Smith Family - Brisbane Family Photographer

It was windy and fresh at the beach as we met for this family session.  Thankfully the wind was blowing in the direction that would help keep hair off faces and it actually worked very much in our favour, giving an extra level of energy to this gallery.

3 year old Aara and her little brother Jacob were both dressed and ready for photos. Aara's mum told me that she sometimes takes time to warm up to new people, but we hit it off right away and were best friends within minutes.

Jacob had just celebrated his first birthday the week beforehand so this was sort of a milestone session for him as much as a family session.

The clouds had come in late in the afternoon and gave the sky a lovely diffused light which made for some stunning photos in the trees beside the beach. Lots of giggles and kisses, secret telling and tickle monsters, and Jacob had his first "swing" in between mum and dad which made him squeal with delight and beam giant oversized smiles at his parents.

Jacob was very easily distracted, so inquisitive about the world around him. He would point to everything that interested him, so every time a dog went by or a bird was in a tree we could not get his attention back until they had disappeared. At one point a plane flew overhead and we lost him for a good five minutes until we could no longer see it!

Aara loved dancing around, wiggling her hands and tip toeing her feet as she hummed a pretty little song that I didn't know. She may have been making it up as she went, it was the sweetest thing to watch.

We soon headed to the sandy beach and before we let the kids play with the sand toys we wandered over to the waters edge for some more family photos. The water was really cold and the children weren't too keen to stand in it (and fair enough!) so mum and dad kept a tight hold of them, snuggling in to each other to keep warm from the wind that was getting cooler as the sun dropped.

A quick break for some snake lollies (I know you are probably thinking that I mean for the children, but I actually mean for all of us) and then it was into the fun stuff!

Aara had so much fun twirling a pink ribbon around her and Jacob loved finding shells in the sand and digging in with his trucks.  We finished the shoot with some photos of Jacob walking towards the camera, a new skill he is still mastering but that he looks super cute doing, his arms out to help him balance.

With the sun all but gone and the snake lollies running low we headed back to the carpark all wrapped up, the children excited about their special dinner of fish and chips.

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www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Baby Tessa - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

It was a slow start to this session as older brother Elias took some time to warm up to me. He wasn't sure about coming into the studio at first but given his own time and support from mum and dad he was in and playing with toys before long.

With Elias happy in the next room Mum and I headed back in to the studio to start the session with little Tessa. She is adorable, no two ways about it. Perfect skin, beautiful eyelashes, a pout fit for a princess, she was all levels of sweetness and then some.

She snuggled into her mum quite happily, one of her favourite places to be I would guess. Listening to the heartbeat that is so familiar to her, feeling her mums firm hugs and listening to her soft whispery singing.

Elias came into the studio ready for some photos with his family and he had so much fun playing the "Don't drop me!" game with his dad before giving his new little sisters some very sweet kisses on her head.

The family had brought some sweet little teddies in to include int the session. First was a little yellow rabbit,  a comforter that I have no doubt will be very very popular with Tessa for years to come.

** tip ** 

If your child loves a certain comforter toy, buy a couple of spares. We lost ours one time and they didnt make it anymore and I have never felt so helpless as when I could not offer my daughter the one thing she needed in that moment to feel better.

So taking inspiration from the yellow in the rabbit I created a lovely buttery yellow setup for Tessa and for the most part she seemed content, awake but content.

Next we did a snuggly blanket set with a teddy that belonged to her older brother Malachy. Sadly, Malachy is not with the family anymore, having passed away even before his brother Elias was born. Elias was what is referred to as a rainbow baby, the baby born after the passing of an elder sibling.  Their mum said that Tessa was their "pot of gold" baby. Which got me thinking...

It came to our attention throughout the session that Tessa was not too happy laying on her back. It is usually my go-to for babies as they tend to be very comfortable reclining, snuggled and curled up. Tessa was not happy. So after trying to settle her into two more reclined setups and Tessa getting more and more frustrated, we tried an "upright in a basket" setup, and you know what? She loved it!

So this setup came to mind as we had been talking about Tessa and the "pot of gold" theme. I loved the idea of "gold" spilling out of the "pot" that Tessa was in and that this is not a literal image, but a concept image. Tessa, the Pot of Gold baby.

Very content in her upright position, Tessa was in a deep sleep and raced through the final photos of the day, snoozing away on her tummy on the beanbag.

www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au 

Jaxom Sitter Session - Brisbane Baby Photographer

When Jaxom returned for a sitter session I had high hopes for capturing a beautiful sibling photo with his awesome big sister Arwen. 

You see, seven months ago Arwen was not having anything to do with sibling photos at her brothers newborn session. No way, no how. 

I hoped with a bit of time she would come around to the idea and really felt that this session was going to be a winner. 

Well... Arwen was still not having anything to do with her brother, and she was certainly not planning on sitting next to him for even a moment. Not even with the bribe of some cheese (a girl after my own heart!) could we get her to barter on this one. 

Thankfully photoshop came to the rescue and I was able to create a sibling photo by stitching two similar images together. This is major progress from the newborn session where Arwen wouldn't even have a photo alone. 

While I much prefer to capture true moments in camera, sometimes kids like to do what they want to do and sometimes that means they dont want to cuddle their sibling. So instead of getting upset or stressed about them not doing what what I want them to do, I can just go with the flow at the session and usually bring it together afterwards.  

So while Arwen sat on her Dad's knee eating cheese we continued with the main man of the day, and holy smokes Jaxom had all the faces ready to go! 

There were surprise faces, there were laughs and occasionally there was a thoughtful look. But mostly there were laughs. 

When he started chewing on his foot I just about collapsed from how cute it was. 

Just when I thought I could take no more, his mum pulled out a cute little "old man hat" and teamed up with the rolls, the smiles and the drool it was officially cute overload. 

And just like that we were done.  Baby sessions are always short and sweet because babies get tired quickly, especially when we are chaining clothes, doing tummy time, singing and shaking rattles and tickling them, its all very exhausting for them so we keep the session as short as possible. 

I absolutely love sitter sessions, especially when its with a baby I have met as a newborn. It never ceases to amaze me how big babies grow and how quick!  I also love re-creating images from their newborn session to show how much they have grown. 

www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Brisbane Baby Photographer    |    Brisbane Newborn photographer