A really good friend of mine has had me photograph her family since before it became a family. Sounds paradoxical, right? Let me explain.

MJ didn’t want to wait for Mr Right. She was utterly determined to become a mother, despite being single, so she could have a child of her own, and give him or her all the love she knew she had to give. After a few tough, soul-searching years, MJ fell pregnant, and eventually had her little bubba Poppy Grace. I photographed MJ at the 19-week ultrasound, when she found out her baby would be a girl. I photographed Poppy on the day she was born, literally minutes after she was wheeled back to the ward from the operating theatre. I have photographed Poppy, MJ, and their fuzzy loves (Bella & Bear – two beautiful dogs) several times since, including both of Poppy’s birthdays. MJ’s sister Shannon gives ME as the present for Poppy’s birthday each year. Well, technically, the present is my photography services, but …

Anyway, this time around the birthday present also included a family portrait shoot for MJ and Poppy. This morning we went to Steyne Park, Double Bay, and I got so freaking excited by the images, I just HAD to share a preview with you tonight!

You may also be wondering why I titled this post “A Bumpy Road to Family Portraits”. MJ writes a beautiful, honest, reduce-you-to-tears blog called Bumpy Road To Bubba. This blog tells the story from before Poppy was born, through MJ’s amazing journey of becoming a single Mum by choice. Now the blog is MJ’s way of sharing her tender and heart-warming insight into the challenges and the joy that her solo-parent family lives through each day. I am a fan. I STRONGLY recommend you take some time and read the blog. Even better, subscribe to the blog so it lands in your inbox automagically each day.

Now, how about I show you some pictures?
Sure! A few quick notes first:

1) There are no Black+White images in this post, because I simply loved all the colours. (Especially the gumboots. How could you not?!)

2) This is a small selection of yummy from an otherwise overwhelmingly-cute-and-gorgeous collection of portraits. They were all taken this morning in a fun, easy, laid-back hour or so at Double Bay.

3) I can do this for YOUR family too. We have a Mother’s Day special running at the moment. You really owe it to yourself to capture YOUR family’s love and awesomeness in the same way. Click here to see our Mother’s Day offer.

I look forward to hearing from you, post haste.

With love,
Israel. xo

PS Mother’s Day is less than a month away. Hint. Nudge. Wink. ;)

I work as a professional photographer, so it’s probably no surprise that when I have a camera in my hand, I’m most likely working for clients and delivering on their brief.

I love what I do as a people photographer, but I really relish the chance to simply shoot images for me. There’s something invigorating about shooting with no attachment to client brief, for no other purpose than to take photos for myself.

On Monday this week, I went on a day trip with my wife Belinda and my daughter Indrani to Manly. We skipped out on Rilien who was at day care, so we could share some quality daughter time, just the three of us. It hasn’t been this way for a couple of years now, and I know Bel & I enjoy our solo time with Indrani as much as she enjoys having us to herself.

For a change, I took my D800 camera with me, with a single, fixed lens – a 35mm f/2. I’ve had this lens for 10 years, and have used it on countless jobs. It travelled with me to Europe in 2003, and was part of the kit I had when I started this business.

Sadly, it’s broken, and will only shoot with the aperture stuck wide-open at f/2. This means I get a very shallow area of my images in focus (shallow depth of field), and the rest of the shot goes soft and blurry. It also means I have certain limitations on how I shoot with this lens in various kinds of brighter light. I can’t always get the results I would ideally want when using this lens.

The cool thing about this lens, though, is the look it gives my images, especially, ironically enough, when I shoot it at f/2. It’s almost like the camera gods decided that since I loved this lens at f/2 so much, it would interfere with the mechanics, make the lens break, and get it stuck at f/2. It gives a beautiful softness all over, but also gives a subtle vignette to the corners of the image. A vignette is a gentle darkening of the corners, most often caused by light fall-off in the lens. It is most often considered a camera flaw, but in this case is something I truly love.

Focussing with this lens is kinda dicey too – sometimes it works, sometimes not – and that is also one of the things I love about this lens. It has some idiosyncrasies, just like me. I guess in some ways the lens is like an old friend. We know each other really well, and I can rely on my trusty 35 to give me a certain flavour to my shots when I put the camera to my eye and press the shutter.

I also love love LOVE the angle of view that it provides. It’s a little wider than a standard 50mm lens, and means that I can get close to the subject and still get some background. It’s the one lens I wish I could rely on for client jobs – sadly the “quirks” of this lens have led to me missing the odd shot when I use it for clients, so it stays home most of the time.

Except for Monday.

