Tammi and Antony…
I barely know where to start with this one…
Tammi and Antony… I barely know where to start with this one… I feel that it can be so easy to get to a certain place in life and feel content with the circle of people that surround you, and even be content that between the family and dear old friends in your world, you would be okay to carry on the rest of your days without making any more friends…
…and its always then that someone will pop into your life and instantly feel like they have been there all along, and surprise! you’ve made a new friend.
Tammi, a talented makeup artist (you can see some of her work here…) popped into my world a few years back as she carefully created her magic on the face of a friend of mine for her wedding day (this one). Afterwards we emailed back and forth about the wedding photos, stayed in touch, ran into each other at various weddings over the years (usually accompanied with a few squeals when we saw each other) and came to love spending time and working together. I have nothing but respect and admiration for both her artistry and generosity of spirit, and when her and Ant became engaged in Hawaii and asked if I would photograph their wedding I was beyond excited and wouldn’t have missed it for anything.
Tammi, Ant and their family and close friends gathered in a beautiful tropical garden in Palm Cove, in Far North Queensland, and had the most beautiful, tropical, fun-filled celebration. From watching the radiant Tammi do her own makeup amongst the palm fronds hanging over the balcony in the morning, to the fully dressed Ant being dragged into the pool at the end of the reception, the day was a colourful, effervescent, fiesta and I feel like I ran around barefoot laughing and smiling at Ant’s jokes and Tammi’s deadpan reactions, cried at the tenderness of family speeches, and celebrated with their friends and family more than I photographed.
so this is Tammi + Ant’s day, and I defy you not to fall a little bit in love with the two of them after seeing it played out in photographs…
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Sometimes when you meet with couples they will tell you a story about themselves, that is told casually, but then will stick with you for months and months. When I first met Jesse + Emily I asked them why they chose the beautiful grounds of Vaucluse House to get married in and was expecting a little rave about how beautiful the lush gardens, rambling historical buildings and so on were… instead Emily told me a story about how a while before they were planning the wedding she drew a little sketch of her and Jesse – a little yellow haired boy and brown haired girl – walking down a path towards a crooked pine tree on a grassy hill. When they were looking at potential venues for the wedding they came around a corner and stopped dead in their tracks, there in front of them was the same pine tree on a hill that Emily had drawn where else could they ever be married other than under that tree? and on the big day the drawing in question had place of honour on the front of the programs. synchronicity at its finest
I’m not usually an overly outwardly emotional person at weddings that I photograph, even though it can be hard not to feel the heightened feelings that are woven throughout the day for the couple and their loved ones, I am normally so focused on documenting the moments visually that I can distance myself slightly emotionally. However I had no chance whatsoever of maintaining a poker face at Mariko and Steve’s wedding. I started to tear up as Mariko and her mom Yukiko walked down the long, grassy aisle of Athol Hall’s lawn to her Steve while my mind flashed through over 20 years of shared friendship and moments. Moments of childish pranks, of school days, sleepovers involving all the 80’s movies we could rent and speculation about our adult lives, of love, of loss, and adventures… and then quickly watching her and Steve create a new memory which would become one of the defining moments of their lives together. It was both an honour to witness this day (through both a viewfinder and a layer of salty water) and to photograph it, and to know that I can help preserve this memory for their future selves to look back on is an incredible feeling.
I first met Eva socially years ago through some work friends, but the first I knew of Loris was as they flew through Surry Hills on his vespa as he dropped Eva to work, her blonde curls peeking out under her helmet and flapping in the wind all the way down Crown Street. An Italian boy and an Australian girl living in Cambodia, these two just wanted to get married in a relaxed outdoor Nielsen Park wedding ceremony with stunning Sydney harbour for a backdrop, then spend time with friends and family at the party of their lives.
The party that followed at the Pacific Palms Recreation Club was full of fun times, scottish dancing and rambunctious laughter and was probably heard as far as Port Macquarie. Good times…
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