Tony and Jenna

Yesterday was a day I was praying the rain would STOP!...I sat at Waikokopu cafe with some friends having lunch I watching the weather...

Thankfully it cleared up beautifully...the sun came out...and then the clouds came over beautifully to create a perfect overcast day, brilliant for photos!

Jenna looked absolutely stunning, a picture perfect bride and you could see it in Tony's eyes as she walked down the isle.
It was very much a family day, everyone played a special part and so nice to see the little ones be so involved too.

A little dance together...

Look at the cake!!! Jenna's mum tells me Jenna designed it! WOW!

LOVE this one taken in front of the waka house...

Thanks Jenna and Tony for an amazing day!

xox

Well this is the last post for 2010!! 

Happy New Year to all, make sure you all stay safe tonight. 

I will be away for 3 weeks! so no blog post until then.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Close to home...

Last family portrait sitting for the year...

Radojovich family of Waiharara/Kaimaumau have been friends of our family for years...So I was so excited when Tanja sent me a message on facebook to do some family photos for them. I LOVE photographing big families! with all of the children and grandchildren and lucky me with such a beautiful family as well.
Most of the family was there, so we worked through the list of photos, making sure to photograph the grandchildren first so the little ones would not have to sit around for long!

When I arrived Tanja and Sonja were very well prepared and showed me around the garden at the places that liked for photos! Thanks girls ;-)
The rain decided to hold off for us...just! it was another nice overcast day that just lit everything up beautifully.

Away we went...Everyone in front of the family home...

I really love rustic backgrounds...

A tradition the grown up kids have! The sky was really bright and hard to open their eyes! 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...

Another one of those "talk and laugh moments!" I love these as you never know what your gonna get!

And Hannah had the last say of the day! What a cutie ;-)

Thank you Tanja for inviting me to take your family photographs. Hope you enjoy them!

xox

Family photos for everyone!

It seams that this is the time of year that families are ALL together. Lynette wanted some family portraits to mark the occasion! A last minute booking of memories!

Taken in Lynette's back yard...amazing what you can do just out your door step...

The line up...Hmmm tallest to shortest!

During family photographs get everyone together kind of in a line and get them to talk and laugh to one another! Everyone normally feels a bit silly! I photograph as they are, this photograph was one of those moments, they just happened to look at the right time and snap!...Perfect!

I just LOVE these photos of Gemma...

Thank you Lynette and it was lovely to meet your family. 

xox

Next ;-)

Now lets jump ahead to December 19th...
Arliana emailed me about some family portraits as a gift for their Mum for Christmas! The weather was the opposite to my last family portrait sitting, It was wet and raining on and off! With the bright overcast sky everything looked so pretty, so we decided to dodge the rain drops and go ahead as planned!

I think it was a bit of a mission for Arliana to get her Whanau together! Especially her brothers...but they all made it and looked great even with gum boots and beanies!

We took the photographs in my Nanas garden, Thanks Nana!

I will start with the one I like! It was raining at this point, I LOVE the sky in the background and everyone just looks so staunch walking up the driveway!

The girls...

The boys...

Thanks Arliana, hope that your Mum enjoys her photos!

xox

GET READY!!!

BLOG OVERLOAD TIME!
I know I have been very slack with my blog posts! a combo of holiday, tired, work, kids, stuck on what to blog about! and maybe a hint of lazyness?? oh well I am here now! and get ready for the overload!

I am going to turn back the clock a little now, back to the 28th November. I mentioned in a blog back then that I met the Jenkins Family of Whangarei one sunny sunday morning. Kev and Jude and their two stunning girls Tasha and Kristy.
It was a real sunny morning and the sun was a bit challenging! However we worked around it and got some great shots! Here are a few from the morning...

This is one of my favourite shots from the morning!...One of those "moments in between"...

Thank you Kev and Jude for inviting my to photograph your beautiful family...

xox

Goals, Dreams, Achievements....Life!

Reflecting back on life, and thinking about what I have done, where I have been and where I am going...A good thing for everyone to do every now and then, and I guess its that time of the year when we do begin to think about this all, as christmas and the end of the year are around the corner...a time to start thinking of our New Years Resolutions if you make them! or I am more of a person that will reflect on what I have achieved and refocus on my goals that are not yet met!
I used to think that what I had achieved in my life did not really matter, particularly if it was not relevant to what I am doing now, but at the end of the day it all falls into place and relates to one another someway, and what we have done throughout our life is a journey that has lead us here to where we are now. The mistakes, the good stuff....everything has made us the person we are!

