How’s that for somthing a bit different? I got a bit dirty taking these shots… must remember that if the ground is wet and muddy i shouldn’t lay down on it.

Phone rings:

Me (answering): Hello

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

Me: YES! This afternoon!

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

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

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

Normally I get to hang out with the couples a bit before the big wedding day. Craig and Em were a little bit different, we had planned to meet up last last year but Em’s friends surprised her and whisked her away. I had met Em once when she was a bridesmaid in Spider and Muff’s wedding (i just like saying their names), and I first met Craig when I walked up the steps of his parents place on his wedding day. From the first moment, I knew this was going to be a fun ride of a day. Kids everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I think I saw some on the roof, but that may have been  bird. So real bridal party as such, just  a heap of nieces and nephews to guide the bride down the aisle.

For those who don’t know where Cygnet is, I suggest you get a map and visit. Great place, great vibe and nice people. I know this because it seemed like they were all at the wedding. The ceremony and recpetion took place in a paddock next to Em’s parents house with fantastic views off down the channel.

Anyway, I should stop rambling and let you look at the photos, because as you will see, these guys are awesome! Check the bus out, and then look back at how good Em and Craig look. Must be the revitalising Cygnet air. Congratulations again you guys!

If you can’t tell, this dog is half dog half GIANT

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned for their Batbooth…

Shot on Solomon’s 10 day, congratulations to Kylie, Travis and Ava. More photos to come soon

So many great photos still to come from Em and Craig’s wedding, fantastic couple and equally fantastic location. Gotta love Cygnet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hey Everyone,

Zakk here. I’ve been meaning to do a blog post on something I’ve been working on for a week or so now. Last weekend To Write Love On Her Arms hit Launceston to raise awareness about depression and to get people talking. After many hours hard labor, Saturday rolled around and everyone looked dashing in their shirts and with markers in hand, love was on hundreds of arms and many more people had a story to share.

There was so much positive feedback that we thought we would keep the momentum going. So many people put their time and effort in, and helped us out with the materials we needed. The best part?  It was all done by individuals. No political, commercial or religious backing, just people who genuinely wanting to make a difference.

A big thank you to everyone who helped, it’s already changed a small section of the world, as philosophically inclined as that sounds, it does actually make a difference. If anyone wants to get onboard, show their support or find out more information, go to our Facebook page.

<3

We had a slight issue with the photobat shop, but its all up and running again! sorry to those who tried to get on late last week and could not find their galleries, they are all there for you to look at now!

Not quite in Tasmania at the moment but I have the technology to post from a cafe off Bunda Street. This shot is the first iPhone shot on the blog!

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

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

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

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

Stay Tuned for their BATBOOTH soon…

Congratulations to Shannon and Dave for winning our valentines day competition. they recieved the most votes for the following story:

“My Dave does not cook. He loves to eat but I think, like many males, he has a kitchen confidence issue! On the day in question, I arrived home exhausted, having spent the last few days in Hobart working on my honours project. I dragged myself through the door to be greeted by the smell of fresh basil pesto and the site of my Dave (who does not cook), in the kitchen with what appeared to be ingredients for a meal. I was given a light hearted scolding for getting home before the surprise dinner was ready! Because now, I was privy to the preparation…he took two chicken breasts and dressed them neatly with baby spinach leaves. This followed with a generous topping of pesto and several thin strips of red capsicum neatly laid across the pesto topped chicken. The final ingredient was a thin strip of prosciutto, which he tenderly wrapped around the chicken to secure the other ingredients. After a half hour bake in the oven, the surprise pesto chicken was ready! And while Dave ended up needing some help making sure the chicken was properly cooked, and still, to this day, says “pruscetta” (like bruschetta) instead of prosciutto, I will never forget the enormous effort he put in. Feeding a weary student is praise enough, but to get such a gourmet feast from a self proclaimed anti-cook, well…it must be love!”

