available light ltd - photography BLOG: lifestyle portrait & wedding photography » little ones

two brothers… 11 jul ‘10

availablelight — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:49:15 +0000

how does the old saying go: “boys will be boys”… never more true than when you have plans for them! we had gorgeous light and sunny winter weather down at the beach for nate & cole’s photo session… but one boy decided the camera was not for him that day, and rather than upset him and end up with grumpy pictures we decided to work with the younger brother first, and get to the elder boy afterwards, on his own terms. i employed some wildlife field tactics – was so funny seeing him pop his head out from behind the trees to check where i was, curious in spite of himself!

here’s some of their pics…

1-year-old melodie’s family… 28 may ‘10

availablelight — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:01:21 +0000

and here are the promised favourites from melodie’s family session last friday! we were battling rain showers and approaching dark as well as the typical 1-year-old stuff like “no, i’m going that way” and “i want those chickens” and “deep water? lemme see!” but we got through it and had a great time too

there are quite a few pics (including the sneak peek a couple of posts ago) so let’s get started…

hug for daddy (just home from work)

ducks in three… two…

…one!

look, hairy chicken!

hairy chicken

following hairy chicken

hug for daddy?

no, hug for mummy!

compromise: family hug!

wheeeeeeee!

alone time for mum & dad

playful

serious moment

final shot, almost totally dark

thanks guys, it was lots of fun!

sneak peek: 1-year-old melodie’s family… 28 may ‘10

availablelight — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:53:11 +0000

last friday afternoon, we braved the weather and all met up at western springs for jules & larissa’s long-awaited family photo session, and then stood under very-much-appreciated umbrellas for the first 10 minutes! but when the sun peeked back through we grabbed the chance to make some beautiful photos – and here’s one of them! gorgeous little melodie, just turned one year old last week…

more photos coming soon

who says ‘never work with children or animals’?… 14 feb ‘10

availablelight — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:29:33 +0000

babies and toddlers (and pets too) have a special quality absent in most other human portrait subjects that makes them very rewarding to photograph: they are utterly unselfconscious in front of a camera, being largely unaware of its purpose. they don’t shrink, get shy, pose, act, or pull exaggerated/artificial facial expressions. the main challenge is to gain their trust so that they aren’t reacting (negatively) to your presence. and – you don’t have to direct them! possibly my favourite part of all

and because a post without a photo is boring: here’s joshua…

you might also remember him from such posts as this, this, this or this

introducing baby isobel… 8 feb ‘10

availablelight — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:05:35 +0000

isobel’s mum and dad are old friends of mine, and back in 2006 i was privileged to photograph their wedding (some photos in gallery #2 on this page) and baby shower last year too. they no longer live in auckland so this week i met their gorgeous baby daughter for the first time! isobel was so cooperative and really seemed to enjoy all the attention.

when we arrived at the park, i was disappointed to see the cloud cover obscured the sun, but i turned around and noticed some really pretty light under an avenue of pohutukawa trees and so we ended up with LOTS of great shots! here’s a selection…

her favourite bear

she loved having her nappy off

love this one, a little thai princess

look at those eyes!

mummy make it better

time with daddy

too curious about the camera!

and this, folks, is how you know the shoot is over!

sleepy time.

good night isobel, thanks for being such a great model!

sneak peek: baby isobel… 8 feb ‘10

availablelight — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:55:05 +0000

you know your shoot is going to go well when you take the first photo and it comes out like this!

more to follow – stay tuned

joshua’s 1st birthday… 3 jan ‘10

availablelight — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:43:42 +0000

it doesn’t seem a moment ago that baby joshua ty was having his very first photo shoot at just two days old! since he was born i have been lucky enough to watch him grow up through my lens: aged one month old; and a few from six months old.

and now, he is one year old, so of course he had an enormous bash at his family’s gorgeous new home under the kauri trees. he received more presents than he could play with, but the other children were more than happy to assist him with that; and a great celebration was had by all.

here are my favourites from yesterday’s party…

costume time! bob the builder meets elvis…

cake – made with love by joshua’s grandmother

he’s so funny

unimpressed cat is… unimpressed

one of his guests… only a couple of weeks older than him

cake time!

illegal lollipop – choking hazard alert

baby james… 6 dec ‘09

availablelight — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:05:55 +0000

yesterday was fun! i was able to meet a gorgeous and very patient wee baby and photograph him, his princess of a big sister, and mum & dad too. baby james was supposed to be a newborn shoot but what with one thing and another we didn’t get to it until he was 5 weeks old and had basically doubled in size!

there were so many favourites it was hard to choose just a few, so i cheated and combined some pics together…

this was baby james when i arrived:

james’ blue newborn suit next to the one he was wearing when i arrived – hard to imagine him so tiny!

i took this one while holding the baby in one arm and camera + long lens in the other! multitasking WIN

holding daddy’s finger

james went back to his long-interrupted nap when i left!

summer is here… 26 nov ‘09

availablelight — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:16:21 +0000

usually it starts december 1 around these parts but summer came early for me this year in the form of a gorgeous wee girl who is about to turn one – and whose name is summer! last thursday i met her family at the park and we had loads of fun, as you can see by the top picks below…

refining my direction: lifestyle photos… 27 oct ‘09

availablelight — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:42:28 +0000

i have been considering my photographic direction for a while now, and last fortnight’s studio session has gone a long way to solidify my thinking. after completing this artificially-lit, backdrop-draped, 2-hour shoot, where the room was prepared by first drawing every available curtain and shutting all the blinds; i was greeted by a friend whose family i photographed last year. ironically, her words to me were: “yours are the best natural-light photographs i’ve ever seen.”

the thing which really stood out for me during the studio session was that the kids really didn’t seem to want to be there. they were enjoying all the toys and activities of the playgroup downstairs and then were suddenly whisked away to a strange (boring!) black room with odd-shaped objects that they weren’t allowed to touch, and asked to sit still and look happy. how many very young children would actually be happy with this scenario? there were a couple who understood the picture-taking process and were excited to imagine themselves on-camera… but the rest frankly were in a hurry to leave and i totally sympathised with them – and their poor parents who were resorting to desperate bribes and all manner of antics to coax at least one real smile out of them before their time was up.

my favourite type of portrait session is one where the subjects hardly even notice they are in a photo shoot. i love to get outdoors, some distance away with a longer lens, choose a time of day with perfect lighting, in a setting where the subjects clearly feel relaxed and can just enjoy it. not many people would class an artificial studio set in their top ten places to spend an afternoon – especially pre-schoolers!

so i have decided: life is too short for me to spend my time trying to be all kinds of photographer to suit all kinds of client. therefore i am going to be my kind of photographer, and people will choose me because they love what i love and i’m ok with specialist studio photographers attracting the clients who want studio portraits; while i spend my own time behind the camera watching my subjects being themselves and enjoying their time with me – whether we are outside or in their own home, everyone will be comfortable and the photos will reflect that.

i have compiled a small collection of ‘outtakes’ from the last session to illustrate my point. all these children are so gorgeous and engaging, yet the photos speak for themselves: many of them have been caught in the act of attempting to leave the set, while others have made their point with attitude, or the dreaded finger-to-nose look… something guaranteed to put any parent off buying a wall print!