Our blog has moved!!!

Hi Everyone

This is just a note to let you all know that our blog and our website have now been merged and you can go and see it all at

http://www.savvystudios.com.au/



Thank you for your support and we hope to see you over at the new blogsite. :)

**New Phone Number**

After 4 days and literally hours spent on the phones trying to get our old number disconnected and re-diverted, we still haven't had any luck with setting this up.

If you have been trying to call and wondering why it is ringing out, it's because we have moved! The old number of 3892 1173 no longer works. Please call us on our studio number - 07 3891 1400.

We apologise for the inconvenience and hope that Telstra work out the issues at their end very soon.

Tessa and Jamie - 22nd May, Glen Innes

Tessa and Jamie have one of the most amazing childhood sweetheart stories I have ever heard going back to when they were just three years old. Jamie's mum told the story so well and I particularly love the part of the story when she asked a nearly three year old Jamie who he wanted to invite to his birthday party, the first person he said was, "Tessa!". This is definitely a love that has grown over the years and become something special and now it's producing something even more special... a new member of the family is due in September!

I was originally booked in to shoot the wedding in October but plans were very quickly changed to May when Tessa found out she was expecting the pitter patter of little feet later in the year. It is a little chilly (freezing) in Glen Innes in May but wow it's a spectacular time of year. The light is just magical and creamy and with a fantastic couple like Tessa and Jamie who were happy to get out there and get the photos I was in photographer heaven. I had the wonderful Ange Boorman from Grafton working alongside me and she pulled off some super images also.

Tessa and Jamie, congratulations on your marriage and I can't wait to catch up with you next (and I hope you find out soon enough if you're having a little boy or a little girl.)

Liv and Ryan - May 15th

After a little break from working together it was nice to team up with Alex again for the wedding of Liv and Ryan. It was a simply stunning day for a wedding and we were really looking forward to getting into it.

We rocked up to The Byron at Byron Resort to shoot the boys who were all watching "Jerry Maguire" while getting ready. There was a moment when the whole room went quiet to let the classic line, "you had me at hello" sink in then we got stuck into the business of shooting a wedding. All the boys were relaxed and also looking forward to the day ahead.

The girls house was a hive of activity and Liv was practically glowing as we arrived to start shooting. There was a moment when we were photographing Liv and her sister Laura and neither of them could look at each other without crying. It was just so gorgeous to see a bond such as this between family members, they almost had me crying along with them.

Liv and Ryan had a simple but beautiful ceremony on the waterfront before we headed off for location photos. The light was fading fast but we grabbed some great shots before heading to the reception for the night ahead.

Thank you Liv and Ryan for having us as a part of your day. We loved being able to present you with your slideshow on the night and thank you for the absolutely super wedding cake that you sent us home with! Congratulations on your marriage and we look forward to cathing up with you soon.

Tracey and Brad - January revisted

I first posted this wedding back in January as a youtube link but I've decided that it needed to be revisted in a photo format as the video really didn't do the quality of the images justice.

This wedding was part of a fabulous week of wedding celebrations with Tracey and Brad's family and friends. When we were booked for the wedding we decided to pack up the family and make a holiday of it for ourselves also. All guests (and us) arrived at the caravan park excited for the festivites that were to come. There was a couple of days of preparation that had everyone buzzing.

The wedding was on a secluded beach and it was a perfect setting. The 4wd to get there was a lot of fun too. Tracey and Brad planned a great week for everyone and it all panned out perfectly.

It's a little after the event but congratulations again to Tracey and Brad. You definitely need to stop in and see us when you're in Brisbane next to see your photo on the wall at the studio. We love it. :)

Erin and Cameron - Engagement Shoot

When I headed out to location to meet Erin and Cameron, I was greeted by two gorgeous smiling faces who told me that they weren't big on having their photos taken.

Erin and Cameron rocked the shoot! Great people who have a real spirit and harmony between them (plus, they're hot!).

Bring on the wedding day...