Stay tuned to see their photos later this month.

A big thank you to everyone who voted and even bigger thanks to all of our couples for entering. Also to Cafe Rossilli on George Street for supplying the edible part of the prize.

And… I’m also going to give away a runners up prize to Kim And Eliza for coming in second and also being my favoirite story.

So, did you enjoy the competition???

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.

Chris and Kate came home for a couple of weeks of holiday, they also came back for their engagement party. We managed to find some time to get out and take these shots. This was a fun and playful shoot, just wandering about finding some nice urban spots to photograph in.

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…

8 people tell you their best experience of their partner cooking for them.

Head over to our Facebook Fan Page to read all the stories. When you are there you vote for your favourite by clicking the Like button under the image.

The couple with the most likes as of 4pm on the 10th of February receives a $800 portrait voucher, dinner at Café Rossilli and a bottle of 2009 Brook Eden Waters Edge Pinot.

Help your favourite couple by sharing their photo to your friends on Facebook.

Patterson Street Carpark

Plus, today at 4pm is the deadline for entries into our Valentines Day competition. Click here to find out more

I’m a bit behind in blog posting so i’m not going to write a heap for the next few posts, i just want to get the images up. So to start here is a few shots from Michael and Vivien’s engagement portrait session. They came all the way from Melbourne for the shoot and will be doing it again soon with their family and friends for their wedding.

Just before the storm.

We love shooting couples in love. We also like eating food at nice places. And drinking wine, we like that too.
So we are mixing it all together in a Valentines Day Competition.

The Prize

A Photobat Couples Portrait Experience and Prints for a couple to the value of $800
Dinner for 2 at Cafe Rossilli in Launceston
A bottle of 2009 Brook Eden Waters Edge Pinot

Cafe Rossilli the café has been around for a while and we think is very good (especially the coffee). Now they are open in the evenings for dinner. It’s being operated by Damon (formally of Luck’s) so if you enjoyed eating at Lucks, you can be pretty sure you are going to like eating at Cafe Rossilli.

How to Win.
Tell us the best thing your partner has ever cooked for you and why. Was it a special occasion or just a surprise?
Email it through to photobat@photobat.net by 4pm on the 29^th of January. We will create an image for all the stories entered and put them up into a special photo gallery on the Photobat Facebook Page on the 1^st of February.

Get your friends and family to vote for your story by sharing / posting your entry onto your Facebook page. They can vote by clicking the “like” button under the image.

The wining story will be the story that has the most likes on their image by the 4pm on the 10^th of February 2010.
Some Conditions
Open to all couples, married or unmarried
Session must take place in Tasmania by the end of February 2010
Both partners have to agree to be entered into the competition

So get entering, and please let anyone you know who likes food and photos to enter too

ADDITIONAL PRIZE: Just Retweet or Share this blog post on your Twitter or Facebook and go into the draw to win 10 Rossilli Coffees. Click the buttons on the top of this post to get into the draw. Drawn 4pm 29th January 2010.

Only while stocks last

These guys live in Japan, which as we all know is the Future

My dad and his fish

Good luck Fish and Crew on the Launceston to Hobart. This isn’t Fish, it’s little Fish

Hope you have  a great day! And stop looking at the batblog and more time looking at your family. Unless you are Logan’s family in which case you are looking at family!

It’s our last day in the office until the 15th of January. That’s a huge break but after all te craziness of Christmas, we need a bit of a sleep in. We will of course still be about, shooting some weddings and we have already amassed a heap of work for the first couple of weeks we are back.

The Batblog is going to be on Auto Pilot with some blog posts scheduled for the next couple of weeks. I may even do a sneaky post or two from the weddings i’ll be shooting.

So have a great Christmas and New Year and we will catch up soon!

It’s our last day in the office until the 15th of January. That’s a huge break but after all te craziness of Christmas, we need a bit of a sleep in. We will of course still be about, shooting some weddings and we have already amassed a heap of work for the first couple of weeks we are back.

