It was that time of year again where I get to head out for a bit of a Family Photoshoot with the Shaw Family! This time we head out to the lovely little Fountain Valley Reserve, just off South Road in Happy Valley.
It’s fun that Miranda and Jake shooce to head to different spots each year to get a bit of variety in their yearly family photos! Last year we were in a pine forest, and the time prior, another small park in Happy Valley.
This time their choice was the Fountain Valley reserve which at this time of year boasts a bubbling brook streaming through some delightful weeping willows and lots of long, lush grass. I had a lot of fun at their Fountain valley Reserve Family Shoot! The light in the morning was beautiful combined with the natural beauty of the place made my job pretty simple!
Malith certainly timed his proposal to Melissa perfectly with an incredible sunset on the famed Pt Willunga beach.
His secretive Pt Willunga Proposal was maticulously planned by Malith leading up to the big moment, and oh my goodness, some of the scenes were just incredible!
Pt Willunga Proposal
The biggest concern for any of us leading up to the big moment was the weather – as both leading up to and beyond the day Malith planned his big Pt Willunga Proposal, the weather was pretty bad, and the tides during the winter is often so high that there isn’t much beach to stand on at Pt Willunga. But all that worrying was for nothing as the evening could not have gone any better.
Despite a bit of a hiccup having Melissa and Malith arrive a bit later than expected due to being served a rather late lunch in nearby Mclaren Vale, Malith proposed in front of a delightful little arbour set up put together by a small company sepcialising in this sort of thing – Fox Meets Charlie.
The fun part of the whole set up was trying to keep Melissa in the dark as they walked towards the arbour set up, with the group of us standing nearby ready to pounce and start taking photos/video as the big moment happened. Surpisingly Melissa had no idea until Malith presented the ring and everyone was all smiles :).
After the big moment, then we went off for a lbit of a walk along the beach to take some pretty photos in front of the amazing sunset and what many consider to be the most photographed beach in South Australia!
Congratulations go out to Melissa and Malith!
pt willunga proposal set up
pt willunga proposal
pt willunga proposal putting on ring
Holding her up
Kiss under will you marry me sign
Newly engaged couple
Newly engaged couple walking along beach
Engagement ring in sand
Couple standing on rock
Newly engaged jump
Newly engaged couple in fromt of Pt willunga jetty
Holding her up in front of ocean
Kiss at sunset in front of Pt Willunga Jetty
Kiss at sunset in front of Pt Willunga Jetty ruins
I head up north of the city recently to meet little Odella and her Mum and Dad for a bit of a photo shoot in amongst the greenery of the Little Para Linear Park in Paralowie.
Little Odella’s parents had been given one of my gift certificates and had waited until Odella was big enough to sit on her own before organising a time to have their photoshoot done.
She wasn’t overly keen on smiling throughout our outing, but was otherwise very well behaved! And the glowing smiles from Mum and Dad certainly brightened up the photos regardless!
I head out to the delightful Veale Gardens on south terrace recently to meet this loving mother and her two sons who had asked me to conduct a simple little Adelaide parklands family phtoshoot with them!
We began in the small carpark behind the Pavillion Restaurant, which alowed us to start with the gum trees and have a more Australiana backdrop to their first photos. As the weather hadn’t been fantastic lately, there was plenty of puddles to use, while the greens were lovely and lush throughout.
We then head over the hill, walking along the man-made river that courses throughout the Veale Gardens and using some of the vantage points I know have worked throguhout my many years of using this same area for portraits while covering weddings.
The aim of this Adelaide Parklands family photoshoot was to simply capture some nice family photos for Mum to put up on the wall, in particular some individual portraits of her boys, while also having a bit of fun together, and I think our little walk about the park ceratinly achieved that!
Family photo on driveway of veale Gardens
Family photo between gum trees in Veale Gardens
Family photo leaning next to tree
Individual portrait of young man near tree
Portrait of lady leaning on tree
Fun family photo of Mum leaning on tree with sons hiding behind
Full length portrait of man near tree
Portrait of two men standing in Veale Gardens
Adelaide Parklands slice of life portrait
Mum with sons family portrait in front of puddle
Family portrait in the Adelaide Parklands
Brothers leaning on a tree together
Mum sitting with brothers during their Adelaide Parklands photoshoot
I was recently asked to head out for a quick little Somerton Park Family Photoshoot to commemorate the 90th birthday of a family member. It seemed that everyone present had all grown up in the area, but had all moved on with their lives interstaate, so it was lovely to see and hear that most had travelled back to Adelaide for this momentous occasion!
The original plan was to head out to the beach from the bed and breakfast that the family had organised on the Somerton park foreshore, but it was soon realised that getting down there and back up again might be a bit tricky for the older members of the group, so we head to John Miller Reserve to make use of the grassy area there.
I was told that what the family wanted was some very simple shots of each of the gathered groups of the family, nothing too fancy – just wanted some family photos to mark the occasion.
So after spending a little time in the park, I realised that there wasnt much in the way of nice backdrops there other than a few spindley little trees, a chainlink fence and the surrounding roads and houses, so we went for a short walk to a road that was lined with some pretty beach trees that provided some shade and a nicer backdrop. It was here that we had a few other members of the group literally jump off their plane and meet us here.
After using both the middle of the road for big group shots, and then nearby a tree on the footpath for couples and individual portraits, we left the birthday girl at the top of the Somerton Park beach cliff and head down to the beach to finish up.
The beach’s tide was very high so there was some neat sand bars made within the water which we made use of by climbing over one of the sand bag brides that were put there to fight erosion. On the sand bar we took a few more couple photos and small groups, with a little more fun thrown in – at one point I asked the couple to push each ver – and boy did she lean into the push! 🙂
It was a delightful little family celebration that I was glad to be a part of! Happy birthday to the young birthday girl, and I hope you enjoy the family photos from your Somerton Park Family Photoshoot!
Somerton Park Family Photoshoot
Hugging couple in Somerton Park
Smiling couple on the grass at a park
Smiling couple on the grass at a park in Somerton Park
