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!

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.

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

Saturday was a long day, no wedding so it wa a full day of shoots in Hobart. And all over the place too. We started with Kim and Eliza down at Clifton. They bought along Dukkah and it was his first time at the beach. He loved it, all the other dogs to play with and the sand to dig.

Then off to Barry and Allana’s for their engagement shoot about their flat. I had to hold myself back, too many good shots to be had there. I have to save something for the wedding!

Then off to catch up with Dain and Lauren in Fitzroy Gardens… and someones driveway. This shot is a bit serious, but there are heaps more mucking about ones too. Dain made fun of me before i got a chance to make fun of him… just wait till the wedding Dain…

Then to finish off the day, a sunset shoot with Mark and Jacqui down on the waterfront. I love exploring the same place over and over and finding new ways to shoot it.

So that was my daylight shooting in Hobart. 4 really great shoots, i can’t wait to show and post more from these sessions, it’s going to be hard narrowing down everything!

5 Silvers for some prints and another silver for a wedding album. The wedding album went on to take out 2010 Tasmanian Wedding Album of the Year. Second time in a row i’ve picked up that one. Very happy about that. I’ll post the wedding album in it’s entirety soon… maybe even make it a slideshow.

Thanks to all the great clients who he were involved in making these shots happen!

Little bit ont he busy side but really wanted to get these ones posted. It was great to mess around with Andy and Allana whiloe we were shooting. I’m not sure if you have noticed… I really like shooting couples!

Some of you maybe away that there is a Photographer in Melbourne called Tom. He’s got a nice little studio for his portrait work and a great selection of work in his panoramic landscape gallery. About 10 years ago he got married to Rebecca, since then they added a couple of little rugrats to the family, namely Ella and Oliver. Vikashni and I went over to Melbourne a few weeks ago for a little bit of 10th Anniversary party dinner action and a few days later chased the Putts around the park. Always great to shoot a friend, Tom and I generally spend alot of time talking business but the shoot was all about family. And a great family it is too.

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!

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.

This is a first for me, photographing 2 horses. And could i get them to look at the camera and smile? Well, looking at the camera kinda succeeded but I have no idea what a horse smile looks like…

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.

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…

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)

A couple of weeks ago I spent a fun afternoon with Molly and her parents Jack and Kellie. These guys went for a Lifestyle session which gave us heaps of time to take photos around the house, down the street, in the yard and also for a few changes of clothing. Molly was indeed the star of the shoot, but a very fine bit of star power went to Kellie and Jack too!
I like this bee! Way too cute to do any stinging!

I caught up with Susie and Adrian a few weeks ago, had a great time exploring all the photo opportunities in the house. Also Theodore was very good to us, these guys really really love Theo and it was important to get a great shot of him. He certainly had heaps of character!

Today is your last chance to get in on our animal portrait mini session to help raise some money for the RSPCA.

There are a very limited amount of sessions available for the shoot tomorrow afternoon. What you need to know is

Shoot Fee – $55 which includes:

- $55 worth of credit towards any photo’s purchased from the 20 minute shoot

- Position in RSPCA 2010 All Creatures Calendar for your pet

- Free RSPCA 2010 All Creatures Calendar

We are doing all the sessions in the Civic Square in Launceston tomorrow!

To reserve your spot speak to the RSPCA on 6332 8200

We are donating the $55 shoot fee straight to the RSPCA.

I’m looking forward to it, going to be great to meet some dogs and their owners

Andrew is the little brother of one of my good friends. It was great to get asked to shoot his upcoming wedding to Trish, who I seems to have been hanging Andrew for a while. We were all in Hobart for Andrews brothers surprise party, so decided to head out and get some photos before the festivities. Again, there was this blue stuff in the sky, it’s starting to happen more often so I decided to use it, but kept the water in some shots to remind us of all the rain!

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/08/beer-water-and-lines-engagement-portrait-hobart/feed/ 0 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/05/ava-parklife-and-home-children-portrait-launceston/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/05/ava-parklife-and-home-children-portrait-launceston/#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:51:35 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=999

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!

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/ 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/ 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?

Helen lives just past the TinPot Café in Melbourne, I did managed to get lost finding her place, but I always get lost in that little cluster of streets. Once I found Helen’s place I got to have a close look at her bird creations. They are all hand made and mostly produced on the comfy couch where she is sitting in the portrait. At the moment Helen is studying to be a librarian and has an impressively sorted bookcase too.

