I had the opportunity to take pictures at a birth last week and it was amazing! I loved it so much! I would do it every week if I had the chance.

I put together a little slideshow with a selection of the photos. Here is the birth of Ella!

If you would like more information or would like to book me to take photos of your birth, please email me on shanna@joliejones.com.au.

~Shanna

I have been extremely busy over the past week or so, helping to run the 2013 AIPP NSW/ACT Epson Professional Photography Awards here in Canberra.  Over the past five years the awards have been held in Sydney, but this year it was our turn.  When you are Vice President of the local council for the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, you get the opportunity to help out with a lot of different events but this one was BIG.  I am very happy to say that everything ran very smoothly and a great time was had by all.  Not only am I a member of the local council for the AIPP but I was also a member of the awards committee and was running around like crazy doing all sorts of jobs.  We had several volunteers that did an amazing job and helped make this event as successful as it was.  I would like to personally thank all of those helping hands.  Without you, we would have been scrambling!  What an amazing industry I belong to that people will take time out to help one another without expecting compensation for doing so.  Very grateful.

In addition to all the behind the scenes things that I was involved in, I entered some photos into the awards for the third year in a row.  It’s always a scary prospect having your heart and soul on a board being judged in front of all your peers.  I don’t think I’ll ever feel calm about this process but it’s an important exercise in making sure that what I am producing is of professional standard and maybe, just maybe, award winning.

I was lucky enough to win a few awards for my efforts.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to not only win three silver awards but TWO gold awards as well.  Shocked.  Humbled.  Honoured.  To say the least.  It makes me a bit teary to think that my peers think I am doing some amazing work.  It makes me want to strive to continue doing what I love the most and that is creating art for my clients.

This year I did something I have never done before.  I created a couple of fine art prints that I hoped would do well.  Boy was I surprised when they were the two images that received gold awards.  This is something that makes me very happy as I have always had a love for art as well as photography.  I am inspired to keep working with that side of my brain and can’t wait to see what I can come up with in the future.

You’re probably wondering what these images looked like?  Here we go!

Gold Award in the Family Category. In case you’re wondering how on earth this belongs in the family category, take a closer look. This is an image of a maternity client of mine. Several images, in fact.:

Gold Award in the Family Category. Similar to the first, this is another maternity client of mine. Turned into a mosaic.:

Silver Award in the Family Category. Beautiful little newborn baby boy client with his daddy. He smiled for the camera after daddy gave him a smile. How sweet is that?!:

Silver Award in the Family Category. One of my amazing little clients over the past year and a bit. She grew up in my studio. She brought her teddy bear with her to each new session and we took a photo to see how much she had grown each time. Newborn, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year.:

And just for something a bit different! The Evil Queen from Snow White. he he Major thank-you to Charlotte Clark and her grandma for making the costume. To Charlotte for doing the make-up and to Simone Luker for being our beautiful model! This print scored another Silver award but this time in the portrait category:

This is how the prints were presented with the added bling they picked up at the awards. :) These are my two gold prints:

These are my two silver prints in the family category:

Here is my other print that was in the portrait category:

Here is a look at all the certificates I got as well. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I was a finalist in the Family category. This >< close to taking it out but pipped at the post by an amazing friend of mine that scored two gold distinctions (which is NOT a common occurrence and makes it ultra outstanding for her!) and two silvers. Well deserved win on her part! Her prints were amazing!