Second Child Syndrome is somthing that, as the title suggests, effects the second child of a family. They have to put up with the fact that the first child was such a special addition to a family because it was the first. There are photos hanging everywhere but then when number 2 comes along the amount of photos tends to reduce. it’s not that the second child is any less important or special, its just the excitment of those first years of being a parent take over.

Jasper is a second child. Apparetnly one night when he was being soothed to sleep he kept looking at photos of the baby on the wall. It was his older brother Griffin. The other photos on the wall of the little boy playing with his parents was also Griffin. Jasper was missing. That has now been fixed when we delivered filled out Jasper’s a perscription of a shoot to help relieve the symptoms of 2nd Child Syndrome.

Admittidly, Griffin did star a bit while Jasper had a nap, he was especially good captaining the Explorer 200, his wave surfing ship.

If you or you know a family that has been affected by Second Child Syndrome, please let us know and we can send then a perscription to rectify the situation!

Over the years I’ve filled up many hard drives of images taken for no reason than for my own self interest. Some make it onto the blog, some get entered into the awards and some just sit about and gather virtual dust.

Well, I’ve just completed some dusting and uncovered a heap of images that I’m proud of and though that I should open them up to everyone who would like one. The Photobat Print Shop is now open offering affordable photographic prints that are ideal to put on that blank spot on the wall, place on the bookshelf or even to give to someone as a present so they can enjoy it.

Some of my favourite images are included, and it is the first time I’ve offered prints of “The Caravan” (8 inch version pictured above on my mantle at home) one of my most popular images.

All prints come unframed and will be delivered within 10 days of ordering. For Launceston buyers I will throw in a special discount card so you can get your print framed.

To celebrate the launch of the Photobat Print Shop, we are offering free shipping on all orders made until the 25^th of November.  Plus if you order 3 you will get 20% off.

Please head over to the Print Shop and have a browse. I plan on adding images to the collection over time as I take new ones. Also, if there is an image of mine that you love that you would like to see in the shop please leave a comment and I’ll see if I can dig it up for you.

Click here to visit the Photobat Print Shop

Remember, Free shipping until this Friday and Christmas is just around the corner…

I haven’t spent a lot of time in Ulverstone. It has always been the town after Devonport and before Burnie. I didn’t realise how great the beach was and how luck Ulverstonians are to have it just there. Launceston is a bit lacking in the beach area, apparently we used to have a couple of good ones but silt has taken care of them, plus who would want to swim in the lower reaches of the Tamar anyway.

I was introduced the beach at Ulverstone by Elise, Jarod, Zack and Sienna who are lucky enough to live within a stone throw of the beach (a good stone thrower, not a girly one like me). I think the beach brings out energy, something in the wind maybe? These kids didn’t stop. Lots of running, jumping, splashing and exploring in the dunes. They were smart and took off their shoes, i still haven’t learnt that me + beach = wet shoes/jeans. But killing a pair of shows was worth it for these guys. Thank again for the really great time and introducing me to your beach, i’m very jealous of it – Alan

Clever girl, holding her own drinks now

Well, after another look through some blog posts I realised that this great shoot somehow managed to get missed. But not anymore. Here are Jack and Lula and their grown ups Suzanna and Paul at their place from April I believe. These guys were a bit on the fun side, plus they have chickens. Chickens are great. Thanks again guys and hope that you are all doing well. Alan

After an epic 3 days last week the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) held the Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA) in Sydney. I was both an entrant and a judge. Entering takes ages, thinking about what to enter, re thinking about it, then over thinking it and trying to clear my thought to focus on what will be an award image. Even though i’m a judge it is still very hard to get up 4 great images to enter. Knowing all the effort that goes into entering, it can be hard to give a not so nice score to a print when it comes up to be judged. I know what it is like to just miss the mark, it happened to my twice with 2 of my prints comming within 1 and 2 points of getting an award. It proves to the people out there that judges are human and know what it is like to just miss out. I can see what the issues are with those images now, over thinking about it blinded me when I was finalising them. So next year, less thinking, more gutt instinct!

Congratulations to every one that picked up some awards. It was a pleasure to be able to talk up some prints into the gold catergory, a place reserved for really stand out work. When a link to all the award images is avaliable i’ll post it up.

In saying that, i did pick up a Silver in the wedding catergory (above), Silver in the portrait catergory (this image contains artistic nudity, if you are old enough please click here to view, you will need to enter the password “ok” to view) as well as a silver and silver distinction in the wedding album catergory. I really like getting awards for wedding albums, it isn’t just one stand out image from one wedding being judged. It’s the whole story being judged, in my case over 100 images in each of the albums. So i’m pretty happy about that.

So now I have to start thinking about next year now, but not too hard.

When I shot Nichola and Drew’s weddingearlier this year they didn’t have a dog. The story goes that Dexter was advertised in the paper on their wedding day, they they drove from Binalong Bay to somewhere up the Tamar to check him out the day after the wedding. Fell in love with him and then added him to the family. He’s a bit cute and avery much loved!

Josef Chromy Vineyard – Special Guest Jonathan Wherrett.
Note, Vee and I had the cake…. Jonathan didn’t, even if it looks like he did!

I love our new Designer albums. Available in a 7×10 inch and a 10×14 inch size for both weddings and portraits. Edge to edge printing on all sides and a heap of new cover colours and materials including a really great assortment of designer woods. This offers a more contemporary feal to our albums, we still have the older matted albums which are also pretty ace, these ones are new and exciting. There are so many more possibilities with these ones and i’m really having a great time designing them. I’ll be showing all our wedding clients these albums when they are finalising the plans for their weddings and you can easily switch over your album style if you like. Portrait clients, these are the ultimate and we have already sold a few from resent sessions and I can’t wait to design some more.