Are you a person who sets goals? Goals is a funny one, and I never believed in setting goals so much in the past. Sure I used to have dreams much like most of us, however some dreams I would believe out of reach so that is where I would keep them, as a dream...nothing more! Since then I have learnt that ANYTHING you BELIEVE you CAN do! What you think may be impossible is actually possible. And set your goals HIGH, beyond your wildest dreams, even if you at the time believe that you can not achieve it! Fake it till you make it! So give this a try...
Set one goal now, set a time to achieve it by, now double that goal and half that time! Now if you achieve 50% of that goal you have achieved 100% of what you actually wanted! See what I mean? And if you do not achieve that goal in that set time, reset your time! never let it go...
Something else I always believe is that your goals will always be lived, if not in your life time, in your childrens life time or grand childrens life time and so on...SO that alone is worth setting high goals for yourself.
See you plant a seed, being the dream, then you water the seed, being the belief in the dream, then it manifests and as long as you keep watering the seed - believing in the goal IT WILL HAPPEN!

I am going to use L.I.F.E as my example (the short version!) -
When I started my photography business 2 years ago, I had idea - L.I.F.E... I kept that idea in my head and it grew from there...what it was going to be...WHY I wanted to do it...I did not know so much HOW I was going to do it.
A year later I meet Marie who is now a friend and the other half of L.I.F.E, 6 months later something made me approach the idea to her, I honestly did not know she had an amazing talent of writing.
Now we have our first product!
So I kept dreaming the dream! and focusing on WHY I wanted to do it, and the HOW just showed up! I still don't know HOW the rest will end up, but I will focus on WHY we are doing it and WHY I want to do it...and the HOW will show up. You just have to have faith that it will, because it always will.
And the more you believe this, the easier it will be...

So I will be setting some more goals soon and re setting some old ones! I will keep you posted!

xox

School reports and learning to crochet!

random title I know! but thats hat its about...

2 more days of school left for my kiddies, yay it is going to be so nice, we have a full on holiday break visiting family and friends around the country!
So Cameron and Cody got their first school reports today! and they we so lovely to read...They both make me so proud, they are doing particularly well with their reading, in Cody's report it said that he even helps his friends to read, and Cameron is doing excellent at trying to read all by herself and sound out words she does not know! Looking forward to next year, they will be year 1!

Now I have been told that because I have been learning to crochet that does NOT make me a nana! hehe...it is rather relaxing and I am happy with my work so far! I actually started as I wanted these baby coccons and hats for when I am photographing babies! I am on my 3rd on aready! making a good range of colours for different skin tones and looks! They are very cool...next is to learn to knit to make the hammocks! So I will be on the lookout for some newborn babies to pinch to photograph it my new props! So if you know anyone get them to contact me! I will give the baby back ;-)

Ok wel just a quick story from me tonight, I hope to get to sleep before 11 tonight! it has not happened this week at all and it is catching up!

nitey nite freinds
xox

Looking back...

Hello again...
Over the last couple of days, as I have been transferring files from my Laptop to my MacBook Pro I watched some of the files as they were loading onto my Mac...and I came across photos from my first ever wedding I photographed by myself! WOW...that was a few years ago. I thought about what I had started out with, and what I have now. From skills to equipment and what a huge difference!
Luanne and Aaron was my first solo wedding, Luanne gave me a chance ;-) and when I look back she must have had lots of faith in me as I was no professional! I obviously did not charge for the photography, what sort of friend would I be, and of course it was my first.
So I photographed this wedding with a 350D and 18-55mm lens! thats it...OMG...no back up lens, no back up camera...minimum experience! And I still look back on their photos and I absolutely LOVE them and whats even better they absolutely LOVE them! So thank you Luanne and Aaron...you guys gave me the start that I may not have go anywhere else! I would like to share some photos from their special day ;-)

You will still see them in alot of my advertising!

Love it!

Athletics day 2!...Hippie Graduation...Birthday...Summer Show!

Wow what a bus couple of days! On top of normal life I have been trying to learn a whole new computer system! Which has been great as I have picked up this Mac business really fast! And at the same time probably not a good time of year learning this with everything else going on!!!
Soooo lots to talk about so here goes!
Well, Day 2 of athletics was great! This was definatly Cody's buzz rather then running! He enjoyed it alot more, Cameron on the other hand, not so much. I think a combo of tiredness and shyness and just could not be bothered set it!
Here is Cody on the high jump!

I love these photos!

Next on the agenda was Cameron and Cody's Hippie graduation, if you remember I blogged about Hippie a couple of blogs ago, well it was graduation night on Friday! We had brought them each a nice outfit for christmas and decided to give them early as a graduation present! It made sense as they needed something nice to wear! 

It was a nice night and once Cameron got over her tears, she did not want to wear her graduation gown and cap - yes just like the grown ups wear! All the other kids looked so cute in their gowns!

Nana Morey came along to watch and really enjoyed herself, Kylie came for half the night then had to get off to work.

Anyways some photos of my lovelies!

And last but not least my big birthday boy! He was 2 on Friday...here are some pics of him after the Hippie graduation...We had a his birthday cake on Saturday, photos to follow as I have not downloaded them yet!

Happy Sunday

xox