Fflur and Kevin’s Gorgeous Gold Coast Wedding

by Weddings

It’s a wedding! One of my favourite things to photograph.  A bride, a groom, flowers, decorations, fun stuff and fun times as well as a tear or two throughout the day.  (Sometimes it’s even the bride that cries, not me!)

Kevin and Fflur’s wedding was a wedding like no other.  It was a family that came together to get everything done, from everyone who was slightly crafty chipping in to make gorgeous paper crane decorations, Fflur making the bouquets herself (you’ll see the amazing work she did), to her Mum and Aunty making cakes and trifle for the lunch buffet and wedding cake.  So many of Kevin and Fflur’s friends and family were involved in the making of The Wedding.  Everyone worked so hard to bring Fflur and Kevin’s dream to reality.  And I have to say, from what I saw even behind my camera, they did exactly that.

 

Fflur has always reminded me of a 1920’s pin-up girl.  Movie posters, old Hollywood glamour.  And she looked exactly the part on the day.  The jewels were to die for, and check out those eyelashes! The epitome of glamour.

 

Apparently Kevin is a tad forgetful…. We loved the sweet notes Fflur left him to remind him of where everything was and what not to forget.  (and shhhh, he may have forgotten something….)

 

The dashing Kevin has always reminded me of a very eloquent dashing pirate.  He happily admits to being a geek and proud of it and I just love that they incorporated both of their personalities in every aspect of the day.

 

Fflur and Kevin planned to see each other and arrive at the ceremony together.  It was really nice getting to capture such a special moment, especially the instant where Kevin first saw Fflur looking amazing and the emotion.

 

This bridal party was completely AMAZING! Gorgeous shades of red and purple and such fun to photograph.

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See those strings of paper cranes decorating the arch?  Well, there were thousands of those little guys.  And there were bigger ones.  And more little ones.  And even more little ones.  Each one hand folded and made with love.  You’ll see the detail of the cranes in a future post.  They were so beautiful, colourful and I instantly fell in love with all of them.

 

A teeny glimpse of the truly spectacular handmade bouquet made by Fflur.  The bouquet was only outshone by Fflur herself.  

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They exchanged their vows under the branches of a gorgeous camphor laurel tree.  And the weather was perfect, not too hot and it didn’t rain!

The groomsmen played some awesome kazoo after the ceremony as Fflur and Kevin walked back down the aisle.  Kazoo!

 

Kris stole Kevin away for some photos while Fflur was busy having fun dancing and mingling…

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Oh I love this shot.  And it’s one of mine!

 

Did I mention this bridal party were great fun?  They really hammed it up for the camera and this was their Zoolander pose!

The Dyer Family

by Family portraits

During our recent work with Monika’s Dance Studio Unlimited, I got to take some photos of lovely Miss E.  Her Mum really wanted to get some family photos done for Christmas and also some shots of their son, Mr N, doing his karate moves.  So Kris headed out to the Japanese Gardens at Ipswich for a family session with these guys. 

 

 

Mr N taking position in his karate uniform.  He was great at kicking and gave us some good action shots!

 

 

Miss E was a little shy at first, but after a little coaxing, the dancer in her came out and she rocked some totally 80’s Walk Like an Egyptian dance moves.  I don’t think this girl realises how truly gorgeous she is!

 

 

Thank you to the Dyer family and we wish you a wonderful Christmas.

Monika’s Studio Session 2013

by Portraits

I’ve been practicing my photography for a while now.  I am a second shooter on weddings and I quite often get to cast my eye over Kris’s photos and even edit his great work. Occasionally I will be in charge of some photos of the bridal party while Kris is working with a bride and groom, that sort of thing, but I have never been the one to run the show.  This was my chance to stretch my wings creatively.  I came up with the concepts, organised positioning, took the photos and edited them.

A lot of these images aren’t just a portrait, they are a story.  That was my aim for the day.  Not only to get some beautiful photos but to tell some stories through my photos.

Thank you to the students of Monika’s Unlimited Dance, who were great subjects and willingly gave up their time to let me experiment with them!

Parents and students that participated in the session can view images in the Monika’s 2013 Gallery. The full collection is now available for viewing! All of the access details you need are in the letter that accompanied your print. Hope you enjoyed the session!

This here is Sweet M.  She was a little shy but the camera, and I, loved her.

 

This is one photo in a series I shot on the day.  The concept and story behind this one is about a kid that is made to feel she is not worth anything, she wants to be a part of the group but is shut out.  I think today kids have it a lot harder with bullying.  No longer is it just in the school ground, but it follows them home, on social media, through texts and emails.

I wanted to show the pain that someone can feel when they are bullied.

It makes you feel alone, small, scared.  Even if no-one has laid a finger on you, pushed you, beaten you up, you can still feel isolated and afraid.

Miss A was such a good sport to take on the role of the one who is bullied.  The pain in her face, her body language, everything she did, made me feel almost like it was real.

Bullying is not ok.  (And A, YOU ROCK!)

 

 

C defies Gravity.  She held this pose for me and did it again and again till I was happy.  Such a beautiful girl to work with and an amazing performer too.

 

 

The Divine Miss J.  Great poses, did everything I asked of her and more! Got some amazing pictures of J and she was so happy to get up, get down, go here, go there, be happy, be sad.

 

 

The gorgeous Miss M…  Oooh la la! She was a magnet to the camera, even when I was photographing someone else I was drawn to her.  This photo is a Hollywood, spotlight on the star photo.

 

 

E the Jumper.  Oh boy, he could jump SO HIGH! We got heaps of great leaping in the air shots, but this one just captured me.  I love how he’s just sitting, quietly, and thinking…

 

 

G Girl.  Wow!  To be that flexible and she nailed this shot in her second frame!  Step, kick, hair flick and intense look right down the camera.  NAILED IT!

 

Thanks to all the students that were kind enough to come in and let me take some photos.   I only wish I had more time with these great kids on the day to get more photos! They were all really easy to work with.  Keep an eye out for a future blog with some more of my story photos.

And thanks to Kris for being my crew for the day, and trusting me to take some amazing shots.