I had such a fantastic time meeting and photographing Brad and Tenille, they are the proud parents of Aya (baby) and Millie (Cute mini puppy). Aya is such a beautiful little girl and full of life. Millie loves Aya as much as her parents, so cute seeing them together. Add in the fantastic home that Brad and Tenille have created and I just know Aya is such a lucky little girl.

Remember Brad and Elisha? If you don’t you should click here. But that is old news now as Willow is on the scene and calling the shots. She’s a bit on the cute side and i’m assured Brad has a shotgun so none of you little boys get any ideas ok.

I just finished this shoot with Tamara and Alfie, I had to rush back to the office to download this image. I kinda like it lots, Alfie has a heap of character and is such a wooly playful mud seeking puppy! You can find another shot of Alfie in the animal folio on the Photobat facebook page.

Yep, they are all heading in the right direction as they were all a little smaller last time.

Josie asked if I could take some photos of her family, of course I said yes as that is what I do. Josie said she wanted somthing a bit different, so I said yes because that is what I do. After finding out a bit more info we settled on a shoot at Sam’s parents place, that was until Sam’s back when crack and we had to postpone the shoot for  a couple of months. Flash forward and the initial plan was overtaken by Josie’s idea for somthing different but really wanted Sam’s dad’s couch in the shot. While thinking of where somewhere different could be I looked out the window and saw my favourite carpark and the idea was born.

These kids are fantastic, all 5 of them! We all played up so much, running, jumping and generally surprising all the people coming back to their cars. Really a whole heap of fun!

A little Hobart wedding of Nick and Rhea. So many great stories from this couple who you can tell just love every little bit of each other, which is exactly the fealing I got from all their family and guests as they also love every little bit of them. More soon, but if you are impatient you could head to the facebook page for another little sneaky peaky.

It’s Brad and Elisha, you remember their wedding don’t you? (click here to know what all the cool kids already know)

Little shoot with the newest addition to the family, the very funky Willow. She is as awesome as her parents.

Another preview image is living on the Photobat facebook page, go check it out and like it if you wanna.

She’s 7. Can you believe it? I took some photos of her Humans too, will post them soon.

Renee and Nathan may look familiar to a few people, you may remember there from this wedding photo. That was years ago and now they have added Lachlan to the family. As per the wedding, standard location was thought about and then dismissed for something unique and a bit more meaningful. Enter Salamanca Market, the biggest and busiest market in Tasmania. So along with a cute 11 month old and 2 adoring parent we also had a few hundred Hobartians and tourists to work with. It was a bit of fun, one point I was walking backwards up the hill into a throng of small tourists who really were more interested in looking side to side at wooden fruit than straight ahead at the rapidlt approaching photographer in reverse mode.

Lachlan was awesome, such a great kid. This is really the best part of my job, hanging out with clients on their wedding days and then coming back and meeting the new additions when they turn up.

Ok, so this is a family portrait but I think you will agree that Max steels the show. He has the fortune to be both cute and adorable. A rare quality! I’ve known Jess since grade 7 where we were in the same class. Flash forward and we bumped into each other at a wedding and I was slightly distracted by the cute baby in her arms. Flash even more forward and Jess and Alister have moved into their new home and I was called on to help get something on the wall for the new family home.

Susanna and Dave dropped by for the standard planning session and in the usual chat the happens in every planning session it came out that David proposed on a roof top with a surprise picnic. Than it came out that they have had many other roof top picnics and experiences. It got me thinking about where we could do their first family portrait with Mariella. I didn’t have to think too much because outside the office window the view is dominated by the Mecure. A phone call and some meetings later and it was all set, sunset on the rooftop.

Susanna also took the nesting process to a whole new level turning their bed into a real nest with willow branches!

When I first read that there were Turtles in Vanuatu I was excited, I really wanted to get as close as possible to an animal I hadn’t seen before. I like turtles, but it’s been at a distance. That all changed on Moso Island.

We read that there was s Turtle Rookery on Tranquility Island (also known as Moso). We wanted to get there but really didn’t want to do the half day tour and see things that didn’t really interest us before we got to the rookery. After mentioning this to the guys at Havannah (the best place we have ever stayed) they arranged a trip for us on their little speed boat across the harbour to have our own look at the rookery.

I didn’t know what to expect, and after trekking through the jungle from the jetty we emerged into the rookery. Essentially it’s a heap of big white plastic tubs filled with turtles. The turtles are collected by local villages when they hatch and are bought to the rookery where they are paid for and then looked after until they are big enough to have a better chance of surviving in the wild.

The Hawksbill Turtle is critically endangered meaning that the species numbers have decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations. So that means there isn’t that many about. To be in a little area with over a hundred of this amazing and beautiful reptile was fantastic.

The little ones are fragile and not able to be handled, but as you go down the tubs they get bigger and bigger until you get to the 2 year old turtles in the final cement tanks. These larger turtles are ready for release. The rookery relies on tourists coming by and sponsoring the turtles and releasing them. Of course, we had to do this. We picked up, measured it up and Vikashni walked it down beach and released it. TM (As we called it) was tagged and each time it is seen thy researchers will send us an email to let us know how it’s going. Very cool.