Our Huge Weekend - Wedding Two - Stacey and Chris, 8th May

While Alex was in Brisbane shooting the three day wedding, I was flown to Canberra for the wedding of Stacey and Chris. From the moment I saw Stacey's smiling face at the airport I knew I was going to have a great weekend.

I arrived on the Thursday before her wedding and the first thing we did was head to a shopping center to buy me a decent jacket. Canberra was cold! I was expecting that, but being a Queenslander I don't own a lot of gear that's suited to very chilly temperatures. I found a jacket and Stacey then took me on a bit of a drive around to show me the sites and run a few last minute errands. Stacey talks... a lot. I got to hear all about the plans, the family, her gorgeous dogs Orson and Oi, her shoes, Chris's cufflinks that still hadn't arrived, her flowers... I loved it. Her excitement was contagious and I was just wanting to get into the job of shooting! It was all sounding like Stacey and Chris's day was coming together so perfectly.

That night, Stacey and Chris took me out for Kevin's Chinese - I was a little dubious heading into a place named, "Kevin's" to eat Chinese food but I shouldn't have been worried. I recommend the duck. The dinner was a good chance for me to sit down and chat to Chris and meet him properly and over dinner I got to see such a cute connection between Stacey and Chris and it was really heart warming. It's definitely a dinner I won't forget in a hurry.

The next day was full of errands for Stacey and I accompanied her on the trip (and the cufflinks arrived! Yay!). It was the first chance for me to get a look at the reception venue, Poacher's Pantry. On the drive out there I was getting excited at the gorgeous countryside we were driving through. I knew that I had to find a way to shoot out there because it was so beautiful and the autumn colours were magnificent. That night I dined with Stacey's mother, sister and partner, a couple of their very good friends and of course, Stacey. Another night of meeting wonderful people and having a great time out.

The wedding day started early as I arrived at Stacey's hotel just after breakfast to capture the first of the traditional ceremonies. The mother of the bride brushes the brides hair and prepares her for the day ahead. A short time later the hairdresser and make-up artists arrived and so did Robyn Geering who is a fab Canberra photographer who was helping me out for the day.

There were just so much that happened on this wedding day and amazingly, it all went off without a hitch! There was a Chinese tea ceremony, Stacey and Chris's dogs as ring-bearers, amazing scenery and delicious lighting conditions, an athletic Chinese lion dance, great food and lovely people.

Really, what more can a wedding photographer ask for?

Thank you so much Stacey, Chris and family for making me feel so welcome during my time in Canberra. I had a great time and I loved every minute of my stay and congratulations on your marriage.

Another big thank you to Robyn for heading out with me and doing a stellar job (particularly on all the detail photos) - you rocked it!

Our Huge Weekend - Wedding One - Abdul Rasheed and Arzina, 6th,7th,8th of May

We are so excited to be blogging the next two weddings as it was a huge weekend for both Alex and myself. I was off to Canberra to shoot a wedding that was including a lot of traditional Chinese ceremonies (will blog this wedding next) and Alex was shooting an Indian wedding over three days.

Abdul Rasheed, Arzina and Arzina's mother first met with Alex last year and they hit it off immediately. Alex was telling me about the meeting and I could see his excitement bubbling over back then. In the lead up to the wedding they had another appointment to discuss the different events happening at the wedding and Alex came home from the studio looking like a kid at a candy store... then he also told me that they were giving him curry for dinner. The way to a man's heart...

Alex enlisted the help of Fiona and Bec over the three days to make sure nothing was missed. With around 200 guests there was certainly lots of action to be captured! The colour and vibrancy of the wedding was truly beautiful and after it was all over, Alex told me about the fabulous people he met and said that it was one of the most warm and welcoming weddings he had ever attended (and he also loved the curry.)

Congratulations to Abdul Rasheed and Arzina on your marriage. We look forward to catching up with you soon.

Sarah and Josh - 17th April

Sarah and Josh's wedding was one that we had been looking forward to for a while as we love a good Gold Coast wedding, however I was knocked out of commission the day before the wedding and Terence Kearns took my place for the day.

