52 Project - 18.52

Her mannerisms are becoming softer, more gentle and feminine, like laying her hands in her lap like this. A very pretty princess dress always accentuates her sweet girliness. 

Ice. Whether it's first thing in the morning or last thing at night, he wants cup after cup of crushed ice. Even though our cool change has come, and his little hands are chilled, still he wants more and more ice.  

There are sweet little moments throughout every one of our days, where one will reach the other. Usually, it's him and usually she shrugs him off which ends in a little scuffle that is less love-filled. But in quiet moments like this, they settle into it and my heart grows bigger again. 

52 Project - 17.52

She's such a daddy's girl. Especially when she is determined to get her own way, she knows he'll almost always say yes to her. 

He's such a little boy now, he has moments of babyhood 'around the edges', but he's firmly in the realm of childhood now. So bittersweet for me. 

He calls out to her now when he wants to get down from his chair. They love this little interaction, both with joy-filled grins across their faces, as though they're so grown up and are proud that they don't need us for this little piece of their lives. She, especially is proud of being 'the big sister'. I adore them. 

52 Project - 16.52

My darlings. I couldn't commit to one photograph of them each this week, and I'm not sure I can commit words to these photographs. We had 'one of those weeks', but through that, these two are shining little stars of joy. There isn't a day that goes by when I'm not tired, short tempered or overwhelmed and these guys can break my bad mood with one word, cheeky smile or touch of their still-soft little hands. So blessed. 

Oh. My heart.  

52 Project - 15.52

I thought I'd attempt a portrait of both the kids this week ... One out of two ain't bad ;)  

This week also culminates in a little piece of the digital workflow clicking for me. Film well and truly has my heart, but for some work - and projects like this - it's really not practical. Finding a way for my digital work to look and feel a teensy bit more like my film work has been a welcome moment. 

She is a little bit more of a mama's girl again this week - I love it. She is crazy for practicing letters, asking endless questions about lots of little details and helping out as much as possible. She has also been asking for two little sisters ... 

He has been sleeping more soundly, but still waking as frequently. The more restful sleep seems to have mellowed him out through the days and he's easier to wrangle. A little - the cheekiness has remained. He and his sister are playing kindly together, but like any proper little brother he takes any opportunity to chase her, or spray her with water ;) 

52 Project - 14.52

As she grows older she's becoming increasingly interested in what I'm interested in.  I ordered some beautiful Carla Coulson books that I was missing from my collection and attempted to sneak a quiet moment at the table with a cup of hot tea.  She was up onto my lap, asking me about the photographs she was looking at, carefully turning pages so as not to damage the book and telling me her own stories about what I was seeing.  I told her, in language she could understand at four years old, about dream chasing, beautiful photography and the importance of documenting life.  That morning, my heart overflowed.

That grin full of cheekiness melts me every time.  He has the world's best belly laugh and we go to great lengths to draw it out of him, but today, he's looking at his sister.  She can coax that outrageous belly laugh more easily than we do, and we all adore it.  He is pure delight.  Or delightfully mischievous.  Right now, he is in limbo between toddlerhood and childhood ... that laugh-childhood ... those soft, rounded cheeks-toddlerhood ... adventure and thrill seeking-childhood ... waking me up with kisses and rolling over to cuddle in while he wakes-toddlerhood.  He has my heart.  

Project 52 - 13.52

She's adoring colouring and drawing at the moment.  We chucked out all of the old, broken and worn out textas, crayons and pencils and replaced them with a pile of new ones.  She's in heaven.  When she's deep in concentration like this, I can watch her - unposed - and the enormity of this little life that I helped create overwhelms me in the best possible way.

He's a monkey - that's his current nick name too.  He loves to laugh and to make others laugh.  He's watching every move his sister makes and mimics her.  He's more daring and fearless than she though, and throws himself head first into anything that looks remotely adventurous.  I have my hands delightfully full with my little man.   

And, when you least expect it, quiet, harmonious play time together.  These little snippets in our days (for they are brief!) bring me such joy and reassurance, that under all the sibling warring they engage in lies a best-friendship to last a lifetime.

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

Baby Beau - A First Days Session

Sweet little baby Beau was barely two days old when his mama invited me to photograph them together in the First Days in hospital after he was born.  

His lovely mum, Mel, waited until I got to the hospital to give him a bath - he wasn't a fan at all, and to give him a feed - big fan! 

Little Beau is supermum Mel's fifth baby, and as you would imagine she was cool as a cucumber when it came to this parenting stuff (enjoying the peace and quiet of her stay in hospital ;-)  and just as smitten as a first time mama.  She couldn't get enough of her sweet boy - it was a true honour in be in that room with them to document a little piece of the very beginning of Beau's life and his mama's adoration.  

Mel and I met through a recent model callout on my Facebook page for these special First Days sessions, there was a fair bit of interest - I'm excited to be doing more of these sessions over the next month or so.

52 Project - 12.52

A Saturday morning movie in his new favourite pjs.  He's moving back and forth between toddlerhood and childhood right now.  He'll still pull his toes up to his chest when he's laying down, still so easy for him to curl up.  And the next minute, he's surprising us with something new he can do. 

She is starting to play make believe all the time.  It's wonderful.  I adore it so much.  She sets the scene for us, assigns us our roles, sources any props required and then off we go (our acting constantly corrected).  This dead palm frond became the perfect horse for Rapunzel to ride up and down the castle.  I only shot three frames before she noticed me and pointed out my horse. 

They fluctuate between mad crazy love for each other, having so-much-fun together that I am careful not to disturb them ... and full blown sibling rivalry.  They both want what the other has, they both want to help in the kitchen, they both want to go in the car with dada, they both want to pile onto my lap at the same time, elbows digging into each other.  They are so loving and so frustrated with each other a million times a day.

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