I have known this lady for a while – 25 years in fact! We met waaaay back in 1987, when we were 10 years old! Kellie is one of my dearest friends in the universe, and I was beyond excited to be photographing her wedding on 12-12-12.
Kellie is one of those gals that always looks immaculate. She is a talented hairdresser and wonderful mum, and although she always *looks* amazing, she is the most down-to-earth, fun, caring and quirky person that I know! Not to mention an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Mummy too!
So, Kel and her man have been together for 10 years, and have 3 beautiful babies together. It was fitting that they finally tied the knot in grand style!
We travelled from far and wide and converged, old friends and new, upon the teeny tiny country town of Mundubbera in rural Qld. We were treated with all sorts of goodies and much laughter was had, and of course, being a country wedding, we were provided with some amazing locations for our photos as well!
Being the amazing stylist that she is, my beautiful friend left no detail forgotten and *this* was a wedding that was beautiful, and memorable from beginning to end! From the beautiful dress, and dapper suits through to the A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. cake and yummy hand-made chutneys/relishes for the guests to take with them, the day was a feast for the eyes and food for the soul. I even got to do a speech at this one! That goes to show just how special this couple are to me! (Of course there are no pics to prove it as I was talking and not photographing at the time!)…
Join me as I share with you one of the most special weddings I have ever had the privilege of photographing. So the day began, when I woke up, walked outside and found this leaf on the ground in front of me. Anyone who is on this blog only has to take one look at my logo to understand the significance of it to me. It just *had* to be a sign of something special to come!
I am not ashamed to admit that I was PETRIFIED of shooting this ceremony! I mean, I *always* get super nervous before any wedding, but when it is the special day of somebody who you deeply care about, it makes it even worse! OMG, what if I somehow mucked it up?! How could I ever look them in the eye without feeling guilt ever again? In fact, when I arrived at the 3pm wedding to find before me a scene where the bride would have been facing DIRECTLY into the sun (so squinting in every shot!), very harsh dappled light, and half of the guests standing in shade, the other half sitting in the sun, and a sweltering hot day where everybody was searching for shade to cool down, I was even more scared! I went so far as to close my eyes and wish to my Grandma, and Kellie’s Grandma, both of whom have passed to the next life, to “please, please let a cloud come over during the ceremony!!” …just so that everybody could enjoy it in comfort, and I could photograph it without freaking out and using copious amounts of *unflattering* flash!
How amazed do you think I was when a nice plump cloud came over, the second the beautiful bride climbed out of the car, and didn’t move until the signing of the registry began. We were truly blessed! Everybody looked radiant and not a squint or a bead of perspiration in sight! So a big wave goes out to the combined efforts of our Grandmas who are still hard at work to look after us both! 😉
I have so much to share from this gorgeous day, and you can find Part II right HERE!
A few weeks ago, over a very emotionally charged 48 hours, I was witness to and photographed the fully circle of life. I photographed a wedding, two newborn sessions, a labour and birth, and sadly, 2 beautiful babes who were fighting for their precious little lives, and two very special little ones who had already left us.
I was overwhelmed. It took a lot for me to process emotionally, but I got through it due to the support of my beautiful family, and my amazing family at Heartfelt.
My job doing Brisbane family photography, allows me to be a “people watcher” in the absolute literal sense of the phrase. It is a necessity that I be observant, and respectful and empathetic and that I make real, honest connections with the people who have entrusted me to capture their most precious moments. It is a role that I take very seriously, and one which I am so very proud of. I am under no illusions, I know I am not an amazing photographer. I know I am not the most creative and that I am not doing anything that will revolutionise the industry. I know that I struggle sometimes on the technical side of things, even after doing it for 12 years. However, my “gift” if I have one, is the ability to read body language, and to communicate with people at a deep level. I feel their pain as if it is my own, and their happiness too. I then get to capture it and show it back to them, and hopefully, usually, they get to revere in it all over again, every time they view their images. Sometimes this is a hard thing, when I walk away from a session and take the emotion with me, but usually it is amazing and always it is an honour.
Those of you who follow my work would know that I work for Heartfelt. It is a wonderful organisation of talented and dedicated photographers who volunteer their time to capturing the cherished memories of families who have experienced a still birth or the imminent loss of their beautiful babe or child. I adore the work that I do for Heartfelt. It is not for everyone but I know that I have been given whatever it is in me that means I can cope, and I feel as though it is my duty to use this ability to help those who need it.
