Adelaide Photographer – Sweet Chilli Philly Photography

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing Amber, Daniel and their new baby girl Annabelle. You could just see how in love they were with their new addition to the family, they were such a gorgeous family to photograph. This is what I love about my job is capturing these very first moments of life…

Thanks so much Amber and Daniel for letting me to photograph your beautiful family!

So without further ado let me introduce you to miss Annabelle!

I wrote this article for another site but thought that it would be helpful for those that view my blog as well. I hope you enjoy reading it.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There is nothing more joyous then photographing a newborn in those first few days of life. As a photographer I take great joy in creating memories for families and watching the pure pleasure as they see their photographs for the first time. Newborn photography to me is the most of challenging of children photography but by far is one that I could easily do every day.

I recommend when wanting newborn photographs to have them photographed before they are 2 weeks old – although I find the best age is between 7-10 days old. Usually once over the 2-3 week mark it can be hard to get those sleepy curly shots and they can be harder to settle although this isn’t to say that a 7 day old baby will sleep better then a 3-6 weeker but in my experience they do tend to be much more settled.

Newborn sessions can be a long process on the day and I find a lot of the time can be spent waiting for the baby to get into a deep slumber so I tell parents not to stress if feed or change breaks are needed, babies work on their own schedule and not ours so usually expect a session to range from about 2 -4 hours long.

Don’t be afraid to get into the photographs either as family photos are so important, that time in your lives is so fleeting and is such a magical journey to bring a new baby into the word. Those images will remain a keepsake to be treasured.

Tips for taking photographs of your own children

I know how people can feel frustrating when trying to take their own beautiful photographs of their children so I thought I would list some tips to help make things a little easier.

1. Find the light! Don’t be afraid to turn off the flash on your camera and look for the surrounding like around you. Look for a nice big window that you could position baby in front of it and see how you go with some nice natural light photographs. If you have older children maybe take them outside for some photographs. If you can take the photos either in the early morning or later in the evening (before light fades). During the day the lighting can become harsh for outside photos and cause unflattering shadowing on faces or squinting.

2. On the move! The one thing with toddlers and older children is that they don’t like to sit still while getting photographs taken, which is totally fine for some fantastic candid shots. The can be the best photographs as it can show what they do best…being kids! It can be great to show what they were doing at that time in their lives and is perfect for a memoir album or coffeetable book.

3. Get down to their level! My last tip is to get down to the children’s level. It’s great to see things from their point of view and it can help with any distortion you may get when taking a photo from up above. I like to get down on the floor with the kids and interact with them while taking photo and is fabulous for interaction shots.

I hope these hints and tips are helpful and I’m always happy to answer basic photography questions at any time.

Yesterday evening I got to photograph the gorgeous little Blake and his mum Marije. It was his first time in the sand so I think he was more interested in the new textures he was feeling between his toes but in between the unsureness we got a few smiles too!

Thanks so much Marije for letting me photograph your little man and I hope you enjoy your sneak peek, I’ll be in touch soon with the rest of your gallery.

I’m now taking part in Channel 7’s Sunrise Family Business program , where all Sunrise Family Members receive 10% discount on purchases, in an effort to support Australian Small Businesses.

So make sure to show your card at your session to receive your 10% discount (no further discount will apply), you can register for the card here: Register here

For those that don’t know the Australian Community of Child Photographers  has recently been formed and I am very happy to volunteer my time and energy to this valuable cause.

The ACOCP is a volunteer organisation of child photographers from all over Australia who have come together to form an organisation dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature and ill infants and children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of their local hospitals, as well as children with serious and terminal illnesses.

In difficult times parents do not always consider the importance of documenting their little moments and closeness of family until those moments have passed. The ACOCP is dedicated to providing this gift to your families in a caring, compassionate and heartfelt manner.

For more information please visit: http://www.acocp.org.au/

Today’s session was with dear little Cooper who is about to make a big trip to Melbourne to have heart surgery. He has such spirit and a gorgeou grin and just look at those big blue eyes of his!

Bronny and Stephen I hope you enjoy your sneak peek and I wish Cooper all the best for his operation!

Today I had the sweetest little five day old, Baylee. He is the youngest that I have ever had in the studio but he definitely kept me on my toes. With only the shortest sleeping time where I snapped a quick few, he decided to stay awake or fought just on the edge of sleep but honestly he had the most gorgeous eyes so much so that it didn’t matter that we didn’t get a heap of curly sleepy shots, we got some beautiful shots of him awake instead! Isn’t he gorgeous!

Alan and Jess, congratulations on the birth of your little boy, I hope you enjoy your sneak peek and I will be in touch soon!

Sorry I’ve been so busy with sessions I haven’t had a chance to update my blof with my self portraits so thought now would be a good time. So here you go:

Week 4

No really story to this one, I thought I would go for a moody shot, it’s great fun now that I have a wireless remote!

Week 5

Ethan was determined to be in this weeks photo and to be honest I love this shot of us togther!

Week 6

Okay this one is probably a little depressing lol as it’s how I’m feeling at the moment and I’m trying to be as honest with these SP as I can.

Sometimes things get the best of me and all I want to do is curl up into a little ball and close my eyes. Sometimes I wish the world would rewind time and I can start things over, sadly this cannot be done and I cannot change how things are.

There is light at the end of the tunnel it’s just a matter of how long it takes to get there…I will get there but at the moment I just wish things had happened a little different.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to photograph the most gorgeous couple M & J. It was a beautiful touching ceremony with the beach only just metres away which is perfect from a photographers opinion. Although it started out quite windy it did manage to calm down and we got that beautiful sunset come through, it was just stunning! You could just see their love shining through for each other which makes a wedding so heartwarming…

Here is just a few shots from their special day…

Today I had the pleasure of photographing the adorable Riley, talk about smiles, he was such a happy little guy with grins galore!

Tiffany I hope you enjoy your sneak peek and I will be in touch soon!

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Connor who is 13 months old, with such dark brown eyes and an adorable little grin it was a delight to take his photographs although he was very quick for such a little guy and I’m sure his mum was pretty exhausted having to chase him the entire session! Well it was certainly worth it and we got some beautiful shots of this little chap.

Kahlene, I hope you enjoy your sneak peek of your adorable little guy and I will be in touch with you soon!