Congratulations Rob and Shannyn!

Let us know your best or worst story about you and your significant other’s attempts (good or bad) at home renovation, handyman work or gardening.

We will upload all the stories into a facebook gallery where you will be able to share your story with friends and family. The winner will be the story that gets the most likes.

This year our prize is a dinner for 2 at The Black Cow Bistro and a $1000 towards a luxury portrait session and artworks from Photobat.

You can use your $1000 towards a couple shoot, a family shoot, a natural light studio session or even some shots just for yourself. You will then be able to create some amazing artwork for your home.

How to enter:

Head over to: http://photobat.wufoo.com/forms/enter-photobats-2012-valentines-day-competition/

Enter your details and story in the form and you will be in the running. Voting will start Wednesday 8/2/2012 at 10am and finish at 7pm on Monday the 13th of February.

Some conditions: only likes on the images in the Photobat gallery will be counted, the image with the most likes at 7pm on the 13th of February 2012 will be the winner, winning couple must agree to have their photos be used on the blog/website.

This was this guys 4^th shoot, initially there was the pregnancy session, followed by the Cam as a baby, Cam as a 2 year old and now Cam as a rather feisty little 4 year old. All the other shoots so far have been in Launceston but this time it was time to head East. As one of their favourite family holiday spots it proved to be the perfect location for Cam and Ben to expel a heap of energy, running, jumping and wrestling.

This time we also had the added bonus of having Sara’s dad Adrian down from Canada so we could do some shots of the three generations together. I love generational portraits, it’s so fantastic to see three generations in the one image.

This Valentines Day… what would you like?

A peck on the cheek?

A kiss and a cuddle?

Or having people around you telling you to GET A ROOM!

We have three HOT SPECIALS from Photobat for you to give to your loved one this Valentine’s Day.
Each voucher comes with a portrait design session, your luxury portrait experience, your purchasing session and is all wrapped up in a gift box filled with chocolates and a card for you to write your special message.

You can use this towards couple shoot, a family shoot, a natural light studio session or even some shots of your other half.

Get in touch now by calling 6334 8789, emailing photobat@photobat.net or just head over to www.photobatshop.net and order online by heading to the product page.

The Peck on the Cheek.
Includes a portrait design session, your luxury portrait experience, your purchasing session and is all wrapped up in a gift box filled with chocolates and a card for you to write your special message.  Only $75 (valued at $175)

The Kiss and A Cuddle.
Includes a portrait design session, your luxury portrait experience, your purchasing session and is all wrapped up in a gift box filled with chocolates and a card for you to write your special message and $350 towards your artworks.  Only $150 (valued at $525)

 The Get A Room!
Includes a portrait design session, your luxury portrait experience, your purchasing session and is all wrapped up in a gift box filled with chocolates, a card for you to write your special message, $500 towards your artworks and a bottle of Josef Chromy wines. Only $195 (valued at $675)

Get in touch now by calling 6334 8789, emailing photobat@photobat.net or just head over to www.photobatshop.net and order online by heading to the product page.

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!

The break over summer gave me the chance to do so,me reading. I do read all year but the amount of time it takes to read a book greatly increases. I’ve just finished two pretty inspirational books, the first was The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner.

I saw the movie, but I knew there had to be some aspects that were more Hollywood than real story. The movie is actually only one year of his life and about a quarter of the book, there is so much more to the story. You can see that from a bad beginning with a abusive step father that Chris had to overcome more than homelessness to arrive at being a multi millionaire who now is helping to expand trade into developing countries. You can see that he learnt a lot from his upbringing and that focused him to be the best at whatever he was doing. It also shows his human failings which is good to see in a autobiography, if the whole book was “look how good I am” it would be a bit unbelievable. If you saw the movie, go grab the book and give it a read.

The second was always looking up by Michael J Fox. This is the follow up to Lucky Man, his first more show biz memoir that covers his early life and up to the diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease. That was a fantastic book and the sequel takes off where Lucky Man left off. It’s not a showbiz autobiography, more of a life after showbiz, life with Parkinson’s Disease and how he started his research foundation, following on with his political activism, exploration of faith and his stories of family life. What I took away from this is his fantastic optimism towards life and his dedicated work towards informing and promoting the research into stem cell research. This can be a little clunky to read, the politics side can bit a bit dry but persevere because the family stories are fantastic at the end.

These two books are quite inspirational, and a fantastic way to get some perspective to start the year.

I’m currently onto the Steve Jobs autobiography, it’s not on the kindle and it’s a big book and will take a bit longer to read. The speed of reading is greatly increased when I can pop the ipad into a bag and open the kindle app where ever I am and read a little.

So, what books did you get into over the summer, anyone else reading the Steve Job’s biography? What should I be looking to read next?

Paint is a favourite

How we found it: Looking to the front of the boat
Where we found it: On the Derwent
What we drank: Café Latte
How we found the coffee: Pretty alright for a boat coffee.
Will we go again: Certainly, coffee on a boat is fun
Anything else we liked: Did I mention it was on the boat from MONA? Last coffee of 2011 too.

