Let’s run! Let’s dance! Let’s roll in the grass! WHY? Because it’s FRIDAY!!!
Sooo, what are your plans for this weekend?
‘Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.’
– Albert Camus
I could not resist sharing more pictures of autumn leaves (and a few of my and my darling’s happy faces) with you. Witnessing these colours is a short-lived and precious event in our mostly evergreen Australian life.
All of these images were taken in Mount Wilson, a quick turnoff along Bells Line of Road in Blue Mountains, in Merry Garth gardens and Sefton gardens. Merry Garth is very very very beautiful in spring, if you ever have a chance to visit that magical corner of the Blue Mountains, please do! Sefton was our newest discovery, and it was the highlight of our cold and windy day trip (it was 7 degrees Celsius, with wind, so if you know me you can imagine… I loved every minute of it!!).
Oh how I enjoy this time of the year…
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns”
– George Eliot
Every year around this time, when the air is crisp and clear, the nights are cool, the doona is out, we go to Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains, 120 kms out of Sydney to the west. Once we are there we know that this is it, the glorious autumn is, indeed, here. We have the proof – the changing colours.
It is my favourite time of the year. There is some special calmness and joy about it, lovely emotions filling our days, together with the bittersweet anticipation of winter months. It means that the cold is inevitable, but as a compensation for this minor discomfort there will be open fire, red wine, quiet company, longer nights spent reading, pumpkin soup on the stove and the coziness of ugg boots.
It’s like a warm embrace.
I adore this photo! It’s just beautiful and captures everything that is beautiful about the season. Love love love it. xo
“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand – and melting like a snowflake”
– Marie Beyon Ray
Stop. Appreciate what you have. Think about what you are grateful for in this life. Think about what is you, what is real you, and make a step towards what you are here for.
Instagram helps me to see how beautiful my little world is. We are often rushed in our daily life by the things and ideas that we think we have to accomplish. It is all good and often necessary and progressive, but we often forget to stop and reflect (myself included). We let time slip through our fingers without noticing the precious moments that happen, well, every single moment. They are all important, not matter how small.
You don’t have to carry your camera around, all you need is your iPhone (or an Android phone as of a few weeks ago!). Capture, share, reflect. Appreciate.
In the last thirty days I:
– received a bunch of white roses
– sent a package full of memories to a gorgeous couple
– attended a birthday of a very lovely one-year-old
– participated in the Earth Hour
– walked hand in hand with the man I love
– watched raindrops running down my car window
– got my Casetagram iPhone cover
– stood in awe in front of the renovated building of Museum of Contemporary Art
– ran barefoot on the beach
– spent time watching the clouds moving slowly across the blue sky
and more.
@AnastasiART
Every bride wants to have gorgeous pictures from her wedding. Every photographer wants the very same for her bride. Weddings are often hectic, very busy: there is a schedule that you have to keep up with, places to drive to, reception to enter on time. But this is not what is important. Sweet moments of two hearts joined in union for ever, and people closest to your soul that surround you two on your wedding day, that what it is important. Our job as photographers is to capture those moments, record the full force of emotions that will run high on your day and deliver it to you after the big day so you have something that will help you relive it, come back to it over and over again, be it your wedding anniversary, or the question of you future children on “what was yours and Daddy’s wedding day like, Mommy?”.
But as anything in life, good things require to stop and breathe and be in the moment. And that is why putting plenty of time aside for your photography on your wedding day is crucial. Magic happens when two newly married people are whisked away after the exchange of post-ceremonial hugs and kisses with family and friends, driven off to a “secret location” with just a photographer and maybe a limo driver, so new husband and wife can be away from the friendly crowd and just be with each other. I will be there with you, capturing those sweet precious minutes, recording, observing, witnessing. During that time, please do not think about the fact that you will need to get to the restaurant on time. Just enjoy, and be, and create memories for your new family.
The light is at its very best in the last hour before sunset. Quite often this is the time when reception starts. I highly recommend thinking about your wedding day schedule very early on, checking the sunset time for that day, and keeping in mind that you and your photographer will sneak out to take a few more pictures. Please, please, please, talk to your photographer and discuss the schedule, as we, people with cameras, often measure the time in different units – not minutes, but moments when the light is magical. Teamwork is important! And if you didn’t check the sunset time for your big day, trust me, I will!
All written above does not necessarily have to happen at sunset. No. Magic hour in this particular post means the time you and your new husband embrace each other quietly, and I capture that moment.
Happy planning!
Such beautiful colours! So wonderfully captured, Anastasia!