welcome...

Hi there! I'm Natt - a Sydney based wedding and portrait photographer. This space is for me to share my passion for photography, my latest work as well as bits and pieces of my life. I'd love to hear from you so please feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email. Thanks for stopping by!
nattnee twittered...

out of office

Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Hi all,

I'm currently on holidays until the 1st of August. Please email info@nattnee.com for all enquiries. I will be checking emails from time to time.

Ciao!

Natt =)
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Have fun on your travels Natt :) (30 June 2009 08:43)  

travel bag

Friday, 19 June 2009
What bag do you take when you go travel? I meant for your DSLR + lenses, not for your clothes!

I have 2 Crumplers and I am not overly happy with any of them. One is a side bag and is great for accessibility but it's so fat due to its shape and the heavy padding (which really protects your gear), making it a really cumbersome bag to carry around. The other is a backpack which is a lot easier to carry but not accessible since you have to take the pack off your back and unzip the thing wide open. The Crumplers padding is really good though.

I'm eyeing this at the moment - Lowepro Terraclime 100. It looks very travelly doesn't it =)
Looks light and accessible but the bag itself is pretty much just a canvas and offers no protection for the gear apart from that padded envelope thing which doesn't look like it'll wrap around much either - maybe a smaller DSLR.





It's tempting. I mean ultimate accessibility would be to keep the camera on your neck all the time so this has to be better than that. Anyone else got one of these or have any other recommendations?

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That looks like every other messenger bag except it has a MASSIVE Lowepro logo on it!

This trip I've given up and gone the other way, Lowepro Toploader 65 AW + Lens Case 1W strapped to the side.

You can carry a camera as a separate item to your carry on bag for plane travel - I figured I might as well take advantage of it instead of overloading my backpack like I normally do.

In the past if I wanted to stay incognito I used a normal bag/backpack, put extra lenses in their pouches, and wrapped the camera in a light jumper/towel for protection. (19 June 2009 10:45)  

ed & dee: wedding (part 3)

Saturday, 6 June 2009
Ed and Dee's reception was held in the Garden Suite at Oatlands House. The night was filled with lots of dancing, including traditional Laotian dance. I'm not sure what it's called but it looks kinda like what we call "rumwong" in Thai. It looks like so much fun and if we weren't on duty, we'd probably join in =p





The bestman has the expression of "what am I doing?" but he did very well with the dancing =)














This cake is so very Ed and Dee. It immediately reminded me of one of the photos from their engagement session where Dee was pretending to whip Ed =)








I love love love seeing emotions at a wedding and best of all a teary bride =)








Dee looks super sweet in this one.





More dancing fun!




















We really had a great time at Ed and Dee's wedding and you know what, photos are so much better with a pretty song so check out the slideshow here. Thank you Dee for pointing me out to this song, I love love it =)

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My favorite is the last shot wohooo...great job Natt! Wait...another favorite is the rings shot, nice!! (16 June 2009 15:47)  

So many beautiful emotions Natt, I love your B&W conversions, always so pretty! (19 June 2009 20:42)  

ed & dee: wedding (part 2)

Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Ed and Dee's wedding photos continues and what's a Sydney wedding without a location shoot in Martin Place?

Forgive me if there are too many similar photos. I have a real problem when it comes to making selections! I don't post that often though so guess it's ok =p

This walking shot is one of my fav from the entire location shoot.




















Pretty in pink.








I love the Paspaley door. Doesn't it look like a really huge block of chocolate? =)





The boys.





Edwas looking real sweet in these next two.








And then Ed was...Ed hehe =)








The beautiful and grand staircase of the Westin Hotel.

















These two are just so cute together.





This next shot is my favouritest (if there is such a word) from location...maybe the entire wedding even. I just love the romantic feel of the photo and the backdrop. I think I'm beginning to fall in love with B&W. I know I have had the tendency to convert my favs into B&W for this particular wedding.





I was very excited about this place with all the little windows.








"It's getting hot in here so take off all..." ookk, so not what they were thinking =)





I was stoked when I saw this piano. I don't know how I missed it the firs time I went scouting at the location. While I like to go scouting before my shoots, I do like little surprises like this, stuff you didn't see or planned for.





Sririn's capture.





They were playing a jingle here, I just can't for the life of me remember which one it was. Oh memory, where are you?











A little rest time before heading off to reception.





And those reception photos will be in the next post =)

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Love the first photo, and the one of the chocolate door! :) (04 June 2009 11:13)  

Simple & nice :) B&W photos are absolutely beautiful! (05 June 2009 02:40)  

Beautiful work Natt. I love shooting at the Westin and Martin Place, it's just gorgeous! (15 June 2009 15:42)  

ed & dee: wedding (part 1)

Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Ed and Dee were married at Strathfield Chinese Seventh Day Adventist Church (try saying that real fast three times in a row), chilled out around Martin Place looking pretty in front of my camera and then celebrated the start of their new life together with a reception at Oatlands House.

I started gathering their photos together for the blog and soon realised I would end up with way too many for a single post so for now I'm just going to share some pics from the prep and ceremony.

Dee's pretty little dress was made by her sister! What a lucky girl she is to have such a talented sister. If my sis asked me to sew her a wedding dress, she'd better be prepared to wear a potato sack decorated with buttons...but of course she'd know better =p



















Align Left
Cute huh? I have a thing for bows ..and Dee too of course - I meant she's also cute that is!








