I remember a few years ago, when we first heard that the Gold Coast was going to be hosting the Commonwealth Games, we talked about how crazy it would be knowing that our kids would be EIGHT and SIX years old when we took them to the events. It seemed unfathomable at the time, and yet here we are... We put our bids in for two events, and we were lucky enough to score tickets for both. We chose preliminaries rather than finals, and day events, thinking we'd have better luck getting those tickets. Our first event was last Friday at the Artistic Gymnastics - miss 8 was SO excited!! Mr 6... well not so much. When we got home that night, we asked them: "What was the best part of the day?" Miss 8 - watching all the gymnasts! Mr 6 - going on the train (haha) Our next event is tomorrow (Friday) and we are seeing the Athletics! We are most looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere, although I have some trepidation about sitting in the sun all day, and the long queues for the toilets ;) Have you been to see any events? The arrival of a new family member is always cause for celebration - and updating your family portraits is a lovely way to do that! Rochelle and her family came to Tamborine recently for a mix of studio and outdoor portraits, so that we could achieve two very different looks for their session. Baby Tyler was just a few weeks old in this session - how cute is he in his little outfit? After a few little newborn images in the studio, we ventured out into the beautiful afternoon light to capture some more family memories. Here are a few of the favourites from the day.
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I will openly admit that I can be incredibly annoying at times - often stubborn, sometimes fickle and rather untidy when it comes to housework and other boring chores... but lately I've noticed another annoying habit of mine, and I just cant stop myself. You see, since we got our Mini Bull Terrier puppy Yohsi (pronounced YOE-see), well, I just cant stop talking about her. I can hear myself blabbering on about her, telling funny stories about her latest escapades, describing the chaos she creates, laughing about how funny she is... and its like I KNOW I'm being annoying - in the back of my mind I can hear myself saying "SHUT UP HIL"... but I keep doing it anyway. I'm not the only one - if anything, my husband is worse! Its like he's doing the "Proud dad" thing all over again - he cant stop showing photos of his new baby to everyone - in fact, we both cant stop talking about this bloody dog! If you've ever had the pleasure of knowing a Bull Terrier, with their hilarious personalities, you must know what I mean. But if you're a friend of mine, or a client, or a random stranger and have been subjected to my constant waffling about our new dog, I sincerely apologise! When Shanah, Lachie and Josh came for a mini maternity session at Tamborine recently, little Josh wasn't in the happiest of moods - it took lots of cuddles from mum (including some inside the studio) to coax some smiles and laughter out of him! These are some of the favourites from this session: And then soon after, Josh's baby brother Charlie was here! Josh was super excited to give his little brother some lovely cuddles and kisses during this studio session - I always love how much enthusiasm the older siblings show when they get to hold the new bub! Little Charlie was just amazing and we were able to capture some lovely moments for this beautiful family to treasure. Woah... is it just me, or did term 1 FLY past? I seriously cant believe that we are almost a quarter of the way through the school year already. There is one dead giveaway though - my kids emotions are on overdrive at the moment. Bickering, tired and emotional and just about done, I reckon. I knew that miss 8 was tired when she burst into tears over breaking her fingernail O_O I think we'll be keeping it low-key during this school holidays, a few catch up days and a few quiet days at home. We all need a little break now and then - what about you - have you got any big plans? Last year's Christmas Mini Sessions were fabulous!! These were held over 3 weekends here at Tamborine, with a choice of outdoor (non-themed) or indoor with festive props. We had amazing luck with the weather until the very last session with patchy rain - so some of the outdoor sessions became last minute studio sessions instead! I love doing these mini sesisons - fast paced, fun and I get to meet so many wonderful new people along the way, as well as catching up with past clients who have come back to update their family photos for another year! Here are just some of the favourites from these mini sessions: Something about the start of a new year, makes me want to go through the house like a bulldozer and chuck out every single piece of clutter that is clogging up space in our tiny home... Its the time of year for fresh starts I guess, but honestly, I used to think I was a bit of a hoarder, that is, until both my kids came along! WHY oh WHY do we have to hang on to every broken toy, every single piece of "artwork" that comes home from school, every cute lollie wrapper, every broken crayon, and every crappy McHappy Meal toy since the beginning of time...? Clutter makes me stressed, and I'm getting worse as I get older. With the mammoth amount of new "stuff" that came in the door for Christmas, I'm desperate to throw out or donate all the old stuff. Its not as easy as that though, as they have wised up to my mood and watch me as I tidy, they hover and complain: "Wait - I still want that!!" *Sigh* Miss 8 thinks she has found the answer and has started writing