The Batblog is going to be on Auto Pilot with some blog posts scheduled for the next couple of weeks. I may even do a sneaky post or two from the weddings i’ll be shooting.

So have a great Christmas and New Year and we will catch up soon!

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

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

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

This was a biggun’. 8 bridesmaids, 9 groomsmen but still only 1 bride and 1 groom! Em and Moosa’s wedding was one of the prettiest i’ve seen in a very long time. Flowers, flowers and even more flowers were arranged by Em’s mum at Kingsmeadows Flowers and they were fantastic.  What was also fun with this wedding was that I was shooting along side fellow photographer and friend Belinda Fettke. It’s going to be fun to see each others perspectives on the celebration.

So a quick rundown: Boys played at Em and Moosa’s place in the morning… only one slight incident involving a bottle of champagne and Moosa’s neck.

Girls played the getting hair and make up game at Alice’s cottages and there were people everywhere. It was crazy, kinda like the chrubs painted on the roof of the bedroom there. All the dresses were made byAlex Kranbousanos and suited thier girl so well.

Off to Franklin House for a bit of a meeting everyone, giving of rings (designed by Moosa and created by Guy at Jim Hughes and Sons) and that was followed by a bit of a kiss to seal the deal. Bit of mingleing, some photos and drinks then it was off to Cataract Bistro to witness one of the best dressed wedding receptions I’ve ever seen. Those flowers were everywhere and everyone of them looked fantastic.

Congratulations again Em and Moosa for your fantastic day and for your commitment to each other. Can’t wait to show you the rest of the shots!

Here is a full rundown of all the vendors:

Celebrant: Dee Potter

Photographers: Photobat and Belinda Fettke Photography

Ceremony venue: Franklin House

Reception venue: Cataract Bistro

Wedding cake: Carol Titmus

Flowers: Kings Meadows Florist

Dresses: Alex Kranbousanos Designs

Suits: Rojer David

Invitations: Em

Cars: Uncle Pete, Poss and Glenn

Hair: Jess Manning

Makeup: Pure body

Music: The Chordwainers, Carl Fidler, Jean, DJ and Poido, Glenn, Jade and Emmo!

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…

A few shots from Em and Moosa’s Batbooth last Saturday night, more from the wedding itself up later in the week

Quick little preview, more later in the week. Look out tomorrow for some Batbooth action!

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

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

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

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

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

This little shot was taken out the front door of Tasmania’s Parliment House…

I’m starting to fall a little behind in my blogging, not sure if you noticed. I certainly have. There are so many good photos that I want to post but I’m prioritizing getting all the Christmas orders done so that there are photos under trees to be opened. I will be attempting a post a day this week… Will I make it???? Lets see…

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

More up in a few days

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

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

Click here to head over to the Photobat shop

Those other dates that are good to know

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday morning was wet. I don’t mean a little sprinkle of rain wet I’m talking about gather two of every animal and get in a dingy wet. Not so good for Sam and Pip’s outdoors wedding. I had a chat to them both in the morning and there was not the slightest amount of worry about the rain. They were right to be not worried, it stopped a couple of hours before the wedding ceremony and stayed away until the evening.

This was a great spot for a wedding, the family farm. Most family farms I’ve been to have a few acres, some sheep or wheat and a few sheds. Not Benham, Behman is a little larger, heaps of sheep, fields buildings and is just an amazing setting for a wedding and even better for wedding photography!

The guys had a quick shoot and then had to get ready for the “wet weather alternative” setting up chairs in a garage. They looked pretty good in their suits and got ready in what I think was one of the shearers quarters. So many locations….One of our previous wedding clients, Veronica has won Bridesmaid of the year with her effort of popping out a very cute boy 6 days before the wedding and instead of going home once leaving hospital she went and got bridesmaided up, picked up the baby and husband, and then off to the wedding! Congratulations to Rob and Veronica on Edward’s arrival. I’m sure Rob has already introduced him to joys of John Deere!

