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...

the book and the lion

Tuesday, 31 March 2009
It's pouring outside and the sky is completely grey. How so very cozy...or miserable depending on whether you're chillaxing at home or out and about on your feet.

My book order from Amazon has finally arrived - Wedding Photography Unveiled. I have no idea what's in it or what it's about (besides the obvious), all I know is that my fav photographer, Jose Villa, is a collaborator. Sold!







Jose actually ran a competition a few weeks ago and he was giving away 5 copies of the book to the winners. My lame entry unfortunately didn't compel him to send one my way but nevermind, I got it now =)

Recently I've started helping Kylie Roberts out with her pre school photography. It's a creative type of school photography, not one of those sit in front of a backdrop and we'll click a button on the tripod type thing. It was really fun working with the little kiddies! I was totally surprised at how much I enjoyed it. 

I actually met Kylie about a year ago now and have been doing graphic design work for her since. It was really cool to see the poster I designed pinned to the board when I arrived at the pre school last week =)

I need to work on my ability to entertain kids. Reverse psychology doesn't work on all of them =p In the meantime, I am going to get Timmy the Lion to help me out.





Got him from a zoo called Ikea last weekend. I plan on strapping him to the top of my lens so whenever the kids start to lose interest, I will ask them to find the lion =)

Ok time to go rebuild my laptop. It started acting up yesterday and is refusing to play nice.
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Natt!! So happy you got the book.. do you love it?

best,

jose villa (01 April 2009 02:57)  

Ummmm I was going to say, I want that book but I just noticed that Jose left you a comment!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW! *Drool* (11 April 2009 06:28)  

talkbox

Sunday, 22 March 2009
Both my sister and I grew up taking piano lessons. We did it for about 6-7 years I think, then we quit and now we can't really play anymore. Well I guess I could if I really try but usually I never get past the first 2 pages of any sheet music. I tried taking guitar lessons and still can't play either. I don't get it, the whole world plays the guitar and most people are self taught and yet for the life of me, I just can't do it.

My brother, on the other hand, only did a bit of percussion in high-school music classes but he turned out to be the most musical in the family. As well as drums, he can play some guitar and piano and he also composes songs. It must've been the Mozart that my dad put on the stereo and placed next to my bro's crib when he was a baby. Ironically, my bro is in a little rock band and not an orchestra of some kind.

Anyway, he asked me to do some fun shots for the band. It was really last minute with no planning, no location scouting and not a lot of time. So we just did whatever we could around where we live (well where I used to live).

This one was right in front of our house. The truck happened to be there and I kinda liked the caution sign on the back of it.





The band is called Talkbox and the members are (as per photo above) Sam, Belinda, Don and Alex.

A lot of cars beeped at us while we were doing this. People must've thought we were stealing musical instruments and running away with them in a trolley!





I was shooting on the other side of the road and had to keep waiting for traffic to clear. I like this one though, it was a happy accident =)





Alex's cool yellow car. I would've preferred to shoot this from the other side (due to the sun) but couldn't as I didn't want houses in the background and we weren't game enough to drive the car onto the football field =p





We all agreed this shot, perhaps because of Sam's hair, reminded us of those old shows like Degrassi or the Wonder Years so I processed it this way .





I don't even remember those shows, it was sooooo long ago!

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Love these photos, very creative! (22 March 2009 15:37)  

These are awesome, Natt, loving them!! (24 March 2009 15:48)  

I'm loving the happy accident shot and the Caution shot, great things happen when we least expect them but the thing is to make them work to our advantage, and you did! :) (31 March 2009 11:35)  

blonde moment

Friday, 20 March 2009
Oh dear. I did something mega stupid today. I've recently registered on Bride Online and didn't quite know how it worked so I decided to test their system and put in a test enquiry. I didn't realise this would hit the mail box of all the NSW - Sydney photographers listed on that website!

I'm TOTALLY embarrassed. I'm not trying to get info from anyone and if you're a Bride Online advertiser that's reading this now I sincerely apologize for my blonde moment.

