Brad and Em - Pre-Wedding

I love weddings. I'm a romantic at heart and when a couple decide to declare their love for eternity in the form of vows and marriage it warms my heart. But this is not about me in the slightest, this post is about celebrating the declaration to the world (including their friends and family) of the love between Brad and Em.

I first met Em on her wedding day and immediately I found her relaxed and down-to-earth. To me, this was a woman who knew what she wanted and was comfortably ready (and I believe even quietly celebrated her decision) to marry the man that she loved. Her bridesmaids, Sharon and Sarah, seemed equally as relaxed and happy for their friend. This was our first wedding shoot and I couldn't have asked for a better wedding if I had prayed for one. There was not a hint of bridezilla and it was during the ceremony, as well as afterwards, that I realised why. Brad and Em were in love. Their love was so beautiful and transcended into their images. At times it was hard to concentrate on taking the images of their wedding and not just go all gushy during their ceremony - sounds corny I know but heck, there is a reason everyone loves a good wedding!

This blog is about the pre-wedding images. Em was truly a breathtaking bride, and her bridesmaids were so gorgeous. This blog is dedicated to pre-wedding with another blog to follow relating to ceremony and reception.

Michelle & Owen

This blog has been awhile coming...a computer failure and a replacement since (an iMac that I can honestly say is a steep learning curve in process - and I am still learning the basics - when compared with a Microsoft PC).

Recently Damon and I met Michelle and Owen. A couple in love. I have to say that looking at people through the lens of a camera is an amazing/very different thing to the norm - the results are often intimate in nature as the lens captures fleeting moments that the eye would either miss or not fully capture the emotion behind it. When captured on film - digital these days but film sounds so much better - these images are frozen and can be absorbed and appreciated for what they are - emotional, thought-provoking, heart-warming and just generally make you smile as you look at the images over the years and remember great times.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - when I see a loving glance, a gentle touch or embrace or a loving kiss - I get goosebumps! With Michelle and Owen I saw this over and over. Michelle and Owen are getting married towards the end of this year and I can already tell that the wedding of this fun loving couple is going to be very emotional and so much fun - especially taking into account Owen's Irish side.

Photographing underneath the Story Bridge was simply gorgeous and I just love the city backdrop.

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Bubble Fun

Bubbles, bubbles, lots of floating bubbles!

They are fun, wet, squishy, colourful and kids just love them!

Kids of all sizes and ages love playing with bubbles - even the big kids get in on the act.

Family afternoon out

Well we are finally here and have moved into our new house at North Lakes and it feels great to be here!

On Sunday the develper at North Lakes held an open day putting on, among other things, a free sausage sizzle - I do love a good sausage sizzle. They even had an Old McDonald's farm for the kids to pat and play with various farm animals - which the boys just loved.
Jordan even felt that the chickens belonged on the poor cow's head and proceeded to put them on, over and over - that poor cow!

 

 

 

 

Then it was off to the Cold Rock Icecreamery for some deliciously cool icecream - a wonderful end to a fun afternoon <3




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North Lakes here we come

We are moving from the Sunshine Coast to North Lakes, Brisbane and have been busily packing and getting the children ready for their various schools - all three levels (daycare, primary school and university). I can't wait to settle in to our new home which is not only close to the primary school but has so many parks within short walking distances. This master planned community is amazing, walking paths everywhere, parks and playgrounds by the dozens - seems like a great family community. These parks are going to be the perfect backdrop for portrait sessions...I can't wait!

Because of the move we are going to be without our home phone and internet (gasp - no blog love) for a couple of weeks and therefore probably with a little too much time on our hands in a new suburb. This means that we want (OK NEED) some photo sessions booked to keep our minds busy and creative juices flowing. So if you live in the North Lakes/Mango Hill area give me a call and book a session full of love and gorgeous emotion to cherish and treasure.

Surf over to www.rdphotography.net.au to view our gallery and contact information.

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I'd say this is going to be my last blog for a few weeks; so until I'm back online take care, keep safe and I hope that you fill 2011 with finding your bliss...because I know I already am.

<3 Rach

The mighty Brisbane River

I cannot fathom the amount of pain and heart break the people of Brisbane and South East Queensland are feeling right now. The mighty Brisbane river (together with upstream) has really dealt them all a mighty blow!  This on the back of the floods and rains that north Queensland had to endure in December is just too much. I really couldn't believe how much rain we had here on the Sunshine Coast on a daily basis and yet it continued to rain and rain and rain some more. Unbelievable!

Today and yesterday blue sky decided to show itself and the sun even peaked out from between the cloud every now and then. So yesterday the kids and I went for a drive down to the Brisbane river. We were very mindful of staying away from the serious flooding and dangers of the city and out of the way of any emergency services that might have needed to access areas of importance so we went out to the port area and Milton to take a look at what the mighty Brisbane river was up to.

Even though my little boys were too young to understand, I think Diana was really amazed at how fast the river was flowing and at the amount of debris that was not only washed up but was floating past. You can see the reflection of the river in Diana's sunglasses as she stands silently taking in the might of a very swollen Brisbane River.

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And just for something different...it's raining

The forecast for much of Queensland, I believe, is rain.  We had rain yesterday and it even rained the day before.  We had a few days to dry out before that but pretty much it has been raining here since before Christmas.

A heck of a lot of Queensland is under water, many towns and cities completely inundated.  So much devistation, so many lives destroyed.  If you are reading my blog please take the time to visit http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html and donate, even if it is just a little, to those who have lost a lot!

With all of this rain I have been thinking about our trip to Townsville in December and how we had only just gotten through the flooded highway before they closed it (with assistance from the epic SES) and how we were able to return back south to home a week later before more huge rains came.  The weather in Townsville was amazing.  The beautiful Queensland sun was out in its beautiful glory (and was hot even) making our short trip one to remember for a long time.

