Angela Higgins – Lifestyle Photographer » Lifestyle Photographer of kids, babies, families and weddings

There really is nothing better than a book. How it fits lightly in your hand and captures your attention as you realise this is your own personal time capsule containing your most precious memories. A book that you will grab first if your house is burning down. A book that you will show your grand-daughter towards the turn of the next century. A book that will hold a piece of your heart forever.

The process for selecting the medium for your wedding collection is a personal choice.  All I know is that whatever book you choose it should be elegant, modern and beautiful. It should stand up to trends and be just as relevant in 50 years as it is today. It should be a comprehensive story of your day from the details you spent hours deciding on to the intimate moments between you and your new husband and your loved ones. It should transport you back to your day when you were courageous enough to say “I do” to your groom and begin the next chapter of your lives together. It is a family heirloom.

This book is my newest addition for my wedding clients. A beautiful, lush high end coffee table book which has been lovingly crafted in New York city. It is covered in a Japanese silk fabric and hand bound by master craftsmen creating a one of a kind book. Each of the pages within have been digitally crafted by me in house over some 50 pages creating one of the most comprehensive books available.

It makes me happy to just run my fingers over the linen exterior. I know, I’m a simple girl

While it is hard to compartmentalise my work as a photographer as I feel it is something that evolves with every shoot that I do, the majority of my work is contemporary and based on a fresh approach to portraiture, usually called lifestyle portraiture.

Lifestyle photography is about being less posed, less stiff and having more natural expressions and movement.  Your kids will be asked to play without worrying about hitting a certain pose or getting their clothes dirty. We all interact and the result are natural responses and genuine reactions. I use natural light and work on location exclusively which is also a large part of lifestyle portraiture. The images are rich and vibrant in colour and black and whites are deep and usually colour tinted slightly.

Ultimately lifestyle photography is about anticipating the coming moments and capturing genuine emotion. I am always letting my clients know that I aim to capture them and their personalities rather than simply what they look like.

The other component of this style of photography is in the displaying of it. Lifestyle portraiture is about storytelling and when you have just one single image it doesn’t tell the story as well as a series of images does. Sure there are times when one single image is a great impact but I am always so pleased when my clients order a book, a series of images to display or as of lately, a storyboard portrait as it helps to tell their story and better document their relationships and connections from the session.

I thought I would share a couple of storyboards created (note the web address is simply for copyright here and is not on the actual storyboards).

One of my favourites from Olivia and Mark’s session (you’ll notice I said “one of”, there were so many)

A small storyboard I created for our own wall display from Phoebe’s conceptual session last year.

A sequence series from a recent family session

Lastly, a favourite from Rodney’s collection. Rodney’s mum actually ordered this recently and I can’t wait to see it in print.

Ultimately

It has occured to me just now that this is the first engagement/pre-wedding session of the 09/10 season. I couldn’t think of two more lovelier people to have spent it with either.

Mark and Olivia live just a few minutes from my home. I had been dying to get some of my clients in to the northern suburbs for some shoots because there are so many gorgeous locations that I drive past almost on a daily basis. Thankfully, Olivia and Mark were so accommodating and let me taxi them around a number of places for some inspiring landscapes and I am pleased to report, some beautiful images that I am very proud of. Late autumn/early winter is a great time for portraits – engagement or otherwise – because there is such variety of landscape and nature to choose from.

Their wedding in December is going to be fabulous, I just know it.

Its always a little daunting having a wall space just begging to be decorated. There are so many options depending on your taste but finding a little inspiration can help you visualise that blank wall covered with your art.

Yet another project I am working on is getting some artwork on our walls. Yes, its a case of the shoemakers kids not having shoes in my home as we have big, white blank walls just waiting for some art. I have so many ideas, but its a matter of finding which ones work with the art I want to display and the space available and our decor. Ah, but that is another post a little later on

So here is some inspiration for your Friday for your own walls.

Lastly, if framed artwork is not your cup of tea, make the entire wall a piece of art. This image on the right reminds me of Ben’s room that I decorated a few years ago from scratch. I would take a picture and show you but you can imagine the state of a 12 year old boy’s room.

When preparing for a dog portrait session, I ask for my clients to complete a small questionnaire. Nobody knows their dog better than their owner so I can get a great idea about what it is exactly that each client finds special about their own dog and get a heads up for anything I really should know beforehand. Interestingly when I ask what part of their dog is their favourite, the question is never answered with one word.

When getting ready for Rodney’s session, his mum told me that her favourite part of Rodney was “his big floppy ears that are soft as felt; his smile when he’s happy; his one white toe on his front left paw; his big wet nose; his long gangly legs; his soft, shiny coat; the white stripe that goes all the way along his chest and under his tummy.”

Yep, she loves pretty much everything about him. It was obvious when I received the questionnaire answers and even more so when I arrived at their home how much Rodney means to her life and how much she means to Rodney. They’re best friends. Forever.

There is something amazing about a relationship between a dog and their human. It isn’t based on wealth or looks or promises. Its unconditional love. We could learn a few things from dogs when evaluating our own relationships with each other. Just wanting to love, and be loved in return. For the pure joy of it.

From yesterdays wonderful engagement session . . . it includes pinecones, vine leaves and as you can see, a little beach sand. Stay tuned. It is going to be beautiful.