I met Jennifer and Lucas over a year ago now, as they were approaching the due date of their gorgeous girl. I also had the pleasure of photographing Ava as a newborn: you can see those shoots here and here. They’re getting married in February 2012, so my lucky last session of 2011 was their engagement shoot, complete with this adorable little ball of sass and giggles (who is going to make the cutest flower girl ever, don’t you think?!).

And that’s it for 2011!

I’ll be back to start 30 Days of Summer later in the week, but a quick reminder that the office will be closed from Thursday December 22 until Thursday January 19th, inclusive.

P.S If you haven’t already seen it, here is my 2011 Christmas message.

I adored seeing how cherished Jay is by his parents, it made me a bit gooey on the inside. This is such a beautiful time for new parents. It’s like the rainbow after the rain: they’re smiling right at you, not just because they’re doing a wee and it feels nice, but they’re actually looking right into your eyes, and they’re feeling it, how awesome is that?!  For dads it’s often the time when they begin to really connect with the little person they made, and to my eyes, Jay’s daddy was the proudest daddy in all the world!  And Jay’s mummy, wow, how radiant is she? I don’t remember looking like that less than three months after I gave birth, that’s for sure! Jay was such a cool and chubby little dude, he made me chuckle and coo and grin from ear to ear. Here are some of my faves…

So I met this family in autumn of 2010, and now there are four of them! And not only was it wonderful to meet the newest addition to the family, but I was totally thrilled to see the super cool car they brought along with them! We had the most hilarious time exploring my favourite location in the late afternoon sun. It’s pretty much nothing but grins, tickles and non-stop energy from these guys: I just love them!

One of the things I pride myself in, and want potential families looking for a family photographer to know about Heartstory, is that I approach my sessions from the point of view of someone who wants to get to know you. I strive to capture the essence of who you are, and how your family interacts. If your kids aren’t the type to sit still, or snuggle up shyly to your shoulder and bat their eyelashes at me, I won’t try and make them! If they want to run around and pull silly faces, I will chase them and catch them in the act! This is why I wear jeans and sneakers to shoots and don’t mind lying on the dirty ground or having leaves thrown at me: I want kids to be kids, babies to be babies (even when they get fed up or won’t look at me because I did the chicken noise too many times in a row) and I want mums and dads to feel relaxed and ok with who their kids are in front of me. There’s no such thing as bad behaviour at my sessions because I make sure everyone is happy and doing what they want to do – right Chris and Katrina? These images are so them, and I am just so happy to have had the opportunity to make a new set of pictures for them that tell the next chapter of their story.

Soooo…. have you thought about what you’d like to give your closest friends and family? (Er, no, um, is it really 12 weeks away?!) Never fear, I have!!! Your gift giving dilemmas are officially solved: read on.

Essentially you are getting $780 worth of beautiful portrait products for $550, and you don’t have to pay a cent more unless you want to.

Here’s how you do it. Ring me or email me NOW. State your preferred date. Get ready to pay your invoice immediately. Prepare for some outdoors fun with your family (and me!) and get excited about the beautiful images you will soon have to show for it. Let me help you with your order, so you can get the most out of your collection. Keep some and give the rest away to the people who you love most in the world. Grandparents will be overjoyed, overseas & interstate rellies who you rarely get to see you will probably cry, aunties and uncles will love it and probably wish they’d thought of it… and you get to do all your Christmas shopping in 45 minutes, while celebrating how awesome your family is!!!

It doesn’t get much better than that, does it?

Actually, yes! Because I have also prepared some fantastic specials on some of my most popular products that you can take advantage of, regardless of whether you’ve booked a Christmas Package or not! These specials are for you if:

• You booked the Christmas Package, of course!
• You’ve had a Heartstory session sometime in 2011. If you’d like to order some framed prints, canvases or gorgeous, unique and personalised holiday cards for Christmas, I will waive the fee, re-upload your gallery and you can order from the Christmas Gift Specials list below. Just shoot me an email and I’ll get it all organised for you!
• You’ve recently booked (or are about to book) a full Heartstory portrait session for a date in October. Refer to the Christmas Gift Specials list when you place your order!

There are, of course, some terms & conditions at the end of this post, so please make sure you read them before you book.

CHRISTMAS GIFT SPECIALS

designed to make your gift giving simple & heartfelt

These specials can be used with the $550 Christmas Package or with regular Heartstory sessions, and are available for all orders placed October 16 – November 6 inclusive.

FRAMED PRINTS

8×12” framed print ($240 value) $180
Set of two 12×18” framed prints ($700 value) $500
Set of two 16×24” framed prints ($920 value) $750

FINE ART CANVAS

20×30” gallery wrapped fine art canvas ($680 value) $500
Set of two 16×24” gallery wrapped fine art canvases ($980 value) $750

DIGITAL

Your complete digital collection + full set of prints ($1200 value) $850
(the digital special is only available with the Christmas Package)

CHRISTMAS / HOLIDAY CARDS

Pack of 24 personalised holiday cards (with envelopes) $150
Pack of 48 personalised holiday cards (with envelopes) $250

There will be a few different holiday card designs to choose from (and you get to pick the images from your portrait collection!), and I will be posting these on the Heartstory Facebook page next week, so keep an eye out.

