Spider !! (Not exactly Wedding Photography)
January 28, 2009
I would just like to start off by saying, YES, I am a Wedding and Portrait Photographer… Just incase you are a new reader and the photo’s below almost scared you off… Oops sorry about that…
And now back to the blog post… So…. anyone who is in Melbourne or indeed anywhere in the lower 1/2 of Australia will be well aware of the hot weather that we are currently “enjoying”… our vegetable garden looks as though it might be being cooked in the ground, poor baby carrots… :(
And as the mercury hit a solid 43degrees C this afternoon it became evident that its not easy on the local critters either…

While Huntsman Spiders are a regular night time visitor to our home, this guy decided to pop in for Afternoon tea...
He(?) crept into our Hallway at about 3.30pm and just sat on the roof for a while before being noticed by my lovely wife. No screaming, just a quite, “Hey Robb… Come and check this out…”
I kindly offered to take him(?) outside again and after a brief conversation regarding the matter, he reluctantly agreed and so I carried him out side while he sat on the palm of my hand.
As I approached the corner of our covered outdoor area, he decided to jump the last 40cm to the wall and then sat there quietly.
So I grabbed my 5D and took a few quick shots while he sat there and watched me, then I left him to do his thing and went back inside.
Here are a few more shots, its so similar to shooing Bridal Details and Ring shots, honest, it is…

A Huntsman's Hairy Leg... Something you don't often see on a bride.

I've got my eye on you... I have to admit, they are beautiful.

Eight Eyes... All the better to see you with...
Filed Under Personal, Photography, nature | 2 Comments
Married – Jay & Kaye
January 26, 2009
I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Jay and Kaye at Stones of the Yarra Valley on Sunday.
This is just a sneak peek, as I dont want to give too much away, and of course today is supposed to be a day off !!


Filed Under Photography, Wedding Photography | 1 Comment
Water Saving & Target 155
January 24, 2009
Like many of you, we received our water usage stats from our water supply company with our current quarterly bill. (Ours came yesterday.) And like many of you, we have been doing our part to cut down our water usage. In a household of 8, a fair amount of planning and timing is required to make sure things run smoothly at the best of times, so in some ways it has been easy… but not that easy !!

Water usage is a hot topic. No water was wasted in the capturing of this image.
The Victorian State Government set a recommended usage target of less than 155litres per person per day, and called it Target 155, which is a very imaginative name. The Melbourne Metropolitan average is still 188litres per person per day. So they gave us a great website full of tips and tricks to help meet the recommended target.
So, you are thinking… “what was your water usage Robb…?”
Well, as a household total, we have managed to hit a stunning 851 litres per day !!
After some quick math, thats only a touch over 106litres per person per day !! (round of applause please)
Thats 39litres lower than the recommended average, and means we are using the same amount of water as a Family of Five (and a half).
Cut your shower time and fix leaking taps, Maximise what you do use and cut out the wastage.
Its something to think about, and every bit helps.
Filed Under Personal, news | 3 Comments
Yes Man
January 23, 2009
Ok, so I took some movie advice from the dekuji blog were Justin reviewed Yes Man… “I can not highly recommend enough the new Jim Carrey movie “The Yes Man” – It is the perfect way to start the new year with a good belly laugh and a great message as well! So say No to No. Be a Yes Man (or woman…)! “ Justin – dekuji blog
And he was RIGHT !! Yes is the new NO !!
Yes Man is a great movie, and it gets a very highly recommended rating from me as well, and from the inside out. So I have decided to become a Yes Man, and say yes to yes, it just makes sense.
Inspired by the movie, I have also decided to take up “Jogging Photography” (at least for this week) and I went for a run at 6am this morning… (well, actually it was a little later than 6am… but shhhhh… don’t tell.)

Jogging with a camera... the results were as expected.
Filed Under Personal, Photography | 6 Comments
Ask Your Photographer (12)
January 22, 2009
“I get emails all the time from different people asking similar Photography, Wedding and Portrait related questions, and Ask Your Photographer is an attempt to answer them.”
Question. “Do you have Back-up Equipment?”
Answer: – YES I DO !!!
And its one of THE most important questions you can ask your photographer. And the Answer should always be YES !!
And , as always, there is more to this question than just a simple yes or no answer, and its not just about having 2 cameras either. Your photographer needs to have good quality back-ups of all their essential equipment, including camera’s, lenses, flashes, batteries and memory cards. Gear does fail, thats a fact, and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is just lying to cover themselves.
On that note, I am going to be bold enough to state that “You should never hire a wedding photographer than only has one camera”.

I always carry 2 camera's during a wedding, my second is lying on the ground behind me while I shoot a close-up during Alex and Laura's Wedding - Barwon Heads
Filed Under Ask Your Photographer, Wedding Photography | 4 Comments
Wyndham Pages and Hobson’s Bay Pages
January 21, 2009
I would like to help kick off 2009 and announce that Pixxil Photography has a very pretty 1/2 page Advertisement on page 81 of the 2009 edition of the Wyndham Pages (wp) and also its sister publication the Hobson’s Bay Pages (hbp)as well. For the sake of my typing fingers I will refer to them collectively as “wp&hbp”. And those who know me well will know I don’t use the word “pretty” very often, so this is something special. I just received my copies, so I grabbed a few quick shots to show you all.

My pretty 1/2 page ad in the 2009 Wyndham Pages and Hobson's Bay Pages.
Filed Under Photography, Wedding Photography, news | 3 Comments
Sunrise
January 20, 2009
I had the good fortune to be miles from home and wide awake enough to witness 2 sunrises this week.
I pulled out of my driveway at 4.47am on Sunday morning, a trip planned at the last minute, I think it was 10pm the night before, a quick day trip to see my parents and help out on the Farm.
It was exactly 6.27am and just east of Cressy, on the Hamilton Highway, when the sun came up behind me. I stopped by the roadside and set up my tripod in the long damp grass on the embankment between the road and the rail tracks… and captured a few moments…

The first Sunrise I have seen this year. Yes, thats right, I am not a morning person !
My quick day trip turned into 12 hours of farm work and by the time we were finished, I was beyond tired and incapable of driving the 2 hours home again. So the second sunrise was the following morning. The birds woke me at about 5.30am and from then on no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sleep. I even tired putting a pillow over my head, but i gave up in the end and dragged myself out of bed, grabbed some toast and my camera bag, jumped in the car and went for a quick 3 minute drive to go and play in the wheat.

Sunrise through wheat
Filed Under Landscape, Personal | Leave a Comment
Moved and Shaken
January 13, 2009
Well, the BIG BLOG MOVE appeared to go well, and I decided to update to the latest Wordpress 2.7 at the same time… except it appears I lost a couple of posts, maybe 8 from November and December… I can find them again, but it will take a little time. But other than that its all good !!
And to Celebrate, here is a shot from Gary and Michelle’s wedding from the weekend.

Beautiful Bride - Michelle
Filed Under Photography, Wedding Photography, news | 1 Comment
Moving and Shaking
January 8, 2009
After months of thinking about it, I have finally decided to move my Blog to the front of my website and update the theme… YAY !!
The move was easy, the next bit will take a little longer… So things could get a little “strange” over the next few hours or days (depending on how things go) as I fight with a few format issues, work on a new portfolio section and get things up to speed.
And on a completely unrelated side note, it appears as though one of my e-mail addresses has been failing to send mail for about 3 days… YAY !!! ….not much fun at all. I apologise to anyone who may have been effected and didnt get a reply. The problem has been rectified and it shoudn’t occur again.
Now I leave you with this image and get back to work… … wish me luck

not quite a sunset... Footbridge over the Werribee River
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