Capturing Relaxed Photos In Melbourne

A lot of people don’t like having their photo taken and feel nervous or anxious at the very thought of it. Who can blame them? I mean standing frozen still, starring at a camera with a fake smile plastered on your face hardly sounds like a fun way to spend an hour does it? Well I’m here to tell you my sessions aren’t like that.

People who aren’t familiar with my work are sometimes a little surprised when I say that I’m not a “look at the camera and say cheese” kind of a photographer because so often this is the type of photography we grew up with. I always make it very clear both before and on the day that for a lot of the session I will actually be directing clients to NOT look at me. Instead I tell them to look at their partner/child/baby belly/dog/surrounds – pretty much anything that is not the camera. Furthermore, I always warn anyone enquiring with me that we will be doing a lot of MOVING during the session. Why? Firstly because I just love capturing action shots and secondly because movement helps people relax and be more natural in front of the camera.

When you combine not looking at the photographer and movement you can get some absolutely magical shots that really show the true personalities and connections between people. I recently did a family shoot for the Mckenna Family. Dad John is an arborist and I have previously photographed him working and I know he is very much an action man. When they arrived for the shoot he said to me he was a little nervous. I reminded him how I shoot and that our aim was to have an awesome playdate with his children in the forest. We aeroplaned kids, twirled and danced with them, spun them around, threw them in the air and hung them upside down. Then because that wasn’t enough I had him dip, carry and piggy back his beautiful wife – a trained dancer – Michaela. It was such a fun session and this is just some of the images that came out of it that definitely prove the power of movement.

I ACKNOWLEDGE THE BUNURONG AND WURUNDJERI PEOPLE WHO ARE THE TRADITIONAL OWNERS OF THE LAND ON WHICH I PHOTOGRAPH.
I PAY MY RESPECTS TO THEIR ELDERS; PAST, PRESENT AND EMERGING.