Here are some more images from a family portrait series taken of best mates and siblings Chase and Ella. The duo have just turned 5 years of age. Here’s one set from a collection of portraits taken whilst on their wonderfully impressive giant playground. These images are currently being produced to form a set of three to be displayed together in one frame.
What an amusing experience we had when photographing a gorgeous family portrait at Freshwater Beach near Manly. The stars of the shoot were stunning Nina and her 2 year old pug dog named George. Nina who is nearly 11 years old, was given George for her 8th birthday. Nina’s dad David had a client with a pug that was pregnant. It was through this connection that they became the delighted owners of a new pug pup they named George. Nina’s mum Mitori said George is just like her son and is an integral part of their family. She laughed when reflecting on what she loves about George. She said each time they get home, George greets them with the utmost enthusiasm and excitement, as if he had been parted from his family for months!!! Nina and George have an unconditional love and wonderful adoration for each other so it was important to reflect this in their framed portrait series below.
Mitori said George doesn’t think he is the typical dog. George’s favourite television show is Dr Harry. Whenever George sees dogs on the show he runs up to the screen thinking he has some new friends to play with.
George had never been to the beach before. Below is the funniest expression. When he got a chance to run around on the sand, George was darting all over the place at full speed. It was a hilarious sight!!!
Mitori’s parents Kikuyo (above left) and Seuseumu (above right) are pictured above with Nina and George. Kikuyo is especially fond of George. Mitori said whenever the family is on Skype Kikuyo loves to try to talk to George. George gives a cute series of sounds acknowledging it is Kikuyo talking. George is also very popular at the pet hotel he goes to at Duffys Forest. The previous owners of Marendale Pet Hotel loved having him so much they decided to get a pug and named their dog George as well.
To make Mum’s day, give her a gift that captures the heart and soul of your family.
We can create a customised and beautifully presented gift certificate if you order before 12pm on Thursday 9th May, just ask us about our courier options. Any orders put in after that time and before 6:30pm on Saturday will be emailed as a printable voucher by 8:30pm on Saturday night.
For more information, please call our studio on 9939 5553 or click on the purchase button below! After hours call Tania on 0419 997 556.
Insights into creative and technical elements of photography, including marketing and managing a professional imaging business.
Tania Niwa and Lauren Bootland are an explosive duo who will turn your wedding and portrait business around by hosting a full day seminar. This will be an intensive, fun, informative and instructive learning experience.
Over the course of the day you will be introduced to key elements that make a successful photography business.
Come and experience:
Business strategies and practical shooting techniques.
How to educate your clients to value your products and services.
How to bring your creative passion to life through imaging.
The intricacies of a live indoor portrait shoot.
An opportunity to ask technical questions.
Tania Niwa is Australia’s youngest female Grand Master of Photography with the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), achieving this in just 17 years. She is also a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography. Tania has a photography studio in Sydney specialising in contemporary family portraiture, commercial photography, fine art photography and mentoring.
Tania has established herself within the top echelon of Australian photographers in her field. During her career she has also greatly impressed her North American contemporaries winning international awards with self-commissioned powerful, earthy photographs. These images exude sensuality combined with a wonderful blend of documentary and slick design.
As a successful photographer in her own right, Lauren Bootland is proof that attention to detail and business acumen are a recipe for success. Lauren has over 16 years experience in the photography profession and is now a highly respected leader in marketing and business.
With a degree in photography she has recognised the need and importance of systemising boutique photography studios.
Blending these assets in her role as a Business Studio Manager Lauren has guided the gm photographics studio to new heights with her wealth of knowledge, energy and passion.
We have just photographed Maddi and her two very energetic pooches Teddy and Dexter who are a hybrid mix of Jack Russell cross Pug known as ‘Jug’ (JackPug) dogs.Here is Maddi’s story about her beloved jugs:
“My puppy dogs, Dexter and Teddy, mean the absolute world to me. I will do whatever they want, so you could say I spoil them a bit, well actually you could say I spoil them a lot! When I first got Dexter I can still remember the feeling I had when driving up to get him. It was a mix of excitement and pure shock that I was really getting a dog. It took me four years of convincing my mum to get a dog. Each year mum would tell me to do research about what is involved. For example: how much food would cost, what vet we would go to, where the dog would be walked and by who.All of a sudden everything changed in the holidays of 2011-2012, when Mum and I started researching breeds and breeders. My favorite breed of dog is the Pug and mum’s is Jack Russell so it seemed perfect that we got a ‘Jug’, so we were both happy. We found a good breeder and mum sent an email to her. We got an email back including photos of all of the dogs. We decided to get a boy dog for various reasons. We looked at all of the photos and Dexter stood out for both of us, we fell in love! We organised a date to pick him up. It felt like it took forever driving to pick him up and sitting in the car waiting for the breeder seemed like an excruciatingly long time but as soon as I saw him I couldn’t believe that this small puppy dog was mine. After four years of dreaming, I wasn’t able to comprehend just how amazing it would feel to hold my very own puppy for the first time.
