Big eyes and little toes

I had a call for an ACOCP shoot on the weekend. It was so lovely to meet this beautiful family. Little Master C was born with a fatal heart defect 7 weeks ago. This gorgeous little guy unfortunately won't see his 1st birthday, so every day he has with his family is a gift. Master C has two older brothers and one older sister who obviously love him to bits ... I wanted to give mum and dad a sneek peek as soon as possible ...


And how stunning is this little girl? Those eyes ... wow.


Thank you S & E for allowing me to photograph your precious family.

Tagged ...

I have been tagged by sweet chilli philly ... sorry it's taken me so long to tag-back!

The rules are:

- Link the person who tagged you
- Mention the rules on your blog
- Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
- Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
- Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

1) When I was 15 I wrapped my fingers in sticky tape at my dad's work (I was bored) and then tried to cut the tape off with a scapel. I ended up stabbing my hand, cutting through a tendon and requiring microsurgery to repair the damage. I now have a 'harry potter' type scar in the middle of my left palm.

2) One of my pupils is bigger than the other.

3) I started dating my husband when I was 13! We dated for 7 years before getting married, and we are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this year! (goor that's scary)

4) Whenever I smell a particular scent of toilet duck toilet freshener it makes me vomit. A left over symptom of morning sickness ...

5) I loooove the sound of rain on the roof. To the extent that we only recently changed our roof from tile to tin in order to hear the rain better (oh, and the roof was stuffed as well ...)

6) I'm dyslexic. No, seriously. I ma.

Consider yourselves tagged:

Merryn

Kim

Kelly Trow

Fiona Colvin

Karen Buckle

Jess @ [J] Studios

so close ...

Oh my ... so close to going live with my new website.

I have learnt that web designers and any type of computer technician EARN THEIR MONEY!!

Anyway ... I just wanted to share some images from a very fun shoot we did today ... testing out my new white backdrop ... hmmm .... looooove it !

yelling at the kids [and a reality check]

Every parent must feel like this on occasions. I'm not the only one with three young kids. I'm sure I'm not the first to feel frustrated. angry. grumpy. busy.

Today I can't keep up with the mess. My back aches from bending over to pick things up. The same things I picked up half an hour ago. I can't see the floor, although I vacuumed and mopped this morning. The washing machine is on for the fourth time today, but there is still another 4 loads to go .... It's Friday night, and today we celebrated my youngest child's first birthday.

Today my throat hurts from yelling.

Today I checked out Sheye's site. I do every couple of weeks. If you haven't seen her site - do. It's beautiful. Raw. Authentic. A hugely talented QLD photographer who lost her 3 year old daughter in a tragic accident. An accident which happened to occur on the day my family and I were celebrating my first daughter's 2nd birthday.

Today I realised how much I have {sometimes I need reminding, ya know?} Today I realised I have mess. A small house. Too many toys. Boisterous kids. Loud kids. Too much to do. A backache.

Today I realised that I have ALL my kids. Here. Now. I can cuddle them whenever I want to. And I should do it more often. Today I realised how beautiful, simple and fragile my reality is.

Tonight my house is a pig sty. Tonight we will have takeaway. Tonight (and always), I would not swap my reality for anything.

Thank you Ava. Thank you Sheye.

packaging and MOO cards ...

These funky little cards are called 'MOO' cards ... beautifully printed full colour mini-cards ... I'm going to be using them for everything from packaging to business cards (some of them have my details on the back) ... I just love them!


And my updated packaging ... this is an example of an ACOCP shoot package, a gorgeous little box holds the 6x4 album, a beautiful chiffon bag holds the CD of full res images, all packaged up with tissue paper and ribbon ... simple but elegant ...

busy, busy, busy ...

But in this day and age ... who isn't!? ... Don't ask me what I achieve in a day that I would call 'busy' because it generally doesn't amount to much, but between kindy drop offs/pick ups, shoots, appointments, printing and organising an exhibition ... not to mention a very important 1st birthday party! .... there doesn't seem to be much time in between ... ...

I was called to an ACOCP shoot on the weekend, for little Dale, born at 27 weeks, now 10 weeks old and doing pretty well ... when I met him and his beeeauuutiful family (his big sister was stunning!) he had just had his gastric tube removed and was in an open cot and looking like going home in about 2-3 weeks ... good luck Dale and family! your photos are on their way ...

Aint nothin sweet about me ...

yeah ...

Foggy Crafers

Today was very weird. The fog, which is normal in the morning, hung around until about 1.30 ... it was stunningly beautiful and whilst doing the kindy drop off I was thinking I must get out and grab some pics ... of course as soon as I was in the car with camera and tripod, the fog lifted!!! ... but by 4.30ish it was settling back in so I went for another quick cruize ... snapped this one just down the road ...

