by Alana | May 4, 2019 | Family - Lifestyle, My Family, Uncategorized
April has been a BIG month! I’ve also been behind in editing my own photos, but I was determined to get them done. Giving myself a monthly deadline definitely helps me to prioritise keeping up with our own story. And here it is for April – and it’s a big one!!
Alexi and Alby’s Birthday Party
Alexi and Alby’s birthdays are 3 weeks apart, so this year we decided to celebrate with the family on the same day. I’m all about low key events (and yes, even though it was just immediate family – when your husband is one of 6 kids, every get together is an ‘event’!!). This means that we usually just get take away and keep it all simple. Simplicity is my friend in a world of daily chaos!!
Alby’s 2nd birthday
April 12th was Alby’s second birthday. He’s my youngest baby and my last baby, and turning two just brings out a lot of emotions in me, because it really means that he’s not a baby anymore. He’s a real little person with a real personality (a crazy, loud, energetic one at that!). He’s the last of so many things for me. My last pregnancy. My last birth. My last breastfeed. The last crawling baby, and learning to walk baby. The last ‘firsts’ of everything. And it’s gone fast. Crazy, crazy fast. I know in the next year he’s set to grow and change so much yet again. So for now, I’ll just enjoy the way he is and capture him whenever I can. These photos are taken on his birthday as he opened his presents, including a card written by Louie and a watermelon card from Alexi (because he just loves watermelon!). Oh and shh don’t tell him that it’s actually Christmas wrapping paper!
Alexi and Louie
I always love capturing Alexi and Louie together – they have such a beautiful relationship. In these images he’s going to her for cuddles when he’s upset, and then in return he ran to sit next to her on the couch when she hit her head and needed an ice pack. Those two have massive beautiful hearts.
Chocolate face!
So you know how before you have kids you always say you’ll never let them have ‘naughty’ food, and then you know how you do pretty well with the first one….well, there’s pretty much no hope once you get to your 4th kid! I don’t think he’s too unhappy about it either!
Craft table
As usual, there’s always activity on our craft table. Louie of course is there, and now Alby is starting to join in on the fun too! Although to be honest he spends most of his time getting up and down from the chair!!
Easter morning!
Easter bunny was busy in our house and hid soooo many small eggs around the house! They all go into a shared bowl, and we’ll probably spend the rest of the year eating them!!
Easter with the cousins
One of the things the kids love most about special events is being able to spend some time with their cousins! It’s filled with mostly boys – only the older two are girls, and now the youngest as well. All the rest are crazy boys!
Who needs toys?!
Our Easter dinner was held at my Sister in laws house. They’d just moved in and so had a lot of boxes left over – turns out this is all the kids need to have fun! They were entertained for hours in these boxes!!
Jumping on the bed
So one positive to having a photographer mother is that every now and then you get to jump on the bed so she can get some photos! Bonus points for wearing matching pj’s!
Fun and games
Alby in a bucket of soapy water, and bike races in the backyard. These are moments the kids created by themselves, and are the moments I love to capture.
Quiet moments
Does anyone else’s kids set up comfy spots so they can talk to their sibling in the toilet?? Two of these images show just that – cushions set up outside the toilet so that they can keep talking!
Alexi
I love photographing this girl. She’s so beautiful in every way. Whenever I tell people that I have four kids, they always say how much help the oldest one would be. And they’re right. But I don’t know if they realise just how right they actually are. This girl is absolutely amazing.
The washing machine
Lastly, this is another image which features a lot because Alby continue to love the washing machine. Whenever it’s on, he sits and watches it (and sometimes still turns it off!).