I hope TM is out there having a great time in the sea eating lots of jellyfish

We spent a little time at a village called Saama, it is located on the top side of Efate about 40 minutes drive from Port Vila. There are more photos to come from the village itself, these images are from the Chiefs (last image) chicken farm. It is encouraged for the men to stay and work in the village, and if possible to create some money. The chief is leading by example and has set up a chicken farm up the hill from the main village. It is only in start up phase but there are a heap of chickens running about and strangely, a cat. It seems that the cat does not each the chickens only the rats who try to get the eggs. He does love a treat of coconut, which is fed to the chickens in these photos by Irene the chiefs wife.

If you think people are nuts about the world cup here, you should head to a developing country. Vanuatu was World Cup crazy when we were there. There were flags everywhere, some real flags some home made, the bakeries had flags on cakes, stores were decorated, soccer balls everywhere and people had wrist bands to show their team. Even the rubbish trucks had flags on them. We stayed in an area called Seaside, the suburb included the poorest area in the city. Most of these shots were taken around the streets there. Not everyone has TVs, we discovered many community TVs were set up and left on all night so that the locals could gather and watch the games. It was great to have something to discuss with the locals, sometimes we didn’t have a choice, it was the first thing they asked us. “What do you think of Harry’s red card?”  I’m not a football person but did pay attention to all the news so i could join in conversations. These conversations lead to some amazing things including a tour of the slum like area of Seaside. More on that soon.

Each year the APPA’s come around, and each year photographers hold their breath and wait for the judges to give their prints a score. I had to hold my breath right till the last minute as all my prints were in the last category to be judged. The brand new family category. I had no idea what to enter, the aim of this category is all about a portrait photographers regular day to day work. No spectacular multiple image photoshop compositions, just straight shots of more domestic commissioned portraits.

The results, 2 Silver with Distinctions for these images. The one of the Bird boys above did nothing at the Tasmanian Awards a month but it’s another one of those shots that I believed in and was really happy that it got up. Sometime you just have to believe in the print, even when it’s been stomped on by a previous judging panel! The one below of Olivia did pick up an award in Tasmania too, so it’s now multi award winning, but i like it because it was just something different that i wanted to try and the first pregnancy shot i’ve picked up an award for.

With the APPA’s gone, it is pretty much the end of award season for another year. That means it’s time to get started on next years prints! Well done to all my photo friends (too many to mention) who seem to all have had a great award season too.

Sid’s a bit cool. I like him heaps. Why? Not only because he has cool parents, who’s wedding I shot a few years back, but also he just has a heap of personality. Big eyes and smiles, that what he has going on. He’s going to be one for the ladies to look out for… that’s my prediction anyway!

If you don’t know where Zeehan is, well it’s on the west coast and is well known for it’s mines. Not a lot seems to happen there but it’s an interesting little place.

My Grandparents used to own the Central Hotel in the middle of Zeehan and my dad, aunts and uncles grew up there. Last year we were passing through and saw the door was open. After wandering in and introducing ourselves the new owner gave us a look about. It’s interesting to wander the building that my Dad used to run around in.

I took some shots which is what this post it all about. The Hotel had fallen into disrepair over the last few years but is now on the way back up. Apparently there was a swamp where the kitchen was.

Look out for some misspelling and also the original licence that Vikashni spotted with my grandparents names on it.

Phone rings:

Me (answering): Hello

Kylie(voice on the other end of the line): Hi Alan, wanna come take some photos of Solomon?

Me: YES! This afternoon!

Ok, so there was a bit more chat and tooing and frowing of diaries but essentially we managed to fit it all together on the same day of the call.

Kylie and Trav have been getting shots done of Ava since she was about 10 weeks old, we started with Solomon at 10 days!

So here are some more of Solomon and a few thrown in to keep Ava happy as she is still very much super cute. Watch out for Ava’s smiley shot!

Just after Christmas I was whisked away to a little city called Melbourne. From there it was north to the amazing Boyd Baker House. A stunning venue for a very fun wedding. The wedding setting really made it a modern Australian bush wedding, perfect weather meant that the reception was held outside under the gum trees. Ali did a fantastic job doing many of the small details herself.

It wasn’t hard to shoot these guys and girls, they all looked fantastic and generally cracked each other up all the time. Some of Ali’s friends are serious life long friends, like known each other since they were 6. That is very cool.

One of the highlights include Jon Von Goes, the most entertaining celebrant I’ve had the fortune to see. He made the ceremony fun and did many things to really set the mood for the rest of the day.

The biggest highlight of the day was family. There are some very close bonds in these two families, this was one of the most welcoming weddings I’ve been to.

Congratulations again Adam and Ali and looking forward to meeting your little girl!

Stay tuned for their Batbooth…

These guys got the most votes and won our Valentines Day Competition.

We will have some more shots up in a couple of weeks… some really cool ones too

I’m back from a week off playing in Canberra and Melbourne. I managed to catch up with the infamous Tom Putt and his wife Rebecca and their two little scally wags Ella and Oliver. This is Oliver… more of the shoot later.

A couple of years ago I took a photo of Sara, Dwayne Ben and when she was expecting a baby and then we did some photos when Cameron had arrived. You can see those shots in the batblog post here. Well, about 2 years have passed and as up can see Cam is heading in the right direction!

It’s always fun to catch up a couple of years down the track and update the family photos. This time there was a bit of rough play, lots of jumping, wrestling, and a few head knocks, but nothing too much to worry about. We also hung out in Ben’s new tree house (or as I refer to it “tree mansion”) and also did a bit of jumping (and funny eyes) on the trampoline.

