Rapid-Fire Interview with Pete & Em

Pete:

Odd or even numbers? Even

Favourite food? Chilli

Chocolate or lemon? Lemon

If you could be any animal, what would it be? A guinea pig

Are you a morning or night person? Night

Describe yourself in 3 words: Optimistic, resilient, competitive

If you won a million dollars, what would you buy? Something for my family

Favourite colour: Pink

Favourite flower: Anything to do with chillies

What makes you smile? My one true love 🥰

What does Sunday night look like for you? Cooking for my family 🤤

Beach or country? Country

Previous jobs: Tree lopping

Family recipe: Chilli nachos 🌶️ and then pizza 🍕 and then chocolate pancakes 🥞

Top of the travel bucket list: Mongolia

Favourite season and why: Winter/because there is a limit to what is socially acceptable in summer

Most memorable travel experience: Europe with my Waifu

Where did you go for family holidays growing up? Around the Sunshine Coast

Tea or coffee? Coffee

Cannot leave the house without? A purpose

Favourite sport: Lacrosse

Favourite emoji: >_<

Favourite movie: The Dark Knight

Usual breakfast: Homemade muesli

Five people from any time period over for dinner? As a social experiment: Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Pol Pot, Genghis Khan, and Tony Abbott

Currently watching: Terrace House

Greatest achievement to date: Being a parent

/// /// /// /// ///

Em:

Odd or even numbers? E 👏 v 👏 e 👏 n 👏

Favourite food? Pete’s pizza and vanilla slice

Chocolate or lemon? Hmmm… day to day it would be chocolate (some 70-odd percent dark) but, every now and then, it would be lemon meringue

If you could be any animal, what would it be? Probably a labrador

Are you a morning or night person? Night

Describe yourself in 3 words: Empathetic, passionate, determined

If you won a million dollars, what would you buy? A rescue farm and a family holiday

Favourite colour: Do I have to choose? Hmmm, I guess it would be pink (as much as I am in denial about that)

Favourite flower: Peony

What makes you smile? My family

What does Sunday night look like for you? Planning for the coming week

Beach or country? I cannot choose… both have my heart

Previous jobs: Pharmacy assistant & various research positions

Family recipe: Strawberry cheesecake

Top of the travel bucket list: Mongolia

Favourite season and why: Spring/capturing flowers is a favourite slow, mindful pastime

Most memorable travel experience: Spending my 30th ill in Paris flat on the bed looking out the window at a rainbow - epitome of the “life is bittersweet” mantra

Where did you go for family holidays growing up? You would find us in either Chinchilla or Bribie Island (variety is the spice, I guess…)

Tea or coffee? Tea all day every single day

Cannot leave the house without? Snacks (parent life), keys & phone

Favourite sport: Tennis

Favourite emoji: ❤️

Favourite movie: Cannot choose… (those who know me will find this amusing)

Usual breakfast: Banana smoothie

Five people from any time period over for dinner? For similar social experimentation reasons to Pete, I would choose Corrie ten Boom, Adolf Hitler's bodyguard, Nelson Mandela, Eva Mozes Kor, & Handsomu

Currently watching: Nothing (if I had the time, I would be watching The Office. Always something else to do, though.)

Greatest achievement to date: Co-raising/nurturing a beautiful girl with Pete

From the archives. (Hyderabad, India // circa 2015)

Word for 2021: “Intentional”

We made it through 2020!

Happy new year!

In order to gain clarity about the coming year, we like to set goals. Naturally, they get bigger each year.

In order to provide focus for the coming year, we like to pinpoint a single word. The word for 2021 is “intentional”.

intentional

/ɪnˈtɛnʃ(ə)n(ə)l/

adjective

  1. done on purpose; deliberate.

Not busy. Not stressed. Not over-worked. Not booked to capacity.

Intentional.

We are learning from the lessons 2020 taught us.

We want to continue to build on our intentional relationships with our valued clients and valued vendor friends.

In addition, our little one starts prep next year. Each day of this year is a gift in a way. We are enjoying these last days full of investment and memories before the next leg of the adventure with Chloe begins.

We hope everyone enjoys a safe and productive* and successful** 2021.

*Productivity looks different for everyone.

**Success looks different for everyone.

<3

What Pete Sees Vs What Em Sees :: (Alt Title) Why We Shoot Together

We recently stumbled across a blog post by another local photographer.

It was clear from the specific content that the photographer had obtained content from our website.

No problem.

We had a few options.

Let the photographer know that we had come across the post(s)?

Well, we have a responsive business model and not a reactive one so decided that it was not necessary to make a scene - not even a passive scene.

To be fair, the general inspiration for the specific theme that they had pulled from had not been our original idea in the first place. Pretty important point.