I was determined to take it for a spin, while we took our daughter on a trip to Darling Harbour and Manly via ferry. I took my 35mm for a blast, and here are my favourite shots from the day.

I hope you enjoy them as much as me!

With love,
Israel. xo

In this portrait, I was especially excited about the light – gentle, soft side-lighting from the window just off the left side of the shot. It created the most beautiful three-dimensionality to the portrait, giving shape to each of the subjects. I also loved that the colour of window light is typically quite blue or cool. This contrasted nicely with the warmth of the electric lights on the background, and the warm colours in the room.

One of my favourite things about photographing families in their own home is the sense of depth the portraits carry. Each image is automatically imbued with memories simply because of the setting. The backgrounds are filled with elements that describe the family, each with their own story and each adding a new insight into the subjects of the portraits.

This shot tells so many stories about this family even without focussing on the people themselves. There’s a stunning art print from France at the back on the wall, hinting at an art passion, or a passion for France, or both; the polished cabinet to the right of shot contains many souvenirs and mementos from various travels; the music stand at back-left of shot sits just above the electronic keyboard that the kids play; and the amazing collection of art books neatly stacked on every flat surface shows a deep appreciation for books and art, and gives a sense of many lazy Sundays spent flicking through a new book.

I just love it.

Jenny and her husband opted for an album to tell most of their family’s portrait story – as their walls are already quite full, and they love art books! I’ve included the album in its entirety below, and there are several things I’d suggest you look for in its pages:

• the beautiful moments between each child and each parent
• the comfortable-but-loving portraits of Mum & Dad together
• the painted mural on the back wall which was completed by Jenny’s daughter several years ago

Interestingly, the portraits also show a strong sense of where each of the children are at in their lives. Jenny’s son is almost a teenager, and while full of laughs, he is a more introspective boy and is at the start of his journey into adolescence – full of uncertainty and questions. Jenny’s daughter, on the other hand, is on the cusp of womanhood, and starting to know herself more keenly. Some of her portraits show a giggly, innocent girl, yet others show a deeply mature woman starting her journey into adulthood.

It is the moments like this that make me proud to do what I do – capturing family portraits and documenting stages in the family life cycle – because I feel this album delivers on everything I set out to achieve in every portrait shoot.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved making it, and as much as Jenny and her family enjoy owning it!

If you’ve got older children, and would be interested in a lifestyle portrait session in the comfort of your own home, or even if you simply want to document where your kids are at right now before they change and mature too much more – call me. I’d love to help you preserve what you love about your family RIGHT NOW.

I’m on (02) 9665 0800 or you can email us at info@israelsmith.com.

With love,
Israel. xo

Every family is unique and the individuals each have their own personalities and moods. The truth is not everyone loves being photographed, and not everyone is always sunshine and roses on the shoot! Today I share a few truths of family portraits, and what I do as a professional to make sure I get the beautiful portraits each family deserves.

The Family Portrait Xmas Gift

Before Christmas, I received a phone call from a lovely lady from Avalon, wanting to buy a gift certificate for her daughter who lived in the Eastern Suburbs.  The daughter – Nicole – had seen our family portrait work hanging on a friend’s living room wall, and decided she wanted beautiful portraits of her own family.

Always happy to help, we arranged for Nicole’s gift to be mailed to Mum in time for the family’s Xmas lunch. Cut to early New Year, and we booked Nicole’s family portrait shoot at Bronte beach.

Family Portrait Truth #1 – Bad moods happen

On almost every shoot I find someone who’d rather be somewhere else, and Nicole’s shoot was no different. When I was introduced to Nicole’s eldest son, it became obvious to me that he really didn’t want to be there. His body language was pretty closed, and he was giving little more than monosyllabic answers when I asked him a few questions.

I tried desperately to drag him out of his shell, because I knew if I couldn’t get him relaxed and open, the shoot would be a disaster. I resorted to my favourite, most time-honoured way of connecting with kids – fart humour, and generally being a complete idiot in public.

Being An Idiot In Public – A Beginner’s Guide

I have no shame when it comes to being an idiot in public, if it gets people to drop their mask and let me in, so I can capture their real, true selves in a portrait. This is far more important to me than my own ego, or sense of dignity. Just so you know. (And just so you aren’t terrified the first time I start dancing madly, or pulling crazy faces from behind my camera.)