Cameron is at the perfect age, i love photographing 2 year olds. It’s a very cute time of life, the expressions and little things they get up to are worth capturing.

A confession, I did suffer a minor amount of vegetable garden envy during this shoot, their broccoli is doing much better than ours (I.e. not eaten by a bird or ravaged by caterpillars) But on a positive note it’s radish harvesting time tonight, going to be a good salad!

It’s catch up Batblog post time. Marcus and Natasha got married down at the French Hotel and it was one of the best ceremonies / receptions I’ve seen in ages. The ceremony was all about their story, family and friends. It included all the speeches by family and friends that are normally reserved for the evening and Marcus sang a song and Natasha gave Marcus a Legoman light key ring. The legal part was preformed by Marcus’s mun who is a real life celebrant. And I almost forgot to mention they all walked out to the band playing Rainbow Connection (Go Muppets!).

So if the ceremony wasn’t enough to rave about, then check out the details. TOYS! Having little “lego stations” around the reception so that everyone could make their own creations was a fantastic. But the crowning detail was the cake, a cake made of Lego complete with bride, groom and crane!

We played on a the famous Margate Train for some photos as well as about the amazing grounds and insides of D’Entrecasteaux, always a pleasure to shoot there, so many places for amazing shots.

The night finished with a fair amount of dancing and music. Marcus’s musical orientated friends and family got up and took turn in the band. Marcus also joined in on the bass for a few songs.

Stay Tuned for their BATBOOTH soon…

Another shoot from late last year. This one was worth waiting for, we all had a vision for the shoot and when ever we booked it the weather didn’t support that vision. But we did get there in the end. The Fishers have a little boat. This little boat won the Launceston to Hobart race at the end of last year!

And I also met this dog as we were finishing the shoot

So this shoot may have almost been too much fun and the cool thing is that there is a wedding in the future with these too which i’m sure will push the fun into overdrive! Nick and Rhea came all the way from their little home in Japan for the shoot (they may have come to see family for Christmas and have an engagement party too, but i’m sure the engagment photography session was the main reason )

The plan, lets meet and Jackman and Ross. It was closed. So we just wandered the steets of Battery Point and took some awesome shots, had lots of laughs and generally had a very fun time.

A few moths ago I was lucky to spend some time with the animals out at the RSPCA. They were all excited and being nice to me as they knew that I was going to be photographing them for the main month images for the 2010 RSPCA Calendar. Now the calendar is all ready and waiting for people to buy it. If you like animals, you will love this. Each day of the year features a different pet and there are some very cute ones there.
If you are interested we have 3 to give away right here in the gallery, just give us a call on 63348789 and the first three people to say “I want a calendar” will get one. **** UPDATE – All calendars have gone! Congrats to Ashlee, Marcus, Brooke and Keeley. Yes I caved and gave away my copy! have to get another one now!)

Everyone else has to ring 6332 8200 and talk to the RSPCA to find where to buy their copy.

Griffin is now a happy almost two year old. We met him a couple of years ago when he was fairly new to the world. It’s great to see him growing and being a very fun and cute little boy!
We started out playing at home before venturing out into the wilderness with our expert guides Karina and Jeremy, the lucky parents of the cute Griffin. I can’t say too much more as i’ll just keep saying how cute Griffin is, because he is quite cute.

A strange lady came into the office a little while ago and asked if I could take some shots of her two boys. It turns out the strange lady was infact a nice fun lady with a couple of  strange boys. It turns out one of those strange boys was none other than  Zakk the Photobat Production assistant/bridesmaid for hire. We headed down to the sale yards on a very hot day to take some shots and make fun of Zakk’s brother Jervis. Watch out for Zakks handy work in the last photo…

I’m really enjoyed working with Michael and Camille, they are a nice Melbourne couple who decided that Tasmania would be a really great spot to get married. And a couple of weekend ago they did just that. Almost everyone at the wedding was an import and Tasmania put on a great bit of weather for them all.

The day started off with some guys getting their fill at Zum, where Michael’s son met us then off to Zero Davey to get all dressed and pretty. I took one of my favoutie ring shots ever there and enjoyed watching four grown men attempting to tie the same tie at the same time.

We found Camille all pretty in pink hanging out with some family and friends at the IXL apartments. I’d never been to the apartments, quite a spectacular entrance. The girls all chowed down on various nice things before being ushered out so Camille could get ready with her Mum. I like a different coloured wedding dress, Zakk describes this one as fairy floss pink, which is a little better than my descriptive attempt red pants left in the wash with the whites. It was a great pastel pink colour that really suited Camille.

When everyone was ready it was time to meet up before the wedding. Michael and Camille arranged some time for family photos and come couple shots before the ceremony. Of course, the family shots were slightly interrupted when Michael’s dad got into a spot of bother we a few thousand bikers (he got stuck in the toy run traffic). We found a heap of different spots around the water front and took some of my new favorite wedding shots. I really liked the portrait I took of Michael’s son Zak sitting on the floor in T42. We then met up with everyone to get on board Peppermint Bay II and head down to the ceremony at Peppermint Bay.

I’m lucky that in my job I get to spend heaps of time photographing people like these guys, they are so nice! Congrats again Michael and Camille

Rick from Coyote Events had a little party a couple of weeks ago, we went along with the BATBOOTH to have a play with his guests. It was a really good event, as you would expect from the Coyote team who always do a fantatic job with all their events. It was the first BATBOOTH we have done at the Country Club and there was no limit to the amount of fun props we found!

I mentioned in the newsletter that we have a special on our limited edition fine art prints. A great present for someone who loves art and good photography.

