LIFE: CAPTURED masterclass with Ronnie

Ever since I heard about their new venture, I've been so excited for Ronnie and Trish. These two women are seriously motivated and it's inspiring to see. After running several LIFE CAPTURED workshops they've just launched a beautiful website, LIFE: CAPTURED Inc. I love their mission and their tagline, 'The modern school of memory keeping.' On October 17th, I will be attending Ronnie's masterclass, Photo Organisation with Lightroom, and I cannot wait!

In her own words:

This masterclass is perfect for anybody who feels overwhelmed by all the photos and other media files that they have. Together, you will learn how to consolidate, re-name, organise, manage, and keyword every one of your photo files - from the past, present and the future. "No file left behind" will become your mantra. You will leave this masterclass feeling confident in your own ability to keep your photo library well-organised.

- Ronnie

I'm looking forward to learning from Ronnie; she is the most organised and efficient person I have ever met, and if even a little bit of that rubs off I will be grateful! As I take on professional photography work, I find that I'm documenting our lives less, and I'm not very happy about it. I'm hoping that establishing a really solid system will help me in my own memory keeping efforts. And I have to say that I'm also quite keen to catch up with Ronnie (it's been a while) and have a day on my own in the beautiful Northern Beaches…

If you're interested, they're offering a $75 discount for this first round of masterclass. You can sign up here or email ronnie@lifecapturedinc.com

I hope to meet some of you there!

a photography update

I have a couple of photos in the latest issue of Australian Yoga Journal (the chai article) / My new website

I've always been the girl with a camera glued to my face. When I first went to Europe on a high school exchange, I came back with thousands of photos, and that was before digital. I took some courses and got to know my way around a darkroom, and then, my dad gave me a DSLR for my birthday/Christmas. I took so many photos that first winter with my Nikon. I literally have albums upon albums filled with pictures of Scout.

I kept shooting, but never really got to know my camera and all it was capable of. In the last couple of years, I've made it my mission to change that. I switched to Canon, did a workshop, picked other photographers' brains, and practiced, practiced, practiced. I've spent the last year doing maternity, newborn and family sessions for friends, and now those friends are recommending me to their friends. It's wonderful, but also a bit scary to all of a sudden be declaring myself a photographer. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I feel that way about most things in life, and so I won't let it stop me.

All that to say that I have a new website, hooray! It's a place dedicated to my photography, complete with a blog of its own. The design is simple and it's easy to navigate, which is just what I wanted. I have my brilliant friend Alanna to thank for it.

I'm happy to say that I'm now available for maternity, newborn and family shoots. Feel free to get in touch with any questions or to book a session.

sydney maternity photographer: vanessa

Last month, I travelled up the coast to photograph my friend's sister in law. We shot at Bouddi National Park, where the conditions were wild and windy. But 38 week pregnant Vanessa didn't complain at all, not even as we hiked through the mud. She was a trooper.

I have to say, I was a bit nervous about this shoot as we had to do it at noon on a very sunny day. As any photographer will tell you, these are not the most ideal conditions. That said, it was good for me to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, and I'm quite happy with how the photos turned out.

p.s. more photos from Bouddi

sydney maternity photographer: katia

A few weeks ago, the lovely Katia got in touch to see if I could do maternity and newborn photos for her. As you all know, I'm a big fan of baby bellies so of course I said, "yes please!" We met last week for a session in Bondi, and spent an hour dodging tourists and chasing the sun to get the shot. No baby news to report yet, but if you'd like to find Katia you can read her blog here and check out her shop here.

yoga photography: sandy

Meet Sandy, my friend and former roomie. She's a Jivamukti yoga teacher, co-creator of Yogeeks, co-founder of Queer & Trans* Yoga and all around awesome person. We got together a couple of weekends ago to do yoga photos in the backstreets of Newtown, with the many graffiti walls as our backdrop. Funny story: while we were doing our thing, there was this guy drinking beer and watching us. That sounds creepy, but it wasn't really. After a while he came up to us and explained that we were shooting in front of his work; he was so excited that we were appreciating it. Gotta love Newtown.

portrait photography: stella

Last week I got to photograph my friend Stella, who wanted some photos for her business. We were going for a cosy, wintery vibe and I love how these turned out. It's been unseasonably warm here lately, but we met early in the morning when it was cold enough to wear scarves and cup our hands around hot mugs of coffee. Despite the fact that Stella warned me she hates having her photo taken, we had a great time and she was a brilliant model!

Stella is a yoga teacher and health coach, as well as a PR wizard. I'm always glad when I get the chance to go to her classes, especially her yin classes, which always leave me feeling so relaxed. You can find out more about her and the work she does here.

newborn photography: hannah

A week after taking these photos of Helen, little Hannah entered the world early on a Sunday morning. I went to visit the new family of four when she was just five days old. A tiny little thing (weighing under 3 kg!) with the sweetest cheeks and pouty lips, she made the perfect model. I could have photographed her all day (and did take around 300 photos - culling for this post was hard). It was almost enough to make me clucky, almost...

maternity photography: helen

On Easter Sunday I woke up early to take photographs of my friend's bump. Helen started coming to my prenatal yoga classes when she was pregnant with her first baby, a spunky little guy named Dylan. Now she's about to have a girl, and our group of mummy friends will have another baby to dote on.

I'm really falling in love with this kind of work. It compliments my job as a prenatal yoga teacher so well - my passion for bellies and babies manifesting in another way. It's a dream of mine to start doing this more and more…

An update - since writing this post, Helen has had her baby, little Hannah. I'lll be doing some newborn photos of her this week, so stay tuned for those...

family photography: 365 days of summer

Way back in July, I shared photos of Helen and 6 month old Summer, frolicking in the winter sun. To celebrate Summer turning 1, we decided to do another shoot, this time in their home. When I look at these next to the 6 month photos, I just can't believe how much she's grown! From a roly poly baby with a gummy smile to a walking, talking little girl. Amazing. I love these two so much.

maternity photography: Ellen

This is only my second maternity shoot being on the other side of the camera, and I loved it. Ellen was right at the end of her pregnancy and it was a delight to shoot her and her belly. She was in such a good place, calm and happy and, of course, looking forward to meeting her baby boy. Exactly 2 days after these photos were taken, Ellen and Regan welcomed their second son into the world… Finn Manaia Arthur. Belinda was there to capture the birth, so hopefully she'll share some of those shots on her blog soon.

Congratulations again Ellen, Regan and Noah!

newborn photography: Phoenix

Last week, I had the pleasure of photographing 3 day old Phoenix. The baby who used to live in this belly and who belongs to one of my dearest friends. He's their 3rd son, and he slept peacefully while family life carried on around him. Those sleepy newborn days are so precious and I'm glad I could be there to capture it.