Waiting on Baby Marsh | Brisbane Maternity Photographer

Meet my beautiful friend Angie ... we have been friends since we were twelve years old, beginning grade eight together - both sporting very high, unmoving fringes typical of the early 90s, and I'm sure I remember that Angie's was always far more impressive than mine.  We spent a lot of time after we finished high school too, especially around the years her eldest daughter, Crystal was born.  We haven't seen each other in person for years now, and the first thing I realised when we met up for these photographs, was that she has not changed a bit since our teen years.  Both in her gorgeous looks, and in her kind and easy-to-laugh nature. 

Her little man kept Angie and Tim waiting right to the very end of our hot and humid summer in Brisbane, and even choose a super special day to be born, he made his grand entrance on February 29th.  One thing is for absolute certain, life for this little man will be full of so much laughter and a heck of a lot of love, not just from his parents and his siblings, but from his extended family too, especially a great gaggle of cousins to grow up surrounded by to play with and guide him through his years. 

Here are a handful of the photographs we made late on a Sunday afternoon at the City Botanic Gardens in Brisbane.  Working through these photographs to choose the few I wanted to showcase for this blog post, I couldn't help but grin the whole time, the joy you can see on their faces here is almost as real as it is in person with these guys. 

Another thing Angie & Tim's little boy will have are two doting back up mums in his big sisters.  The parenting this little man will receive is evident in these genuinely lovely girls.  Most teenagers are a little aloof or uninterested in hanging out with their family during a photo session, and while they weren't super keen on having their photo taken together, they did without complaining though.  They might not believe me now, but one day when they're older I know they'll appreciate it as much as their mum does now. 

Thank you, Angie and Tim for asking me to photograph this really special time of your life, it was a genuine pleasure spending the afternoon with you.  I can't wait to meet and snuggle your little boy, and hope your days in the coming weeks are full of sleep, milk-fuelled naps and lots of visitors popping over to cook you dinnerxx

Waiting for Baby Frost

As of yesterday morning, we are no longer waiting for Baby Frost.  Just two short days after we met to make these photographs, tiny and clearly impatient Harry decided to make his much anticipated arrival.  Thank goodness mother nature held out for us, because after postponing previously due to summer storms, I'm not sure that Harry would have waited any longer. 

Late Sunday afternoon we met at Wellington Point.  I asked Alyca and Matt to think of somewhere on the water near them that would be suitable for our session, because I know they spend a lot of time around the waters edge.  We kicked off our shoes and wandered down to the sticky mangrove-edged sand and played really.  This family of three, more on the cusp of becoming four than they knew, walked around muddy pools looking for treasures, chatted about their little boy on the way, and indulged in a fair few snuggles-come-tickles under the blanket made for Lyla by her great-grandmother. And when Lyla needed a break to head to the playground with dad, Alyca and I worked together to make a few portraits of her in-full-bloom pregnant form.

Lyla, (as you'll read further on) wasn't into having a conventional family photo taken, and while it would have been nice to have amongst their collection of photographs ... wow, I'm sure glad she protested so much, because look at what we made instead. 

I have never photographed a child who I couldn't win over, even just for a few seconds to take the sort of family photograph that everyone likes to have - three beautiful smiling faces looking down the lens of my camera.  But, I hadn't met Lyla before.  Dear, spirited Lyla - who is also as adorable as can be, as spirited children usually are - beat me.  The choc-chip cookies didn't help sway her, she took one in each hand and off she went.  I'm far from disappointed though, I'm impressed!  This gorgeous little lady, who knows exactly what she wants and what she does not, will be a force to reckon with as she grows up, so look out world.  Spirited children make for the most capable, confident and intriguing adults.  Probably not much help to mum and dad first thing in the morning right now, but enviable nonetheless.  

One thing Lyla will have on her side her whole life, is love.  And not just oodles of love lavished upon her, but she has the very best example of a really kind, completely joy-filled and loving relationship in her parents.  I didn't pose these two much, it was a very vague sort of "snuggle up together, feel free to have a kiss" and that was that.  Look at them.  It really brings tears to my eyes every time I look at these photographs, the love between them is obvious and powerful.  I don't think I have ever overheard so many I love you's being passed back and forth as I did in this session.  It's magic, and they're truly some of the lucky few. 

I know that today, this little family will be bunkered down in hospital marvelling at their new son and wondering how lucky they are to have these children.  I know that they will have already learnt how in an instant, that your heart is not divided, it only grows with a new baby.  And I know that they will be as awesome at parenting two children as they have been at parenting one. 