I shall go hide under a rock now.

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Hi Natt, no worries about the blond thing. I've just been looking through your blog and site .. you do great work! Just out of curiosity, if I wanted you to do a logo for me, what would you charge and how many "ideas" would I be able to view? Kind regards, Sam, Wedding Stills. (20 March 2009 19:41)  

haahah I had a little laugh to myself when I saw your test message come through hehe! (20 March 2009 23:38)  

oh no! that is TOTALLy something I would do! (21 March 2009 02:19)  

Natt, that was so funny! I bet you almost fell off your chair when I emailed you straight back ;)

But seriously, don't beat yourself up about it. You'll see that those emails come through all the time :) (21 March 2009 22:22)  

max & annette: wedding

Monday, 9 March 2009
A couple of weeks ago I was second shooting for Jenny at a twelve hours long wedding. It was a really easy going day and twelve hours didn't feel all that long at all, especially when the bridal party is great fun to hang out with.

We arrived at the bride's house and when the door opened a familiar face was among those that were standing in the door way. It was a guy I went to uni with that I hadn't seen since we graduated. I seem to always be bumping into people I know and I always get the same surprised reaction coupled with "so this is what you do now?" haha. My friend has a little girl now (she's very adorable and he is just so sweet with her) and gosh that makes me feel so old!

Max, the groom, arrived shortly after us and the traditional Chinese wedding door game began. Max is the funniest guy, seriously, I remember thinking if he had a drink before he came but soon realised he's just a big ball of fun and laughter =)

The bridesmaid won't let Max through the door until he's met with their demands. They got him eating spoons of condiments, including chilli sauce!








Annette was hiding inside the house, listening and giggling to whatever Max was being subjected to.








Once Max gave out some red pockets, the bridesmaids let him through to join Annette for tea ceremony.







This is my friend and his daughter. She is sooo adorable. Here she's supposed to be giving tea to Uncle Max and Auntie Annette but I guess she was shy and didn't want to participate so she just covered her eyes intead...so cute!







Some more of the little cutie.







Out of her red dress and into her white gown.

















The ceremony was held at St Peter's Anglican Church in Cremorne followed by location shoot at the beach.














The girls strolled down the beach and the boys erm followed in style (and it was their own idea!)







I told you Max is really funny but when teamed up with his best man, well they're just such a hilarious duo. It's Bond...James Bond.








This one reminded me of a wedding cake topper.





Max is really into photography and we accidentally diverted his attention from Annette for a bit, talking about camera gear and all. He did get back on track after a while =)








Reception was held at L'aqua, Cockel Bay Wharf. The food was delish btw =)









All the dads were on baby sitting duty hehe.







The speeches were some of the funniest I've heard at a wedding. Max was of course throwing jokes everywhere but when the moment came for those heart felt words, he couldn't help but choke up a little, shed some tears and even made his mother cry =)







I really had a great time at this wedding. Congrats to Max and Annette and big thanks to Jenny for taking me along.

P.S. The rubber grip on the pen of my tablet disintegrated after processing this set hehe. It lasted two years (I don't use a mouse at all) and I've now ordered a new one otherwise I won't survive!

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Hey natt,your website is truly stunning!and wow your a bridal photographer! good on you! i was googling makeup/weddings & stumbled on to your website.I've been following your blog & looking at your pictures they are so amazing! xo sylvia =) (10 March 2009 16:14)  

Yes! Stunning shots,I really love your photography style :) (11 March 2009 13:03)  

Stunning, stunning photos -- and comments. Max and Dilshan are crazy, aren't they?

And great memories of the day [I was the slip-on-the-floor MC :)]; it was such a wonderful day and great to see Max and Annette married.

Good to meet you also.

Ian. (11 March 2009 13:46)  

Gorgeous! I especially love that ones of the little girl. Absolutely adorable. :) (14 March 2009 01:09)  

who's your idol?