For Van Wonderland, Helen has created a pair of Native Hens. I did manage to see these half created when I photographed her and I’m really looking forward to seeing them completed.

You can see examples of her birds in the bookshelf and you can buy some at her etsy store.

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.

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/2009/08/22/jonny-and-isobel-engagement-portrait-preview-hobart/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/08/22/jonny-and-isobel-engagement-portrait-preview-hobart/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:00:32 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=752

Another preview from last Saturday’s engagment portrait sessions down in Hobart. This one was show with my rarely used lensbaby.

I think this is the most massive-est post I have ever done. Why not! These are the people who turned up for our cupcake / open day and all deserve to be thanked for eating small cakes for the little animals. We managed to raise just under $500, so I kicked in the rest to make it an even $500, which we will be donating to the RSPCA.

Darren Pike from the Mecure Launceston for cups and table clothes.

Ros de Virieux from Latitude 39 for letting us borrow her office for BATBOOTH

Bruce my brother for making the videos, did you see them? Look here if you didn’t.

Tiarne from Rae and Partners for bringing along the most people

Zakk and Matt for keeping up with the drinks and cleaning

Molly for the best cupcakes (chocolate brownie ones!)

And my Mum for making a huge amount of cupcakes (she’s still going!)

Thanks again for coming along and enjoy the photos!

Rememer to sign up for our email newsletter to get all the good stuff once a month! Click here to join the fun (all the cool kids are doing it!)

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email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/08/18/cup-cake-day-batbooth/feed/ 0 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/08/13/bird-family-family-portrait-launceston-tasmania/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/08/13/bird-family-family-portrait-launceston-tasmania/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:43:07 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=671

I was just searching through the Batblog and realised that these guys post didn’t go up! I’m sure Mum Belinda is out there thinking “my boys aren’t good enough for the Batblog, He must hate us”. And it’s not the case at all, this was a challenging shoot, but, as Ben Lee says “That’s the way i like it”. This wasn’t the first time we had met, these boys have such distinct personalities and it is really fun trying to catpure them all in the one photo.

And, while we are at it, let’s chuck into the session the cousins, Dylan, India and Zain. That was also a heap of fu, 6 kids, all in the one shot all looking good. As usual, rising to the challenge (like Rocky) we knocked it off in no time.

And while we are at it, let’s throw in another cousin! Lily won the prize for best 6 month old on the day! Go Lily!

It’s not a bad idea, getting all the family together and getting them all shot at the one time. Infact, we have somthing like that being launched on Monday, our Openday/Cupcake day. 11am – 7pm at Photobat World HQ, Level 3 Holyman House, 52 Brisbane Street. Come along and join the fun!

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

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

Getting to know people is one of the best things about this job, so driving up to the beach with Katie and Andy was a joy.
This shoot is right up there with the best pregnancy portrait sessions we have done. I can’t wait to post the rest!

Another high flying preview over at the Photobat Facebook Group

I love it when clients introduce me to a new location that is only slightly tresspassy!

More seoon

I have said it before, and i’ll say it again. Winter is a fantastic time for having some photos taken. It was Sam and Pip’s turn to do their engagement portrait session. We started out at their place as there was someone special to photography. Elsie is Pip’s old cat who has a lot of attitude in looks, but is really just a sweet little cat.

You can see she loves her scratches. Once we has said goodbye to Elsie we headed down to Duck Reach, an old power station hided in the suburbs of Launceston. Usually when I photograph here it’s straight to the rocks, but as the light was amazing we stayed on the bridge and around the station itself.

Sam and Pip were so easy to photography, there was so much laughter and you can really tell how much on love they are. I am really looking forward to their wedding in Avoca later in the year.

 Thanks again you guys for being fantastic!

I caught up with writer/blogger/comedy nerd Dom Romeo in Sydney. Had a chat, had a walk, had some coffee and came up with a little idea for a photo. So we did it. Some more shots soon.

I first entered the Australian Professional Photography Awards in 2001, and got nothing. I had no idea what I was doing back then, I had talked to a photographer and sent in what I had. So nothing came of it, the next year I was a bit more on the ball and picked up a couple of awards, and have been getting some ever since.

