Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

What I liked about this shoot was the planning and preparation on behalf of the client and I ( mostly the client ). I like being prepared but its not always possible with the craziness that is my life! We booked a date months in advance to take advantage of all of our busy schedules giving us time to prepare our vision for the final images. This included finding the perfect location and preparing a wardrobe and hairstyle ideas. When my usual location ideas did not match the clients expectations, I went on a quest to find the ideal place to shoot.  Luckily for me, I mentioned it to a few people and one of them came up with these glorious gardens. Stone pathways and steps, beautiful colour and best of all privacy. Now all we had to do was relax and take some great shots! TECH TALK... It was late afternoon so the sun made a lovely backlight as well as casting glorious colour.  As we were using the sun as backlight, we had to fill the for

What do you do when the dog has had enough...photograph the children!  Today we were photographing for a pet magazine, ( Pet Industry News )  but Missy, the Labradoodle decided to take a break alas Miss Em was not finished.  It's autumn in Oz right now and the leaves and flowers are all over the ground...such a pretty backdrop (for a short while at least). Em decided herself that she would like to be photographed and had set her pretty dress and shoes out the night before. This always makes for the best shoots. Children that actually enjoy the camera as opposed to those who require bribes or treats!!!

What do you do when your studio is all set and your client postpones?? Grab your daughter and her girlfriend and make them model for you...or not! Please...not another photo shoot! Really not working for me! Model becomes photographer... You can imagine that the daughter of a photographer can, be less than enthusiastic (i.e. when not being bribed with toys or money), about spending yet another  minute behind the camera so I asked her to become the photographer...she took some pretty cool shots. I love it when children take over the camera. It gives me a perspective that I wouldn't have normally considered! The reactions they receive are also different to what I might get. Altogether it worked out pretty well.

Christmastime brings family together, sometimes from different States, even different countries so it is an ideal opportunity to capture the togetherness with a portrait. This past Boxing Day, we did just that. Mother Nature threatened a dreadful storm with softball sized hail stones but we went ahead with the shoot in any case because who knows when this opportunity may arise again as part of the family had travelled from Adelaide to be here for the shoot... A fabulous location, chosen by the family. We were actually at a point where we could see back toward the city skyline.

I had a great shoot with two lovely, polite boys who clearly enjoyed each other's company which makes my job entirely easy! The portrait session was in my home studio and as it was a lovely day, we were able to photograph outside as well as inside, giving us a large variety of shots!

What to do with a Tween boy? Not too much actually. Little James was brilliant at having his own fun. His mother had prepared him well and he was relaxed and completely comfortable in front of the camera - the perfect subject! Rather, it was I who experienced difficulties. Of the technical kind, that is. I had tested my lights the day before and they had worked well. A tricky setup where I am sending my USA lights through a converter and battery pack but apparently I had blown a fuse and didn't realise it. However, we managed to make it work.

This project was a lot of fun. 4th and 5th Graders at Willamette all jump for their school Auction project. You will have to go to the auction to see the final product.

There is definitely something in the water! I have been photographing newborns all week! Just a week old and Kennedy has the sweetest smile!

What a fabulous family and wonderful children, each with their unique outstanding personality made for a fun afternoon of  shooting. This family have an avid appreciation of photography so I had to keep on my toes and come up with some different ideas as well as add in a few more traditional ones. Clearly at ease with each other, the family fell into poses very naturally. I suppose because we were in their home, this added to their comfort.

This has been a week of babies and I just LOVE photographing such sweet, innocent and peaceful beings. What a pleasure!