Baby Photos!

I got to photograph a little 5.5 month old baby today! So much fun. When I got there, the little guy was still sleeping so I had a nice chat with his parents and played with Millie the dog while we waited for him to wake up from his nap. He was a bit sleepy at first, but we got some nice smiles and great expressions after a little while. We stopped after the first round of photos for a snack which Millie tried to join in on. Funny! Fun day with a great little family :) Here's a few favourites.

 

Pinhole Camera Fun!

In class today we learned a little bit about Pinhole cameras. We made our own using foil and tape and taking the lenses off our camera bodies, covering the opening with the foil and poking a small hole in the foil with a pin (hence the name pinhole.) We went out and had a bit of a play to see what would happen. Here's a few of the results:

 

I think there's a bit of tweaking to be done but I love the movement and painterly feel that you can get with this technique. The images are so different to what we normally get out of the camera, it's a bit of fun to have a play with breaking the rules!

Healesville Animals

I went on a mini road trip on Sunday with Aussie sister Laura down to Healesville animal Sanctuary and grabbed a few quick photos of some of the fun animals they had there. Just thought I'd share for those of you back home who don't have some of these super cool Aussie animals back in the USA!

Very large Pelican. Look how big his eyeball is!

Brolga bird I think... he was a bit cold and decided to snuggle in under his feathers for some warmth!

No idea what type of bird this is but I just thought it was pretty.

Koala!

Emu. Scary! I've been chased by 2 of these before and they're as tall as me! Eeep!

Laura and Tim

For Folio last semester I did a little quirky study on some of my favourite people; my Aussie sister Laura and her boyfriend Tim. :) We did some fun little set up, quirky shots of them and their dog Princess Consuela.

The first one is actually my favourite. Here's some fun in the backyard of their little townhouse. Love it!

Here we are randomly ready to watch movies at the park with some popcorn. Yummo!

And lastly a sweet snap of them dancing in the street as the sun went down out front of their house. They don't look too happy do they? It was actually quite chilly by this point and this was the last photo of a 5 hour shoot but I don't think they even cared... they seem so content right where they are. Heart.

Thanks Laura and Tim for all your amazing modelling skills and being such willing subjects! Thanks to Andrew for lugging heavy sets of lights around all day for me! Gotta love my family.

Family Photo Session

I'm trying to get a little photography experience working with kids and families. I can see myself loving this aspect of photography in the future and someday owning my own business doing wedding and domestic portraiture. I've been lucky working with Jane that she has a bit of a client base that over the years as they've gotten married and had kids they come back to her and ask for family photos.... which she has started handing over to me! Love it!

Here's a few favourites from a session I had right after I got back from my US trip. It was tricky working with 6 adults and 4 little kids but even during the difficult times (picture me on my knees holding a mickey mouse spinning, sparkly, noise maker toy with one hand while holding the large, heavy camera with the other and peeking out from behind the camera to try and get everyone to look in one direction and pay attention while 4 kids are squirming and all 6 adults are trying to keep their respective kids in one spot while other park-goers walk past with little smirks on their faces... ha ha ha) I just loved it. Loved it loved it loved it and was like, wow, I get to do this as my profession. Pretty cool. :) I had a blast.

 

 

4th of July Partay at Bertram House

While I was home in the good old US of A I helped celebrate the 4th of July with Grammo at Bertram House! We had a "walker decorating party" and a bit of a parade around the first floor of the house of Bertram which was heaps of fun. We pimped out Grammo's walker to the Max (ha, of course we did... Mom and I were there and in charge of her walker, who are we kidding... of course we were going to go all out even if Grammo did give us the evil eye more than a few times! "You'll love it Grammo, really, I promise!" Smile sweetly and bat eyelashes.) I do love the 2nd photo of Grammo though. She actually looks pretty content in it... like "Oh Kato... what are you doing to me... I'll smile for you anyway because you're my grand-daughter." :) (I think it's the result of secretly adoring her walker decorations which she knew were the coolest by far in all the land!)

It was hard to keep up with these quick old timers as they paraded around with streamers blowing in the breeze behind them! Here's some pictures of Grammo and the lovely folks at Bertram House from the 4th of July.

It's "Auntie Kate" now, Thanks!

You can just start calling me "Auntie Kate" now. I'll answer to it even if you're not my new amazing, super cute nephew Joey. It's the first time I'm an Aunt and I'm quite taken with the roll. It's pretty fun, let me tell you!

