here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
ee cummings
K and D were recently married in a very private and exceedingly beautiful ceremony, in Daylesford. Surrounded by close family and friends, and set in the stunning grounds of The Convent (my first visit, and hopefully not my last) on an early autumn day that really was wedding perfection. K was such a gorgeously low-maintenance bride, giving herself a scant 15 minutes to dress while she scurried around organising things up until the last moment. You’d be none the wiser if I hadn’t mentioned that though, how gorgeous does she look? The camera really did love her, as you can she, and the newlyweds were just so natural and relaxed with each other, and truly wrapped up in the romance of the day. It’s all a wedding should be, really.
xxx Sarah
One of the highlights of the evening, was the most fantastic Fred and Ginger bridal routine I have ever seen, which just brought the room down, as you can see. A wonderful surprise for all their loved ones, you could see the hours of practice and love which had been poured into putting together this dance, which was step-perfect (or looked it, to my untrained eye). I had to remember to keep pressing the shutter, and not just stare in amazement. I could also sense the thrill of the family and friends watching, which I wanted to capture too, and had to wait until the last moment before running around to photograph their reaction from the opposite direction, without interrupting the show.
I love stuff. I really do. I love all old vintage stuff and retro stuff and quite a lot of the super modern stuff that’s around too. I love your stuff and my stuff, it’s all fascinating to me; special and intricate and to be cherished. [If you ask my husband he will tell you how I love stuff so much we now have to move into 70 squares of house just to make more room for us and all our stuff and moreover all the stuff I haven't yet discovered]. And I especially love photographs of people with a little bit of their stuff incorporated (never stuff on its own, though, that bores me silly. Funny hey?).
Aaaanyway, if I turned up to your engagement session with an old empty photo frame, some rainbow umbrellas, a cute little ‘engaged’ badge, and two complete Dutch national costumes, you might be a little bit with the raised eyebrows. And you might be saying ‘um, ok, thanks anyway, but….it’s not so much us’. But if you are indeed engaged, using the frame on your wedding day for fun guest shots, expecting rain, and one half of your couple is of Dutch heritage, and YOU bring this stuff to the photoshoot, then you can be sure I am going to jump around in my usual overexcitable manner and use this stuff in your photos.
Because now this stuff is not random props the photographer thinks are cute, but they are part of your story. And really what I most want to do is tell this story.
So here is a little window into the actual lives of R and D, who are totally as fun and obviously in love as they look. The tree that they are sitting in in the earlier photos is the tree R loved to sit in as a little girl, in her childhood home. I just adore those details.
I LOVED photographing them (read: they made my job very easy), they are just naturals in front of the camera, and I can’t wait to photograph their beautiful wedding day in August, which is planned to feature more cultural heritage (Vietnamese this time), lots of family, lots of love, and a lot of tea.
PS. For those readers of my blog who notice/care about such things, my pride makes me want to tell you that these images are all sharp where they should be, but web sharpening and I are fighting again and I haven’t the time to play around with it 
If this is your tree, be very excited. Your photos will be up tomorrow and they goooorrrrggeeous. Although I do say this every time I photograph an engagement session now, so bear with my overenthusiasm, please.
Further to that, thankyou everyone who is patiently waiting for a phone call or email or sneak preview on the blog or gallery or wedding album or collection notice or food/water (oh, wait, that’s my family, so not relevant here, scrap that last one)….. thankyou so much for your patience. I am back from a wonderful 5 days of camera workshopping heaven and am putting my nose to the Mac for the next two days, and should hopefully be as caught up as I can be then!
Love, Sarah
This beautiful family are dear friends of ours, and beautiful people inside and out. And these four girls, are, well……divine. I just looooove them, and my children just loooooove them (you should have seen them drooling over my shoulder while I edited (who is that? is that one of the R’s? when did you see them? why wasn’t I there? did you get to see them all by yourself? etc etc)).
Despite it being a supposedly beautiful late summer afternoon, the light was some of the toughest I have ever tried to work in (here she goes, making excuses, lol) but I still hope that we managed some beautiful photos that do justice to the incredible warmth and love of this family.
Love you all xxx.