If you’d love for me to capture some of your own family memories, Contact me and we can chat about whether you’d like your session to be on location or in your own home! You can also look through my Family Portfolio for more examples of my work.
by Alana | Apr 9, 2019 | Newborn - Lifestyle, Uncategorized
Arriving at Sofia’s in-home newborn lifestyle session, I was greeted by her very excited and happy big brother Alessio (who also happens to share a birthday week with her)! There are so many benefits to in-home lifestyle sessions (Not having to leave your home…memories including your own home, furniture and belongings…not needing to have your baby sleep to be posed in certain ways…the list goes on), and when you add older siblings to the mix, in-home lifestyle sessions are even more perfect. The older kids are already more comfortable because they’re in their own environment, there is no pressure on them to behave or pose a certain way, and they can come in and out as they please. As it was, Alessio was more than happy to be part of the session for most of the time, and we even captured his very FIRST hold of his baby sister! The look on his face when she was being passed to him is just priceless!!
At only 6 days old, Sofia was pretty content to just be fed and held until she became tired quite early on in the session and was put down to bed in her bassinet. Her parents insisted that she wouldn’t sleep, but there was silence for around 15 minutes so she managed to have a quick catnap on her own before waking and wanting to be fed and held again. Those early days learning about your baby and her needs are challenging at times, especially when you have a toddler running around as well. If only we could find that magic ‘sleep’ button and just make them sleep and wake when and where we want them to!! Sleep is definitely a topic you think and talk about a LOT when you have a baby. Sleep and poo, right?!
I really love these images of Sofia with her family – this time with her so little is so fleeting, and one day they’ll look back on these photos sentimentally and ‘remember when…’. Life constantly changes when you have little kids. They change. We change. Routines change. It all changes before you know it. And then you forget so much of it, until you’re reminded through a photo or a memory someone has. Capture all of the stages. All of the ‘normal moments’ which are the moments you’ll truly miss one day. I’m glad I was able to capture some of that for Sofia and her family.
If you’d like to capture some of your own special moments, Contact me here. You can also view my Lifestyle Newborn Portfolio for more gorgeous images and read What is a Newborn Lifestyle Session to learn more about one of my most favourite sessions to do.
by Alana | Aug 21, 2018 | Burns Beach, Couples, Family - Location, Hyde Park, Information, Maternity, The Wanneroo Pines, Uncategorized
You’ve decided to book in a photo session to capture some memories – perhaps you’re investing in a family shoot to remember your family as it is now; a couple session to celebrate your relationship; or a maternity session to celebrate your beautiful growing baby bump. In all of my sessions my main focus is on capturing the connections between you, and the little details. To do this, I usually place you close together on a rug. The aim of this is not to get you to all smile towards the camera – the aim is just to get you CLOSE. From there, it’s quite common for me to be running around and capturing you all from different angles – above, below, left, right, behind and in front. It can feel like you’re staying in one spot for a long time, but because I’m moving around a lot, I’m capturing you from all different perspectives. I’m also looking out for those little details – your little one holding onto your hand; a stray curl of hair blowing across your face; a beautiful expression on your face. The fact that I move a lot also has the added benefit of ensuring that you’re not tempted to always just smile at the camera – because the camera keeps moving! For this reason, the actual location isn’t always important. However, it’s always nice to be in a location that you feel represents what you want to get out of the shoot. As I’m based North of the River, I’ve put together a few locations I regularly shoot at. This doesn’t mean you can only choose from these locations – as I’m always open to new suggestions or places that are important to you – but these are just the places which are regulars for me.
- The Wanneroo Pines. This place is great to go to with kids, as they love to explore amongst the tee pees made of sticks, play with said sticks, and jump on the logs. This allows them to burn off some energy between shots – or capture some candid images of them playing. These candid images often result in those genuine smiles and fun energy kids have when they’re free to play. While kids are playing, I can take the opportunity to get some images of mum and dad. It’s also a beautiful location for maternity shoots – the tall trees make a beautiful backdrop to show off your pregnancy. It’s always most beautiful to go here (as it is with most locations) in the hour before sunset. The glow from the setting sun gives off a beautiful magical feel – especially when it peaks between the trees. If you’re unable to book your shoot during Golden Hour (that hour before sunset), then the trees do provide a decent amount of shade, making it an option for daytime shoots as well.