Dexter is an absolute amazing little puppy. We had been enjoying Dexter’s company in our little family of three when mum and I had an idea to get him a friend because he was getting lonely and being naughty during the day, chewing furniture. So when we went to Chatswood one Saturday mum said we could go to see the dogs in the pet store and there he was, our Teddy. He also had a brother who was still in the pet shop window but we choose Teddy because he was so sweet and cuddly.One of my favorite moments of blending our little family together was the first night that Teddy (pictured with red collar) and Dexter (with black collar) fell asleep together. At first every time Teddy tried to sleep with Dexter, Dexter would rudely stand up and walk away. It was amazing that it was actually Dexter to be the one to go and lie on Teddy. I still have the photo!
My dogs are the first thing I think of each morning and the last thing I think of each night. Having our photos taken with Tania captured the love and the happiness we feel together.
Thank you Tania for helping us to do this. The photos you took are flawless, they make me so happy! I have them over my bed and in my study. It makes me so proud to show people the photos because they perfectly represent the essence of my two beautiful dogs.”
If you wish to see Tania Niwa’s pet photography portfolio please click here. To find out more about having your family and pet photographed please call us on +61 2 9939 5553 or email us.
Meet Kyla and her mum Chantelle who we photographed at our studio in Brookvale. Dad, Kelly is very ‘camera shy’ and wasn’t at Kyla’s first professional studio baby portrait session, but he promises to be in the next family portrait!!! As a parent he can now see the value of being captured in precious photos for his daughter to appreciate and treasure as a family heirloom. Kyla is a mini version of her dad which is conveyed in her contemplative close up portrait (bottom right image). It was adorable seeing and capturing Kyla’s giggles and grins. She had so much fun being the star of the photography shoot.I do have lots to thank Facebook for as Chantelle found me through my extended family face book group. Although we are related we had never met til last year. It has been a blessing getting to know more of my relatives from New Plymouth who also live in Sydney and being invited to celebrate Kyla’s first birthday over the weekend.
Chantelle and Kelly particularly loved this collection of portraits in one frame as it was a cohesive way to enjoy and reflect on different facets of their daughter’s character and physical attributes. As you can see, Kyla has lovely long eye lashes, gorgeous big brown eyes and a joyous happy smile that is absolutely infectious.
We have just had the pleasure of taking family portraits at Dural. Here is a sneak peak of some portraits of their adorable cherubs. We photographed this wonderful family four years for their pregnancy portraits, then soon after when their twins Chase and Ella were 11 weeks old. We came back to photograph them again, this time with their latest addition, 12 week old Makenzie Jay. It was heartwarming to see how Chase and Ella have grown and to see their adoring love and strong bond as best buddies!
Makenzie’s smile just makes you melt. This is her immediately after a 20 minute power nap. We have just designed a custom made heirloom portrait album especially for Makenzie to treasure as she grows up. We also created individual albums for Chase and Ella when they had their first shoot back in 2008.
We took portraits of Chase and Ella at their amazing playground which has the coolest cubby house I have ever seen, a huge tree house and a whole raft of other play equipment!!! Simply put – paradise!!! We arrived when it was raining, but much to our appreciation the sun came out for a short time, just long enough for us to capture a series of portraits before heading back inside for the rest of their shoot.
As we are fully equipped with professional studio lighting, we were able to bring everything we needed for a professional studio set up. As well as family portraits we also took photos with a very, very proud grandma. We look forward to sharing more images with you down the track.