Last year, I met a beautiful family during their darkest hour. Their little man, Liam, had made his way into the world much too early. He fought for a few precious hours, but it wasn’t to be. I was the one to take the call that day. He was the first baby I had ever photographed who was deceased. I remember walking into that room and his Mummy looked up from the hospital bed and said to me “I am so sorry, you have such a hard job”. I was speechless. How somebody, in this situation, could be considering how I might be feeling was inconceivable to me, and was an absolute testament to the kind of people that they are.
I went about photographing this perfect little man, ensuring that I captured his last cuddles with his Mummy and Daddy, and all of the perfect details of his little face and fingers and toes. I returned to my car and cried. I came home, processed the images and moved on to my next job.
Fast forward to this year. I got an email from Heartfelt telling me of a project that they were producing – a book full of images captured by Heartfelt photographers and to be available to hospitals and families as a way to show them what we do and the kind of beautiful images they could expect to receive from our services. We were invited to submit images of our most memorable sessions with a brief explanation as to the circumstances surrounding them. Of course, Liam’s session was the obvious choice to me so I went about contacting the family to ask for their blessing to submit the images.
I was overjoyed when they contacted me to say that not only did I have their blessing but they were honoured to be chosen and moved by the explanation that I would be including with the images that I submitted. They also added a little note to the bottom of their email that read:
“…on another note we are well into our second pregnancy and are due to meet our little boy Harrison, one day after Liam was due last year”
Almost exactly one year on, they would be celebrating another momentous day in their lives!
Of course, immediately I offered to capture it for them, as my gift, how could I not?!
And so, last week, I visited their family, this time at their lovely home, and away from the sterile hospital where we had first met. They welcomed me with open arms, and proudly showed me the beautiful canvas that takes pride of place on their bedroom wall showcasing the images I captured for them of their first little boy. I was immediately humbled.
During our time together, we chatted openly about both of their little men, collecting china tea cups 🙂 , and celebrated how blessed they are to have had to precious little babies to cradle in their arms. All the while, inwardly, I was celebrating how blessed I am to have been invited to be a part of it all. They showered me with cups of tea, and home baked treats and lots of newborn cuddles. We laughed and cried. It was truly beautiful.
As I was leaving, Mummy and Daddy presented me with an envelope. They said to me “it isn’t much, but we wanted you to know how much we appreciate what you have done for us, we never could have afforded it otherwise”. I reluctantly took the envelope, I wasn’t there to be paid, but I knew it meant a lot to them and so accepted their lovely gesture.
I’ve just finished editing the images, and I think these images are beautiful, and I know I made a connection with a family that will be forever remembered, and that means more to me (and hopefully to them!), than anything else. I hope that you can all see and feel it too.
tan.x.
…and introducing little Harrison, such a beautiful blessing for a wonderful family…
Many thanks to Liam and Harrison’s family for graciously allowing me to share their story in the hope of spreading the word about what it is the Heartfelt does.
In a house with 5 kids, it is inevitable that sometimes I will have “little helpers”. In fact, my older kids are fast becoming as important to my workflow as I am. Their assistance on my shoots is becoming invaluable as they learn the skills needed to help me. I often say that I don’t know what I will do when they go out and get “real” jobs!
But, sometimes, I get “help” from the little ones too!
Yep, she is a little ratbag, but she is my ratbag, and for all the tea in China I wouldn’t have it any other way…
Early this year I visited my old stomping ground up in North Queensland as a Mackay Family Photographer. I love Mackay and love to visit, but this time it was all about work! When I met with Aimee and Beau, I knew that their family shoot would be different! Their funky style and their obvious deep connection motivated me to do something special and different.
I’ve wanted to share this session for the longest time, but just haven’t been able to find enough hours in the day to pay my blog the attention that it deserves. And so, here are my favourites from our short time together. Check out those gorgeous baby blues that their little man, Oliver has been blessed with!
I know, I know, I swore that I wouldn’t do it. I promised everybody that I would never again label myself as a “wedding photographer”. Well, I’ve also been known to eat my words on a regular basis. 🙂
Ok, so I am still not quite *there*… yet! However, my calendar is starting to fill out nicely with wedding bookings up until October next year (2013), and its looking like 70% of my business will be wedding clients in coming months!