We currently have 5 different prints avaliable in 2 different sizes. The 15% Discount is in place until 10th of December, which is THIS THURSDAY! We will also guarentee delivery pre Christmas ifyou place an order this week.

Click here to head over to the Photobat shop

Those other dates that are good to know

December 10th – end of 15% discount on Photobat Limited Edition Fine Art Prints

December 15th – Last date of orders of wedding and portrait prints for guaranteed delivery pre Christmas.

December 23rd – End of discount on the new Portrait Albums

December 23rd – Start of Photobat Summer Hibernation (apart from the weddings!)

January 15th 2010 – Photobat back up and running for 2010

Ok, a quick little post becaue i’m so behind in blogging. There will be more focus on posting a heap of images over writing heaps of words for the next couple of weeks… That said lets jump into Mandy and James’s shoot.

This was fun. Remember back when it was stinking hot a few weeks ago, that is when I caught up with James and Mandy for this shoot. Mandy’s nice bosslady Susan from Jim Hughes and Sons gave her a voucher that she received at a charity auction, she’s a very nice boss! 4 dogs is always a challenge, but I’ve never backed down from shooting lots of doggies and it was another win. These guys seem to like their animals, lots of dogs some sheep, I think there was a horse, or that may have been on the way, anyway, lots of animals (and comers too for you grammar nuts!).

I also managed to get lost finding their house, but getting lost is always fun when you find an awesome location to take photos at (and get splinters)

I’m not sure if you can tell from these photos who works in the city and who works in the country…

I met Lou a little while ago, in Mr Roberts’ grade 7.2 classroom the log cabin in at high school. That was a while ago, now she is about to tie the knot with Hugh. But before all that it was time for a quick engagement portrait session. Engagement portraits gives couple opportunities to have photos together that probably won’t happen on the wedding day and like all portraits we shoot, we try to put some extra meaning into the sessions. Lou and Hugh just bought this fantastic house, when we did the session there were still a heap of boxes laying around waiting to be opened. You could feel the excitement in these guys (after the camera nerves disappeared!), new house and about to get married.  This is going to be a fun country wedding!

Irene is from that big country called Canada and had a heap of her family down for the big day including a couple of sisters who turned out to be good bridesmaids Ben’s sister rounded out the trio of Bridesmaids adding some height to the party! The girls all got prepped down at the Lauceston Seaport, a great spot with Lush Hair to do the hair and Mud Club to do the make up and Peppers to get ready at. A general wedding tip, keep all the getting ready places close together as it makes the morning flow much easier.

Ben and his mates got up to all kinds of foolhardy activities in the morning including the unfortunate incident with the Sebel’s luggage trolley. These guys and girls were up for fun the whole day, and they didn’t disappoint.

Following the ceremony in the church it was into the stretched Hummer and off up the river to relax, do a bit of bridal party photography, play a little tease the photographer and a have a few drinks. We stopped a few times before getting to the always well set up Cataract Bistro for the reception. Of course, I was still after the killer shot the wrap up the day nicely and investigated around a little. I’m always up for challenging myself to find something different at places I’ve already photographed before and the last shot was a shot that I had not seen before but was glad to see it with Ben and Irene and that fantastic sky.

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/11/18/ben-and-irene-wedding-launceston-tasmania/feed/ 5 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/11/11/warmth-requires-a-little-lay-down/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=warmth-requires-a-little-lay-down http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/11/11/warmth-requires-a-little-lay-down/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:29:33 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=1195

I love magazines; there are a few piles of them at home. I’m always excited when a new one arrives in the post office box. Today’s delivery was doubly exciting. Capture is a great read for photographers, covers a lot of interesting and important things relating to the industry of shooting everything in Australia. The current issue is their inaugural Annual filled with what Editor Marc Gaffen describes as “a selection of the finest work produced in the last 12 months.”
Heaps of good photos, including the one above taken at Brad and Elisha’s wedding. There were 5 wedding photos chosen for the annual and I got one of them. Quite exciting to get an image in there, I can’t imagine how many were submitted.
I’m off to buy these doggies some treats…

The last few weeks have been a little crazy, seems like I’ve only spent a couple of days in the office. Actually, I have only spent a couple of days in the office. We have been all over the place, started off with a bit of speaking over in Perth WA. Great place, great photographers, great people, great food, great wine, great coffee and great grates too (you know I love urban shots!).

The whole reason for the trip was to do a presentation to about 80 photographers along side David Oliver, Christian Fletcher and Ric Syme. I really enjoyed the event and had heaps of good feedback. While out west I finally got to visit Jorgensen Albums, this is the place I get all my wedding and portrait albums hand made by a team of skilled and passionate people. I’ve been using these guys for about 6 years now, talked on the phone, emailed and sent Christmas cards to, but never met them in person. They were all taller than I expected.

I must have said a funny. Christian Fletcher, Me and David Oliver doing a joint Q and A at the end of the presentatioin, photo by Vikashni Moyle, she is talented!

It was fascinating to see all that went into making the albums and the amount of staff working away. I’ve got some images I’ll post soon. Then it was time for not working time. Summer is coming and I can see it’s going to be very busy so any time I can get at the moment is spent with Vee.

We managed to pack a lot in 2 day, both in things we did and things we ate / drank. There was catching up with photographers, checking out galleries, drinking wine, tasting cheese, waiting for sunsets that were always obscured by clouds, and then also some more wine tasting. The Margaret River / Dunsborough area were incredible, and I am looking forward to heading back there one day.