 

We had planned on making Townsville our new home but unfortunately we have had to make other plans.  These two images are of how I remember Townsville - the sun, the palms, the beach...just love it!  I would love to go back soon...after Queensland dries out enough however.

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Christmas 2010

WOW!  I cannot believe that not only has Christmas 2010 been and gone but 2010 has also been and gone.

The end of 2010 marks the end of a huge chapter in my life and the beginning of something more amazing and meaningful.  So much planning is involved in what I want to do and what Damon and I want to accomplish with our business.  We are so excited and have already taken steps in realising some of what we wish to accomplish.

2011 to me will be all about learning to live life with happiness and without regret; living life on my terms and not letting others dictate my direction and goals; not letting the negativity of others gain access to my life and to the lives of my family; and learning the art of resiliance.  I hope that through the ashes of my past I will emerge stronger and more confident in my abilities - and that I will back myself!  My hope is that as a parent my children will know what it looks like to be a happy and self confident adult and as adults they know what a healthy, happy and stable marriage/home looks like.

2011 is going to be B-I-G and even though I am only 7 days in huge things have already begun.  My twin boys are leaving home to go to uni.  We are moving just north of Brisbane - we will of course still be photographing on the Sunshine Coast - the scenery is just too beautiful not to!
 So many changes and yet one thing remains constant and that is our love for photography.  Damon and I are excited with some of our photographic ideas and can't wait to show what gorgeous images we can present to you from your portrait session.  Call us to book your session.

Whilst we are planning, doing, working in and on as well as realising our dreams (big and small) here are a few images taken from our Christmas tree and the little story behind them.  May your dreams also be realised in 2011 and beyond <3

We bought a new Christmas tree this year retiring the old tree - it was definitely time.  Our new tree was very cheap, not entirely nasty but very cute in its own way.  We knew we were going to be moving so we didn't need anything elaborate or magnificent in size or foliage.  Diana and I decorated the tree, with a little help from Jordan.  On went the lights, then tinsel and then the decorations.  We then sat back to admire our effort when along came Caleb (15 months) and decided that the decorations didn't go on the tree but rather the floor.  Not peterbed by her little brother Diana decided to relocate the decorations to the upper portion of the tree leaving the bottom almost bare.  In fact truth be known the tree looked like it was sick from the lower two-thirds.

Nothing was placed underneath the tree until Christmas Eve and Caleb had gone to bed.  Otherwise everything would have been unwrapped by the little man.  I still have memories of when my little brother unwrapped everything very early one Christmas morning and noone really knew what they had gotten for Christmas.

 

As my little boys get older the decorations will return to the tree.  Until then great stories and memories have been made and I'm sure we'll look back fondly on the year that Caleb re-decorated the Christmas tree. 

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Where oh where have my precious images gone???

Untick the box that says "delete images after upload"!

There is a simple reason for my above statement.  The reason is that even though your images will upload from your camera to your computer 99 times, it's the 100th time that things will fail, with devastating results.

Yesterday morning I finally decided to upload the images I had taken over the past few weeks into my Lightroom software.  It wasn't my best idea to not transfer the images from my camera to the computer for a few weeks.  The rain had been inundating us here on the Sunshine Coast, and the majority of Queensland, so I was concentrating on going back through my older images rather than doing anything with the current ones - still on camera.  Plus with looking after all the kids (8 of them), Christmas and the school holiday hullaballoo I was just plain busy.  Anyway my memory card is huge so I knew there wasn't a problem with capacity, in fact I've got a few spares so I wasn't in the ordinary rush to get them off and work with them, as I would have usually been.

All looked fine and I even watched some of the thumbnails as the images were being uploaded or transfered from camera to computer.  The thought didn't even cross my mind to untick the box stating that it would delete all images on the memory card after transfer was complete.  I saw the transfer in progress so all must have been ok.  Right? NO!  All was not right.  You can imagine my panic when I couldn't find the images anywhere on my computer.  I searched every sub-folder folder in my pictures folder.  I searched the whole computer for the names I had tagged the images.  I searched the whole computer for the date I took the images.  I even did a search of the whole computer for the date I uploaded the images.  Nada, zip, zero...the images were not to be found.  I was completed devistated!  And I haven't evens told you what images I had taken.

The images I had taken and were on my memory card were 1) a gorgeous storm that had rolled through where we lived.  The clouds were awesome, the colours produced by the sunset were fabulous and the combination of the two just had to be captured; 2) our Christmas tree.  In all its fabulous - after a 15 month old had rolled through and destroyed it; and last but most importantly **drum roll please** 3) Christmas Day in all its fantastic glory...the kids opening their gifts...the kids playing with all their things.  The smiles, the laughter, the joy on their faces and the memories captured forever - so we can look back and remember how great the morning/day for Christmas Day 2010 was.

Another storm will roll through, I can take more photos of our Christmas tree but the day is gone for Christmas Day this year as Damon's children have gone back home.

From now on the box that tells the software to delete from the memory card straight after upload will forever remain unticked.  Once I have confirmed that the images are safely onboard the computer I will use the camera's settings to manually delete the images.  Much safer that way!

Whilst I am on this mission I should probably also back-up all of my images!

I could have added a big exclamation image to this post warning of impending doom, but instead here's an image I took of our Christmas tree this morning - this post looked lonely without a gorgeous image.  Christmas to me if full of love, happiness, plenty of noise plus loads and loads of colour.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.  May 2011 bring you all that you desire and have worked for.  I am really excited about 2011...especially now that I have learnt my lesson and am one step closer to making sure my precious images are safe and sound on their journey to my enjoyment.