2018 Queensland Professional Photography Awards

It started out like any big day does.

Waking up at 3am a bundle of nerves and no chance of getting back to sleep.

By 6am I was up and busying myself making breakfast. Gold yolked eggs with golden toast soldiers.

I put on my gold glitter earrings from I Love That Necklace and some sandals with gold trim.

I had 8 entries in the Queensland Epson Professional Photography Awards this year and I had hopes of a gold award for one of them.

My entries were split with 4 images in the Newborn category and 4 images in the Family category.

As I was driving to the judging I noticed a smile in the clouds above me, and a rainbow that didn't seem like it should be there. Surely this was a sign of good fortune this year?

I drove most of the way behind a gold coloured car.  I was feeling the gold vibes all around.

The Family and Newborn categories were being judged in seperate rooms at the same time, so once I arrived I promptly set myself up in a hover position between the two rooms.



And my family were watching the live stream at home on two computer screens.



The first image to come up was my Tree of Life image in the Newborn category. This image came to me only weeks before the award entries closed. It shows newborn baby Beau in the centre of the image with his family blood lines below and his name growing fresh in the leaves of the tree above him. The two strongest sticks represent his parents and the lower names of his great-grandparents fading at the bottom of the image.  It scored a silver award of 84 and I was thrilled!




Moments later in the Family room my Home Sweet Home image came up. This image is one that came about over a coffee with a friend. She had just finished her first cross-stitch since having children and was so proud of it she had wanted to frame it on the wall. Her husband was not so keen about that. So I suggested this concept and they loved it! It came up so well I thought it might be a strong award entry, in fact this was the one I had hoped for a gold.  And one judge thought so too! She got every element of the concept, that the crosses are the different family members, that theres a homely-ness in the handcrafted nature of the image, that its soft and warm and everything that family is.   The dark letters are 4 year old Sammy, the pink heart is 7 year old Paige and the word SWEET is a mix of mum and dad.  In the end this scored 83, a silver award!


Cute little Jaxom in his overalls came next in Family category. His sweet expression and soft tones were nearly enough to get an award, missing out by just one point.



Newborn again and my twin girls Flower Garden image was up. I love this image for its prettiness. Yasmin and Lulu are non identical so I liked that the image represented that. On the day I sent this to print I stopped at the shops on the way home from viewing the proof print and there was a bunch of flowers in the exact colours of my backdrop. I immediately bought the flowers and laid them on the backdrop, then headed to the garden and collected some extra fill flowers and then realised that the garden needed some more live things so photographed some butterflies and added all the live elements to the print at literally the last possible moment.  It printed beautifully and I had a good feeling....

ARGH - I have images up in both rooms at the same time!

Family category are judging the Mandala...

Ok back to the Garden Twins.... right.... they were awarded 83 points, another silver award!



The Mandala. This has so much symbolism that I think got missed in its moment. The family are shaped like a cross, the symbol of a kiss x . The concentric circles in the middle play a trick on your eyes and look like a spiral, a symbol of infinity. Circles are often linked with the bond of love, the strongest of shapes with no beginning and no end. The entire piece is hand created to resemble a mandala, which is another symbol of infinity and the circle of life.  This image scored 84, another Silver award.


Back to Newborn.... The Ink Blot.

I created this image around a year ago. I liked it but I was worried it was too simple to enter for an award.  I don't want to give it away, so I wont tell you what it is, I will let you work it out because its more fun that way.

It is an image that photographers, especially in the newborn and family circles, are very familiar with, so the judges got it pretty quickly. They scored it a solid 84, but then....

My heart started crashing. It was being contested to go up to gold.

I was shaking, my fingers were going numb.  The discussion continued. The judges rescored...

GOLD!!

It got GOLD!!!


I could not believe it! I think I broke some unspoken rules and had a little cheer and a happy dance in the darkness at the back of the room.  Oh wow oh wow. From an image I nearly didn't enter!


No time to celebrate and recover - my Newlywed Anniversary couple were up in Family room. This was a really cool shoot where the wife had an awesome concept to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary with a photoshoot of doing everyday things in their wedding clothes. The concept is that even after ten years of daily grind, they are still just as in love as they were on their wedding day. I worked really hard on some technical issues with this one. I loved the symmetry of the wedding photo of the left with the childrens drawings of their family on the right.  I thought the disinterest from the kids even added to the feeling of "daily grind".  This received 82, a silver award.

