Visit the NEW BLOG!!!

Hi everyone this blog will not be updated anymore as I have a new and improved blog with a lot more features. So please update your bookmarks to the new blog.

The address is www.beautifulmoments.com.au/blog

Cath xx

Blooming Delicious

One of my clients Donna called me up the other day to ask if I could come to her house and photograph some chocolates she was making, apparently Donna has just started a small home based business making Chocolate Bouquets. I had a mental picture of what I thought these would look like, but nothing like what they were really like. Donna makes the chocolates and then paints each one by hand which takes hours and hours of work.

Her house smelt like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, (or at least what I thought it might smell like since I haven't actually been to Willy Wonka's) but I can say that the temptation was too great for me today as it was supposed to be my second day of a 2 week "no sugar" health kick. Well, I can start that again tomorrow!

In the mean time here is a little blog header that I whipped up for Donna in my digital kitchen tonight. LOL.

Little Noah's first Photo Shoot

I have been looking forward to meeting little Noah and his family for almost 4 months, after his beautiful Aunty bought his parents a gift voucher for Christmas. When I dropped off the gift voucher to his Grandmother's house I was met by the nicest lady and I knew that the rest of her family were going to be equally as lovely. I was not wrong. Carol and Con are such a nice, friendly couple....and little Noah is a cutie. He did not cry at all during our shoot, what a little champion.

Carol and Con live across the road from a beautiful park with a huge lake complete with ducks and all. ( I even saw a Pelican, I don't know what he's doing there but he looked happy enough). Anyway, they chose to have their family portraits taken at the park, which was a good call as there were some dark clouds looming above for a while and then the heavens opened up and it started to rain so we took the shoot indoors.

Here are a couple of the photos from their session that I thought captured their personalities well.

Thomas the Tank Engine

Ok, so that is misleading. This post has nothing to do with the "real Thomas" but the very next best thing. My youngest child Benjamin is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Bulider, and pretty much every animal alive. I had been thinking about taking him for a ride on a very special train at the Zig Zag Railway in the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney for a while. But I knew if I didn't make time in my schedule for a family day we would never go. So today after weeks of talking about it we did it.

Ben was so excited. Ever since I told him we were going to see a train just like Thomas he kept saying "I want Thomas, I want to ride the train, I want Thomas" You get the drift. So we packed up the car with a picnic lunch, forced one of my teenage children to come for the trip (she went kicking and screaming, but at least she came. Apparently ice-skating with friends is more fun than family day! LOL) and headed off for the 1 1/2 hour journey stopping at the same bakery that my family always stopped at on the way up the mountains for some delicious meat pies.

When we got to Clarence, where the Zig Zag railway is, Ben could hardly contain himself with excitement. He was running up and down the station looking for Thomas. When he finally heard the sound of the Steam Engine chugging along the tracks he looked a little tentative - I don't think he thought it was going to be so big, after all the Thomas train he sat on in the shops yesterday was only about 5 ft tall! We embarked on the train and went on a very exciting journey for young Ben, a journey that I had been on before as a child, and one that my daughter Cassandra (the unhappy teenager) had been on also with her Nanna. Isn't it funny how as adults we give our children the same childhood experiences that we had.....kind of like sharing our past with our present.

Anywhoo, needless to say Ben was most upset when we finally finished our journey back Clarence Station, he cried for "Thomas" for about 5 minutes until he drifted off to sleep in the car. When he awoke were were in Mt Wilson, another place I used to visit with my Mother and Grandparents. In fact this place was one of my Grandparents favourite places to visit and since I am planning a photo shoot for my family there in a few weeks time I wanted to find the locations and check out the status of the Autumn leaves. We had a beautiful picnic in the park and took a nice walk around "The Avenue" looking for some nice locations. It was a beautiful day, and in the end I think the unhappy teenager might just have had some fun along the way!





A very rare shot of me with Ben

Penny & Ross 10 Years On

10 years ago I was lucky to be asked to be a bridesmaid for 2 of my oldest childhood friends who were getting married within weeks of one another, Penny was one of these 2 friends. We have been friends ever since year 7 at Galston High School when we were so dorky that we were not in the cool gang or in the tuff gang, but somewhere anonymously in the middle.

What I remember most about Penny and Ross's Wedding is that it was a gorgeous wedding on Sydney Harbour, the other bridesmaids and I had a blast making jokes and being a tad rude in the cars on the way to the ceremony and that the photographer spent a lot of time flirting with me. I can not believe that day was 10 years ago, I'd like to know where the time has gone. For Penny and Ross they moved to Melbourne, had 3 beautiful children, and enjoyed their professional working life - Ross as a Pilot and Penny as "a hostie with the mostie" LOL.

As they were in Sydney visiting family and then going to the exact hotel where Ross proposed to Penny in the Blue Mountains I asked them if they would like to have a romantic photo shoot as my gift to them for their special anniversary. They loved the idea. Today we set out for our shoot with the two of them feeling quite nervous, which I thought was funny as they have known me for so long - how could they possibly be nervous around me! Anyway, I managed to lighten the mood some what when I walked backwards when composing the first shot, tripped over a rock and landed on my camera and new shootsac! My leg was hurting like hell but all I could think about was my camera and lenses. Thankfully when the camera landed under my body the lens hood took the brunt of the impact forcing it off before it could damage the lens, and the Shootsac managed to save the lives of my precious lenses (thank you Jessica Claire!) Ok, so you non photographers won't get that last bit. LOL. Although I was bleeding and felt like an idot I continued on. Ross, being the son of not one, but two Doctors was worried for my welfare when he noticed the red stuff oozing out of my leg, reaches into his pocket and pulls out 2 "Band Aids". How random is that? Who carries around "Band Aids" in their Jeans to a photo shoot? Of course - the son of 2 Doctors! LMAO! He patched me up and we continued with the shoot.

These are the photos that I love of my dear friends Penny and Ross. Hugs xxx

Jamie, Minh & Ashlee

Later this afternoon I met a beautiful family who are expecting their second baby. Jamie had organised this session as a gift to her husband Minh for their 5th wedding anniversary. How cute is that! Little Ashlee had just woken from her afternoon nap when I arrived and wasn't too pleased that a stranger with an awfully large camera was invading her space. She didn't want to play with me at first, but as time wore on she relaxed and I managed to get some lovely shots of her with her doting parents.

Here are a few of my favourites from the session so far.......

















How cheeky is this face!

Jennifer & her not so little Brothers

One of the best things about my work is getting to meet and become friends with lots of nice people. Such is the case with Jennifer, we met earlier this year when planning her Valentines Day , during the process we became friends. Jennifer is also a very talented actress (yes, I know a lot of actors and actresses as I am one also)....anyway...Jennifer asked me to do some photos for her agent and her portfolio, and also wanted to get some shots of her younger brothers - who are quite camera shy. So today we went to Southern Sydney to get some shots that hopefully will serve two purposes.

First up are Jennifer and her brothers, aren't they a handsome family!





One photo for Jennifer's agent...


and some photos for Jennifer....