Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

Already excited about the location, I was also pleased that this family was one of the most obliging, happy families that I have ever photographed. Not only were they happy to sit or stand wherever I asked them to, they smiled happily for the entire two hours. It was a super sunny Sunday day so we had to do our best to dodge the radiant autumn sun as well as the many walkers, kayakers and general picnickers to this lovely location. As I had my armory of equipment in addition to my trusty assistant whom we happily had climbing into bushes and hanging out of trees, we did ok. I really enjoy the texture and colour of the sandstone and want to do more here. It really epitomizes Sydney and I just plain like it! I'm used to Sydney being dry then dryer with lots of browns, some green and occasional red but I wasn't prepared for the spectacular yellows that we had today. Makes me want to plant an entire field of American Oak or Maple trees....

I had the wonderful pleasure of being able to photograph the families who have been accepted into the Habitat For Humanity Program for this year. These low income families will contribute 500 hours toward building their new, interest free homes. If you would also like to volunteer for Habitat, just visit their website . If you are a "creative" (photographer or graphic designer etc) and would like to volunteer with this or other organizations, you can register with Creative Cares . They will fit you to the right nonprofit, as they did with me. It always feels good to give back to the community in a way that makes best use of your skills. For me, it feels as though I have really made a difference. On that note, I would like to send out a huge thank you to Matt Kallio who assisted me with the shoot. He not only helped haul gear and set up but he went a little out of his comfort zone by using puppets and funny faces to help make the set a happy and fun place for the f...

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.