Last up in Newborn category was Millers nine months story.  This is an image that sits very close to my heart. Miller's pregnancy was as ordinary as any. No indications over the 9 months of gestation that there was anything to worry about. But after he was born he was very quickly diagnosed with an imperforate anus. This means that his small intestines had not developed all the way through his body and he was immediately rushed off to surgery to have a colostomy (stoma) formed. I love in the final frame how Miller is so laid back about it, because it doesn't bother him, and by the time he is a toddler it should removed and all of this in his past.   I am not sure if his story was strong enough without the explanation, because in the end his image scored a 77, high professional practice but just below award level.


And that was all 8 images scored!!

But...

Thats not where this story ends.

Because I had enough points to qualify as a finalist for both Newborn photographer of the year and Family photographer of the year!

Baby Max - Brisbane Newborn PHotographer

A big ute pulled up for this newborn session, Mum jumps out and climbs up into the back seat to unclip baby Max. I said "Wow you're doing well to be getting up that high after having a baby!" and she said "Oh yeah, this is my car so we have to work out how its all going to work."  And in that moment I fell a little bit in love with Max's mum Rochelle. 

Max was also very much in love with his mum as he snuggled into his mum all content and calm.  

They chose colour images for their family photos and we started with photos Rochelle's first up before bringing in Dad and then switching everyone around some. Max was a little unsettled being handled and curled up in new ways he probably isn't used to but with a little settling he was content enough for the family photos to be done quickly. 

Then it was his turn to be the star of the show, and he certainly was! 

Since his session was just one week before Christmas we did a Christmas themed image, then I quickly re-jigged the setup for a simple classic white set. When I added in a teddy bear his mum actually did a little squeal at how cute it was. She said "He never looks so chilled out like that when he's unwrapped, its so cute!" 

I took this opportunity to capture all his special details, his sweet pout, his fingernails and of course, his incredible eyelashes! I know many a woman who would pay good money for lashes like these! 

Max fell into a deep sleep at this point and so we were able to capture the next setup with the blue mandala in record time. 

To finish the session off while he was in a deep sleep, I positioned him with some cute white shorts and then a wrap like he was tucked into bed. Aw-mah-gawsh I was melting at how cute this was. 

Since he was so peaceful we captured a set of photos in my signature setup, a neutral set that I do every session. It is mostly to capture the tiny little feet and toes of newborns but when they are in the mood to relax I photograph extra images in the set too. Max was waaay relaxed. He was most happy for me to photograph him, then he kicked his feet out and it almost looked as though he was saying "Look lady, you keep curling me up but this is how I like to relax!" and I loved it! 

Brisbane Newborn Photographer   |    Brisbane Family Photographer

www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Lambe Family - Brisbane Family Photographer

Coming up to Christmas means different things for different families.  

End of year parties, shopping rush, travel arrangements, and for many families, booking a photography session that includes the whole family!

Well this awesome family were lucky enough to score one of the very last available sessions in time to receive their photos before Christmas. Spring is such a busy time for photographers - and print labs! 

Joining the session was Nani and Poppy, their three adult sons, partners and grand children. Some of the family had travelled nearly two hours to be there which is such a heartwarming thing about family. Family make the effort for each other.  

It was a beautiful summer afternoon at the beach, a light balmy sea breeze keeping everyone comfortable as the sun got lower in the sky, drenching everyone in a golden glow. 

The kids loved climbing in the low trees and looking around for bugs and other animals they could see.  The boys, Finn and Reve, especially loved getting up off the ground and being taller than all the adults. 

It is an important part of my sessions to include photos of all the couples as well as the whole family unit, so everyone was lined up for their "loved up" photos which is always a funny part of the shoot.  I think it is important to take these photos at the shoot because often the last time people had professional photos of just them together was on their wedding day. 

We soon headed to the waters edge where the kids looked for shells and other interesting things they could find on the beach.  And interesting things there were! 

We came across some of these cool jelly egg sacks from the Conical Sand Snail, and the kids loved squishing it and looking closely to see the tiny eggs inside it. More information here.  

With the tide receding we were able to wade through the very warm sea water to a little sand bar that appeared and finished the shoot with lots of fun dancing and playing photos with a gorgeous sunset starting to take shape behind everyone. 

It was such a perfect afternoon out at the beach, the kids all had a great time, which of course meant that everyone had a great time! 

www.familyphotographybynatarshamarch.com.au

Baby Amelia - Brisbane Baby Photographer

I knew right from the start that this was going to be an awesome shoot. Sitting babies are so happy and sweet and chubby and fun to photograph and Amelia was no exception.

I had photographed her big sister Eloise as a sitter and so it was great to see her again. Eloise bounded out of hte car, chatting away immediately and pumping straight into a high five as we said hello.