And I hope they know I will take them up on their offer to visit soon to be introduced to their son, and indulge in some precious newborn snuggles.  xx

Waiting for Squidge

My beautifully-spirited, hilarious friend Mardee and her adoring (and clearly, equally as hilarious) husband Pete met me in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens for the third in their series of three pregnancy portrait sessions, 22 days shy of their little darling's due date. 

There really is something about a woman at that point in her pregnancy, perhaps because she's a good friend, it seems more palpable with Mardee. Mardee is an easy person to be happy with, to have a truckload of fun with and laugh till your cheeks hurt. But there is a different version of joy beaming from her right now ... a heady combination of realising this dream about to come true and the ultimate version anticipation, I'm sure. As someone who cares for her happiness, it's an absolute joy to witness. It's a bigger honour to be entrusted with preserving this precious moment for her, a moment that will one day seem like it was just a blink of the eye. 

I wish I could take credit for all the gorgeous laughter in this set of photographs, but it's all them ... or all Pete. Laughter makes marriage go-round, right? They've got that in spades.  

Did I describe Pete as adoring? Well, this just confirms it all. I asked if there was something, in all three of their sessions that I've missed - speak now or forever hold your peace - Pete asked if we could recreate the final scene from the movie Notting Hill, so here it is. Their sweet version of 'happily ever after'.

You guys are rocking this life. Thank you for welcoming into your secret circle of becoming parents together, it's such a joy. I cannot wait to endlessly snuggle your little bundle of joy. x 

All except the last two frames, photographed on my Pentax 645n, with Portra 800 and the stunning 105mm lens. Developed an scanned by AllChromes, Brisbane. 

Waiting on Baby Cleeland V2.0

Waiting for your second baby isn't any less anticipation-filled than your first.  In fact, it's kind of more so because you know how amazing it will feel to lock eyes with your new baby for the first time, to hold their naked little body against yours for the first time, and it's that sort of anticipation that has you eager for your little ones arrival to be more timely.

We met for this lovely family's pregnancy portraits at just days shy of the 39 week mark, two weeks ago and mama's tum looks much the same as I type this today.  So you understand just how eager they are for their little darling to be welcomed into their happy home.  Send all of your safe and healthy baby birthing vibes her way today:) 

This session felt like it was held at the eleventh hour.  Peta is a photographer herself (you can see her work here) and had another session lined up as well as taking a couple of self portraits just in case.  So I scooted from one side of Brisbane to the other, racing against peak hour traffic that I hadn't planned on, to make it in the nick of time.  We'd missed the illusive golden hour by moments - I had been willing the sun to hold it's position in the sky as I drove towards their house - still, we walked a block or two from their home to this gorgeous little creek side reserve.  What we both discovered was this brilliant afterglow that hung on after the sun had dipped below the horizon, it's incredibly pretty - I plan on making more use of it at outdoor sessions in the future! 

Thirty-nine weeks pregnant never looked so gorgeous.  This is the type of session I sit at my computer with and grin at while I'm downloading film scans (and a few digital snaps too ;-) ...  It's pretty, Peta is glowing (and looks especially stunning on film), it was quick, everyone involved were happy campers and it was easy.  Days like this don't feel like work. 

This little family is all about FUN!  So genuinely happy, easy to laugh and have fun with what the afternoon presented.  I'm looking forward to seeing how their newest family member adds even more of this to their life together, such a lucky little baby. 

Peta and I met online through a mutual friend (Hi Leanne! x) and of course found it easy to chat considering our mutual interest in photography as well as being in the same family-building season of life.  Meeting her and her two lovely boys in person though was even better.  I liked her online, but in person she was immediately warm spirited and contented in the best possible way, just like Dave and William - I'll be holding her to the offer of a cuppa and cake for our next catch up, and the best occupational hazard there is, brand new baby snuggles.  xx

WILLIAM
This little man, ahh, had me wrapped around my little finger from the get go.  He was the right amount of cautious of me at first before realising we were going to have a fun afternoon and became the world's best little assistant ever.  The following three photographs sum up my afternoon with him.  So.  Much.  Fun.  He ran between me and his parents, using my light meter to fulfil his role as chief assistant, grinning, jumping, performing, posing the whole time.  He also gives a killer high-five if you ever have the opportunity.  He's going to be such a great big brother.  xx

Baking Baby Barton v2.0

Because we weren't sure if Baby Barton was going to make a surprise early appearance, or not, we scheduled two pregnancy portrait sessions. The first one (you can see it here) was our gorgeous 'just in case' outdoor session and this second one was held when Renee was 35 weeks along. The theme of this session was to be a little more intimate, so we held it in Renee and Kaine's home and we worked to well-document Renee's round, swollen tum. 

