I met a lovely family on the weekend, and got to spend a bit of time walking around, taking some photos and getting to know each of them. Here is just one photo from their session – but I promise there will be a big share of my favourite images soon.

I met Jan a couple of years ago at a celebration that I was photographing for another client.

Jan was in the kitchen cooking up a storm and provided beautiful food for the guests.

Jan owns and runs Jan’s Fine Food & Catering – you must check her out!

I still remember how warm and genuine she was.

Not long after, she booked me for her 50th birthday celebration – not due for almost another 2 years.

Jan’s been so excited about celebrating her 50th birthday party with her family and closest friends and the evening crept up before we knew it.

What I love about Jan is that she’s kind and giving and real.

What was just as lovely was that Jan’s son, Russell, organised and hosted the entire birthday party! When we chatted, it was so nice to hear him speak about her with such love and admiration.

Anyway, this party was a blast and like no other I had photographed before.

It was held on board the most fantastic timber cruiser that departed from Southbank and then took us on a beautiful scenic tour of the Brisbane River by night.

The crew at River City Cruises were so terrific and accommodating!

The guests were wild!

… and I mean that in the most wonderful way.

They made me feel right at home and to be honest, I felt like part of the family.

Thank you Jan and Russell and all of your friends …

I hope you enjoy these images and I hope you had the most memorable birthday party ever!

I recently ordered some Mini Moo cards … just for fun.

I already have really lovely business cards but there’s something so irresistible about cute little cards, don’t you think?

The fun part was that I could have my logo on one side of the card and on the other side, I could have any photo I wanted.

So I chose a heap of favourite images and now I have 100 of the cutest mini business cards with an assortment of images on them.

I’m so excited to share these with you, so if you’d like me to send you some in the mail, feel free to email me your name and address – leanne@leannestamatellos.com.au – you’ll love them I’m sure!

I recently photographed the most fantastic Mary Poppins themed birthday party.

Olivia celebrated her 7th birthday.

She is the daughter of Sharnel Dollar, the fabulous party stylist from Sharnel Dollar Designs.

To say this party was ‘supercalafragislisticexpieladocious’ is an understatement.

I promise there will be more photos to follow …. but for now, this is my favourite.

Jan celebrated her 50th with friends last night on a fantastic private boat cruise down the Brisbane River. I just wanted to share a quick sneak peek to show her how wonderful she looked even though she had butterflies in her tummy!

Looking forward to sharing more with you and your friends soon Jan!

For a while now, I have been receiving emails about holding a Photographic Workshop.

I’m so pleased that I have set 2 dates next month, in August, to hold

There are 2 dates available – either Sunday 21st August or Saturday 27th August.

The workshop will go from 10.30am until 4.30pm.

Class sizes are limited to 8.

The morning will cover the theory behind using settings on your camera other than AUTO as well as understanding ISO, shutter speed and aperture,

while the afternoon we’ll have time to photograph children and families and practice what we learnt earlier in the day.

Its’ going to be very hands on … and heaps of fun!

Email me if you would like some more information – leanne@leannestamatellos@hotmail.com

And because I can’t do a post without a photo,

I have to share my one of my favourite images from this year!

The most magical time of the year is slowly sneaking up on us.

Before too long, we’re going to blink and we’ll be decorating our Christmas trees.

I love Christmas!

I love hearing my children talk about Santa …

I love the big family get togethers …

I love our beautiful Christmas tree …

and I love receiving real xmas cards the old fashioned way, in the mail, from family and friends.

To celebrate this wonderful time of the year, I’m offering my xmas mini sessions.

There will be limited sessions so if you’re keen to update your family photos,

then email me at leanne@leannestamatellos.com.au

add a disc of high resolution images – 175

add a deep edge frame for your print – 60

Last years mini sessions were a huge success and an absolute hit with the families and friends that received them. The photo-booth styled sessions were so much fun that I’ll be offering those again with some extra props that you’ll be sure to love!

My kids had so much fun with last year’s xmas photos that I’m tempted to do it again!

Whatever’s your style, I’d love you to have some beautiful images to enjoy this Christmas.

I’m so happy to be sharing some of my favourite photos ever in today’s post.

When Sharnel, from Sharnel Dollar Designs, called and asked me to photograph William’s (her son) 5th birthday party, I knew it would be a great event. Every occasion that I’ve ever had the pleasure of photographing that Sharnel has been involved with, has been styled impeccably. She has such fantastic taste and genuinely loves to create a party that you’ll never forget!

This was no exception!

Take a look at these gorgeous invitations created by Anna from Invite with Style.

What a way to set the scene for a party!

It was a beautiful and mild winter’s day and as each child arrived they were given a cowboy/cowgirl hat to wear and enjoy the surrounds.

There was a saloon set up and stocked with mini glass bottles filled with chocolate milk complete with a mini bandana and old fashioned paper straws!

This candy bar was heaven!

I was wishing I was 5 years old again so I could dig in and eat as much as possible.

Then there was the birthday boy – William!

He is just too cute for words and we really got to have a bit of fun together before the party started!

There was an animal farm set up for the kids to enjoy and pony rides too!

Party games included Sack Races, Sharp Shooter and my favourite, Find the Sherif Badge in the Haystack!

Then I met these 3 adorable brothers and I couldn’t resist taking their photo. Not only were they super cute, but the 2 eldest brothers entertained the kids and adults by ‘cracking their whips!’

Yes … these boys were amazing!

So glad I took Olivia, William’s older sister, away for some photos of her alone – how beautiful is she?! And then some of both William and Olivia together.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the images that I’ve shared.

It was so much fun and so refreshing to see something as fantastic as this for little boys!

This little series of images makes my heart sing!

Jodie is simply gorgeous

and she just glows when she’s with her daughter, Sidda.

How beautiful are they together!

Some of you may know Jodie from W.Edding & Co.

She’s an incredible wedding and event stylist – you must check out her work.

I’m very keen to share some more images from the Birthday Party that I photographed on the weekend for William. At this stage, some of the images are top secret and can’t be shown for a little while yet.

But, I was given the go ahead to share a few photos of these gorgeous little sisters – Ella and Lara – who were guests at William’s Wild West Showdown!

How cute is Lara riding the pony?

It must be every child’s dream to have one in their backyard.

Ella went to kindy with William and the two of them are inseparable.

They tell me that they’ll be getting married when they’re older – seriously cute!