Tuesday, 3 March 2009
For me, the no. 1 spot in my (photographic) heart is Jose Villa (pronounced "vee-ya", although "vill-a" has a nice ring to it as well methinks). His work is absolutely beautiful, soft, sweet and elegant. His images simply make me feel like falling in love. If I could ever produce images like that, I would cry, die then go to heaven.

When I look at his work, I see two people ALWAYS. I don't mean that in the literal sense 'cos duh it takes two to get married. What I mean is, the work is never distracted by the place, the background nor the post processing, I always just see the romanticness and the love sweet love between the two people.

I deliberately used the word "romanticness" (which doesn't exist) and not "romance". I was trying to explain this to someone and I couldn't quite do it but there is something different that doesn't convey what I see/feel if I had used the word "romance". I'm probably not making much sense but "romance" makes me think of those night shots with video light and glowy effects.

It's also not about the photographer, the images don't scream "look at me and my awesome skills", there is no ego in it. It's just about the people and the elements of the wedding day, captured in a natural and beautiful way. Brilliant. I love it.

There are so many awesome talents out there and I do my fair share of blog stalking, however, I only email somebody if I am seriously in love with their work. I mailed Jose today. He seems very nice in emails and I hope he visits Australia one day (I even offered to drive him all over Sydney...like, who am I and why would he wanna ride with me?). Anyway, I would so love to meet him and maybe rub shoulders in the hope that some of that awesomeness will rub off on me hehe.

So who's your idol?

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Sam Hassas. He's a god to me :-)

-Kim. (03 March 2009 21:03)  

@Kim - I do find Sam Hassas quite creative (03 March 2009 21:20)  

c3 branding

Monday, 2 March 2009
Where has the time gone? I can't believe we're in March already! Somebody hit the pause button or better yet, the rewind please.

Apart from photography, I also do a wee bit of graphic design and recently I've been involved with the branding for my good friend Chris's business - C3 Coaching College. The brief was to design a logo that is professional looking, modern and allude to "education" without being so obvious and traditional (like a logo of a pencil or a book). C3 stands for creativity, confidence and communication so the logo should also encapsulate these ideas (if possible!).

Here is the final design (two versions - colour and reverse out):




Like most of my designs, it's simeple with clean lines ('cos I don't really know how to get messy in my designs haha). The idea behind this logo is the "tree of knowledge". From a distance it also looks like a key - the key to unlocking your mind (this was an after thought but bonus!) and in a really far-fetched way it could also represent a kid with a brain explosion from learning and gaining so much knowledge (again, an after though but double bonus).

The logo relates to:
- creativity in the way the leaves are constructed out of the letters C and 3
- confidence in the strong upright structure of the tree
- communication...umm c for communication? =p

I think it's also easily transferable and I can see a whole bunch of stationery and merchandise in my head already - business cards, banners, bags, mugs, note pads, t-shirts etc. (I hope I get a t-shirt if they make one!).

Overall, IMHO, I think I've answered the brief well. Hopefully my teachers at Shillington are proud. At least the clients are happy and that's what matters!

I had a look at the quote I gave Chris earlier to see what was next on the list and I saw this "two logos and five revisions". I had a big laugh 'cos this was about the fifteenth design hehehe (you know it's 'cos I love you and Ken right?). Next is business cards and a new website.

Chris is opening a second branch in Auburn this weekend. I am so excited about this as they are putting up a billboard/banner with this logo on it and I've never had any work displayed like that before! I plan on posing proudly and cheesily with the banner when it goes up so check back for that hehe.

Off topic, I saw Slumdog Millionaire last nite. It's not the kind of movie I would normally be interested in watching but since it got so much kudos at the Oscar, I got curious. I really enjoyed the film, loved it actually (except for the toilet scene which nearly made me throw up). Great story line, check it out if you haven't seen it.

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I must have missed this post earlier, but awesome design. Really like the concept and the simple way it's been pulled off for so many messages hidden within it. Good work! (07 March 2009 23:01)