Forest Adventure - Midleton Family Photographer /  by Jan

Family Photoshoot

Daniel initially contacted me, he wanted to book a family shoot as a mother’s day present for his wife Shona. Now that’s a great present, one that will always be remembered! Kids grow up so fast and it’s great to pause every now and then and capture the whole family together.

What An Adventure!

Daniel chose the bigger family package that I offer with around 45 photos, and I think this shoot perfectly shows the variety of shots I am able to get with that package. At the beginning of the photo shoot, I usually start with the well behaved posed family photos. Everyone is on their best behaviour.

As we continue the shoot, I am able to capture more candid shots of the kids having fun and let’s just compare a posed group photo from the beginning of the shoot, to one I took at the end. The first one you would send to family members, maybe make some postcards of and the next one is one you would have on your fridge door. Such different vibes.

Couple Shoot

The great thing with the bigger family package is that we can also squeeze in a small couple shoot for the parents, who are sometimes left behind a little in a photo shoot when it’s usually the kids who the focus is on (pun intended). Although Harry was itching to be a part of this too!

It’s always so much fun to photograph the kids having fun and running around. I give them some directions at times, like smelling all the flowers. But then other times, they just surprise you with what they get up to and they’re suddenly climbing the wall ruins. Haha!

I think we all did a great job of getting the balance just right of having loads of fun candid moments, while still having loads of lovely posed group photos that you would frame and put up in the house.

Midleton Location

These woods, near Midleton, have quickly become a favourite of mine. It’s disorientating because they’re so close to the ocean, they’re filled with sea air. It’s so odd being able to smell the ocean in the middle of the woods. At least to me. But I love how wild this forest looks. It’s not immaculately looked after, and that gives it so much character and its own kind of beauty.

Hi!

I’d love to come back here again, so if you would like to do a similar kind of family shoot with me, say hi to me here. I’d love to hear from you!

Ian and Rachel - The Imperial Wedding Photographer /  by Jan

The great thing about weddings is how personalized they can be. Some couples love to do a bouquet toss, other couples prefer to do a walk-out under sparklers. Some want it big, others want something smaller. And just because you’re going for something smaller, doesn’t mean you should be getting less.

Ian and Rachel decided on having a formal wedding ceremony followed by a more informal remaining day, which meant that they only wanted me for a couple of hours of photo coverage.

I started the day photographing Rachel in her hotel room with her father and sister, she was busy adding the final touches to her outfit and once fully ready, we captured the full outfit; the wedding dress, the bouquet, the jewellery.

The clock was ticking so I headed off to the The Imperial’s ceremony room. I always really like their ceremony room and find it such a pleasure to photograph in. I believe the Imperial is taking a break from hosting weddings while they renovate, but I hope they get back to it soon, as it’s a great venue.

As part of the ceremony, the couple lit the candles and I then already found themselves slipping the rings on each other’s fingers. All the while I’m photographing the guests’ laughter and tears, or the embarrassing moment when Ian’s mother realized she had forgotten to bring the rings. Thankfully, they were just in her hotel room and with a quick sprint down the corridors, the crisis was averted.

Rings

“…the embarrassing moment when Ian’s mother realized she had forgotten to bring the rings.”

We were then able to enter the penthouse suite which features this lovely balcony that almost wraps around the whole building. With the views overlooking the city and the sun already being low, we had this amazingly soft light. It was still so radiant, so we had so much colour in the skin tones, making the two love birds just glow!

And as a finishing hurrah, we did the group photos with family and friends.

I always bring my A-game to these kinds of weddings, as that is a lot to squeeze into just a two hour time window, so I come prepared by knowing exactly what I’m photographing and when. I still have to capture a lot of the same moments and details, but with a lot less time on my hands. There’s definitely more pressure on each photo being pergect. It’s a fun challenge and I love how the photos came out! Ian and Rachel thought so too, and were kind enough to leave me this lovely 5-star Google review:

“We hired Jan as our wedding photographer and he did an amazing job. He made us feel very at ease as was very professional. Our pictures turned out amazing. We would highly recommend Jan!”
— Rachel

When it comes to booking a package, it’s important to book a package that fits your idea of what your day should be. I love getting those dancing shots at the end of the evening, when everyone is relaxed and having a blast (which I did here for instance), or photographing the wedding couple with their camper van, which was specially requested by the couple!

Either way, I’d love to hear from you! Say hi to me here and fill me in on what your wedding plans are!

More Wedding Couple Photos at The Imperial

More Wedding Ceremony Photos at The Imperial

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs - Brand Marketing Photographer /  by Jan

I recently posted a blog called, “Yoga vs Pilates”. This blog post was about two separate photo shoots that I did for a local pilates studio and a yoga studio. In this post I described my approach to creating these marketing or branding photos which are predominantly meant for social media and maybe their own website. And I teased that I would have something a little different coming up.

Well, today’s blog post it’s dogs, dogs, dogs... And an owner. I was approached by Julia, who is the founder of the company Tails & Trails, they specialize in dog harnesses, collars and leads. She already had beautiful product photos, and loads of phone pics of her own dog, but no high-end studio photos of a selection of dogs wearing the different products. So she booked in with me and we headed to the studio.

I immediately came up with a mood board, a selection of photos, to give her an idea of what I was thinking of doing and also one with photos that I didn’t like and wouldn’t want to do. We were both on the same page with what we wanted to achieve from this photo shoot and we both had the same icks when it came to dog photography.

Julia

Founder of the company Tails & Trails

Her company colours are all muted, more earthy colours, such as sand and sage, so we went for a similarly coloured background in the studio. Something I would describe as a sort of clay and sand mix. It fit the brand identity perfectly! With six dogs and many different collar and harness patterns and colours, we tackled the shoot. Dog treats always within reach.

I purposefully set up the lighting so that the dogs had a wide area to sit and pose for us. They didn’t have to hit the mark perfectly, like I might expect a human to. That made life a lot easier and allowed the dogs to get comfortable where they felt comfortable, which resulted in some surprisingly lovely poses, smiles and down-the-barrel ‘Blue Steel’.

5-star Google Review

These kind of marketing photo shoots are always lovely to be a part of. It’s so exciting to see other businesses expand their presence on the internet and make that next step with a beautiful website and online shop or some gorgeous Instagram posts. And as Julia also mentioned in her 5-star Google review, it’s great to make someone else’s vision into a reality:

“Jan and Nikki were both absolutely brilliant. The shoot went very smoothly and they knew exactly what shots would look best (even though they were given the difficult task of shooting with dogs). I couldn’t be happier with the outcome, looking forward to working with them again in the future.”
— Julia from Tails & Trails

So if your business needs some marketing photography, or you want your online presence to better suit your brand identity or you’re an up and coming business, say hi to me here. I’m also good at photographing humans!