New Years Mantras + Living in a Beautiful City

What is it about New Years Resolutions which makes me not stick to them? Who knows, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

Instead, this year I am going to live by mantras instead. Favourite quotes and sayings that I'm going to turn to throughout the year, that mean something to me and will be a reminder to enjoy every day.

2011 has been a big turning point for me - my thinking and mindset have changed and although my circumstances haven't changed one bit, I feel so different then at the beginning of 2011. More confident, easygoing, and most importantly, happier.

2012 will bring big things in my life and business. One big decision which will change everything will be made in the next week and will bring new things for me - exciting and scary at the same time! On the business front I will be marketing like a pro (hopefully!), practising shooting as much as possible and exercising my creativity muscles like never before...can't wait!

2012 Mantras:

~ This too shall pass. Everyone has hard times and good but during the hard I'm going to remember that it isn't forever...

~ If it makes you happy, do it. If it doesn't, don't. Simple, right?

~ Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, decide to live the life you imagined. Why would I not do this? It's time for me to do what I dream of and not do what I think others expect of me.

~ Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere. I am an OBSESSIVE worrier, and the only person who can stop this and change my thoughts is me.

~ The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time. I hate wasting time - I'm always on the go and wanting to get things done and acheived. This year I'm going to enjoy wasting time!

These five magical sayings are going to change my life. I can't wait.

On another note...I live in a beautiful city. Luke and I spent an a hot afternoon being cool in Waterfall Gully.

See you in the New Year. xx

Things I love | A Crafty Christmas

Inspired by my Pinterest addiction (follow me here) and Luke not letting me to restore old furniture ('But I really, really, really want tooooo!'), I started doing some crafts. Now, don't get me wrong I am no Martha Stewart...I can't operate a sewing machine without having someone guiding over my shoulder and I'm basically banned from our kitchen.

Not surprisingly, when I came home armed with spray paint, a hot glue gun, fabric and sticks I found in our neighbours front yard Luke got worried. Very worried.

I got straight to work on my little creations!

Since we live in a unit and aren't hosting Christmas we figured it would be too much of a hassle to buy and store a Christmas tree all.year.long. So instead I made one! Spray painting twigs and dangling a few baubles is the easiest thing ever and the best thing about it? It can go straight in the bin once the festivities are over!

I was also chomping at the bit to make these pom pom things I had seen. I'm pretty sure they are supposed to be a wedding decoration, but hey, I wanted to try it out! So far I have only made a blue one but I'll be firing up the gun again soon to complete the set with mini brown and cream ones.

My little headband was next on the 'crafts to do' list! I love it and it was super easy too. I made the flowers in about 5 mins, stuck them onto a headband I never wear and then wore it out to lunch an hour later!

Inspired by this and not wanting to spend 195 pounds on it, I picked my favourite flavour of the month saying 'The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time', bought some wooden letters and a canvas (Cheap as Chips and The Reject Shop have cheap ones) and voila!

Lastly...I entered the kitchen and braved the oven! I made chocolate spiders and oat cookies. I won't go into the whole charade but the spiders require no cooking and the cookies aren't great if you ask Luke. BUT the reason they are on the blog is because I wanted to photograph the little cake stand that I scored when my Nan was cleaning out her cupboards. It is darling!

I'm all crafted out now but I'll get back into it in a few days time...these are so many great ideas out there to try!!

xx

Meet Yvonne | Adelaide Portrait Photographer

When Yvonne contacted me to do a photo shoot to add to her model portfolio I jumped at the chance - a gorgeous girl, an afternoon at the beach and my D700 - how could any photographer resist?

Yvonne was so much fun and even though it was REALLY windy we managed to find enough places to take pics without having her hair look like she was in a wind tunnel!

All the best in your modelling career Yvonne, you are gorgeous inside and out and I can't wait to work with you again in the future. xx

Gorgeous!

Pinterest Love

I got hooked on Pinterest a while back now. I started pinning away at everything I could think of.
Then I forgot about it for a while. Put it on the backburner.

Then came my 'staycation' and I spent half a day pinning away and rediscovering my love. I feel silly saying this but pinning those little pictures in a way helps me remember who I am, what I like and gets the creative juices flowing in my brain.

I have boards for photography, interior design, things I want to make and inspiring typography quotes.

My latest board has me gathering pics from all over to make an ideas board for a client. I sent the link through to lovely Miss Y and we ended up with a combined idea of what the look and feel of the shoot would be.

Such a great idea to convey ideas with clients and will definatley be using the idea again! Fabulous for photographers, graphic designers, interior designers to use with their clients to build an idea up.

You can follow me here and below are some pics I have pinned lately! Get pinning :)

eatdrinkchic.com

From behance.net

bhg.com

Inspired By...

Over my short time as a photographer I have absolutely IMERSED myself in reading, googling, watching, surfing, drooling over, and practising all things photography.

I have come across so many photographers who motivate and inspire me and have me addicted to stalking reading their blogs and learning as much as I can from them.
The following women are the ones I turn to when I’m in need of new creative energy, have played a big role in how my business is developing and have moulded my attitude to photography.

