Family photography session at the Arboretum - Canberra Family Photographer

I met the Gebremariam family at the Himalayan Cedars Outlook at Canberra’s Arboretum on an overcast Easter Monday.  While I was praying for the sun to peak through the clouds and provide the glorious golden hour light for this session it was just not going to be.  

Mulu Gebremariam booked the session with AJ Nitz Images as their eldest sun was back in Canberra for Easter after moving to Melbourne.  I selected the Himalayan Cedars as there are just so many options available to showcase Canberra and the family.  

With the Himalayan cedars is not specifically grown for photographing in, there are many locations all in the one place that can create entirely different lighting and feel in your gallery. The rich velvety tones are where we usually start, its nice and easy to access right at the Canberra’s door.  

Seeing the different family personalities all come together in one place is just awesome.  It is wonderful seeing the family dynamics at play.  

Then the adventure begins as we head for a gentle wander through the cedars.  We go deep into the forest to captures the family in different and varying light.  

As I mentioned at the start, capturing all the family units is a highlight at every family photoshoot.  Everyone gets a turn to be in front of the camera while the rest of the family joke on the sidelines.  

We all know how challenging it is to take photos of older families.  However, on this occasion, the whole family were just rock stars during the photo shoot.  Lidia had a gorgeous little giggle and the sweetest smile ever while Caleb and Josh were both confident and charismatic. 

Part of my job as a professional family photographer is to draw out the real personality and capture the real smiles.  While sometimes thats easy, some times I have to work a little harder for it but the results are just so heart warming and so engaging, its one of my favourite parts of the job! 

I could not help but to end the photo shoot with the family overlooking the beautiful arboretum located on Canberra’s door step.  

So with this many amazing images in their gallery (and even more that I cant fit all into one blog post!) what did they create?

Not one, not two but three families – Family Photographer Canberra

I recently had the opportunity to photograph three different family units.  The common relationship for the three families is they were all sisters.  I was quite nervous as I had never completed a family photoshoot with three different families before.  But I was up to the challenge!

Well in this case, it could not have gone better….

It was a crisp winter’s afternoon and we all met at the Arboretum at the Himalayan Cedars.  It was the perfect afternoon for the kids that had a lot of energy to burn.  Even though there were three families I knew it was going to be a fun afternoon because all the kids had an amazing personality. 

The golden winter’s glowing through the trees and the amazing colour palette.

It had to be quite an orderly process and an almost cookie cutter approach to the session to make sure that I got all the shots in.  The kids were all cousins and had a great relationship. 

Single portraits of the kids are always part of a family photoshoot and just look at how gorgeous these kids came up!  They looked absolutely amazing. 

A great thing about the arboretum is that I have all these different places that on hand to include in the session.

This must be one of my favourite photos from the day - how much joy is radiating out of all the kids at the wide brown land sculpture.  It was enough to give me a warm fuzzy moment. 

And here's the thing, each of the families was just so naturally relaxed in front of the camera.  The kids were playing little games together when they were not having photographs taken.  This was definitely not that totally structured portrait style at all, it was all-natural, organic family moments. 

If you would love to create family images for your home like the Lalor family, get in touch with Alistair here.

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER CANBERRA | MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER CANBERRA

How to avoid disaster in your photo sessions – Canberra family photographer

Your next family photography session may be your next major investment given that you could spend anything up to $3,000 on wall art and prints.  But it can end in disaster if you do not select the right family photographer. 

Photography is not like the medicine, pharmaceutical services or even the taxi industry.  There are no regulatory controls that require photographers to have a certain level of experience or education before offering to take your hard-earned cash.  In fact, the industry is totally unregulated whereby anyone with a camera can set up shop and start a photography business. 

Outside some images on their website, how do you know that the photographer that you have engaged to capture your key milestones in your life is going to do a good job?  Where do you start your research?  Website or google?  If you type in Canberra family photographer into google, it will spit out pages of information.  But how do you know if the first one you select is the right fit for you? 

In this blog post, I explore some of the hints to help you select a professional photographer that may be right for you. 

Technically trained

Cameras are getting cheaper and more technically advanced, which makes it easier for any person to offer photography services.  However, photography is more than just pressing the shutter button.  When you are engaging a professional photographer, you are hiring them because of their creativity and their composition. 

There are two ways to help your decision-making.  Have they studied photography at college or university or are they a member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (AIPP).  I have achieved my Diploma of Photo Imaging and Photography from the Canberra Institute of Technology between 2019-2020, which has technically trained me across different genres and camera technics.  I am also a general member of the AIPP and I am training towards becoming a fully accredited member of the AIPP.  The AIPP has a code of conduct that it expects all its members to follow. 