This year I received the honour of Master of Photography with 1 Gold Bar from The Australian Institute of Professional Photography. I was presented during the awards ceremony in Sydney with a gold bar to be added onto my Masters ribbon.

How this all works is that for every silver award you get one point and ever gold award you get two points. If you receive 5 points with in 4 years you become an Associate, I received this in 2003. The next step is that if you receive 10 additional points within five years you become a Master of Photography, I received this in 2006. From then every additional 10 points gained within 5 years gets you an Gold Bar.

So after my name I get to put, Alan Moyle M Photog I

Just as a trip down memory lane I’ve put together a podcast of many of the award images over the years. These aren’t only APPA ones, they include images that have received awards all over the place.

Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA9F1gqW7aU[/youtube]

This is Rob Burnett, I’ve known him for a few years and the story goes as follows…

When I finished Uni I moved back to Tasmania and focused on doing the Dombrovskis Award. Once all that was finished it was time to get a job assisting another photographer. In Melbourne, it seemed that everyone when they finished uni went off to work as an assistant. I visited many Tasmanian photographers who I admired with the view to assisting them. Tasmania isn’t like Melbourne or Sydney. No one used assistants. So there was nothing there for me to do. I joined the AIPP and prepared to go it by myself.

I went off to my first AIPP event, youngest there by quite a few years and only know one person, and not very well. Weekend went past, say in on the seminars, met other photographers and then just as I was heading home I introduced myself to Rob. To be honest, I had never heard of him. I put this down to him not doing wedding or portrait and spending a bit of time away doing commercial jobs. We got talking and made a time to catch up the next week.

All the photographers I met initially did spend some time with me, about 2 hours on average. Now I’m out working I realise that was a fantastic amount of time to put aside to speak to a young and inspired photographer and am thankful for the opportunity. When I went around to Rob’s I didn’t leave for 6 hours. The next day I came back, then the day after, day after, and so on for a couple of years.

I didn’t get paid, I did bits and pieces and I learnt a lot about real world photography. I don’t do commercial, but Rob does it fantastically and over time I slowly picked up my own jobs and clients in wedding and portrait, always getting critiqued by Rob and pushed to do better.

He also introduced me to many of the top photographers in the country and took me to my first APPA awards in Sydney in 2002 (I was on the fold out couch, I didn’t know about the tradition of first in the hotel room puts their undies on the pillow and claims the main bed).

Even now we will catch up and talk shop, he is still as frantic as ever and a real pain in the bum to get in touch with, but when it happens, it is always good.

So thanks to Rob, the best real world photography teacher I have had and I wish him luck in claiming a good bed in Sydney next week.

His website is here, book him to shoot some commercial stuff anywhere

I realy loved the colours in this session, going for the green and black clothing worked fantastically and gave a really fantastic look to the shots.

Thse two had so much personality, they where so much fun to chase around and always ready with a pose!

It really wasw a pleaseure shooting this lot, and I can’t wait to get the canvas’s back as they are going to look really amazing!

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/06/17/pier-ing-out-portrait-session/feed/ 0 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/06/15/tilly/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/06/15/tilly/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:11:35 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/06/15/tilly/

 This is Tilly, I was shooting her parent’s engagement session, but really, most of it was all about Tilly!
More up soon, and another shot over at the Photobat Facebook Page

I can’t remember what gave me the idea to shoot a little abstract, possibly one of those miss-fires of the camera where you look down and think ‘”that’s pretty cool”. So here is the result of mucking around with an accident. We have put together this fantastic layout which is going to turn into an interesting piece of art for Olivia and Daniel’s home. I can’t wait to get the print back and give it to them!

 Check out the other shots from this shoot here

Fiora is a songwriter out of Launceston and taking over the world via Berlin. We have done a few shoots before and did another last week.
She’s off again now, back to Germany. Look out for her name!

This shot was one that was a kind of out take from the session, quite different from all the rest.

Another of the lost posts, this one comes from humid Brisbane. When I was up there presenting earlier this year, I met a heap of really nice, fun, interesting and friendly people. Todd and Alyda are two of those. These guys are a very cool and fun photography team as well as husband and wife team. We got talking and I asked the question about when the last time they had some photos together was… the response was their wedding! Ages ago! So I instructed them to come and pick me up early one morning and go exploring and take a heap of photos. Which we did! Lots and lots of fun photos. These guys are so fun. And i mean fun like awesome fun. You can see how good they are at photography too by checking out their website here. 

