The engagement party of Harley & Beige was held in the family home of Beige’s parent in the Hills overlooking the city lights. The afternoon was extremely warm, and thank goodness the pool was available for all those wishing to cool down. Before they did though, they enjoyed the tasty delights and the fine wine circulating the family and friends that had turned up for the celebration.

As the afternoon kicked on, the formalities of this significant event took place. This included some humorous stories from the groom to be and his soon to be father in law. The Bride to be then shared her thoughts and feelings much to the delight of everyone, and there was some special words shared by the friends chosen to be the bridal party at next years big event. To end it off Beige and Harley cut their cake, a beautifully designed replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris that reflected their super romantic official engagement.

After the formalities and as the sun set, the hot guests indulged in the cool waters of the big pool while others barefooted, entertained themselves on the dance floor.

The night was a wonderful night for all. Here are some of the images from the night. With the full gallery of photographs and images from the night found in the client area of www.dezirestudios.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the nights images on Beige & Harley engagement party

Just a couple of samples of the Thank you cards to be send out to family and guests of the Wedding.

Which do you prefer

 

 

All the designs and images were provide by Swan Valley Photographer Brook Desmond

www.dezirestudios.com

Swan Athletic face Arch Rival

 

Swan Athletics’ League team will face a stern test this Saturday when they front last years Grand Final opposition in Hamersley at Carine open Space in the WAAFL A grade clash.

Brimming with confidence after last weeks first up win the young Swans will be fully aware of the challenges that lay before them at Hamersley. The B grade Premiers from 2011 has not lost much in terms of their forward power and this presents the biggest test in trying to contain those power forwards fed by an elite midfield that plays this venue very well.

The League game will commence at 2-20 p-m

In Last weeks Fixture the Swans matched very evenly against a long established “A” grade Club in North Fremantle. Fielding a team with several debutants and players with less than five games ,the healthy crowd was delighted by the performance on the Swans at Home.

Beginning well in a new season and at the highest level in community Football was very important for the club. To This end Coach Justin Wood displayed his attention to detail in preparing the team at his disposal to an absolute treat. Bursting from the blocks with Adam Erceg and Carl Scafone dominant in the midfield the home side rammed the ball forward to a fast leading full forward in Jeremy Polich. Had Polich been accurate early the game should have been well and truly over by the half time siren.

With young debutant Clinton Bomfield a highlight and the hard running Adam Whitehouse his usual self , the scoring opportunities provided, always gave the home crowd the feeling the game was under control; despite goal front inaccuracy.

New signing Wattleworth was  a tireless worker in the ruck and displaying a real appetite for the match the home team was not to be headed in the second half.

Final Scores: Swan Athletic 15 goals 6 behinds (96) North Fremantle 7 goals 15 behinds (57)

Best Players Adam Whitehouse: outstanding on a wing and was hard running all day

Adam Erceg : showed his class and turned the opposition consistently with that penetrating left foot

Carl Scafone: Welcomed back to the club with a typical highly skilled midfield performance.

 

 

 

The reserves lost a tight game by 3 points only and will definitely benefit from the re introduction of 4-5 key players that missed the first round

The colts faced a big challenge and went down by 6 goals against a highly credentialed opposition in a club that fields three colts teams every weekend. However the boys missed ruckman Corey Lobb who should resume shortly and his height will make a big difference

Full Gallery of images found at http://dezirestudios.photoshelter.com/gallery-list and see Swan Athletic images

This is a short preview of the images we have been photographing over the last couple of days for the Thermomix calender. Thermomix is a whizz bang kitchen appliance that will do just about everything. Team up with maestro chef and food stylist Tenina Holder , who happens to be the recipe developer for Thermomix here in Perth Western Australia, we spend a couple of days photographing her yummy creations. From soups to cakes, mains and even icecream this little gadget does it all and so efficiently and effectively. Check out this sample of this beautiful foods. The best thing about it was being able to test the samples after they were done. For your own appliance you can have a thermomix consultant come and show you a demonstration of what can be acheived with them. To see how you can arrange this visit http://www.thermomix.com.au/

Can’t wait to photograph their recipe book in the next year.

Apart from the many Weddings and Family Portraits we are commissioned to do during the season, we are often hired to photograph events, parties and functions. Wherever people are out having a good time and celebrating an occasion worth remembering, we like to take the stress off them by capturing all the events and emotions while people are relaxed. This means they don’t have to worry about anything except enjoying the night.

