Event Photography

As a specialist portrait event photographer I spend much of my time attending and photographing the special milestones in peoples lives; in particular weddings and christenings. When people are planning these events hiring a professional photographer just seems to be the natural thing to do.

For some reason however this is not the case with other milestones such as significant birthdays or anniversaries. All too often people will spend a small fortune on catering, marquees, DJ's and decorations and give no thought what so ever into hiring a professional to come and photograph the occasion for them; preferring instead to leave capturing the memories of these events up to family members and guests with their pocket cameras and mobile phones.

Now call me biased if you like but that's just a little silly, especially when you can hire a professional for a few hours of photography for about the same cost, or perhaps even a little less, than the DJ. Take a quick look through the photo book attached to the bottom of this post and compare this with the photographs taken by your family and friends at your last party and I think you'll understand my point.

Kirra Beach - Coolangatta Queensland

Considered by locals and visitors alike to have one of the best and most diverse surf breaks on Queensland's Gold Coast Kirra Beach is located on the northern side of the Queensland and New South Wales border and is the type of place that those of us in Australia's more southern states dream about during the colder winter months.

I was at Kirra Beach recently and while the surf wasn't doing much at the time the sunrise was spectacular. The brilliant glow appeared first as a speck on the horizon and grew to bathe the whole beach in colour. Sometimes getting up early in the morning has it's rewards.

Liam Saville

Family Portraits - Lake Gillawarna

On Saturday 1 August 2009 we had the pleasure of being invited to photograph the Pfeiffer family at Lake Gillawarna in Georges Hall. This beautiful lake setting could have been purpose built for photography and we were able to capture some really fabulous shots.

Sarah I know you've been waiting a few days to see some of these so here is a bit of a sneak preview. I'll have all your photographs finished in the next few days and I'll let you know when they can be viewed on your online gallery.

Liam Saville

Caitlin in the Kitchen

As I often tell our clients one of the keys to capturing great kids photos is to ensure your subject has fun and enjoys the photography session.

The accompanying day in the life of photographs of Caitlin in the Kitchen are a great example of this. Of all the tasks around the house nothing gets kids as excited as helping out in the kitchen, and licking the spoon at the end just takes the cake (pardon the pun)!

These special times with your kids just don't last forever and they are a great opportunity to take some really beautiful natural portraits. I just love this type of photography, not only is it fun to do but the end result tells so much more of a story than your get with a forced wooden studio pose. I have no doubt that in years to come these wonderful portraits will mean so much to both Caitlin and her parents.

Liam Saville

PMA Australia 2009 Imaging Technology Show

The Photo Marketing Association International has joined forces with the Photo Imaging Council of Australia to promote a new show concept for the Asia-Pacific photo imaging industry. The first PMA Australia show was held in Melbourne in 2007 and then in Brisbane 2008.

The Southern Hemisphere's largest photographic imaging exhibition is an event not to be missed by photo dealers, photographers, graphic designers, signmakers, government officials, marketing executives and enthusiast photographers.

It will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour: June 26 - June 28, 2009.

Practical Parenting Magazine

We received an email yesterday from Practical Parenting Magazine informing us about their latest competition. They've told us they are looking for a "bundle of joy that's as cute as a button and has charisma to spare" and encouraged us to pass this message on to all our customers.

Entry is open to all Australian children from six months to four years old and the winning entry will be awarded $10,000 cash, a one year modeling contract and will be featured in the magazine.

Now at Seahorse Photographics we'd love nothing more than to have one of our customers win this with one of our fabulous shots used in the winning entry. So if your interested grab a copy of the entry form in this month's Practical Parenting and give us a call to book your child's photo shoot. Our natural and stylish portraits will be just perfect for your entry, and hey, even if you don't win you'll still have some really great shots to decorate your walls and to share with your family and friends.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Liam Saville

Taekwondo Grading

On the evening of Wednesday 8 April 2009 I attended and photographed my son's very first taekwondo grading exam. As I watched the exam I couldn't help be a little nervous for him and seeing him going through his basic techniques and first pattern brought back many memories of my own gradings. I could tell by watching him that he was a little overwhelmed by the situation but he performed really well and I have no doubt he did more than enough to earn his yellow belt.

When Joshua first took up the sport in about August last year I am fairly sure much of his excitement related to the fact that he knew that taekwondo was my sport however since then he has really grown to love his weekly training sessions and has made them his own. So much so that when his club recently had a “bring a friend night” he happily took me along in the role of a “friend” and “helped” me through the training for the night. It was really nice to train with him and it was clearly a buzz for him as well and I'm looking forward to doing it again. Anyway, congratulations Joshua you did your very best which is all any parent could ask for. Well Done.

