Blog | Contemporary Family Photography

Frankie – sneak peek

I couldn’t wait any longer to share this photo of 4 month old Frankie.

He’s a gorgeous baby.

It’s quite common after a session for parents to feel like their children

didn’t ‘perform’ their best on the day – I’m sure Frankie’s parents felt like that

but seriously there are so many sweet photos of him and big brother, Phillip that I can’t wait to share some more over the next few days.

Thanks for having me over to photograph your beautiful family!

harry + jess … Part two

• leanne •

It was so difficult to pick which photos to show from harry + jess’ session.

There were so many to choose from and I wanted to keep some a surprise

when they received their disc of images.

Here are a handful of my favourites.

How gorgeous is Jess?

And these anklets are just the sweetest thing.

These 3 pics make me smile so much – I love laughing photos.

We all got wet here – me included!

And maybe my absolute favourite …

Thanks for asking me to photograph you – I think you both are pretty cool.

I finally got around to taking a look at some of the photos that I took while I attended WPPI in March last month – it’s an annual event held in Las Vegas for photographers from around the world to attend. Approximately 15 000 photographers flew in for this one week event and had the opportunity to hear some of the best speakers in the industry talk about the business and also share their talent with the rest of us.

There were 2 huge rooms full of exhibitors and I’m so pleased to be able to source some beautiful albums and other bits and pieces from them.

This is a view of one of the exhibition halls.

I spotted Bobbi and Mike speaking on the floor – these 2 photographers are well known for their super cool engagement and wedding shoots. Go take a look at their site if you haven’t already.

One of my favourite speakers was a fellow called Jesh de Rox.

He is a true artist and was fantastic to listen to – inspiring is simply not a big enough word to describe this photographer. The couple in the background are fellow photographers and friends all the way from Australia, Matt and Katie, who were chosen to be clients for a pretend shoot that Jesh did.

I crowded into a room with 1200 capacity to see this talented child photographer.

Audrey Woulard is superb with children and was a gorgeous and entertaining speaker.

And for 2 whole days from 8.30am – 5.30pm I was fortunate to get into a small class of just 25 students with Yervant.
Yervant is a Melbourne photographer and won the title of

‘Best Wedding Photographer of the Year’ for 2009.

I loved every minute of his class and he shared so much about his talent and his skill with us.

We got to photograph some models in and around the MGM Hotel where the classes were held.

Here are some of my photos.

And what never ceases to amaze me is how small the world really is.
A friend of mine found this photo on Caroline Tran’s photography blog and sent me the link straight away asking me if it was me …. mmm … yes it is.

That’s me with the stripey bag looking at one of Caroline’s gorgeous albums at the Cypress Albums stand. Out of 15 000 photographers and I’m in this pic – small world.

Now that I’m home and I’m almost settled back into a normal routine again,
I’m looking forward to lots of sessions coming up over the next feew months.

I am almost booked out until the end of August with maybe just one session still available, so drop me an email if you’d like to make a time for me to capture some memories for you
whether they be with your children, or just a cool ‘the two of you’ session
or a wedding celebration!

leannestamatellos@hotmail.com

jess + harry

• leanne •

Some of you may remember Harry from a session

that I did with his brother and Mum not that long ago – take a look here.

I was so pleased when I was asked to photograph Harry and his gorgeous girl, Jess.

Harry and Jess both go to different schools and share a common interest in Basketball – that’s how they met. Not only do they have amazing good looks and are beautifully tall but they were a real lot of fun to photograph and they were up for anything I suggested – we all got pretty wet!

I promised them a photo before the week was out and there are plenty more to come that I can’t wait to share. Don’t you think they both belong in a fashion mag?

Congratulations on you both celebrating your 1st year together!

• leanne •

I know it’s been ages since I’ve posted but for good reason.
I have just arrived back from 3 weeks away in America and I had a fantastic time!

Firstly, I flew alone to Las Vegas for a week at WPPI – this is a huge convention where 15 000 photographers flew in to hear some of the best photographers in the world speak and share their secrets and techniques. I can’t begin to say how much I learnt from these incredible artists and I loved every minute of being there.

