Inspiration

I rarely get the opportunity to photograph Kerina. She’s not an ‘in front of camera’ kind of gal, but I don’t know why because she is totally gorgeous! And what is a shoot without Benson? This is a vacant lot just around the corner from the studio. Such vivid colours! We had some passers by call out some nasties to us (I’ve been called worse than a weirdo and a loser), but we didn’t care, we were just two girls with a dog and two cameras – can’t get much happier, especially now that the new Leica has joined our fleet of cameras!

Belinda and Steve

Kerina and I shot Belinda and Steve’s wedding 5 months ago in the balmy Darwin winter! I can’t believe time has flown so quickly between then and now, and under normal circumstances we would’ve blogged much sooner, but this was a very special wedding and I’ve managed to get away with keeping these babies ‘unblogged’ for a while longer than normal. Belinda and I have been great friends for many years now, and I was so honoured to be asked (along with Kerina) to photograph this truly beautiful wedding of two truly beautiful souls. I’ll let the images tell the rest of story, but I do want to say a heartfelt thank you to Belinda and Steve for indulging our photographic experiments on them and for being who you are. Love you guys to bits!

Some stuff and things I loved about the wedding:

• The weather. The morning we left Perth to fly to Darwin it was a mere 2 degrees. Upon landing in Darwin it was 32 degrees.
• The very chilled atmosphere and Steve’s relaxed demeanour. Steve bought his shoes the morning of the wedding!
• The gorgeous ceremony on the beach with Angus and Julia Stone’s ‘Bella’ playing as Belinda and Steve walked together to the balinese style gazebo and met their intimate gathering of friends and loved ones.

I still have some more pictures I will be posting from the wedding, and also some fab pictures from the pre-wedding shoot (I know, a little out of order…a bit like me sometimes).

Love Kirst x

Exhibition time!

Four more sleeps!  On Saturday our documentary images from the Sudanese ‘HEARTS’ project (Helping Educate and Resource through Sewing) will be on display at the Gary Holland Centre in Kent St, Rockingham.  The exhibition runs from the 6^th to the 12^th of November and its launch coincides with an African Music Night at the centre to raise funds to build a well in Duk, Sudan.

It’s been an amazing and privileged experience spending time with the group and listening to their stories. Before being able to come to Australia, many have spent over 13 years in Kenyan refugee camps in dreadful conditions and where crime is rampant.

Our images consist of a collection of candid black and white ‘moments’ and a series of colour portraits with narrative gleaned from interviews with the group members.

Pictured below is Kirst with one of the children, Yar.

…and a little sneaky peak of some of the images.

 

The variety continues! ‘Til next time – ciao. KP

Winter hibernation?……no way!

OK…so the lack of recent posts would indicate that we’ve been having a lovely long winter snooze.  Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth.  It’s been busy, busy, busy with an unprecedented amount of commercial work that has seen many hours of shooting and editing, as well as some lovely family shoots and commercial work.

The Petrie family were back again and this time with little Thomas as well as Jillian.  The kids had a fun time playing in front of the camera and we caught some cool moments.

Winter is an OK time to shoot outdoors too.  The grass is green and the air is crisp and clear.  An early morning shoot was had with the Cook family at their property in Baldivis.  There is something about pet dogs in family photos that I love.  Maybe it’s because I’m a big fan of the canines or maybe it’s just because they add such an element of fun.

We had a good shoot and each member of the family had some images taken with a ‘treasured’ possession or in a favourite place. I just loved Matt’s collection of old motorbikes – the centre piece being his ‘Indian’ and I really enjoyed Abbey’s rusty chair hidden away in the bush.

Scarlett and her dog ‘Leo’ swung by for a shoot to celebrate Scarlett’s birthday.  Leo was so gorgeous and will do just about anything for licorice!

…and whilst still on the subject of canines, it was great to see Brittany the ridgeback again with her family the ‘Williamsons’.  We hit the beach on a sunny winter’s afternoon and Michelle and Richard very bravely got their toes in the water.

“Time flies……” etc etc…and little Sienna was back again for her 1 year old shoot.  She’s now a girl on the go – still smiling beautifully but very mobile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now, back to some editing. Until next time……Adios . KP

A nice warm studio!

Well it’s been ‘mixed business’ these last weeks shooting the young and the not so young, as well as new and returning friends.  It’s nice and warm inside, so the studio has been seeing a bit of action.

Little Sienna Chaplin was back again for her 9 month photo shoot.

This is one little girl who is very comfortable in front of the camera and an absolute delight.  You may remember this beautiful image when she was 3 months old:

Well, she still has that mesmerising expression, but can certainly throw out a big smile and giggle too .

We’re still working through the images taken on our big Saturday when the studio was full of little people and their favourite things.

The Weir sisters chose their teddy bears; Tyler shared ‘Fritzy’ with us, while Kelsey danced and cuddled Ike Bear and Angelina.

