I can't resist adding another personal note in here about my gorgeous new baby girl, Isabella-Rose.  She turned 3 months old today, meaning it was time for another formal portrait.  (We do formal portraits of our children at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year.)  Sure, I've taken oodles of snapshots around the house, but you can't beat studio lighting for quality.  These are the pictures that end up getting framed and on the wall, and the ones that Grandma wants for her bragging book.  I'd like to take some credit for Isabella being another winner, but it's 100% breast milk that does these wonders.  Special thanks to my wonderful wife, Lilac.  I love you, baby.     

If you like these pictures, you may be interested in seeing more baby pictures in here. Lots of love, Joshua at Dtales.

 "A Perfect Day!" was how bride Vanessa described her wedding to Elton recently in Melbourne.  I had to agree with her -- it was one of those weddings where nothing went wrong, and the sun was certainly smiling with all of us on this one.  Possibly my most relaxed shoot ever.  Location shoot at wonderful Williamstown.    

This was Vanessa's favorite shot, and mine too! Shooting in the middle of the day is tough, but you can get great material like this. For those with a technical interest in photography, I'd like to point out the amazing exposure latitude of the new generation of digital cameras. Exposure latitude is the width of the allowable range of light that can be recorded by a camera's sensor -- from a level that records as "too bright" (and thus registers as burnt-out white), to a level that's too dark, and registers as complete black. On the earlier generation of digital cameras, it was a narrow window indeed. A shot like this one (where you can see all the details of Vanessa's white dress, and at the same time see all the surface of Elton's black suit) used to be considered IMPOSSIBLE. But it can be done now -- providing you know what you're doing when setting up the camera. The shot below shows a complete change of pace, mood, and I took a different approach in filtering it.

Do you love Williamstown for wedding photography? (If you're not familiar with it, you can locate it here.) You can see another recent wedding that was shot near there, on a boat. Thanks for all the lovely compliments from viewers of this blog recently. I wish I had the time to reply to you all, but looking after two little kids (and having a wife who's finishing off her PhD) really fills in my days. I really do appreciate the feedback, though! Joshua Winterson, at Dtales.

In case you were wondering why I haven't added a diary entry in a while, here is the excellent reason.  It's with great joy that my wife and I introduce our second child, Isabella-Rose, born just before Christmas.  She joins her 3-year-old brother Gabriel here in her first formal portrait.  We are hands-on parents, with firm beliefs in looking after the children ourselves, and spending every possible moment with them during the crucial early years.  That's why I have blocked out much of this year, and have severely limited my availability.  That hurts a lot financially, but the emotional rewards are so much greater.  We also believe that the long-term benefits of raising wonderful children into wonderful adults far outweighs all other concerns.  Of course, my photography continues, and you can look forward to more beautiful weddings and portraits appearing very soon, hot off my cameras as the work rolls on.  Image-making is such a joy, isn't it?   I look forward to hearing your comments on parenthood, and whether I'm doing the right thing by putting the kids first. 

It was pleasing to end the year on a high note.  Narelle & Michael's nuptials were the final wedding for 2009 and it was a joyously happy one, drenched in sun, lightened with laughter, and made memorable by the groom's (and his twin brother's) crazy sense of humor.  The event itself was pure class, though: ceremony at St John's Anglican church, location shoot at "Heide" (the Musuem of Modern Art at Heidelberg), and reception at Ashton Manor.   Sadly, for the bride & groom, there is now a big problem -- trying to choose which of the 600 beautiful images we created will make the final cut of the album!     

But seriously, Narelle was a truly radiant bride, who just glowed with excitement all day long; Michael was extremely nervous, but as the day progressed, I was able to finally coax him into the kind of traditional romantic pictures than I knew Narelle was dreaming of ...   

This first picture of the bride & bridesmaids worked so beautifully that I think it's going to become a poster in my shop. And just look at the way Narelle is glowing!

I think it's important to capture those (often overlooked) little details at weddings, like the type of perfume the bride is wearing. And I would take pictures of flowers all day long if I had the time. I particularly like this fun photo of a bridesmaid holding a camera; it's a perfect composition, but not set up. It's a good example of the happy accidents which often happen with my Melbourne wedding photography.

I did some solo pictures of Michael at his house, but to create natural, relaxed portraits of a groom, I capture some surreptitiously later in the day, with a long telephoto lens from a distance, while he's talking to his mates. The bride almost always prefers to see these. The giant close-up of the wedding rings was created with a special macro lens.

The gardens at Heide had a dreamy effect on me, and I incorporated that feeling into the filtering of this classically romantic picture, which I find hard to stop gazing at. I always filter all the wedding pictures before giving the clients a copy of the high-resolution printing files -- it's a free bonus from me.

I was reminded of Claudia's wedding that I shot last March, on Phillip Island, because she just called to make a print order, and also to thank me again for my work.  It also prompted me to make a note about good client relations.  There are so many in this industry who just don't get it.  For them a client is simply someone with money.  With me, that's the last thing I think about (my wife would certainly agree!).  For me, a client is a person with character, dignity, history and feelings.  I empathise with them; I am fascinated by them.  When they hire me, it's an opportunity to create something truly special that reflects who they really are.  