This occasion was the celebration of 80 years of life for a special mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend. This was a celebration for Maria on her 80^th Birthday.  The location for this function was a cosy little restaurant in Nedlands called Osteria. It had a very warm Italian feel to it and seemed quite comfortable for all the guests. The staff there were a great crew full of charm and even a little cheeky, and they really got the party happening.

All of Maria’s family were there to celebrate including her treasured Grandchildren who idol her dearly. As part of the formalities of the night, Her eldest Grandson gave a theatrical and heart felt speech expressing his and the families gratitude for a life of love and dedication to her family.

There were some beautiful moments from the night, including the embrace with her children and grand children, the laughs and the emotion and the beautiful smile of a wonderful lady just enjoying the night with those she loved.

The music was provided by a great little band called the Zucchini brothers and many of the partygoers got their shuffling feet onto the dance floor to celebrate in style.Here is a couple of the images from the night capturing the love and spirit.

 

 

 

Recently I was able to assist my sister in finding her self a new camera. After many times discussing what she was trying to achieve from the purchase of a new camera, we were able to narrow the camera types down to a few.

Being an amateur photographer was I guess the main consideration, but I also wanted to find her something close to what she wanted to do, which is taking her own personal home portraits, especially of her own beautiful kids.

We shopped around and received a brilliant demonstration from close friend Ben from Team Digital http://www.teamdigital.com.au/. She was able to play around with the Fuji x100 http://www.finepix-x100.com/, and after some consideration, this camera became her choice.

This camera has some great features and potential, however it does need a little time to learn how to use it, particularly from the viewpoint of my sister who has very little experience with the manual settings of this camera.  Don’t get me wrong she is no dummy, having handled herself with my Canon 1Dmk4 and 5Dmk2 before. But this time she has to do it on her own and work out how to use all the functions including the manual focus.

I decided to help her out and have her send me some of the images she had taken. I would then give some feedback on the setting she had chosen and just some general ideas on how to improve the overall image and commendations on the great images she was taking.

These were the first few images she sent to me after opening her new parcel, and all of these images straight out of camera (SOOC). What I found straight away was that the images had a crisp, sharp appearance, with a beautiful Bokeh from the sharp and fast prime lens attached. This meant the images were clean and crisp with a dreamy and soft back ground, which makes your portraits really pop.

Overall well done and look forward to seeing some more examples of what you can achieve with your new camera.

For further information on the courses we offer or advice on new cameras or equipment or techniques, please go to the contact page of http://www.dezirestudios.com

 

These last 2 images are images she took, and with just a little edit in Photoshop we end up with some stunning images. WOW. Well done Sis.

Recently I was able

Community Football Wins

 

There were no winners or losers in the WAFFL second tier clash Swan Athletic vs. Kalamunda Saturday 18^th June, only the Community and the amateur game of Football won as the two sides fought out a memorable draw.

In an Emotional day that supported the “Luke Adams respect and responsibility Foundation “and  combined with the annual “Back to Ath” Past players day saw a crowd of 500 people descend on the McDonald Street oval and they were not disappointed.

On a day that saw rain in the earlier colts match and on a perfect playing surface the game pitted 3^rd against 4^th on the ladder and both sides knew full well the importance to their season in going home with a win.

Kalamunda seized the initiative and kicking with the aid of a 2 goal breeze bounced out by kicking the first 4 goals of the match, to lead by 23 points at the end of the first quarter.

Their clearance work was of the highest order and quick ball movement put the Swan Athletic defence under enormous pressure.

The second quarter saw the home side settle and begin to pick up the tempo and as a result the score had closed to 5 points by the time the half time siren sounded.

Kalamunda began the third term in the same fashion as the first and bounced out with determination and drive. At the 20 minute mark of the third quarter the visitors had opened a break of 36 points before the local boys hit back with two late goals that gave them some momentum and the big crowd some hope for a comeback with the breeze in the last stanza.

With a huge crowd around the Swan Athletic huddle urging the boys on, the last quarter began with Steve Qualigia and Jamie Pollock combining in the centre to set up a goal in the first minute of the quarter.

With Damon Pavlinovich in and under and Ben Kerr marshalling the defence the momentum had swung in favour of the home side.