- Burns Beach. This location is most popular for maternity shoots. It can be more challenging with family shoots depending on ages of the children, due to the water. Burns Beach is beautiful as it also provides some rocks and greenery as a backdrop, without needing to solely rely on the water backdrop. The absolute best time of the day for a beach session is the Golden Hour – the hour before sunset. I generally don’t like to shoot here outside of those hours unless the day is particularly overcast, or if timing wise the shoot needs to be at another time. Maternity sessions here are beautiful – the setting sun makes a great backdrop to a pregnant tummy.
- Perry’s Paddock. This is another location which is best towards golden hour, as there’s a lot of open space. This is one of my favourite locations to shoot at, as we can utilise the trees while the sun is still quite high, and then move to the open field once the sun starts to set. This is where I get some silhouette shots which is always a fun way to show off your family! This location is pretty much perfect for any type of shoot – there’s a lot of space for kids to run around, an abundance of gorgeous light, and the sky always looks beautiful once the sun has set. There’s also a beautiful old white building which can be used as backdrops.
- James Spiers Park, Wanneroo. I love this park for the variety it brings to a session. It’s particularly beautiful in Autumn with the leaves fallen on the ground. This park offers a beautiful area with trees and greenery, a staircase, a wall for people to sit on, as well as a basketball court with a wall that is great for backdrops. There’s a lot of choices at this park, and also a lot of shade options for when shoots can’t be scheduled for golden hour.
- Hyde Park. I love this location, although due to additional travel, I do charge a small travel fee to go here. There are so many choices at Hyde Park, and is another one which offers a lot of shade so is a good spot if we can’t schedule a session for the golden hour (although that time of day is always best no matter the location).
These are just some of the options of places for your shoot. If you’d like to organise a location shoot for yourself, or as a gift for someone else, please Contact me. You can view more family sessions in my Maternity Portfolio or Family Portfolio.
by Alana | Jul 25, 2018 | Newborn - Lifestyle, Uncategorized
I met little Eve and her family at their home on July 25th. Eve has a big sister Ruby, and mum Amanda had warned me that she took awhile to get warmed up to new people. She had told me this information through a pre-session questionnaire that I send out, which is a great way to get an understanding of the family I’m due to meet and what they want to capture. It was interesting watching Ruby – she would act somewhat shy, and yet in the next moment she’d be sneaking in the photos! It was obvious that she actually did want to be involved, but just needed a little warming up to the idea. By the end she was dancing and spinning all over the place! With toddlers, it’s always good to get them engaged in an activity that they enjoy to help them warm up. In Ruby’s case (as seems to be true for many of the toddlers I photograph), this involved reading books. She was so happy to read book after book on the bed with her family, and would run excitedly to get a new one. These every day moments are important to me to capture, as well as being a good distraction for the kids. It’s a win-win situation!
Meanwhile, little Eve was one of those ‘go with the flow babies’. She was asleep on the bed when I arrived, so I took advantage of capturing some images of her straight away. Unfortunately moving her woke her, but for the most part she was happy enough, although by the end I knew she was due for a lovely long sleep (probably being held by her mum which was where she liked to sleep the best). Amanda had mentioned that they had trouble getting photos of the two girls together, so as Ruby became tired towards the end of the session and climbed into her mum and dad’s bed with some milk, we took advantage of the situation and placed little Eve right beside her. That’s the beauty of lifestyle sessions – instead of forcing them together, we just followed what was naturally happening in front of us – this usually results in much less stress for everyone! I absolutely loved capturing images for this family.
If you’d like to capture some memories for yourself, or provide a gift to someone you love, Contact me. You can view more beautiful newborn lifestyle images in my Lifestyle Newborn Portfolio. You can also learn more about what a lifestyle session is here.
