Masterpiece

* Meaghan

Comparing apples with apples

Choosing a wedding photographer is hard. Let me just say that again. Choosing a wedding photographer is HARD.

It's like comparing apples with apples.



You've just got engaged, you're truly over the moon, and you're diving head first into organising your wedding. You google 'wedding photographer' in your area, and you're given pages and pages of results. How on earth do you tell them all apart? They all have glitzy websites. They all take amazing photos. They all offer similar packages, with similar albums. They are all priced within the same range. There's apples, and then there's more apples.

How on earth are you going to choose? How are you going to ensure you get the best possible photos from your wedding?

No, it doesn't come completely down to cost. Just because you pay top dollar, doesn't mean you'll get the best photos. Just because you choose the wedding photographer who has won the most awards, doesn't mean you'll get the best photos. And if you choose the absolute dirt bottom cheapest, you already know you wont get the best photos.

It all comes down to how you and your photographer 'click'.

If you get along well with your photographer, and I mean really well, you'll get far and above the best photos possible from your wedding. You'll feel relaxed around them, relaxed enough to be yourself. You'll have no problems laughing, crying, hugging and smooching when they're around. So these are the moments they are going to be able to capture. If you're nervous around your photographer, you won't be able to show all these wonderfully pure emotions around them, and they won't be able to photograph them.

I think it's so important that you love love love your wedding photographer. You want a photographer who is going to share the joys of your wedding day with you. Who wants to hear about all your plans in the lead up to your wedding. Who takes a sincere interest in how you and your fiance met, fell in love, got to where you are today.

So many wedding photographer take absolutely sublime photographs, but not all of them will know the exact colour of the bridesmaides dresses, or that your grandmother has given you her wedding necklace to wear. They won't know you.

And that is what your wedding day is about. It's about you and your fiance starting the rest of your lives together. Not the photographer. You want a photographer who feels more like a guest with a camera, than a photographer. You don't want to have to think about them as your beautiful day unfolds. A great photographer will let you radiate all day, and be the privileged person who gets to capture it all.

So to sort the apples, talk to them, meet them for coffee, read their blogs if they have one. Get to know them. You'll know when the right photographer comes along and clicks with you. You'll know you've got yourself the best apple in the barrel, who will take for you the best possible photos of your wedding.



Good luck on your search!

* Meaghan

Sweetheart Session - Kate and Carey

Strangers in a strange land met and fell in love.

That's Kate and Carey in a nutshell.

Seven years ago Kate and Carey left the warmth of their respective family homes and headed overseas on exchange to Sweden. They were both seeking the same thing: adventure, excitement, dazzling experiences. They found all that, and much more. They found each other.





Kate is Australian, and Carey from New Zealand. It amazes me that they travelled to the other side of the earth to find each other. But if one of them hadn't have filled out those exchange application forms, if one of them had pulled out at the last minute, they would never have met. Talk about meant to be.





Kate smiles with her whole body. She says she hates it. 'Too smiley'. But I love it. Because her joy is so apparent. It comes from deep inside. You can tell from her smile, her laugh, that she is blissfully happy.





Kate and Carey are so relaxed around each other. The chatted effortlessly while I was taking their photo. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't even there (in a good way). They are like a sweet tune played beautifully on a guitar at the end of a day.



Or a dance to music only they can hear.





When I first met Kate and Carey, Kate jumped up, gave me the warmest of hugs, and asked me about my children. Did I already know her? Nope, but she'd been reading my blog. From then on, our relationship was like that of old friends.







Their laughter is truly infectious.



Their wedding is going to be golden. I can't wait.

* Meaghan

Me on Twitter

I tweet.

Yep, that's officially a new verb.

I love jumping on bandwagons, so got myself onto Twitter about 7 months ago. And haven't exactly looked back. I know many people don't like, or don't get twitter. I can see why. It's very self-indulgent. But if I can be indulged in just 149 characters or less, then I'm saying 'yes!' to that.



So come follow me pied piper style (minus the cute pointy shoes) on twitter.

You'll pe privvy so such gems as
... Miles has a yellow skittle lodged in his nose. And when I say lodged, I mean stuck and not coming out.
... Can someone do the shopping for me? We need weetbix, honey, cheese, apples, bready...
... Excuse me while I have a love affair with my job
... I habb dot a dold
... Who turned out the lights?

You can find me @meaghancook.

* Meaghan

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the personal boredom that may be suffered by reading my tweets. A gal can't be funny all the time.

(Another) Sneak Peek - Kate and Carey

I couldn't resist publishing just one more sneak peek photo from Kate and Carey's sweetheart session.



