2017 Australian Professional Photography Awards - Brisbane Family Photographer

This past weekend, the 2017 Australian Professional Photography Awards (or APPA for short) were held in Melbourne. 

These are a big deal in the professional photography community as artists from all genres from across Australia - and even abroad - enter 4 of their very best artworks to be judged and critiqued at the very highest level of professional standard. 

Just to be eligible to enter these awards is a big deal. You have to be "seeded" which means to have either won 2 awards from your state awards or to have earned enough points in past years to have been granted an "Associate" or "Master of Photography" in the AIPP.

So. 

After incredible success in my first ever awards entry in the Queensland state awards in April this year, where I received a gold award for one of my family photos and a silver award for a newborn print, I was eligible to enter the national awards. 

I decided to enter the gold awarded print from the state awards as it was obviously well received at the state level, and then I created three other new images to enter along side it, all in Family category. 

The week leading up to the awards was really emotionally hard. The nerves and the stress were something else. I had felt so confident in my entries up until those last few days and then I lost all faith in myself.  I had two nights of insomnia, a condition I honestly have not encountered since entering motherhood, where every night my eyes are getting heavy by 8.30pm. 

On judging day, I was shaking badly, huddled in a fellow photographers house watching the live stream from Melbourne on the big screen TV. Thankfully, she has had a fair bit of experience in entering awards and was talking me through a few of the final details of how the national awards are different from the state level. 

It was Friday morning and Family category was one of the first categories to be judged. The judges were scoring hard and fast, a lot of stunning imagery scoring much lower than I had thought. This was certainly a big step up from the state judging in speed and critique. 

Sitting on the couch, trembling from nerves and about 4 coffees, my heart stopping each time the announcer called "Next print please" in anticipation that mine would be next... 

Before long, my newborn entry turned around.  My heart pumped hard as I watched and waited for the scores to pop up on the screen.... and just like that beautiful Isabella's green image depicting conception growing into a beautiful baby girl was awarded Silver! 

A short wile later my gold award from the states was up. When it scored just below silver I was really thrown. It goes to show how our art is perceived by different eyes and critical views.  

Thankfully my friend was there to let me know that because it was sitting only one point from award level it would get reviewed and could still go up. And guess what? 

It did! 

This beautiful family image, showing the strong loving connection of the family walking up the symbolic shape of the engagement ring was awarded a Silver award at national level. 

My second family image came next. I love this one, the vibrance, the energy and joy from not just the boys but from everyone in the family. I love the extra fun of how they look like they are flying out of the frame. This image split the judging panel and while some saw the energy and concept as strongly as I did, others enjoyed the photo but no at "award level" so it was awarded "High Professional Practice" just below a silver. 

Last up - and last image for the entire Family category - was my maternity entry. This is one that I felt such a strong connection to personally as it was inspired by my own experience of the emotional journey of a pregnancy where one day you feel scared and worried and stressed and the next you're blissed out and excited about meeting your baby.  Again, this image split the judges. There was one judge in particular who got this image exactly as I intended. His comments were as though he was in my own head - I couldn't have explained it better myself!  The sharp lines showing how quickly our emotions turn. The flip-flop of the two sides competing. The visual edits of the two sides corresponding to the diary entries.  

This image received a Silver award. 

And that was it. Family category done. My first ever journey of state and national awards finished. 

I came away with 3 Silver awards and a High Professional Practice at the national APPA's as well as one gold and one silver at Queensland state level. An amazing achievement for my first time entering, a really wonderful .   

We popped some celebratory bubbly and cheese was as we watched more of the categories throughout the afternoon.  

The verdict was in, the pressure was off but wow, what a rollercoaster! It took days for my body to come back down from the emotions. I finally got a good night sleep again last night. 

The rush was something else, a little addictive! I know I will certainly be entering the state level again next year so let the new creative ideas start rolling in!

www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au 

Baby Ava - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

I was so excited about photographing baby Ava. I had photographed both her sisters over the past 3 years so I knew how much sweetness and personality was coming! 

When middle sister Isla was born we had created an image of her big sister Indi pushing her in a dolls pram. It has always been a special image for me as it was a lot of work to create that photo but such a gorgeous image as a result. 

Well, we decided to recreate the image for Ava.  Its not an exact replica as the new studio has the beautiful option of backlighting, and Isla is not a fan of skirts so the two older girls kept in their jeans, but I think what we came away with was such a personal, beautiful, very special memory of these girls welcoming their new baby sister. 

With family photos and sibling photos done we waved goodbye to the oder girls and it was just Mum, Ava and I for the rest of the session. 

We quickly clicked off my cloud baby set, Ava very sleepy and content resting in the soft fluffy "clouds". 