Someone I was surprised to see helping the girls get ready was Pip’s cat Elsie. We met Elise on the engagement shoot and she was only slightly put out when I took here photo.

The rain did clear and set up a beautiful afternoon for the ceremony and photos. Julie Campbell did a great job doing the marring and Matsons kept everyone all nicely fed and watered. Bridesmaid Em did a great job of painting some gumboots for the girls to wear and just because it stopped raining didn’t mean we couldn’t use them.

The reception was in a fantastic hall and looked fantastic, the centerpiece of who whole room was the cake. Anvers White Truffle Crockenbush. Yes, that is a very very good looking cake. We finished our the night by presenting a same day slideshow of some, some of the engagement shots and also photos from the day. Always a little stressful to get it made in time but always comes together. They are fun to do!

Thanks again Sam and Pip for having us along, it was a truly brilliant day with lots of good things everywhere we turned our head. You guys are a pretty good looking couple with a heaps of fun family and friends. We had a blast shooting your day!

Great wedding, we shall have some more images up in the shop by the end of the week.

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)

So, it seems that we are a little bit busy and have let the Batblog slip a little. Be assured we are getting many cool shots for many clients, so much so that they are taking all our time up. We will have some more images up soon of all things Photobat but for now I have to run off and see even more clients! Have a good weekend and check back next week, i’m sure we will squeeze a shot or two up from Sam and Pip’s wedding on Saturday.

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

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

It’s all systems go here at Photobat. Infact, we have more systems going than we thought we had! So many wedding and portraits on the go and more to look forward to.We are really pumping out some work at the moment so may be a little slow in getting back to you but we will get back to you.

Being busy is good, but I would like to assure you there is room for more!

Anyway, a little story about the shot above of Cooper and Jack.

Their parents Naomi and Neville ran away many years ago for a holiday to Tasmania before heading back to Melbourne for their engagement party, of course the holiday included a bit of eloping and the engagement party turned into a surprise wedding reception.

We love to keep up with what our clients are up to and one year we lost track of Naomi and Neville. We looked and searched but they just disappeared, until a couple of weeks ago when Naomi rang to day they were coming for a holiday and bringing the boys.

They boys are great and it was lots of fun re connecting with these guys, finding out what has been going on where they moved to and more importantly getting their details so we can keep in touch.

So, if you have moved, please let us know. You never know when we may surprise you with something in the mail!

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

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

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

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/11/18/ben-and-irene-wedding-launceston-tasmania/feed/ 5 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/11/16/the-bagshaws-family-portrait-launceston/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/11/16/the-bagshaws-family-portrait-launceston/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:05:54 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=1211

Just a quick post this morning, I shot these out at the Bagshaw’s place last weekend. It was really fun coming up with new ideas for the kids to do for the shoot. They were fantastic to play with!

I ventured all the way to the window to get this one. The orange building is one of Launceston’s tallest. Has a little shop called Myer in it but they seem to be gradually shrinking. I swear when I was young there were more floors…

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

Matt and Megan’s friends and family gave the BATBOOTH quite a workout last weekend. Megan bought along some thing to dress up in too. Appologies to my Dad who does appear below too! If you want to see the rest of them get in touch with Matt and Megan for the magic link and password to all the wedding goodness!

Last Saturday’s forecast for the east coast wasn’t too good. Cloudy with some rain. The real weather was blue skies, heat and an awesome wedding. We travelled all the way over to Falmouth to meet up with Matt, Megan and their friends and family for their relaxed and laid back wedding. This is almost a family wedding for me, my brother and I kinda grew up with Matt and his brother and sister, then Matt and his brother they kept growing and we didn’t.