Shon happened to be a couple of years below me at shool, we reconnected briefly at his cousin Clare’s wedding that he happened to be MCing and which we were lucky enough to shoot. Flash forwards a couple of years and Shon and great wife Lisa have bought little Anna into the world. Anna is the first baby i can remember that actually arrived on her due date, so there is some expectations on her being punctual the rest of her life. Anna was a dream little girl to work with, there were a few of those baby tremours but really she was just so sweet the whole shoot. Of course, I have to mention my fantastic assistand on this shoot Sheamus, who managed to get in on the act and displayed some very good dog behaviour.

I’m down in the Binalong Bay / St Helens area this Saturday (14th of January) and have one spot left for a portrait session in the early afternoon. It’s yours for only $110 (normally $250) if you give me a call and book in on 0407 848 734.

How we found it: Ages ago, it’s one of our Hobart favourites
Where we found it: Salamanca Square
What we drank: Mostly lots of coffee
How we found the coffee: It wouldn’t be a favourite if it had bad coffee would it?
Will we go again: On most Hobart visits
Anything else we liked: The food is pretty fantastic, and the best designed restaurant it Tas I think.
How you can find it: Via their website

“We are getting married at St Davids and having the Imperial March from Star Wars as the Recessional Music”

My initial thoughts were that this is going to be fun with a touch of geek/nerd. You can go over the top when you are planning those little details in your wedding, too much and it’s overkill, too little and no one notices. Renee and Dave had it just at the right balance with the guests first inkling being the laughs and smiles as they realised that music coming from that sacred organ in that big old church was pure late 70’s Sci Fi.

There were the other touches too, the tardis on the garter, the tardis on the gifts table and the tardis with Tom Baker-esk scarf and caketoppers. Add in the button hole and cufflinks being role playing dice and you knew exactly who these guys were.

And who says geeks can’t look good? These guys looked fantastic and every other bit of the wedding was spectacular. The huge 4 million course guys breakfast, the red kombi for the girls, that great dress, those friendly butterflies, the brief zombie walk and a little boat trip out to the reception at MONA.

I think the best part was exactly what I knew it would be. The fun. Oh so much fun.

Dave and Renee are awesome, geeky and awesome. Congratulations on getting hitched and for doing it your way.

here was one thing that Renee said to me when she was talking about her wedding that set in my mind how this wedding was going to play out.

“We are getting married at St Davids and having the Imperial March from Star Wars as the Recessional Music”

My initial thoughts were that this is going to be fun with a touch of geek/nerd. You can go over the top when you are planning those little details in your wedding, too much and it’s overkill, too little and no one notices. Renee and Dave had it just at the right balance with the guests first inkling being the laughs and smiles as they realised that music coming from that sacred organ in that big old church was pure late 70’s Sci Fi.

There were the other touches too, the tardis on the garter, the tardis on the gifts table and the tardis with Tom Baker-esk scarf and caketoppers. Add in the button hole and cufflinks being role playing dice and you knew exactly who these guys were.

And who says geeks can’t look good? These guys looked fantastic and every other bit of the wedding was spectacular. The huge 4 million course guys breakfast, the red kombi for the girls, that great dress, the brief zombie walk and a little boat trip out to the reception at MONA.

I think the best part was exactly what I knew it would be. The fun. Oh so much fun.

Dave and Renee are awesome, geeky and awesome. Congratulations on getting hitched and for doing it your way.

It’s been a fun year, if not a bit life changing. Having Saffron about has been lots of hard work, smelly and a heap of fun.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired or hit with so many trips to the doctor (we have a VIP card there now!).  Everything is looking clearer as the year ends, we have had some more sleep, even sleeping in to 7.30 on occasion!

The hardest but most rewarding aspect of 2011 has been doing a couple of Heartfelt sessions. It’s something that completely destroys me for a few days afterwards, my thought are always on the families. I have the knowledge that the service is priceless and it is something I can give that will be some of the most treasured photos I’ll ever take. If you aren’t aware of Heartfelt, please click the link at the bottom of the page.

2012 is looking pretty full on from Photobat’s view. We will still be taking some fantastic photography with some more shoot types in the works as well as everything we have been doing this year.
There are a heap of weddings that I’m looking forward to, some local and one not so local (look out Hawaii and Adelaide!). It’s been great getting to know the couples and helping them on their road to the big day.

New website will land in the first couple of months, we will have a bit of a launch party at the Top Shots 2011, which will be held sometime in February/March.

Special thanks to everyone for letting us into your lives either through letting us photograph you, by coming to one of our events or even just visiting us online at our blog and Facebook sites. Extra special thanks to all the families who have returned to us to update their photo stories, it truly Is the best part of the job watching families grow.

We love meeting you, hearing your stories, creating artworks and sharing our stories with you.

As for my favourite photo of the year. I thought about it for about a second and only one image came to mind. I just realised it didn’t even blog it and its never going to win awards. I peeked early with this shot being taken in the first week of 2011. This shot takes me back to a hot day, everyone exhausted and knowing  the little touch of a little hand makes everything alright.

Thanks again for being great, reading, looking, smiling, laughing with me this year. I can’t wait for next year (lucky it’s only a few hours away).