My strategy is this:

1. Get the family (including grumpy child) roughly in position for the portrait, with a great background, nice light, and good people placement.
2. Say or do something COMPLETELY ridiculous and unexpected, aiming for a smirk, or a smile from grumpy child. (This could be anything from singing the wrong words to “Twinkle twinkle little bum”, to gorilla impersonations, to laughing maniacally and hoping it rubs off.)
3. Raise the stakes quickly; introduce some fart noises or bad jokes, go for a broad smile. Notice the body-language slowly opening up, and the child becoming slightly more engaged.
4. Quickly shift to either tickling or poking a nearby sibling, or (for older kids) gently teasing the siblings to get grumpy child laughing AT someone else.
5. Swiftly change back, tickle/poke/tease grumpy child, get some strong laughs, and shoot a few frames as all of the kids and parents laugh together.
6. In extreme cases, introduce Schadenfreude as a last-resort comedy technique. Fall over, stumble, trip. collapse, or pretend to hurt yourself, purely for a laugh. Note: don’t go TOO overboard. You still need to be able to shoot afterwards.
7. Rinse and repeat, for any/all grumpy children, or parents.

Starting With The Family

I chose to start Nicole’s shoot as I begin most of my family shoots – with a family portrait. My theory: even if everything goes pear-shaped in a hurry, at least we have a great series of family portraits in the can – the highest priority for almost every family I shoot.

Sometimes the family mix includes a Rascal Child – that child who fidgets and pulls faces. This child’s behaviour invariably adds a bit of stress to Mum and Dad, but here’s the thing: this is totally normal, and happens in about 90% of my family shoots.  My role as the professional is to manage the kids, calm the mood of the situation and prevent a meltdown in kids/parents/both. Meltdowns = bad news.

Family Portrait Truth #2 – Every Family Has A Rascal

At Nicole’s portrait session, her youngest son Samuel decided to be Rascal Child. And, true to form, his behaviour started to get Mum and Dad a little stressed. Before things got too tense, I had a quick chat with Nicole and Michael, and explained my approach.

Kids are always kids – they love to play, muck up, and burn off energy. And, oddly enough, they often do what the photographer says, while totally ignoring their parents!

I contend with this every day of the week, and the key is to trust me and simply go with process. I’ll make sure I get what you’re after in the way of beautiful family portraits.

Letting Kids Be Kids

A key secret I employ to get such genuine portraits of children is this: simply let them be. Let the kids play, run around, and go crazy. Let them climb trees, let them laugh and play and be themselves.

Those moments end up being beautiful in their own right (above), and give rise to the spontaneous gems that you’ll invariably love about your children (below).

Kids Individually & Together

Every family has several unique stories to tell, apart from the Family Portrait. Children have their own personality and their own identity. Also, children relate to each other as “The Kids” – a group of siblings who, for better or worse, are immediately related and share a common bond. Each of these mini-stories need to be photographed so I can tell a family’s entire story properly.

The below series of four shots was framed beautifully into the one piece. Nicole and Michael loved the craziness of the main shot – William bumping Sam & Cate’s heads together – complemented by three stunning individual portraits showing each of the kids at their best.

The Couple That Started It All

It’s easy for parents to get so caught up in the daily grind of work, school pickup and dropoff, sports, music lessons, stress, dinner, washing, and so on.

I believe it’s really important to take a moment to honour the couple – Mum and Dad – when I shoot a family. After all, it was your love and connection that started your family’s journey in the first place!

Family Portrait Truth #3 – Unexpected Turns On The Shoot

Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, unexpected stuff happens on a portrait shoot. Occasionally a Dad will throw his little one just a bit too high, or an older brother will crash-tackle a younger sister just a bit too hard. This is totally normal, and typical of real families, and often makes for awesome portraits anyway.

However. At Nicole’s shoot, during one of the “run around like mad” moments designed to let the kids blow off a little steam, Samuel (Rascal Child) decided that taking a jump off a 2-metre-high storm drain at Bronte would be a GREAT idea.

Yeah. Not so much.

Sadly, I wasn’t fast enough to either plead with him to hop down, or catch him before he hit the deck. When he landed, Samuel kneed himself in the jaw, hurting himself pretty badly and causing a flood of tears and a general “I’m done with this photo caper” attitude that more or less shut down the rest of the shoot.

Fortunately, Nicole and Michael were relaxed about the whole thing. Fortunately, I had plenty of amazing images already, and we were almost finished anyway. Fortunately, Sam wasn’t hurt too badly, although his chin came up in a great bruise a day or so later!

This is Samuel, refusing to be part of any more portraits. Nicole ended up putting this image in her portrait album, because of the humour in the shot, and because it was what really, actually happened on the day!

Show Me A Family, I’ll Show You Chaos

This has become a bit of a mantra for me, when explaining how family portraits sessions typically go. It’s important to remember that all families are made up of a broad mix of personalities, and not everyone feels super excited about having portraits taken.

