Category Archives: Photography

Indulge me

We recently held a birthday party for Thomas in the park near our house. I have been feeling overwhelmed lately, so the goal was something low key – just a few kids, a pinata, pizza, cupcakes and some playtime at the park.

And of course we had balloons. A beautiful bunch of bright primary colours that I planned to hand out to the kids as an extra party favour at the end of the party.

And when a photographer has balloons, well, you know….

Ten minutes after I took these photos, the very clever slip knot tied by the guy at the party store proved to be not very clever at all. I watched helplessly as the balloons floated away into a perfect blue sky.

But that’s the great thing about photography. The balloons would have been deflated in a few days anyway, but these photos will remain forever.

Until Next Year

My mother recently flew back to Australia after a three week visit. It was wonderful to have her here and witness Thomas and Samuel getting to know her a little but more. And, let’s face it, it was nice having the break from cooking and a little help with the cleaning and childcare around here.

One of the sacrifices that come with living in another country is the distance from family and all that comes with it.  Thankfully we are able to get together for an extended period of time every year or so and the boys have the chance to spend some quality time with their grandparents. It was a little disappointing that dad couldn’t make it this time, but we’ll see him early next year when we head back over for my brother’s wedding.

I have more photos to share from “Nan’s” visit, but I think I’ll start with goodbye.

What a Glorious Feeling…

One of the best things about our new schedule is the extra time I get to travel in the car with him each day. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not always fun and games. “Are we nearly home” chanted over and over again does get tiring on a 30 minute drive, but every now and then I hear a comment or two from the back seat that provides me with some insight into a four-year old brain. A few examples:

“Mummy, I really want an invisible friend. I will name him George Harrison.”

After a period of listening to the radio and driving without talking: “Mummy, we have a long way to drive. We really should talk. Let’s talk about Star Wars.”

“About Vietnam. They have animals”

And one of my favourites so far on the first rainy day of autumn. “Mummy, it’s raining. When I get home I must get my hat and umbrella and do some singing in the rain.”

He certainly followed through.

Then daddy was asked to join in.

While Samuel watched from the audience.

Take a bow.

Sweet Vivienne

Last week I had the wonderful privilege of photographing an adorable little 3 month old. When I was first contacted by her mother, my initial thought was one of excitement about having the opportunity to photograph a little girl.  But I was treated to so much more…

Porcelain skin and beautiful blue eyes.

A little bit of chatter and even a complete roll over (one of her first).

And then there were the rolls. How I adore baby rolls.

It wasn’t all sunshine.

But the clouds soon passed and I managed to capture some sweet family moments.

I love how this one looks like Mommy is whispering in her ear – and she is  trying not to hear. A sign of years to come perhaps? 🙂

Look carefully – a touch of pink .

Thank  you for being such a patient little model miss Vivienne and indulging my need for a little girliness in my life.

Still Here.

It seems that I have been slacking a little on the blog posts lately due to a number of reasons:

  • Life.
  • Pre-school.
  • Work.
  • Lightroom.

The first three are pretty self-explanatory. The last one, although exciting and challenging, has been impacting my ability to edit and post photos. Let’s face it, any new toy software has an adjustment period. I had my workflow all set with PSE and now Lightroom has thrown me for a loop. Just the sheer number of presets available for free download has sent me into a tailspin.

And to add a little additional complication – we have an (almost) new Mac that I have been largely able to avoid until now. Part of the reason for purchasing Lightroom was so that I could start editing photos on the Mac (a prospect that frightens me somewhat because that enormous screen certainly does point out the flaws in your photography). Unfortunately this raises a whole series of issues:

  • Do I import the iphoto catalogue to Lightroom
  • If so, how?
  • And where do I even begin with the tagging of thousands and thousands of photos?

So I have quite the task ahead of me but, thankfully, a gorgeous little 3 month old photo subject presented herself on the weekend so I have about 250 photos to work on. I should be a Lightroom expert by the end of the week (hah!).

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a couple of  photos of the child that DID NOT cling to my legs and beg me not to leave him at pre-school this morning. On no, this child cheerfully said goodbye as I walked out the door. I’m not sure which is more heartbreaking. (Photos edited in Lightroom).

Happy Monday.

Friday

Looking forward to Friday – the first full day of pre-school and the first day I have to get out of bed at 6am if we have any chance of getting to school on time.

On top of that I have a BIG work project with a tight deadline, a 4 year old’s birthday party to plan (so far I have pizza and bean bags – open to ideas for party games) and a mother to take photos of before she boards a plane back to Australia on Sunday.

Looking forward…

First Day

The day started early for my four (!) year old. I asked him if he’d grown overnight but he said “not enough to be four years old”.

We made it out the front door before 8am – a minor miracle.

The backpack and Star Wars lunchbox were early birthday presents.

He had a little trouble looking away from the lunchbox.

Then Kei walked with the boys to… daycare. Mum and I picked Kei and Thomas up about three blocks away for the drive to school.

The drop off was quick and (relatively) painless. Thomas was excited but nervous. After spending some time looking around the classroom the teacher asked the parents to leave, and that’s when Thomas looked at me and said that he didn’t want to be left there by himself with people he didn’t know. I told him he’d have fun and then the teacher came over to distract him while I left. I lost it a little when I walked out the door. It’s hard to leave your baby by himself with people he doesn’t know…

And of course I forgot to take photos in the classroom. I had to make do with some paparazzi-style shots through the barred classroom windows. He seemed to be ok…

We picked him up 3 hours later and asked him numerous questions about his day until he told us he was tired of answering questions.

Then we went home and he napped for three hours. I’d say that was a successful (if exhausting) first (1/2) day at school.

The day ended with a little family birthday celebration and more presents. Thomas took it all in stride, but it may be a little too much for his mother.

The Real Story

OK – so apparently I left something out of my last post. Kei said I should have posted this photo as well.

That’s full brotherly love for you. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt – or just incredibly pi**ed off.

Brothers

What do you do with 30 minutes at an airport waiting for your Nan’s plane to arrive?

You do what brothers do. You run around, wrestle, laugh and have fun. You make strangers laugh (even the ones who may be just a teeny bit annoyed at the two crazy boys running around).

You take advantage of the fact that your little brother is now mobile enough to make chasing him somewhat of a challenge (although he’s not so great at doing the chasing yet).

And you make your mum hope that you will always be friends – just like you are right now.