Oh Fremantle...

....I would move there just for the photography opportunities (yes, hubby thinks I'm mad!).

So here is Fremantle (and a touch of Perth) on film.

And the awesome Fremantle markets shot on digital :-)

The beautiful Miss Celeste :-)

What do you do when you only have a few frames left on a roll of film?
Ask a gorgeous girl to be your model for a quick shoot :-)

So I started to shoot.
*Click*
Rrrrrrrrrrrr - the film rewound!

Oops...I only had one frame left after all!!  Luckily I threw in a spare black and white roll...so then we had to shoot the whole roll ;-)

Celeste was awesome...traipsing around all sorts of weird places with me!!

Family on Film :-)

My first chance to do a family shoot on film.
Scary?
Yes.

But thankfully I was shooting alongside Leah Cruikshank - who was on digital :-)

And what a gorgeous family they are...made my (our) job easy & fun!  Is it still considered work if you enjoy it??!!

Girl's best friend :-)

My daughter isn't just about pretty dresses and fairies and pink.
Well, she hardly could be with 4 big brothers!
And with me as a mum :-)

Growing up I would be the surrogate mum when our dog had puppies.
And cry many tears when our cat died.
Evidence of my animal love surrounds us in the forms of 2 dogs, 3 cats, a turtle and some fish.

So glad that my little girl adores animals too :-)

More film goodness!

First few rolls...

...from my Contax - going back quite a few months now :-)
This is the first I have EVER shot on medium format film...so a lot of learning (and a lot of fun!).

I dressed up my 3 youngest and experimented with film stock.
And tried to remember manual focus - oh auto focus makes one lazy!!

 

Welcome baby girl...

I feel incredibly privileged to be invited to photograph another fellow photographers third birth.  With a planned caesarean there were no surprises on the day in which Stella would join this lovely family.  But I will admit that I WAS surprised with how early the c-section was booked in!  I was expecting a leisurely sleep in (for the new mum-to-be of course!).

Well, despite having 5 children of my own, a caesarean is a whole.new.world to me!  I had no idea what to expect!!

Arriving 15 minutes before Liz was to be taken to the anaesthetist, I found I was only minutes late in seeing her, as she was whisked away early!  So I then had the pleasure of chatting to Michael for about an hour...as he waited to join Liz in theatre for the delivery.

It then wasn't long until I was able meet their gorgeous little girl and witness the moments she shared with her Dad whilst waiting for mum to come out of recovery.  It is incredible to see how perfect c-section newborns are - no bruising or misshapen head!!  And little Stella was simply adorable.

Being able to share in the joy as Liz met her little girl for the first time was very special...as was the excitement of Stella's 2 big brothers as they examined her and gave her the gifts they had bought :-)

Thank you Michael and Liz for allowing me to be part of such a special time for you and your boys. xo



Stella's Birth from Bellakee J Photography on Vimeo.

Sweet moments together...

With a new-to-me film camera in hand...I needed to practice.  And play.  And practice some more.

With 2 little cousins on hand...I needed to play.  And practice.  And play some more.

So to make it fun for them I set up a little tea party (it's uncharacteristic of me to do styled shoots!).
But the most fun was found with the old Rolleicord :-)

I still have a lot to learn about nailing focus and exposure and different film stocks though!!