Megan has a few talents, the food tasted as good as it looked plus she also made the little flowers for the pews and bridesmaids dresses. Also, check out how cool the reception looks, most of the bits and pieces came from the tip shop and flowers from friends. You can see there was a bit of work getting it together, it is so memorable.

Anyways, the deed took place in the backyard of M&M’s place. A nice ceremony with Matt’s old high school principal doing the marrying. Then it was off to a friend’s fantastic garden for some photos. I often say I’m allergic to gardens, just because there is only so much you can take of flowers and leaves. This one was different. Lots of cool places, and I usually chose the spots that most people would overlook. Then off to the beach and finally over to White Sands for the reception where the BATBOOTH was unleased with Megan’s dress up box. More of the BATBOOTH in another post soon.

Matt and Megan’s bridal party were also top quality. I’ve had some previous experience with this crowd, Emma and Shannon are previous wedding clients and it was fantastic to catch up with them again and meet their little girl Clara. Yeah, can’t say enough about this bridal party, you could tell they were all fantastic friends and worthy humans in general. Fun isn’t enough to describe them.

That’s about it for the time being, more from the BATBOOTH next week.

Launceston

Way back in January Vee and I went for a drive to get some breakfast. We drove all the way to St Helens. Had a good breakfast and then hit the Quail Street Emporium to look for random items. I spied a little camera hiding in the frount counter. I bought it thinking it would just be a cool little thing to have around the house, I had no expectations that it actually worked. But it does! So I have a new toy. I’ve put a couple of rolls of film through it and will be putting more through it soon. Hope you like them!

More soon from this wedding… Matt is quite tall, maybe slightly exagerated in the photo, but close. This was a stylish wedding, and the photos of the food will make your mouth water, very impressive, espeially since Megan cooked them.

What a wedding. Nothing too over the top (apart from the helicopter and style!).
Bek and Paul did a little more than just get married, they created an instant family bringing their 2 sets of 2 kids together to make 1 set of 4! And what crazy kids they are, it was fun trying to retrieve all the things that managed to end up in their clutches (like my wallet) I also noticed Zakk chasing down some flash cards from the camera. And yes, it was fun! Many people say to me “Never work with kids or animals” I think those people don’t quite get it. Kids and animals are real! Let them be and you will get something fantastic from them.

Anyways, I was supposed to be talking about a wedding! Bek and Paul decided on a beach wedding, a Greens Beach wedding to be precise. They love spending time with the kids at the beach so this was a ceremony location with real meaning. As a little surprise for everyone, Bek her mum and the girls arrived via helicopter, I tagged along to make sure everything was safe! When we got to the beach everyone looked fantastic, and I do mean everyone. Such a good looking crowd were there to hear the vows, witness the rings, drink the champers and down the oysters.

Bek wore a stunning dress found in the Oatlands Op Shop for a bargain price. Strangely when we went for a dip in the ocean it kinda started to shrink. No probs, there was another red velvet dress back at the home backyard reception to get into.

A little bit of Sydney for you this Friday. I’m still working on a post for last weekends wedding, hope fully up today. If not it will be after the weekend. Also, it seems that my email newsletter lost the war with the Spam filters, so i’ll do a recap and send it out again next week. Hope you have a great weekend, or Long Weekend as we like to call it in Tasmania

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!

These guys decided to go away to get married, they choose Launceston which is about as far away as possible from their home in Halls Creek. They also bought along their family and friends from many other foreign parts (foreign being not Tasmania).

So many things that were different for these guys, we have grass, wind and we don’t have dust. Plus we also have fantastic places to get married like the superb Red Feather Inn, one of the prettiest venues in the state.

It must have been hard planning such a great wedding from that distance; they even had to stop off in Perth to pick up things to bring down. It was worth it, it all seemed to be fantastic. The kids were running around, beer and wine being drunk, Barb “Super Celebrant” Youd doing the ceremony and the sun out all day. There was even fake moustaches, wants and tiaras after the ceremony for everyone!

