Love you lots Tay  xx

We travelled here:

To do this:

Chris & I were married at the end of October in Tuscany!!  These beautiful photographs are the gorgeous work of Jose Villa.  Go & check out his amazing (film!) work  :) 

I’m only now getting caught up on my work, so expect to see shots from these sessions soon:

Oscar’s Newborn Session (Part II);   Alicia & Brad’s Pregnancy Session;   Talitha’s First Year & Smith Family Session;   Arley’s Newborn Session;   my beautiful brand new niece Evie’s Newborn Session;   Amanda’s Celebration of Self Session (including some shots with & of her husband);   Trish & Rowan’s New Year’s Eve Engagement Session;   and, Michaela’s Portrait Session.  Oi!  Better get to work  ;-)

Renee    x

Meet my beautiful friend, Alicia.  I was a guest at Alicia’s baby shower a week ago, so I snuck her outside to grab a couple of very quick shots of her and her lovely round shape!  After looking through this handful of images, Alicia & Brad have decided to work with me on a full pregnancy session, and then their son’s newborn session, and I can hardly wait! 

Thank you for letting me share these images  :) 

xx

Introducing baby Oscar James!  Oscar is the brand new son of my beautiful friends, Helena & Gleb (you can see their pregnancy session HERE).  We have quickly learned that Os is a much bigger fan of cuddles than he is of having his photograph taken, and after three (THREE!!) attempts at photographing him as a newborn – at 10 days, 2 weeks and 3 weeks -  these are the images we got.  Good thing he’s completely adorable and gives his Aunty Nay lots and lots of cuddles!

We are so happy to have you here with us Os!  It is plainly written on the faces of your parents how much love and joy you already bring to their lives, I don’t think anyone can imagine life without you now.  

This is also my public apology to you for being so adamant that you were a baby girl all that time in your mummy’s belly!   Oops …

Now, on to a few of my favourite images!

I just love this series of the brand new family  :)

And I think these two take the cake for my favourites from the session – already full of cheekiness, just like both mummy and daddy!

And yes, this blog post title reads ‘Part I’ – there are more to come!  Part II should be ready to pubish next week  :)

xx

Entry #10 – Baby Grace ay 6 months old!

And our FOUR equal runners up are:

Entry #8 – Baby Oscar at 10 days

Entry #4 – Beautiful Brooklyn with Mum & Dad

Entry #19 – Talitha at 8 months

Entry #15 – Baby Jeremy at 3 weeks

Congratulations to you all!  I’ll be in touch with you all to arrange delivery of your winning image!

xx

The competition is simple! Below I have posted my favourite images from the past year’s sessions, and the image that receives the most votes posted in the ‘comments’ section at the bottom of this post, will win!

 The prize? The winning client will receive one 16×20 inch matted and mounted handmade photograph of their winning image. The first runner up will receive one 8×10 inch matted and mounted handmade photograph of their image.

***Another bonus this year, but this time it’s for the voters – when you book and pay for a lifestyle session with me while the competition is running (Aug 14 to Aug 27 2009), you will save 30% off your total print order!  (your session does not have to take place during this time, you only need to book and pay now to secure this saving!)***

This competition begins August 14th and closes August 27th 2009. 

THE RULES

1. To vote please state the image number as noted at the top of each image, (eg. Entry #1) in the comments section at the bottom of this post. (Votes made by email or phone cannot be counted towards the final vote).

2. Only one vote per person will be accepted

3. Clients can vote once for their image.

4. The winning entry will be announced on this blog on Friday August 28 2009 with the winner advised personally by email.

On to this years images!  (in no particular order)

Entry #1

Entry #2

Entry #3

Entry #4

Entry #5

Entry #6

Entry #7

Entry #8

Entry #9

Entry #10

Entry #11

Entry #12

Entry #13

Entry #14

Entry #15

Entry #16

Entry #17

Entry #18

Entry #19

Entry #20

NOW GET VOTING!  :)

- Renee

Pete & Mary were married in April this year at the Victoria Park Golf Course in Herston.  Photographing this wedding was mostly relaxed and stress free – Pete & Mary didn’t want a great deal of photographs and they were happy for me to photograph the goings on of the day rather than setting up a lot of more formal photographs.  On the other hand, I also felt a lot more pressure to do a good job than usual photographing this wedding because Pete & Mary will soon be my brother & sister-in-law! 

Being asked to photograph a wedding for a friend or family member is always such an honour.  Pete & Mary, thank you for asking me to photograph your special day and I’m so pleased that you’re happy with your images - I can’t wait to see your finished album!  

Mary’s father gave a piece of beautiful jewellry to her mother when each of her children were born - Mary wore all of this on her wedding day and each piece was just stunning.

Mary’s mother – lucky owner of all of those beautiful jewels!

I have no idea what was said, or who said it, but I love this series of photos of Mary with her sister Ruth.  Ruth also made Mary’s beautiful wedding gown, along with her own dress and pretty much dressed Mary’s whole family that day!

Mary’s mother made one of the funniest wedding speeches I ever have heard :)

- Renee  xx

Trish is another beautiful friend from high school that I have had the great joy to photograph recently.  Trish has always been a big cheerleader for my work and business (xx), and we had been talking for a while about organising a session to capture her partner Rowan’s girls and their family life.  Seeing as I had only met Chloe & Anna once before and we expected them to be a little shy at the start of our session, we decided to start our day with something to distract them from me and my camera, so they made lamingtons together. 

A big thank you to Chloe for testing the light beforehand so we knew when would be the best time to photograph in the kitchen!   

Licking the bowl is always the best part  :)

Then we headed to a local park where Trish’s grandfather used to take her as a little girl. 

Chloe is so intelligent, and just stunning – I almost wish this image was in colour so you could see how amazing her complexion is and the perfect shade of auburn that her hair is.  She was so easy to photograph! 

Anna is one funny kid - she had me in stitches as I edited these images full of her crazy faces!  Anna had turned 5 years old only the week before our session, so was a little more interested in playing with her birthday gifts than having her photograph taken, but she still obliged  ;-)  

Thank you all so much for such a fun morning, and thank you again for my beautiful flowers Chloe & Anna – I love them!

xx

I have loved watching Helena while pregnant.  She truly ‘glows’ with joy, and is indulging in every beautiful moment of this pregnancy.  This baby is so lucky to be born to such loving parents, and an extended family that is just busting to meet him or her! 

Helena & Gleb are some of the sweetest friends I have, and I was proud to work with them to photograph this very special moment just weeks before their little one arrives.  Here are my favourite images – there’s a lot!

To me, this second shot is SO ‘Helena & Gleb’ – Laney cracking up and Gleb looking decidedly cheeky!

LOVE these shots  :)

Helena and I studied Chinese together at high school, this tattoo is her name in Chinese characters – I love how it has stretched with the baby.

We had to get Biscuit into a few shots  ;-)

LOVE this  :)

I adore the following two images.  I realise the gritiness of film is not for everyone, but it’s one of the many reasons that I still shoot with film.  It makes me laugh when people quietly point out to me that a shot is grainy, it means I got it right  ;-)

Thank you so much for embracing this session like you both did, I’m proud of the work we’ve created together. 

Love you xx

Her BEAUTIFUL big sister Mia – check out those stunning eyelashes!!

And boys being boys, for Emerson to let me take this image of him…

…I had to also take this image of him ….

Thanks for another lovely afternoon guys  :)

Renee xx