Rachel Wildig Photography: Bondi

Showing posts with label Bondi. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Cake Smash | Poppy

I have been watching the rise in popularity of cake smashes for a while now. It intrigues me completely how this very American way of celebrating a child's first birthday has slowly but surely infiltrated our shores.

My Goddaughter's first birthday presented the perfect opportunity for me to test the hype of my "photog-friends", many of whom are engaged in regular, and very popular, cake smash sessions.

After quite a bit of research into wipe-clean backdrops, smash-proof cake stands and which bakery bakes the best giant cupcakes in the Eastern Suburbs (enjoyed that last bit!), I was all set to go.

We started the session with some standard portraits as I had been warned that some children may not really get into the cake smashing bit. Well, I really didn't need to worry about that with Poppy! One lick of the icing and she was away. We finished up the session with a bubble bath which was just as well given how much cake she managed to coat herself in.

And my verdict? Well, I'm a convert - they're silly and messy and basically fun. Cake smashes are certain to be added to my offering very soon.

Rachel x

Monday, 4 March 2013

Family Session | Elkington Park, Balmain

Saturday's weather in Sydney was shocking, just awful, and I was devastated to think that I was not going to able to go ahead with this gorgeous family's shoot. The deciding factor to push ahead and hope for the best was Silvia's text message to me saying that she was "having such an unusually good hair day, too!" Girls, you know that this is not the day to pass up a photoshoot all because of a little bit of wind and rain!

Elkington Park in Balmain is a lovely harbourside spot and has the added bonus of a beautifully constructed rotunda at its centre which is ideal for rainy days. It also has the most amazing native figs which serve as a lovely backdrop and alternative shelter. Thankfully about 15 minutes into our session, the rain clouds parted and we were able to proceed without any worries of my beloved Canon (or the unusually good hair) getting a soaking.

To quote Silvia (again), "they are just not a photogenic family"...say what??!! The evidence to the contrary is right here - a beautiful family, so loving and generous with their affection and smiles. It was my sincere pleasure to have held this session with you and I very much hope to see you all again soon.

Thank You - Chris, Silvia and Layla xx

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Newborn Shoot | 11-Day-Old Fin

I spent the most lovely of mornings with the Wood family this week. This session encompassed a little bit of everything. Of course, when booking a newborn session a client expects to receive beautiful images of their new bundle, but how special (and time-effective!) is it to be able to get updated images of the whole family together at the same time. I am always more than happy to include family in a newborn shoot and there is usually time during feeding and settling of the newborn for siblings to have their own mini-shoot.

Big sister, Kyra, has the most mesmerising blue eyes and was such fun to play with - in the course of photographing her we played on the slide, in the toddler car, blew bubbles, built block towers, played with the polar bear (my long-haired white rug) and dressed up with jewels, fan and a parasol. I think she has inherited Dad's appetite for exercise...she was barely still for a moment. What a gorgeous spirit she is and so photogenic!

Meanwhile new addition and star of the show, Fin, calmly took everything in his stride. It took a while to get him soundly off to sleep but when he finally went he was out for the count! I love it when clients bring little props that are meaningful to them. Fin had received a beautiful sterling silver dumbbell (Dad is reported to be a gym junkie) and we managed to grab a couple of images of him with this. He'll be giving Kyra a run for her money in no time at all.

Thank you Natalie, Andrew, Kyra and Fin for such a lovely session.

Friday, 25 January 2013

Media Shoot | Car Next Door

Car Next Door, Sydney's neighbour-to-neighbour car sharing scheme hit a big milestone this week with it's official launch on Friday.

If you haven't already heard of the Car Next Door concept, the basic premise of the business is to facilitate the sharing of cars within communities on an hourly or daily basis to the mutual benefit of owners and borrowers.

The primary advantage to owners is in making money from their vehicles whilst they are not using them which goes towards offsetting the considerable expense involved in owning a car, and the benefit to users is access to an extensive and affordable fleet of vehicles on their doorstep. In addition to this, there are clear and tangible benefits to the community and environment such as freeing up car parking spots and reducing the number of vehicles on the road. Car Next Door modelling shows that one shared car takes eight individually owned cars off the road!

As a precursor to the official launch of Car Next Door, their dedicated team drummed up interest and spread the word by attending, amongst other places, the Saturday morning Bondi Farmers Markets held at the Bondi Beach Public School.

Last weekend the team got busy with an attempt to cram as many people as possible into a Peugeot and I was there to capture all the hilarious action. We were just amazed by the final staggering result of 21 people!

If you are interested in learning more about Car Next Door, you can find them using the links below:

http://www.facebook.com/CarNextDoor
http://www.carnextdoor.com.au

As a Car Next Door car-lender myself I can vouch for this excellent company and I wish Will, Dave and the ever-expanding Car Next Door team great success with this very worthwhile venture.

Rachel x

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Newborn Shoot | 15-Day-Old Raphael

According to the general characteristics of placement in families, the fourth born is said to be the "child of the family" and this could not be truer of Rafi. His three older siblings, Theo, Fifi and Amara, clearly adore their new baby brother and I am in complete awe of just how well parents, Matt and Anthea are coping with the newest addition to their brood.

Rafi was a perfect little model who just loved the "sounds-of-the-ocean" white noise track that we played to soothe him off to sleep - he's clearly a Bondi bub through and through. He also managed to sleep straight through the combined rampaging of his three siblings and my own three children straight through his shoot, mind you! There's a lot to be said for being fourth born.

My heartfelt congratulations to you all.

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Newborn Shoot | 7-Day-Old Annabelle

I had the great fortune to photograph parents-to-be, Helen & Rob, at a beautiful Bondi Beach sunset shoot just 11 days before the arrival of gorgeous Annabelle. And what a good girl she was! Annabelle slept for almost our entire session, just opening one eye briefly to peep out at the goings-on before satisfying herself that all was in order and going back to sleep.

Such a darling and I especially loved the Christmas set-up that we did to send out to friends and family.

Congratulations Helen and Rob!