The girls all looked amazing and Sarah was radiant. The boys looked great and had a few laughs caught by the cameras... and the weather; it poured with rain. The trade off for the rain was that there was enough of a break in the weather to head out and get some shots with an amazing and colourful sky as a backdrop.

Congratulations to you Sarah and Josh on your day.

ps - and thank you to Terence for driving Alex home when he was just too sick to drive. You're a champion.

Sarah and Chad - April Fool's Day Wedding

April started off with a bang with the wedding of Sarah and Chad on April 1st. Alex again teamed up with Matt for this wedding and together they worked some magic.

Sarah and Chad live at New Farm and kept their wedding local with the ceremony in New Farm Park and the reception at The Powerhouse. This is definitely a wedding that had smiles all 'round and a whole lot of fun. Sarah and Chad also included a photobooth at the wedding reception for a few extra hijinx (all caught by Alex).

Congratulations Sarah and Chad!

Julie and Duane - 20th March

As much as a big wedding is fun, sometimes the smaller weddings have a wonderful intimacy about them that is just so special to be a part of. Alex and I were lucky enough to photograph Julie and Duane's day - an intimate wedding that was filled with mostly family who had travelled a long way to share their day with them.

It was a very relaxed group and heading out for the location photos was a lot of laughs. Nothing like a bridal party who are happy to ham it up for the cameras.

Thank you for having us as a part of your day and congratualtions on your marriage Julie and Duane.

Kylie and Matt - 13th February

In my catch up I got a little bit ahead of myself with the blogging!

Alex and our friend Matt headed out for the wedding of Kylie and Matt up Shorncliffe way. It's not often when you see a bride in red but it sure packs a punch! Kylie looked fantastic in a deep red dress with her maids in white and what a gorgeous day for a wedding.

Congratulations on your marriage Kylie and Matt.

Hayley and Chris - 6th March

So while I was busy shooting a wedding down in Byron Bay, Alex and Serena photographed the wedding of Hayley and Chris out Manly way. The rain poured down for most of the day but the rewards were some awesome skies as a backdrop for some great photos.

We also had to include the photo of where the wedding dress was suspended before the bride stepped into it. A few people have asked, "What's with the ladder?", the answer is that one of the bridesmaids came up with a clever way to hang the dress without it touching the ground. All she needed was a ladder and some rope and it was perfect!

Congratulations to Hayley and Chris. We look forward to catching up with you soon.

Julie and Scott - 6th March

Alex and I split up on the 6th of March to shoot a wedding each. I was lucky to team up with the very talented Caroline from Mihaja Photography for the day and along with Julie and Scott we all had a ball at beautiful Byron Bay.

There was so much attention to detail and the whole day came together beautifully. The best bit was seeing how in love Julie and Scott are. I'd be about to say to them to have a little kiss and a cuddle and they were already there. Truly a case of only having eyes for each other.

Thank you to Julie and Scott for having Caroline and I as a part of your day and I can't wait to catch up with you soon. Congratulations!

Bec and James - February 2010

First, I have to make an apology to our blog readers but most importantly our very patient brides. Life has been hectic for us here at Savvy Studios and our blogging has fallen way behind. I hope to get back on top of it all and have a little catch up over the next couple of weeks.

The first cab off the rank in the catch up is the wedding of Bec and James. I can't begin to describe how much fun we all had with them... I believe it ended up with Bec nearly crash tackling me in a bear hug towards the end of the day (and Alex even has a photo of it). Just a truly fun and affectionate couple and teamed with perfect weather and the amazing locations everywhere we turned in the Hunter Valley, we were guaranteed some great shots!

The results speak for themselves. Alex and I both chose our favourite images from this wedding - one each - and entered them at the Qld Professional Photography Awards. Both images were awarded a silver which we are still pretty chuffed about.

Thank you Bec and James for having Alex and I down to the beautiful Hunter Valley to shoot your wedding. It was an absolute pleasure and I hope your family and friends overseas love the images as much as you do and as much as we do.