After that, my husband flew in to join me and we became tourists and did the sight seeing thing in Las Vegas then New York then Los Angeles. We had an amazing time away and I’m looking forward to printing up my favourite photos out of thousands of photos ….. like this one!

And for those clients that have sessions booked with me over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be in contact with you all next week to confirm details.
I can’t wait to get back into shooting sessions.

It’s great to be home!

https://leannestamatellos.com.au/1917/

Bookings for May 2010

• leanne •

It won’t be long now until I head off to Las Vegas to attend WPPI.

This is a huge conference where something like 12 000 photographers fly in from all around the world to attend workshops with some of the biggest names in the industry.

I’m looking forward to when I get back to share all the awesome things I’m going to see and learn.

At this stage, I’m fully booked with sessions until the end of April. Because I will be away in March at wppi, please email me in the next 2 weeks if you would like me to secure a session for you after April since I may have limited email access while I’m away.

And because a post is no fun without photos, here are some recents photos of Ethan and Joshua.

Photo Album design

• leanne •

I wanted to talk about Photo Album design – I absolutely love albums.

When a client has a session with me they have the opportunity to have an album made up with their favourite images from the session in it. It’s really simple … they choose the photos and I put the layout design together for them to approve and then off it goes to be printed.

And it’s not just brides that want an album – heaps of families are loving them because they can put them on the coffee table for all their friends and family to enjoy.

I have 2 beautiful types of albums that I love to create.

1. A coffee table album with a hard cover that has ‘your’ image on the front.

The pages are like a magazine only thicker and the quality is beautiful – your photos will look amazing!

2. This beautiful work of art – aptly named the Dream Album – is a stunning piece.

The cover also has your image on it and the pages are 2mm thick, durable and easy to clean.

This album is desgned to last a lifetime.

I thought I would share an example of how the pages might look inside an album.

Of course, when the photos are from ‘sue + elise’s’ session

then it’s bound to look pretty gorgeous!

For more information about a session with me, feel free to email me

leannestamatellos@hotmail.com

Storyboard Collages

• leanne •

I wanted to share the storyboard collages that I created from a recent session in Sydney.

I love them so much because they can really tell the story and capture the moment so much more than a single image can sometimes – they look great on the wall framed with a simple white or black frame or even foam core mounted which is light and has that modern look to it.

Don’t they just make you want to smile?

Jasmine Star workshop

• leanne •

Recently I posted a quick sneak peek of some photos from the Jasmine Star workshop and promised to get back and share a whole lot more – here I am!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of flying to Sydney with my friend Rachel, to attend a full day workshop with Jasmine Star. Jasmine is from Los Angeles and is well known in the photography industry for her fresh and modern approach to wedding photography. She was young and gorgeous and so easy to talk with. Both her and her husband, JD, were warm and down to earth and I loved every minute of the day and their company.

A huge thanks to Cathy Crawley who helped to plan the day – she has a great eye for detail and the workshop went off without a hitch.

Here are some photos of the models in The Rocks district of Sydney.

This was only half the group on the other side of the road – I just love all the people stopping to see what was going on.

Is this not the most gorgeous dress you’ve ever seen?

Alana and Karim were such a great couple – what I loved is that they were not models at all but a real couple who were so fantastic when it came to 20 or so photographers pointing their lens in their direction – and they looked amazing!

I loved this headpiece so much – simple and stylish!

Models :

Alana Sokolowsky & Karim

Kara Tranter

Flowers:

Daisy Chain Florist

Dresses:

Catherine Colubriale

Hair & Make-up:

Lyndal Quinn-Tuccarone

donna + jake + harry

• leanne •

When Donna phoned me and asked if I could photograph her and her 2 sons, Jake (17) and Harry (14), she mentioned that it had been a while since she’d had photos taken and that Jake would be leaving home soon to embark on an electrical apprenticeship in Emerald.

I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like when my 2 boys are 17 and 14 years old – let alone when they start to leave home.

To be honest I feel sad at the thought.

It was great when we finally got to meet.

Donna was gorgeous, happy and so very proud of Jake and Harry.

I knew it meant alot to her to have these photos and I was so pleased that Jake and Harry worked with me to get them.

These guys were cool and they looked it in the photos too – hope you like them J&H.