Tim and Shelley are perfect for each other.  The way they look at each other, share their inside jokes, and most of all have fun.  Tim is great fun and makes Shelly laugh.  Shelley is completely fabulous - so much so that her nickname for years has been Wonder Woman.  We were going to get some great photos, I knew it the minute we left for the beach.  With these guys, how can you go wrong?

Shelley had warned me that Tim was a bit of a kid sometimes, so neither of us were surprised when he suggested that she should go and sit on "that log over there".  Great idea Tim, except that that log was dangerously close to that water. 

"Why don't you go sit on that log then?"  We suggested.

So he did.

Pure awesomeness. 

Sorry Tim, but we kind of saw that coming!  Totally worth the shots though!

*cue awesome proposal story*

Tim had all of the right ingredients to an awesome proposal.  One romantic dinner, throw in a trip in a helicopter, add a pinch of "MARRY ME" in fairy lights seen from the sky and a jaw dropping ring = one giant YES.

*cue a collective sigh from all of the women*

Gorgeousness!

I love this shot.  The beach blown hair, the look of total happiness.

Hello Rarangi!  You look awesome!

Then we headed back into town.  Another special request for 'my tree' took us up the hill.

I love letting my couples do their thing, I just stand back and watch to see what they do.  These guys are awesome!

Shelley and Tim could really leap!

Wonder Woman indeed!  Tim is hiding behind the tree, he's such a clown.

Thanks for a fun afternoon guys.  I'm so excited about your wedding, let the countdown begin! 

He needed somewhere to live.  She needed somewhere to live.  They had never met before, but they soon found themselves as flatmates.  I asked who liked who first, and they both laughed.  I'm pretty sure both Nikki and Simon wanted to think the other was the first to cave.

They sure like each other now, quite a lot.  So much so, in fact, that come next March they will be married. 

The weather has been less than lovely here lately, but thankfully it opened up into a beautiful day for us.  We headed over to Taylor Dam where I thought we might get some nice country feeling images.

I just LOVE this shot.  Nikki is just beautiful.

I've been trying to get more use out of our 16-35mm 2.8L lens lately, and although I adore it as a scene setter....

I just keep coming back to my 70-200mm 2.8L.  And although I was MOST excited about finding this tree, Nikki and Simon are really what make this picture. 

Then on to Harling Park, throw in some gorgeous late light... and you have a major win.

Gorgeous!

Hello awesome hilltop, with gorgeous light and sky!

Nikki had seen 'my' tree featured on the blog before, and seemed quite keen to meet it. 

This following picture is because I'm strange, and I make people do funny things.

Just before we left the sky broke forth with this amazing show of colour.  I like it a lot.

Nikki and Simon, thanks so much for your time this afternoon.  I had a blast!  I'm so excited about shooting your wedding in the Summer, it's going to be great!

She looks at Mark and smiles.  She smiles a lot.  "He stamped in a puddle and splashed me the other day!  Like this!"  She shows me how the offence occurred.

He giggles. 

"No one has done that to me since school!" she laughs.  I assured her that that's how boys show girls they like them.

To say that Mark and Lisa suit each other would be a tragic understatement.  They belong together, pure and simple. 

Mark makes Lisa laugh, Lisa makes Mark spend 2 hours getting their photos taken.  I don't know where the time went, it flew past so quick, so at least I know that I was having fun! 

Oh yes, this amazing-as-anything location?  Provided by Deirdre from Locks and Lashes.  Not only did she make Lisa look like a Hollywood film star, but she let us use her AMAZING property for the shoot!  Thanks Deirdre!

Add in a little bit of lovin'...

A bucket load of laughs...

And I think we've found the perfect combination!

Stunning, hu?!

And Mark scrubbed up pretty well too!

I love the way Mark looks at Lisa.

And the way he makes her laugh.

Often kisses don't look all that gorgeous close up like this, but what do you know?  Lovely!

Loving this location!

  

Mark and Lisa - thanks for today! I can't even tell you how excited I am that we're photographing your wedding!  It's going to be such a fun day!  For those facebookers, there's more pics over here.

I'm quite a musical wee thing.  I was always going to grow up to be a singer, I never actually doubted that as a child.  Somehow my adult self was never as convinced.  Which is a pity really, because I think it could be quite a fun gig.  Anyway, my point is, I think in music and lyrics.  Every situation has a corresponding song.  So if I'm humming something, I'm probably comforting myself in some way with some abstract song I've picked up along the way.  (I need to find me one about odd socks... somehow they're breeding in my house)

The song that works for this particular shoot dates way back to the Sound of Music.  You remember when Maria is on her way to the Von Trapp family for the first time?  She's convincing herself that she's confident.  Talking herself into being ok.  "I have confidence in sunshine, I have confidence in rain..." 

You see, I was not really confident.  In fact, I was partly terrified.  Jane is an amazing photographer.  And if you're from the Wellington area, you probably already know that!  So to have her come down to Blenheim to have me photograph her and her fiancé Sam, made me feel a little nervous! 

