the martin family

Thursday, 20 November 2008

This shoot is a 30th birthday present for Kristy Martin from her lovely sister and bro in law, Nicole and Dan.

Nicole approached me back in August to organise this family portrait session. I say Kristy is definitely in the lucky camp to have her sister come up with a thoughtful gift months in advance. I would know 'cos I'm one of those bad sisters that only remembers a week in advance and occasionally just hand out cash as a present (not even a voucher) =p

I knew most of the session would be candid but I did want one "normal" happy family looking at the camera shot. It wasn't easy to get as you know what kids are like, they never stop moving, even in the arms of their parents =)

As I was playing around with Josh when he told me that it was my turn to be in the tall grass, so I had a go at that just to amuse him. When I got home, I put some water on my arms 'cos I was hot and my goodness they felt like they were on fire! That grass stuff really made my arms itchy. I checked with their uncle Dan and apparently they're all fine =)

The location was close to my place so I went to scout around the area a couple of days earlier. I saw this soft looking grass and went straight to Ikea afterwards to get a little white chair. The photos are quite simple but it's exactly what I had in mind.

This is a little strange, all the autumn leaves in the middle of spring. Don't you love Josh's expression, it's like he's given up and thought "ok fine, whatever, I'll lie here if that's what you want" hehehe.

Auntie Nicole might like this one, I hear Josh is her favourite and I can say that 'cos Tahlie isn't old enough to read this =p

But I hear Tahlie is uncle Dan's fav so that evens it all out =)

One for mum & dad.

Happy 30th Kristy and thanks for bringing your family to spend a couple of hours with me.

Labels: portraits

Absolutely gorgeous!! :D Finally, get to see some of your work! Loving the long soft grass... Man, the kids are gorgeous! I love it! (20 November 2008 18:52)

Natt you did an amazing job! I love every picutre and I am SO GLAD that I picked you to do this for my sis. And you are right, I love the photo of Joshie looking over his mum's shoulder... that's the cheeky boy I adore... and the photos of Tahlie are beautiful too :) I LOVE THEM ALL!!! :) (20 November 2008 18:55)

Natt, these are special!! Love the little boy-girl hug, and I'm a softie for soft grass too :) Looks like the rain is making this land beautiful! (21 November 2008 13:50)

hi natt ! really cute photos :)

big fan of the greenery and softness, but also love the jeans photo!

sririn says to keep a look out on your blog for photos from the session with the girls - can't wait :) (21 November 2008 15:27)

Hi Natt
What can I say ,they are absolutely beautiful photos. Thank you so much for the fantastic job you have done in capturing my little family. You were so patient and kind while working with us and the photos are just what I imagined. I am sooo glad that Nik organised this for me and I will definatley be highly recommending you to everyone. You are an amazing photographer. Thank you again. (21 November 2008 19:47)

awesome job Natt (23 November 2008 22:54)

I just love those chair shots in the long grass! It really does look so soft and fluffy! Beautiful colours Natt! (24 November 2008 09:16)

Hi Natt, you've come amazingly far. Your work is outstanding !!! You're very creative and now also very talented... you'll go far. (24 November 2008 16:12)

oh wow, Natt! I really liked the 3rd last shot with the blue jeans :) Whereabouts is this location? (29 November 2008 21:44)

jessica: portrait

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

If you've been here before, I'm sure you would've noticed the adorable girl with curly blonde hair and incredible blue eyes sitting right on top of the page. She has been watching over this blog since it went live and I think she deserves a little post of her own =)

Jessica is as cute as a button and toally a delightful little girl. Jess has so much energy and during the hours I spent with her, she would walk and walk and walk. The only time she stopped was when she was having a sandwich break. I really got a work out that day from following her around!

This was taken quite a while ago now and Jessica was one of the first portrait sessions that I've done. It was at the beginning of my transition from photographing landscapes, flowers and things to capturing people. I remember browsing through the images on the LCD of my camera while driving home. I felt a different kind of contentment from doing photography. The pictures meant something more because it wasn't just a pretty flower or a nice building. It was the smile and the spirit of a child. The pictures of somebody's daughter.

P.S. Driving while checking your LCD is just like driving while on the mobile phone. Not good.

Labels: portraits

mary & craig: engagement

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Do you believe in fate, signs or psychics? Fortune telling perhaps? What if you went to see a clairvoyant and you were told that on a particular day something significant will happen to you? Sure it could be nothing or it could be something but what if that significant event was meeting the person you were going to spend the rest of your life with?

Well that's exactly what happened to Mary. One night, during her holiday in Australia, she was sick in bed. She told herself that she didn't come all the way from Canada to just lie around in her hostel. She dragged herself out of bed, went to the pub and she met Craig.

When Mary got back to her hostel, she picked up her journal to write about that special person she had just met. The entry wasn't blank. It was written in already and it told Mary that this was the day something significant was supposed to happen to her. Few years later, the man she met in the pub that day proposed =)

Mary and Craig are the first couple that have booked me for a wedding and if you want to talk signs well they actually got engaged on my birthday!

The engagement session took place at Willow Glen which is their farm located 4 hours away from Sydney. Check out the previous post to read about our lovely weekend at Willow Glen.

The first spot for our shoot was this historic old rusty bed. I think it had been a long time that this bed has seen any action.

We hadn't been shooting very long when big clouds swept over the sky and the sun was gone. Craig took a quick break and Mary waited patiently for his return.