BRIZVEGAS!

Oh my gosh. I've been neglecting my blog. I know. I'm sorry ...

But I have good reason!!! ... last weekend Merryn and I played the intrepid travellers and spent three days in Brisbane, mainly for the ACOCP AGM, but also to coincide with PMA.

We had the best time! We met some of the wonderful people who also donate their time and talent to the ACOCP, went through some workshops including a brief on the realities of photographing stillborns. It was intense, and emotional, but unbeliebably inspirational ... I came away from it with renewed passion, and ever more determined to keep hounding the hospitals who believe we are just a bunch of money hungry photographers wanting to make a buck from bereaved parents (how many times do I have to say IT IS COMPLETELY FREEEEEE!) ... I'll step off my soap box now ...

We also visited the PMA and came away with bags of brochures for products we could spend our hand earned money on. Photobooks (books professionally bound and published with your images in them) swamped the trade show. Some were great, others pretty crappy actually! ... But we sorted through the good and the bad and chose ones for our businesses that had a good balance between quality and price ...

We also had a few days to wander the streets of Brisbane (and yes, we went to the Casino and I lost a whole 5 bucks! doh!) ... the weather was shocking (we left Adelaide a sunny 21 and got to Brisbane for showers and 18!) ....

thought I would share some of our shots ....

We braved the big city at night ... Brisbane City from South Bank ...

A Mill, in the middle of the City, just near the Roma Street Gardens

I absolutely loved the change in climate (wouldn't want to live there though!) all the ferns and palms were stunning ...

All up we had a great time (especially Saturday night when we thought it would be a great idea to swim in the Southbank Pools at 1 am!) ... came home absolutely exhausted!

INTRODUCING BAYBEE COCOONS ...

Ok, in the interests of keeping my blog (s!) in order, I am transferring all my baby cocoon information and ordering information to BAYBEE COCOON (http://www.baybeecocoons.blogspot.com/)

There has just been so much interest that I felt I needed to keep it all off my photoblog and on to one of its own ... it is still in its infancy, so be patient. Over the next few days it should be full of all the material selections and a few more nice piccies ... stay tuned! :)

My baby girl's growing up ...

Wow. Today I completed my last ever 1st birthday invitation. I can't believe my little, tiny weeny, baby girl is going to be 1 in less than 2 weeks.

Was it really a year ago that my belly was that huge? Was it really a year ago that I had the most amazing life changing experience? Was it really a year ago that I laboured long and hard at home in my lounge, my birth pool, my kitchen, my bathroom? Was it really a year ago that I, finally, after years and years of preparation, knowledge seeking, reading, talking, dreaming ... gave birth to my daughter after two previous ceasareans? ...

I feel bad that it was a bit of a rushed job, but I got them out finally.

My gosh have I been busy lately ... and today has been one of 'those' days ... you know, the ones where if something is going to go wrong, it will. Nothing huge, but lots of little things, and all together they drive me nuts, put me in a foul mood, and give me the biggest headache known to man ...

Anyway, enough of feeling sorry for myself. And I should be in a GREAT mood! Tommorrow I fly up to Brisbane for the PMA and the ACOCP AGM. Three days and two nights of completely child free ... busy-ness ... but at least it is child free. I will miss them madly but am determined to enjoy some kid free time. I will SLEEEEEPPPPP ALLLLLL NIIIIIIGGGGHT! ohhhh man. Can't wait. Wish my husband luck with three kids for 3 days and nights ... he'll probably need a valium by Sunday night ...

Angel Wings ...

We finally got our new angel wings all the way from the U. S. of A. ! They are gorgous little ones designed especially for little bodies ... they measure only 21 cms across ... and are simply beeaauutiful!

I love this dimply bum ...

Cocoon wool ...

hi there!

all the baby cocoon info has been transfered here

I'm in PRINT!

Well ... a few months ago a publisher contacted me out of the blue and asked me to take some shots at a childcare centre for their publication called ABC Small Wonders, produced by Hardie Grant Publishers for the ABC childcare centres ... anyway, I got my copy today ... and I'm a little excited!



Hmm ... interesting spelling here ...

Newborn Cocoons ... (imagination required!)

CLICK HERE for more info on BAYBEE COCOONS ...

Ok, so you might need to use your imagination a little bit! ... but I've just completed my first (of many!) baby cocoon ... they are the cutest damn things for newborn photography ...

So use your imagination and replace the teddy for a cute sleepy ultra-newborn and hay presto ... pretty cute ha!? ... now I just need to get my hands on a brandspanking-new-one ... hmm ...

And if there are any photographers out there that don't have time or skills to make their own, I'm a tad addicted to it and will be making quite a lot more, with matching hats, in various colours, happy to take orders - cocoon and matching hat for $40.