Does this make it less important? No. Does this mean you should give up on the idea? Absolutely not.

It’s BECAUSE of the chaos that I love shooting families so much. Your family has a uniqueness, and a sense of connection that deserves to be photographed and preserved for future years and generations.

Without this, everyone’s portraits would be dead boring and virtually the same. With this chaos, your portraits are unique to you, and I am blessed with the opportunity of telling stories like this one below:

If you’ve never had a family portrait session because you’re worried about your kids, don’t worry. I can handle them. As I hinted above, kids will often behave very differently for people who aren’t Mum or Dad. (Just ask the Grandparents…)

If you haven’t yet had portraits taken because you think your family is a bit unusual, or wouldn’t be able to sit still, never mind that. Your family is 100% normal, and deserves beautiful memories like every other family I’ve shot over the past 9 years.

If you haven’t had your family portraits taken because you’re worried about how you look, please don’t. Your family love you for who you are, exactly as you are RIGHT NOW. And I’m a professional – I have learned how to skillfully use light, lenses, and posing/angles to show you at your absolute best.

This moment in time will never come back. If you don’t photograph your life and your loved ones now, the moments are gone. 

Please have your family photographed. Not because it’s how I earn a living, but because it’s how you remember where you’ve come from, and how you help define who you are as a family.

To get started with your family portraits, simply call me on (02) 9665 0800 or email us at info@israelsmith.com and we can help you out.

With love,
Israel. xo

I’m coming to you, LIVE from Easter Monday, with a special announcement. Watch the video first! (And please forgive my expression … I promise you I was NOT stoned when I recorded this…)

I trust you all had a restful and social Easter Long Weekend! I enjoyed some much-needed R&R time with my wife and two kids, caught up on a couple of books, and did a whole lotta nothing.

NOW – on to the winners! This was extremely difficult to choose, but nonetheless, there must be winners, and there must be those of you who didn’t win. (Come on, none of you are losers!)

The Great 9-Day Birthday Celebration Giveaway Recap:

Day 1 – Nine Limited Edition Art Prints
One of the most HOTLY contested prizes on offer. The winners are:
- Sami
- Katie Woolaston
- Fiona
- Penny
- Anita
- Sasha Vassar
- Karen Wong
- Sarah-Jane Marshall
- Megan Haines

Day 2 – Nine Family Portrait Fundraiser Packages valued at $2885
I’m so pleased we had so many entries for this one, and I’m so excited about the good these gifts will bring to each of your communities! Winners are:
- Nick Smith
- Lisa Hoy
- Yael Scuri
- Kate Kesby
- Dani Russell
- Brooke Wilkie
- Michelle Favero
- Susan
- Bronwyn Hardy

Sadly Gen Humphries, you missed out – but your cause (NADO) is the same one as Brooke Wilkie, so I’m confident you’ll be happy with that outcome anyway :)

Day 4 – Nine Printed Inspirational Quotograph Desk Sets
This was drawn on the same day of the post, but just to recap the winners here:
- Catherine Parker
- Steph Winn
- Kolya Miller
- Fiona Jones
- Keryn Brunner
- Kelley Boshell
- Sarah Cobern
- Dani Russell
- Gen Humphreys

Day 6 – Nine Creative Business Portrait Packages
Again, there was plenty of interest in this one. I wish I could photograph you all for free! (But I have to eat, eventually.) Here are the winners of the creative business portrait packages:
- Jacki Bennett
- Sharon Selby
- Shannan
- Allison Allo
- Kim Eberhard
- David Watson
- Julia Bickerstaff
- Monique
- Lee-Ann Kelly

Day 7 – Nine Inspirational Lifestyle Seminars
Only three people commented (and hence, entered) this one to have me talk to their group / school / company / etc. I’m thrilled to announce that all three have won me and my time to do a talk – and I’m really excited about speaking to a couple of school groups in this too! I’m leaving this one open – if you’re interested in having me talk to a group about lifestyle, balance, a creative business and the life of your dreams – all that stuff I love and have lived through – I’ll leave it open for the NEXT 6 PEOPLE TO CONTACT ME either through the blog (comment below) or directly through our enquiry form – click here.

The winners (so far) are:
- Sarah Charters
- Keryn Brunner
- Zoë Ambler

Day 9 – Nine Client Appreciation Packages
Again, Fiona was the only entrant, and hence is the only winner so far – I’ll gladly accept submissions on this one too! Fiona – I’ll be in touch directly to talk some more about your wonderful idea!