Some Holga action north of Margaret River

Clooney at Barwick Vineyard

Voyager Vineyard

Vikashni shooting the sunset, somewhere south of Perth

Then home for a couple of days and just as I got back into the swing of things it was off to Hobart. Hobart was a mix of Vee time, client time, learning time and speaking time. It was all based around a presentation I did for the Tasmanian Division of the Australian Institute of Photography. Vee also managed to into the talking spirit, doing a presentation to the happy snappers on social media. I was proud of her little talk! My talk was about evolving in photography from shooting body parts to shooting weddings and other stuff.

When that was all wrapped it was off to home for a few hours, a quick trip to the office and then on a big metal bird to the home of iconic music houses and water crossing structures. Yes, Sydney. A few days up there learning things, getting inspired and hanging around with some awesome photographers.

A shot of the back of a guys head with some kind of iconic bridge in the background

So I’m back now fully inspired and ready for action. There will be some changes about the place, nothing too major and all very cool. It may even involve some new products and saying good bye to some old ones. Looking forward to new ways of processing my images, getting new things up on the website, getting back to some old ways of shooting and catching up with all the clients who are coming back for their Christmas photos. Anyways, hope you are well and things are moving at a manageable pace in the right direction for you.

Oh and Congrats to Deb F for being the latest random Batblog comment prize winner! Some cool things are heading your way once I find out where to send them! Remember, big prize of limited edition art print will be drawn at the end of the month for a person who comments on the Batblog. Why not leave one now???

We have had to pospose so many portrait session of late due to the weather, can’t have kids getting cold and wet. It was great to get back out and photograph Ava a couple of weeks ago. The plan was to shoot in the park across the road from her place, but just as we get started we noticed the familiar rain starting up again. We retreated into the house, got some more shots, then out into the backyard.Ava and her dad had bought a new cupboard, which was just Ava sized, so we made good use of it. It kept the rain off, well, off Ava!

We did this head shot of Jeremy a couple of weeks ago, and now it has been published in ‘Inside Harcourts’, the magazine for Harcourts International.

Click if you want to have a read!

If you haven’t had a chance to see the Van Wonderland exhibiton, here are my portraits of the artists that hand along side their work. They were taken all over the place with the aid of a white bedsheet and a reflector. The exhibition is still up until the 18th of October at the Design Centre, Launceston.

Vikashni Moyle aka The Purple Finch

Sam and Maya – Hideyo

Tara Badcock – Paris + Tasmania

Megan Perkins

Anita Dineen

Cat Badcock – Cat Rabbit

Erin Tapp

Helen Goninon

Ghostpatrol

Omar Misa

Kangaroo Bluff is a great place for firing a canon. It’s not a bad place for an engagement portrait session either. That’s where Craig and Nyree come in. They are tying the knot next year and live not too far from this historic site, so it proved a great backdrop for their engagement session.

These guys were alot of fun to photograph, really playful, and so was Sprocket the award winning high jumping dog. I also met another main player in Craig’s life during the shoot, his car. No photo of the car as yet, saving those for the wedding post next year. It will be worth the wait, it’s a pretty cool car.

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/24/nyree-and-craig-engagement-portrait-bellerieve/feed/ 0 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/23/jonny-and-isobel-engagement-portrait-new-town/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jonny-and-isobel-engagement-portrait-new-town http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/23/jonny-and-isobel-engagement-portrait-new-town/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:40:45 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=862

Isobel was the year below me at school, and I only really got to now her once school had finished and she started to mix with some of my other friends. Now she is engaged to a nice Scotsman and we are really looking forward to doing their wedding photography in January.

Our shoot location is down a backstreet in New Town. I managed to get a little lost looking for the café we were meeting in and luckily found this great little spot. It goes to show that getting lost does pay off.
We had a bit of a good time taking the photos, jumping on walls, wondering if we were tress passing and generally taking some good photos of good people. This wedding is going to be great, really looking forward to meeting the Scottish contingent because who doesn’t like a Scotsman (apart from the English, yes I saw Braveheart)

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/23/jonny-and-isobel-engagement-portrait-new-town/feed/ 4 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/18/van-wonderland-prep-shot/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=van-wonderland-prep-shot http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/18/van-wonderland-prep-shot/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:48:07 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=964

A shot taken last week in the middle of printing the exhibition portraits. They are all printed on the Epson 2880 on Hahnemuhle cotton rag paper. The prints look fantastic all framed and hung. There will be another post with a better shot of all the portraits and the detail shots that go with them. If you can’t tell, the portraits are a little bit Avedon inspired, all photographed with a white bed sheet as the background in varuios places around Tasmania and in Melbourne. I purposely kept the camera, lens and lighting the same through out the project so they would all hang together well in the gallery. Printing them all black and white also helps keep the consistency.

I’m really happy with how it all came together, we shall see what the masses say when it is officially opened tonight. See you there?

I seem to be going through Huonville a bit more than usual the last year or so. Wedding, just out driving and now looking for Megan Perkins’s studio. It’s situated at her parent’s phenomenal place, I know I’ve written it before in blog posts, but I really could have spent many house photographing details in this house. Megan lives in the city and escapes down here to do her artwork. I don’t blame her, the place is inspirational inside and out. Huge trees out the window, her dad (Kevin Perkins, furniture designer and artist) being creative with wood out the back, and all the paraphernalia through out the house. I quite liked finding out more on how her viterous enamel are created.

Megan has produced a series of broaches for Van Wonderland, and as expected, they are really great pieces.