Norm Smith visited the studio a couple of weeks ago to arrange a special birthday shoot for his sweetheart Greta.  He had made a hair appointment for her and we arranged for make up artist Ros Carter to come to the studio and apply the finishing touches.  Ros is a specialist in her field and does wonderful work.  It was a lovely morning and Norm and Greta looked absolutely marvelous.

And to finish of this edition, a very big HELLO to Charlie McKenna.  I photographed his Mum and Dad’s  wedding a couple of years ago! Congratulations Amanda and Macca.

‘Til next time. KP

Going North

Hi everyone

What a fantastic week it has been. I think I’m still on a high after all the fun we’ve had lately taking photographs of some beautiful people, in some beautiful locations. Last weekend was Belinda & Steve’s wedding up in Darwin. WOW, WOW, WOW is all I can say. Belinda was simply stunning and Steve didn’t scrub up too badly himself!

Despite missing our flight to Darwin because of a freeway accident we managed to make it to the top end well and truly in time to do a pre-wedding shoot, which was so much fun. Lots of waterbombs and face paint involved. We’re still working on those pictures, so we’ll post them up as soon as we can.

The wedding was magical and so relaxed, which is the way it should be. The weather was just perfect and the backdrop of a Darwin sunset just made the beach photos come alive!

Then it was on the plane again and Kerina went south-west back to Mandurah and I went south-east to Townsville!

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of photographing the Rafferty family on their property. I don’t think I’ve seen such pretty light in a long time, and the Rafferty’s are just lovely people. Tess and Aiden had so much fun running together, and we just couldn’t resist having one of the chooks in the family portrait. After all, they’re part of the family, right?

My Mum really doesn’t like feathers, so I got Kerina to take this photo of me with the chook, just for my Mum. See Mum, they’re not so bad!

 

Until next time – Kirst & Kerina

Bubbas bubbas bubbas

We’ve been having such a lovely time in and out of the studio lately, meeting so many lovely people and their families.

Some highlights from the last few weeks include meeting Fran, Craig and their sweet little daughter, Mali. Poor little Mali wasn’t feeling her normal smiley self on the day of the shoot, but she did so well and we just think she’s adorable.

We also met Claudia and her daughter Alexandra, who popped by the studio for a gift voucher shoot, along with her Mum and Grandmother who were here to visit from Germany.

 

Last, but most certainly not least is the much anticipated arrival of a new baby to Kirst & Kerina Photography! Baby Benson, our new miniature dachshund puppy is the life of the studio and has made his grand entrance to the photography world! What a fantastic little personality, with oh so much character and he is certainly Mr Charisma! He is not phased by the studio lights and thinks the backdrop paper is the best thing to run on because of the crackly noise it makes and slipperiness under his feet. As you’ll see he well and truly in the chewing phase of puppyhood, but he’s our pet photography poster boy and we’re very proud of him!

We’re super excited about our future plans too, with some interstate weddings on the books in Darwin and Townsville, as well as a documentary project in the Rockingham area.

Until next time – Kirst & Kerina

Pretty in pink

I’m so happy to finally be back in Mandurah after such a long time away, and the Randell Street studio is now fully up and running with both Kerina and I here full time. It’s joyful to be able to do what we love day in and day out, to meet and work with so many fantastic and wonderful people.

Recently, we met the beautiful Proudfoot family with Jo and Mark and their three absolutely adorable daughters. It was a nice early start, but a very special day for this gorgeous family as they celebrated baby Winter’s first birthday with a family photo shoot.

Thank you for letting us be a part of this very special day!

We’ll be posting some more beautiful family shoot pictures soon, as well as some lovely studio work.

We also have a very special new member of the studio to introduce! Stay tuned to meet him…

Fuzzy Friends

One of the absolute joys of portrait photography is meeting little fuzzy friends like Leo, the Bichon Frise. The challenge comes when we try to get them to stay in one spot for longer than 10 seconds so we can get the photograph we’re after.

How cute is this little guy?!

 

Family Time

It’s been a couple of busy weeks providing lots of variety as always.  The studio room has undergone some major renovations which will allow us to create a much wider range of ‘looks’ which we are very excited about.  I have been a ‘tradie’ for many hours these past couple of weeks and, suffice to say, happy to be back behind the camera!  Between building duties I have gained an appreciation of major industry by shooting a range of promotional work for Tiwest, a major pigment producer in Kwinana; producing more corporate portraits for a variety of local businesses and having fun times with families.

You may remember the beautiful baby Sienna from earlier posts, well she visited last week for her ’6 month old’ pics and she is an absolute delight.   Katrina and Mat are such proud parents – who can blame them!

I  also had a lovely time meeting and shooting the Empey family from Perth.  We visited a local park so there was the reward of play time between shots which Xavier and Lucas really appreciated.

 

 

‘Til nextime – ciao KP