We had originally come across it on the blog of a photographer friend on Facebook. We reached out to the photographer, Lauren, and let her know that we loved the concept and would she mind if we used it as inspiration to do some features in our local area?

Lauren was lovely and supportive and gave us permission.

The situation got us thinking.

We cannot be bothered policing other content and, as we have mentioned above, inspiration is typically drawn from others one way or another anyway. It is how a lot of the creative industry works.

We both love a good challenge and so we channelled our thoughts into a challenge.

Well, why not make our content harder to replicate in the first place?

Why not make it as unique to us as possible?

We shoot together.

It is one thing for us to tell you about our unique eye and how we each capture your day.

It is another to show you.

Here are 50 examples from a recent wedding: 25 images were taken by Pete and 25 by Em.

We both prefer different lenses.

We both shoot from different heights.

Sometimes we set up a shot we do not even see ourselves until we go back through the images to cull and spot the angle the other one took.

So here are some side-by-side examples.

In addition, we make a case for 2 photographers who are in each other’s heads. We often see cases made for one photographer (“I will capture everything you need; no need for another photographer who could get in the way”).

Clients do not know what images they did not receive if they never saw them in the first place: this reality is effective when making the case for a solo photographer.

However, you cannot physically be in two places at once. You cannot offer two unique sets of eyes. It is just not possible.

We hope that you enjoy!

Pete (one of us typically focuses on one half of the couple and the other focuses on the other; it works for us and minimises missing those powerful fleeting moments)

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete (some people question the shot of a shot concept… we love telling the story of your day and, in our opinion, seeing the Father of the Bride capture his beautiful family for a moment is a lovely one to look back on over the years; he has a nice, tight composition going on, too!)

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete

Em

Pete (I - Em - missed this moment as I was capturing the reception setup before the guests filed in; so glad Pete caught it <3)

Em

Pete

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Pete

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Pete

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Pete

Em

Pete

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Pete

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Pete

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Pete

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Pete

Em

Wedding: E+A <3 (Boulevard Gardens)

Elijah & Alana.

<3

We met up with lovely Elijah & Alana in-person for a casual chat before accepting the booking. As always and wherever possible, we recommend meeting up first. Not only do we get to meet you but, most importantly, you get to meet us and decide for yourselves if we are a good fit for both of you. Elijah & Alana’s wedding planning took place during the worldwide pandemic that has been COVID-19. It was extremely stressful for them and, like a lot of couples, it resulted in changing venues and dates - several times.

In the lead-up to the wedding, we received the kindest email from Alana’s mother (will list suppliers below):

“Hi… We have put you on a guest table for the reception as it is only a smallish wedding and you and the musician and all suppliers have been so kind and accommodating to us during this time. It means that your meal will be provided and there is a bar tab that you can make use of for drinks of your choice on offer as well. Thank you kindly. It has not been easy on you guys as well as the brides and grooms. We are so grateful for every kindness we have been afforded by all of our suppliers. Regards <name of Alana’s mother>”

After the wedding, we received the following from Elijah & Alana:

“Dear Emily and Peter,

Eli and I just wanted to say a massive thank-you for photographing our wedding on the 20th. We are so excited to see how the photos turned out.

We are so appreciative of your understanding and flexibility with regards to the changes in response to COVID, and can honestly say that your warmth and kindness really helped to make the day feel special. You were both wonderful to work with, and we are so grateful to you for your help in bringing everything together.

Kindest regards,

Elijah and Alana”

We delivered their images and they had this to say:

“Thank you! We have just finished looking through them. They are really lovely thank you. We are very happy with them 😊

The envelope and card were lovely too. Very special.

Thanks for all of your hard work for us!

Kind regards,

Alana and Elijah”

It was such an honour and privilege to capture this beautiful couple’s day and we want to wish them a lifetime of wonderful memories.

+++

Car: Our Wedding Cars

Celebrant: Married by Jake

Flowers: Emunah Events

Musician: Steve J Carlyle

Venue: Boulevard Gardens

Side-by-side comparison of our work

Candid moment with both sets of parents and the couple; just managed to squeeze them all into the one candid frame! :)

One last one: cheeky mother of the groom :D

Engagement :: A&J <3

While we enjoy collaborative shoots with other businesses from time to time, the truth is that all of our shoots are a collaboration of sorts. We want to give you beautiful images in a comfortable environment and that is best achieved when we work together. Lovely Jane & Aidan wanted jacarandas to feature in their engagement shoot and they wanted it to take place in a location sentimental to them; we waited till closer to the date to lock it in so that we could make the most of jacaranda season and UQ was looking absolutely stunning this particular day. In hindsight, I don't think we could have picked a better day for J&A's shoot. Looking forward to their wedding next year! 💜 P.S. No visit to UQ is complete without an Emydura macquarii signata (Brisbane short-necked turtle) sighting.