They are all YOUNG, FUN, TALENTED, SUCESSFUL, BUSINESS MINDED, WOMEN. All the things I aspire to become on my photography journey. Another point to mention about all of these women is that they are all Type-A personalities...and yup, I am a proud Type A too :) (Don't know what type A is? google it!)

Firstly is Jasmine Star. She is the first photography blog I read from beginning to end. She has a bubbly, positive attitude which draws people in and has a generous heart when it comes to helping out up and coming photographers getting started in the industry. Her blog is a huge inspiration, filled with tons of photo shoots, FAQ’s and personal ramblings about what is happening in her day-to-day life.
She is a also a contributor to Creative Live where she has shared information about how she got started in the industry and even had the cameras follow her for a five day wedding workshop (Luke and I have seen this beginning to end – if you are a photographer and haven’t seen it then I suggest you do!). The thing I love most about J* is that her husband JD is her business partner and second-shooter. I love to dream about the day when Luke and I can be in business together!!

Next up is Jamie Delaine. She is such an inspiration as she started out her business at just 16years old when she was in High School! She has such an eclective style which is evident in her photography, her taste in music and her travels. Her strong sense of self shows through her fresh branding and she likes to bend the rules on her shoots. She too is bubbly and shares business advice with other photographers through her blog which she is addicted to updating.

Lastly is Katelyn James. This girl is full of Southern charm and happiness. He blogs are always FULL of photos and makes me want to go out and photograph everything I possibly can. She is also so creative, always posting about wedding ideas, crafts she has made, and wedding albums she is designing. She has a design background and this is so evident in her amazing branding which flows from her website, blog and her packaging.

The work of these three photographers always inspires me and looking at their gorgeous imagery makes me want to go out and make beautiful art!  I sometimes see their photography and think to myself, “I’ll NEVER be that good.” But everyone has to start somewhere and I know I’m just at the beginning of my journey.

These women motivate me to get a little bit BETTER, LEARN a little bit more, and PUSH myself a little bit further.

Michelle + Haidon | Adelaide Wedding Photographer

A while ago I had the amazing opportunity to second shoot a wedding with two new friends Kristy Barnes from Moments of Forever Photography and Donna Solowij.  They welcomed me with open arms and friendly chatter even though we had only met just moments before the wedding ceremony! I had such a great time shooting alongside these two wonderful ladies and can’t wait to be able to do it again sometime.

The wedding of Michelle and Haidon was at Sefafino’s at McLaren Vale on a gorgeous sunny Saturday.  After the beautiful ceremony by the lake we hightailed it around the corner and took some photos in the Leaconfield Winery vineyard – the light was AH-mazing!

A big thank you to Michelle and Haidon for letting me photograph their special day and an even bigger thank you Kristy for allowing me to second (or third!) shoot with her.

Enjoy!

Megan x

How gorgeous is this little guy!

Michelle, you're gorgeous....

Things I Love...Styling...

Waiting at the bus stop a few days ago I was admiring the colours of the roses outside the local church. They were nearly past their use-by date and I knew they weren’t going to last much longer so later that night Luke and I wandered down there and I….umm…borrowed(?) some to make my own little styled set-up.

Luke and I have a great cane chair that we picked up at a second-hand store a while back to use on location shoots so I had grand plans to set-up the roses and other little pretty things around the house to pull together my idea.

We live in a unit which adjoins 3 others so I’m not sure what our neighbours thought of me setting this up on the front lawn as I started snapping away!

I absolutely love the colours of the roses together combined with the mirror photo frame. The photo in the frame is one Luke and I took at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens last year (we did our own little photo shoot on self-timer and then gave the pics to family for Christmas).

Enjoy. X

The Nikon AIPP Event...

For a photographer the chance to learn from the best, mingle with fellow photographers, test out equipment, chat to vendors is an opportunity that can't be missed. The Nikon AIPP Event is in it's second year and since it was coming to Adelaide it was unmissable! The experience was amazing.

Luke and I opted to attend for just one day and got to listen to some of Australias best photographers...
We saw Andris Apse' amazing landscape photography and heard about how he captured some of them - you wouldn't beleive some of his stories; we learnt lighting tips and tricks from the lighting guru Rocco Ancora; Tony Hewitt ran us through a refresher on client communication; and lastly, while Luke heard from Nick Ghionis, I went to an intimate workshop with Susan Bryce and learnt the in's and out's of her highly regarded posing techniques. Bliss.

Yeh we are photography geeks and loved every minute of it...

(Yep, we're cool :S)

Douglas | Adelaide Newborn Photographer

Douglas – 5ish weeks!

It’s inevitable that baby Douglas has ended up on my blog again! Thanks to many requests for updates from Dougs’ family and friends over Australia and the US, he will be making regular appearances from now on.

I’m totally not biased…is he not the most handsome baby?!

This was just a quick little photo shoot from a few weeks ago and Dougs was so well behaved considering he was WIDE awake and hungry.

Like every little baby he is growing and changing so fast, his little cheeks and belly are filling out and he is starting to look around at all his suroundings and makes little mouth movements (I like to think that he is actually smiling at me!). 

Please be sure to email this post link or share it on FB so that all of Dougs' family and friends can check him out!

Seriously, check out that face!!

Poor baby, he was getting a tad hungry!!