Meet the super happy, stylish, relaxed and awesome Spencer team! I photographed these guys as part of our live shoot at our latest Through Your Eyes Photography Workshop! They were an absolute dream to photograph... so much fun, full of personality and laughter, and up for anything!
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It's time for another mash-up blog of a handful of portrait shoots from over the past 9 months or so! Whilst juggling working and having Eli full-time too, my time for blogging has become pretty sparse! So in order to actually share some work, I have to make a compromise somewhere... and that means not able to blog every shoot and write as I used to! But when it's ok with my wonderful clients, I do love to share some of the gorgeous families, toddlers, couples, & baby bumps that I've had the privilege of photographing!
This first gorgeous little face belongs to Miss Tilly! She came into the studio to help me model a little tutu which I needed to photograph for a client... and I couldn't help taking more gorgeous photos of her exploring the studio too... I have a preeetty special place in my heart for my wee nieces and nephews! And they are growing in number... and height! Little Annabelle is the latest addition to to the Truman family... she's actually 9 months old now, and ridiculously adorable! She always has the biggest smile plastered across her face any time you lay your eyes on her :)
But going back a year now... my beautiful sister Sarah was 26 weeks pregnant while were on a winter holiday in Hanmer Springs. So we set out to unknown locations with her gorgeous family, to capture this awesome time for them. These guys are no strangers to the blog... if you've been around here for a while you have probably seen me share photos of Penelope and Matthew, along with little Victoria, who they sadly lost at 38 weeks. This is a rather large blog... because there are just so many photos that I love from the maternity shoot through to darling little Annabelle making her entrance into this world! I met Aileen and Hayden on a beeeautiful evening out at Ocean View beach for their maternity shoot! Such a gorgeous wee spot that I looove shooting at. And these two (and their hilarious, hyperactive little dog!) were so natural and easy to work with! I love beachy maternity shoots... so many textures and colours... and that wintery light! Mmmmm...
And this beautiful little baby bump happened to be little Henry John Craw... and he's as gorgeous as ever, as you'll see below! He was so attentive and alert for the entire newborn shoot... and soooo calm! Gorgeous little man :) Check out both their maternity and newborn sessions... I find myself constantly feeling the need to apologise for blogging shoots so late these days... but I've decided I'm totally gonna let that go and just be proud of myself for actually doing one! Sometimes it's just not easy juggling this working Mumma thing when my only work time is while Eli sleeps... and there is always pressing client work that needs to get out the door too. But blogging is something I will always love doing, so when I get the chance, I'll keep slowly working away to put some of my favourites together for you :)
This is turned into a huge blog... but this was one of my favourite maternity shoots ever, so you're getting to see heaps! #sorrynotsorry Gemma was one of my first graduation clients ever many years ago, so I was so stoked to hear from her again when she contacted me again about maternity and newborn photos! Gemma and Jeff are just the most lovely people ever... and now they have beautiful little Bethany lighting up their lives too! She's actually not very little anymore though... in fact she will be one at the end of this month! All the more reason to show off her maternity and newborn photos now ;) Enjoy this stunning winters evening maternity shoot, and lifestyle newborn shoot at their home with 9 day old Bethany xx Sometimes it really blows my mind that I have the privilege of sharing in other people's stories. And sometimes those stories aren't all sunshine and lollipops - sometimes they involve hard journeys and difficult roads, though thankfully these often lead to beautiful things.
Rebecca is truly beautiful inside and out. This incredibly strong, stunning lady and her amazing man have been through multiple journeys of loss and countless heartbreaks. Rebecca has carried each of her babies with so much love and care, but for reasons unknown, she and Mace have never been able to hold those sweet children in their arms. They began to lose hope that a pregnancy would ever go to full-term, and that they would ever be able to raise a gorgeous little child together. I've been looking forward to sharing this blog for a long time now. Like, long before this beautiful baby was born, long before these maternity photos were taken, and actually... long before Heather was even pregnant with little 'Baby Boo'! I didn't know it would be this specific story, or this little boy... and I didn't know the journey Heather and Doug would be on to get to this point. But photographing our amazing friends on their road to parenthood has been a true privilege... a mini Richardson has always been highly anticipated and desired! It hasn't been an easy road to get there, but it's been a journey full of growth, faith, strength and peace.