A Special Award:
I published an Inspirational Quotograph a week or so back which looked like this:

The special award I’m going to give is for “stick-to-itiveness” and it is awarded to Sarah Charters – for entering everything, liking every single post on FB, commenting, following me on Instagram, and generally just being a confident member of the Israel Smith community, not backwards in coming forwards!

Your prize is a special 10th edition of the Limited Edition Art Prints. I know this is the prize you value more than any others, so there you go. Enjoy :)

With that, I’m done. It’s time for bed, and the start of another week of making people’s dreams come true through photography and connection!

I love you all, and I will be seeing you around :)
Israel. xo

Welcome to Day 9 of our Ninth Birthday 9-Day Celebration!

It’s the final day of our 9-Day Birthday Celebration! It’s been amazing and very humbling to hear from each of you who have written, commented, or phoned to talk with us during this birthday party of ours.

Before I go into today’s gift, I want to take a moment to express how grateful I am to have you – yes YOU – in our community: our extended Israel Smith Photographers family. I really treasure knowing you, and being involved with your life and your loved ones, and I look forward to that special relationship continuing into the future, as we help you remember and cherish your special moments with the people closest to you.

Now, onwards to our last instalment in the 9-Day birthday celebration – today we’re giving away NINE CLIENT APPRECIATION GIFT PACKAGES to any of you who work in, or run a business with special clients who you’d like to treat with a special gift. These packages are a valuable collection of customised gift certificates for Portrait Photography that we will gladly make available to you FOR FREE – for you to give to your favourite clients and customers as an expression of your gratitude to them.

How does it work, then?

Simple. Firstly, you and I have a chat. Through this, we’ll both figure out what best serves your business and your customers, and we design a gift package together around that.

Next, we’ll collaborate on the best way of giving the gifts to your valued customers, so they are well-received, and valued as highly as they deserve to be. (Warning: You may actually be overwhelmed with positive goodwill from your customers at this point. Just so you know.)

Lastly, your customers will receive a beautiful gift of portrait photography from us, which can be used for family, couple, extended family, dog, cat, pregnancy, or individual portraiture. They will be so utterly gobsmacked with your generosity, and will be thrilled to have the chance to work with me and create some special photographic memories with one of Sydney’s best portrait photographers.

How much? What’s the catch?

No cost. No catch.

The gift certificates are valued at up to $350 worth of portrait photography and products, and we’re happy to make as many of them as you want, to help celebrate and thank your clients.

Your business doesn’t pay a cent. Your customers don’t pay a cent – unless they love the portraits so much that they want to buy extra images, in which case they are free to choose and buy what they want. (No pressure, no obligation, just lots of love and lots of beautiful customer service experiences.)

Everyone wins! That’s amazing!

Yes, actually, it is amazing.

Win #1: You and your business gets a truckload of goodwill and client love.

Win #2: Your clients get something for nothing – literally – and often it’s a timely prompt to “get those portraits they’ve always wanted, and have been talking about for years…” (true story).

Win #3: We get to meet new families, individuals and couples who value creative photography, who see it as an essential part of their art collection and family history, and know that it’s something they’ll treasure for decades to come.

Triple win. Perfect.

How do I get one for my business?

As always, it’s very simple. Leave a comment below, and tell us a bit about your business, and why you want to say such a fabulous thankyou to your customers.

The FIRST NINE COMMENTS, who are a good fit for this opportunity, will be selected. So get in FAST if you want a big THANKYOU opportunity for your clients!

For this to be of maximum awesomeness, and to generate the best buzz for you, we’d ideally like you to have a group of around 30 or more customers to thank. It just seems to work better if the group is big enough. But for most of you, finding 30 or more people to say thanks to should be EASY!

(There is no upper limit, except for practical ones… if you have 2500 people to thank, we might need to roll it out in stages, so we can keep up with the gift certificate production!)

So, have a think about your own business or company, and how this might be a great way to say thankyou gift.

NOTE: This can also be adapted to say thankyou to a team of people you work with, or some other group such as that. I run a small business and (clearly) love thanking my customers, so that’s where my head was at when creating this gift.

Thankyou all again, and Happy Birthday to Us!

Lots and lots of love and hugs, and HAPPY EASTER!
Israel, Bel, Dorothy, Indrani & Rilien. And the cats, Indiana & Kara. xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

The Great 9-Day Birthday Celebration Giveaway Recap:

It’s been a wild 9 days! If you missed anything, please check out the links below – most of the giveaways are still up for grabs, and will be drawn on Easter Monday!

