Sydney Blessingway Photographer/Facilitator

"A blessingway is a special ceremony designed to acknowledge, honour, and celebrate a woman's journey into motherhood. Different from a baby shower, a blessingway's main goal is to provide a loving place where an expectant mum can explore the challenges and joys that lie before her as she approaches childbirth and motherhood." - Mother Rising

This past weekend I had the honour of guiding my dear friend's blessingway. Min is expecting her third baby, and when she told me that she had always wanted a blessingway but never had anyone who could plan it for her, I knew that we had to make it happen! Back when I was expecting my first daughter, my friends threw me a beautiful blessingway and it was one of the highlights of my whole pregnancy. I was very hopeful that it would be the same for Min.

I really do believe that when women gather together, magic happens. Not one person present had ever attended a blessingway, and yet everyone was so open hearted and happy to be a part of it. At the end everyone was talking about how amazing it was to slow down, to focus, to make something with their hands, to celebrate their friend and her journey.

I used the book Mother Rising to plan the ceremony, as well as the Mama Blessing Pack from Sisters and the Sea. I would highly recommend both to anyone planning a blessingway! My favourite part of the day: the blush pink string we tied around our wrists in our closing ceremony string ritual, that each of us will leave on our wrist until we hear that Min's baby has arrived.

As a photographer, of course I couldn't let the day go by without snapping some photos. Here are some of my faves...

Sydney Maternity Photographer - a family session

This little girl totally stole my heart at her mum's maternity session. She was so bubbly and joyful, not to mention very excited to become a big sister soon. I have no doubt that she will make the best big sister, and I'm very excited to see her in action when I go to photograph a newborn session for this family very soon!

Eastern Suburbs Yoga Photographer: Amy

You know when you meet someone for the first time and you have so much in common that you can just talk and talk and talk? Well that's what it was like when I met Amy to chat about photography; we of course got on to the topic of yoga, and teaching yoga and yoga trainings and our favourite teachers and on and on. We did eventually get to the topic of yoga photography, and Amy had the brilliant idea to use Nielsen Park as our location. It's a great spot because we got so much variety from just the one session.

Sydney Family Photographer

This sweet family was so much fun to work with! They are a fellow North American/Australian family so we had lots in common. We were chatting about how in the US/Canada it's common to send out Christmas cards with your family photo on the front, while here in Australia that isn't really a thing. We kept joking that these could be their Christmas card photos and they could start the trend, but I really think they should! It's a lovely tradition and a good kick in the pants to organise family photos.

Inner West Newborn Photographer: Tallulah

This newborn session is extra special to me as this family are dear friends of ours. We were anxiously awaiting the birth of their little girl, and a few days after she arrived I headed to their place for a newborn session. I love doing newborn sessions at the family's home because it's more laid back, which allows us to follow the baby's lead. With a brand new baby, life can be pretty unpredictable so I always leave plenty of time for nappy changes, nursing etc. I try to keep things completely relaxed and stress free!

Sydney Natural Health Photographer: Emma

Something I really love about my job is the opportunity to connect with other natural health practitioners, like yoga teachers, kinesiologists, massage therapists, naturopaths etc. I know firsthand how important it is to have photos that truly reflect you and your work, and that you feel proud to share. So when Emma reached out needing photos for her new website, I was thrilled to work with her.

Vancouver Yoga Photographer: Persia

I've known Persia since way back in the day when we were both yoga teachers at what is now Egg of the Universe. A fellow Vancouver girl in Sydney, Persia was someone I looked up to as a yoga teacher and as an all around inspiring person. After 10 years of living in Australia, she recently returned to Vancouver and we got to reconnect while I was there in August. I suggested to her that we do a last minute photoshoot at the beach, and so we spent my last evening in Vancouver at Spanish Banks. With no time to plan or overthink, we simply went with the flow and it was great. You can find out more about Persia here, and if you happen to be in Vancouver right now I highly, highly recommend you get to one of her classes ASAP!