All semester at school the only real thought on my mind was trying to get all my schoolwork done early (yes, nephew you are oodles more important than assignments and much more fun if I do say so myself!) so that I could leave a couple weeks early to make it home in time for my nephew's arrival. It just so happens that I beat him by 10 minutes (I win!) My flight from Melbourne, via LA (with a 7 hour layover) landed in Boston 10 minutes before the little man made his grand entrance into this world. Meg and Kaela met me at the airport (Mom and Dad couldn't be bothered...apparently becoming first time grandparents is more important than picking up your long lost daughter who you rarely get to see from the airport, (thanks for caring Moo and Bean - love you guys! Hahahahha totally just kidding Madre and Padre.) We all made it to the waiting room as Drew came out to tell Mom and Dad the good news so I got to go see Kristi and the baby with the rest of the family. Long story short, it was pretty cool timing and I was so happy and very lucky to get to be a part of it from all the way across the world. It was something that I really didn't want to miss out on and I am so grateful that I didn't have to.

I didn't want to barge in on Kristi and Drew's privacy the first few days in the hospital with my big ol' scary camera and I wanted to just enjoy being an Aunt for a few days so pictures pick up from a few days old when they arrived home. Here's a bunch of my favourites from the first couple of weeks.

Beanie doesn't look too happy to be an Aunt does she? Too cute. Love this picture so much!

I just adore this quiet picture of Twinnie and her son. If I remember correctly he was a little tired after lunch and needed a nap and just fell right asleep against Twinnie's chest. I love the look on her face, gazing down at him and the window light is just too perfect. Quiet moments like this are my favourite.

3 generations sitting together. I love how proud Drew is. Kristi grabbed my camera for the picture below of me holding the little guy which is my favourite from the whole trip of me and him (thank you twinnie!) It's rare that I'm in pictures these days so I will cherish this one forever. :) Melts my heart.

Mom took this one of Twinnie and I gazing at the little Roo. She said she could remember staring like that at the 2 of us when we were that small... now in turn here we are doing it at Kristi's own baby. How cool is that for Mom and Dad to see this picture of their babies gazing at one of their own? I love it so much.

 

 

We set up a "Meet the Baby" day a few weeks into the trip so that any family who was in the area could come see the new little guy and visit with me while I was home as well. It was great to see everyone who could come. It's always hard trying to get around to visit all the family on my trips home so the effort for people to come to us is always appreciated. My little nephew's cuteness is a good enticement!!! Work your charms kiddo!

TJ above was an old pro holding Joey! They actually look so much alike as babies it's kind of funny. Mally made him the beautiful little hat below (awesome job Mally! Really, so impressed!)

Kristi and Drew ventured home again for the 4th of July. We lucked out with the weather until the last 5 minutes of the fireworks when we got a lot of rain but it was sunny and hot and lovely up until that point. We got some cute pictures of the family on our little patriotic outing together. Even the puppies got into the spirit of the day!

 

Here's the harbour just before sunset. Beautiful! Being home in the summer for the first time in maybe 6 or 7 years made me really remember just how absolutely gorgeous my home really is.

Here's just a few fun ones that I took of the little Roo while babysitting with Madre one afternoon. We had a mini photo session while Kristi was out getting her hair cut! Work it Joey!

The last big event of the trip was the Christening with Drew's family. They hosted a wonderful, relaxing weekend and it was so much fun getting to spend time with Drew's family in a place that is special to them. The church where he was Christened was where Drew's parents got married. Pretty cool little guy! Drew's brother Rob is the little Roo's God-father and I'm his God-mother. His Christening gown is a replica of the Christening gown that has been in our family for over 100 years. I can tell you one thing... this little man sure is surrounded by a whole lotta love on both sides of the family! It was a very happy weekend. Thank you to Drew's family for being such gracious and wonderful hosts and opening up your beautiful town to us. We all had a wonderful time!

 

 

 

 

4 generations of family. I love this photo and I love that all 3 "big" men are smiling.

3 sisters and a Roo. :) I love how they are all fascinated by him. He is pretty adorable! If there had been room for 4 on the couch I would have been there too!

 

This picture of Padre makes me smile because he looks so happy. What more could you ask for with a Pops and his grandson? It makes me think that at this moment in this picture, there's no where else he'd rather be and nothing else in the whole world he'd rather be doing than sitting on a porch holding his sleeping grandson. Heart. Heart. Heart.

Even though I only got to be home for the first month and a half of this little guys life I feel so lucky to have been able to spend that time visiting with family and getting to know my new little nephew. Being able to help Kristi and Drew was so special and I loved every second of it. Twinnie and Drew, you guys did good. So good!

I also got to spend some really quality time with Meg and Kaela while I was home and see their lives in Boston which was so so great. (Moo - I totally want to "follow you for a day" next time I'm home with my camera. So fun! You too Bean!)

I was so sad to have to leave (sure am lucky to have such an amazing husband who was back in OZ waiting for me or else I might not have left!) but now I will just have to plan another trip as soon as we can to get back and see how much the little guy has grown and bombard you all with another instalment of pictures! Miss you little Roo! (And family too of course!)