Heidi Horton Photography

September has been a beautiful month - it's crazy to think tomorrow is October! But that's the way this year has been right?! An absolute blur! 

This spring marks a change in blogging for me here. After 7 years solid of blogging individual shoots I'm changing things up. Each month I'm going to do a highlights blog post of portraits (my wedding blog posts won't change) with my favourite images I've created for my beautiful clients each month. I've umm'd and aah'd about this change for a while because it's a little daunting to change up something that has worked so well for so long, but this year has certainly been about change for us and that includes our business. (You can read about that here if you want). I so want to be spending my time & energy serving my clients and creating beautiful imagery, rather than making sure I blog twice a week.

I recently had the privilege of capturing family portraits for Justin and Philippa's beautiful family in Gore - complete with the family pets in a few shots! This was a lovely session and their prints are currently sitting in my office looking amazing - I can't wait for Justin and Philippa to see them.

A few weeks ago I spent a warm spring afternoon with the gorgeous Weir family at their Gore home overlooking the Mataura River & Hokonui Hills. What a relaxed portrait session this was - just some good quality family time hanging out. We took a short stroll down to the riverbank and then back up to their balcony to enjoy a glass of bubbles in the sun. Perfection.

There's a bit of a theme going on here with dogs this month! I encourage families to include the family pets in even just a few of their portraits because they're a part of the family dynamic too after all. Recently though I had the opportunity to create something different to my usual family portraits. Laura asked me to create a piece of artwork for the wall of their home with a portrait of their dog, Sika. This was great fun and we had a hoot of a time trying to get Sika to sit still and give me the right expressions! I loved the challenge and I love the end result - a 30x45 inch canvas!

Not going to lie - rapid fire & a fast shutter was definitely used to create this cool series of frisbee shots! If only you could bottle and sell the energy that this pooch has for play!

Yesterday I did my first day of Spring Mini Sessions and what fun it was! The blossom was looking stunning and the weather was beautiful.

(There's still a couple of spaces left for next weekend's Mini Sessions in Invercargill if you don't want to miss out on the chance to get some fresh portraits at an amazing price! bitly.com/minisessions2019).

October is set to be lots of fun with portrait sessions and our first spring wedding too! If you've been planning to get some portraits done before the end of the year get in touch ASAP as my calendar is reaching capacity fast. I still have weekday and weeknight spaces available for October and November, but weekends are now full until December!

I loved catching up with Lachie & Tansy last week for a family portrait session at their home near Dacre. It seems like not that long ago we photographed these lovebirds on their wedding day, and yet in November that will be two years ago!

Now they have a handsome baby boy, Frederick, who without a doubt stole the show for these photos! Freddie is twelve weeks old and was a delight to photograph - he has the cutest wee expressions! Here's a few of my favourites from the session...

Tansy & Lachie, it was so great to see you both and to meet Freddie! Thank you for asking me to take these portraits for you. xx

Baby Charlie had a bumpy start to life, receiving urgent open heart surgery just days after being born. Charlie had a congenital heart defect called Transposition of the Great Arteries. But now over two months after his surgery there's no looking back - this kid is growing so fast, full of smiles and absolutely loved my camera during his portrait session earlier in the month!

There is so much goodness, happiness and love in these portraits which tugs at my heart because I know that Tish & Phil have been through hell and back on this journey with their family. I'm just so happy to see them out the other side and to see Charlie thriving. These portraits tell a story - they remind us of what a wee warrior Charlie is, but that he is also part of a very special family. I first photographed Phil & Tish three years ago now - an engagement session before their wedding. It has been such a privilege to continue to be their photographer through life's milestones. Phil & Tish just imagine your next family portraits with the boys running in two different directions! 😆

As much as I love capturing that fleeting newborn phase, I have to say 2-3 months old is my favourite age for baby portraits because you get to capture so much personality and awareness.

This image below just cracks me up. I remember Fletcher giving me all the facial expressions during his portrait session at the same age!

Phil & Tish - thank you for asking me to photograph your beautiful family. I loved getting to spend some time with Charlie and catching up with you all! These photographs are rolling off my printer today and they look incredible. Can't wait for you to see them.x