Alan

Ps. Photographers, I know you are out there. Post up a link in the comments to your favourite shot/blog post of the year. I’d love to see them.

Visit Heartfelt

Remember Rhys and Jess? Well if you don’t click here.

I caught up with then last week and met their little Jin! He was a little sleepy but still could pull the cute when needed.

Congratulations to Cat too on your graduation tomorrow!

Raquelle and Chris had one of their first date kind of things there, so it was a great spot for their shoot, and what a fun shoot it was.

Girl need an accountant.

Boy is an accountant.

Girl’s friend recommended Boy.

Girl’s friend realises that Boy and Girl would be a good match in more than a professional way.

Blind date.

Some romancing.

A hidden ring in a sock draw for months.

A proposal.

An acceptance.

Wedding.

Age old story

So now tha she is walking we are moving everthing up to a higher level.
What are some of the things your little ones got into when they started to walk?

I had a past with Shane, apparently we worked together at Pizza Hut many many many years ago. And apparently he was in my brother’s year in primary school. And now he works at Coles and is the nice guy who looks after the online ordering which we take advantage of occasionally. Susan appeared in the picutre back in Shane’s Pizza Hut days, but after my time there ( I think, I really don’t remember much of those days, I do know I was 17, had a white 2 door 82 Ford Laser and I know I have a scar on one of my fingers from getting too excited when leaving on a delivery once, oh and I ate a bit of pizza)

Anyway. We are talking about Brax. Don’t think I have to say too much about him because I believe his cuteness will shine through in the photos below. Congratulations again Susan and Shane on your little man, lets hope he lets you get a good amount of sleep soon!

Lira and I had some time for her to show me her bedroom before Leo woke from his nap. She loved showing me all her things and especially showing me photos of all her friends. When Leo decided it was wakey time we spent a heap of time playing in the back yard, with Jean relearning the lesson of “holding a baby above your head just after it has had a drink, never ends well”

There was so much singing, laughing and so many beautiful moments that it was hard to stop shooting and it was certainly sad to say good bye, especially for Lira  who wanted me to watch the wiggles with her.

Thanks again Amanda and Jean on the really great session, can’t wait to get your artworks to you!

How we found it: Walking past, knowing Amelia
Where we found it: Bottom end of George St, near the corner of Cameron
What we drank: Coffee, Water
How we found the coffee: Pretty good, light roast
Will we go again: Every other day
Anything else we liked: BYO lunch as long as you buy a drink and a big table to eat at
How can you find it: Facebook

After our pancake party last month we had so much feedback about how amazing the pancakes. It is Vee’s secret recipie… but not any more! See below for how to make awesome pancakes, cooking them on the BBQ adds that extra little bit of magic too. I’ve also included my Blueberry Compote recipie, I used frozen blueberries but i’m sure it will be much better with the fresh ones.

Let us know how you go, sorry if this post makes your tummy grumble!

Vee’s Pancakes

Makes 4 – 6 pancakes good sized pancakes.
Prep time 10 – 15 minutes
Cooking time 4 minutes for each pancake

Ingredients
o 1 cup milk
o 1 cup self raising flour
o 2 tablespoons sugar
o 1 egg

o Butter for cooking

Method
o In a large mixing bowl combine the milk, sale raising flour, sugar and egg. Mix all ingredients well until there are no lumps, best to use an electric beater but if one is not handy you can use a whisk or a spoon. Don’t get too worried if it is a bit lumpy when the batter cook it seams to turn out fine.

o Heat a non stick frying pan over medium heat. Add a little butter to the pan so that the base of the pan has a very light cover of butter only add enough so that the pancake does not stick to the pan.

o Using a soup ladle pour a small amount of mixture onto the pan, you can make the pancake as big or small as you like depend how hungry you are. Cook the pancake for 2 minutes or until bubbles form on the surface, turn the pancake over and cook for a further 2 minutes or until cooked through.

o Repeat this process with the remaining batter, and don’t forget to put a little bit of butter on the pan after you cook each pancake.

Blueberry Compote

Ingredients
o 2 tablespoons caster sugar
o 300g frozen blueberries
o 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cooking time about 10 minutes

Method
o Place all of the ingredients into a pot and let simmer on a medium heat until the sauce becomes syrupy and reduced slightly

Other suggestions
To make your pancakes a little more indulgent try replacing the 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of butter milk, the butter milk creates a more velvety textured pancake. Add some ice cream as a topping too, it is afterall a long forgotten breakfast favourite!

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…

Ruby is small, furry and very friendly. She is the first fur child of Alex and Jake. During the shoot she pretty much did what ever she wanted including discovering some great things to sniff, balls to chase and other strange four legged furry creatures to look at.

It was fantastic to catch up with so many clients down at the Apron market last weekend. Here are a few shots with more images up on our Facebook page

10 Months ago…

Ps Happy Birthday Sarah!