How to Prepare for Your Family Session

As a mum to two small children, I know how stressful it can be to organise a family photo session. From finding the right photographer, to nailing down a date that works for everyone, to choosing coordinating outfits, and then hoping that your kids will actually cooperate on the day. The thing is, I also know that it is SO worth it! We've had family photos taken many times since my first daughter was born, and despite the stress that comes with the process, I am always in awe when we get our photos back. Even my husband, who will be the first to admit that he doesn't love having his photo taken, flips through our photo albums now and thanks me for taking the time to organise these sessions. Children grow and change so much in their first few years and these photos are a priceless treasure and an amazing part of our legacy.

That said, today I thought I'd share a few simple tips to prepare for your next family session.

Eastern Suburbs Newborn Photographer: Faye

Just a few weeks after we took Liv's maternity photos, baby Faye entered the world on a Sunday morning (just like my eldest daughter!). Five days after that, I went over to Liv and Dave's cute Eastern Suburbs apartment to photograph the new family. I was reminded that there is nothing like the newborn bubble - those beautiful, magical, sleepless and fleeting first few days of parenthood. What a ride it is to be a parent, and what a blessing it is to photograph such precious memories for other families!

Northern Beaches Wedding Photographer: Matt and Chrissy

I decided last year that I really wanted to start photographing weddings. The idea terrified me but I didn't want to let that stop me, so I made it my goal to start second shooting in 2017. So earlier this year, when I got a message from my friend Liv that her friend was looking for a wedding photographer and would I be interested, I practically shouted at her, "YES!"

She put me in touch with Chrissy, and I connected with her and her fiancé from the first moment I met them, bonding over Anne of Green Gables, yoga and the joys and stresses of wedding planning. I knew right away that their wedding would be something special, and I was honoured that they would trust me to capture it.

Memory Keeping

As promised, today's post is a follow up to my post on how to organise your personal photos. Keeping my photos organised makes all of my memory keeping projects way easier, so it made sense to start there and now I'll explain how I use my photos.

To begin, I got the idea from Ronnie to decide on my personal memory keeping framework. Figuring out your priorities and then deciding on a framework is a helpful exercise before committing to a bunch of projects that you may or may not be able to keep up with.

After mulling it over, I decided to break down my projects into 3 categories: photos, words and videos.

photographygabriela fearnMarch 10, 2017Comment

New Packages AND a Newsletter!

I am super excited about today's post! If you read my post on organising your personal photos, you'll know that I'm passionate about memory keeping. I joke that our house is like a shrine to ourselves because we have so many of our family photos displayed. I love being surrounded by memories of the most special milestones in our life, from getting married eight (!) years ago to bringing our eldest to the hospital to meet her new sister. I really don't think you can have too many photos on your walls, and some experts even say that family photos boost your child's self esteem and enhance their feeling of belonging.

Sydney Yoga Photographer: Sarah Owen Yin

I recently had the pleasure of attending Sarah Owen's Yin Yoga Teacher Training. Over the course of 3 weekends I learned so much; Sarah truly is a wealth of knowledge.

Shortly thereafter we got together to do another photoshoot (you can our first photoshoot here). Sarah brought along several props and set up a beautiful floral background; I just love the extra dimension they add to her photos. Here are some of my favourites...

Vancouver Family Photographer: the H twins

Meet Vanessa: she's one of my oldest friends and the person I originally travelled to Australia with. When she told me that she was pregnant, I was so excited for her. And then when she had her first scan and found out she was expecting twins, I was shocked and even more excited for her! Having twins isn't easy, but Vanessa and her husband are doing so well dealing with the sleep deprivation and curveballs that are being thrown their way (says the girl who could barely cope with the sleep deprivation of having 1 baby at a time, ahem). I love you Nessa and I'm so proud of you!

How to Prepare for Your Yoga Photoshoot

Over the last couple of years, I've had the privilege of photographing many different yoga teachers. After working with both men and women, new and advanced practitioners, in studios and at outdoor locations, I've picked up a few tips that I thought might be helpful to anyone who is preparing for a yoga photoshoot. So here they are, my top tips to get the most out of your experience: