Ave turned 7 yesterday, 7 days that it. Congratulations Amber on such a cute little girl!

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

I’ve been looking forward to this wedding ever since we “Skyped” our first meeting. Me in the office, Cool couple in Japan. Now they are back and it’s their big day and i’m on the road to shoot it. Excited

David Smiedt that is. He’s a comedian, writer and all round good looking bloke. I just rediscovered this photo of him while looking for somthing else and decided to post this. I have no idea what I was originally looking for now, but if you want to look for somthing try checking out David’s page here, or here or flip to the back of Voyer magazine next time you are in a shiny red virgin plane.

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

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

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

Cupcake day is upon us again, it’s the day we open the gallery and you can come and buy some cupcakes with all the money going to the RSCPA to help out little and big furry and not so furry animals

Sally Alps from Alps and Amici will be judging our first ever cupcake decorating competition. We are looking for the most creative cupcake.

All the details are below

Judging

There will be two ways for a cupcake to win

Judges Prize

Judging will take place at 10am with Sally Alps selecting her favourite decorated cupcake. Winner will be announced on Monday the 16^th of August at about 6pm

Public Vote

All the entries will be displayed in the Photobat gallery and people coming by can cast a vote for their favourite. We will also put pictures of all the cupcakes in the Photobat Fan page so that people who can’t get in to the gallery can still vote. The image that has the most “likes” on it in the Photobat Page Gallery combined with the amount of votes entered at the photobat gallery will be the winner. Voting will close at 5.45pm and the winner will be announced on Monday the 16^th of August at about 6pm

Entry Details

Entry by $2 donation per cupcake up to a maximum of two entries per person. All money will be donated to the RSPCA. Plus if you have some spare cupcakes you can donate them to the cause and we can sell them to raise some more money.

Prize Details

The winner of the judge’s prize and the popular vote will receive a goodies bag filled with things from our supporters and suppliers.

Entries By

Entry time: Drop off Monday 16^th between 8am – 10am

Winner Announcement

Announcements of the winners will be made at about 6.00pm in the gallery with the winner being contacted by phone.

Competition Terms and Conditions

This is fun, so we want to keep it simple. In saying that we must say that the judge’s decision is final. For the public vote, the images must be “liked” in the gallery on the photobat fan page, any likes on personal profiles are not able to be counted.

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

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

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

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

One of the things that we wanted to do on our trip to Vanuatu was to get some sense of the life of the real villages, not the ones that have the tourism angle happening. One of the fundamental parts of Samma Village is their school. We made two visits to the school of about 40 students. The school recieves no funding from the government and is supported by christian organisations from foreign lands. More on the man who founded the school and also the rest of the village in later posts.

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

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

So, what about a different spot to do a portrait… how about Salamanca Market at lunchtime. Kinda hard to shoot, but lots of fun. More soon.

He’s actully really good at kicking the ball, sometimes the ball does need a little bit of fatherly help to keep it heading in the right direction.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is one of my favourite guys shots from the last wedding season. Shot in Craigs garage.

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

Thje first thing that hit us about Port Vila was how dirty it is. after that we noticed all the colour. It was everywhere and just added a feeling of fun to the city. These shots are taken around the main bit of Port Vila, there are lots of other bits but this was the main touristy bit.

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

Heaps of blog posts will be coming soon with shots from Vanuatu. Yes there are some tropical type of photos but there are also some social documentary shots from some of the poorer areas of the main island Efate. And there will be more tutles, including our sponsor turtle.

Just discovered that one of my APPA prints made it on the tellie today, click about and have a look. 2.11 in is the shot being briefly talked about. This video also tell more about the award process, so keep watching.

Jarod and Liz are from Sydney. They met on Flickr and 1000 days later they were in Hobart getting married. I’m not going to say how cool and how much fun these guys are, i could, but i though you should check the photos here and then head on over and meet them (and Train who made a 2D appearance at the wedding) at their blog at jarodandliz.com . Congratulations again Liz and Jarod, it was awesome shooting and being at your big little day in Tasmania

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

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

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

I just got back from Hobart and Jarod and Liz’s Elopement at the spectacular Islington Hotel. A great spot for a wedding and a dream for a wedding photographer. Congratulations again Jarod and Liz!