Thanks Toni for coming in and hope you and Tim had fun on your shoot, we can’t wait to get your artworks to you. Vee

Remember you can bring in your other half to play in the session. Only  3 spot left for sessions in the studio this year, click here for more details on booking your session

This is the dress that I bought a few months back its amazing but discovered that is is made out of the worst fabric ever. I took it to the dry cleaners and they told that I have to be extra carful with it because the fabric stains really really easily. I hate that, a great dress and i’ll be paranoid everytime I wear it  

How we found it: Online + stalking one of the staff members
Where we found it: Flinders Lane, Melbourne
What we drank: Over 2 trips, 3 cafe latte’s and a piccolo
How we found the coffee: Worth multiple cups, plus it’s Single Origin Coffee so that is always good.
Will we go again: Every chance we get
Anything else we liked: Breakfast, get in early to get a seat and not have to wait about. If you do have to wait, make sure you persist as it is well worth it.

Visit them virtually here and look at their facebook here

We still have a few free spaces available in our diary for portrait sessions with a guarantee of pre Christmas delivery. Alan is currently on fire and shooting some of the best portraits of his life.

We have a special offer for sessions booked pre Christmas, if you purchase a customised wall art piece  you will receive a complimentary gift size copy of your print. Now you can have a unique and special gift to give that even the person who has everything will locce. That’s a bonus of a $175 print for each artwork ordered.

Time is ticking and we only have a limited amount of times available so please click here or give us a call on 6334 8789

We have been getting some really sleek, beautiful and even sexy images from our natural light studio, but sadly it’s time for it to be put to bed for 2011.

We have 4 sessions left for the 2011, all on Sunday the 20^th of November. Each session includes professional hair and makeup (which everyone is raving about), a great natural light studio session and also your cinematic purchasing session. All this for only $220!

We have a tremendous offer to wrap up the session with anyone who purchases an Image Folio Box of their session will receive any custom wall art at 30% off, a saving of up to $1350.

So, if you want some pampering, some great images of you, or even you and your special someone remember to get in touch now by call is us on 0407 848 734 or by clicking here.

Summer is nearly here and this year we are going to the beach to capture the magical charm of informal lifestyle sessions of your family while all relaxed on your breakaway.

Our east coast portrait sessions are going to be extended 2 hour sessions, meaning we can design the session around your favourite beach, the shack or a mix of a couple of spots.
Imagine the great shots we will get of you all building sandcastles, splashing in the waves, running with the dog or doing anything you love to do while on holiday.

We also guarantee we will come to you for a next day viewing of your images so you can select what artworks, albums and other products you would love to have to remember your holiday.

Normally our extended, quick turnaround sessions are $395, but for our east coast sessions we are offering these sessions for $220 with an added bonus of special holiday album/wall art rates.

Book now  as there are only a limited number of sessions available, click here to get in touch or give us a call on 0407 848 734.

Remember, extended sessions, quick turn around and awesome holiday special rates and limited sessions!

Mark is one of those guys you meet and like instantly. I first met him probably 10 or more years ago when he was making and delivery coffee at Glenroys when they used to be next to Sportsgirl, I then followed him to the new Glenroys in the Cd Centre (showing my age as none of these places exist in their old forms any more) and then onto Morties, then he made a big leap over to Mud, then an even bigger leap down to Hobart. I lost track of him for a little while down there but then managed to find him and again follow him through a couple of places. Then he disappeared again. This time to Melbourne. I had no idea where or what he was doing, until a chance conversation gave me a lead in Melbourne, a name of the place he was working. I promptly forgot that name. So when I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago I do an online trawl through cafe/bar/restaurants in central Melbourne and one of them seemed familiar even though i’d never been there… Cumulus Inc. Was it because i’d read about it in a magazine or was it where Mark was?

We went. No Mark. But awesome breakfast and coffee.

I then had the brainwave. So simple. Guaranteed way of finding Mark and where he was working. Something so basic that was going to deliver the goods.

I texted him.

I may have forgotten I had his mobile number.

He replied, I had the right place but the wrong time of day.

I went back the next day, Mark has progressed along way since delivering coffee around Launceston. Cumulus Inc is lucky to have a great and dedicated hospitality legend like Mark working there. He’s not so much making coffees any more, genereally running about offering good service and choosing some good wines for people to drink. Chasing Mark is fun, I look forward to the day he has his own place and I’ll be able stop the chasing.

How we found it: Random wandering 5 years ago, then rediscovered random wandering last week.
Where we found it: Flinders Lane, Melbourne
What we drank: 2 cafe lattes
How we found the coffee: Worth going back for more
Will we go again: Without a doubt, have to try the Canteen section.
Anything else we liked: Fruit Toast was pretty awesome and there was a lift for wheelchair / pram driving dad’s to use to get up the stairs. Buzzing with a great atmosphere and design. Plus there is a side window for take aways.
How you can find them : Facebook

My dad went to get his camera cleaned in Melbourne and came back with a pair of cool shoes that didn’t fit him so I grabbed them.
What do you think?

It’s always great catching up with previous wedding clients, especiall when they bring along their kids.
Abigail was at the wedding, it was also her naming ceremony. Edward is the new kid on the block.
We spent a great morning running about in St George’s Square just avoiding the bad weather that was threatening us from all directions. Abigail has turned into quite the runner and Edward has a very cool serious look about him.
Thanks again guys, i’m really looking forward to getting your artworks framed and ready for your home.

