Anytime is a good time...

I'm often asked, when is a good time to have a portrait taken?  My answer is simple... anytime.  

As you know, I'm a firm believer in photographing, not just families, but photographing both women and men.  People have come to the conclusion that if you were to have portraits taken of yourself that you are considered vain... hmmm not the case AT ALL.  This actually infuriates me to no end.  To have a portrait taken of yourself or child is an experience you and they will remember for many many years to come.  We have portraits taken for many reasons... boost self esteem and gain confidence, to promote ourselves in our business, to give to our family members at Christmas on birthdays or the special days...like Mother's Day & Father's Day
OR we have our portrait taken just.because.we.want.to!  
You don't need a reason, but if you need justification, there are some good enough ones.  The photos that we take and have taken for us are our legacy.  I have the most beautiful portrait of my grandmother when she was younger... I love it so much, and it hangs in pride of place in my home.  The portrait that you have of yourself now is what your family will remember you by in many many years to come.  

I had only just realised there are not many photographs of myself as I am always behind the camera.  I started to question this... why not?  I couldn't answer it.  Well, I had plenty of excuses, but really, who was I kidding... they were not good enough!  And because I couldn't come up with a good enough answer, I made myself shoot a portrait session... of myself!  I did this for three reasons.  Firstly, I did this for me...(did you know its actually O.K. to do things for yourself and put yourself first for once?!)  I actually wanted to have a nice portrait of myself.  I haven't had a nice portrait taken of myself and I wanted one.  Secondly, I did this for my daughter, Tasma.  One day she will grow up and she will want to have a beautiful photo of her mother... and her father for that matter (I will get onto this later!)... up until then, I had nothing to give her.  But I do now.  Thirdly, I needed to show who I was for my business.  Whether we like it or not, people like to see who they will be dealing with.  In my case, being a portrait and wedding photographer, people like to see a friendly face.  I have been hiding behind my logo for years and it was time I put a face to Sally McCann - Photographer.

The photo session I have attached to this blog is of my cousin Cath and her daughter Claudia.  Cath came to me for couple of reasons... She came to me because Claudia was going on exchange to Paris over November/December.  Not only was this Claudia's first time overseas WITHOUT her parents, but her first time being away from her parents at Christmas.  Secondly, Cath knew that being 16 was an extremely special time in any young ladies life.  You're emotions fly at 17... you're almost an adult, but you're definitely not a child.  Cath wanted me to capture the beauty in her daughter so that she could hold onto this time forever.  I organised the delightful Megan from That Blonde Chick Makeup Artist to come and give them both beautiful hair and makeup for their session.  

CLICK BELOW the image of Claudia to view a small slideshow of their Mother/Daughter Session.

Hope I can take your portrait soon!

Big Love 

Sal xx

Timeless Family Portraits and added Lifestyle Session

When clients come to me, they sometimes find it very hard to decide on whether to have a studio portrait session, or and environmental session.  For this little family of four, they really wanted to have an environmental session as that what suited their family.  The girls love playing outside in the garden and mum and dad also thought it would be a little more relaxed, and that's what they're all about.  

I asked them if they would mind popping by my home studio to start our session off there as I'm trying to perfect my formal portraits of families, but more so of the individual child.  I have really been enjoying perfecting this style of photography - children's portraiture especially.  

After our in studio portrait session, we made our way to a little place that I like to call "The Secret Garden".  It's a beautiful garden maintained by the CoGG and very rarely so I see anyone in there. It's the perfect place to take family portraits in and environmental location without a whole bunch of onlookers.  Funnily enough, this gorgeous family knew all about "The Secret Garden", so although it wasn't much a surprise place to them, mum Emma was happy to go there as she used to take the girls there when they were a little younger to play and relax.  So in the end, this location was especially fitting for this young family.

Hope you enjoy this little collection.  I would love to hear from you, please leave any comments or get in touch via the Contact page.  

Big Love

Sal x

Gus Turns One! Cake Smash and all...

If you are a mum this little intro will be all too familiar... if becoming a mum or thinking about being a mum... wherever you are at in your life journey... if you think life is going fast now - let me tell you, life with a child goes by like you're running a 100 metre sprint 50 times a day!  Life without is perhaps like running a marathon and stopping for a long as you like at each drink station for a chat!    

When I was pregnant with my little Tasma (she's 18 months this week!) I would hear a lot from mums and dads alike that "time goes so fast when you have kids - make the most of it!" and every time I heard it I used to roll my eyes as if to say 'yeah yeah yeah, I've been told this 1000 times over!' Truth be told they were so right!  Kills me to say that!

From the minute a baby is born, life changes from being all about us, to all about the baby.  Time revolves around the Feed, Change Nappy, Feed, Sleep schedule.  Sleeps go from something like four sleeps during the day, to three, then to two and then to before you know it you're down to just one sleep a day... suddenly time has completely gotten away from you and child has just turned ONE!!!  Where did that time go?!  

Karlie & Johnny know all too well what it's like to experience the above!  Their little man Angus turned one last month and what better way from them to celebrate such a momentous occasion was to come and have Angus's portrait taken, along with some family portraits of all three and then finished off with a super fun 'Cake Smash'.  This was the first time I'd been asked to photograph a Cake Smash, and so I thought - why not, this could be really fun - and it was!  Little Gus was in heaven!  At first he was a little unsure as to what was supposed to happen, but then once he got a taste of getting his hands in that cake, there was no stopping him!

If you little munchkin is about to turn One and you have been thinking about having some family portraits taken to record this big milestone, please get in touch with me!  It is so much fun and I promise you, you will have a great selection of precious photos to choose from!

Big Love

Sal x

Mother & Daughter Session - A Bond Like No Other...

Any style of photography incorporating family gets me by the heart strings every time.  This mother and daughter combo was no exception!  Jessie has just turned 21 and is about 'leave the nest' - or may have already.  An only child to doting mother Fiona "Fi" you could imagine how hard it would have been for Fi to let her go... Jessie's interstate move prompted Fi to have some precious photos taken of her and her daughter before Jessie left.  A little keepsake.  What better time to do it?!  It was perfect, there were a few laughs, and few "ohhh mum" but it was all good fun, and by the end, you could see they were even more closer than ever.    

A lot of people seem to think that you need an excuse to have a portrait session with your loved ones... you don't!  Any time is a good time to have this done! 

I picked the title of this post because it rang very true to Fi and Jessie.  They do have a bond like no other.  Almost like sisters, it's almost scary!  As much as I could clearly see that Fi loves her daughter Jessie, I could also see that she knew it was time for Jessie to spread her wings, leave the nest, and see just how far she could fly!  I was always told when I would go travelling or when I moved out of home for the first time, to give it a go, and if I don't like it, I knew that I could always come home.  I believe this to be true for Jess and I wish her all the very best of luck for taking the next step into adulthood!

Big Love, Sal xx