Kate is vivacious, witty, beautifully exuberant and just plain wonderful. I love this shot of her to bits. Love it!

More from their sweetheart session in some very cool locations near Barwon Heads, very shortly.

* Meaghan

Winter Dreaming

* Meaghan



I'm also over the moon that Ani at Elizabeth Anne Designs has listed me on her website. Ani's site is a great wedding and every day living resource. I got stuck reading her blog for so long that the rice I was cooking stuck to the bottom of the pot.

Sneak Peek - Kate and Carey

* Meaghan

Sweetheart Session - Maree and Nathan

I met Maree on a quiet afternoon, in the calm of cosy cafe, over two hot chocolates complete with pink marshmallows. And we talked. And talked. And talked. Maree is the kind of girl who will welcome you in with open arms, and talk to you until the wee small hours of the morning just to make you feel completely at ease.



So naturally, I'm excited to be able to photograph her wedding coming up next month.



Maree, her fiance Nathan and I spent last Sunday trooping around Dookie (about 20kms out of Shepparton, Victoria) finding the perfect places for their wedding photos. Did we find them? Of course we did. But I'm keeping the best spots under my hat until their wedding.





I admire Maree and Nathan. They're wedding will finally bring an end to the distance that's be between them for the past few years, literally. Nathan had to move 3 hours from Maree for work, and they've lived in their cars and on the phone ever since.





Love that survives through that gets me every time. Maybe it's because at the first sign of difficulty I strap on my sneakers and bolt. I admire people who tough it out, who can see that it's all worth it, who know it won't be forever. It takes bravery, commitment, and an insane amount of love. When it's put that way, I guess that's what a marriage is all about.



* Meaghan

Maternity - Kasey

For some, pregnancy is a wonderful time in their lives. It's filled with gentle kicks from baby, glowing good health and excited anticipation. For me it was a time of spew buckets, sleeping on the bathroom floor and complete fear.

For Kasey, she's having a pregnancy that can fit neatly into the 'good' pile.



She's glowing, right?



Kasey is my sweet as cupcake icing sister in law. She's been a firm believer and supporter of my photography. Kasey has even assisted me at a wedding, and has been a willing model too many times to count.



It feels wonderful to be able to beautifully capture this split second in her life for her.








Bring on the apples! (Kasey thought I was a little loopy when I hauled a bag of apples out of the boot of my car. But it's winter, and that orchard wasn't going to give me any, so I just had to bring my own.)









And this is what my brother thinks about the baby.





Can't wait to meet my neice/nephew. I'm an expert at spoiling children who aren't my own.

*Meaghan

Sneak Peek - Maree and Nathan

* Meaghan

Sneak Peek - Kasey

This is from a maternity shoot. Yep, a maternity shoot.



*Meaghan

I'm a photographer, Mum.

My mum (bless her cotton socks) still doesn't think this photography thing is a real job. She still thinks I just take pretty pictures in my spare time.



"When are you going to finish off your teaching degree? You've got one lot of teaching rounds to do then you're done." she says to me every time I go back to Shepparton to visit.

"Mum," I explain over a cup of Earl Grey and a scotch finger biscuit, "I don't want to be a teacher. I'm a photographer." I usually point suggestively with my eyes to the largeish camera that is undoubtedly sitting somewhere close by at this point.



She rolls her eyes so far back into her head that I get worried they'll get stuck there. "What about the future?" Mum says. I'm thinking Mum's a bit worried about my future, or the lack there of. Apparently there's no future in photography. Putting all my eggs into the photography basket makes my mum's heart palpitate



I think what worries mum most, is that I'm not worried. Not stressed. Just taking it all in my little shortie stride.



I've done enough stressing, and worrying, and sleepless nights and freaking out and anxious stuttering. Enough already! I don't think I could muster anymore of any of it if I tried. It's like when you cry and cry till there's no tears left. I've stressed and stressed, and there's just no stress left in these bones.



If this photography gig ends up a bit of a fizzer, so what. I'll go the movies more and finally read all those books piling up on my bedside table. There's those kids of mine who I'm sure wouldn't mind if I hung round them a bit more. And I know Amba wouldn't mind if I hung out with him more (if I also promised not to talk about photography he would flip his lid).



So maybe Mum, I might finish that teaching degree (which I have to admit, I did come unbelievably close, but that's another story) but just not right at the moment.

Because today, I'm a photographer.
(Albeit one who struggles to keep her eyes open when she's having her photo taken).



* Meaghan