Don’t get me wrong, I ADORE shooting weddings. I *am* a girl after all! When I stopped shooting them way back in 2006, it was so that I could have more time for my family on weekends, and I had burned myself out shooting up to 3 weddings per week (during wedding season) for 3 years running.
However, last year, a friend hounded me until I gave in and agreed to shoot her wedding. Which I did, and which I thoroughly enjoyed! Then, a past portrait client asked me to shoot hers. And then another, and then another. And so it goes. I have given myself a strict limit this time round though, to ensure a good balance and so that I am still available for the important things that my family needs too. 🙂
Well, now I am back with a fresh new perspective and a renewed love for all things LUUURV related! And, for some reason, I have been shooting a whole lot of very UN-weddingy, weddings! Having a ball with it, and can’t wait to see what lies ahead with my wedding clients in coming months.
So, in saying all of that, those of us who *do* shoot weddings, are faced with the constant challenge of trying to justify our pricing structure to our prospective clients. I am not facing this issue as much as I used to these days, having been an established professional for over 10 year now, but there is still the odd potential client who is desperately trying to crunch the numbers and “negotiate” my rates. There has been a lot of humour in blog and Facebook land about this lately, and rather than sit here and enter into a great big dialogue about professionalism and archivability and horrific disaster stories about dodgy wedding photographers, I am going to share some fun stuff, that might make you giggle a bit, but really also does a better job of explaining it than I could in my usual verbose manner.
Firstly, let me tell you that you will never see THIS happen at a wedding that I am photographing:
You don’t capture moments like these, by doing THAT! lol.
Of course, then there is the “Uncle Bob” phenomenon. We’ve all heard it before – “We love your work, but we just can’t squeeze a photographer into our budget. My Uncle Bob has a nice camera and said he would just take the photos for us. We can always Photoshop them afterwards to make them better”.
Hmmmm. Here’s a little something that I just created to explain why Uncle Bob is NOT a good choice for your day…
Or how about a friend of a friend who can take a nice shot or two? As photographers, we are always met with the scenarios that you see right here:
I personally, have been asked, I reckon, 80% of the questions in that video at weddings I have photographed. Funny, right? Yeah, you may not be laughing if it was your career that was being questioned as such.
Ok, so lets look at this a little further. I mean, realistically, we only spend like 12 hours or so with you on your day. How could we justify the fee that we charge?! It’s daylight robbery, don’t you think? ….erm, nope! Here’s a bit of a fly on the wall take on the life of a wedding photographer:
Ok, so we are all giggling right now, and its funny and stuff, but you know what, that image above is so true! These days, we might call ourselves “photographers” but realistically speaking, we spend more time in front of the computer than actually capturing photos. My husband and kids will certainly testify to this! In fact, I’m doing it right now, as I sit here preparing this blog post for you. This stuff doesn’t appear on my website on its own you know. 😉
To prove the point, one guy went out and actually completed a survey on wedding photographers. These are his results:
The Perception
ie. how society seems to *think* a wedding photographer spends their time
The Reality:
The source of these graphs is right here: The Secret Life Of a Wedding Photographer and also includes some more awesome information about just what it is that we do. I especially love this quote by photographer Jan Garcia: “On a day to day basis, marketing, networking and other business activities take such a big chunk of time that I consider weddings my day off!”
I do beg to differ a little though, as the graph above fails to include things such as location scouting, styling and vendor advice, panicked phone calls and text messages from brides at 5am 4 days before the wedding when the weather isn’t looking so great, shopping for props (this takes a lot of time! 😉 ), entering competitions (essential for marketing and credibility), submissions to editors and blogs and more. And on the day itself, we are so much more than “following people around with a camera”. I often take on many other roles too, for example:
Relationships Counsellor – “come on, lets sneak out the back and take the pics with your Dad and his new wife, so that your Mum won’t cause a scene”
Makeup artist – “let me re-do your lipstick for you” (making sure you don’t tell the bride that this was your way of removing the lipstick from her teeth without embarrassing her)
Kid wrangler – “hey guys, come over here and throw confetti/bubbles/rose petals/rice at me for a while!” (before somebody notices that you just picked your nose and then used the same finger to make “cool patterns” over the entire base layer of the wedding cake icing, before sticking it in your mouth”
Seamstress – said to crying bride whose entire bridal party and family had already left for the church – “it’s ok, I will sew your zip back together by hand, and nobody will ever know! don’t worry about being late, they aren’t going to start without you” – delivered of course with a big hug!