Day 1 – Nine Limited Edition Art Prints
You can go in the draw for a limited edition art print of Coogee, taken by me – Israel Smith m.photog – and personally signed and numbered as a fine art print for your home, office, business, bedroom, or even kitchen. Drawn on Easter Monday, and announced on the blog.

Day 2 – Nine Family Portrait Fundraiser Packages valued at $2885
Do you represent a community group, charity, or other organisation that is planning fundraising? We’ve helped many community organisations raise money with our Family Portrait Fundraiser Packages, and we’re giving away NINE of them valued at $2885. Drawn on Easter Monday, and announced on the blog.

Day 3 – Nine Photography Tips To Improve Your Photos Immediately
I love photography, and I really love seeing the lightbulb of understanding turn on in the eyes and minds of others. In this post I’ve shared nine simple tips to instantly improve your photography, and I’ll be publishing a new tip every fortnight on the blog.

Day 4 – Nine Printed Inspirational Quotograph Desk Sets
While this gift has already been drawn, it is a fabulous collection of my favourite 36 Inspirational Quotographs as a printed set for your desk. Check it out anyway, and click here if you want to subscribe.

Day 5 – Great Ways To Celebrate Your Family History
We’re opening our archives for you to purchase your digital negatives. The whole set is only $999, and it’s only available until 20th April 2013. ALSO, we’ve just introduced a new portrait package which includes a feature canvas or framed print, AND the set of finished, edited high resolution digital negatives for only $1490. Ridiculously good value. Read more for details and to purchase.

Day 6 – Nine Creative Business Portrait Packages
If your business image is in need of some creative enhancement, I’m your guy. I am giving away nine creative business portrait sessions to those of you who might need some professional portraiture to help present the right image to your clients or customers. Drawn on Easter Monday, and announced on the blog.

Day 7 – Nine Inspirational Lifestyle Seminars
After a crazy, turbulent few years, I’ve learned some critical life lessons and done some very deep re-prioritising of my life and business with my wife Belinda. I’ve already delivered a hugely successful talk about this topic in August last year, and I’m offering you the chance to have me speak about my story and my lessons to your business, team, community group, school or company. Drawn on Easter Monday, and announced on the blog.

Day 8 – Announcing The Eastern Beaches Photowalk
To further share my love of photography, and build a community of image-makers and lovers of the Eastern Beaches area, I’m launching a photowalk – a chance to get together with other photography enthusiasts to take photos, and explore the area on foot. It’s happening on Saturday 27th April 2013, from 8am to 10:30am. Registration and other details in the post.

Day 9 – Nine Client Appreciation Packages
Give your favourite customers and clients a massive thankyou gift, with a custom-designed gift certificate for up to $350 (each) of portrait photography with me. Read the post for all the details, and get in fast for this one. First in, best served.

Welcome to Day 8 of our Ninth Birthday 9-Day Celebration!

It’s the second-last day of our 9-Day Birthday Celebration! I’m bringing my love, passion and enthusiasm for photography to today’s gift.

I want to share my excitement about photography, and I want to build a community of people who love photography and love the Eastern Beaches of Sydney. So today I’m announcing the start of an EASTERN BEACHES PHOTOWALK, hosted by me – Israel Smith – and based around some of my favourite areas in the Eastern Suburbs / Eastern Beaches area!

So what is a Photowalk, exactly?

A photowalk is simply a get-together of photography enthusiasts (hence ‘photo’), who spend a few hours exploring an area on foot (hence ‘walk’), taking photographs that interest and excite them.

Just because.

No commercial output, no competitions, no client briefs – just a simple opportunity to express our passion for photography and spend time with old and new friends who also love making photographs. Because I’ll be hosting, you’ll also be able to ask the odd question about your gear or what you’re trying to achieve with your images, and if I can help, I absolutely will.

It’s open and inclusive to everyone who takes pictures, whether you use a cameraphone, a point-n-click, or a DSLR with lenses that would make me drool. As long as you love photography, come along.

Also, I’ll be setting up a community forum to post the pictures and get you all sharing your images with each from each of the upcoming photo walks!

When is it?

The first one will be a morning adventure, around my fair suburb of Coogee, the cliffs, the beaches, and the parks.

It’s going to be held on Saturday 27th April 2013, from 8:00am until around 10:30am – with a chance of coffee and cake at a nice cafe afterwards. (This may or may not be followed by a beer with lunch, somewhere close by, like, say, The Coogee Beach Palace?)

The Eastern Beaches Photowalks will continue once a quarter, as long as there are people who want to continue attending!

Why so early? Are you mad?

The early-bird gets the best light, and there’s nothing quite like empty-ish beaches just after sunrise to photograph, walk on, and be inspired by.