A series of behinds then a fantastic long range set shot from Jeremy Polich saw the home side on the scoreboard 7 points in front with seconds left on the clock. A 50 m penalty in favour of Kalamunda saw late goal before the siren sounded sending the Swan Athletic team and home crowd into raptures thinking a 1 point victory was in their favour.

However a hush fell when the two goal umpires conferred and stalked to the scoreboard demanding an adjustment to the score by one extra points in Kalamunda’s favour.

Both teams finishing on 10 Goals 15 behinds each (75)

Best Players

Ben Kerr led from the front when his defence was being swamped in the first and third quarter.

Damon Pavlinovich: In only his second game of league since returning from injury was strong all day

James Sharman: does what James does best in defence strong on the tackle and committed to the contest

 

The colts suffered from inaccuracy and went down to a very good Kalamunda side

The reserves bounced back from being smashed by Kalamunda in the first round to record a solid victory.

 

This week’s fixture vs. Willetton at Burrendah reserve in a season defining game

Colts 10-30

Reserves 12-00 noon

League 2-30 p-m

One of the best parts of our work is being able to photograph the wonderful families that we meet. Families like the Brennans.

The Brennans are a beautiful family from the country town of Calingri (sort of around the Wheatbelt region if you are wondering). They requested a portrait session from me and I suggested that they do it on their property, which has some magical scenery. As the family was about to be separated for some time and they were unsure how the dynamics of the family would change, they decided now was the time to invest in a family portrait, and also since they hadn’t had one together for many years.

The Brennan’s farm is a couple of hours drive north of Perth, and in the lead up to the busy season we decided to go up for an overnight trip so we could fit in with their hectic work life. I took my wife and family with me and used the opportunity to introduce farm life to my children, who had a ball up there and absolutely loved it. I also did some documentary filming and photography around the property to document the lifestyle that this family leads. I will post the video soon so you can see they way they live on the farm.

Later in the afternoon we ventured down through the paddocks with Fiona (the Farmers Wife, as my kids call her) to look at some locations for the portraits. Then, once the workers had made their way in, we headed out for our portrait session. Unfortunately, because of the weather the canolas hadn’t quite taken off, and we missed out on those gorgeous yellow fields, so we tried a variety of other locations. As you can see, it was a wonderful idea to take the portraits on the farm. The background compliments this amazing family completely and they look so relaxed and at-home in their farm environment.

After a session in the wild radish and the surrounding area we decided to make a dash up the hill amongst the wheat as the sun began to set. The final images truly did not disappoint – they really captured the spirit of this beautiful family and we were able to get some fantastic images of them being themselves and living in the moment together.

Long before I started my career as a Professional Photographer I was a imaginative yet hopeless amateur photographer. Recently while helping my Dad clean out his shed I stumbled across some very interesting memories. One of these stored away with cobwebs and who knows what on it was my first and original SLR camera. yes this was the beast that started it all for me. Well kind of anyway. I'm not sure how old I was when I took my first photo or had my first camera, I could have been as little as 3 or 4, and I remember taking photos with a polaroid owned by my brother and with my point and shoot disposable 24 exposure camera on school camp. But this camera I guess was my beginning. I bought this Ricoh manual SLR camera for a modest $35 from a friend, thinking that it would turn my little passion into brilliance. I was 16 at the time and had no experience with SLR photography (This had a great deal to do with me mucking around in photography at school and being kicked out of the class – I will save that story for another day).
The first thing I did with my new camera was to get up before the sun one day. I rode my bike to a paddock in the swan valley which had an open view of the distant hills and where the sun would be rising from. As the sun came up I fired off a whole 18 shots of my 24 exposures. The final prints would be quiet mussing to look at compared to now as I had no idea of how to manually change the settings on the camera – That would come in time.
I persisted with Film for some years and when I began my plight as a professional photographer, and photographed my first wedding it was with a Canon film body. I think from memory I used 6 rolls of film for about 120 odd photographs. Wow how things have changed.
I was an early mover into the digital era. My first digital love was a Nikon with a HUGE 1.3 megapixel sensor. I later got myself a canon with a 4 megapixel sensor and thought it was the absolute stuff. My 6 year old son owns a 8.2 Megapixel Digital SLR and is proving himself to be a handy little photographer. he will have no idea of the massive shift we have seen since I first became involved in the industry. It will become folklore and legend.
Anyway I have posted a couple of images of what is remaining of my first SLR camera. If you still have yours post some images up so we can see where it all began for you.