Google reviews or others

In economics they call it asymmetrical information.  This is where one party to an economic transaction possesses greater material knowledge than the other party.  It is commonly used to describe the purchase of a lemon. 

Unfortunately, a photographer has greater knowledge of their skills and photography background that the general public that may be booking them.  One way to avoid a lemon is to see what other people have been saying about their business. 

Therefore, it is important to see whether they have any website reviews, Facebook reviews or even Google reviews to help shape your thinking.  You should spend some time going through these reviews to see if they are the perfect fit.  If they have no reviews or have their comments turned off this may act as a big red flag. 

But sometimes you just cannot beat word of mouth to help inform your decision-making.  Therefore, ask your family or friends if they can make a referral.  Or reach out to Facebook group for the style of photography that you are after for recommendations.  You may be surprised when you shake the tree what type of referrals that you may receive. 

Websites

There are two crucial aspects that you should check before appointing a professional photographer – the quality of their work and their services.  Their website offers the first port of call for determining both these crucial aspects.  All professional photographers will have a website for you to navigate. Do not just rely on social media pages like Facebook and Instagram.  You need to find the website helpful with a selection of images in their portfolio.  Portfolios can help you make the right decisions about the photographer that you want to select. 

Pricing should be clearly outlined on their website and should not be confusing.  A key hint is to know in advance of the photo session what is their full price list so as not to be a surprise during the big reveal or when you are ordering packages and prints. 

The website should be answering the simple questions that you would like to ask.  Specifically, it should answer – Who is the photographer?

                                                        What do they offer?

                                                        Where are they located?

                                                        When I am expected to book a service?

                                                        How much is likely to cost?

Get to know your photographer

Do not go into booking a photographer without first getting to know them.  This is your chance to check their photography background – whether they are technically trained or have accreditation and membership with the AIPP.  If your photographer does not answer the phone, is slow in messaging back to you then this may be a red flag.  Another thing to check is their language in their email responses, is it professional or is it very causal?  If it is overly causal it may indicate that they the business is more of a hobby-based business rather than a proper professional studio. 

A good way to know your photographer is over a coffee during a pre-consultation chat.  If the photographer does not offer you a pre-consultation chat then this may also be a red flag.

If you are happy with the meeting, their portfolio and the photographer can successfully shoot your event, then hire them out any doubt. 

Photographic style

Photography takes many different forms and styles.  First you should decide the style which best suits your personality.  While your chosen photographer may have a slightly different style to you, be weary of a photographer that has an inconsistent style as you may not get a consistent set of images back from your photography session. 

If you notice a large variation in their images on their portfolio, it may be an indication that they are using stock images as an inspiration of the type of images that they may be able to capture or they may have taken the images at a workshop run by another photographer which sets up the poses and the lighting. 

What you want to know when you appoint a professional photographer is that they can recreate the type of images that are contained on their website.  This is all that you can ask from a professional photographer.

I hope that I have identified some simple ways to avoid a disaster photo session. I hope that your next photo session goes smoothly and you just adore your images. If you looking for a photographer, please reach out so I can discuss your photography needs.

Cruz and Noah - Canberra Family photographer

I do love photographing brothers and their families. On Friday, I was joined by Michala and her two children Cruz and Noah.

Cruz and Noah arrived at their photo session at the Himalayan Cedars at the Arboretum full of beans and raring to go. I knew it was going to be a fantastic photo session the moment that they piled out of the car. All that I need to do was get my camera out and start snapping and capture special moments between the boys and with Mum.

I love to incorporate both formal photos and candid shots as part of my photo sessions. It is one way to guarantee a range of beautiful images that capture the wonderful personalities of the children.

It was such a gorgeous afternoon at the Arboretum with a gorgeous family. We ran around expelling at the energy, chasing dinosaurs and playing hide and seek amongst the cedars. It did not take long for each of the kids to run back to Mum for a huge hugs.

The Arboretum offers lots of photography options for families, whether it is the lake in the background, you are amongst the trees or at the Wide Brown Land sculpture.

After spending some time around the large cedars we walked up to the Wide Brown Land Sculpture which was starting to look fantastic in fading light. It was an absolute fantastic and fun photo shoot with the kids. They were very adaptable.

If you would like to book a session with AJ Nitz Images, please click here or call me on 0403 959 459. For more information on AJ Nitz Images please visit my family photography link in the menu.