(Technically the light is awesome at sunset too, but I have noticed a large amount of “sunset” photowalks popping up in Sydney and I wanted my first one to be markedly different.)

So, an early start gets you out of the house to enjoy big lungfulls of fresh coastal air before the day gets too far along!

How much does it cost?

FREE. Zip. Nada. Zilch. NOTHING.

The whole point is to simply share the joy of photography with you, my friends, and bring some visual delight into each of our lives! Who’d charge for that?!

How do I take part in it?

It’s mostly a case of “just turn up” – HOWEVER I do need you to register online beforehand.

It’s a quick form (below) which simply helps me gauge how many people to expect, and gives me a way of contacting you in case of last-minute changes (e.g. if the weather turns foul, or there is some crazy big event clashing on the same day.)

So, drop your details in the form below if you’d like to attend, and you can tell your grandkids that you were at the first, inaugural Eastern Beaches Photowalk!

Sign Up to the Photowalk Here:

Feel free to share this far and wide with all and sundry – there are no limits to how many people can attend, and frankly the more people the merrier. So bring your mates, and take some pictures, just because you feel like it, and because Sydney’s Eastern Beaches is a pretty darn nice place to spend a couple hours with a camera.

With love,
Israel. xo

The 9-Day Birthday Celebration Giveaways So Far:

Day 1 – Nine Limited Edition Art Prints
Day 2 – Nine Family Portrait Fundraiser Packages valued at $2885
Day 3 – Nine Photography Tips To Improve Your Photos Immediately
Day 4 – Nine Printed Inspirational Quotograph Desk Sets
Day 5 – Great Ways To Celebrate Your Family History
Day 6 – Nine Creative Business Portrait Packages
Day 7 – Nine Inspirational Lifestyle Seminars

Welcome to Day 7 of our Ninth Birthday 9-Day Celebration!

Phew! We’re 7 days in, with only 2 more to go! And today’s gift is something you can use to inspire and challenge your company, your community group, or your clients.

In the spirit of giving something to you of a personal nature, I’m offering NINE INSPIRATIONAL LIFESTYLE SEMINARS where I will deliver a seminar to your chosen group about my own journey through starting a photography business, being business partners and life partners with my wife, being diagnosed with depression, and our most recent re-engineering of the business to make sure our own personal lifestyle comes first.

The talk is titled:

“The Life Of Your Dreams: An alternative approach to business, life, and what really matters.”

I delivered a shorter 15-minute version of this talk at a national conference held by the Australian Institute of Professional Photography in August last year at the Hunter Valley. It was so well received that I spent the rest of the conference talking to people about how they loved what I had shared, were deeply moved by the story, and in one particular woman’s case, completely changed the direction of her life with her husband and children. (I’m still so humbled and grateful for this experience… 6 months later.)

On the first night, I happened to hear the very fabulous Israel Smith speak about the concept of doing ‘enough’ and I’m not sure I really heard anything else for the following three days. His words were ringing far too loudly in my ears for me to take in much of anything else.
- Tuesday Veldhoven

For the full story from Tuesday, check out her blog post about that night by clicking this link.

The story is about how I’ve made my choices to build this business, build a family, and build a lifestyle that puts my family and my personal objectives first – and how I make work and business fit in around my personal goals. Hopefully that gives you enough of an understanding of what I’ve got to say, and the inspiration and insight it might bring to you and your communities.

Seminar Terms & Stuff.

Firstly, please know that I’d LOVE to speak for you, so when you put your name down, I’ll be humbled, grateful, and flattered beyond belief.

Secondly, please keep in mind that this will ideally work for groups larger than about 30 people – there’s a huge amount of preparation for me for each and every talk, and I want my message to reach as broad an audience as possible. Also, I won’t be able to coordinate venues, PA, projectors, or stuff like that – you’ll need to do that for me.

Thirdly, I’m SOOO determined to give these seminars away that I reckon we can still make it work, even if you’re unsure, so make sure you enter anyway!

Lastly, to ensure these seminars go AMAZINGLY well, I’m very keen and very able to work with you to plan the promotion and make sure people know what I’ll be talking about, and are lining up to be there in person. Imagine the buzz within your communities! I am – it’s giving me tingles :)

So How Can I Get You To Speak To My Group?

Choose a group, and then tell me more about it by leaving a comment – and I’ll go through the groups and choose the nine that sound like the best, most valuable fit. Like the other prizes so far, this will be drawn on Monday 1 April 2013 (Easter Monday) so even if you don’t have all the details figured out yet, just subscribe anyway, and you’ll be able to be in the running even if we need to tweak some stuff later on.

