Rain, rain go away...come back another day

It's raining...in fact it's actually pouring, torrential if you will.  Most of Qld is under siege due to water.  If you had of informed the western Qld famers that rain was a-coming in such amounts they would probably have certified you as being crazy!  I have never seen this much rain in my lifetime and apparently we haven't seen this much rain in at least 50 years.  Why am I blogging about Queensland's lack of rain historically and our abundance of rain presently?  Well it comes down to the fact that I haven't been able to get out and shoot portaits in the great outdoors.  I am not one for compromise...I've done too much of that in the past.  Now I seek excellence in my work, and whilst I could go indoors and shoot with a flash - I'm just not seeking that kind of light right now.  I want to showcase Queenslanders in natural Queensland light (alright I'm also OK with capturing non-Queenslanders in our gorgeous light as well...it's only right to share).

So instead, during this epic wet I've begun to go back through my backlog of images to not only remember the good times and moments but to also to share them with you.  For the next few blogs I'll be sharing some gorgeous personal moments with you...perhaps only until the glorious Queensland sunshine returns and I am called back outdoors again...so for however fleeting here are a couple of personal family moments via images.

This blog is all about our crops...our cops in pots.  I wish to celebrate our minature harvest and thank mother nature for allowing us to partake in the circle of life...from seedling to fruit - and on to our bellies.  I loved it and so did the kids.

And then my baby boy decides to eat everything!  Funny how little people need to look with either their hands or mouths, or both!  Lucky they are so adorable!

Well the Roma tomato harvest was a success...at least in our eyes, and so were our strawberries.  We are humble people and don't expect too much, and probably fed the grasshoppers etc in the process.  Whatever the end result we are happy and that is the main thing...and the kids loved seeing the end result of all our watering.

Sarina Beach

 As previously posted Damon and I, and three out of eight of our children (yes there's quite a few of us!) took a short road-trip up to north Queensland.

When I look back at the images Damon and I both took during our way too short trip I just want to go back.  Forgettig about the driving (which took the best part of three massive days (we broke it up into four days so that two of the days were only five hours of driving).  We stopped in at Gladstone on the way up - so much industry - and on the way back we stopped in at Sarina Beach.

Sarina Beach was just glorious!  We spent a few hours on the beach, in the pool and feet up with beer in hand just soaking up the serenity from the balcony of our room.  YES even with three kids (1 baby, 1 toddler and 1 pre-teen) in tow there can be some semblance of serenity I promise! Sarina Beach is what I envisage to be the perfect beach.  To be able to look out your home window on that beach each and every day would be absolutely magical.  The only drawback is that for the greater proportion of the year you can't swim in those glorious waters due to blue bottle jellyfish and other stinging nasties!  So close yet so far!  Such a tease.

The roads for our trip were quite hazardous.  We managed to escape through the burgeoning floodwaters on our way north (just getting through a portion of the highway that was closed not long after we got through) and managed to return south through the Mackay region again after the water had receeded and prior to more expected rain.  A few hours after arriving at Sarina Beach a storm began to build and rolled through creating the most amazing light and these glorious landscape images.  I love it when an image is perfect straight from the camera!  Yes the scenery really looked like this.

 

It's going to be awhile before we are able to return north but the scenery is just absolutely breath taking and stopping off the beaten track is one I would highly recommend to all.

Website - www.rdphotography.net.au
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Emma

On our recent trip to Townsville I met the gorgeous Emma.  Damon and I photographed Emma on the most iconic place in Townsville, The Strand, overlooking the water and in the shade of the magnificent Peace Tree.  The Peace Tree not only gave us a fantastic backdrop but afforded us some respite from the heat of the north queensland day - 32 degrees I believe it was, not of course taking into account the stiffling humidity!

 Emma's gorgous big brown eyes connected with the camera producing stunning results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this image of Emma with her baby nephew Louis (photographed in a previous shoot).

 I miss Townsville already, we really had a great short break there and I would highly recommend anyone to holiday there...just maybe in winter if you don't like the heat :)

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Danielle & Matt

Damon and I took the family (minus the big boys) on a road trip to Townsville in tropical north Queensland.  As chance would have it Danielle and her family were staying at the same resort we were at, spending time with out of town relatives.  We chatted for awhile about her home town of Townsville and of course her little boys (including a newborn - I just love newborns!!).  I just liked her immediately!  A family portrait session was organised - even on holidays my camera is never far from my mind.

The sun shines longer in Townsville than it does on the Sunshine Coast so even for an afternoon shoot lots of shade was sought under a massive tree.  The weather was hot, humid and blustery and with little Ethan teething everyone was tired.  Despite this everyone was amazing and it was heartwarming to be able to see and capture the bonds and love that Danielle and Matt share with their children and each other...simply gorgeous.  A loving look between bubba and dad; the gentle cradling by mum; the delicate touch of big brother; the joy of togetherness - these are the moments I love and adore - and this is what we saw and captured in spades.

Thank you Danielle and Matt for sharing your gorgeous family with us.

 

 

Damon will shortly be posting some images of this gorgeous family on his blog via www.rdphotography.net.au, so keep an eye out for them shortly.

<3 Rachael

House of girl power!

There are five lovely ladies (including three sweet little ladies) who are collectively known as living in the "house of girl power".  Damon and I recently had the pleasure of spending time with and photographing these three little ladies (including a few with mum)...and I can honestly say that their energy is infectious!

Damon and I don't often get to photograph together and we are trying very hard to change this.  We'd love nothing more than in the future to be able to go on each and every shoot together.  We compliment each other in shooting styles with our preference for different lenses and angles.  I love this about us!  Well enough about my gushing love for my husband and his work...let's get back to our session with the lovely ladies of the house of girl power!

We chose a beautiful park not far from their home with beautiful rolling hills and lovely lakes with bridges and a fountain...and LOTS of birds!  We seriously had to be careful where we got down on our knees due to the little gifts left behind that only birds can give.  We got through it though and produced some amazing shots of these gorgeous girls.  Here are just a few to share (Damon will also be posting some on his blog of the gorgeous images he took for this session - so be sure to check them out as well!).

It was an absolute pleasure spending time with all four of the lovely ladies - we don't do it often enough!

<3 Rachael