I am soooo happy to share that this adorable little man... Isaac Sebastian Richardson... joined the big wide world at 9:55pm on Christmas Day!! The most precious all of gifts and an answer to prayer, this little blessing came in the most beautiful, calm fashion weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces. And he is DIVINE. Really divine. And guess what?! He's also my Godson!! I am soooo honoured to have another little man as an important part of my life, and Liam and I are excited to be journeying through parenthood with Heather and Doug. We just adore this family so much. It's exciting, nerve-wracking, overwhelming, amazing, and miraculous all in one. I am beyond grateful for the life inside of me. I feel like I still must have weeks and weeks to go, yet suddenly I'm counting down the days in single digits! Where has the time gone?! I have LOVED being pregnant. I have loved being connected so fully to this wriggly little baby... I just can't fathom the fact that soon it's going to be on the outside! Sure, there have been times when I've sat eating dry crackers at 3am 'cos I can't sleep, times when my big bump has got me wedged between the supermarket checkout and the trolley, times when I've laughed so hard that it's turned into inconsolable tears, many times when I've thought the baby's boney little bum and foot pushing out so hard on my stomach are actually going to poke a hole in my side. And many times in the first 18 weeks that I fertilized a patch in the garden with, ah, surprise spew. But those moments for me have been happiness. My pregnancy has been super smooth and I still feel really good, which I am so thankful for. I loved shooting weddings throughout and was super blessed with awesome clients over this last season! I am so aware of how lucky I am... so aware that some people desperately want to be pregnant and can't, lots have hard and complicated pregnancies, and far too many go through the worst times imaginable losing their precious babies. I have been through all of these things with friends in the past 9 months, which has been incredibly difficult. Because of this, I've been so grateful for every crazy shape that I've watched my stomach morph and wriggle into, and for every single day that I've carried this baby. People keep asking if we are 'ready'. Ha! I'm pretty sure nothing is going to prepare us for what is to come. But we are ready to try. Ready to try to attempt this parenting thing... with all the joys, struggles, mistakes, tiredness, and happiness along the way. Oh. my. goodness. We're actually about to have a baby. It's obviously happened trillions of times before, but woooah... a new little human is going to enter our world sometime in the next few days/weeks. One that we are solely responsible for. One that we will fall in love with more than we can ever imagine now. One that will provide more challenges for us to overcome than we have ever known. One that is going to change our lives completely and utterly!
Are we grown up enough for that?! Tessa and Marc are a gorgeous couple, about to embark on a new adventure. Soooo many people in this world are on this adventure each and every day, yet for each person it is incredibly exciting, incredibly rewarding, and incredibly challenging. Setting out on this adventure, they have no idea what they are getting themselves into, and along the journey, they will experience ups and downs... perfect moments, nightmare moments, and everything in between. But all in all, it's an adventure they can't wait to begin! They are about to be the parents of a beautiful child. A child that currently they are calling 'Lemming'! I was honoured to be the first person (other than the scan lady!) to know the gender of this little baby inside Tessa's perfectly gorgeous bump! Tessa and Marc wanted to find out if they were having a girl or a boy at the photo shoot we did at 35 weeks, and came to me with plenty of crazy ideas they wanted to incorporate! They came down from Christchurch, gave me a sealed envelope and a Piñata, and asked me to fill it with blue or red confetti (they don't like pink!)... so you can all be privvy to the surprise as well! The buzzy bee proved MUCH harder to smash than anyone expected... but is this a hint of colour... ?! It's a GIRL!!!!! Now that we were done with bashing the pinata, and I could finally stop holding my breath so that I didn't ruin the surprise... we carried on for some more gorgeous portraits! Tessa is beeeautiful!! Pregnancy really does suit Tessa! She is totally glowing... The lovely men at one location even found us some real trains to play on! Marc was pretty happy about that :) Tessa and Marc, thank you so much for asking me to capture this exciting time in your life! All the veeeery best for the weeks to come... not long to go now (hopefully!). Can't wait to meet wee Lemming at some stage! You will be amazing, loving parents, and I can't wait to hear the news! xx