Thanks so much in advance, for the opportunity to tell my story and share my philosophy with you and your favourite group(s). I promise I’ll make it an event to change your life.

With love,
Israel. xo

The 9-Day Birthday Celebration Giveaways So Far:

Day 1 – Nine Limited Edition Art Prints
Day 2 – Nine Family Portrait Fundraiser Packages valued at $2885
Day 3 – Nine Photography Tips To Improve Your Photos Immediately
Day 4 – Nine Printed Inspirational Quotograph Desk Sets
Day 5 – Great Ways To Celebrate Your Family History
Day 6 – Nine Creative Business Portrait Packages

Welcome to Day 6 of our Ninth Birthday 9-Day Celebration!

Today we’ve giving you the chance to shine in your own business with a striking, unique business portrait.

To continue our 9-Day birthday fever, we’re giving away NINE CREATIVE BUSINESS PORTRAIT PACKAGES! Each package includes a 1-hour business portrait session at your Sydney-based work location, and five fully-finished high resolution images. Your images can be used on business cards, brochures, your website, Facebook, Linked In – anywhere you think you or your business might benefit from an updated professional image. Each of these business portrait packages is valued at $1200 … and we’re giving away NINE of them!

Your Business Portrait Session can be just you, your whole team, or a selected number of colleagues. We’ll send you thumbnails of the best images so you can choose your favourite five complimentary images. You can purchase additional images if you like – but there’s absolutely no obligation.

How Do I Get One?

As always, it’s really simple! LEAVE A COMMENT on this blog post, and be sure to include your Full Name and your best Email Address in the spots provided. Next, in the comment box, give us some details of WHY you’d like to enhance your image with one of these Creative Business Portrait Packages! We’ll read through all the submissions, and choose the nine recipients based on why you’d like to improve your current image.

With love,
Israel. xo

The 9-Day Birthday Celebration Giveaways So Far:

Day 1 – Nine Limited Edition Art Prints
Day 2 – Nine Family Portrait Fundraiser Packages valued at $2885
Day 3 – Nine Photography Tips To Improve Your Photos Immediately
Day 4 – Nine Printed Inspirational Quotograph Desk Sets
Day 5 – Great Ways To Celebrate Your Family History

Welcome to Day 5 of our Ninth Birthday 9-Day Celebration!

Today I’m giving you some great opportunities to own and celebrate your family history!

As you can imagine, working with families and being an intimate part of a couple’s wedding celebrations, has given me a unique and long-term view of people’s history. I think it’s best summed up in this alliterative phrase:

Fragments of time fly fleetingly toward us from the future, and fade all too fast into forgetfulness.

Simply put, unless we record our family history through photography, our moments vanish into the hazy corridoors of our memory. Here are two great ways you can own and celebrate your family history:

ONE – Own Your History, Own Your Digital Negatives

Own your complete archive of digital negatives now for the 9-Day Birthday special price of just $999!

Normally our portrait digital negatives have been priced at $3490 per shoot, and our wedding digital negatives are $1500.

For ONE MONTH ONLY (until Sat 20th April 2013) you can BUY YOUR ENTIRE ARCHIVE (portrait shoots, pre-wedding shoots, wedding shoots, all included) for the special and ridiculous price of $999.

To read all the details of this limited offer, and place your order online, please click on this link.

TWO – Create Some New Family Memories

Create some new family memories with The Art Of Family portrait package – Save $1000 – now just $1490!

1. A new portrait session at your favourite location (valued at $250)
2. A printed, finished artwork to display on the wall (an 18-inch Canvas or Frame – valued at $740) and
3. An entire set of finished digital negatives from the new shoot (now valued at $1500)

The Art Of Family package has a total included value of $2490, but as part of our 9-Day Birthday Celebration, it’s available for only $1490!

That means you’ll save $1000 on this new package, just cos it’s our 9-Day Birthday Celebration! (I wanted it to be “Save $999″ but the numbers just didn’t work out that way….)

For more details and to book your new family portrait session, please click on this link.

We’ll be taking a rest tomorrow, and see you back on Monday for Day-6 of the 9-Day Ninth Birthday Extravaganza!

With love,
Israel & Bel. xo

The 9-Day Birthday Celebration Giveaways So Far:

Day 1 – Nine Limited Edition Art Prints
Day 2 – Nine Family Portrait Fundraiser Packages valued at $2885
Day 3 – Nine Photography Tips To Improve Your Photos Immediately
Day 4 – Nine Printed Inspirational Quotograph Desk Sets