An old friend Steve Clisby has just made it through the first round of Channel Nine’s ‘The Voice Australia’. Originally from California, Steve grew up playing the piano and saxophone from the age of seven and studied singing throughout high school. In the seventies he established his career in Europe with his African American soul voice, eventually basing himself in Amsterdam for two decades. Steve made Sydney his home since 1999 and is a North Shore local based in the harbour-side suburb of Mosman. Very few people have ever been able to guess Steve’s real age, but tonight all was revealed when Delta Goodren asked his age. No one would ever guess he is is 67!!! He looks like he is only in his forties or fiftees!!! It seemed like an obvious match with Steve choosing Seal to be his coach for the tv series ‘The Voice Australia’. I’ve always thought Steve looked a little bit like Seal (I love Seal’s music too), we will see what others say over the course of the show.Steve was only able to let us all know yesterday about his appearance on The Voice Australia, and what easier way to share, than via Facebook and Twitter. Here’s what he posted…”There’s something I’ve been working on for a little while that I’ve had to keep under wraps…but now I’m happy to share with you… I’m on this season of The Voice Australia. My first episode is on Tuesday 7pm (AEST) on Ch 9. I hope you can come on this journey with me and share some of the highs and lows! Look out for a story on A Current Affair Thursday night also.”
I took this portrait of Steve at a Grand Piano Factory in Newcastle. When Steve and I were brain storming ideas for his shoot, the opportunity to photograph him with his favourite grand pianos at Stuart and Sons Grand Pianos up in Newcastle was an exciting option that we rolled with! We had a fantastic day experimenting with moody lighting. Instead of using our studio flash lighting as ‘studio lights’, I just used the modelling lights that give a gentle continuous light (just like a light bulb does). When this image was judged at New Zealand Professional Photography Awards a couple of the judges wondered if the piano in the background was actually a photo on the wall, but it is a real piano too!
We worked in a studio space within the factory that had the most incredible acoustics and enjoyed capturing the circular shapes in the wall and within the piano! We were lucky enough that Wayne Stuart of Stuart and Sons let us have the studio for the day and were able to move these [very precious and very valuable custom made] pianos around where ever we wanted. It was heavenly!!! I’m not quite sure the very good insurance I have would have covered these pianos if I had dented them accidentally!!! While taking his portraits, Steve played live for us soulful in between shooting. We wanted to capture Steve’s essence with a soulful, gentle feel. It was also important to incorporate Steve’s hands, seeing he is a musician. Showing hands also conveys trust. We also wanted to include Steve’s hats. He is known for wearing hats so it was very apt to help convey his style.
As you will see if you visit Steve Clisby’s website he is a dedicated performer, composer and producer. As a contemporary artist, Steve’s music has a distinctive and original edge as well as the smooth jazz/soul influence that defines his style. It is going to be lots of fun following his journey on The Voice Australia.
You know that incredible rush you get when you are in your element… well I had the opportunity twice today to get that rush. This feeling is something to cherish and never take for granted. I’m on a massive high right now having just photographed Mount Taranaki – Egmont and Te Rewa Rewa Bridge on my last night in my kiwi homeland before returning back to my other home, Sydney in the morning.
PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNICAL INFO: Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III | Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Shutter Speed: 30 sec | Focal length 24.0 mm | Aperture: f/5.6 | Date created: 2/04/2013 – 8:04 PM | ISO Speed Rating: 800
Just as I was about to pack up after taking photos on dusk I thought I would experiment with a higher ISO and a 30 second exposures. It was actually pretty much pitch black but you wouldn’t think so. I can’t believe what can be captured with a long exposure!!! Can you see the peak of Mount Taranaki in the distance. The glow was magnificent and magical!!! You just don’t see these tones and luminosity. Can you see The Northern Star in the top right? To read more about Te Rewa Rewa Bridge and the inspiration behind it’s creation check out an earlier landscape post on my blog.
The great thing about tonight was that there was absolutely no wind so that meant I could do longer exposures than last time I was here in January and could capture the flax bush seeds sharply. I think I know where this image is going to look great!!! Mum and dad’s wall and my home!!!
The other exciting part of my day was that I got to do a self portrait needed for a bio for an exhibition ['Call of Taranki' at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery] at my tribal Maori Marae Owae Whai-Tara with the help of my dad and a friend. I wasn’t looking forward to it and was pretty exhausted but it all worked out better than imagined. My time back in my homeland and watching Mount Taranaki to see when it will emerge from behind the mist or clouds has been a brilliant experience. I am excited about posting more soon.
Saturday 25th May |Saturday 29th June | Saturday 27th August
$250 for a 4 hr course | 11am – 3pm
• Learn simple but effective photography techniques with Tania Niwa, Grand Master of Photography.
• Fun, easy to understand photography workshops designed to suit beginners and enthusiasts of all levels.
• Use your own digital ‘point & shoot’ camera or digital SLR .
• Photography workshops start at our Brookvale studio and continue on to nearby locations to practice photography techniques.
Photography Workshops proudly supported by Better Photography Magazine, Kayell Australia and Canon Australia.
