happy days

Day one of the school holidays and I am loving having my babies home. Ginger bread men and little helping hands licking the spoon, yabbies that need to be caught and toenails to be painted.
With Christmas almost here it is time to enjoy some of those little things like these little hugs and giggles my gorgeous friend Ms B received from her little Christmas angel.
Speaking of little things. Something  I love ( that is L O V E)  about my friend Ms B, is the fact that designer silk high wasted trousers with heels is worn to the farm like it is so totally appropriate, everybody should now this!!  I love it, I guess being super fabulous and stylish is just how she rolls..

thank you

what a busy few weeks I have had, my poor little blog has been neglected, but only because so much has happened!  I want  to say thank you to the people who have given me so much love and support over the last few weeks. So many times I am reminded of true friendships and what is important to me. People like the most wonderfully creative Christine Pobke, Canberra wedding and portrait photographer, and my very own self appointed guru of EVERYTHING, thank you thank you one million times over, your friendship and support , and loaning your business mind through Pobke Magic workshop was an inspiration.

I guess leaving the studio you loved working for and starting all afresh was meant to be a daunting process, but it has actually been the most refreshing and wonderful time, despite the hiccups.  

Thank you to the  friends who have phoned or sent messages of support, YOU (and you know who you are!!) are true blue, you are the kind of person I want to be. Stand out from the crowd and be yourself, don't ever follow the flock, don't ever change.

This week I have been reminded about why I do this, and what I love about photography. People have asked me to take their photos, they are friends, they are strangers, but they have all been so happy and excited to see the finished product. What a lovely privilege it is to give a gift like this. I have enjoyed every minute of every photo shoot and for me it is as basic as that. I feel good.

So thank you again beautiful friends, kick back relax and enjoy the happy days. Special Thank you Miss Rena, you can Frankie girl it up for me anytime.

This post was brought to you by the letter Q (for Quality) and the number  8.

Wagga Wagga Wedding & Portrait Photographer

family

Heading out to set up a family shoot tonight and thinking how lucky I have been to spend some time with some really nice people.  Family portrait time my style.. three rules. we must have fun, fun...and FUN.
Thank you Son and your beautiful people for bringing the retro vibe x

the burning man..or dear redneck

Ganmain, what a crazy month we have had. It is always a busy time when harvest starts up,  Christmas is not far away and it all gets a bit crazy. On top of that we have had ‘those crazy hippies’ come with their Burning Man festival, and without sounding like a redneck here (I am married to one of those very concerned farmers , actually I WAS one of those very concerned farmers who partitioned to try and stop them from burning in our forest) it was quite an unbelievable occurrence.

As we know it all panned out the rain thankfully came to dampen things prior to the big pilgrimage making the burning a  lot safer. They came, they went, they didn’t flush a heap of money into our town, but all in all they didn’t hurt anyone and we said goodbye.

The Burning Man for those not in the know is a whole heap of things if you want to visit their website.. but to some it up in my terms ‘ a big hippy party with a giant symbolic wooden statue burning’

I of course as a concerned farm owner on the outskirts of the State Forest felt it my duty to go and check it out. OK, I couldn’t sleep I could hear the music, and wanted to make sure everything was hunky dory.  The next day I took the kids down for a look.  My children did say it was a bit ‘freaky’. My 8 year old said he saw someone hugging a tree and a man wearing a tutu. We sat in the beanbags under the fairy lights which were crisscrossed above us through coloured piping , listened to the music and watched all the craziness .

On the way home my 11 year old daughter summed it up nicely. She said Mum apart from being a bit freaky looking those people were really nice.  They didn’t care who you were or what you looked like, they just wanted to be happy. (Then she followed that with.. ‘but if we were all like that nothing would ever get done!’) hmmm!! little redneck.

So my recap of the Burning Man, and what I would like to take from it is: Acceptance. If someone wants to wear a tutu  because it makes him or her feel good than why should we judge them, are they hurting anyone? Ganmain folk, lets take the positives from this. Look around and next time you want to say something negative about something and someone, just stop.