And the best part is EVERONE IS INVITED! All past, persent and upcoming clients, we are looking forward to seeing you there.

It’s my own pancake recipe which was loved at my old job, and Alan likes it a bit too (as does Saffron and the cat may like them too)

All the details are

Place: Tail race park, Riverside, Tasmania

Time: This Sunday. 30/10/11 at  10 am – 12pm – just drop by for as long as you like. Please bring a blanket/chairs to sit on

RSVP: By THIS THURSDAY, either in  a comment below, by phoneing up 63348789, by clicking attending on facebook or emailing vee@photobat.net

All ages are welcome we will have balloons and a MAGICIAN called Mr Beep coming all the way from Hobart just to entertain you!

Also let us know your favourite pancake toppings and we will see what we can do about having them there for you.

We are excited and look forward to seeing as many of you there as can make it!

V took this one above.. Unfortunatly this is one of Saffron’s latest smiles.

Check out the chompers! Still only 2 teeth, more on the way i’m sure of it.

When you get 3 girls and a large paddock together I know there is going to be a bit of exploring. And how awesome are ther girls dressed, if I remember rightly the clothes are grandmother made, so well done Nan on the fantatic clothes!

It is that great time of the year where we are getting some fantastic light at the end of the day. Soft evening light, if I had my way i’d move the trajectory of the earth so that this light was about for more of the day. Not 100% sure how i’ll go about doing it but i’m sure I can get an app on my phone that will do it.

Congratulations again Jim and Bec on the great little tribe you are bringing up!

I’m have a a heap of fun putting our new Natural Light Studio through its paces, every session is giving some fantastic results.

We have only 5 Natual Light Studio spaces left for the rest of the year.

The avaliable dates/times are

Saturday, November 11th @ 4pm
and
Sunday, November 20th – 5 sessions available from 9am till 3.30pm

Get in touch asap to secure your session, we  have some special offers for all the natural light sessions booked in for November that will save you well over $100.

Remember, partners are welcome to come jump in some shots too.

So email us, or call us on 6334 8789 and we can get your session booked and let you know everything about how to prepare and get the most out of your session.

There are some sessions after work on week nights, if you are interested please let us know and we can see what we can do.

Make a Booking

For something a little different we now have our awesome image boxes available in black. The edges and inside of the box are black with a canvas printed photo from your session on the front. Each box comes with 15 prints and is pretty cool. We still have the white ones too, so depending on what image you would like one the front and where you would like to display it in your home will depend on what colour we would reccomend to you.
We had this one made for Bianca’s Natural Light Session and it looks fantastic, so fantastic that we wish we made one for us to keep. Then again everything we create for our clients we tend to want a copy for ourselves too.

Image boxes are available for every portrait session, and now come with a specially priced wall art to finish off your collection.

Stay tuned as we will be releasing the last Natural Light Session dates for the year early next week.

Hmm… I was just thinking about some things that i’ve learnt in the last 12 months of having a little human baby to keep alive and happy…. here are a couple of things…

Back up and keep photos/videos organised. That includes renaming them. If you start at the start of the babies life it’s easier. Think about how hard it generally is to get the negatives of your baby photos. The digital files ARE you negatives so make sure you look after them so that the great grandkids can look at them. Plus get them printed, at least the key ones because the great grandkids might be experts at their laser guided rocket jetpacks, but they may have no idea on how to use a CD/DVD, but i’m sure their eyes will still work to look at a print.

Sleep. We were told to “have as much sleep before the baby arrives so that you have some banked up” Yeah. that realllllllly worked. (note the sarcasm)

Microwave bottle sterilisers are great as long as you keep water in them. If not they have a tendency to melt. Plus they are great for steaming carrots (note, the last point may be false and no i didn’t try it but I did think about it.)

Flying Jetstar wasn’t fun. We had to change flights in Melbourne, which mean recheck in. It’s was our first flight with a 3 month old, we had a heap of extra stuff that we had to pick up and recheck in. Probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the line to check in wasn’t all the way back to the Virgin check in.

Get a cleaner if you can for a couple of months. Enjoying the new baby is more important than vacuuming.

There are about another 1000 things i’ve learnt, i’ll add them below when they come to mind. Alan

In the process of planning Saffron’s birthday I envisioned a red themed dessert table, as I was explaining my plans to Alan he asked about the food? My answer was “What food? Cake is the food!” We thought that we better not just feed our guest with cake and throw on a bit of a BBQ.

So here is some pictures of the special day, and I am happy to say that the desert table had a delightful spread of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, frog in the pond jelly’s, white coconut truffles, love hart jam drop cookies, red heart chocolates, red and white assorted lollies and the all important birthday cake which was a dark chocolate flourless cake finished off with a white chocolate ganache. The food was delicious, and thanks to everyone who came along to celebrate the day.

It’s been a couple of years since I caught up with Brendan, Claire and Issac. In that time they have added little Oliver to the family. Issac has turned into quite a cool little kid too, I seemed to have made yet another best friend! Oliver is pretty cool too, did a good job of being cute for the whole session.