Liam Saville

Avalon 2009

On Friday 13 March 2009 I was fortunate enough to to attend and photograph the Australian International Airshow which was held for the ninth time at Avalon from 10-15 March 2009. This biannual event is considered by many to be the most comprehensive airshow in the Southern Hemisphere and was this year attended by over 160,000 people. There is just something about loud fast military and commercial jets that never fails to draw crowd. Oh and they make for really great photos as well....

Liam Saville

Teresa & Geoff's Wedding

On Sunday 15 March 2009 we had the pleasure of being invited to photograph Teresa & Geoff's wedding at the spectacular Banjo Paterson Cottage Restaurant in Gladesville. Located practically next door to the old Gladesville hospital and boasting spectacular sweeping views of the Parramatta River this really is the perfect location for an intimate garden wedding.

Even an untimely shower of rain, which forced the ceremony to be moved undercover, couldn't spoil the occasion. Fortunately for the happy couple and their guests it cleared almost as quickly as it appeared and the outdoor reception was able to proceed as planned.

Teresa & Geoff,

Congratulations to you both. Your photographs look beautiful, we've really been able to capture the day as it occurred which I know is what you were after. There's still a little more work to be done but they will be ready for you shorty. In the mean time here's a little teaser.....

I'll talk to you soon,

Liam Saville

HMAS OTWAY

Driving through the Southern New South Wales town of Holbrook last weekend I couldn't help but notice the town's main attraction. Eerily rising out of the ground under a dark stormy sky the Oberon-class HMAS Otway undoubtedly makes every weary traveler shake their head twice for fear they have just drifted off into one of Dr Karl's much publicised micro-sleeps.

This piece of Australian naval history has had pride of place in the centre of Holbrook since it was decommissioned by the Australian Navy and donated to the town in 1995 and certainly makes for a fantastic photo opportunity. Fellow photographer Greg Stevens and I spent the best part of three-quarters of an hour climbing all over and around this massive boat taking all kinds of shots and while some of the artistic angles I captured make for great photos my favourite is definitely this simple shot. The storm clouds above the boat just grab the eye and remind me of massive waves and I can't help but get the feeling that the HMAS Otway is about to burst out of it's concrete moorings and take to the waves.

For those of you who may be wondering there is a logical reason why a small inland NSW town would stick a 90 meter submarine in their main park. After a quick google search I found that the town's original name Germanton was seen as unpatriotic during World War I and in 1915 it was changed and the town renamed after decorated wartime submarine captain Lt Norman Douglas Holbrook.

So there you have it, I wouldn't have thought Holbrook in southern New South Wales would be the place to go for a piece of Australian naval history but if your down that way it's worth a look.

Liam Saville

Enjoy & Save Fundraising

The 2009-2010 Enjoy & Save fundraising book has just been released throughout the St George, Sutherland and Illawarra areas and is being sold by many local clubs and organisations as part of their annual fundraising efforts.

These books are packed with discount vouches from many local businesses and major Sydney attractions, and not only help those organisations selling the books as fundraisers, but also the Kids Breakfree Charity which recieves part of the profit fom every book sold.

As participants in the book Seahorse Photographics just received our complimentary copy, and having spent some time looking through it over the last few days I can tell you that there are some really great discounts on offer from the businesses involved. So if you belong to a club or organisation that could do with another fund raising idea I recommend you contact Enjoy & Save at www.enjoyandsave.com.au and get involved.

Oh, and don't forget to keep an eye out for our discount voucher on page 232 (shown above) as we are offering 15% of the price of our portrait packages which in itself is a really great offer.

Liam Saville

Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to the first Seahorse Photographics post! I thought we should try something a little different this year and I think this blog will fit in nicely with the overhaul of our website that will be happening in the next few weeks.

It is my intention to use the blog as a method of communicating directly with our customers as well as way of keeping our family and friends aware of some of the things we have been up to throughout the year.

So here goes....

When I was looking for a photograph to include with this post I just couldn't go past the one above. I took this at about 6:30am one morning last month while on holidays at the Novotel Resort Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast. This area of Queensland has been one of my favourite holiday destinations for some time, but this resort just takes the cake, and yes it really is as nice as it looks.

The resort itself is a little on the expensive side for our middle income budget, but for a relaxing family holiday with all the trimmings it is going to be difficult to beat. Our ten night package came complete with a king size room with plenty of space for our family of four, daily buffet breakfast, two sessions each day in the kids club, and access to all water sports including sailing and kayaking on the private lake. The resort is located right next to a patrolled surf beach and although it's not really my thing there is also a championship gold course literally two minutes up the road.

We generally like to stay at different places each time we head to Queensland but this is one place that is definitely on the list for a return visit. http://www.twinwatersresort.com.au

As for photographic opportunities lets just say there was more than enough to keep even a photography fanatic like myself clicking away for the whole trip.

Liam Saville