Up until recently deciding to follow a vegetarian diet and not eat anything with a face, my vegie patch was neglected and not very well cared for. I would plant lettuces and zucchini and feel awful when I forgot about it and saw all the lovely produce go to waste. Right now I have a plethora of broad beans I have no idea what to do with, lovely spinach, kale, lettuce and spring onions thriving in my garden along with a selection of fragrant herbs. There is no better feeling than knowing my meal has something that just 5 minutes ago was growing in my garden. Just now I’m sipping a pineapple and mint juice with mint fresh picked. It gives me a connection with the earth that opens my heart and makes me feel happy. A sort of hippy-kind-of-happy – but I’m not about to start wearing Birkenstocks or drive a combi.

Needless to say I am growing all my lovely vegetables organically but the rest of the produce we need we buy locally from an organic store in our neighborhood. We get a big mixed box of fruit and veg at the start of the week and I love the challenge of using everything in the box and experimenting with new foods. I just feel better knowing we are all eating foods that are better for us and for the world.

Here are a couple of pretty plants in my vegetable patch. They are just so pretty and taste just as good. My little piece of happiness.

I have my life stored on my phone – contacts, emails, photos. Even my workouts are on there for when I travel. I had been playing around with a few small digital and film cameras to keep on me but I kept coming back to using my phone for those candid moments in life I might have not remembered so clearly had I not had it. If you follow me on Twitter you have no doubt seen some of these before but a few were just for me. Just to remember a little bit better.

Spotting the car in front of me with the McLuvin number plate . . . Shopping for shoes with Phoebe for the wedding . . . A favourite cover of a magazine giving me inspiration . . . My visiting Sydney for the first time and meeting Jasmine Star . . . A simple vase with fresh spring bulbs from my garden. . . Lulu’s sweet face distracting me from my work . . . and a ridiculous amount of food pictures. I know its a faux pas but so many great moments and memories happen over meals that I want to remember.

All these things could be so small and so insignificant and forgotten forever but because I choose to capture them they become solidified in time. I flipped through my phone yesterday looking at the images I’ve taken in the past couple of years and with each image I remembered a specific feeling or emotion. They may not be the best but they are mine and they tell my story. I sneaked in a non-iPhone shot of my Dad too . . . just because I can.

If I haven’t bored you too much and you are interested in knowing a little bit more about me, the lovely team at The Bride’s Diary were kind enough to feature a recent interview with me on their blog >>> The Bride’s Diary. So head on over and have a peak

In case you weren’t aware, Grant is miles ahead of me in the fitness stakes. While he was training for triathlons, I was practicing with my camera. While he was getting in 10km runs, I was taking the dogs for a walk around the block. So when I told him I was going to begin the C25K in an effort to work on my fitness (in my best Fergie impersonation), he put his hand up to support me and come along. At first I was so proud and happy that he would support me knowing how boring it would be for him. So I downloaded the program for my iPhone, strategically selected some motivating music and began my first run.

Huffing and puffing and trying to find my stride while trying to remember simultaneously to breath and not fall on the pavement, I looked to my side and there he was. Grant prancing next to me like a gazelle. Graceful and bouncing like he had springs in his shoes and was as light as a feather, I can’t tell you how I felt struggling alongside him. Embarrassed, ashamed – more for him than me. It was, I am sure, hilarious for the few unfortunate people who happened to see us.

But even though each week I have increased my running times and my fitness has gotten better, he has never broken stride. He has never run ahead and left me behind. Patiently prancing beside me while I slog it out and then after I am finished, he will continue on for a lazy 10km training run to do what he needs to do. I am hoping it is a metaphor for our life together that no matter what we need individually we will never break stride and keep pace together while one of us needs the other.

Today I completed Week 4 and ran for 5 minutes with out a break. I felt that this was overshadowed by Grant who took the cake with his get up – wearing compression socks along with his skins, running shorts and new running shoes. I was compelled to share with the internet my running buddy in all his paraphernalia. Lets never break stride.

There were moments when I just wanted to drink in the atmosphere – whether it was listening to Henri play his guitar on a hilltop or hearing the wind rustle through the trees while the sun warmed our cold skin. We had quite a few magical moments and I am so pleased Henri and Mala were kind enough to let me experience them together.

After being together for 5 years, Mala and Henri are going to be married this October in the Swan Valley. Henri was looking at Mala with such joy and endearment during our casual outing in the hills, I can only imagine his reaction when he see her as his bride.

I like to think of it as an added bonus, that they have in their lives another person they can come to whenever they need something. I like to think that I am adding to their more human qualities like compassion and empathy and helping them see the world in a different light while their mother and father are offering other life skills for them to take into adulthood. My goal for them both is that they have a life better than my own and that whenever an opportunity arises, it should be grasped with two hands. I have dreams for their future and encourage them to dream about their futures too, no matter how large or how small they choose to dream. And there are the less impressive mutual appreciations Ben, Phoebe and I have for The Kardashians and Adam Sandler movies.

I’ve started to see a parenting style emerge as we have spent more time together and I’ve said way too many phrases that I heard my own mother say to me growing up which I swore I would never utter. Its terrifying and exhilarating to see the possibilities in children and full of contradictions. You want to hold and protect them from the harsh realities of the world but at the same time you want them to experience life, make their own mistakes and learn for themselves.

Just this morning Ben has flown with the WA State Team to Brisbane to compete in the National Cross Country Championships. Just 3 months ago he was in Adelaide for the National Triathlon Championships. When we heard about his being selected for Brisbane, we knew it would give him a level of independence not many other 13 year olds have and I am so happy we could make it happen and get him there.