Renee has a gorgeous pregnant figure and she proudly showed it off for these photographs. I do love when a mama-to-be is willing to be photographed like this, showing every beautiful detail of her pregnancy without the cloak of clothing to skim over it. In some of these photographs you will see how Renee's belly divets and changes shape as the little one inside stretched and kicked about. Such perfection. 

I'm going to post these photographs in two separate posts, because well, there's a lot!  And because I shot hybrid for this session (part 35mm film, part digital) I thought it would be great to post the separately.  The black and white film I used (Delta 3200 for those filmies interested) is particularly grainy and I used it on purpose (and shot it on my grandad's old camera!).  However beside a crisp digital photograph it would look quite out of place.  First of the bench, my favourite, the FILM!

Renee's gorgeous makeup courtesy of her lovely sister Lia, check out her Facebook Business page, here.

Baking Baby Barton

This pregnancy session has been over a decade in the making.  Sounds a bit dramatic right, but you read correctly - without embellishment - a decade. Although we almost never met, Renee and I did meet at work (very small business, the same name, potentially too confusing for clients) all those years ago.  I distinctly remember one Friday night, we were having work drinks at The Bowery in The Valley (oh I feel old now ;) when Renee, Kaine and I chatted about how 'one day' I would photograph their journey to becoming parents.  We haven't worked together for years but through the wonder of social media, we've kept in touch. And now, I'm photographing their pregnancy portraits. Wow. I can't get over how awesome that is to me. They were there at the beginning, believing in this dream that I spoke to them about, and now they're here, in front of my camera when I feel like I've finally hit my groove and they're getting my best. 

These guys live life so well. They have clearly defined vision for their future and purposeful goals to tick off on their way. It's brilliant to watch from the sidelines cheering them on.  You know they're going to go into this unpredictable parenting gig with their eyes wide open, hold the importance of their roles close to their hearts and have a heck of a lot of fun and adventure through it all.   You can take a little peek into some of their fun on their YouTube channel - including the gorgeous way they delivered the new they were expecting to the world. 

We have planned another pregnancy session in their home closer to their due date when Renee's tummy will be round and swollen with this little life, so this is just the beginning.  Then we'll meet again when their precious little bundle has been born.  I can't wait to sit on the sidelines of this chapter in their life and cheer them on just as loudly. 

We'd booked in this pregnancy session for last Saturday. Those of you living in Brisbane will remember the torrential downpour and stormy days we had, but these guys weren't phased so we changed locations and started a little earlier than planned. This is New Farm Park, in Brisbane, on a Saturday afternoon in near summer, and it was almost deserted. I have never seen this park this empty, so with the gorgeous soft light of a very overcast afternoon, we relished in the peacefulness and worked where we pleased, without distraction. It was beautiful, and definitely worth pushing ahead and trusting the skies would let up for a short while. 

A few mentions here - Renee's floral head piece was once again made by Distinctive Blooms, sensational work again Deanna, thank you.   And because I've already been asked about it, Renee's gorgeous gown can be found online, here.  xx

Waiting for Baby Potter

Third time was a charm for this session - a rainy afternoon one week then tropical cyclone Marcia the next proved that Mother Nature rules all - especially in Queensland at Summer time :) And it turns out that Mother Nature knows best because without these delays Megan and I would never have connected with the lovely Deanna who made the carefully considered florals for this session. 

Megan was a little undecided about having pregnant portraits taken initially, but clearly, I managed to convince her otherwise. Thankfully ... have a look at that beautiful first-time-mama glow beaming from her.  It's glorious. 
We began early on a Sunday morning with this pretty portrait session before heading back home for a few cozy photographs in Megan and Michael's bedroom, along with their sweet and very friendly fur babies, Poppy and Harry.

Megan is such an easy going person - cheery and optimistic, confident in the most endearing of ways, always up for a chat and a laugh - and of course this session was no different.  She was so natural and comfortable in front of my cameras which means we finished up before the day got too warm or before we got carried away by mosquitos!  
(Scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more about Megan and her businesses).

