Spring time is always a busy wee time of year for a photographer! In the lead up to Christmas and as the days start to lengthen and the weather warms, the bookings for family portraits flood in. This Spring has been no exception and for that I am so grateful. We are living in weird times and I'm thankful for all my lovely clients this Spring.

Spring time in Southland is also usually a bit of a trying time scheduling portrait shoots around the unpredictable weather and this year has again been no exception. But that's part and parcel of getting to live in our awesome region and one look at all these beautiful photographs makes all the reschedules totally worth it!

Let's start this Spring recap off with the fun Mini Sessions I run each Spring. Here's just some of the sessions (as some are kept offline for Christmas present surprises 😉). 

My beautiful friends Alexandra and Mitch had their baby boy! And they asked me to update their family portraits for them which was an absolute privilege. Plus of course I got Flynn snuggles after the shoot!

The Orpwood's family session was a fun adventure that I won't forget any time soon! The boys splashed stones in the river, we danced in the rain and we laughed a LOT. Piano Flat is a special place for the Orpwood family and one of my favourite places in this world too. 

Continuing the theme of loyal clients, meet Oscar and Shanaye - one of our past wedding couples! That wee cutie is their son who just turned one!!!

I spent an afternoon with Judy's family creating updated portraits back in October! We got such a cool variety of photos, from the multi-generational shots to candids of the kids around Judy & Grant's incredible gardens.

Thank you to all the families who booked in portraits with me this Spring. There are so many gorgeous frames, albums and printed series in production currently, most of which will be just in time to enjoy at Christmas!

I have a full schedule now to see out 2021 and have bookings well into January 2022 as well which I am really looking forward to. 

Timing is everything! If you’re envisioning glowy, sun-kissed portraits (like a lot of the ones you see me taking) then please know that these don’t happen in the middle of the day.

​90% of the time I don’t book outdoor portrait sessions anytime close to midday. Instead, just after sunrise and not long before sunset, when the sun is low on the horizon (the golden hours). This is when I love to shoot!!! The light is beautiful, soft and saturated. It truly will make a difference to your final photos. 

If you have young children consider doing your family portraits in Spring or Autumn while the days are shorter if you want to get those glowy, dreamy sunset colours!

Obviously if the weather is overcast and cloudy, the time of day doesn't always matter quite so much as we don't have to worry about harsh shadows and glare from the sun. But even on cloudy days the sunset can still end up being beautiful and providing some gorgeous colours.

As a wedding photographer I've also come to be confident with whatever light I am given. You don't get to be picky on a wedding day and you can just about guarantee portrait time is during the harshest sunlight hours! So I always make the most of any lighting situation and use it to my advantage. Knowing light is something that comes with experience and is a skill every photographer needs to continue honing in their craft. After all, photographs are essentially all about light - without it there is no photo.

Most of all I want you to get the kind of portraits you've been dreaming of! If you love golden light as much as I do, let's chat about how we can make that happen for your portraits. x

I'm so excited for the Spring season ahead, although the weather isn't exactly playing the game at present for many shoots! But that's Spring in Southland isn't it?! So lets have a recap of some Winter portraits while we wait for Mother Nature to catch up. My winter was a very productive one this year - I got two major photography projects finished (but that's for another blog post) and I'm feeling so inspired for my portraits and coming wedding season.

This first family session is very close to my heart and is the epitome of what I love about portraits. A day at the beach in Riverton, very documentary styled and all about capturing fun family memories. There was crabbing on the rocks, kicking the rugby ball on the beach, sand castle building and looking for beach treasure. Not only was is a lot of fun to photograph, this beautiful family are friends of ours so Matt & I really enjoyed being a part of this day at the beach too.

Brad and Tracey's lovely family portrait session was a completely different vibe but just as casual and relaxed - doing photos in your own home might sound unappealing at first but there's some great advantages to it! Not only is it truly personalised, the kids can jump on the trampoline, the baby can take a nap and there's no rush packing up the tribe & the car to get to a location.

It was so lovely to catch up with the gorgeous Wilson family recently.  I had the privilege of documenting life with their new addition, Miss Mila. She is just beautiful. And of course big brother Carter kept me on my toes, giving me some super cute shots in between the tornado of energy that comes with a toddler. ​😆

I've been spoilt with getting to document newborns this winter! I was chuffed when Scott and Donique asked me to photograph them with their newborn baby girl. These two get married this summer (which we're excited to be photographing too!) but why not make 2021 even more AMAZING by welcoming their first child into the world. Grace was a wee doll for her newborn session. Isn't she just perfection?!

I'd like to thank all those families who had photo sessions with me this winter (there's some I haven't shared online & I want to thank them too!) and for everyone's patience with albums & frames while our supplier (based in Auckland) is still in lockdown and not able to complete our orders. Fingers crossed the ball will be rolling again soon with product. 🤞🏻

And if you have not got yourself entered into my massive Portrait Giveaway yet, make sure you do - it's the biggest giveaway I've ever done and I'm very excited for it! Entries close 20th Sept.