Posted by: kat | November 12, 2009

A beautiful weekend {part one}

Last Friday evening, just 24 hours after completing my graphic design degree (yes, I have finally finished university, woohoo!), I hopped on a bus to Wollongong to visit my dearest friends J & J, and their darling Little Miss Seventeen Months. J was 39 weeks pregnant, and signs were pointing towards the big event happening any day. (I was secretly hoping it would happen while I was there, but it ended up happening in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, and now they have a second beautiful daughter–I can’t wait to meet her!)

We had a lovely, relaxing weekend just hanging out, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I took full advantage of it with my camera out at every available opportunity. And I got two sleep-ins in a row!!! I know that probably seems like a crazy thing to be excited about, but it was WONDERFUL!

We had two mini sessions, one at their house, and one later on at the beach down the road. Here is part one of my beautiful weekend…

Little Miss Cutie Pants

Weee!

<3

#2 & 39 weeks

Her secret

 39

I’m sure you’ll agree that J is one of the most beautiful pregnant women you ever saw!  It’s hard to believe that she’s carrying a 3.16kg baby in there, isn’t it?!

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Posted by: kat | November 6, 2009

A picnic | Canberra photographer

For the last few years, Canberra has had a public holiday on Melbourne Cup Day. A public holiday is always good, but even better when it falls on, or close to, your birthday! Not mine; hubby’s. We took ourselves off for a picnic at the Cotter. It was a beautiful, warm day; perfect for watermelon and throwing sticks and rocks in the river.

Watermelon, watermelon, I like, you like, watermelon… Toby loves his watermelon. He calls it melon-melon.
I like, you like watermelon

He hates flies though. ‘No yike it!’ he shrieked every time one landed on him. And there were plenty down there. Am I cruel taking photos of him getting upset by the flies trying to share his watermelon? It was funny! I am cruel.
No yike it!

We went for a walk down to the weir, where one of us had to keep a firm hand on Toby at all times, or he would have gone in headfirst.
Playing in the weir

Hubby took these shots! I love them, and I’m very proud of him. He’s not scared of my big, bad camera.
Playing at the weir

Hubby is supervising Toby throwing sticks in the river, just in case he ended up throwing himself in with them. He got quite excited!
Chucking rocks

Then we moved on to the bridge, and Toby moved on to rocks. Rocks are much more satisfying. We weren’t sure whether throwing rocks off a bridge was a good thing to encourage or not. What do you think?!
Chucking rocks off the bridge

Back to the picnic spot and time for a sandwich. He was quite hungry, as you can see from his expression on the left!
Time for a sandwich

And here’s hubs. He doesn’t like having his picture taken. Too bad, birthday boy!
Birthday boy

Toby flashed his belly at me, right before we packed up to go home.
Belly!

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Posted by: kat | October 25, 2009

Beautiful bokeh | Canberra photographer

My photographer buddies all know how much I love my 100mm macro lens. I mean, I really love it. The bokeh it is capable of producing is full of the most amazing patterns and texture. For the non-photographers, bokeh is the ‘blurry’ part of a photograph–in a photo where one part is in focus but everything behind or in front is out of focus. Macro lenses, telephoto lenses and high quality lenses with wide apertures generally produce the best bokeh.

Here is proof…

[all taken at the Botanic Gardens in September]

Smoky bokeh

Dreamy bokeh

Sunny bokeh

Rainbow bokeh

Rich bokeh

Fluffy bokeh

Painted bokeh

The last one is my favourite. What’s yours?

I am going to be making prints of some of my macro work available for sale in 2010. Drop me a line if you’re interested.

Oh, and before I forget AGAIN, katphoto has a facebook page! I’ve had it for ages, and have neglected to mention it on here. So if you’re on facebook, you can find the page here.

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Posted by: kat | October 11, 2009

Sneak peek | Canberra family photographer

I had an action packed morning this morning at the C family’s home.

I first met the C family in the middle of last year just before Master N was born: and it’s so great to see the gorgeous little boy he’s grown into! He made me laugh so much with his funny run and non-stop energy.

The gorgeous Miss J has also grown up a lot since I last saw her, and has the coolest wardrobe–I want a skirt and boots just like hers! I had an absolute blast photographing her: I could have done it all day (and I know she wanted me to, but alas, I had to go home eventually!).

The weather was kind to us (which I am so grateful for, because it’s been crazily unpredictable lately) and it was an awesome session. Despite the workout (I will save you the description of what I had to do at one stage to get Master N’s attention; suffice to say it was quite exhausting!), I had an absolute ball and I would love to do a session just like that every single day.

Miss J

Mr Monkey

Sweet Miss J

Delight

The C family

The C family

K and C, it was great to see you all again. Your children are divine! Enjoy your sneak peek and I’ll be in touch with your gallery soon.

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Posted by: kat | September 22, 2009

A beautiful Sunday afternoon | Canberra portrait photographer

I had the privilege of meeting a very special family last Sunday afternoon. It was different to what I usually do, but such a great session. They made me laugh so much, and I’ve been really looking forward to sharing these images ever since I started processing them!

This lovely couple really wanted me to capture them as they are right now, just being themselves, and they wanted their beloved dog to play a starring role.  And boy did I love photographing him! He was so good to me–and much easier than the average 8 month old baby!  I shot on location in one of Canberra’s oldest suburbs, and it’s a spot that is very close to my heart since I used to live there and I miss it very much.

I’d really like to take this opportunity to offer my services to couples who don’t have children. Pets are so important and how often do you get beautiful, artistic photographs of you and your dog/s together?! What fantastic memories! Of course, I think I would do much better with older dogs like this one, as they are much more placid and sit still for longer, but hey, I’ll give anything a go! This was just such a fun session and I love working with couples and capturing that love and connection between them.