little notes on her drawings "Mummy please don't throw this away" :) I patiently wait until the kids are otherwise occupied, keep a few special items and bin the rest. Once school goes back, its GAME ON though! How do you handle the clutter? Helen's extended family session here at Tamborine was an absolute blast!! These gorgeous kids were so much fun to work with, there was a lot of laughter going on and these cousins are obviously great friends too! Did you know that I do not charge any extra to add in more family members? Aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents, even the family pet - all are welcome for no extra cost! Helen says: "Very happy with our photos and the amazing service Hilary provides. The kids were at ease and happy to smile! Thank you!" Here are some of the favourites from the day: If you enjoyed this, you might also like:
Blog: Turning it around... Blog: Behind the scenes at a newborn session... Wow, we're already a week into 2018 - hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year! Our Christmas was reeeeeally busy... the whole lead up, kids off school, multiple family birthdays and lots of family & newborn sessions etc - phew I was super keen for a few days off after that! We spent a lovely Christmas Day at home, our families came to us and we had a nice lunch and swim in the pool. And this year for us, New Years was a bit of a fizzer! We had no plans so went to bed before midnight - we must be getting old!! Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful year ahead! Steph and Keenan were blessed with some absolutely breathtaking afternoon light during their mini maternity session - and what a stunning mum-to-be Steph was! Everything about her just glowed and it was so beautiful to capture these moments for them... And then it was time to meet their beautiful baby girl!! Little miss Winter was a superstar during her newborn session in their home - sleeping through the whole shoot and looking like a gorgeous little angel in whatever we dressed her in. Steph said: " Hilary did an amazing job with our maternity and newborn shoot! She was so lovely and easy to deal with and made the whole process a wonderful experience. Hilary has such a calming nature with babies and made the newborn shoot seem so easy and the photos turned out beautifully" When doing newborn sessions in your home, its a wonderful opportunity to capture bub with the family pets too - in this case the dog was a little too excited to sit beside his new baby sister, so I created a composite image in Photoshop by merging two images together. So, my kids are 5 and 7... and I'm quite pleased with the fact that for some time, I've had very little to do with any of their bodily functions. So it was a bit of a rude awakening the other morning to get out of bed and be confronted by a poo explosion of epic proportions. Our newest member of the family, our Miniature Bull Terrier puppy Yohsi (YOH-si) hadn't been able to hold it in, and overnight had managed to plaster a very runny poo all through her bed and crate, on her toys, water bowl and all over herself! I can tell you right now, I just about vomited! I texted my hubby about the horrific scene, and he rang me back, stifling a laugh as I described the carnage. OHHHH the joys of cleaning up crap... the dog was treated to her first bath, all the windows were thrown open and doTERRA's Purify had a great workout in the diffuser for the day. Get a puppy, they said. It will be fun, they said! Nikita, James & cute little Weston came to visit me at Tamborine for a family session out in the beautiful morning sun... I loved spending time with this fabulous family and have been lucky enough to have them back for a couple more sessions since then :) Weston is such a happy little guy and I just loved capturing those cheeky smiles! Nikita says: "Hilary was amazing!! We felt so comfortable with her straight away. Our family photos were perfect and we have already booked in our next photo session. Would highly recommend Hilary to all of our friends and family." Thank you so much guys! Ahh book week. Each year so far I have vowed to be prepared and organized well in advance... and each year so far I have managed to leave it to the last minute and hash together something vague in the days before the big parade. Alas this year was no different... after last year's effort, I had big plans to go all out. I actually wrote the date down in my diary and was determined that I would not be slack this year. I asked the kids weeks ago what they would like to dress as. Both were no real help. Miss 7 had a vague idea of going as Billy B Brown... Master 5 just shrugged and left it up to me. So I put it to the back of my mind and then promptly forgot. With a week to go, I asked them again - Miss 7 proudly announced that she had decided to go as Scooby-Doo (we dont have anything vaguely resembling a Scooby-Doo outfit so that was never going to happen) - and again Master 5 just shrugged. In the end, with one day to go, we raided the dress up box and chose two items that we already had. Miss 7 - a panda - from one of her Barbie books. Master 5 - a crocodile - from... ummm... hmm lets see if we can google a book that has a crocodile in it! Nope we wont be winning any costume awards this year! (Mr 5 was not very happy about having his photo taken!!) Todays blog features my Mother's Day mini sessions at Tamborine. Photos make lovely gifts for mums and grandmothers and makes a great excuse to get the whole family together, even the grown up kids! All sessions held at Tamborine have the option to make use of my purpose built studio as well as our 5 rural acres, giving