 The great thing about going to conferences, workshops, awards and other places you find photographers, is that you meet people who you can see yourself being friends with for along time. These guys are about to storm Europe with their cameras, so make sure you keep up with them on their blog!

These guys are fun, and are about to become parents. I first met these guys at Brad and elisha’s wedding, and Brad got ready at their house. that is where I noticed some of the photography equipment hanging about and realised these guys are a bit into photography. Flash forwards and the pregnancy is nearly finished so we got together and took some shots.

Yes, we were playing around a little with the studio lights, especially the octobox. The stretchy fabric was really cool backlit.

The last spot we shot at was in the backyard, there was a fantastic red wall and nice light.

Thanks again Olivia and Paul for being awesome and planyin, I can’t wait to meet your little one very soon.

PS, This isn’t the end of the photos from this session. There is one more that will get it’s very own post as it is so different and cool that it really deserves to stand out!

I just discovereed this lost batblog image of Rick Maton of Coyote Events. We took these shots around his office. They are great examples ofmore relaxed headshots, more interesting than the standard white background shots. Each have their place, but these are more enjoyable!

 More next week

How great is the colour and light this time of the year? Fantasticly fun family to shoot this one. More soon

Another year and the Epson Tasmanian Professional Photography Awards have been run and won.

This year I managed to pick up 8 Silver awards over 4 categories.

In addition to this I also picked up

2009 AIPP Tasmanian Wedding Photographer of the Year (sponsored by Bride Tasmania)

2009 AIPP Tasmanian Portrait Photographer of the Year (joint) (sponsored by Fuji/Photoforce)

2009 AIPP Tasmanian General Photographer of the Year (sponsored by The Edge)

2009 AIPP Tasmanian Wedding Album of the Year (sponsored by Seldex)

And was named the 2009 Epson AIPP Tasmanian Professional Photographer of the Year.

Basically I’ve gone from no trophies to 5 in a day! Was kinda embarrassing going up to receive all the awards!

Big thanks to the AIPP for running the event, the judges, Zakk and Matt, Rocco, Phil K, and of course to my beautiful wife Vikashni. Plus thanks to all my fantastic clients, I am really lucky to have so many fantastic people to photography and share happy times in their lives. I love my job love sharing it with you all.

And well done to Zakk to for getting his first silver award! Click here to see it

The below images are the silver award images.

You may also hear me if you listen to ABC Southern Tas tomorrow morning and also HO FM tomorrow morning.

And my other entries that played a part in winning all the catergories are below

The last shot is of Tara Badcock’s clothing titled Theda Bara’s Cocktail Party, pink silk camisole top.

 I might blog some of the stories behind these images in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Greg and Mel from LAFM dropped by the other day. They have taken over the breakfast airwaves on the local radio station. Not doing a bad job of it either.

Just because he is in the US doesn’t mean he isn’t appearing on the Batblog.

More posts soon, hope everyone is enjoying some time off.
(i’ve polished off a book, heaps of good wife time, some West Wing, weeding, easter eggs, some work towards award images and played alot of throw the ball for the dog) 

From an  enagement session last week, more soon!

Casey and Mack came in for a fun shoot the other week. Casey moved away and had to leave Mack behind with her parents, so her boyfriend gave her a session so she at least had some photos of him about.

Mack was very good, very interested in everything that was going on.

You may remember Ava from her first shoot last year. Well now she has hit the big 1 and we had another visit to get some “grown up” shots. This time her grandparents were around to have some photos to, plus we caught up with those very cute animals again.

Ben and Irene are getting married later in the year, and so it was engagement shoot time. Yet again we explored areas close to the studio and found even more locations, I wonder when I will run out?

Ben and Irene are full on into their wedding planning so it was great to get the updates on whats has been going on. Plus we had some fun and took some great photos.

Can you belive this is the first time these guys have had a family portrait? With these cute girls?

And these guys?

Let along the cute, and slighty scared puppy.

Then there was a Princess and a Fairy Godmother in the garden.