But I shouldn't have been.  She's not scary, and for that matter, neither is Sam.  In fact, they're pretty darn awesome people.

We hit it off straight away.  Jane is friendly and bubbly and just great fun to be around.  Sam is an IT guy, so he and Paul could chat about servers or other computery stuff Jane and I didn't fully understand.

I love the way she's looking at Sam here.  So gorgeous!

That fence had an electric current running through the top wire.  I was sure not going to be encouraging them to go leaning up against it! 

I love this.  Love love love it!

I reckon they look all 'detectivey' here.  I'm not quite sure why I think detectives look like this.  I think TV must have done that to me somewhere along the way.

Working it!  (not quite as detectivey, this one)

Just outside of a shop in town.  Sam was working it, just like the guys behind him.  Oh yeah.

Ok, so we could do some sappy naff stuff too.  I quite like naff.

Aren't they cute together? 

Sam and Jane, it was our absolute pleasure to spend some time with you guys.  You're both so easy to be with!  Enjoy your boat trip back to Wellington, and we'll see you again soon!

We've known Glenn and Carina for a few years now, through Bayleys Marlborough.  But mostly it's Paul who they deal with, as he's the property photography guy (I prefer to photograph anything that looks back!)  So I was quite pleased to get a look in for a change! 

I was lucky enough to photograph Glenn's sister Andrea last year too!

 

The sky was threatening us with bad weather, but gosh darnit we were going to have our photo shoot anyway!  In fact, I think I actually prefer some dramatic cloud.

In fact, at one point it did start raining - but nothing was going to dampen our spirits!  Thankfully, it didn't stick around though.

I had spied this spot, and just KNEW it was purely awesome.  Carina, you look gorgeous!

So photogenic, these two!

They're getting married deep in the winter, and I'm SOOOO excited about doing a snowy wedding!  It should be FABULOUS!

Carina will be featuring a couple more times on the blog during this year .... so watch this space!

Glenn was really easy to photograph, just a natural you could say.  So perhaps Glenn, if the Real Estate thing gets old, maybe you could take up modelling?

Loving Harling Park!

This was the final shot I took of them, and I think it might just be my favourite!

Thanks guys, so glad we braved the weather and made it happen.  Great fun!  Can't wait to show you the rest!

It was a little more than fifty years ago, and she made the first move, well, so I was told.  Daphne quite liked the look of that young man, and was rather determined to go out with him.

It wasn't long before the two fell in love, got married and had children.

Del is an incredibly talented man.  Before I even met him, I fell in love with his handy work!  I pointed at the bench seat he had created "These are marvellous!" I exclaimed as he came out to meet me.  "Oh, I don't know about that.  I needed a seat, so I made a seat." He shrugged off my compliment as if everyone could just whip one of these things up.  His children all attested to his amazing talent, and showed me carvings and all sorts of fantastic ideas he's had along the way.

The Jenkins family got together for their 50th anniversary and the gathering was large, and warm and there were a lot of laughs shared between a family that hadn't been all together for several years.  Here are some photos of just a small slice of that family, the love they have for each other, and the FUN they have together!

Evan and Marie:

And their two children Corey and Tanya.

Gorgeous!

I love how these two interact!

Father and son:

Tanya and Franz.  Loving the gorgeous light down at Karaka Point in Waikawa!

Corey and Gemma.

And just because it's about time I posted one of these again!

 

It was so lovely to see a family getting together and enjoying each other's company!  Thanks so much for inviting me over for the morning!

The moment I met Suzanne and Glen I knew it was going to be good.  Great looking people on a beautiful morning.  Ohhh yeah. 

 

I'm shooting their wedding next year, and so while they were in town this weekend, we decided to hook up, take some photos and get to know each other a bit.  It didn't take long for them to relax and start working it!

I always try to bond with my couples, and find out what makes them tick and what we share in common.  Glen is fully into softball, and Suzanne works in fashion.  So sport and fashion are probably the areas I know least about in life, but when the conversation turned to types of liquorice, I was good as gold.  How sad is that?

My tree.  I love my tree.  Suzanne knew of the tree from previous blog posts, and when we finally arrived there she said it was nothing like she thought it would be.  Once I showed her what I was getting in the camera, she knew exactly where we were!

We worked really hard to try and find some NZ Flax, and make it work in a photo to go with the theme of their wedding.  This is me teetering dangerously down a bank (sorry Mum, it wasn't really that dangerous!)

Suzanne just lights up a photo, she's so natural in front of the camera.  Stunning!

And I'm loving this one of Glen.  I insisted his Mum probably wanted a photo of him by himself for her wall.  Pretty sure this one will get her smiling!

Love this!

Suzanne and Glen, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you both.  I enjoyed our morning together immensely, and can't WAIT to shoot your wedding! Bring on 2011!