I have been training Sririn in photography before this wedding so she could be my second shooter. These next two images, which I converted to B&W, are hers and I must say I'm a proud teacher/sister/employer =)








This shot is rather simple but I really really like it. I think it's the candid nature of it in combination with her happy expression.


























This wedding is the first that I've shot at that has rose petal confetti or any form of confetti for that matter. I was VERY excited, as excited as the bride herself. I'm so happy with these I couldn't just pick one to show. Melikey =)











Part 2, location and reception, coming soon to a screen near you.

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I love your photos!!
I am just heading to shoot a wedding, and came up to your site to warm up! (06 June 2009 18:14)  

I LOVE the petal shots too ;) So beautiful Natt! (19 June 2009 20:45)  

lara croft shoots wedding

Thursday, 21 May 2009
Shooting with two camera bodies can be a little bit of a pain in the butt. Slinging one over each shoulder sometimes results in a collision and as I stand and squat and move around, one would occasionally slide off.

Frankly, I wish I didn't have to hold anything. If the cameras would just float in the air around me at the ready that would be just peachy but unless I'm related to Magneto from the X-Men, that ain't gonna happen now is it (I checked ok, lifted the palm of my hand and concetrated real hard...nothing moved).

The other thing I thought of was a holster...yeah like for guns but it would be for cameras.

Exhibit A: Lara Croft
See, hands free, they just strap on to your body. However, this would require shorts (really short shorts) and shapely thighs.





Exhibit B: John McClane
Great idea, just gotta lose the dirty clothes and lower the holster a bit, wouldn't wanna be tucking a camera under your armpit now do you?





So anyway, I've always wished they made holster for cameras and lo and behold, they do! My friend just pointed me to the Black Rapid website. Check out this double strap:





It's exactly what I've always wished they'd make but now that it's available I don't know if I'd be game enough to wear that to a wedding. I remember one of the videographers had a big black vest on for strapping the video camera to himself and I thought he looked like he was with the bomb squad.

Honestly, it looks ok on a dude but on a chick? If you find any photos of this on a female photographer, do let me know! BTW Gizmodo appropriately called this double strap a "John Woo's take on wedding photography" haha.

I hope the guy in the photo never finds this post 'cos I'm about to say that it reminded me of this:





Very innovative but for now, I'll just stick to my slidey shoulders until I see it in action =)

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i think the video guy is using steady cam. my video guy use it while he was filming my wedding. but the strap thing for two cameras are cool :) (22 May 2009 17:09)  

how many problems would that double strap solve *sigh* I use only primes at weddings so it would be perfect.. if it didn't look so .. umm ... dude in the infantry! (25 May 2009 10:33)  

There's one more option Natt, these things: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/28/video-spider-camera-holster-is-a-little-bit-want-mostly-idioti/

Kim. (28 May 2009 20:51)  

first time fritters

Thursday, 14 May 2009
Has anyone been watching Master Chef? I've missed a couple of episodes but I love this show. It's so inspiring and it makes me wanna try new things.

My mum is a great cook and of all things she passed on to me, her culinary talent didn't quite make it through the umbilical cord. I did have many opportunities to learn from her but I was a lazy daughter. I'm Thai and I can't even make Tom Yum soup. I've tried a few times and it never tasted right, my last attempt involved a jar of pre made paste 'cos I've given up on trying to make it from scratch. Oh how my mother would be so proud.

I can't cook anything that is too complicated or has long list of ingredients. I love looking at all the pretty pictures in cook books and just wish I could snap my fingers and have it appear right in front of me. Sure I've tried recipes but sadly, I don't follow instructions well. I'm definitely not a calculated type of cook, I am more intuitive...but with um...bad intuitions.

Anyway, being inspired by Master Chef, I was determined to try something new. I came across this rather simple looking recipe in a magazine - Haloumi & Zucchini Fritters. I love love love haloumi, it's my favourite cheese. I've never made fritters but I have haloumi and zucchinis in the fridge so why not, let's have a crack.

Now, the smartest thing I did was to halve everthing 'cos I knew there was a high chance of failure (eventhough this looks VERY easy). Recipe said to grate zucchinis and haloumi:








After that, I read that I'll also be needing eggs, plain flour and spring onions. Umm perhaps I should've read ALL the ingredients before I started 'cos I didn't actually have flour. Argh fine, I'll get off my ass and go buy some flour.








Then you just mix it all up (with a bit of pepper) to make a batter and then fry it.








Notice how it looks kinda burnt? Well, here's the thing...you know how the stove has a dial where you turn the gas on. One end is low heat and one end is high heat right? So I figured, if I put it in the middle...then it's medium heat which is what the recipe required. Wrong! Go on and laugh, I already got laughed at today and a question to boot "well, if you leave an empty pan on low heat for an hour, is it still low heat?". I'm such a doofus.

The fritters:





The verdict: They were so freaking salty but that ain't my fault 'cos I didn't add extra salt. A bit burnt on the outside (due to my medium heat geniusness) and a little soggy on the inside 'cos I couldn't leave them on the pan any longer. BTW, half and egg and one egg is the same diff right? Hmm the batch was meant to make 12 but I only got 7...maybe I made them too fat.

Looks like I won't be auditioning for Master Chef next year =p

P.S. I feel ick. That's a very sizable chunk of haloumi in there.

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Yum Yum!! Can I have some..... (20 May 2009 16:05)