stylish, natural & emotive portrait photography

Award winning Canberra photographer: maternity, newborn, baby, child & family portrait photography by Katie Kolenberg bio picture

Hello, I’m Katie. I'm a photographer based in Canberra, ACT. I'm also a mum and a wife, a teacher, a designer, a lover of people and stories and life and good coffee. I am crazily passionate about photography and it's amazing potential to enrich our lives.

My portrait photography business, Heartstory, specialises in family photography, which includes maternity, newborn, baby and child photography. I also takes a limited number of wedding photography bookings each season. Heartstory offers a range of fine art prints and products, including framed canvas prints, metal prints, fine art books, and of course digital collections. Please visit the Heartstory website for full details on sessions and pricing, and to view my galleries.

This blog is a place for you to get to know me, and for me to post news, special offers, favourite selections from recent sessions, and some of my personal projects. Don’t be shy, leave me a comment to say you stopped by; I would really love to hear from you…

BOOKINGS & ENQUIRIES
p. 0402 091 949
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w. heartstoryphotography.com.au
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RECENT AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS
2012 Runner-up ACT Family Photographer of the Year // Epson ACT PPY
2012 Finalist Head On Portrait Prize
2012 Finalist Momento Pro Photobook of the Year
2012 Runner-up - Editorial // Finalist - Documentary // Australia's Top Emerging Photographer //
2012, 2011 & 2010 Multi-award winner // Epson AIPP ACT/NSW Professional Photography Awards // Portrait, Family & Illustrative categories
2011 & 2010 Multi-award winner // Canon AIPP Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA) // Portrait, Family & Illustrative categories
2011 & 2010 Multi-award winner // Loupe Awards // International Aperture Awards
2010 Winner // Commercial // ACMP Projections
2010 AIPP Epson ACT Emerging Photographer of the Year

The colour of happiness // Canberra children’s photographer

Monday, May 7, 2012

Dewy feet, cold fingers and lifting fog are pretty standard on autumn mornings, but look at the amazing colour you get!!!

These faces may be familiar to some of you. I recently had a beautiful portrait session with Allison and Jarrod on their own, and I also photographed the three of them last year when Xavier was only two and a half. He is such a little character – check out his Wiggles moves (and singing face) in the 3rd sequence down. He gives me the sweetest smiles, and he’s got the cutest little boy voice ever.

Since that first session, I think these guys have become my biggest fans. They really get it, and are totally in love with their images and how the experience of having their family documented in this way has enriched their lives. That is all I could ever hope for. And I love them too.

Canberra family photography

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Clair - soooo incredibly gorgeous Katie! I love every one of the photos here, i tried to pick a favourite but I couldn’t!! Love Love Love

Be yourself // Canberra family photographer

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Another gorgeous autumn afternoon, and another gorgeous family who have never had professional portrait photographs done before.

This adorable pair had me at hello, with those cute curls and expressive eyebrows! We spent a couple of hours roaming around one of my favourite locations, stopping for a picnic in one spot, acorn and pinecone collecting in another, and wrapped up with loads of family snuggles as the sun went down.

There are few better things that a parent can say to me when they book their session than I’d really like you to capture who they are right now, their interests and personalities. I hope I’ve fulfilled your wishes Fiona and Rod! It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with your family.

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Jo Bartholomew - Absolutly adore these images Katie- gorgeous! Xx

Anastasia - I am in love with your photography and the way you see the world Katie. And is was so cool to stumble upon your self-portrait on news.com.au homepage today!

