My baby turned four a few weeks ago. Four. It seems so old at times. Not a toddler, not in Kindy yet. Somewhere in between. Preschooler? That is what he is but for some reason four stands out as a bit weighty. Three still sounds like a wee one. Five – we all know five is big. But four. What is does it mean to be four? Well in our house at this very specific point in time it means that you still like to climb into bed with mum and dad around 5:30am most mornings. Often you have one piece of pyjamas missing later to be found somewhere between your bed and ours. It means you lie still for another hour or so and then beg, beg, beg me to stay in bed and watch tv with you. And as much as I want to and often do, at some point I must rise and get on with the busyness of the school run. It means you go to preschool two times a week – more willingly now that you are four then you did at 3.75 years old. It means you have made your first friends that grab you by both arms when you arrive and pull you in different directions until you all three fall down in hysterical giggles. It means you sing “I’m a Little Tea Pot”, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and “No One is Lazy in Lazytown” on rotation all day long and I adore it and could listen to it forever. You love superheros, dinosaurs, trains, and stuffed animals always begging to bring something along to wherever it is we are going that day. But is also means that you spend hours at the park playing with a ziploc bag that you fill to the top with water, seal, dump, punch holes in and repeat. It means you tell me “You are best mom in the whole wide world until Disneyland” at least a couple times a day – and I am not sure I know exactly what that means (do I stop being the best mom in the world after we go to Disneyland or is Disneyland sort of like forever?) but regardless I secretly catch those words and pocket them in my heart every time I hear them. It means you can literally eat a couple bites of apple and a few slices of ham and call it a day. It means that every other night it is my turn to “sleep” with you as you fall asleep on my arm in your bed. And I always hesitate to rise, lying still listening to your soft breathing, knowing that once I get up you are one more day closer to five.
This is my May installment of my 4 on 4 blog circle. Be sure to follow along in the circle and see what Alexis has been up to over the last month
School holidays + autumn – I couldn’t be any happier. Term 1 of this year was a long one and as usual I could not wait for school hols to get here. As luck would have it, the weather seemed to have changed just in time. Autumn in Sydney is fabulous – my absolutely favourite. It is warm and dry and the light is just to die for. Today was our first day on our own so we decided to head off to playground out of our neighbourhood. We tossed around a few ideas (ie – looked at some photos on the computer) and Rushcutters Bay won out. There is a lovely gated playground with bright and colourful equipment, a kiosk guaranteed to be open, and a view that makes you feel like you are on holiday somewhere else. Such a gem so close to the City. We arrived a little before 11am and it was packed with little ones running around everywhere. But as lunch time came and went, the crowds died out and for an hour or so we had the place almost to ourselves. We ended up staying til well into the afternoon. I can’t remember the last time we spent almost five hours at one park. The kids would have stayed longer but dinner called so off we went with promises to return again soon. Such a wonderful start to the holidays. I just know they are going to go by too fast!
I’d love to chat with you about booking your Autumn family or child session.
Do you have a favourite park? I’d love to capture an afternoon of childhood fun for you and your family. Contact me to book a session.
Even though this is our sixth year in Australia, I still have a hard time thinking of October as a month in Spring. I start to think Halloween then I look outside at all the green grass, newly blooming flowers, and Australia’s gorgeous jacaranda trees (think purple cheery trees) and I am momentarily disoriented. Am I sure I have it right? Is it Easter? What month just ended? When is Christmas? It takes a few minutes to get grounded in the swirl of weather not matching holidays. I wonder when and if I’ll ever get used to it. But it does have it’s pluses – New Year’s Eve is amazing here and the kids get to trick or treat while it is still light out. I am still not used to the warm Christmas, but I do love all the outdoor events that surround the holidays.
So while most of my photographer friends are photographing falling leaves, autumn foliage, and Halloween pictures taken at dusk, our October is full of vibrant greens, new flowers and Halloween by daylight. As part of my “4 on 4” blog circle, here are four favourites from October…
Feeding the eels and ducks on a Saturday
“Reading” his favourite Chapter book
Favourite water tap | Favourite park
Happy Halloween | 8pm at the end of trick or treating
And that is it! Please follow along the blog circle to see what the talented Ti has been up to this past month. Onwards to November!
A huge turning point in my photography was a class by the fabulous Audrey Woulard which was almost exactly a year ago. While organising some family photos for a project, I just stumbled on the first project from that class which was of my kids coming back from grocery shopping. While Audrey is a master at finding great light, we were also working on focus, location, and composition. I can still remember thinking “Backup, get lower but don’t bend over, don’t overexpose, and try to find variety.” It’s alot to remember when you are shooting fast moving small ones. The other extremely important thing about this “shoot” is that it was the very first time someone told me to trust my eye and I believed it! When you are learning to take photos, you absorb all sorts of information, styles, tips etc. Most of us try it all on and see what we like. And since while you are trying to find your eye and your style you are still making tons of mistakes technically because you are LEARNING – it is very hard to trust you have an eye at all. I had photographed my kids on this derelict yet charming corner numerous times. I loved this corner. I loved the relic of the building, I loved the colors, the edginess, the contrast of young life against age. And I loved the light. But most children’s photographers photograph kids in parks, gardens and fields. And I love those photos too. But my heart and eye liked this. And because I was still working so hard on technical skills it was very hard to see if this location was rubbish or golden.
But along comes this little practice shoot with the technical advice to do it better than any other day and a fabulous instructor whose words “That location is GOLDEN!! Can you go back there? Do it again!” jumped off the page at me and straight into my heart. And I haven’t looked back. I agree that we all need to find our own voice and that listening to others’ opinions sometimes works against the creative force. But seriously – we all want to feel validated. And when you find an instructor who you know wants to help you find your style, eye and voice and they validate your choices – it can launch your photography into a whole new world. And that is what this little shoot did for me. It is by no means perfect and I am still learning so much but I do tend to trust my eye. And I am forever grateful for that.
It wasn’t but a few days later I took the photo below, in the same location, on another walk to the grocery store. My son just happened to sit down and I happened to have my camera. If I hadn’t felt confident to trust my eye I might not have snapped this photo. Which went on to win first place in a recent competition. And I only say that because we all get stuck in ruts and feel like we are producing rubbish at whatever we are doing. This little shoot reminded me how important it is to keep going, and learning and seeking out people you know can bolster you up and not pull you down.
And best of all is how these photos make me smile. A year later, I totally remember that rather mundane afternoon. The treasure box my daughter carried around in plastic bag. The urgent need to park on the bench which is literally only a few meters from our house. The joy in just playing around in the neighbourhood with nowhere to go.
I am so thankful for my photography journey, the people that have played a roll in it and photos like these that capture our days. Thanks for reading!
I’d love to capture your days too! Contact me to book your session
I love how this storyboard turned out from one of my favourite sessions to date. There was so much laughter, silliness and all around joy. I hope this makes mum smile wherever it is placed in their home or office. It is often hard to display all the photos from one session so storyboards make that so much easier! Designing photography products is one of my favourite things to do. I find it so much fun to put together. One of the best things about this product is that it stands up by itself. No need to frame it or hang it. How easy is that? In fact, I think I need to make a few of these for myself 🙂
View more images from the session
I’d love to capture your family playing. Let’s make a date to get together