two very different looks within the one portrait session, at no extra charge! Here's some of the favourites from these mini sessions. This week I'm shamelessly indulging in a proud parenting moment! Miss 7 has dabbled in a few after-school activities in the last few years, swimming lessons, drama classes etc - but this year she was determined that gymnastics was to be her "thing". She absolutely LOVES it, I mean, during every training session, you cannot wipe the smile off her face, grinning from ear to ear. So brings so much joy and enthusiasm that its rubs off on me a little too, when I watch. When she's not at training, she cartwheels... I mean everywhere! I have lost track of the number of times I've nearly been wiped out in the kitchen due to a cartwheeling leg flying past me. ("STOP CARTWHEELING IN THE HOUSE!!" has become a common cry in this home) The school-yard is prime cartwheeling and handstanding ground and she takes every opportunity she can get to practice. So on the weekend she competed in her very first competition in WAG 1/beginner, and she did SO well (hehe, biased mummy here)!! She was not nervous, just super excited and jumping out of her skin to get out there and do her thing. She finished up with two 1st placings, a 2nd and a 5th, and ended up placing 2nd overall in her division. Not a bad day out, when you're doing something that you love. Right - onto gorgeous miss Charlee's fabulous portrait session!! Two year olds are not normally known for being co-operative or for loving the camera, but I have to say, this little cutie sure knew what to do when it came time to have her portrait taken! This little one has so much personality, and I loved being able to capture these memories for her family. She did everything we asked of her and more! We were able to capture some lovely images here at Tamborine using both the studio and the back fields... so much fun and energy with this little poppet - and she gave us a wonderful performance singing and dancing to Frozen songs as well! Charlee's family had these kind words to say about their experience: "Not only did we have a wonderful time, we ended up with the most beautiful and stunning photos. Hilary was fabulous when I contacted her through email answering all my questions. She was even more fabulous on the day, getting a cheeky 2yr old to do photos is not an easy task, though she captured her in such a extraordinary way. We most certainly will be going back to do our family photos with her. Hilarys photography is natural, beautiful and exactly what I was looking for, I can't thank her enough" Ahhhh school holidays, gotta love 'em! After the craziness of the last week of school, it has been lovely to have a bit of downtime, lazy mornings and later starts. Our first week was kept pretty busy with family visiting, with a couple of full-on touristy days, but this second week has been at a much slower pace - Disney on Ice, park play-dates and no rushing off anywhere. I'm also head down, bum up getting through my editing and blogging as I am a little bit behind schedule! Alison and her gorgeous bunch came for a family portrait session here at Tamborine recently and I have to say, it was one of those fabulous sessions where everything was just perfect. Wonderful fun family, stunning afternoon light and beautiful moments that deserved to be captured forever. Alison said: "We hadn't had family photos taken for so long and I'm so glad we went to Hilary to get them done!!! Hilary was so helpful and friendly and made the whole process easy and enjoyable. Some truly beautiful moments were captured that we will cherish for years to come. Thanks again" Thank you so much Alison! Here are a few of the favourites from that afternoon: I remember one time in high school, I was walking past a classroom which I knew one of my friends were in. I wasn't looking where I was going, and in the process of craning my neck to see into the classroom, I walked straight into a pole... DONK! Of course everyone saw me, and everyone laughed, my cheeks were burning and I wanted the earth to swallow me up right then and there... Well, we get older, and these embarrassing moments seem to happen less frequently - in fact I cant remember the last time I felt like that... until this week! Master 5 has been doing AFL Auskick recently, and before the session this week I was standing innocently on the side of the oval chatting to another mum, when suddenly something went DONK on the side of my head - next thing you know, I was on the ground and my sunglasses went flying! Wow, I sat there not totally comprehending what had happened, head in my hands feeling a bit woozy, and with a dozen concerned faces all looking at me! The poor kid obviously didn't know his strength when he kicked that soccer ball (yes, a soccer ball during AFL training) but it must have hit me with a bit of force, my jaw and neck were a bit tender for the rest of the day. I think my pride was more bruised than anything though! Ash and her gorgeous girls came along for a mini session which was a prize from a nearby kindy - this girly shoot here at Tamborine was so much fun and very cute having the girls kissing mummy's little baby bump too! Some of the favourites from the day: |
AuthorHilary Hudson Photography. Natural Light Newborn and Families Photographer based in Tamborine, QLD. Australia. Archives
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Hilary Hudson Photography is located in Tamborine, Queensland, photographing newborn portraits and family sessions in the Gold Coast, Logan and Scenic Rim areas of Queensland, Australia.
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