Anouk turned 4 on May 12th. I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since that day I was in labour during my mum’s birthday lunch at my place & had to rush to hospital before I could even serve my mum her birthday cake. A day I will treasure forever. As a result of a fast labour & a baby girl born before I could even get out of the labour ward bathroom (another interesting story!) Anouk Nouvelle now shares her birthday with her Grandma & this year their birthdays also fell on mothers day. We considered waiting a couple of weeks to celebrate with friends, knowing that no one would be available on mothers day. In the end I decided to celebrate her birthday on the actual day with just our close family.

We shared a bbq lunch in the park. The sun was shining & it was a really really beautiful day. I took Anouk to our local party shop to choose some decorations. She filled her hands with whistles, party hats & pretty things in green & pink. The night before her birthday it was a team family effort to create & decorate her castle cake. Some years I order our cakes & some years I make them. It’s not my specialty, however this castle cake is so simple to make (& we had made one for Ava before, so we were cheating a bit).

Anouk is all about castles at the moment. She draws them. She talks about them. She didn’t want anything for her birthday other than a “colouring book & a castle cake!”. Yesterday she asked Pete to guess what she was thinking of…. “it’s pink all over & it has a tail. Can you guess what it is dad?”… Pete exhausted his options… “a mouse?”… “a pig?” … until he had to give up & ask her what has a tail & is pink all over…

“It’s a pink castle with a tail” . That’s why I love this girl. Always thinking outside the box.

Dark and light. Black and white. We live in a world filled with contrast.
We experience the warmth only because we know the cold.
We recognise peace because we’ve felt the battle.
One can’t be, without the other.

[All images taken and edited with iphone4 only].

Happy weekending everyone!

All images taken & edited with iphone only.

The last time I photographed this family, there were only two kiddo’s. Now Amalia has joined the family, so Anastasia & Xander have a beautiful little sister. I will share more of these three cuties & their mum & dad later. I just love the picture of Amalia looking all snug in between her brother & sister who adore her! So much beauty here.

I have learned not to argue with a 3 year old who wants to wear two hats at the same time on the bus. At first I did suggest she only wear one hat, but the more she refused, the more I realised it didn’t actually really matter. So instead I smiled & took a photo. She thought she looked fantastic & that is all that matters. Pure confidence.

These days I snap a lot of our happenings on my iphone, but for our day at the Easter show this year, I multi-tasked. I took some pictures on my iphone for my insta album & also a few with the real camera, because carnivals are one of my favourite things to photograph. I am in photog heaven with all the activity & colours at a carnival. It was a great day. Ava & Anouk are still young enough to be content with just walking around and seeing the sights. They don’t ask for much. If they get to see some baby animals & go on the carousel, then that’s enough for them to call it ‘the best day ever’… add to that their first show bag & some night time fire works and it was the kind of day memories are made of.

A peek at a recent session. Some of you may know or follow Linda from mums on the go via her facebook page or website. This was a busy little photo session with three beautiful little girls who were certainly on the go.

Speaking of ‘mums on the go’, a few people have asked why things have been a little quieter on my blog & facebook page lately. The answer is; because things have been less quiet in my business.

2012 was a big year for Lisa Jay Photography and I have been & still am busy editing & product designing for my lovely clients. This year however I have scheduled in some breathing time. Not a break as such, just a scheduled time within my work to come back to the centre.

When you are a mother running a business it’s a lesson in itself to find the right pace and you don’t know the pace that works until you’ve attempted a pace that doesn’t. Last year was busy. This year will be busy too but with the balance back in place.

I am passionate about being a mother & being in the moment with my children on a daily basis.

I am passionate about my personal photography & story sharing.

I am passionate about photographing families & children in a way that reflects their real beauty.

To continue doing all of these things I need to keep filling my own cup with inspiration. They each require an amount of creative energy. To be creative there needs to be in put as well as out put.

Creative projects that allow lots of play are what inspire me most. I have one or two of those in mind for this year. So continue to watch this space.
In the mean time, when I am not sharing on this blog you can find me sharing on instagram, which I have found to be a way to play with visual ideas & keep inspired even during times where I am on the go.

Susan contacted me by email about a family photo session for her extended family. She has two sisters & all three of them are married.
The session was a birthday gift for their parents & there was also the occasion that Susan & her twin sister were turning 30, so it was a great time to document their family.

To get a feel for how this session should take place I asked Susan what they like to do together as a family. She told me that they often gather at her sisters place & they like to play cards together.

So I wanted to take pictures of them doing just that. The plan was to meet at her sisters place and let them play some cards & have afternoon tea, then we were all going to head to a park for some portraits.

That plan changed during the session. Once we started shooting and I observed the atmosphere that unfolded, I knew it wouldn’t be the right thing to change locations. I didn’t want to change a thing about what was happening around me. It was a symphony of family life.

Yes they played cards. They boiled the kettle. They drank tea. Kids were jumping on their laps to play cards too. Mr 2 was pushing trucks along the floor. Miss 8 played some piano then wandered in holding a guinea pig. Mr 11 made facial expressions that said he would rather be playing cricket than having his photograph taken. The dog wandered around with a tennis ball. The baby was passed from person to person & adored. I didn’t want to change a thing. It was perfect.

They were such a relaxed kind of family with a lovely dynamic between them and they were more than happy to change the park plan to portraits at home when I suggested it. I told them I would just have to watch the light in the yard & see if it was going to work. After a little while I knew it would be fine, so we stayed.

It’s a good thing to be able to change a plan when you can see that something magical is unfolding in another direction. In photography, in art, in parenthood, in life, in everything there are times when holding onto something could mean missing the magic in something else. If we hadn’t changed plans there wouldn’t have been the bubbles, the trampoline jumping in pretty light or the spontaneous bottle of champagne that was opened at the end.

I’m so glad that these beautiful children & the people who love them, have been captured in pictures just as they were that day.

We went to Peats Ridge Music Festival in December. Mostly we went to see my brothers awesome band Jesse Morris & the 3 beans 5, which includes my two younger brothers Jesse & Kieran. Also I thought it would be fun for the girls to experience a music festival. I think it’s great for children to be exposed to live music outside of the children’s music genre. A couple of our favourites on the day were Sarah Humphreys & Kaki King…. both amazing.

The last time I was at Peats Ridge festival, it was 1999. Pete & I had been together for probably less than a year. My brother Jesse, my friend Peggy & I caught buses out to the festival to see Pete sing with his band at the time. We camped out. We had fun.

All these years later it was cool to come back with our kids. They loved it. This festival has so much for children. Even babies were rockin to the beats.

Surrounded by art & music and people having a good time. That’s my kinda day.

Blueberries are her favourite thing to eat at any time of the day.

She will do anything to make us laugh.

I had plenty of work to squeeze in, so I got up at 3am & worked til about 10am, so that I could spend the rest of the day at the beach with my family.

I am not a fan of a 3am start, but doing it so we could all be at the beach together was worth it.

They are their happiest at the beach.

They play “chase the waves” together.

Ava spends most of her time in the water.  Anouk loves the sand.

I love how they get so much joy from so little.