I was thrilled when Megan gave me a call a few months ago to say she was getting married. Megan is Rob’s sister, and I shot Rob and Veronica’s wedding a couple of years ago. So Megan is getting married to Charlie next month, we took these shots just before Christmas last year and I have only now managed to get them posted. I really enjoyed this shoot too, it was fun getting a tour of Charlie’s families farm, the wedding will be on Megan’s family farm, so a very farm orientated couple.

I had a good time checking the wheat with George. I checked it a couple of years ago with his big sister Nina. This shoot coincided with George being the exact same age as Nina was when we did her session. I like that idea!

Jason and Catherine came up to Launceston for their engagement shoot, they live in Hobart, but met in Launceston, so there was a connection (sorry about all the inappropriate ,’s in the last sentence!). It was not the best day for photos, the temperature was nudging 40 degrees, which in Launceston means that everything melts, including happily engaged couples and photographers. We got some great shots and discovered this apple tree really close to the office. Once I think I know everything about the area, somthing really surprises me.

Clive asked me to come to a hotel to take a photo of a person called Tanya.
I took her photo, this isn’t it.
You can see Clive live in person here.

There are occasionally some posts that slip through the batblog-a-sphere and don’t get posted. Over the next few weeks I will be trying to catch up. So we will start with this shoot of the Young Family, shot just before Christmas. Vicki was a bridesmaid in a wedding I show many years ago, I think it may have been in my second season. The session involved was mainly about getting some shots of her two beautiful girls who were an absolute delight and a bit of fun to photograph. Plus the kittens, real kittens and a grown up one! 

The plan for the last few days was to get away. A weekend with out a wedding in the warmer months is a time to run away with the Wife for some quality time (as well as some business planning and photography!). Vikashni had not been to the west coast before so we changed all that with a whirlwind visit to all the major centers, Zeehan, Queenstown, Strahan, Tulla, Rosebury amongst others (Including Gormoston, which really doesn’t have a centre)

One of the best things of the whole trip was meeting Rod (last photo). Rod has a connection to my family past, much more of that in a later blog post.

Of course, Dr Frankenstein’s House of Monsters, also in Zeehan came close.

Some random images from the coast.

Emily and her girls were down for a little break over Christmas, so a little photoshoot was in order. Sara and Jaeda really know how to work the camera, they looked so cute! Again these shots were taken around the city near the office. As you can see, the girls were a little unsure to start with but we had them cracking up in no time!

This first bit was written on Tuesday, 4.09pm Tas Time, 5.09pm Queensland Time

The weekend is over! I know it was over a few days ago but it has been a very busy few days starting in North West Tasmania, on to Brisbane and then to home.  I’m fealing exhausted but thought I should write a little post to update you on what is been going on.

Saturday was a long day for a great wedding. Hayley and Aaron tied the knot at Highfield House in Stanley, here is a preview, and a full post will be up in a couple of days.

 I managed to get back in the door after the wedding at 11.30pm and then packed for Queensland. It seems that I only had a couple of hours sleep before the 5am alarm went off so I could get to the airport for the 7am to Melbourne then up to Brisbane.

I had been invited up to speak at the Australian Institute of Professional Photography’s Hair of the Dog conference. It was my first time to this conference and I was impressed, a heap of speakers, lots of sessions, a big trade show and most importantly quite a lot of participants.

My talk was delivered in the late afternoon to about 100 or so people and I am told went quite well. There were a heap of people who hung around to have a chat afterward. There was a cocktail party afterwards where I hit the water and orange juice hard, where large amounts of others hit the jager-bombs hard and woke the next morning with drinking related issues. I was stuffed so headed home early and turned on the TV to be horrified by the fires.

I had been away from news all day and could not take my eyes off the TV. It is horrific. The next afternoon I realised that my old head lecturer Gale Spring lives in one of the areas where people have died. It took a couple of days but I did track him down and heard the story of the fire coming towards them and then turning away when the wind changed. They were lucky.

Back to the presentations and we heard and saw photos from about another photographer in north Queensland who has had 7 foot of water through his shop and studio. His computers and equipment were stashed in the ceiling to keep them dry.

It really is a sad time in this country.