Terms & Conditions // Christmas Package 2011:

• Full payment is required to secure your booking.
• Sessions only held on specified dates. Limited spots available.
• Christmas Package sessions are available for up to six family members. Additional family members $25 per person.
• Sessions must take place in Canberra at a selection of outdoors locations.
• Newborn sessions are not covered by this package.
• Orders must be placed by Sunday November 6 in order to guarantee delivery before Christmas.
• There is a set choice of frames and Christmas card designs available. Premium frames and unique customised designs are available at an extra cost.
• Fees are transferrable to another date due to bad weather or illness. In the case of a complete cancellation with less than two weeks notice and no intention to reschedule, an administrative fee of $100 will be deducted from the refund.
• Please refer to your Heartstory Portrait Agreement for other details.

This baby girl was born with Trisomy 21, otherwise known as Down Syndrome, and she’s the third daughter of my dearest and most cherished friends. My regular followers will have seen her two big sisters featured on my blog several times before.

I first met her when she was 3 weeks old, and took these pictures. She’s now four months, and doing great; one of the most peaceful, contented babies I’ve ever seen, and utterly treasured by her sisters and parents. There may be some challenges ahead, but I know this family, how close they are, and how much love they are capable of. They will be amazing together.

I found it deeply gratifying to document her at this precious age; to show the world how adorable and how loved she is. I’m quite sure she’s going to leave a beautiful mark.

I know I’ve said it before, but this is SUCH a great age to get professional portraits done; once they’ve mastered sitting, but before they’ve figured out walking. It doesn’t matter if they’re crawling, even when they’re speedy little things like Tahlia – it only takes a second to capture a toothy grin, an wide-eyed innocent gaze or a special little mannerism. Babies this age are full of personality, and photos like these of your little one will always make you smile, for the rest of your lives.

We all like to hibernate in winter. It’s understandable. But I say embrace it! It lasts for 4 (and sometimes 5) long months in Canberra, and that’s a big part of our lives in this beautiful city! But the sun is nearly always out, it’s easy to rug up and get outside, so I’m launching a winter special in honour of our brisk Canberra winter. Winter is a beautiful time of year for photography – gentle light, blue skies and everyone looks fantastic in scarves and beanies!

Your winter special session fee is only $100 (normally $165)!

This includes:

• 1 hour photo session
• A private online proof gallery with 25-30 images to choose from
• A complimentary 8×12″ print

Call Katie on 0402 091 949 or email katie@heartstoryphotography.com.au to book.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. Available for kids only shoots, couples & families of up to 5 ($25 per extra person)
2. Sessions will take place in a selection of outdoors locations
3. A minimum spend of $550 on prints & other products applies
4. Afternoon sessions preferred (to avoid frost and fog), starting around 2.30pm
5. Sessions are available Tuesday – Saturday, July 1 – August 31. Which includes the entire school holiday season!

Straight after Glen, Bee and Emma arrived, Glen set about burying Emma in a huge pile of leaves, and she was completely enraptured by the experience! She stayed put in those leaves for a good ten minutes! I think it was one my favourite baby photography moments to date!

And the eye contact, oh my gosh, Emma is amazing at it. Straight down the camera! This is what I mean by a sense of self awareness; I think she’s eyeballing the camera in nearly every single frame I shot. I just love her pointy chin, wild hair and that beautiful little top lip!

P.S Has anyone noticed how many girls I have been photographing lately? Where have all the little boys gone???

Five things I passionately believe about photography

1. Having your story told through someone else’s eyes is an empowering reminder that our lives and the people in them are precious, unique and valuable.
2. Photographs can act as windows back to what matters most, at times that you need it most.
3. Photographs, like all good memories of time and place and people, are nourishing for your heart and soul.
4. A photo session with your loved ones is a perfect excuse to celebrate the most important things in life: love, togetherness and the connections you have with the people that matter most.
5. Great photographs capture universal truths and emotions which connect us all.

This beautiful baby portrait is from a very memorable session I did late last year. This little guy’s joyous expression has stayed with me ever since. Looking at it makes me smile with every single fibre of my being.

Chrissy is also a photographer (if you’re in Melbourne, look her up for your family: Chrissy Torney Photography), and as you can see, she was super-prepared for the session with a super-fun theme to really bring out the best in her kids. I have to say, it kinda brought out the best in her too: I don’t know too many adults who’d be happy to run around a park in a super-hero outfit, leaping through the air, cape aflutter! But Chrissy is pretty awesome like that.

I also love that she only wanted me to photoshop out the scab on Paige’s nose on some of the photos – because that’s part of the story. And that Paige was still wearing the little bandaid strips from her immunisations the previous week. Sometimes it’s those little details that really make you smile in years to come.

Chrissy only stayed with us for part of the session. She wanted the photos to be a complete surprise – to have absolutely no idea what Paige, Koby and I got up to until this blog post was published! Hopefully they didn’t tell her. Ta-da Chrissy! Enjoy!