Amelia was out of the car next, a little groggy from the drive. We schedule sitter sessions after their morning nap, but somehow they always know that theres something going on and more often than not the babies skimp on that morning nap on photo day.   It didnt phase her much though, she was still happy and smiley, snuggling into her parents while Eloise got stuck into the toy box right away.

With family photos clicked off we moved onto some portraits of Eloise and then the sisters together.  Eloise had found the pink pram amongst the toys and I suddenly had the idea of a super girly photo of the sisters playing with the pram. I did this image in two stages for safety reasons. Firstly I photographed Eloise pushing the pram and looking into it, then we sent her out to find another toy while we placed Amelia into the pram and kept Mum very close by to stabilise her. Then the with a wave of the photoshop magic wand, the two images were stitched together to create this stunning photo of the girls with the pram.

Amelia's room is done in purple so we started bringing in some purple tones with a lovely flowery backdrop. When we put the floral bonnet on her, her cheeks and eyes just popped so much it was the cutest thing!

To finish the session we did the natural look photos which are all about baby. The chubby cheeks, the curly feet, the push-ups and funny faces. Amelia loved grabbing her feet, so of course I had to capture that little bit of sweetness as well.

And suddenly we were done. So many stunning images in this beautiful gallery, I absolutely loved it and I could tell that the girls did too!

www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Lenny and Noah - Brisbane Newborn Baby Photographer

Lenny and Noah were a special session in the studio, born at 30 weeks they were photographed on World Premature Birth Day, November 17. 

Lenny was first to drop off into a sound sleep, he's the smaller one of the two. His "big" brother Noah wasn't sharing enough in the womb and so Lenny didnt grow as much yet as his brother Noah. 

While Noah settled to sleep I photographed Lenny alone, which I think is an important part of twin sessions. These little guys are each their own person as well as part of an incredibly special set. 

Despite Noah being noticeably larger than Lenny, these boys are identical twins, which means that one fertilised egg split into two at the very start of their life, and so the boys are identical from looks right down to their DNA. 

With Noah settled to sleep we photographed the boys together for the first time, and this moment of two blissful babies sleeping side by side always gets my heart beating loudly, its just so amazing to see them snuggled together like this. 

We did family photos next and their parents are so photogenic you would be forgiven for thinking they were models! 

It was time to start unwrapping the boys and seeing some of their delightful details, fingers and toes and more. One of my favourite images we captured is where it looks like Lenny is telly Noah a secret! He was even partly awake at the time so it really did look like he was whispering to his brother. 

We unwrapped them further and attempted the "twin pose" where they mirror each other while snuggled, however with Noah so much bigger than Lenny they didnt line up exactly, but it was still super cute!

Their mum had requested a specific image of their faces side by side on a poser, so that was next up - and it really shows how different yet similar they are! 

The last set of the day we did was in a gorgeous set of clothing that their Nanna had sent them from overseas.  The boys must have liked it too because they were both so smiley!

As Lenny was set back into the car seat to go home, I quickly did a set of Noah by himself. He was wide awake from having his clothing changed but he was very content. In fact, he was more than content - he was pumped! This is, hands down, the BEST newborn smile I have photographed and I think it will be a hard one to beat! 

The best part? His mum said she gets those giant beaming smiles from Noah all the time, isn't that just amazing!! My heart would explode if my newborn babies smiled at me like this! 

www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au

Ava - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

Ava arrived quietly into the suction behind her 2 year old big brother Angus.  I totally did a double take (and I kept having de-ja-vu throughout the session) because Ava looks so much like Angus did as a newborn! 

Heres Angus from two years ago:

And here is Ava:

We kicked off the session with the main man Angus, he was more than happy to sit for some photos and even had fun giggling away as I played "round and round the garden" on his tummy. Every time we got to "tickle you under there" he would flinch in anticipation of the tickle, it was so cute! 

It was soon apparent that Ava was going to be a rockstar at the session. She was calm and collected throughout the family photos with her Mum and Dad, then it was time for her closeups and she burst into the sweetest, most enormous smile you could see on a newborn!  I literally squealed a quiet little celebration when I captured this sequence! 

So surely, amazingly cute big brother, adorably sweet little sister, sibling photo GOLD right? 

Yeah. Notsomuchtoday. 

It was about this time that Angus was done having photos. 

I had a few sneaky tricks up my sleeve though and in the end we did get some sweet sibling photos, just not the smiling at camera ones I had expected since Angus rocked his single photos so well. 

I think its all part of the family story though. You can imagine in 15 years time he will be like "Mum. Why isn't there a photo of me cuddling my baby sister?" and his Mum will say "Oh, thats because you flatly refused my darling boy. But doesn't this one say so much more?" 