Next we set up for a new colour set that I had never done before, green, white and yellow.  Mum went through my flower stash and selected the flowers she liked for the set, I arranged them on the gorgeous vine hamper from David Lam Designs and we nestled snoozing Ava into the setup. It was divine. I love this set so much! I love it because it was completely personal to this family, I have never done it before and it was designed with a lot of input from Ava's Mum. 

Next we were onto the sleeping on beanbag photos, which Ava was more than happy to go with. She's a little bit of a startler, her arms springing away from her body if they're not pinned down with a wrap or her body weight. So being curled up on her tummy was very comfortable for her. 

The final photo of the day was one that we had started before she was born. We took a special photograph of her mum at her maternity session with the intent to create a before/after photo at the newborn session. I am so thrilled with how this image has come up, its just so beautiful, elegant and such an incredible demonstration of how amazing our bodies are to grow and carry life from our hearts to our arms.   

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Brisbane Newborn Photographer    |    Brisbane Family Photographer

Baby Jude - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

Baby Jude loves his Mum. I know this because he was so content with her that he overstayed the pregnancy by a week.  

Luckily I always keep some wiggle room in my bookings so we were able to reschedule their session to the following week without a hassle.  

This beautiful family arrived, Jude wide eyed and very interested in everything around him. 

He stayed wide eyed through out the family photos, a little wriggly but not upset. A quick suck on his dummy and he was calmed right down.  I barely heard a noise from him the whole session actually, a little peep here and there, but despite keeping awake for the majority of the session, he is a very peaceful baby. 

The order of the day was for natural and neutral colours so I set about creating some setups in these tones. Since Jude was all about keeping awake we started with a wrapped up tight, snuggled in a bed photo on the beanbag. He has some gorgeous out takes where I swear he was looking right at me and thinking "what are you doing to me lady?" 

A little more milk and he was starting to drift off. It was about time, since his Mum and Dad told me he had been awake since 6am, it was now 11 and he was still trying to keep awake! 

Of course between the tiredness, heat and white noise he eventually drifted off and we posed him into all the pre-prepared setups without much trouble and the session flew by. Suddenly we were all done and it was time to wrap him back up for hometime. 

Of course, now he was in a deep, solid sleep. It was very tempting to keep photographing his beautiful little face but I know how much more his parents would probably enjoy a quiet cup of tea on their own couch at home while he sleeps so we waved our good byes, and I truly hope that was how they spent their afternoon! 

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Kaia - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

Oh baby Kaia, so sweet and so sassy! 

She arrived three weeks early, surprising her parents in so many ways. Her Dad had been out of the country, due to fly home a few days later when he got the call that she was on her way already. 

The brief for her session was soft colours, not much pink, not much flowers, but lots of pastel and warm tones. 

So I set to work on my props and wraps designing a session to include some of my favourite pieces in a new way. 

Kaias parents were so doting, snuggling and kissing her all the time, you could see immediately how elated they were to have her in their arms. 

We snuggled her into a beautiful cream set, a little on the girly side but fitting perfectly with the soft colours that we were aiming for today.  Kaia settled in ok, until I let my hand off her legs and she would spring them out in a nice stretch and smile at me like she had been waiting to do that. We bundled her back into the curly little shape, held for a little longer, and the same thing again! Oh she is cheeky, in the most adorable way. 

I decided to wrap her up next in a snuggly tight wrap. She was pretty quick to get her hands out though and so we went along with it, her delicate little fingernails criss crossed over her heart. 

Since she was in a deep sleep we decided to do a photo I keep just for very sleepy babies, the hanging basket. This is a tricky photo to create as it involves not just carefully posing the baby into  the gorgeous vine wreath from David Lam Designs, but also a lot of photoshop skill to blend the two photos together to create the final image. 

In the interest of baby safety, we never suspend babies for this image. The first photo is taken with the wreath solidly on the ground, an assistants hand holding it firmly in place while baby is posed and photographed. Baby is then removed from the prop, we lift it up and photograph the wreath dangling from its rope.  Then those two images are merged together in photoshop to create the final stunning image. 

Kaia slept right through all of it and was such a rockstar. With the last set of photos underway, that is sleeping on the beanbag, she snoozed through it all without a care. Until the very last photo when she unsettled a little and we agreed she was definitely due some milk! The session wound up and Kaia set off with her parents. 

I had to feel for her Dad though, he had bought a special gift with her due date birthstone in it, which was now for the wrong birth month! They decided to keep it all the same as part of the joy of remembering how much her Kaia's arrival had caught everyone a little off guard. 

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www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Brisbane Family Photographer    |    Brisbane Newborn Photographer