Claudia was a stunning bride from Columbia, who has come to Australia to be with her sweetheart.  She was not only very beautiful, but a marvellous person as well.  Why did she hire me, when she could have easily afforded the large studios who charge triple my price?  Because of all the photographers she had met, I was the only one who realized she had made an enormous sacrifice in coming here.  So often, she had been told "Lucky you -- getting into Australia!"  But I knew that she had made some deep losses -- life in Columbia can be sweet indeed for the middle classes and above.  There are nannies and maids, not to mention gardeners and cooks.  There is also the marvellous culture of that country, the extraordinary cuisine; it is in many ways far superior to Australia.  And of course, she had made the biggest sacrifice of all -- all her family are over there.  Such is the power of love; I was humbled to accept this extraordinary assignment.  You can see some of her wedding highlights here.   

You can see more weddings I photographed on Phillip Island here and here.

Little Ryder's parents had received a gift voucher for a portrait session with me from Grandma, and wanted to cash it in before Christmas!  Even in the frantic rush of the wedding season and the crazy post-production deadlines here, I can't help but keep families happy.  Cute 'n' cheeky Ryder had just turned 1, and all the attention was on him.  With these pictorials, I usually go in with absolutely no preconceived ideas, so that my mind is open to fresh possibilities.  While shooting, I began to visualize the potential of a collage poster for one of the rooms in their house.  Then I began to see how the images might link together, and I then directed some of the elements to acheive the final poster design that you see here.  The parents had never considered it, but when they saw the preview on the screen here, there was no question this was the solution their bare wall needed.  I was particularly pleased with the "cowboy" font which I created, and I thought it suited Ryder perfectly.   

If you're interested in seeing more of my portraits of boys, then have a look at the recent shoot I did of Phaidon, here.  

And also check our my gallery of children's pictures on the main site, here.

Just got home from this shoot today. Wedding season's going great -- flat out with work. My run of incredible luck with the weather continues! The very minute that James and Karen completed their outdoor ceremony and walked out of Queens Park, it began to rain. Not just a little bit, but torrential, heavy, driving rain. Unbelievable. I had promised them that I always brought good luck with me, and so it proved. Such an easy couple to work with; the whole shoot was flawless, relaxed and fun, despite (or maybe because of) those thundery skies we had today. For those interested in the technical side of photography, this was a particularly exciting shoot, because I've just bought the new Canon 5D Mark2 -- an awesome 21 megapixel monster, and combined it with an awesome lens -- the new Canon 24 - 70 mm f2.8. Wow, what a combination those two are! I've never seen a zoom work so well before. Beautiful, sharp, clear pictures that I thought only prime lenses could deliver. My 1D Mark3 now has a serious rival in the camera case -- hard to choose which one to reach for!

The bride and bridesmaids prepare.  Karen was a modern bride with edgier tastes than usual, and I kept this in mind when considering framing and lighting.  I wasn't surprised at all to discover her bridesmaids wearing black. For my bridal portraits, although severely limited by time and lack of opportunities in the home, I found ways to convey a sense of her personality with some simple set-ups and dramatic filtering.

The wedding ceremony was held at Queens Park, Moonee Ponds.  I was interested to learn that the local council does not control bookings for the site -- it's simply first come, first served.  If you're thinking of holding your exchange of vows there, it might pay to have your friends arrive early, set up chairs, and hold the ground for you. I love shooting outdoor civil ceremonies under trees -- it's always so relaxing, and easy to light.  Usually, I never use flash in these occasions, and rely on the diffused natural sunlight instead.

Signing the register -- I couldn't resist showing the whole of Karen's amazing bridal dress, with it's elaborate Chinese themed ribbons, reflecting her rich heritage. The following shot I conceived when I first arrived at the bride's house, and noticed that she and 2 of her bridesmaids had tattoos. So I designed this simple combination of arms to showcase them in one shot, and we created this funky, modern take on the sisterhood in action.

It was natural to do a twist on a classic romantic pose. Tilting the camera is something that beginners do too much (or sometimes by accident!), but it should only be done for a genuine aesthetic reason.  Here it is completely natural, and a good example of utilizing what I call the "dimensional space" that surrounds people and objects.  It's a bit complicated to explain my theory here, but basically it means creating pictures that appear more dimensional than flat 2D would normally allow. 

 If you'd like to see more of my wedding pictures, you might like to check them out on Facebook, or have a look at this posting. To find out more about me and my services, click here.

This one was a real hoot!  I've done many weddings for mature couples before, but never one for such a lively and colourful couple as Dorothy & Wayne.  These two could show many couples half their age how to party.  I knew when I first met them that they were an "aussie" couple, but soon after I arrived at their house, I began to wonder why no television producer had signed them up for a reality television series along the lines of "Australia's Most Aussie Family".   The wedding itself was on a party boat (it lived up to it's name), that cruised from the docklands to Williamstown, and back again.  Glorious weather, a great afternoon.  Hard to resist the strong temptation to join in the fun, but sober hands are needed on camera duty.  

She met me at the door with a big, bright smile, and after that, I was mere putty in her hands.  How can one resist such a gorgeous baby?  Alys was such an expressive and delightful child.  I found her very easy to photograph.  Her parents clearly wanted her to have a very special day and had spared no expense.  Hers was actually part of a group baptism, which I thought was a great idea, because it meant the church was packed, and had warm atmosphere.  Afterwards there was a luncheon at The Anchorage in Williamstown.  I didn’t just take more pictures of Alys there, I also took portraits of all the many children in attendance.  As Alys mother commented to me when she collected the printing files two days later, “My Christmas gifts are all taken care of now!  I’m giving everyone prints.”