I also had some serious envy issues to about the addition of the awesome pizza oven in the back yard. At least I got to try some pizza now I want one in our back yard.

Christmas is coming up soon, seriously it’s only like 13 weeks away. We always get slammed in November / December with portrait sessions and sometimes we have to disappoint people because we don’t have enough time to fit them in.

So this in mind, if you would love to get some family portraits done and have them ready for Christmas presents (or just to have some new artworks on your wall to make other visiting family members jealous about how good you look) we have an early bird special for you.

The special includes:

Your Planning Session

A Personalised Family Portrait Session

Your Purchasing Session

20 Custom Christmas Cards

and $250 Credit Towards Your Artworks

Valued at $530

Early bird special only $75.

We only have 7 sessions left at the early bird rate so please get in touch and we can fill you in on all the details. So give us a call now on 6334 8789 or click here to make an enquiry.

Note, only avaliable for familoy portraits and to be shot by mid November 2011.

I told you big changes were happening.

We are 10 this year and all grown up, so time to get dressed in our new clothes and start to dance!

It’s really sad to say farewell to the old Photobat logo, it’s done us very well over the last 5 years. The good ‘ole circle P is still very much loved, but like a paisley bow tie, it was limited with it’s design applications. Our new logo is very versatile and we don’t need to write Photobat next to it.

So, this is the start of our facelift. The new website is on it’s way and will be up by the end of the year and from what we have seen so far it is awesome.

Bear with us as we will be looking a little confused in the brand area until all our new collateral is printed and delivered.

And if you are about on Friday and Saturday come to the Apron Market and see what fun things the new logo can do (it’s very uplifting)

Hi there, welcome to the Photobat’s blog.

Our main website is currently being repainted and getting some new curtains. So in the meantime please enjoy our latest work below or click the below categories to be whisked away to relevant blog posts.

Click for Weddings (note, we are fully booked to the end of April 2012)

Click for Portraits

Click for Natural Light Studio

Please click here to book a shoot or ask for more information.

Or why not give us a call on 03 6334 8789

Thanks again and enjoy our transition phase, the new site is looking pretty awesome.

Alan and Vikashni

It was great meeting Janelle when she came in for her natural light studio portrait session. She had some pretty fantastic outfits chosen for the shoot and I learnt about another couple of clothing stores in Launceston to check out. (Vikashni is writing this… because Alan doesn’t look good in a dress, it’s his legs…). I think you will find that the blue dress is awesome and makes me think straight away that summer is around the corner… time for a new wardrobe. We were really thrilled with the way Janelle’s shots came together, thanks again for coming by and hanging out in the studio. Can’t wait to get your  wall art to you.

And  Nataasha Jamieson has taken out the $800 voucher and dinner for 4 at Black Cow Bistro! Congratulations Nataasha, we will be in touch soon to get you your vouchers

Thanks again to everyone who voted, think we might have to do this again sometime. And a huge thank you to all the families who joined in on the fun, we will be getting a little thank you to you soon.

Thanks again Emily for letting me come and meet your grandparents, it was a real honour to spend some time with the.

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

Just for voting you will go into the draw to win a $800 Photobat portrait voucher and also dinner for 4 at Black Cow Bistro, one of our favourite places to eat.

It’s all really simple to enter, just head over to http://www.photobat.net/batblog/competition/

I really thought that I had posted this post, even when I had been reminded that I hadn’t. So finally here is a great family portrait session shot down at Inveresk last year at the end of Spring. Jasper is a pretty awesome kid, apparently it’s said of him often. Surely a kid can’t be that awesome? But he is. Gabby was in a rush for this shoot as Jasper had his first wobbly tooth and wanted shots of him before his smile had missing teeth. All in all this was a pretty awesome shoot so much so that I have a Folio Box in the gallery featuring this session. Thanks again you guys for the fun images and great shoot.

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.

When I was first out wandering up to comedians in bars and asking to take their photos I had mixed sucsess. That was until I had a couple of people say yes, one of which was Australian comedian Sarah Kendall. She is one of my favourite stand ups and i still remember quite well many of her great stories.
So why is she a highlight? Well when alot of other comedians saw this shot they wanted to know who took it and from there I went from “that strange guy that hangs around with a camera” to “that strange guy that hangs around and takes good photos”. A big step forwards. This shot was turned into posters for one of her shows and was plastered all over walls in cities around the world.

For all sessions before the end of October we have the special introduction price of $110 (normally $220) which includes the hair, make up, some pampering, the session and viewing. We don only have a limited number of sessions available so give us a call (63348789) or email to let us know you keen and we can fill you in on all the details.

Stay tuned as we still have more news to share and other ideas of what we can do for you in our Natural Light Studio.
A little about our hair and make up team, Brianna and Kirby from Designer Bride. are relativly new to the scene and in less than 12 months have booked out the wedding season fairly solidly. It’s not that they do a great job, it’s also that they are great people to hang around with. Don’t let the name make you think it’s all about the weddings, they are avaliable to give you a great look for any event (charity ball / leavers dinner anyone?)