We know Craig wasn't all keen on the photo shoot and perhaps he was a little shy but when he got in front of the camera, he was quite natural and photogenic. These two have great smiles and this would have to be the most natural couple portraits I have done to date.

"Surely we must be done by now?" Craig asked pleadingly. Ok ok we're done here (for now). Craig quickly ran off once the green light was given haha. I don't know what he was doing as Mary, Eric and I were busy having fun taking photos at the rusty bed.

After a while I turned around to see where Craig was. My eyes caught a picture. I saw the thistles spread out everywhere between me and where Craig was standing. Behind him were trees that have shed leaves for the winter. I quickly told Mary to run up to where Craig was. She ran up and gave him a quick kiss. This is one of my fav photo.

Perhaps Craig and give Mary a piggy back but oh no Craig had other ideas.

Like his spit roast for the reception idea, piggy backing on Mary's back didn't stick either hehehe (sorry Craig, I couldn't resist!).

The first day that I arrived, I spotted the brightly coloured armchair they had in the living room. I had this idea of taking the armchair outside in the open grass area for the photo shoot. Mary suggested putting it on the hill where they ceremony will be held. Great.

What's even more awesome was when we drove back to the house, the cows were grazing right outside. I told Mary and Craig I wanted the armchair right in the middle of the herd! I was so excited about this idea and it turned out quite bizarre and really fun to shoot!

Here we started off with Craig. He is looking quite comfie watching his cows.

In the real world, would an Aussie bloke like Craig be just sitting there in a chair? Of course not! He'd have a beer in his hand!

The beer was a great idea Mary. It kept Craig sticking around for a little while longer =)

We took the chair up to the hill and the cows still followed.

I asked Mary to send the cows away so that she and Craig could have some privacy.

Last quick snaps on the front porch and we were done!

Thank you Mary and Craig for a lovely weekend at the Willow Glen. I can't wait to capture the day you say I do. See you in October!

Labels: engagements, portraits

ray & siv

Friday, 25 April 2008

Lovebirds - the perfect word to describe Ray and Siv. They are loving, affectionate and sugar dripping sweet =)

This wasn't an e-session as they are not engaged yet but my crystal ball tells me that in time this will surely happen. Siv told Ray to treat this as a pre engagement session. He smiled to this. No objection whatsoever =)

I had imagined a beach shoot with lovely warm sunny setting. Then I remembered to look out the window. It was another cloudy day and there was no sun in sight. It started to rain. Great. There goes my beach shoot. My sister suggested an indoor shoot at a cafe. But but but...I had my heart set on the beach! Moments before they arrived to pick me up. The rain stopped *phew*. No sun but the light was great and I still wanted the beach. Not fazed by the weather, Ray and Siv agreed to go to Coogee.

In the car, the three of us talked about the photo session and Siv requested some shots of Ray's muscly arms (which seems to have grown since the last time I saw him) and I jokingly suggested shots of Ray wearing unbuttoned shirt and bearing his chest. She got very excited about this and he didn't really protest. I thought this was awesome as they were up for anything!

I hadn't been to Coogee for a while and was pleasantly surprised at what a good spot it is. We started at the cliff top walk. I pointed to the weedy grass area and marked our first location.

Now how about you guys roll around in the grass a bit?

This romantic vintage photo above is one of my favourite from this set. BTW it was windy and freezing cold even though you can't tell from the above shots. I had a jumper and I really felt it so imagine how much she put up with!

Here's another one of my fav. Spotted these pretty white flowers growing in clumps. Looks great with Siv =)

Time to get off the grass. I moved Siv and Ray towards the edge of the cliff for a change of scenery.

I just couldn't resist some more of Ray and Siv in the grass.

Now we were absolutely done with the grass stuff. Here are some more pics around Coogee Beach area.

Ray and Siv, I had an awesome time with both of you. You said you'd be happy with a nice photo or two well I think I managed a few more than that (there are loads more unprocessed!). Too bad the weather was way cold and we couldn't do any water shots or bare chest ones for that matter! You got plenty of time to work on those pecs now =p

Labels: portraits

fiona & polly

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

A couple of weeks ago I did a photo shoot for Fiona and Polly. I had so much fun doing it and I think they enjoyed it too. The weather was CRAZY that day. All seasons in one day kinda thing.

I went to their massive massive house. Did I mention that it's massive? I'd love to go back and shoot inside the house next time. The girls were still getting ready when I arrived.

By the time we got to the first location, the sun was right above our heads. It was getting really hot and then just as when we thought we'd go somewhere cooler. The clouds came over! That was within a few minutes! Quick! Let's get back out get some shots. BTW I haven't even finished processing this set. There are just way too many photos!

I wanted to do some more shots on the tennis court but I started to fell little droplets of water falling on me. We quickly got in the car and as soon as the doors were slammed shut, the rain was pouring down.

We headed to Woolwich Pier Hotel to get away from the rain and have some lunch. The food was fantastic. What's even more fantastic is the light coming through from the window.

Thought I'll try a soft focus look on this one. Not sure if it worked though. Eric, the drama queen, reckons his eyes struggled to focus =p

Conveniently, after we were done feeding our hungry guts, the rain stopped. Last location for the day was St Peter Chanel (? I'll have to check with Fi if I've got the right place here).

Going for the vintage feel for post processing here.

This is one of my fav.

I really love this last one as it shows the different personalities of the two girls. Fiona is very cutesy and playful while Polly is a little more reserved and shy.

Girls, it was a lot of fun. Looking forward to another shoot with you guys again =)

Labels: portraits