly and content!

I always start with family photos but Tallulah was very taken with all the toys, she eventually agreed to come in for a moment and their family photo is such a stunner!

The next set is usually sibling photos, but with the toy room pulling Tallulah back we moved on to some gorgeous images of Tigerlily on her own.

With her middle name being Rainbow, it was only fitting that we created a rainbow themed photo in her session as well, and doesn't she look divine all nestled into the fluffy cloud there?

Tallulah came back in to see what the fuss was and I managed a few images of her by herself, but before we knew it she was off again into the playroom!

Then I had a brainwave. We could bring the playroom to her.

I got my pram prop and made it all soft for Tigerlily to lay in and photographed this image. Then we took Tigerlily out of the pram and called Tallulah into the room to show her the pram, and BOOM! Gorgeous sibling photo achieved!  For baby safety I always capture this image in two steps, one with baby in the pram and no toddler in the room, then remove baby and it doesn't matter if the sibling moves the pram since baby is safely in moms arms again. I can then use Photoshop to seamlessly stitch the two photos together - wins all round!

We captured lots of lovely soft colours for this session, pastel pinks and soft yellows, and then a fun flower set with Tigerlily nestled into a bright pink flower!

The last images of a session I always capture are the "sleeping unwrapped" photos, because more often than not babies wake up when we unwrap them and may not re-settle. This was not a problem for Tigerlily, she dropped back to sleep quite soundly just long enough for us to photograph the first two poses, "bottoms up" and "facing forward".

My sessions are always baby led and it turned out that this was as much as Tigerlily wanted to do on the day, she quickly woke up so we rolled her safely on her back and captured a gorgeous open-eye photo!

www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Baby Sienna - Brisbane newborn Photographer

Sienna arrived at the studio in the cutest little hand knitted outfit, made just for her by her Great Grandma. So of course the first thing we did was to photograph the adorable jumper, beanie and bootie set! She was a picture in pink and so content while all rugged up.

When we changed her from clothes to the wraps, Sienna woke up and wasn't too sure about what was going on, but with the heat, white noise and a snuggly wrap around her she was soon back to a lovely deep sleep while we photographed the family photos.

With her parents now able to relax we moved on to photographing he single portraits, and I love starting with a classic closeup of her all wrapped up in a snuggly bundle.

Part of the inclusions in a newborn session is some digital composite images, where we photograph intricate setups separately and then add the baby into the image. It means we can create more variety in the gallery and also capture stunning, time consuming setups without using session time to do so.

We also captured some lovely earthy neutral images of Sienna, I just love the natural tones in this set. The vine baskets from David Lam Designs are just gorgeous and we used two different ones in this session. This is my nest prop, a large nest that lays flat on the ground.

We also used another of Davids creations in this session, the hamper basket which I had some help from Siennna's dad Robbie to select the flowers and help arrange them down the handle. The resulting image is just beautiful, sweet baby Sienna snoozing soundly in there.

But the sleeping was all about to end.

As we progressed through the session, it was now time to get unwrapped and move onto the nakey baby workflow. Sienna was not impressed with this idea however.

Often babies will wake when we undress them but quickly settle into the flow posing on the beanbag, but Sienna had other ideas.

Once we had her unwrapped, she was not taking her eyes off us!

Content and happy, but WIIIIDE awake.

We captured the beautiful "simba" photo in her dads hands, as well as an adorable one with her mums hands as well. The smiles she was having, it was just amazing!

But not sleep.

We continued with some more photos in her dads arms next, and I just love these moody dark images as they go so well with her super dark hair.

With no sign of sleep making its way to her we jumped to the last set of the day, my signature setup of neutral tones and a gorgeous photo of her time feet in her mums hands. Sienna must have been happy now because she gave me more sweet smiles for the last shots of the day.

www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Baby Emily - North Brisbane Baby Photographer

Last time she was here, Emily was just days old and brought her Grandad Alistair with her.

This time, Emily returned to the studio for her sitter session and this time she brought 3 of her grandparents along!

We started the session with her single portraits in the studio as it was such a windy day we did as much inside as we could before heading out into the gardens for the big family photos.

She had the sweetest little navy and floral jumpsuit for her photos, so the first call of the day was to capture that outfit, although she was concentrating so hard on sitting up that she didnt have much space for smiles just yet.

We moved quickly on to some of the other milestone session photos such as laying on her tummy, which most babies take as a cue to roll over by this stage! Emily was great at rolling, I can tell you!

We sat her up again and added a floral bonnet and the cuteness levels went through the roof. I just absolutely adore the floral bonnets, it always makes babies eyes look so large and striking in colour and their cheeks look extra full too.

And then it was time to head out to the garden for the family photos. Thankfully we had some spare hands to help hold up the light diffuser for me while we made the most of some of the sweet little wildflowers that have recently bloomed around the garden.

One spot in particular that I love has fragrant jasmine vine growing over the rocks and a pile of wood and bricks stacked up in front of it, which made for the most perfect little outdoor "set".

Everyone had turns snuggling and cuddling with Emily and she just loved being outside, in fact despite how tiring the photoshoot can be for little ones, and despite the gusty wind throwing some extra spark into everyone, she was still giggling and smiling at everyone.

She had just learned to make clicking sounds and that was her favourite thing to do to communicate, her grandparents would click their tongues to her and she would click back with a giggle or a coo. It was just delightful to see and photograph such special little moments like these.

Next time she comes will be for her first birthday and we have some plans already taking place for that special session too!

www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Baby Madelyn - North Brisbane Newborn PHotographer

After photographing her parents a few weeks ago as they waited to meet her, I was so excited to see everyone again and of course to meet little Madelyn myself!

She came to the studio with quite the entourage, her parents, grandparents, Nanny who is visiting from Ireland and her Aunty! I think we can safely say she is one lucky little girl with so much love already flowing around her. They say it takes a village and Madelyn certainly has one!

We quickly got into photographing everyone with her, a group photo before smaller groups and singles. Everyone had a snuggle and a little chat to her, whispering sweet secrets and chatting and giggling at the sweet little sounds she was making.

Soon enough the family photos were finished and it was time for Madelyn to take the main stage.

Since she was four weeks old but three weeks early, it was a lot like photographing a curly, sleepy newborn. She was amazing!

We snuggled a cute pink bunny in with her, a gift from a family member.

And then I photographed her dad's receiving blanket from his childhood and placed her in a circular basket in the middle. I love incorporating personal items like this, it really makes the gallery of images that much more special and iconic for families.

She had been knitted a cute pink and grey blanket so we created a cute bed setup to photograph that with, and because it was os cute I included the little bunny rabbit again.

We also created a sweet dandelion image with the fluffy white felt and a lovely floral backdrop.

Once all the wrapped images were done we moved on to the unwrapped ones. And this is the point that tall babies wake up. And Madelyn was no exception.

But with a little feed, white noise and heat she was soon asleep again and snoring her way through the last images of the day.

And that was a wrap! I had even managed to sneak a few little snuggles in my self which was no small feat given all the hands on deck to snuggle her this day!

www.familyphotographybynatartshamarch.com.au