Are you wondering about the beautiful floral crown Megan is wearing?  The crown was custom made by Deanna at Distinctive Blooms (click here to take a look at more of Deanna's floral work online, Facebook and Instagram too).  When I approached Deanna about creating a floral piece for Megan's portraits, she asked me a few questions about Megan, what she would be wearing and what style of session it was for.  She then responded with this:  "I like to use flowers for their meaning as well as their form and beauty. 
The flower meanings are:
Carnation - Endearment and Beauty.  They also symbolize a mother's love.
Peach & Pink Roses - Love.  The colour peach for appreciation, pink rosebuds for new love. 
Fern Leaves - Sincerity
Rosemary - Remembrance
Lavender - Grace
Gum - Protection
The crown, as you can see, was stunning and absolutely perfect for Megan. 

A true hybrid session, I photographed Megan mostly with colour film and a few with my digital camera.  The following few photographs were made with traditional black and white film.  I had half a roll left in a camera from some personal work and quickly fired off the last of the frames at the beginning of Megan's portrait session.  They're some of my favourite photographs from this session, and from my career.  I'll definitely be using it more in future. 

Little baby Potter will be Megan and Michael's first. This darling baby has a set of chilled, easy going parents waiting to meet her, such a great starting point as first time parents!   I'm so looking forward to meeting Baby Potter and making some special newborn and family photographs.  Perhaps I'll sneak a few snuggles too  x

Megan is a busy woman, she is a Personal Stylist in Brisbane and co-authors a fun blog, Chaotic Favourites.  Click here to learn more about her work as a stylist and here to read her blog.  You can also connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.  Do your bit to support another Brisbane small business and go check out Megan and Deanna's work  xx

Happy Second Birthday HJO

Perhaps it was because I had a two week old sleeping on the floor next to us while we worked and because I was in that thick newborn fog - that which is so delightful, so otherworldly, so intimate.  

Perhaps it was because I didn't have the energy to think of making this more than it needed to be, there is so much beauty in less is more.  

Or perhaps it's because this gem of a woman has become like a sister to me.   Who once our session was complete, snuggled my sleeping little man on top of the swollen belly holding her little man for hours while we drank tea and nattered away. 

... 

Whatever the case may be, I come back to these photographs over and over.  They speak to my soulful, feminine, earth mama heart. They're more than just a beautiful pregnancy portrait.  

Whatever the case may be, I have never created such an intimate set of pregnancy portraits before, or since.  

Whatever the case may be, this beautifully in-full-bloom woman birthed the sweetest of boys with THE-BEST-DIMPLES-EVER like the champion that she is (I adore listening to her tell me her birth story).  Happy second birthday darling HJO, you're a superstar x  Well done mama x 

The photograph below is, hands down, without a doubt my favorite pregnancy portrait I have ever made.  

Mama-to-be, Kristie

A group of Kristie's girlfriends brought a gift voucher for this pregnancy session as her baby gift. Of course I think it's a fabulous gift to give, especially for a woman's first pregnancy, when in the midst of it all you can never imagine you'd forget how it felt to be pregnant. My selling point to anyone umming and ahhing about having pregnancy portraits taken is that those portraits become infinitely more important the further away from pregnancy you get.  I look at the few I have framed around our house from both of my pregnancies and I am instantly transported to that precious state of being in full bloom with a new life on the verge of being born.

Our dear mutual friend, Dale, knew best and organized this gift for her friend. Kristie was well prepared for their son to be born, and was glowing like most first time mamas do.  These guys are hands down the most easy going couple I have ever worked with - it may be because I met them on an afternoon after they had returned from their wonderfully relaxing babymoon ;-)   Together we made some beautiful portraits of them and Kristie's perfect little baby bump.

A New Baby in the Family

My husband's brother and our sister-in-law are expecting their first baby any day now. We're all eagerly awaiting this lovely little ones entrance into the world and into our family. He or she has a gaggle of cousins ready and eager to play with. They have decided to not find out the baby's gender - my favourite kind of surprise - so the wait for this babe is extra exciting. 

With a little over three weeks to her due date, Tania and I met one Sunday afternoon along the banks of the Brisbane river to make a few photographs of her beautiful pregnant belly.   Here are a few of our favourites. 

our new niece or nephew

Hasn't she got a beautiful pregnant belly?  I'll admit to sneaking a fair few belly rubs to feel their little one kick and wiggle around.  Now we all just play the waiting game for a few days longer, no one more so than mama and daddy to be. 

Renee x