Come Celebrate With Us! Special Offer from Savvy Studios.

To celebrate our recent wins at the Qld AIPP awards* and the opening of our new studio space at Greenslopes, we invite you to take advantage of our special offer.

For an initial investment of just $45 you will receive a $350 credit towards products and services of your choice from Savvy Studios or Betty Boudoir.

With Mother’s Day around the corner there is no better time or reason to treat yourself or treat the one you love with a Savvy session. This offer is limited to the first 20 clients only with one lucky person being selected at random to be upgraded to a $1000 credit.

Sessions can be either in our studio or on location within the Brisbane Metro area and can be used for family portraits, child portraits, maternity, newborn, pets, couples or boudoir.

Contact the team at Savvy Studios for more information. This offer ends May 8th, 2010 so call TODAY.

3892 1173 or 0413 747 401

* Qld AIPP Awards results:

Alex; 1 gold, 2 silver distinctions and 4 silvers in the wedding and the portrait categories.

Alicia; 1 gold, 1 silver distinction and 4 silvers in the Illustrative, wedding and portrait categories. WINNER of Qld Illustrative Photographer of the Year.

Serena; 1 gold, 1 silver distinction and 4 silvers in the illustrative and portrait categories. WINNER of Qld Emerging Photographer of the Year. **Serena is the latest addition to the Savvy Studios team and with her natural rapport with animals look out for her amazing imagery when we launch our newest project later in 2010.**

Savvy Studios Stellar Successes!

At this year's Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) Queensland Division Awards, Savvy Studios experienced some of their greatest successes to date and scored not only, Emerging Photographer of the Year but also one of the more hard fought categories, Qld Illustrative Photographer of the Year.

Alex entered the Queensland event for his first time submitting eight images. He picked up an amazing seven awards including a Gold Award, two Silver Distinctions and four Silvers.

Our regular second shooter and star talent, Serena Hodson, also made a remarkable debut at the awards, entering six images and being awarded for all six prints! Serena picked up a Gold Award, one Silver Distinction and four Silvers. Serena went on to win, Qld Emerging Photographer of the Year, among some of the strongest entries the category has yielded to date. Serena has her own studio but look out for a new exciting project coming to Savvy Studios very soon that will feature Serena doing what she does best.

Like Alex, I also entered eight images and was awarded with seven. I ended up with a Gold Award, one Silver Distinction and five silvers and received the accolade of, 2010 Qld Illustrative Photographer of the Year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsor of the Illustrative Category, Photo Mounts and Albums.

The Epson AIPP Qld Awards received 545 entries from professional photographers across the state. The judging panel consisted of some of the top photographers within Australia and New Zealand. Over the weekend only three Gold Distinctions and ten Golds were awarded out of the 545 prints so we are thrilled that three of the golds were awarded to the photographers at Savvy Studios.

News Just in from Las Vegas - Alicia WINS at WPPI!

A few weeks ago I sent of the entries for the WPPI awards in Las Vegas. The WPPI stands for 'Wedding and Portrait Photographers International' and the awards co-incide with the biggest trade show and convention for photographers anywhere in the world. So it's pretty much a huge event to be a part of.

I've never entered international awards but with alot of prompting from a photographer friend, I prepared an entry. Then I figured while I was at it, I'd throw in an entry from a concept shoot I photographed back in April last year. There was a perfect category for the photoshoot; Album non-wedding informal. This means the photos can be of anything that isn't a wedding and isn't an 'event' like a bah-mitzvah or christening etc. It's a very broad category.

The original entry has scored okay but it was the last minute entry that has left me absolutely STUNNED. I wasn't expecting much from it and my mind has been officially blown. On Monday I found out I had scored 94 out of 100 which was the highest score in the category, however this doesn't mean that I had it won. The three highest scoring albums have their scores wiped and are rejudged to decide first, second and third with the winners announced at a huge awards dinner.