Any day now, our hearts are going to burst with love for a new tiny person! A little baby for Sarah and Nick... and a new niece or nephew for me and Liam! Yuss... we're always keen for new mini humans to try and squeeze favourite Aunty and Uncle status out of. They are known as 'Rainbow Babies' - babies that are born following the loss of another baby through miscarriage or stillbirth. At first I thought that sounded a bit airy-fairy. But there is a beautiful and very true meaning behind it... Beautiful, bright rainbows come after a storm. They are symbols of hope and promise. Everyone experiences storms of differing degrees. But these storms shape us and grow us... and we appreciate the rainbows at the other end even more. Last year we shared the story of my sister and family losing their precious girl, Victoria, at full-term. I wrote that blog wanting Victoria's little life to be celebrated, not swept away as if it didn't happen. We wanted to acknowledge the times in life that don't always go the way we plan them. At the time there was nothing could have prepared us for what happened, it was so unexpected - everything was looking normal and healthy until the moment her heart stopped beating. But looking back, we can see the many ways our family was being prepared. We can see the abundant blessings that Victoria brought us and many others. We can see how much she changed so many hearts, without her even seeing the world. Her short life was more than valuable. Amongst the huge sadness and grief, there is a strength and a unity that grows through the storm. And there is an incomprehensible happiness knowing that soon they will be blessed with another beautiful child. We are beyond excited about meeting this little bundle who is already such an incredibly loved and valued part of our family. Sarah and Nick are the perfect parents for this little one, and can't wait to hold him or her in their arms.... for the next step in their family journey. I've been sending telepathic messages to the baby to stay in that tummy until I was able to post this blog though, and to arrive into this world on a day that fits around my schedule! So far, so good ;) How ridiculously adorable is Penelope?! She's such a big girl now... Three years old, and about to be a big sister! And apparently, a mother soon too. She's been having extremely frequent scans with her toy stethoscope and over the past 8 months has had many different babies in her tummy... ranging from baby caterpillars to her latest - a girl called 'January'. January has been coming out in '5 weeks' for about the past 3 months! If I got $1 every time someone told me they thought Sarah was one of the most gorgeous pregnant women they have ever seen, I'd be rich. And it's true, she really does do pregnancy extremely gracefully! She's all baby... and that's one pretty big bub inside that tummy. She also doesn't complain. About anything. If all I knew about pregnancy was through her, I'd be thinking it was a dream! The beach and Penelope have never reeeeally mixed. The feeling of sand between her toes is more of a terrifying, world-ending situation, rather than relaxing or fun. We amped her up about going to the beach for the photos though, and she kept asking if it was time to go yet! But when we arrived and there were horses galloping around, she opted to watch from the safety of the car, because the horses might eat her. Fair enough. If I was faced with an animal about 10x my size, I would probably stay in the car too. Sarah, you are a true beauty. When I do maternity shoots with Sarah, they seem to be multi-faceted, multi-day shoots. It's just what you do for sisters who you love photographing! So welcome to Day 2... something a little more fancy for the ladies of the house! And I'll end with these images, because as one of my fabulous friends said to me... they are such celebration images, and Sarah is a preggy babe!! The fact that these are blue actually holds no clues as to whether it will be a boy or a girl - Nick found out at the 20 week scan, but Sarah didn't! How they manage that, I do not know... but if anyone can keep a secret, it's Nick. Sarah, Nick and little P - ah! SO excited. It's so surreal to think you will have another child sometime in the very near future... you are such an amazing family and we love you so, so much. Can't wait to come down to meet him or her! All the love and prayers and blessings in the world xoxoxo
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