And remember, we only have a limited number of sessions avaliable at our introduction price of $110 so remember to email us now

Special hello to the Rae and Partner Girls, sorry about the delay in getting this up for you

Saturday had been coming for 7 years. Vikashni has been studing her Bachelor of Information Systems part time and in that time has also managed to meet and marry a photographer, have a full time job, part time job, become the Photobat business manager, get pregnant, have a cute little baby and complete the degree with said baby being under a year old.

She looked beautiful when she had her cap and gown on and I know Saffron is going to love having this photo up in her room to inspire her forwards in her life.

Congratulations again my beautiful wife, Saffron and I are really proud of you and all your achievements.

Special thanks to Brianna for the fantastic hair and make up.

For a few years  I had been checking out the rooms next to  the gallery and thinking that they would make a great studio, amazing light comes in the windows at all times of the day. So we finally took the plunge and how have a great space, fantastic light and a whole bag of ideas. My style of images have generally been quite natural, free flowing and that will continue in the studio sessions with the added styling to make you look and feel fantastic.

At the moment we are only offering a limited number of sessions for the next couple of months at the introduction rate of $110. This includes hair, professional make up, multiple wardrobe changes.

These sessions are great for girl who want to feel great, needs some pampering and would love to have some fantastic photos of themselves. They are also great for couples and expecting mums. Some more example shoots to follow in the next week.

If you would like more information please click here and we will get you all you need to know.

It’s not glamour. It’s not a makeover. It’s just stylish, elegant and beautiful images.

Below are some shots from a session we did with Bianca last week. We had so many clothes to play with but settles on just a few different looks to show of Bianca’s style and I think you get a good hit of her personality through these images too.

Clever girl, holding her own drinks now

Nicholle and Brett have a little bit of history with Photobat. Goes way back to 2005 when we did some engagement shots, then the wedding, pregnancy, newborn, and now the whole family with Thomas and Georgia. I think most shoots with these guys have ended up with me having grass stains on my knees, a trait i associate with being a kids photographer. We did everything, climbed trees, checked out a book on ducks, then went and found the ducks down the park, then the obligatory jump on mum and dad followed by some exploring in the bushes. Fun and a little bit on the dirty side. 

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

I gave up on Wednesday, I did manage to make it to my weekly stupid o’clock meeting but decided that 9am was my home time. I realised that night that conjunctivitis had decided to pay my left eye a visit. I don’t like visitors that turn my perfectly good eyes into zombie eyes.

Thursday afternoon saw all three of us at the doctors, Vee’s cough was nothing to really worry about, and same with Saffron, then the doctor turned her attention to me.  I hit the jackpot with 6 prescriptions (admittedly they were some back up things that didn’t have anything t do with my current ailments). She also gave me a doctor’s certificate to give to me saying that I have a week off on top of the days I’d already taken off.

So. Couch. Sleep. Tv.

West Wing season 5 to get more information on what was happening in the US with the debt ceiling. Yes when ever anything political happens in the US I watch what the West Wing did and learn. I think I’ve watched all 7 seasons 3 times.

After 20 episodes, Vee finally said she had enough West Wing.

So. Dexter Seasons 4-5. We were only going to watch season 4 but they writers did a bad thing in the last episode and made us have to watch the next season straight away.

I didn’t just sit on the couch there were many other fun things like play with a baby, anti-bac my hands, cook some food using real black truffle, anti-bac my hands, catch up on some reading, anti-bac my hands, clean up the cats explosive diarrhoea, anti-bac my hands, feet, legs, arms, head.

So I’m back in the office tomorrow, I dropped by there today just to check the answering machine and pick up a couple of things. 13 messages to return on top of all the rebooking. Might not have a voice by the end of tomorrow too.

On the plus side, a wedding on next Friday to shoot. First of the new season. Going to be fun to use a camera again, I hope someone reminds me which bit I have to look through and what button to press.

Another plus is that there is big change coming.

I chased this shot for about 3 years. As part of my final year uni folio I did a series of portraits of comedians and the hardest part of the whole process was getting the comedians to say yes to the shoots. There were a few phone calls, emails back and forward to Anthony via his management over a couple of months and in the end I just ran out of time. Flash Forwards a few years and I bump into Anthony in Hobart, I was a little surprised to see him and even more surprised to find he lived “just south of nowhere”. He had pretty much dropped out of the comedy world and lived about an hour south of Hobart.
We exchanged details and a couple of month later I was at his place for a couple of hours taking a few shots. To show how long ago it was I took a couple of rolls of film*and a few on my new digital camera  the Fuji S2.

I tend to know when I have a good shot, you tend to feal that you have captured something special. The trick is to not let on to the people in the photo because you might have screwed up focus, light, any number of things. I knew with this one it was a good shot. I entered it in the Tasmanian Awards, it got a silver. I entered it in the Australian Awards and it got a gold. I remember being called up while driving up Trevallyn and being told. I nearly drove off a cliff. Golds are rare and it’s something i’m still trying to achieve again. So to have one that was many years in the making is definitely a highlight.

Anthony told me after he saw the shots he went and got a hair cut. Thansk again Morgan for letting me come visit all those years ago.