Van Wonderland is an exhibition of work by contemporary crafts practitioners exploring a mysterious world of not-quite-real objects and creatures, based upon historic western perceptions of Tasmania (‘Van Diemen’s Land’) as a distant and little-known island at the far reaches of the globe.

This ‘new world’, full of strange and exotic flora and fauna, could be by turns beautiful and sinister – just as the strange Wonderland explored so famously by Lewis Carroll’s Alice.

Step into Van Wonderland and explore the mysteries within. And don’t forget to take your teacup.

Participating artists include Tara Badcock, The Purple Finch, Erin Tappe, Hideyo, Cat Badcock, Ghostpatrol, Megan Perkins, Omar Misa, Helen Goninon, and Anita Dineen with accompanying photography by Alan Moyle (Photobat).

Come to the opening, Friday 18^th September 2009 at 6 pm, Design Centre, Tamar Street, Launceston, RSVP by email or by 6331 5505. Exhibition open until the 18^th of October.

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/16/megan-perkins-van-wonderland/feed/ 0 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/14/weekend-wandering/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=weekend-wandering http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/09/14/weekend-wandering/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:01:06 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=857

After a frantic couple of days in Hobart, Vee and I took the long way home, travelling some back roads to see what we could find.

Our first discovery was actually suggested to us by friends in Hobart, Puddleduck Vineyard. It’s in the Coal Valley just before Richmond and is a very cute little cellar door with equally good four legged friends. We tried all the wines and they are all really nice, it was hard to narrow down what bottle to buy, the Bazil Riesling won out in the end.

The Bazil is named after the famous dog Bazil, who along with Peggy are the Pembroke Corgies that run around and greet all the visitors. Bazil is famous for bing in the Wine Dogs book, and the soon to be released Wine Dogs Australia 2 features both of them.

The place has a relaxing feel to it, owners Jackie and Darren were pouring the wine and there was a really homely feal to how they introduced their wines and the on flowing conversation from there.

So, the wine is great, Jackie and Darren are great and the dogs are great. Three reasons to stop by when you are down that way. I can guarantee we will be dropping back.

We kept driving up strange roads, via Baden where I took these shots of the old hall, or church. Not exactly sure what it was.

And Jasper came along too, he has the fur on his feet. Matt has fur on his feet too but hides it with shoes. OK, i’m not sure if Matt has fur on his feet, but as he is my dad’s godson, i can pick on him if i want, i think that’s in the rules?

A quick couple of shots from Saturday’s absolutly fantastic wedding down Hobart way. Some of the biggest smiles i’ve seen in ages!
Congratulations again Penny and Michael, you look fantastic and i’m having such a great time preparing your photos to show you. I hope you both have an absolutly amazing honeymoon!

Big shout out to the Henry Jones and Penny for a fantastic setting for the reception, one of the best tables i’ve seen!

Last years wedding season was fantastic, I really pushed what we do here and as a result, came up with some really cool shots. So in getting ready for the next wedding photography season in Tasmania. We don’t have very many over winter, so it kinda starts in October and winds up in late April, early May.

Here are some of my favourite detail shots from the last wedding season.

Sunday was a bit strange… There was this blue stuff in the sky and a big bright thing too. So Vee, Kaba and I, like the rest of Launceston, went out to expore in what seemed like a Spring day.

The most exciting thing was seeing a seal swinning up into the Gorge. The Gorge is still very flooded and we watched it fighting the water for about 20 minutes. Vee worked on getting some shots of it, while i concentraited on the little doggie at my feet. Kaba didn’t like being on the bridge too much but was happy for all the pats and compliments of the passers by.

Last week I was in Melbourne with some spare time and decided to just go for a walk. The above video is the result, a mini documentary of Brunswick Street in Fitzroy between Gertude and Johnston.
Let me know what you think, should I do more of these?

A couple of weeks ago I headed up out early on a Saturday to shoot this gourgeous little family portrait. Little Liv was only about 12 weeks old and looking very cute, and if she is anything like her big sister Layla, the cuteness will be contunieing while she keeps growing.

Yes, I still have a thing for shoes, wedding season is nearly here so be expecting even more shoes being blogged soon.

She had so much fun just running around and around and around the curtain! So happy about it!

Mum Katy is a Naturapath and own Tonic Inspired Health up in Trevallyn, while Dad Jason runs around selling fantastic Pheonix drinks (the cola is my favourite)

Opps, nearly fell out of frame!

Yes, that is her nose.

How great is that vinyl birds on a wire, as soon as I saw this I knew it was going to feature.
Edit: I just found out it came from Wall Allure and is quite affordable.

Thanks again to all you guys for making a morning really bright.

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/08/26/the-girls-in-the-bedroom-with-the-birds-family-portrait-launceston/feed/ 2 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/08/05/photographers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=photographers http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/08/05/photographers/#comments Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:53:40 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=716

The AIPP put on a nice little event for Photograpers in Launceston this week. Four photography nice persons were flown all the way from Melbourne to tell us about wedding, portraits and commercial photography. As usual, I took them all outside and shot them.

Ian McKenzie – Has a beard and a fantastic commercial shooter.

Julie Ewing – Nice Lady Photographer, great with the babies and bellies.

Ian Van Der Wolde – Smooth Photographer,  Another Commercial Photographer

George Trifunovic,  Weddings ala PhotoJournalism

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ma4xcer2t0[/youtube]

You don’t have to RSVP, but you can if you like (so we don’t run out of cupcakes). So RSVP here

Thanks again to  Joffre Street Productions

Those detail again
Photobat Open Day / RSPCA Cupcake Day
August 17th, 11am – 7pm
Level 3, Holyman House,
52 Brisbane Street, Launceston

Give us a call on 63348789 to let us know you are coming (so we don’t run out of cupcakes!)

