benjamin { first birthday cake smash }♠

Benjamin got lots of kisses and snuggles from his Mum and his Nan when he did his shoot. They even made him a super fabulous cake for him, just so he could smash it for his first birthday shoot.

Love me a serious expression.

availability and cut off dates

Hello Monday Morning!

Seeing as its the last day of August already I figured it was time to sit down with the diary and work out my availibility for the rest of this year.

There are only TWO weekend dates between now the christmas cut off date available for portraits. We do have spots in the school holidays and the Monday the 5th of October (the public holiday) we still have a spot in the morning at nine.

We usually have a waiting list for weekend dates so if you want a spot then I would book it straight away.

The Dates available are:
Saturday the 31st of October
two o'clock spot already filled, spots still in the morning
and for a session in the afternoon (location would be nice?)

Saturday the 7th of November
two o'clock and four o'clock spot still available

Cut off dates:
story book albums must be ordered by the 18th of November
and prints and canvas by the 4th of December
to get them back in time for Christmas

harry

Harry is such a sweet character. He has a whole range of faces from serious to totally cracking up and he loves snuggling with mummy and daddy.

sienna and sophia

These two cousins are as cute as peas in a pod. I went to Uni with Sophia's Mum ( Hi Tara! ) so it was great to meet her little girl. Actually she didnt know the girls were coming in, so seeing her all gorgeous and getting some blog lovin' should be a bit of a surprise!

an etsy find

Sometimes you can find beautiful things on the internet. One of my latest finds is an etsy store called Janey Mac Press. They make stickers for your home, in all sorts of shapes and styles. My faves are the birds and the dandelions ( the images are from their store ). I just have to figure out where I can put them first. I already have a bird cage sticker in my bedroom that i bought at the Paddington Markets a couple of years ago, and its next to another etsy find. It sat in my cupboard for two years till i finally figured out where to put it.

I think the birds or swirls would look fab next to a beautifully framed image, especially in a childs bedroom. I might even get one for the front door of the studio. Maybe the one that says 'welcome' with a groovy swirl behind it. Check them out here.

baby amaya + big brother jake

Amaya is going down in the history books as one of the softest babies I have ever photographed. Jake is one of the cutest big brothers I have photographed. And these may be some of the cutest little squishy lips i have ever photographed. So all round it was a good shoot, even if she did pee on daddy!

oh gosh

What on earth was i thinking?
One weekend, two photographers, one engaged couple,
a ballerina and eight kids under ten. I must be crazy!

Thanks to all who replied to the model call at such short notice, I coudnt fit everyone in but I have never seen such a bunch of gorgeous kids!

A few people have asked why on earth would i spend one of my rare weekends off doing this? Well, it started off as a simple idea. I wanted to do a workshop with a photographer from America who was visiting Australia. But it was soooo expensive and in US dollars. But i love work shops. I love learning new things, being challenged, trying new things. So we thought we'd do our own workshop, but not a workshop. Kind of an anti-workshop. So lets get a couple of child models and try something different. Do your favourite type of shoot. Shoot what you love. Which sounds great. My dream shoot? What could be better! Of course the whole thing has taken on a life of its own and gotten bigger and bigger and i am crossing all of my fingers and all of my toes that i can pull it off.

Wish me luck and watch the blog to see what we come up with!

child models needed

I need some models for a creative shoot that I am doing this weekend ( the 22nd/23rd of August ). I need a boy and a girl aged between about three and eight, they must be totally gorgeous, easy going and you must be willing to sign a model release so i can use the photos for my portfolio and online. The session will be free and we will give you a print credit as well. Please email me skye(at)skyerocketstudio.com.au if you are interested, and if you can please include some pics of your kids with your email!

We will probably need you on Saturday or Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours. Please let me know your availability in your email. If i have shot you previously you are probably already in my portfolio, so I am looking for new stars! We are finalising the time table on Wednesday - i am shooting creative shoots the whole weekend, and getting my engagement shoot done on Friday afternoon. Since I am having such a huge weekend we will be closed on Monday.

ryder and hunter

Hunter had already had some shoot lovin' so now it's little brothers turn. Anyone who photographs kids knows that the second hardest request you can get is photographing two young siblings together. If you want nice expressions on both, make that doubly difficult. ( The hardest being getting the whole family with young siblings all with nice expressions at the same time! ) So i was pretty impressed when I got this shot of the two of them together!

random friday { with diamonds }

Helllo Friday! Lets get random.

1. I got my engagement ring yesterday. Tis very sparkly!
2. apple and berry crumble with ice cream for morning tea is both good and bad
3. i have no idea who will shoot my wedding photos. ok, i may have some ideas but i'm just not telling cause we havent decided where we are having the wedding, or even when.
4. i know a lovely mum who has some gorgeous baby girls clothes for sale, mainly in sizes 00 and 000, really pretty stuff and most is brand new, some still have tags. let me know by email if you are interested and i will shoot your details off to her. otherwise i will buy it all and i dont even have kids. but it would be for the studio. of course.
5. my new lounge for the studio arrived today, hopefully the boys can pick it up. that means a rearrange of the studio may be in order for this weekend.
6. i am booking up about four weeks in advance at the moment and that is only going to increase as wedding season starts up, so keep that in mind if you are going to book a portrait session soon.
   
7. i am having a big shoot out weekend in august and might need models so will do a blog post on that soon. time to get creative and have a play! hopefully the weather will co-operate.
8. i was excited to see the pink blossoms have started to flower, and so has the wattle, so that means spring is on the way. that means sessions outside in the sunshine! woo hoo!
   

baby sophie { one week old }

We actually did Sophie's shoot on the day that she was due. Not that I think Mummy and Daddy minded that she came a week early, cause that meant they had a whole extra week of snuggling her. Lots and lot and lots of snuggling.

john { one year old }

I have had so many one year olds lately! Its such a good age to do a shoot, they have such cute little personalities. Of course they have their own way of doing things...

We had balloons and cupcakes to celebreate John's birthday. He was impressed with both and we had a fun session in the studio. Look at his little chubby belly. So cute!

boston

I love the name Boston. He was such a sweetie. Doesnt he look a treat in his little hat?
( From the MILK collection ) Although I am sure he was trying to tell me he wasnt the biggest fan, cause he kept wiggling in it and covering his face up. He was such a little wiggler.

sadie { one year old }

I have been lucky enough to shoot Sadie quite a few times in the first year of her life. She is such a little piece of cutie pie. She says "cute" a lot which is... well... its really cute! This shoot was to celebrate her first birthday. I just wanted to snuggle her up and keep her.

I am totally in love with the pettiskirt. I think I might have yelped with delight when I saw it. Its just so gorgeous and a perfect outfit to celebrate her first birthday.