ayusrimoyo.com

Christening Joy

Ayu — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 02:31:00 +0000

Find the beauty in every new beginning…

I felt honored by the trust of documenting this special milestone for this family. This was the first event in my new ‘chapter’ after closing the previous one just one month ago. The significance of this new start, and what kind of event this was, was not lost on me. It’s the universe, man…

Congratulations to the family for their DOUBLE christening! Yep, we had twin babies being baptised today, baby Kalliope and Angelo.

Remember that it takes a village to raise a child, well, we have two babies here, so it takes two villages and a half to raise these babies. This christening was taken place at St Nicholas Greek Orthodox in Canberra. It was an intimate, joyous, and beautiful Greek family event.

Enlighten 2025

Ayu — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:52:21 +0000

It has been a minute since my last Enlighten experience. I”m glad that it was back in full force. I loved how the same structures and corners oozed a different vibe with all the illumination. I did not love how there were a gajillion people I had to graze elbows with, but I guess it’s just me, and it couldn’t be helped, and it could only mean a successful event! Smilley faces with lit up eyes (literally) were around you, it’s a strong energy. It’s Canberran in March. Come back next year.

breathe

Ayu — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 07:55:20 +0000

Breathe is a post pandemic project, where we were still too nervous being with other people, and nature was your only safe friend and safest escapade. This series captured areas in Canberra and the surrounding countryside, like Bumbalong and Bredbo, the ocean view from Tathra beach, Bombowlee Creek, Captains Flat, and Tumut. Areas in Canberra covered included the Arboretum, the Black Mountain Peninsula, etc. The day trips and many long drives I did for this project provided a different fresh of air that I wasn’t aware I needed to breathe.

My hope is to visually express the inspirational Japanese wisdom wabi sabi and ikigai through these photographs. There is not one way to articulate wabi sabi, but the one layer of understanding that inspired me is the one that articulates it as a state of the heart, where it’s a deep in-breath and a slow exhale.Wabi sabi is a recognition of the gifts of simple, slow and natural living, while ikigai is all about the finding joy in life through purpose. Give yourself time to look and observe the photographs, as I have looked and observed the landscapes. Give yourself permission to stop, to breath and to find that centre again. You may surprise yourself with some delightful findings in this simplicity of space.

40th Birthday Luncheon

Ayu — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 05:45:39 +0000

Milestone birthdays are joyous and fun to celebrate. Have yourself surrounded by your people and just be grateful together that you are here, you are healthy, and you are loved. The birthday girl here is a friend, who also a fan of the colour green. She’s a florist and event/party organiser, that’s why everything looked extra lovely and styled authentically her.

This luncheon was taken place at the Meat and Wine Co Canberra. The food was scrumptious and perfectly presented.

It’s not easy being green. Can you guess the dress code colour?

Moved in Colours

Ayu — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 05:43:38 +0000

Welcome to my personal project update.

This project is the final assignment at CIT – Photography (Canberra Institute of Technology) to complete my Diploma course. This was my second and final year of studying photography, after deciding to put a pause on my photography business for better clarity where to go next. The 2021 school terms have been rudely disrupted, most of us began the new year catching up and finishing all the assignments from last term.

These past few months have been quite challenging like the rest of the past two years thanks to the pandemic. To create something new that pushed my skills, comfort and creativity during this pandemic was both exciting and infuriating with equal measure. I was so happy to reach the finish line. I am quite proud and happy with the final result.

This project was inspired by artworks by famous artists of the past who have been known to use specific colour palettes to prompt certain responses from audiences. Artists such as Claude Monet, Picasso, or contemporary ones like Mark Rothko who apply colours very intentionally and brilliantly. They understood the varying degree of people’s responses to colours, hues, saturations, and brightness. Each colours has the power to evoke emotions and affect our psychological state in such different ways.

I love the idea of isolating colours to really emphasise the the feeling of each image. I accomplished this by the use of studio and natural lighting. I’ve used flowers to carry the colours, as they represent nature’s pure colours, and they were available during this last lockdown! Each flower imbues specific meaning and symbolism and helped me to create a truly evocative series.

Family Portraits, Mum and Daughter, Molonglo Reach CANBERRA

Ayu — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 03:41:00 +0000

“Fabulous and stress free session. Works well with young and old alike. Highly recommended. Ayu chooses beautiful locations and instills confidence in her subjects”. Leanne, the client.

Sweet and kind words from Leanne was an added bonus to this fabulous day by the Molonglo River. This session took place in December 2018. It was my last session for the year, and we all had a tremendous time. We met up early one Saturday morning in one of my favourite places in Canberra. There were more activities there than usual, because the local Canoe Club coincidentally had an event too that day. But never mind that, the whole area, is not only beautiful, it is vast enough for all of us.

To have a beautiful mother-daughter family portrait they can keep and cherish for a long time was the goal of this session. Kai, the sweet teen, wanted a couple of extra good ones so she can use it for auditions and other things. Leanne, the mum, has never been keen on having her photographs taken, but she’s such a kind bubbly person with vibrant personality, that soon enough we got into our grooves and she became and looked more comfortable as the session went.

