Most of Adelaide is still stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that it is now officially AUTUMN, but I spent a few hours in the Hills this weekend where the trees are slowly getting their act together and saying goodbye to summer…lovely. I’m so excited about busting out my winter wardrobe! The slightest hint of a cool day lately sends me into fits of indecision about which scarf I will wear, haha. I know that’s a bit lame but summer feels like it’s gone on FOREVER and I’m well and truly over it!!

Speaking of which, Miss S here is also an Autumn Baby just like me!

Little sister J was there too, although she got over the novelty of the camera a lot faster than her sister. Shy kiddo :)

One thing I never get over is how kids sometimes go from looking like, well, kids…to suddenly looking so adult in photos. Every now and then you get these timeless expressions that could come from any age, and then in the next photo they’re back to being 4 again.

Get this. When S jumped into her mum’s arms for a photo, she went: “Oh nooo, I’m not wearing any makeup, haven’t washed my hair…”Can you believe it?! Let me tell you know that when I scruff around in my tracky pants with unwashed hair and no makeup, I look NOTHING LIKE THIS unfortunately :(

(Actually I don’t think I could ever muster this kind of effortless gorgeous, even after hours of primping, haha!)

I also brought my best friend the Collapsible Softbox, and we did a few shots inside. The following shots of S were quickly snapped in between, “Take a photo of me being a dog!! Now take a photo of me being a bird!! Now take a photo of me being….um…a snake!! Sssssss!”

When I suggested, “How aboout I take a photo of you being a princess?” she just rolled her eyes and went, “Boooooring. I’m a dolphin!!!”

Little sis J was not quite as sure about the camera at first…but luckily under our barrage of tickles and encouragement we did get a few gems in the end!

And of course whenever you are working with kids for every great shot there is 10 hilarious outtakes… so I’ll finish with something to make you giggle :)

Sneak peek!

I photographed this beautiful family recently — it was so much fun, I really enjoying photographing young kids! They have soooo much energy! These two were very charming – and wonderful helpers to me when I was shooting, too.

子供たち元気だって、めっちゃ楽しかった♪  ありがとう菊地の家族 !

This is their adorable new baby sister. Big Sister and Big Brother are always ready for a cuddle or a kiss!

きれいだった。。。ほんまにお婆さんが信じられなかった~ I really hope I look this good when I am a grandma!! Hah!

3 weeks old…such a sweet little girl.

It was a pleasure meeting you and being able to spend time with you, Kikuchi Family! Thankyou!

The day I was due to have dinner at Jess & Simon’s, I got an email from Jess. “Can you please bring your camera gear?” she asked, adding, “I have this feeling it won’t be long now!”

“Sure,” I replied, “but I still think we should do some outdoors…I have this great idea for you in a nice sunny field with your big bump! It’s gonna be AWESOME!! …but sure, we can do some tonight too.”

Well, turns out that motherly instinct was kicking in early! Barely 3 hours after we took these photos, her water broke! There’s a sneak preview of their little bun fresh out of the oven at the end of this post, but for now…the bump!

9 months worth of baby in that bump, and she still looks gorgeous – swollen pregnant cankles and all! Look at those beautiful eyes & crazy cheekbones.

I think this (below) is probably my favourite photo EVER. Yep! Big call but it’s true – when I saw it, I loved it so much I made up a new tag in Lightroom: “OMG AWESOME.”

This is the future (well – current, now that he’s arrived!) nursery. I looove the colour. I was a bit worried about doing all the photos inside in such a small space…because, let’s face it, 9 months pregnant is not exactly compact! But they turned out fab. You’d never know that we were squeezed into a corner of the room!

If you were thinking this will be Jess and Simon’s first baby, you’d be wrong — this is the original, Bella the Fur Baby!

And finally…meet Liam Edward Hanlin. While Jess was pregnant his nickname was Vader (long story) and it’s still taking me a while to get used to calling him by his real name! He’s a tiny little snuggable overload of adorableness. More pics of him to come soon.

Jess and Simon…congratulations on your beautiful little bub!

Lucky we did Yuko’s maternity photos when we did, because a few days later, on the 25th of July — exactly on time! — this beautiful little bundle arrived. I think I must have exclaimed how adorable she was about a million times…

Only 1 day old and she’s rocking the pout already! Congratulations Yuko and Russell. I’m so excited for you guys!! Just make sure that klutz Russell keeps his shoelaces tied when he’s carrying his little bub around ;-)