Lauren and Dain’s wedding is coming up next year, so some engagement shots were taken with some nice autum light and colour. I can’t wait for the big day to come around.

The Australian Professional Photography Awards are rapidly approaching, It’s a stressful time. Searching images, spending hours looking at them, fiddling with them and occasionally getting a shot that you think is amazing. You follow all the rules including minimum print sizes, how it is mounted, figure out the category, pay the entry fee and then post it away so that a bunch of judges can spend a few minutes looking at it and give it a score. You always hope the score is a good one, but more times than not the judges just don’t see what the artist saw. So… why bother entering?

I enter a few awards every year, generally the Australian Institute of Professional Photography state and national awards, the Wedding Portrait Photographers International which is in the USA and a few other national ones. It does cost a bit to enter, many hundreds of dollars some most cases.

I don’t always win an award for all the effort that goes into entering but I find the process of entering is more valuable than the awards.

Each time I shoot always aim to get different and unique shots, some of which may get into my award image short list. This is at the back of my mind when shooting, but in saying that many of my award shots have come about by chance and I’ve only just happened to have the skills to recognize the moment, get the camera, exposure and composition working together and click the shutter. That’s my way of doing it, some photographers spend days and weeks figuring out what they are going to shoot, setting it up, post processing and printing. Each to their own.

Another reason for entering the awards in getting feedback. I get feedback from the awards process in the form of a score or if I’m lucky from hearing the judges discussing the print. Sometimes they rip it to pieces, saying about composition, technical things or that they just don’t get the story. But when they are ripping, that is the time I take notice of what they are saying. (Which could lead to me picking up something or just thinking that the judges just don’t get it!)

Another important part of the process is the feedback I get from other photographers pre entering. I have a little network of friends about the country who are all fantastic and different photographers. I’ll generally show them some of the shots and see what they think about them. They come back to me with suggestions and ideas that I never would have thought of, which again get used in my everyday work. It’s a two way street, I get to talk to them about their images.

I tend to trust my gut feelings about a shot, each judging panel is different and there have been a few times where images I have entered in the state awards and miss out but I believe in them and sent them off to the national awards anyway. Mostly the gut gets it right, but my gut has been looking at awards for years now and kind of knows what might do ok.

Before last years Tasmanian awards I learnt a heap. The most I’ve learned in front of the computer in years. It helped me in some awards, and it also changed the way I did things for my clients. Every time I look at a client image now I’m using many of the skills that I picked up on that day. It actually revolutionised my workflow behind the scenes. This is one of the biggest plusses for my clients, they don’t know about it (until now!), but my images in the last 12 months look a heap better then a couple of years ago.

So, I’m always on the lookout for something different, always working on improving my ways of working images and always getting feedback from others about what is good, and more importantly, what needs improving. And what do my clients get out of it, some like to say their photographer is award winning, but all of them are receiving quality that is always evolving.

Sometimes the images get awards, sometimes they don’t. Doesn’t really matter too much to me (ok, I get bummed and swear a bit but in the long run it doesn’t really matter) APPA next week and I’m entering a brand new category. I have no idea what the judges will be looking for in the images. So I may crash and burn, but I did learn quite a few things on the way to making the images so the clients still win.

Click here to see a gallery of all the images that won awards at last year’s APPA awards. There are hundreds of them from photographers all over Australia and around the world.

The shots in these posts generally didn’t get award i one place and then did in another.

Some details from a lovely afternoon at Tara Badcocks, eating cake and drinking tea.

Don’t know who Tara is? Check out her amazing work here.