While Phoebe is much like me at her age and is testing the waters about where she wants to go in life, Ben is confident about his direction and realising his dreams every minute of every day. I took these images a couple of months ago when Ben was given his new racing bike – a reward for all his hard work in his sport and school. There is something poetic about it considering how he is moving forward so independently and confidently into his life but I won’t get cheesy about him riding into the sunset. No sir.

Anyway, the lovely ladies of Mitchell & Dent and I have begun to form a beautiful friendship over our love of paper and our search for beauty in this world and after seeing the beautiful job they did with my own business and note cards, I was excited to see what they had in store for me to photograph and I just hoped that I could do their wonderful work justice.

To say I wasn’t disappointed would be an understatement. With the room littered with a plethora of beautiful paper and lovely props to add pizazz to the suites in true Mitchell & Dent style and I felt inspired and motivated to help them create some beautiful vignettes. The fact I had just watched The September Issue the night before only added to my excitement.

These are just some of my favourite suites from their new range which includes stunning letterpress too. And really, when the world has letterpress and lovely creations like these, how can anything be wrong. Get in touch with the lovely ladies of Mitchell & Dent if you are looking for exquisite wedding stationery and be sure to check out their blog for sweet finds from Perth and all over the world.

I thought it might be interesting for me to share a little more behind the scenes of what goes into creating a finished print. So today I’m going to take you through a few before and afters of images showing the difference between straight out of the camera and then how they look once they become a print which is intended for any display option. There are so many different ways to edit images but my philosophy has always been that any editing should enhance an image, not detract from it. I aim to get the image almost perfect in camera at the time of shooting so I tend to limit most of my editing to lightening and brightening an image for it to become a signature print.

I have to add that I felt very vulnerable while putting this post together. The before images may as well be me sporting a very unsexy bedhead look after waking up in the morning. Once I’ve had my coffee, worked out and showered I feel a little more presentable and like my after images. Be kind, world wide web. So here we go.

This image of Emma’s bouquet was pretty perfect in my mind, but I increased the curves and added a warmer tone to really make it pop.

A very recent image from Andy and Brendan’s engagement session, was a simple curves increase using Totally Rad Actions Clarify action and I brought the cropping in slightly.

A perfect example of a little editing going a long way, this beautiful perfume bottle just needed a tighter crop and to have the curves increased and I felt it was perfect.

Von didn’t need much help but I increased the curves and warmed the image up a little to give it a little pop.

This image from Annika and Tom’s wedding was a little cooler than how I remembered the light during their ceremony. So a little bit of warmth was added and this is how I remember the scene.

Similarly, this image out of camera from Amanda and Kingsley’s wedding didn’t quite capture the warmth of the sunset as I remembered it. A little curves increase, an added glow and voila!

This is definitely not how every photographer edits and I don’t claim my method is better than anothers, but this is how my workflow takes an image from a meh photograph to a wow photograph. Hopefully this has been a little helpful to someone in understanding a little behind the scenes action Happy Thursday!

But something magical happened while Andrea, Brendan and I spent a Saturday afternoon along southern Wanneroo, just a few minutes from both of our homes, and then onto the beach for their engagement session. The minute I saw them I felt at ease knowing how much they trusted me with their love. Little pockets of golden light appeared through the rain which gave us the most beautiful light filtered through the trees. I have always felt that the colours of the plants and earth seem almost in technicolour after the rain – and here is the evidence.

Andy and Brendan are getting married in December and after the fun we had at this shoot (sometimes at Brendan’s expense) I have high expectations for their wedding. Especially considering their adorable 10 month old daughter Olivia will be a part of it. She joined us for a few portraits at the beginning of the session before spending the remainder of the afternoon with her grandparents.

Just this week I received the latest addition to my collection which is a Portfolio Box. An adorable 7×7″ box housing 10 select images in thick, luxurious matting. I had a Rachel Zoe moment as I put it all together and quietly exclaimed, “Ba-nanas” just to myself.

I can see these boxes being perfect as a keepsake from an engagement or portrait session or even as a special gift for a parent or grandparent. They are just so perfect for understated display and even comes with a small easel to display the images. Perfect!

When Grant and I moved in together, the only reading he did for recreation was a little newspaper and a bunch of cycling and triathlon magazines. Not a book in sight. The thought of suggesting he try a novel would have him look at me like I just asked him to explain the mating rituals of the Dumbo Octopus, “You want me to what!?”, he would say with disbelief.

I would read novels and be dying to discuss them with someone (apart from my mother who shares my love of reading) but I resigned myself to the fact that Grant would never be that person. It was just something we didn’t have in common.

But then one day he came home from a business trip with a massive, bible sized book he had found in the airport bookstore. The Bourne Trilogy. All of the first three novels thoughtfully published in one book. He told me how he planned to read the entire series and how smart of him to find one book with the first three. How smart indeed! Unfortunately on another business trip as he was halfway through the first novel, he left the book on the plane and never saw it again. I am still amazed he managed to lose a book so large that I would have used as a door stop.

But his appetite had been whet and before I knew it he had picked up Twilight and began reading it. And then New Moon. And then Eclipse until he had finished the entire series and then promptly went out and found himself an entire series of books he devoured in no time. My anti-book fiance had caught the reading bug and I fell in love with him all over again and his infectious enthusiasm.

So now when we go to see Eclipse this weekend, I will have someone to whinge with when they mess up the story or perhaps when they do something extra thoughtful that makes me fall in love with the characters all over again. I know we differ on our music tastes and our movie choices amongst other things, but for those moments when we do have a mutual interest and can share it together, it makes me appreciate and love him even more.