Animal handler – “yep, no problem, I can take your great big, drooling dog in the front seat of my car to the ceremony so that she can be a part of the day!” (I *loved* doing this by the way, she was a beautiful dog!).
Plastic surgeon – “yes, of course I can remove your new husband’s mohawk from all 623 frames that we shot on the day!”
These are all 100% true stories from weddings I have personally photographed, I kid you not!
Ok, so then there is this article, entitled, “The Pros Of Hiring A Pro” which I ADORE. It was written by an amateur photographer, Cody Ellerd, for Seattle Bride magazine, who assisted a professional wedding photographer , and was so amazed by what she experienced that she wanted to write about it. Sure, she’s in Seattle, which isn’t exactly Brisbane, but the context is still the same, wherever you are. There are two particular quotes from this article that really resonate with me:
1. “..But when those spontaneous moments that are here and gone in the blink of an eye happened, Joey caught them with lightning speed, while I lost many of them to improper focus or exposure.”
2. “…Joey’s attention to such minute detail went way beyond “Say cheese” and brought out the couple’s absolute best.”
I love that this article is written from the perspective of somebody who “thought they were pretty good with a camera”, and realised just how much pressure there is on the day, when so many things are out of the photographers control and you only get ONE chance to get it right. You can’t ask them to re-do the rings because your shot was out of focus! 😉
And then there is THIS, the brand new show on ABC called Photo Finish. This a show that pits “amateur” photographers against one another in various photographic challenges. The episode you see here was at a wedding. Remember, these are the “advanced amateurs” that we see here – they are even *better* than Uncle Bob/the friend of a friend who owns a nice camera, and its pretty scary stuff! I’m very relieved for the sake of the couple that the shows host was there to come to the rescue through-out the day!
There are so many other reasons that all could have a blog post dedicated to them individually, and we have all heard them before –
being able to anticipate what is about to happen, to ensure that they are at the right place at the right time
having experience with dealing with all kinds of people and social situations
producing consistency in quality of images (not just one or two “nice” shots)
the ability to deal with adverse weather/light/technical issues in a pinch, knowledge of locations and seasonal variables with light/weather
the ability to manipulate the light, scenery etc in such a way that they can “see” photo opportunities where others would not and to have an eagle eye and to look for photo opportunities where others wouldn’t.
no red eye!
no bad angles, up the nose shots, double chins etc – a professional photographer knows all the tricks to make you look your best!
back up gear in case of equipment failures
access to professional labs and book/album manufacturers (like the awesome companies I use – Queensberry, Seldex and Brilliant Prints)
insurance
membership to industry bodies (such as the AIPP) to ensure that skills and knowledge are always up to date
high quality equipment and skills to ensure that your images are of a professional quality and archivability
and much much more (including a free set of steak knives! 😉 ).
Ok, so this entire post has been a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I guess what it all comes down to is that you really, really, REALLY do “get what you pay for”. For me personally, I know that I really. do. care. about my client’s wedding days. I get so nervous and can barely sleep the night before I do a wedding as the significance and importance of my role in the day swirls around in my little head. I find myself regularly repeating this to my clients when I explain my nerves:
“I love being nervous before a wedding, it tells me that I genuinely care about what I am doing. It stops me from being complacent and keeps me on my toes. I always shoot so much better when I am nervous. I hope that I never lose those nerves for if that day ever comes, it will tell me that I no longer care about the important honour that I have been bestowed, and on that day, I will hang up my camera, and never shoot another wedding again.”
…and I mean every last word of it. Before you hire a photographer/friend of a friend/Uncle Bob, to capture your wedding day, please make sure that they care just as much, and can tick the boxes of the big list above too! And if they can’t, then pick up the phone and call a Pro, I promise you won’t regret that you did.
So if you have read this far, please go ahead and leave a comment and tell us your story, or one that you know of, that relates to wedding day photography (good or bad!), would love to hear from you!