It’s getting cold down here in Tasmania. It kind of just hit last week. Now it’s officially cold. Not too long ago it wasn’t cold. It was at that time I caught up with Alice and Daniel over at Binalong Bay to do an engagement shoot with the dogs. These guys live in one of the best places in the world, just off the beach on the now world famous Bay of Fires. I’d be happy to live there! I’m really really really looking forward to shooting these guys when they get hitched later this year, going to be heaps of fun and I reckon they are going to look pretty awesome!

Check out some of Robert’s other skills at his website robertalla.com

Taken on our second anniversary… love you wifey!

Ok, so i made up this blog post a couple of months ago and I thought I posted it and only just realised it didn’t make it up. So here they are, late but still fun. Some shots from Jason and Natalie’s engagement portrait session. Jason and Natalie are the ones that don’t have fur on their faces.

The pets via iphone via Hipstomatic

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

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

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

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

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

I love shooting details at a wedding, it’s pretty much the start of the shoot… get some details. They get the brain going. Here are a couple of rings from the last couple of weddings.

Andrew and Claire’s sitting on one of Andrew’s 30 guitars… I believe this one is in his top 5 favourites.

Nyree and Craigs, sitting on a cool little box I found on the bedside table… Look at those rocks!

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

Andrew and Claire’s wedding happened to be in just the right spot! I found this location a few years ago, been itching to use it with for somthing.

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

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

Nyree and Craigs wedding had it all, great couple, awesome beidal party, fantastic cars and drinking nan’s! More photos soon

If you haven’t dropped by the Red Bridge Cafe on the southen side of Campbell Town yet, you are missing out on one of the best little stops on the highway. I’ve dropped in a few times and think its great, good coffee, fresh food and vegies.

Over Easter Vikashni and I managed to get a little bit of a holiday in Cairns to see the rain and Brisbane to see the hotel room and Alice in Wonderland (expected so much more Mr Burton…) and the Gold Coast to have a little look about. Here are a few random photos of places, animals and views that we saw.

Yes, I took no photos of the beach at Surfers, we got quite wet in the rain in cairns while looking for a waterfall we could hear but the fog/rain kinda made it invisible and also saw a 500 or so year old fig tree which was surprisingly cool.

I like Sid. I like Sid alot. He’s big on the presonality!

Just back from Queensland, so here are a couple of photos of Canberra from ages ago.

Going from Tasmania to Queensland wasn’t as cool as many of the guests who come from other parts of the world including Chris’s homeland in Zimbabwe

Richard and Rebecca got married a few years ago, about four if my memory is correct. It was a fantastic day, I was there to shoot that big day and was very honoured to meet Lily Anne a week after she entered this world. Fresh babies are great to shoot, you never know what they will do but you can be guarenteed that everything she does will be looked on proudly be her parents. Congratulations again Richard and Rebecca on your beautiful little girl.

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

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

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

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

Lily arrived last week, so I went and met her. Congratulations to Richard and Rebecca!

Dave isn’t a chef. This may on most occasions be a bad thing. Unless he cooks a good meal for Shannon, she enters our Valentines Day Competition and then they win that competition!

We met up and spent some time exploring an interesting large building in town. Lots of great spots for photos and more importantly heaps of light. Add into the mix these two guys who were up for anything and it was always going to fantastic.

Congratulations again and thanks for the great shoot. And if you are passing Video City in Kingsmeadows, go say hi to Dave if he’s working!

Re live  Shannon and Dave’s winning entry by clicking here.

Towards the end of Andew and Trish’s day

email2friend]]> http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2010/03/22/andrew-and-trish-wedding-preview/feed/ 1 http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2010/03/17/alice-and-dan-engagement-portrait-preview-binalong-bay/ http://www.photobat.net/batblog/2010/03/17/alice-and-dan-engagement-portrait-preview-binalong-bay/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:20:46 +0000 Photobat http://www.photobat.net/batblog/?p=1881

We may have got a little wet

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

From Saturdays wedding of Nichola and Andrew. Bay of Fires and Binalong Bay are fantastic spots for wedding photography, especially with such a great couple who are up for anything!

A quick family photo of the Ivereigh’s before i head off to Binalong Bay for this weekends wedding. Hope you all have a good weekend!

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