We headed off to take photos with “something that doesn’t look like Halls Creek”, the Longford area was nice and green providing a bit of a contrast.

And if you are ever up in Halls Creek, drop into the Kimberley Emporium and say hi to these guys.

Another puppy from the RSPCA’s mini session shoot last Friday. Lots of lovely puppies and owners. I only got a little bit of drool on me, some grass stains and discovered a tree planted by Princess Diana back in 1983. No dogs relieved themselves on the Diana tree, infact no dogs did anything bad at all.

Kaba (my dog) was very intrigued by my pants when I god home. So many foreign puppy smells.

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

This Friday we are doing a series of animal portrait mini session to help raise some money for the RSPCA.

There are a very limited amount of sessions available. 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 this Friday afternoon

To reserve your spot speak to the RSPCA on 6332 8200

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

It’s going to be fun! So come along if you can.

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

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

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

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

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

Some Holga action north of Margaret River

Clooney at Barwick Vineyard

Voyager Vineyard

Vikashni shooting the sunset, somewhere south of Perth

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

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

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

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

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

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/2009/10/07/simons-batbooth/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/07/simons-batbooth/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:27:15 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=1013

The BATBOOTH was pulled out for Simon’s 40. Lots of fun, we found a heap of props around the place. It was a little slow to start, everyone seems to be a little hesitant to start. But once they were in the BATBOOTH it was all systems go for bizarre photo fun. Oh and then Simon got married to Sam, but then it was back to the party!

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/07/simons-batbooth/feed/ 4 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/06/sam-and-simons-surprise-wedding/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/06/sam-and-simons-surprise-wedding/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:45:33 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=1017

Finally, some shots of Sam and Simon’s surprise wedding. The plan was to have Simon’s 40th birthday party, then after the party had been all planned they decided it would be the perfect time to surprise all their family and friends with their wedding. We were in on it, but everyone else had no idea what was about to happen. Check the photos below for the reactions, Sam’s mum is a classic only realising what was happening when Sam told her!

Congratulations again Sam and Simon, and thanks for being sneaky and fun!

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2009/10/06/sam-and-simons-surprise-wedding/feed/ 2 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!

Looking for somthing to do this weekend? It’s a nice time to go visit the monkies in City Park, and then swing by the Design Centre on Tamar Street and check out the Van Wonderland exhibition. It’s still on for another couple of weeks. Go on, it’s quite good!

Here are the details, the second part of my contribution to the exhibition.

This one was shot outside Christian Fletcher’s gallery in Dunsburough

3 Weeks Ago via phone…

Sam “Are you about to do some Batbooth photos at Simon’s 40 on the 19th of September”
Bat “Er… not really, I’m probably going to be in Perth”
Sam “Oh, OK… but there is something else happening”
Bat “What?”
Sam “I can’t tell you but we are having someone come along for 10 minutes and do something”
Bat “What kind of something?”
Sam “I can’t say but it would be great to have some photos of it”
Bat “Ahhh… I think I get what you are saying. I might have to change my flight plans”
Sam “Great!”
Bat “This is all very exciting!”

And the 19th has come, people showed up for Simon’s birthday party. There were drinks, BATBOOTH, cheese, dips and a surprise wedding. Yes, A SURPRISE WEDDING! So cool, I wasn’t told directly about it but did work it out. Sam and Simon have been together for ages and have even been wearing rings for ages. It was only when the plans for the birthday party were in place that they decided it would be the perfect time to get married.

It happened slowly with the celebrant sneaking in and suddenly making an announcement. Some people were onto it as soon as the celebrant arrived, others only realised when it was announced. There were tears, laughter and such a fantastic feeling in the room as Sam and Simon, surrounded by their kids, family and friends exchanged vows and rings.

Then it was back to the party!

I really enjoyed the look on the “late comers” who arrived after the ceremony.

I’ll be posting some more images up soon but here is one of the happy couple. Congratulations again Sam and Simon!