Last night I had dinner with some of the remaining photographers before heading off to see Jason Starr, a photographer who was a great help to me when I was starting out and always a delight to meet up with to talk shop and life. This morning I was with new friends Todd and Aleda, we met after my talk and Todd asked me if I have photos taken of myself often. I try every year or so to have photos taken of Vikashni and I, it is good to be on the other side to remember what it is like. He and Aleda hadn’t had photos since they were married 8 years ago, so this morning changed that. See below for a little preview…

 After the shoot I had a mini studio tour through some inner city photography businesses, sharing ideas and stories. Photographers are a great group, most are willing to share for the greater knowledge of everyone. I know I have picked up things that will be used at Photobat and I know there are ideas I have given that are already being picked up by photographers here.

I’ll post some more shots later, for now it is time to catch a plane and get some sleep.

————————————————————————————–

Now, its a few days later and here are a heap of photos from the last few days including a lot of portraits of photographers.

 And on a hopeful and really cool note, I dropped off some clothing to the local drop off point which is some local parliamentary offices. I was early so I just though that what was left out the front was because they were not open. I was wrong; they were out the front because inside was packed. There was no room to move. It is a mammoth effort that made me feal really proud to be from Launceston. So much giving and I heard that people turned up with cash to donate but they couldn’t accept it, so the people went to the shops, bought clothes and donated them. Go Launceston!

Some photos from Melbourne based, former Burnie boy, comedian Josh Earl. Shot on location before Christmas in the Burnie Park and the Cooee Abattoir. Check out his Myspace page for gig details and some samples of his work.

Bruce Fairfax is a teacher at my old high school. He has been there for a while and is now moved up to the role of deputy principal. I guess the teachers that stand out are the ones you like or really don’t like. I really liked Mr Fairfax. He did not teach any classes I took, we only came into contact through other non classroom activities like school productions and when I hung about and annoyed friends on the debating team he ran. He also gave me my first reference that helped me get my first job, hand written on the school letter head.

What is even more fun is re connecting with teachers and having adult to wise adult conversations. It has been really great taking these photos for no real reason than an excuse to talk and listen to stories. You never really get to know teachers that well when you are a student, so I can highly recommend connecting with your favourite teachers.

(and hope that they don’t read your blog posts and correct your grammar)

I thought that one post for the weekend would be fun, i’ll see if I can keep doing these most weekends, it may just be a lot of photos of my wife and the cats. We shall see.

So, 2 portraits this weekend. Doing a little bit of exploring with Jason and Catherine and we discovered this apple tree about 50 meters from the office. It is growing in concrete and lives happily there in between a few building.  Jason and Catherine are getting married in a few months, so we had fun not melting on their engagement shoot.

Sunday was another drive day, the Allen family photoshoot all the way down at The Gardens on  the East Coast.

 The reason for the shoot was Verne’s Birthday, so all the family came together for a party and photo shoot. There will be more photos soon, I just had to post this one of Verne and Nellie, it is such a sweet photo.

 On the way back we had to stop in at the Village Store and More in St Helens for a late breakfast. Vikashni and I ordered different dished from last week and were very happy with the results again. I can not recommend this place more, I just wish it was a little closer.

Last week I mentioned the singing chef, well this time I took his photo. Nick and Marika own and run the place. I purposely didn’t take a photo of Marika so that we have to go back again.

On the way home we were accosted by some duck/geese/winged birds in Avoca. These guys were not afraid about being polite and asking for food, it was more of a demand.

Just after Christmas we headed off to Low Head to shoot the Findlay kids, we played with toys, catapulted frogs, made a “cave” under the dining table and even checked out new trampoline.

 I remember when I was young we always asked for a trampoline for Christmas, but having parents who are both in the medical field, we never managed to get one. Elliott and Mia got a trampoline for Christmas and we had to take photos with it. As you can see, I even managed to get under the trampoline! No injuries to anyone. So I think my parents should still buy my brother and I trampolines for Christmas this year, but they now have to buy two as we don’t share a bedroom or even live in the same house anymore.

 Oh… I should mention that Mia accidentally jumped on Elliott’s arm the day after the photos and broke his arm… freak trampoline related accident! Get mended soon Elliott!

 Lucus was the other winner of the 7LA cutest kid competition from way back, we eventually got the shoot in early this month.

  He has such a great smile, but didn’t want to show it to me, so we had to tickle it out of him!

