This is one special little Brisbane family right here. They have shared their life journey with me over the last 12 years, as they love, live, change and grow together. It is a true gift to be invited to share in a family’s special moments, achievements, milestones and even tough times. I started capturing the love between Cathy & Rob at their Wedding in 2005! By this stage I was almost 10 years into running my business (this year I am celebrating 21 years! woohoo!). It is beautiful to witness two people in love and making it official; what made this Wedding extra special though, is that Cathy was pregnant with their first baby! I love that she can look back at her wedding photos, which are displayed proudly in the family home, and remember the excitement of the day as well as what was to come! AND she has a beautiful story to tell and SHOW to her daughter. Cathy decided her baby bump was an important memory to capture. You think you will never forget being pregnant and the love you feel for your unborn child, but as they grow up, you do forget. It is a pretty amazing thing when you can show your child a photograph of them growing inside you, of life forming right before your eyes. From then on, this Mum & Dad thought about the important moments for THEIR family and how they would like that captured, as a moment in time forever, never to be forgotten. Check out their photographic Journey straight from the boss, Mum:
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n2005 – Wedding Photo Shoot
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We had driven past the studios so many times and always loved the photos in the front windows and thought wouldn’t it be great if we could get this photographer for our wedding. The snag we thought was that it was on the Sunshine Coast but that was no problem for Katrina !
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We knew we didn’t want an album that we would keep in a drawer somewhere so we selected our favourite photos and arranged them on a canvas that we have hung in our home through many a renovation ! What we love the most is that Katrina captured such beautiful photos of D’arcy and Jade with us and there is even a great photo with Katrina’s shadow in it that we just love.
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2005 – Maternity Photo Shoot
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Having been told many years earlier that I was very unlikely to fall pregnant based on my medical history, it was a beautiful surprise to discover I was pregnant. Knowing this was not likely to be repeated we really wanted to capture this time. I loved being pregnant and felt so happy and healthy and it’s such a lovely momento to look back on now. This time we decided to put the photos in an album that is special to all of us and will be able to be passed to Lani to keep.
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2005 – Newborn Photo Shoot – Welcome to the world Lani
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What a busy year for us and we are grateful that Katrina was with us during these wonderful milestones. Katrina took such wonderful photos and in particular, of all of the girls together, which to this day is still a firm favourite of ours.
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2006 – Lani turns 1 year old Photo Shoot
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What a difference in that first year and we are so glad that we captured this progress. Our favourite photo from this time has even more meaning when Rob’s Dad John thought that we had reprinted a photo of Rob at the same age. We still pull out his old photos to compare how alike they were at the same age.
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2007 – Lani turns 2 years old Photo Shoot
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Our baby is now a toddler and the changes in appearance and personality are enormous. We love that Katrina caught so many tender moments between us and Lani. The photos of Lani and Rob always show laughter in their eyes and she captured a kiss between Lani and myself that is a reminder of just how precious this time was.
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2011 – Lani turns 6 years old Photo Shoot
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Wow – where did that time go ? We really wanted to capture some photos of Lani while she still had her baby teeth and we just made it before the first tooth fairy arrived ! We love the black and white photos because they are timeless ( but also because they are forgiving for Mum and Dad who aren’t supermodels !) but this time we opted to also get some colour photos. We are so glad that we did because the photos capture Lani’s beautiful blue eyes and cherry lips so perfectly.
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2014 – Lani turns 9 years old Photo Shoot
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Well by this time Lani was well and truly ready to strike a pose for Katrina ! And whilst there was lots of poses those weren’t the moments captured on film. Again Katrina captured those moments in between – the natural ones. We absolutely love the photo of Lani looking down with her hair all over the place – that is exactly who she is !
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The most fun was the shot of us jumping into the pool together. Of course this is a one chance only event and we still recall fondly sitting on our back deck, soaking wet and sharing a glass of bubbles with Katrina and catching up on each other’s lives since we last met. We love hearing about Katrina’s girls and Andrew but also of her tales of growing up in the country.
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But best of all from this shoot, we made the Window of the Studio ! Well Rob and Lani did anyway and it is my favourite photo of them. Even better was that we now have this enormous photo as a keepsake and it was a great surprise for Rob to receive this photo as his last birthday card for a significant birthday milestone !
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So who would have thought that after all those years ago driving past the Studio looking at great photos of happy people that the Schnitzerling’s would get their turn and also get the chance to meet a wonderful woman who they are able to share significant milestones with and consider a friend.
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We plan to take photos again at 3 year intervals so that we can capture the changes in Lani over this time.
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Each time we get more photos taken it’s a great chance to update some photos and move photos around on our walls and shelves which also freshens up the place. And because we are aiming for a series, by the time Lani is 21 we’ll have a series of 9 canvases that will look great altogether.
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See you in November Katrina,
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RCL xxx
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They are ALWAYS your babies!
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Katrina xxxx
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Why it is important to print & hang your photographs
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