So many areas, spots, or corners in Molonglo Reach that worked super well as portrait backdrops, we were spoiled with choices. As one alternative we headed towards the back of the club house, with an interesting back wall . We spent the end of our session taking beautiful portraits of Kai. She is just beautiful and photogenic she makes my job really easy. We finished our photo session with big grins group selfie. As if the universe had been watching, the rain started straight away after we finished packing our stuff.

It was a fun day.

Family Portraits, Family of Five – Lennox Garden – Canberra

Ayu — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 01:22:58 +0000

Here we are back again at Lennox Garden, Canberra. What can I do, the park is vast, and beautiful. Each corner offers different colours and foliage. The colours and ambiance change as the sun moves to west. I was here this time with this lovely family of 5. Natalie and Mark’s gorgeous girls clad in head to toe pink-white-sparkles aged 5, 3 and 7 months. Surrounded by his darling ladies, Mark looked all cool and loved up.

The day was warm, the girls ran all different direction as soon as they stepped their feet on the park. It’s a good think the little one couldn’t walk yet, we didn’t have to chase her up.

This period in young families is so precious because time has this tendency to flies right before your very eyes. Having ‘snapshots’ of each of the girls at this age is a must. You will look back in the future and see how even in these ages they already show you their unique personalities. Precious!

Don’t forget your couple shots! Once we have kids, the ‘us’ part as a couple often gets forgotten. Every picture is all about the kids. Let’s stop. As the family grows, the kids grow, mom and dad (the couple!) grow too. Try to remember when was the last time you took a nice photo with your partner? If the answer is at your wedding day, I think it’s high time for you two to get new ones.

Family Portrait with Pets, Out and About – Lennox Garden, Canberra

Ayu — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 03:30:00 +0000

One windy afternoon at Lennox Garden, Danielle and Ian’s family brought along their beloved dog Abby. Abby was an old girl, and has been with Danielle forever. She was cute, she was precious, and also a bit deaf and had a mind of her own. The girls and Abby went on and run around in the park having fun during our session. We sometimes had to stop our to find Abby because she wandered off a bit too far, but she was there when were ready to take our shots.

I am a dog person. I understand how precious our dogs are to us, and how big their part is in the family. I’m glad I could give this family something to cherish in a few years to come, when they look back and fondly remembering their fun time with Abby. Your pet is most of the time not JUST your pet. Your chosen animal companion is your family. They occupy a substantial chunk in your heart, which fills only with love, fuzz and that comfort feeling of home. So, let’s include our pet the next time you want to sit for your new family portrait. Your family portrait won’t be complete without them.

The Glorious Two, Family Portraits – Canberra in Autumn

Ayu — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 04:34:30 +0000

Sarah, the mother of these two gorgeous sisters, initially contacted me because she wanted to have decent (and recent!) photos of her daughters. She was reluctant to be included in the session, so I was glad I insisted and managed to convince her and Mani, her husband, to join their daughters in our delightful afternoon photo session.

The autumn season started quite late this year, the weather was warmer and quite unpredictable. The colours around here in Canberra have started to turn, and even though it was early, the autumn colours were there and they were beautiful. The girls made my job really easy, as they were happily playing and running amongst the fallen leaves. Too bad Mani had to leave so soon, Sarah and the girls continued our fun session among the trees. The sun came out behind the clouds towards the end and gave us that gloriously warm and delicious golden glow as we wrapped up the day

baby shower

Ayu — Wed, 09 May 2018 20:00:35 +0000

A little over a year ago I celebrated one of my best friend’s wedding. She’s a childhood friend that I have known since we were 12, who is now living in Sydney. Fast forward a year from that wedding, there’s a baby in the bun now! Naturally, or should I say, traditionally, we threw a baby shower party for her. Suck for her, it was me who organised it. You know how baby showers are usually very well organised and cute, and oh so sweet. Well this was not one of those. Because of me. I just can’t. No theme/colour sync dresscode, no engraved invitations, and no cute puppies as giveaways… come to think of it, why was I the one who organised this. Right. Oldest friend and all that.

However, my heart was not made out of stone, I was proud to say that I managed to pull it off. We showered the mom to be with love, food, and laughter; mainly because she has bought most of baby things herself and she’s received more than her weight in hand-me-down baby stuff from most of us. We’ve got THE cake, in this case it was almost the most important element of the party because it was just so cute. It served as dessert and decoration at the same time, since everybody seemed to want to have a picture taken with ‘the cake’. Thanks to Sweetzee Creation for this delicious tower of cuteness.

We booked a table at Rodney’s and they set us up in their function room, which I’ve never been before (I usually sat outside at Rodney’s), and it was just the perfect room. It was rustic and simple, with interesting and colourful paintings plastered the walls, windows everywhere, which made the lighting in the room just beautiful. It was light and bright.

Here we had our lunch, chatting and play the baby shower games. No baby showers without baby shower games. We played guess the mom-to-be’s belly circumference, and match the baby faces.We laughed and laughed until I got giddy from lack of oxygen. We left the place feeling tired from too much laughing, which was the best way to end the day.

A couple more months to go, baby boy…

Guess the mom-to-be’s baby belly

Match baby faces and adult faces