No we are not at the beach, we are moving the production office. It was a hard slog but we managed to move everything into the new office way over the other side of the hallway. What does this mean???

well, all the production, computers and stuff are now in a different location but the viewing room /gallery stays exactly where it is. It will be expanded soon and have some touch ups but for the time being it is all just business as usual.

We will send some pictures of the new office soon.

(and the pic above is another one from Rhys and Jess’s engagement shoot)

Matt, of Victor Charlie Charlie fame, getting pumped (because I told him to) at the Aurora Countdown on New Years Eve.
Matt is also known as “that photoshop guy” who hangs about in the office working on photos.

We are off to Hobart today for a shoot or 2, and a wedding! I have set up some post to pop up… cool holga posts… yeah… its a toy camera.

Another shoot from way back that got missed in the batblog system. Its here now. Evie was great and so was that cool looking cat!

Some photos froma while ago, Hayley and Aaron’s engagemnt shoot at the Cradle Mountain Chateau. I’m really looking forward to their wedding up in Stanley in a few months.

I’m really looking forward to Micheal and Camille’s wedding, it’s a pity it’s still a year away, but you have to have something to look forward to!

These guys are another couple coming to tas to do the getting married thing, and they are doig it well with the reception down at Pepermint Bay. The boat trip down there will be great for all their guests.

The shoot also turned into a shopping tour of Launceston, we hit a few really cool shops and ate some chocolate! I’m now thinking that I will introduce shopping/shooting tours of town!

Thanks again for visiting us down here and helping the local economy!  I can’t wait to hit the streets of Hobart with you both in less than 12 months time.

Shane: “So, do you photograph dogs?”
Alan: “Yes, we love dogs”
Shane:”Great, Well come on over and shoot our little family”
Alan: “How many we talking about, 2, 3?”
Shane:”5, 2 Pugs and 3 Cocker Spaniels”
Alan: “…”
Shane: “We would love a photo of them all together”
Alan: “…”
Shane: “…”
Alan: “No problems!”

And so it transpired that we had 5 dogs, on a kitchen bench, all looking reasonably ok, having their photo taken. It wasn’t that hard really!

Shane:  “Did I mention we also have some cats?”
Alan:  “No, How Many?”
Shane: “4″
Alan:  “Do you want them all in a photo together?”
Shane: “No”
Alan: sigh of relief

 And some other portraits of the dogs!

 Thanks Shane for the fun, if not a little bit scary, session!

 A quick photo taken in the office a few week ago of Eboney, another photographer in this big city of Launceston. Taken for my portrait of the week.

More coming soon!

More soon!

A few weeks ago I headed down Conarra way to shoot the Pengilly family. They live on an amazing farm which I could easily spend many days just sitting on and watching the clouds go past.

I loved the little lamb toy!

this portrait session was won at a ball held by the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust, a local medical research unit based out of the hospital here in Launceston. They do some amazing research into curing disease that effects the local population as well as many other projects that will change the health and well being of all the world!

Just a quick look!

A couple of weeks ago we had a little session with the local cover band Victor Charlie Charlie.

We had a bit of fun, there were some late comers so the amount of time for the shoot was decided by the amount of light we had left in the day.

Thanks for dropping by and playing on the roof! Don’t forget to check out their website and keep updated on where you can catch these guys. They are good, and people keep sayign they are good, so the relly must be good!

Last month I had the pleasure of meeting up with the Johnson Family for a family portrait with a little bit of a difference. The location for the portraits was the reason for the photos. Steve and Judy have been running JJ’s Bakery in Longford for years and decided to move on. So these photos were a farewell to be business as well as some family shots.

This shot is at Table 10. This is apparently where everything happened, from business plans to drinks with friends. It seems that this table was one of the historic parts of the old mill building.

Did I mention these guys are master bakers? Steve has won so many awards, so a quick photo with the trophy was in order. Steve is still baking, his Christmas cakes are fantastic and you can buy them up at K&H Cafe and Resturaunt on George Street in Launceston (Old Cafe Manfred).

Incidentaly, Kara (above) is one of the managing directors of K & H on George Street in Launceston!

This last shot is Steve at his favourite spot in the Bakery, next to his Pizza Oven. While these guys may have retired, they have not gone too far. Apparently Judy is still there everyday, While Steve is busy making those amazing Christmas cakes. I really do suggest you go and get yourself one to try and another one to try again!