off for a wedding { closed for a while }

My next wedding is on Stradbroke Island, I know, poor me! I will be closed from Wednesday and back in next Thursday the 7th of October. Apart from having cocktails on the beach, this will put everything at the studio back a week. So the cocktails better be really REALLY good.

And as usual i am stressing about what to pack. And how to cart all my camera gear up there safely, there is no way they are checking my camera in, so i hope it fits as hand luggage, and how much gear do i really need, and can i book in for a massage while i'm up there cause i really need one, and its not fair i have to work at the wedding cause i dont get to wear heels or a dress and i hope the light is good up there, and if our flight is delayed by five minutes we will miss the coach to catch the ferry.... AND i am booked out for the year and have a wait list already for next year. And its eleven o'clock on a Monday night and instead of blogging I should be sleeping cause i have two back to back shoots in the morning... so goodnight!

booked out for 2010 { wagga wagga child portrait photography }

It had to happen, but i was expecting it a bit later! I am completely booked up for 2010. I can still do a few shoots in December, but this wont get your photos ready in time for Christmas.

Wednesday the 22nd of December will be my last day of work this year, and we will be closed till the 17th of January. As soon as i get my hands on a new diary for 2011 i will be opening up it up for bookings, and i have a waiting list already for the new year.

the wedding of tamika and rodney

Tamika and Rodney held their ceremony at the Borambola Winery and their reception at the Manor. The Borambola Winery has spectacular views for your ceremony, and we were lucky that the rain helf off for us. We did have to take shelter from the wind for the family photos, but Tamika had done some detective work and found us a great old shearing shed to use for their location session.

the work experience girl

As a general rule, I dont take work experience students. Its just a bit awkard because the studio and my house are the same building. And i dont work regular hours, or have any kind of routine. I am trying to get a routine but its difficult. But i made an exception for Taryn, who has spent three jam packed days here at the Rocket Ranch. I had a location shoot booked in while she was here so she came along to that, and i used her as a fill in model to check my light and chair location while i waited for the client to arrive.

I think the biggest lesson to be learnt was that running a photography studio is only 10% photography. The rest is all that other stuff : downloading, backing up, editing, entering payments, more editing, sales sessions, cleaning up, doing window displays, dropping files off, picking up orders, packing orders.... and the odd hot chocolate to keep it all moving along.

friday favourites { wagga wagga location portrait photographer }

Friday favourites for this week!

1. Cherry blossoms. They are the prettiest things. I keep trying to find some time to take photographs of them when its not raining. Just looking at them makes me happy.
   
2. My new Lipsmackers by Paul Frank that smell like Mika's Sweet Icecream and Chachi's Fried Icecream. Not tested on animals.
3. Blue skies with big fat white puffy clouds and the time to just watch them float by.
4. The nice note i got from a client in the mail. Warm and fuzzy is always nice.
5. Lindt dark chocolate with orange. Enough said on that one!
   

what to wear { family session }

Picking a colour palette is a great way to get your outfits to look photogenic together without being too matchy-matchy. Mums dress is the start point, and then the blues and fuschia are picked up out of that.

blair . seven months old . { wagga child photographer }

Blair will get much love from his two big sisters. He was a such a happy smiley boy!

what to wear { for boys } wagga portrait photography

Another outfit suggestion for boys from Pumpkin Patch

what to wear { for boys } wagga portrait photography

I seem to find boys what to wear posts harder than girls. They always seem to have text and big images on their shirts, but i dont mind this one. Its kinda funky. From Pumpkin Patch.

display idea

Every time i do a display idea post i get just a little more inspired to do my own!
Loving these two ideas, found on Emmas Blog via Norweigan Elle Interiors

rubi { ten weeks old } wagga baby photography

Doesnt Rubi Rose look sweet in her little purple hat?

nate { eight days old } wagga newborn photographer

Can you get much sweeter! Look at those smoochy lips.
He made me work for it, and gave me washing to do, but I was smitten from the first.

hunter { ten months old } wagga child photography

Hunter came in strong with the biggest smiles and giggles. He needed a little encouragement later on but his mum had it covered with a round of song, which gave us another round of smiles.

cake smash.... with a cannon??

what to wear { family session }

I have three main pieces of advice for what to wear.
1. Your outfits need to be tonally similiar but it doesnt have to be the same colour. So all the same type of tone - dark, light, pastel, bright etc.
2. Choose a colour palette. In the example above its red, chocolate and grey. Try not to have more than three colours, but you can usually add black, white and denim and it still works.
3. Dont be too perfectly co-ordinated. And you really dont have to wear jeans and white t-shirts. If you wont go out for dinner in your outfits you have selected for your photo shoot then maybe you are just a bit too co-ordinated.

The example above would look great in the studio but would also look fabulous on location.

Extra tip : for small girls still wearing nappies, if they wear a skirt make sure to put some cute nappy covers or footless leggings on underneath so if they sit down you cant see the nappy in the photos.

poppy and heidi { wagga kids portrait photography }

Heidi and Poppy came in for their shoot on the way to see the Fairy Show that was in town. Heidi did her best ballet all around the studio while Poppy just chilled and took everything in.

sophie { part two : pretty in pink } wagga wagga child photographer

I had these parasols in my car, and a little yellow chair, and they were the perfect props to finish off our session ( more pics from this session in the previous post ). A beautiful splash of colour against that lovely green grass.

A note to mums : get a shot with your kids. I know you think you look awful, but do it for your kids. They will think you are the most beautiful woman in the whole world and their opinion is one that counts.