Ava kept her cool the whole session, she snuggled peacefully in amongst flowers and then again into a green and white setup. 

She had a little drinks break before we got into the sleepy beanbag photos, and she totally nailed all of those too. I had a little moment again when I had her in the "chin on hands" pose - those cheeks are ah-may-zing!! 

We finished the shoot with my signature setup, a nice neutral one and had one last attempt at the smiling sibling photo with Angus to no avail. But still, its pretty cute all the same. Getting a new baby brother or sister is hard. We forget that sometimes. 

With the session all wrapped up we waved our good byes and they were off, hopefully for as peaceful an afternoon as we had enjoyed that morning! 

Baby Miller - Brisbane Newborn Photographer

full blog: 

https://www.brisbanenewbornphotography.com.au/blog

I had a little moment when this gorgeous family arrived. I had to double check I wasn't in the middle of a dream come true. 

First, big sister Ellie jumped out of the car, and her ruby red locks were flowing, a little curl at the ends, and I nearly squealed out loud. You see, I love red hair so much! 

Then, hold me in case I swoon, little 3 week new Miller emerged, and you won't believe this... he had red hair too! Already! 

With a flurry of gushing photographer, we headed into the toy room for Ellie to have a play while we got through the important stuff. 

Once underway, Ellie was hilarious. Mum and Dad were both having a cuddle with Miller (Mee-yah!) and Ellie was not happy about being left out. She was standing right at their feet, pulling on clothes to be picked up and join in.  Which of course we did right after we got the photos with just Miller. 

A cuddly, laying down sibling photo was next up. Except that Ellie was having none of that, so we moved to plan B and set Miller up on the beanbag for Ellie to come give him kisses and snuggles in her own space. 

Without any warning she was suddenly done, she turned around, too 3 steps, half turned back to us and said "Ta Ta" before spinning on her little heal and marching out of the room, not once looking back. It was the sassiest, cutest thing I had seen all week! 

With Miller now taking centre stage, it was important to help him to sleep. And the problem was that he was not looking like he was in much of a mood to sleep. We cranked the heater up, (and by "cranked it up" I really mean, we "turned it on") and soon the room was really toasty warm with the white music pulsing and in no time flat, Miller eventually dropped off into a peaceful snooze. 

This was a particularly special session for me to capture as Miller and his family had not had the easiest journey earth-side. 

After a fairly standard pregnancy and an uncomplicated labour, it was only moments after he was born that Miller was diagnosed with xxxx  ???

This means that his small intestines had not developed all the way through his body, and he was immediately rushed off to surgery to have a stoma bag inserted.  ???

Thankfully the stoma bag is not permanent for Miller, it is just a necessary aid until he is big enough to undergo another surgery to line everything up as it should be. All going to plan, he should be free of his bag by the time he is 3. ???

Miller is doing great, a true little champion who despite this unexpectedly rough start to life is a happy, peaceful little boy, already stealing hearts like nobody's business!

To honour his unique story, I included some story telling imagery into his newborn session. 

The first image made me teary as I was creating it, as it drew me back to my own emotions of being a mother with a newborn baby in special care. His mum was given some lovely heart shaped cloths, one for her to wear next to her heart, the other always with Miller in his crib in the NICU and special care. This is a way for babies and mothers to connect to each other, the mothers scent always with her baby even if she cant be. 

The next image we made was incorporating all of the pieces of medical equipment and personal gifts from the hospital such as the blue beanie gifted by staff in the NICU. I arranged these as a rainbow above him because I liked the symbolism of the rainbow, a fresh start with a happy outlook after a storm. 

This last story image is showing Millers journey through the pregnancy. I used photoshop to remove his stoma bag from the images that represent him in utero. This image particularly strikes me because it shows how nobody had any idea of his condition until after he was born, and despite the surgery and medicines he is so chilled out about it all.  

Next we moved on to more standard newborn portrait imagery showing off how crazy cute this red haired little guy is!  

Since we had some a lot of creamy photos we decided to mix things up a little and did a dark green set as well, and with his fiery red hair the green looked incredible with him. 

A dark grey was up next, and when I put the little bonnet on his head both his Mum and I make audible "Awww!" sounds! 

I snuck a little cuddle in before settling him into the final setup (another light coloured one) and as I was swaying and shushing him he opened one little eye to me and smiled.  My insides totally melted and I could have passed out from the amount of sweetness that little moment. 

It was such a wonderful, joyful morning with this gorgeous family and I was so honoured to have been able to capture their beautiful family portraits as well as some story images about Millers big journey in his short life.