The Batblog by Photobat | Portrait and Wedding

It seems to be baby season at the moment, I’m seeing so many bumps getting around town and it’s hard to believe we were in the same boat 12 months ago. Another session type we are shooting in the Natural Light Studio is pregnancy/couple shoots.

It’s a great opportunity to have a great time, get some pampering and get some fantastic images of this really special time. If you wanted to bring along the man in your life it can also be a great experience for him too. This is a great way for him to show his excitement and love (rather than just putting together all the flat pack baby furniture… I’m not that great at doing that).

There are a few different styles we can do in these sessions, unlike the perception out there; it’s not all about getting your gear off. You can if you want to but the majority of sessions we do with expectant mums are fully clothed.

We still are offering the outdoor run around and play sessions for pregnancy, the studio is just a new style. We can even do both on the same day if you like. There will be more from Scott and Daisy soon with the second part of this shoot being shot out in the city.

Thanks to Scott and Daisy for helping us test out the studio and good luck on your soon to arrive bundle of cuteness. And to Designer Bride for the great job on hair and make up.

Remember out $110 special for the Natural Light Studio? Well it’s still on for sessions until the end of October. Email me now and we can fill you in on all the details.

Some personal projects are more personal than others. Watching Vikashni progress through the 38 weeks that she was pregnant was really special. We decided to take photos each week and that each photos was to be different, no taking the easy option and just repeating. It was a challenge to come up with different ideas and locations while also showing more of what we were experiancing and doing at the time.

Some locations were extra special, the second image was at the Ross Bridge where I surprised Vikashni with an engagement ring 4 years before. Image 3 with her beloved little Mouse cat and 4 with the ever present liquorish craving. Week 30 was pretty obvious and also was taken because I was 30 when Saffron was going to born.

Vikashni was also blessed with a really awesome pregnancy body so it made sense to take a few more revealing shots, she really loved her pregnancy body.

The last shot was taken in our back yard as the new leaves were forming at the same time for Saffron was getting ready to arrive, a couple of weeks early.

Capturing all the variety and stages is our visial diary of 9 months of memories that Saffron will be able to match up with the written diary that Vikashni kept along the way. I’m sure it is going to be somthing she will cherish as much as we do.

Last weekend I did a few shoots including

A nice couple shoot

A great pregnancy shoot.

And a truffle hunt.

Thanks to Designer Bride Hair and Make Up, Pete and Em, Daisy and Scott, plus Marcus, Kate and the crew Stillwater.

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.

I met up with Clare and Jason a few weeks ago in the dying days of autum to take advantage of some leaves and a little bit of end of season light. Their dog came along and behaved really well… well, as long as we wanted her to run about all over the place, destroy sticks and generally be a dog doing dog things she was fantastic.The peanut in Clare’s belly was also most co-operative. Good luck guys on your soon to be arrived little one, look forward to meeting him/her!

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.

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.