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Posted by: kat | September 3, 2009

A beautiful misty morning | Canberra photographer

I am very excited to tell you that I’m a finalist in the Centro Smile Photo Competition, and I could really do with your vote! By placing a vote, you also go in the running to win a $5000 shopping spree. Go to www.smilephotos.com.au and select ACT Tuggeranong Hyperdome (which is the centre I entered at), and then my photo is #1 (Little Aussie). If you’re in Canberra, you can vote in person by going into the Hyperdome where the finalists are displayed in an exhibition. I would appreciate it so, so much!

This is the photo (you might remember it from my January Photo a Day project!):

Little Aussie

Spring has sprung, but it’ll be a month or two yet before it warms up in the Nation’s Capital.  I took these shots a couple of weeks back on a beautiful, misty, dewy Canberra morning. And let’s not forget freezing cold too! It was my hubby who pointed out the sun rays peeking through the mist and shining right onto a dew laden spider web on a pile of tree cuttings in our backyard. I ran to the bedroom and threw some clothes on (it was early and I was still in my PJs), grabbed my camera and 100mm, and was pretty much outside in five seconds flat.  I shot and shot and shot until my fingers were completely numb. It was fantastic!

I was so happy to capture such a magical moment: it’s not often you get direct sunlight shining straight onto a dewy web while also surrounded by mist!

I hope you enjoy looking at these as much I as I enjoyed taking and processing them.

Dewy webs

If you click on the smaller ones, you can go through to flickr and see a bigger version with much more detail.

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Posted by: kat | August 14, 2009

A recent project | Canberra photographer

I’m been terrible with keeping my blog up to date lately.

There has been a lot going on this year and I find it hard to keep up with the many, many demands on my time in the way I would like to. I’m very, very close to finally graduating from my graphic design degree. I started it in 2001, and have been studying part time (with many breaks in between to get married, travel and become a mum) ever since. It’s a very intense course; nothing at all like a normal university degree. Also, it’s four years, rather than the usual three. Anyway, I’m doing my final two units at the moment, and will be done at the end of October.

I’ve been meaning to post some of my design work for ages, but I haven’t gotten around to it. Today I thought I would share some photography I did for a recent project. It’s a bit different to what you normally see on my blog, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. The project was an annual report for a botanic garden. I wanted to do something different, so I chose black and white photography. Stripping away colour is a beautiful way of highlighting form, texture and pattern. It makes each plant appear so much more more interesting and delicate. I also removed each ‘object’ from it’s natural environment and photographed on a white background (using natural light only) to further enhance the intricacy of each detail (and also so I had some really creative options for page layout!). I wanted my images to be slightly reminiscent of traditional botanical drawings, but with an atmospheric, contemporary edge.

BW flora macro 6

BW flora macro 7

BW flora macro 5

BW flora macro 4

BW flora macro 3

BW flora macro 2

BW flora macro 1

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Posted by: kat | July 24, 2009

Winter at the beach | Canberra baby photographer

This gorgeous little girl will probably be photographed regularly by me for a good part of her life, and I have to say, I love it! She’s a total darling, and I love watching her grow up.

Her parents recently moved back to the coast from Sydney, so I thought it would be very fitting to do our 13 month mini session right by the sea, since she has it in her veins. There’s no way this little one isn’t going to grow up loving water.

It was a stunning winter’s day and Little Miss S had a wonderful time playing with rocks and sand. Don’t you just love her cheeks? She’s looks so chubby and roley poley, but she’s actually very petite for her age. I’m looking forward to seeing these guys again in a few months for a maternity shoot. Little Miss S will be a big sister in November!

13 months

Beautiful family

Beautiful family

Beach baby

Smile!

Contagious grin

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Posted by: kat | July 21, 2009

6 weeks old | Canberra newborn photographer

I have just returned from a ten day jaunt to Sydney and Wollongong to spend time with family and friends, so I am a little bit behind!  We had a lovely time, and I was reminded once again how seriously crappy Canberra winters are, compared to Sydney and the coast. The weather was gorgeous!

So here is the first of my two sessions, which took place in inner city Sydney. Young Master O is the third cousin and the first boy born into one side of his beautiful family since January 2008!  Very exciting!  At 6 weeks old, I couldn’t believe what a well behaved little thing he was, smiling for the camera, drifting off into a deep sleep, and then waking up in a fantastic mood for some lovely photos outside. I can think of a few 1 week old babies he could teach a few things to!  And what wonderful hair!  Like he’d just had a quick trip to the salon in time for his photo session!

Smiles all round!

Love

6 weeks

6 weeks

Father & son

Front porch

If you look very closely at the last one, you can see another member of their family trying to join in on the action. :)

Thanks for a fun session guys: your little boy is very handsome and cuddly and I’m so looking forward to seeing him grow up. I’ll be in touch with the rest of your gallery soon.

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Posted by: kat | July 8, 2009

Two years old

My baby turned two last week. Two! I still can’t believe it!

I’ve been very slack with my blog lately, so I thought it was a good opportunity to share some recent photos of Toby being the expressive, charming, fun-loving little dude that he is.

Deadly serious

Garden

Exploring the park

Slide! By himself!

New gumboots

Two today!

Two years old and posing like an angel

Planes!

Actually, two years old is a really great time for a photo session. I would love to chase your toddler around the house and backyard (or a park) capturing all those wonderful little moments of joy and discovery. Life through a toddler’s eyes is so much fun! One of my my favourite things is watching Toby explore and play with his toys: the intense looks of concentration, the moments of unbridled joy and delight, and the hilarious bursts of manic energy.  It’s a beautiful age, and I wish it could last forever.

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