That’s the way love is // Canberra couples photography

Sunday, April 29, 2012

This kind of photography is special beyond words. My role is not only to see and capture, but to invite and encourage my subjects to connect with each other in a completely genuine and heartfelt way. It’s crazy to expect two people to rock up and be immediately intimate, uninhibited, and emotional with their partner/lover/spouse/friend, right in front of someone they barely know, so we go on a little journey together. It starts with silliness, laughter and stories, and it becomes really very moving. I love these sessions so, so much, and not just because I get to capture beautifully authentic moments, but because I know my couple are really enjoying the experience. No matter how great your marriage/partnership may be, not many of us have time to indulge in each other like this, and we should! (When was the last time you and your beloved looked into each other’s eyes for more than a fleeting moment, and really felt it?) Other things usually come first, and ‘you’ are neglected. But it only takes a couple of hours and a comfortable space for this to happen…

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Ange - This set of images is stunning Katie. You’ve captured their emotion and spirit perfectly.

Renee Bell - beautiful Katie!!!

Emilia Jane - So touching.

Karin - Wow! Love the images! Beautiful!!!

nancy - genuine, real, warm and fuzzy, romantic,touching, sexy, gorgeous images kk!

Marsha - Wow, what stunning photos. Totally agree with Nancy’s comment above!

Louise Fletcher - Katie – so beautiful. It’s like you were a fly on their wall.

Louise Fletcher - … a very gorgeous fly!

Kylie Verdouw - Beautiful beyond words Katie!

Clair - sooo swooningly romantic!!
Gorgeous photos of a gorgeous couple. Well done Katie

Tamara - They are all spectacular but that last one..LOVE. xx

Janet Palmer - just beautiful…

LOVE that last image x

Bec - So romantic and beautiful and emotional and real! love them all. xx

Colleen - Absolutely love these photos! Such real emotion!

A gorgeous trio // Canberra children’s photographer

Thursday, April 26, 2012

This is the first time this family of five have had professional photos taken! These kids definitely gave me a run for my money, but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way! Photographing kids isn’t always easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding and sometimes I like it when a shoot doesn’t go to plan because it gives mum and dad an even bigger thrill when they see their images. I know this feeling well, because it happened to my little family not so long ago… we finally got our own family photos done with one of my favourite photographers from Queensland who had made time in her busy schedule for us. To my dismay, not only was it wet and cloudy on the day, but Toby threw a huge whammy right in the middle of the shoot, wouldn’t do anything anyone suggested, became fixated on one particular thing, wouldn’t let us ‘move on’, and refused to put on the awesome retro batman mask that he himself had carefully selected for dress-ups during our shoot! I had complete confidence in our photographer, but I was incredibly disappointed at that moment and doubted that we would have any decent images from that part of the shoot. Not. The. Case.

So from the professional photographer’s point of view (and most definitely my own), kids will always be kids, and that’s ok. Sometimes there frowns, tanties and dogged determination to do the exact opposite of what you want. And sometimes there are beaming smiles, cuddles, wicked dance moves and utter obedience. Mostly I get to see all of that within the first 30 minutes of every shoot I do. And I wouldn’t be a child photographer if I didn’t love kids, whatever mood they’re in.

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Kelly Trow - Oh Katie, these are gorgeous! Having three kids myself, I can totally relate to these images, particularly the first photos of the 3 of them! So full of their personalities

Love Autumn has started // Canberra child photographer

Monday, April 23, 2012

I look forward to this time every year… Canberra turns it on sooo spectacularly and I am sooo grateful to live in a city with such an amazing array of beautiful locations to choose from. This year I’m running my Love Autumn Mini Sessions a little differently to usual in that I’m spreading them out across a three week period, to (hopefully) work better with the incredibly frustrating weather we’ve had lately. And funnily enough, my first one had to be rescheduled because of the rain! This sweet session with mum and daughter was number two, which we wrapped up just ten minutes before yet another massive torrential downpour!

Aren’t they just gorgeous? Expect many more posts as fun and colourful as this one over the next few weeks…

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Award winning Canberra photographer: maternity, newborn, baby, child & family portrait photography by Katie Kolenberg

The colour of happiness // Canberra children’s photographer

Be yourself // Canberra family photographer

That’s the way love is // Canberra couples photography

A gorgeous trio // Canberra children’s photographer

Love Autumn has started // Canberra child photographer

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