Stop and think  ‘hey, but thats great they love doing that’ or ‘they are having fun’. It may not be your cup of tea, and you may not understand but there is always a positive.

feel the x love. peace, freedom and equality

Georgia on my mind

I shot these of gorgie Miss Georgie a while back, she will hate that I put her braces up, you know I could have photoshopped them out, but that wouldn't have been our natural fun miss George at all. This is a happy memory to share x

passion

I was questioned today about my ‘passion’ ..... It started me thinking about when it all started.  It is hard to pinpoint the exact minute, the moment in time. I wasn’t actually 15 years old, back then I was going to win the Olympic gold medal for Eventing, I could ride my horse all day dreaming of it..perhaps get a job in Princess Anne's stable , I would meet Prince William we would get married.

Anyhoo. It wasn’t then, and it  wasn’t those hazy crazy days of meeting and falling in love with my hot husband (that is my actual husband...so much more uncomplicated than being a Royal), but I am close.

It was sometime around my wedding day. That would be 1997 folks, the days of the giant gerberas and a bit of good old sepia, not forgetting painted red roses on black and white look does anyone remember?

The good news was that I was not a Gerbera bride, I had luscious bouquet of vintage looking double delight roses, I was the classic country bride, we had a beautiful day  and our photos were to DIE FOR.. Not only did I fall in love with my photos, the relaxed style , the ‘out of square’ family portrait through  a fish eye lens (sorry Mum, I know you were short enough to start with) but I loved LOVED LOVED my photos.

The fact that I think I can pin point my passion for photography, and for the record I was 26 years old, to this moment (by the way NB to original person who asked about my said ’passion’.. since when does it really matter when and how you got your passion?  Maybe it was always there, maybe sometimes you need moments and opportunities to bring your passions to life.)

Of course it helped that my wedding photographer was funky and gorgeous, she looked and played internationally fabulously...what a cooooool job, and it grew from there. I have been so fortunate to follow my passion and the journey (thanks reality tv word), the journey continues.

I guess the moral to this story is either a) Don’t let anyone deny or question your passion b) there is no prize or wrongs or rights when it comes to justifying your passion to anyone, thankyou person X or C) all of the above.

on that note your passion is yours and yours to keep. Speaking of which, there is some major pash happening here, enjoy x t   passion and HAIR  

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

I don't know what to write about Ms Lucy model for the day, apart from fab rock chick.. I mean we WERE a video clip for a brief famous five seconds, and it was good.

Beautiful Lucy, lots of fun and gorgeous smile

x thank you

 

Wagga Wagga Wedding & Portrait Photographer

 

I'll do it tomorrow..or maybe next week?

after a week of being flat out doing one hundred things at once (much like the one hundred conversations I managed to squeeze into a girly catch up this morning with my bestest neigbourette).. I realised that sometimes you just have to seize the moment, drop everything and just do that job you have put off for so long. For me that was making some phonecalls doing the paper work and basically 'sorting out my life' It actually felt good to get this stuff done and now I have applied myself to this task I will share my motto for the day..

yellow

Driving around our countryside on the weekend past the canola crops all in full bloom when Miss Eliza had this beautiful pearly one for me.. 'Mum, when I think of Canola I think of the word Happy. I'm going to call it happy.'.. guess there is something about yellow that gives it a good wrap. I am sure there are university papers out there on the psychology of it all, but for now I thought I would share this little piece of happy (thanks Eliza you made my day!) these are my special peeps.

project design

Over the past six months..or maybe longer, I have had my moments of contemplation. The everyday daydream is somewhere between graphic designer & photographer.. or a world renowned food critic travelling the globe..hmmmm? OK, so a bit of a dream from the 9 to 5, but what is missing in my life? I have a beautiful family, friends and job, I live and breathe the fresh country air, I can laugh and not worry about the wrinkles anymore and I can sing! ..well when I close my eyes, especially in the shower I can REALLY sing.
Lightbulb moment!... creativity!  That is what is missing. That is what I NEED.
So here I am Photographer and Designer. Yes, self taught guru of stuff (??? lets just generalize here) I like the pretty things which make life sweet. I love old books and op shops,  and the little pattern on my coffee froth and that little spray of freckles on miss 5's nose..
Oh the feeling of creativity, like the ultimate coffee high.
So heres to my first post! to my 'blog of design'..to life and to being creative.
 & PS I would rather be imperfect than boring!

 u