24th Feb 2010, 10:25pm

Ness called up all super excited to get me to come and look at a house on Saturday.  Now you need to know that Ness is a house person, you know how some people are so much a part of their home that you have trouble imagining them anywhere else?  Ness is like that, so her wanting to show me another house is a big deal.  And of course this other house is gorgeous...and I really can see her living there. 

And so there is the small matter of the gorgeous house she currently owns!

Luckily she knows a photographer hey?  So I spent a couple of hours taking some pics for the Harcourts site and hopefully they'll help do the bizzo :-)  Meanwhile if you are one of the bajillions of people who have admired this beautiful character home over the years you should get in quick!

Putting your house on the market is kind of weird isn't it?  I don't know about anyone else but it usually makes me not want to sell it!  Something about seeing it through other people's eyes makes it seem nicer...or it could just be the fact that it's suddenly tidy all the time :-)

21st Feb 2010, 9:04pm

I think I know when it started.  It was May 2008 and we were on holiday in the Bay of Islands.  We looked around for things to do and Caro and I thought the horse trek sounded like a bit of fun.  The boys went off to do a quad bike thing and we set off on horseback.  When we got back two hours later I had a very sore butt and she had a new obsession...horses!!

Fast forward to today when we watched Caro competing in her first ever ribbon day at the Equestrian Centre.  There were some tense moments...

But this is the face of a kid who has just won her first ever ribbon at her first ever ribbon day...

We could NEVER have contemplated this dream coming true without my fabulous in-laws who have come to watch every lesson (not to mention paying for them) and taught us what we didn't know (which was SO much it is still mind-boggling).  This is Grandma today giving Caro a few tips...

A fabulous day full of proud mummy moments :-)

19th Feb 2010, 10:36pm

I don't do a lot of commercial photography work and when I do it's usually related to weddings...so how did I end up in Auckland at the crack of dawn this morning photography fabric?  Nic from Hemptech was looking for someone who could photograph their fabric range with a bit of creative flair and an eye for detail.  And so I showed him some wedding details work and he liked the idea of trying something different.  Creative detail shots? Yep, that sounds like a bit of me :-)

As for the crack of dawn start? Just trying to beat the yucky Auckland traffic...am feeling quite fond of Hamilton after that!

18th Feb 2010, 4:50pm

Some more pics from the relaxed portrait session with Millie last Saturday...

 Doesn't she make you wish you were 6 again?!

17th Feb 2010, 3:30pm

Stef has a son, Daniel (yes, that's him on the left in this pic, and no, it's not fair that Stef can be his mother and look so young and gorgeous...but I digress!).  And Daniel stood up to make a speech and told everyone that his Mum had tried all sorts of dating; speed dating, internet dating, blind dating but what had really worked out well was the mail (male?) order date from Canada.

Yes, Rob is Canadian! 

This was one of the most relaxed weddings ever, both Stef and Rob are so at home on the beach we couldn't help but get great pics...

and hullo...a rainbow? Could this be any more perfect?!

Congratulations and thanks so much guys!

Check out a couple more pics on Facebook :-)

16th Feb 2010, 10:29pm

Mmmmm, lovin the colour palette from Stephanie and Rob's Whangmata wedding last Friday...

All pale neutrals with touches of white and green...

So laid back but fresh and summery!

13th Feb 2010, 10:16pm

Does it count as a road trip if the journey is (theoretically) only an hour and a half?  Well we made sure it counted today by going the very looooong way round!  I love a good road trip...my definition of road trip is any journey where you drive to have a good time not to make good time (kind of a mis-quote from one of my fav movies, 'Cars').  The only rule is that you have to stop as many times as possible!

On one of our stops the kids clearly needed to let off some steam...

The main purpose of the trip (apart from having a good time) was to meet the family who won my portrait giveaway from the Home Show back in October.  We had talked on the phone and decided that any excuse for a trip to the beach is a good one and so some beach portraits were called for.

Miss Millie was the most fantastic model, encouraged by her equally fantastic parents she played and posed and played some more while I snapped away.  I am loving the pics...they are so beautifully Millie!

While I was taking these someone wandered past and was heard muttering that 'at least they could have brushed her hair if they were taking pictures'...we had a good laugh about people who feel compelled to comment!  Seriously though...how much less relaxed and real would this image be if we had stopped to 'fix' her hair?  I love that Millie's hair is just like Millie at 6; beautiful and free and doing her thang! 

8th Feb 2010, 4:03pm

One of the things I love about weddings is the way they link generations together.  And I just love the idea of using photos from guests own weddings as part of the setting for the current wedding.  It just makes that full circle thing so potent y'know?  There is something so beautifully timeless and nostalgic about old wedding photos.  I can't help myself, I love looking at people's old photos!  To me they are a constant reminder that while so many things change the really important things don't.

Gemma and Lester hung mounted prints from branches and dotted them around the room for their styly cocktail reception...

While Julie and Gareth cut out thousands of teeny tiny pics and sprinkled them along the table runners for their very classic black and white themed tables...

Two super cute ways to tie the generations together not to mention being great conversation starters!

5th Feb 2010, 2:16pm

She was just minding her own business when her brother brought home a mate from Tech to work on an assignment.  She just carried on minding her own business.  Grant on the other hand was smitten.  He says he was struck by her intelligence and charm...and then he cracks up and says "Naa, I just thought 'Phwoar!'"

Tanya and Grant are both a bit like that, at first they seem a little reserved but very quickly you glimpse this wicked sense of humour.  Their first dance was just so them; they had us all convinced they were going to do the 'school social shuffle'.  But no...inspired by the evolution of dance on youtube they totally busted out the moves!

I always love the first part of the day...this is one of my favs of Tanya getting ready...

and Dad walking her down the aisle...

Congratulations Tanya and Grant!  Thansk for having us be part of your day.

4th Feb 2010, 3:38pm

How many images do you shoot? 

The short answer is 'a truckload'.  But realistically you can expect to end up with around 100 per hour of shooting.  I'm never sure whether this question is asked because people worry that they won't get enough or because they worry there'll be too many.  But no one has ever commented that they wish there were more. most times people wish there were a few less to make choosing easier!

This is a screen grab of the bridal party and couple pics from Cassy and Russell's recent wedding.  You can see we often include colour and B&W versions of pics and a smattering of other artistic effects as appropriate.  And that's 140 images just there.

How does 'Print Credit work?

The idea of print credit is to give you flexibility when choosing enlargements.  Everyone is different and wants different things so print credit aloows you to choose.  You might use a $500 print credit to buy a 16x24 stretched canvas or you might opt for several smaller, unframed prints.  Probably the most popular thing people do with it is add more pages to their album!

How fabulous are Queensberry albums really?

They really really are very fabulous.  If they were a car they might be a Mercedes SL 500, if they were shoes they would be Manolos.  If a Queensberry album was a house it might be this one and if Queensberry was a dress it would look something like this.  Queensberry are all about impeccable styling, handmade quality, individual touches, attention to detail...I could go on (and I will!)

I love that they are made in New Zealand by a New Zealand company who are world leaders.  I love that they know who I am when I ring up and that they will ring me just to check details before going ahead with the printing.  And I love that the one time I had a problem (that was my fault BTW) they fixed it within two days and got the album straight back to me and the repair was invisible.

But mostly it is just that emotional reaction when you see something gorgeous...like the SL500 or that Givenchy dress..you know fabulous when you see it :-)