Each time I meet one of these new little human beings, I am utterly fascinated with how different they all are from each other, and how much personality they have managed to grow in such a short space of time. Baby L has the most incredibly intelligent gaze, I will certainly not be surprised to hear when he grows into the Shakespeare of the 21st century or something else equally marvellous. Or, actually, with legs like that perhaps long-distance running is on the cards?
S, and K, he was just beautiful, thankyou so much for letting me get to know him a little. May he bring you many years of joy
Sigh. Some more photos of this beautiful wedding, which justifies a second post not only because it is so beautiful, but because of the incredible love and hours which went into its creation. I won’t repeat any photos already blogged, but there are just so many more which I just adore and which I had to show, and I know it’s hard to believe but I culled more favourites to shorten this post, including a totally fun series where the wedding guests all wrote post-wedding messages of love and hilarity on the little blackboard!!). I’ve also chosen not to show any photos of the ceremony here, even though in my mind that is always one of the most important parts of the day, only because I am sharing just so much of these guys’ wedding they may just want to keep a little bit of it for themselves…
So sit back, grab a cino and enjoy, (and if you missed the other posts, go here and here)…….
PS. Please note these photographs are the combined work of Kim Selby and myself. If you are planning a wedding in 2011 or beyond, and our photography (Kim’s and mine, that is) appeals to you, you just might want to check this out…(wedding photography is now booked out for 2010).
The atmospheric and beautiful Abbotsford Convent, in Melbourne’s Collingwood, was the setting for the recent wedding of Anna and Paul. Kim and I felt privileged to be able to capture such a beautifully emotional day, with many guests having travelled from as far away as Scotland to be there to witness this stunning wedding. Personal touches, such as the bagpipe player, made this ceremony so special, and Melbourne really turned on some spectacular weather to top off a perfect afternoon.
So please join with me in congratulating this beautiful couple, and wishing them a lifetime of happiness. It might also be helpful for us all to wish for the speedy dispersement (is that a word?) of volcanic ash around Iceland, so that the European relatives may one day be able to finish with the wedding celebrations and head back home. Or perhaps just leave your tourism tips as comments, to help them fill in the time until the planes are flying again.
PS. Thanks to school holidays (ok, which I secretly luuuuurrvve), and just life in general, solidly abetted by my quickly-expanding belly, I am still so far behind in blogging and answering emails, so please bear with me if you can, I thank you soooo much for your patience, and I am getting to everything/one just as quickly as I can.
***Please note, the following photography is the combined work of Sarah Black and Kim Selby***
The wedding of Bron and Chris. Where to start? This beautiful wedding, attended by Kim and I on Saturday on the Mornington Peninsula, is one we have so looked forward to. As anyone who has met me during their wedding planning can attest, the highest compliment I can pay any wedding is to say that it was personal. For all those involved in putting together this amazing event, it was so personal that I am sure they have since spent all week recovering. A magnificent marquis was erected on the stunning property at Howard’s Hill in Boneo (near Cape Schanck), lounge areas were created, flowers and personal touches overflowed every corner, a children’s table adorned one end of the room laden with art and craft fun, and the food was almost entirely organised and prepared by Chris’ mother and family. The bonboniere, magnet buttons made from individually selected vintage fabric, hung from a little washing line, and matched the buttons hand applied by Bron to the lounge sofas. Oh, the detail! And all of it was just so so perfect. There will be photos soon of all this gorgeousness, in a longer blog post, but for now I have just picked out some beautiful images to share with Bron and Chris, before they leave for 8 weeks in EUROPE tomorrow!!!
Have an amazing honeymoon you two, and get yourselves to an internet cafe in a few weeks, when the whole gallery will be ready for you to see. Perhaps one overlooking the Eiffel Tower, just to complete the romantic scene.
There couldn’t be any lovelier way to finish off a weekend than with a stroll along the Port Melbourne foreshore and pier, getting to know a beautiful couple who are soon to be married (um, very extremely soon in the case of these guys, but anyway….) and capturing the last moments of the 8 years they have spent together as friends and partners….before they embark on the next stage of their journey, as husband and wife.