Friday night saw the BATBOOTH heading back to the spectacular Albert Hall. This time we were shooting people to raise some cash for prostate cancer research at Simon’s Cancer Ball. The organiser, Stuart, lost his Dad last year to prostate cancer and out of that sadness came this fantastic night of raising awareness and funds to help fight this cancer.

Some facts I learnt from Dr Harry, who was one of the speakers.

1: Each year more Australian men die of prostate cancer than Australian women die of breast cancer

2: Initial tests for the cancer is a simple blood test

and

3: Hearing about the further tests for prostate cancer while eating does put you off your food but inturn makes you want to run to your doctor.

So guys, if you are over 50 and haven’t started to have an annual test you better start as 1 in 11 men are going to get this. The odds aren’t great.

This was one of the best charity balls I have been to, organised by very enthusiastic and dedicated team who put in many hours of work to get this together. I have no idea what the amount raised on the night was, but we will be adding to it with $10 from each print sale heading off to add to the total.

And again finally, over 50, male SEE YOUR DOCTOR.

Learn more here 

Head over to see the rest of the photos here

Hey wow… this is my 700th Batblog post!

This couple are so much fun. Big laughs, big smiles and preserved food stuffs in jars. What more could you want???

Just another random outing to the carpark while wandering in Hobart last Saturday

When I ran my little competition a few weeks ago, Katie was one of the unlucky winners, coming in second. 2nd place isn’t first looser around here so we all drove off to do one of my favourite pregnancy sessions yet (I think i say that every time, but they are all really fun!). These guys are beach people and there was no option about where we would shoot this one. Andy and Katie came and picked me up and we headed off to explore beaches until we found a perfect one for the portrait. After a couple of not quite right beaches, we found a perfect stretch of uninhabited coastline where we could play.

Katie and Andy were so playful with each other, it was really cute to see them bounce off each other, and you can tell they are going to be fun parents. And little unborn Fin has no option, he is going to surf and even if he doesn’t he will be spending a lot of time at the beach!

The light was fading, so all the fun was over… well… it was supposed to be. Sometimes I see a shot that is a little brave. it is winter here so the idea of getting a little wet isn’t that appealing. I asked them “Do you reckon you could sit in the water? Just for a second? Promise it will be worth it!” So the answer was “Yeah… I guess so… Sure!” So i got the guys into position and I got myself into position (Laying down in the wet sand and water, and it was cold) and for 30 seconds we took the final shot and it really was worth it.
Thanks again yaou guys for being awesome, I really can’t wait to meet little Fin in a few weeks.

You may remember when Lucy was just a bump, but now she is a real life little girl. We had a shoot with her when she was 2 weeks old. The first couple of weeks are the best time for newborn shoots, genenrally lots more sleeping going on and you can get some really fantastic shots. I’m not sure what the dogs thought, but the kept looking in the window to see what we were up to.

 Congratulations again Lucy! You have found yourself some very cool parents who I can tell are going to be fantastic to you!

Don’t you just love big puddles of muddy water? Especially when you are kneeling in them to get a shot!

After a couple of postponements (sickness and weather, can’t wait for winter to go away with all it’s germy badness) we finally managed to get Em and Moosa’s engagement shoot done. Of course, this engagement shoot had the added bonus of the very adorable Tilly in attendance to add another layer of cuteness.

Trying to stop taking photos of Tilly was hard but we did managed to get a few shots of just the soon to be weds.

Em is a florist / interior designer and has done flowers for a few wedding and I’m really excited to be shooting the wedding later in the year. It’s also exciting as I’ll be tag teaming the wedding with the talented Belinda Fettke, we will both be shooting the wedding. Going to be a really fantastic day, full of beautiful vibes and beautiful people!

Now that Masterchef is finally over it’s time for something new. The 7pm Project looks like it’s going to be good. The sneak peaks into their practice shows have been quite good and I’m really hoping that the show sticks around, and is given a chance to mature.

One of the guys behind the desk is Charlie Pickering. I have seen many of Charlie’s shows at comedy festivals and they have always been in my top shows for that festival each time. Some of Charlie’s best work has been news inspired, and I believe this show has the format that will really suit his style and thinking.

This is a very old shot, probably going back 6 years when Charlie was down for the Hobart Comedy Festival.  The 7pm Project is on Ten tonight at 7pm. I hope it kicks butt!

It was so hard to try and figure out what images from this multiple family portrait shoot to put up on the blog. So I decided to put them all up in a video.

These kids are all cousins and the photos were shot up on Greens Beach, right at the tip of the Tamar River north of Launceston. Hope you enjoy the video!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHpPp78JIDQ[/youtube]

While on the way home from Sydney, I did the usual flick through some magazine in the newsagent. Unfortunantly i was between Vanity Fairs (as in i had the latest one already). So in a mission to find somthing desent to read (I bought Men’s Style on the way up, first time ever, had a story about a guy getting mauled by chimanzes…. weird, but kinda the reason I bought the magazine).

Anyway, Esquire. I pick it up, flip through it and then the sudden regognition of one of my images of UK comedian Chris Addison. This was shot a few of years ago in Edinburgh, Chris is a lovely lovely guy (yes, double lovely) and i’m glad to see the shot still getting some use for his markating.

Read the whole article here