Anthony still exists, to believe me you can follow him on Twitter

*Film, for the young folk out there  is a strip of light sensitive silver halides held together with gelatin on a polymer base and was used in fold fashioned cameras to steal peoples souls

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.

I often get asked if I travel for weddings, generally the people asking are from Hobart or the north west. My typical answer is “The furthest we have travelled for a wedding is Scotland”.
Janie and Derrek are from Launceston, well Derrek came via Canada but he’s a local now and it was 5 years ago last week that we, along with a few hundred tourists stormed Edinburgh Castle for the wedding.

Back in the day, I photoshopped out all the people in the background of this image. Now I like them as they add to the whole feal of the day. There were people everywhere and we had a specially assigned castle guy to look after us and make sure we didn’t do anything bad. Examples of bad things that we did manage to do include block entry way, stay on the same spot for 5 minutes and my favourite was take photos on the stairs. I didn’t really want anyone else on the stairs so I suggested that the bridesmaids drop their flowers at the top of the stairs and make a fuss picking them up. That blocked the stairs for just a couple of minutes needed to get a couple of shots.

Happy Anniversary Janie and Derrek and thanks again for the adventure.

I can remember Andrew when he was running around in his nappies. He lived just up the street, our dad’s worked together and his grandfather used to cut my hair in his garage in front of an old bar heater. Flash forward a few years and I remember taking photos at Andrew and Clare’s wedding. Flash forward again and now i’m met their son in nappies. Hamish is a pretty great little guy. So much expression comes from his little face with those big eyes looking out, and neck strength for a 5 week old was pretty impressive. Congratulations again Andrew and Clare, and thanks for letting me come and meet your awesome little boy.

Hi, V here taking over the blog for a post. Brianna Schipper came to us and got some very cute portraits of taken of her family. As part of the getting to know our clients we discovered that Brianna is a awesome makeup artist. I saw some of her work and was intrigued about it. I’ve just had my wisdom teeth out and wanted to do a couple of things before the pain to make me feel good. One was make a lemon meringue, the other was to get a some new makeup ideas. I got sick of the usual way I use my make up so I called in Brianna to come over and teach me a few things.
It felt great that someone else was doing my makeup  even though it wasn’t for a special occasion. I wasn’t looking for really over the top ideas, just some tips for my everyday make up.

When Brianna was talking she was really friendly and easy going. She had some great idea about things for me to try. I really got my inspiration back again to try things that I haven’t tried for ages. For example i haven’t used lipstick in years, now I’m feeling a little more open to it.

With the full on time I’ve had of late with finishing my uni degree, looking after Saffron, and generally not being too well the last few months it was great to make some time for some self pampering.

I can’t wait to catch up with Brianna again and get some more tips, it really was a great couple of hours.

You can check out some more of Brianna’s work at her website Designer Bride. I suggest you book her for any special occasion you have coming up or just for a refresh of your everyday make up.

Thanks again Brianna for the great tips and make up.

Samuel popped by the studio last week for his close up. You may remember him from when he was a Peanut. He did pretty well with his first big photo session, it was so exciting that he barely could keep his eyes closed.  I think everything was a bit interesting to look at, especially that big black thing I kept putting infront of my face.

Congratulations again Claire and Jason on your new little boy, good luck with the Christening on Sunday.

The latest issue of Capture Magazine is their annual Wedding Special. I was special enough to get interviewed for it and get a couple of photos featured. The article I’m in is about pricing weddings, so  more of interest for the photographers out there than the nice everyday non camera wielding folk. I hope that people out there get something good and insightful out of what I had to share, pricing is a tricky business. As always, it is a great issue and has some great info and some even better photographers including some of the new crop of great photographers.

The cover image was shot by the pretty fantastic Jonas Peterson.

It’s always great to get a wedding album back from our awesome album makers and I realised it’s been a while since i’ve posted photos of an actual album.

Lauren and Dain’s album is a vertical 10×14 inch album with a black leather colour. I had a hard time letting this one go out of the studio but it had to go to it’s new home. Many hours go into putting together the design, my style of albums are quite clean and simple but that probably takes the most time to design. So after many hours of designing, working the image and finalising the layout it’s always a little hard to let go. I’m sure I’ll meet this album again one day in the future or maybe I’ll go and get myself a copy.

So why get a wedding album? Lets just say that in 100 years your family will still be able to view the album as it’s all archival. You may be able to view your digital files as long as you can still access them, think back to the days of floppy disk, most people can’t get access to the data on them anymore. As time moves on so does technology, who knows in 100 years if jpeg will be viewable? It’s also the best way to display your wedding story, cleanly and easily showing all the highlights of the day and also how good you look.

I personally am kind of sad that my parents don’t really have a wedding album that shows their day, sure there are a couple of photos about of my dad is his brown pinstripe suit in all it’s 70′s goodness. Plus all my grandparents looking all dressed up well. But I would have loved to see all the other bits of the day, the little handmade details at the reception, the cars and most importantly the emotions of the day. I’m sure Saffron, my baby girl,  would also have loved to see all this. I’m glad that the clients that have albums will be able to share them with their kids and grandkids letting them in on all the stories that the images prompt.