It is that time of the year again for the Port Stephens Small Business Awards, get behind CAPTURE IMAGING in ANNA BAY and vote for us as you favourite “TRADE/SERVICE” !!! There are so many great businesses to support in our Port Stephens area and we would be thrilled to have your vote.

Simply vote online at http://www.portstephensexaminer.com.au/content/forms/64

I have a lot of local customers that were not aware that Brent Mail is the photographer and has captured all of the beautiful image in his very special book “Moods of Port Stephens” . If you are not familiar with his work log on and have a look at moodsofportstephens.com Brents amazing landscapes grace the walls of many Local Residents, Restaurants, Resorts, the local Baptise Church and even the offices of the Examiner Newspaper.

You too can purchase these beautiful images to hang in your home or make a perfect gift for that friend that has visited the area and fallen in love with our magical landscapes. Brent’s sunsets are my favourite and to be honest when I look at them I am reminded of how beautiful our summers are and it helps to make me feel a little warmer during this cold winter.

moodsofportstephens.com Enjoy !

The Mulhearn family came to our studio for a planning meeting. The girls have been dancing for many years and it was very clear that their parents are very proud of their beautiful daughters.

On the day of the shoot there had been some fairly heavy showers and we were a little concerned about the weather, but over at Zenith beach, there was a little breeze and the rain held off as we managed to capture this families images. I think the lofty clouds in the back ground add an interesting back drop to an already perfect setting.

It was lovely to get a shot of Mum & Dad together for the girls as well. When they came in and viewed their imagines, Mum & Dad mentioned that they had not had a lovely portait together since their wedding.

Hope you enjoy these images and take a little time to think how we could capture YOUR beautiful family.

We have just come back from a quick getaway in the blue mountains – west of Sydney. Mid winter in the mountains is really cold, got up to 5 deg in the day but the air is clear and the views are unbelievable. Seeing as the kids are on holiday, we decided to check out a different part of the blue mountains, so we packed in the dogs, kids and all my camera gear and stayed at an Alpaca farm near Bilpin. Well, the dogs were not too impressed with the alpacas (look like Llamas), but the kids were and they loved the farm stay too. We all loved the wood burning fire every night.

I photographed a panorama of the grand canyon from Evans Lookout, and now I know why they are called the blue mountains…see if you notice the blue haze in the distance.

Had to stop and get a pic of the old trucks too. Enjoy. Brent

Well the months have flipped past and I have had the pleasure of working with so many beautiful families, it was finally my turn.  My husband’s beautiful children Ryan and Sarah were visiting with us for a long weekend. Brent kindly offered to do our family shoot and I was thrilled.

I was watching my Husband and the kids horsing around on the beach, I was keenly watching Brent as well and it hit me like a bolt of lightening, this was a precious memory in the making. Not something that would be forgotten. This is a thumb print of a family, my family.  I choked back the tears and started laughing again as Ryan tried to push his dad in the water.

Our BIGGEST thank you to Brent, the happiness that is generated by your amazing talent is boundless, I feel so blessed that we have been able to have Brent capture our family.

Jason and I shed many tears of joy when we saw the amazing images and happily planned on where we are going to display the images in our home, we are also going to put an album together for the kids. We are like many families that don’t live together on a full time basis, but we have the love of the children in our hearts, we have plenty of phone calls and emails each week and now these beautiful images that will grace our walls.

Now I know Ryan and Sarah had a ball and Brent made it great fun, but in years to come when the kids are older they will have these beautiful images to look back on. My own father is very ill now and I just wished had a little window into my past, happy days running on the beach with my Dad, but sadly not. Life just gets so busy and sometimes we need to just stop and think about the future and I am so glad we shared this wonderful experience, hope you enjoy these photos of my family.

Last weekend the Nelson Bay Hash House Harriers (running group) had a weekend away at Riverwood Downs, between Dungog and Gloucester. We arrived on Saturday afternoon (had a few shoots in the morning) just in time for the main run. Luckily someone had to make sure the fire was OK and watch all the kids….ME. Only 1 injured kid after an hour – no one will ask me again;)

Took some timelapse images and made this movie. I also had a chance to try out my new slider, last two scenes in the movie. Make sure you watch it in high definition…..worth it.

Great weekend away with some crazy people. I did get a few rural/farm landscapes too on the Sunday morning, before the mist dissipated. Check out the images below.

Enjoy. Brent

Nat, came to our studio after recently being one of the finalist for Miss Surfest at Fanny’s Night club.

In the planning meeting Nat explained to us that she wanted to use the photo shoot to use for her portfolio. Nat wanted to break a little with the traditional shots and get a little creative. Together we created several different scenarios. The Hitchhiker worked really well and  one of my favorite shots of Nat was to the old derelict  world war 2 gunning tower on Tomaree Headland at shoal bay.

The very talanted Kim from Blush Brides did Nat’s make up. Kim has been in the industy for years and true talent in making women glow.   Kim spent hours with us on the modeling shoots and works closely with Brent during the shoot to make sure our models are looking fresh and beautiful.

Nat was great fun to work with and I am sure you’ll agree that Brent created amazing art for Nat’s portfolio. We wish Nat the best of luck in her very bright future and we look forward to working with her again.

Bill and Beryl, a very sweet local couple that have already celebrated their 50th Wedding anniversary, recently had a lovely photo shoot with us.  Bill and Beryl have retired to Port Stephens area over ten years ago and have an idyllic lifestyle.

This very sweet couple have a very full diary and almost found it too difficult to fit their shoot in, they are members of Probus and volunteers at their local church. In Bill’s retirement he has also taken up a new hobby of painting, we were invited in to view his private gallery and marvelled at his work.

It warmed our hearts to see this couple with so much love for each other, when Bill and Beryl came to our studio to view their beautiful images, Bill joyfully told me her asked for Beryl’s hand in marriage again as they strolled along the beach during their photo shoot, just to make her smile. It worked ! As you can see for yourself, love, happiness and best friends.

Nicole was a finalist in the miss surfest model competition this year. She comes from Salamander Bay which is really close to our studio. Nicole has so much energy and she brought all that passion to the shoot.

After the hair and makeup was done, we started in the studio with some really nice – soft light – closeups, then used our swing for more arty type images. Nicole has worked really hard on her physique in the past year and I really wanted to show this in these images. I used hard light with shadows to emphasis her hard belly.

We ended up going to shoal bay and shooting on the beach under the wharf, and then headed for zenith beach and got the final images in the surf. Nicole picked up her model portfolio and CD of images last week before the Easter holidays and was totally thrilled.

Good luck in your career Nicole….I think you have what it takes to succeed. Brent

Photographed the Fenwicks on birubi beach in Anna Bay – a short walk from our studio. Could not believe the resemblance between mother and daughter….amazing. They have recently experienced a tragedy in the family, and our hearts go out to them. Makes us all realise how important our family really is. Please spend some quality time with those you love. Brent

Rob & Lisa came to us wanting a lovely shoot their cute little daughter Isla. They are leaving our fair shores for England so they wanted Brent to capture them playing on their favorite beach Birubi.

Brent took some amazing shots and they loved them so much they had their images made into a personalise book, to show their friends and family in England and give them a little in site into life in Australia.These images I am sure will warm their hearts on the coldest of English days.

We wish the Cotterals best of luck with their new life and thank them for allowing us to be apart of their Australian memories.