One hour ago I received a call from the dinner and nearly fell off my chair! My album was FIRST PLACE! I had won the entire category! As you can imagine, I am still grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire Cat. :D

Due to lots of questions about the album and the layout I have decided to post it here for viewing just as the judges have viewed it. Most of the images below are how you would view a double page spread in an album. The competition entry also states that you can show 'detailed' areas to draw the judges attention so there are some 'detail' images presented also.

Enjoy the album! (and yes, I'm still smiling :) )

Front cover


inside front cover




detail




















detail








detail (this little girl was just brilliant)




detail - The entire concept actually started with this boy. This is my oldest son, Ashley. He often gives me the same expression as he shows in this photo. I photographed him last year giving me this look and I wanted to find a way to showcase it. One thing led to another until I came up with the idea for this shoot. This image also earned a silver award at the 2009 Australian Professional Photography Awards last June.


Last page


A massive thank you has to go out to the kids from Junction Park State School who were so enthusiastic and positively threw themselves into these images. I couldn't have acheived this without their energy.

Boudoir Photography in Brisbane? Yes, we can!

In the past I have photographed a few very brief boudoir sessions with brides on their wedding day. The photos are for, "the groom's eyes only" so it's not really the sort of thing I can blog or show to other clients. This left me in a little quandry; I can shoot boudoir but I don't have the work to show other people so it's a little difficult for people to decide to book me to shoot their boudoir images.

So I made a decision - I was going to find a group of ladies who were all willing to let me shoot them in various styles and allow me to use their images to promote my boudoir work.

When looking for ladies for the shoot, I wanted women who were all different but still 'real'. Not all women are size eight, 6ft tall and blonde so it's not realistic for me to shoot models that look like this. I had six fantastic 'real' models lined up... then disaster struck. Three models called in late to say they couldn't make the shoot. After a last minute facebook campaign I found two stand-ins from my friends (Thanks Justine and Kirsty) and the last stand in had no idea she was going to model until she walked in the door. She was chaperoning another girl and I said to her, "Do you want to get your gear off?" and she answered, "YES!".

One large hotel suite, one hairdresser - the fabulous Lucinda, one make-up artist - my awesome friend Paula from Humankind, one photographer - me, and six lovely ladies.

Boudoir essentially means, "a woman's private room", so 'boudoir photos' can cover any sort of 'intimate' image of a woman. It's a broad genre that if handled poorly can come off looking trashy. I wanted to avoid that at all costs. First and foremost, I wanted the images ALL to be sexy without being tacky or tasteless

We all had a great night with lots of laughs. I got to play around with 'boudoir' in a variety of styles from dark and moody, to classic, to pin-up, to fun and cute (and even a nude photo thrown in).

A huge thanks goes to Katey, Kass, Johanna, Amanda, Justine and Kirsty. You were all amazing and lots of fun to work with.


**Viewer discretion advised**

Pheobe - Six Weeks Old

A few years ago I had a boss that I just couldn't work with. We started out on the wrong foot and it all went downhill from there. Suddenly, and it really was a bolt out of the blue, we found some common ground and the next thing you know, I am calling this boss one of my best friends.

Don't get me wrong, we still had issues working together but on a personal level things were great! Luckily I chose to leave that job but I still have my awesome friend.

Knowing Sandra the way that I do, I just couldn't imagine her being a mum. Not that I ever thought she'd be a bad mum; far from it! I just couldn't imagine a time in her life that she'd say, "Yep. I'm going to have a kid."

However fate often holds other plans for us and last year Sandra was surprised with an unexpected pregnancy and along came little Pheobe. Pheobe was born on Christmas eve and she is truly one of the most divine babies I've ever photographed.

And Sandra is an awesome mum!

To my gorgeous friend. You've kept me sane many times in the past and I know I don't get to see you as often as I would like but I just want to let you know that I appreciate your straight talking, no-nonsense demeanour... even if I didn't like you being my boss.

You cooked a beautiful baby and these photos are a gift from me for all the times you have been a wonderful friend. Congratulations on the birth of such a perfect baby girl and I hope you like these photos.