And the winner is…. | Canberra portrait photographer

I’m so excited to announce the winner of our Fathers Day competition …

… a big congratulations to MariE! You have won a family portrait session and a matted 8×12″ print! I will be in touch with you very soon to talk through the details. Now go and share the great news with your family!

I was so overwhelmed by the beautiful entries in the competition; the memories you shared were from the heart and touched me deeply. And because of that, I decided to draw two more names as Runners Up (or is it Runner Ups?!).

The Runners Up each receive $50 off a family portrait session and two 5×7.5″ prints. Congratulations to Dan Gray and Danielle M!

Now let me share a few of my favourite entries…

One of my fond memories of my father from childhood is about his creativity. He’d play guitar and I’d listen or sing along as if the music was gold dust falling from the strings he played so skillfully. I also loved to watch him draw. The pencil lines would eventually take on a picture that almost came to life. Early this year, he suffered a massive stroke. He has been working hard in rehabilitation. I am so blessed my dad is still alive even though our lives have greatly changed.

My father worked long hours at channel 9 when I started primary school, so didn’t get to see me get into my school dress for the first time (we obviously took photos on the film camera) and didn’t get to greet me when I came home. But when I did get home, there were a beautiful bunch of roses & other flowers with a hand written card, which he’d had delivered to the house. so he was “there” when I got home. I STILL have the card, which is very tattered, but I still smile everytime I see it in my keepsake box.

I have several precious memories of my father – working in the garden with him and stuffing hessian bags full of leaves in Autumn (he made it fun by saying we were feeding the elephants as I held the sack wide open), hours spent in the backyard while he helped me to throw and catch a ball, firecracker nights when he built a big bonfire and let off the fireworks and then showed me how to roast potatoes in the glowing embers, riding together on the Octopus at Luna Park and swinging right out over Sydney Harbour, receiving a silver necklace that he bought for his future daughter when he was posted to Borneo in WW2. Then when I had daughters of my own, watching him as he played with and loved his granddaughters. He was a quintessential grandad and had only a short few years with my first daughter; he died when my second daughter was three months old. I wish often that he could have seen them grow up; he would have been a great influence in their lives. Now I watch my husband and see what a great dad he is. He is patient, kind and loving and does everything he can for our daughters, even when the going is tough.

A father is one who will bring out the best in his child, treat them with love and respect. Play with them, encourage them, let them shine in their unique way. He would show them his love in a million different ways – from reading them books, to playing ‘tea party’ or ‘monsters’, to giving up his career to stay at home and look after them. He takes them to parks – and searches out the best ones and names each one like ‘The Dinosaur Park’ and ‘The Climbing Park’. He loves their mother unconditionally and shows them what it is to be a man – whether he has daughters or sons. My father was none of those things and did none of those things … but my children’s father does. Every single day.

There are so many memories I have of great times with my Dad from my childhood. The ones that stick in my mind are all about my Dad teaching me things – passing down his skills and wisdom – and doing it as a single father in an era when they didn’t always get much time with their kids. I never really appreciated how important this connection was until recently when I found myself in the same position – a single father passing on my skills and wisdom to my beautiful daughters.

And here’s a recent fave of Toby and his Daddy.