The 2nd of December marked the 40th National Day for the United Arab Emirates. The National Day is a huge affair for members of the UAE, and this year was a particularly huge celebration!

I photographed Reem (a very patriotic ambassador!), for the UAE embassy magazine in Canberra. Reem is a stunning model and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her on this project!

Just over a week ago, I was lucky enough to be part of a charity event for Bellyful Dunedin. Bellyful is a not-for-profit organisation that does an amazing job at supporting mothers with newborns, and mothers with sick children... by supplying meals and filling the plates on the table! This is a bunch of willing and caring mums who know what it feels like to suddenly have your life turned around with a new baby... and they want to help other mums wherever they can.

Bellyful Dunedin was launched with a fundraising evening called 'Be Beautiful with Bellyful"! This was a FANTASTIC event for ladies of all ages! We were treated to talks by fashion adviser, Fiona Jenkin, from 'True Expression Personal Image Coaching' and Christal from 'Christal Allpress Make-Up'. Fiona spoke about how to buy clothes that suit your body and personality, and how to mix and match all those clothes that sit in your wardrobe gathering dust with this seasons fashions. And Christal gave us all hot tips on applying natural and evening make-up! There were also heaps of stalls, auctions and prizes of all things good and girlie... like jewellery, chocolate, beauty therapies etc!

Part of my job on the night was to do a mini photo shoot for the two beautiful ladies who won the personal make-over to reveal on the night!! Cassandra and her mum, Veronica, were the fabulously deserving winners, and WOW did they look great on the night!

This is Veronica and Cassandra the week before the event... thanks Fiona for supplying this image!

Fiona and Christal did such a great job at re-doing Cassandra and Veronica's looks with beautiful colours to suit their skin tones, and clothes to flatter and make them look gorgeous! And hairdresser Jolene White, cut and coloured their hair! Don't they look AMAZING?!?! I highly recommend you go see these girls if you feel your look and style needs a bit of a spruce up! I am pretty tempted!

Fiona aims to "create great style, inspired by you"... and that is exactly what these ladies all did - they took all Cassandra and Veronica's great features and personalities, to create a style they were going to feel comfortable and amazing in. And it worked!! Check out the beautiful, newly 'made-over' ladies...

Cassandra and Veronica just looked gorgeous, and hopefully felt absolutely beautiful! Cassandra is getting married in a years time, so Veronica's look was inspired by modern 'mother of the bride' styles. They both looked elegant and classy, and we had such a fun wee 15 minute shoot in the middle Southern Cross Hotel.

And just because I think this is such a stunning pic... here is Christal (the fab make-up artist I collaborate with!), with her luscious fake eyelashes for the evening!

Big ups to Bellyful Dunedin (and in particular, Becca Toschi, who organised the whoooole thing!), for an awesome girls night out. Thanks to everyone who supported the evening and came along... please check out Bellyful and the wonderful work they do.

And of course, thank you Veronica and Cass for being stunning models, and for being YOU! Fiona, Christal and Jolene did an amazing job at just simply letting the 'you' shine out of you! XOXO

Laura Lidgard is one of those girls who is so genuinely beautiful inside and out! As you will see, she is an absolute stunner... and she is also always so smiley, bubbly and happy, and SO SO lovely!! She has always been very supportive and encouraging about my work, and I have always wanted to photograph her!

At the moment I am working with a young girl, Tanisha, who is passionate about photography, and is getting some work experience with me! This fashion shoot with Laura was the perfect opportunity for Tanisha to come out shooting, to learn a whole lot, try out her exciting new camera, and to get some experience in portraiture. You will meet Tanisha in another blog later on next month! For the meantime tho... let's get onto the pics of Laura...

Laura works in the Beauty department at Farmers, so she knows a thing or two about looking good. Her make-up looked incredible on the day, and she did it herself! She absolutely loves her job, so go in and visit, and see what she can do for you!

Laura you are so beautiful!

A change of scenery, and a wardrobe change. The next part of the shoot got a little bit sexier, a little sassier, annnnd a little more public too! Let's just say the boys walking past took a double take.

Reeeeoooow!

And let's also meet Tanisha!! I am loving meeting up with her and teaching her as much as I can about being a photographer. She has a really creative eye and I know she will definitely get to where she wants to be. Passion + talent = winning formula.

So completely gorgeous! Thank you SO much Laura, you made an amazing model, Tanisha and I had heaps of fun!! I hope you see how absolutely beautiful you are! XOXO