Chasing Butterflies

day at the beach

2009-07-15T23:17:00.002+10:00

Had a wonderful time photographing a lovely family at the beach on the weekend in less than wonderful conditions. We were actually very lucky as it started raining just as we were finishing up. While it was cold and windy I'm sure the photos will be worth it for them so here is a sneak peek,

baby bump

2009-07-15T22:58:00.001+10:00

here are a few baby bump shots from a recent shoot;

kittens

2009-07-15T22:57:00.002+10:00

There are three other reasons we've been busy of late...

We rescued these kittens that were found and taken to a vet clinic.
We will raise them until they are old enough to be adopted - around 6-8 weeks old.

Luckily they all have great homes waiting for them, so giving them back won't be so bad. I'm sure we'll all miss them, especially the kids, but it's been a great experience for them. We started with four and lost one by the end of the first day, the remaining three have all come close at least once but we've managed to keep them alive and get them to the point now that they are all on solid food and should all be fine.

bigger people

2009-07-15T22:57:00.001+10:00

Photographing adults is not as different to photographing children as I first thought. Yes adults can (usually) follow directions easier, but unless they are relaxed they will look stiff regardless of your instructions. I usually find it easy to relate well with both kids and adults so I don't find one or the other more difficult, just different.

byo monkey

2009-07-15T22:56:00.000+10:00

...been photographing lots of small people, on their own, with their parents, and of course, with their monkeys...

p.s this blog appears to be chopping off the right hand side from some of the images, if you'd like to see the full version just click on them

a wedding...

2009-07-15T22:55:00.001+10:00

Been super busy and the poor old blog has become almost forgotten, here are a few shots from a wedding I photgraphed recently

...more of what I've been up to coming real soon...

newborn

2009-07-15T22:54:00.001+10:00

Congrats Michelle and Chris on your new baby girl!

After the jump

2009-07-15T22:53:00.000+10:00

My first solo exhibition is running for the next couple of weeks at Immersion Therapy 420 high st Northcote ending on Nov 30.

The exhibition is not related to the family portraits, but is basically photos taken over the past two years relating to the theme of making choices and choosing paths that will ultimately decide your fate, the life you lead and the person you will become.

After hanging all the works I realised that while I hoped other people would like the show, and would maybe even purchase some, it wasn't how I would gauge it's success.

I had already decided it was a success just based on how much I learned putting the show together, about art and about myself, and I loved seeing the works hanging together.

It somehow made all the work I had been doing much more valuable to me.

yeah yeah I know, me me me! It was also nice to hear how the works affected other people, how one image can mean so many different things to different people.

Anyway, it will be open the next couple of weekends so feel free to drop in, it doesn't cost anything to enter the gallery and I have been known to drop in with bags of cakes/biscuits from a nearby greek cake shop.

Our girls with their favourites:

Happy Halloween

2009-07-15T22:50:00.000+10:00

Our Kids organized a halloween party for their friends this year. Despite not really celebrating Halloween in Australia, the kids see it in all the movies and tv shows and I must admit it's a lot of fun, so what the hell.

bottom of the mountain

2009-07-15T22:30:00.000+10:00

So now the website is pretty much complete apart from linking back to my main hub, geoffburrows.com.au which still needs to be finished before I do.

We sold the first gift voucher under the chasing butterflies name, very exciting - I should probably also point out that if you still have a voucher for geoff burrows photography it is, of course, valid at chasing butterflies.

Oh, and also get ready for my first solo art exhibition, but more about that later...
Meanwhile here's a shot of our girls helping me try out some new lighting equipment after school

commercial stuff

2008-09-16T23:04:00.004+10:00

I've decided to rename the kids photography side of the business "chasing butterflies" so a new website is currently in the making, http://www.chasingbutterflies.com.au/ and I'll continue using geoff burrows photography for the corporate and commercial work. Speaking of which here are a few shots from a commercial job I did for Ovium jewellery

doin what i do

2008-08-19T23:35:00.003+10:00

Of course, I'm still photographing kids and families,

Unsensored08

2008-08-02T00:55:00.004+10:00

I will be showing two of my works in an anual exhibition dedicated to film based photography, Unsensored08.
Opening Night is Friday 08.08.08 and it would be cool to see some familiar faces, so feel free to drop in. If you can't make opening night, the exhibition will run for two weeks with one or more of the photographers (inc me) on hand eager to talk about their work.

http://www.unsensored.net/

UNSENSORED08 is the 2nd annual exhibition of analogue photography presented by the Melbourne Silver Mine

UNSENSORED07 featured 24 works by 12 photographers with 300 people attending the Opening Night. This year the event has doubled in size and will without doubt be a highlight of the 2008 Melbourne photographic community’s calendar.

Works presented, along with a photo book of the work of the exhibiting photographers will be available for sale at the gallery and online.

Featuring the work of:Rhys Allen, Roberts Birze, Zaeem Burq, Geoff Burrows, Dave Chin, Diego DeNicola, Velco Dojcinovski, Barb Fischer, Pete Fritze, Daniel Giglia, David Harkin, Tim Heraud, Michael Holbrook, Hamish Innes-Brown, Luisa Jayme, Matthew Joseph, Michael LeFevre, Matthew Lew, Jaye Loring, Iain McLachlan, Piers Morgan, Stu Nimmo. Jodie Noonan, Karen Riley, Jesper Sidhu, Chris Smeaton, Cam Stephen, Jesse Swallow. Christian Were, Chris

Kevin Rudd and friends

2008-06-06T23:51:00.004+10:00

I was recently fortunate enough to have been hired by the Prime Ministers office to photograph it's Social Inclusion Board's first meeting at the Global Learning Centre in Broadmeadows, along with special guests Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
It was a really great experience, I hadn't done any corporate portraits before so no better place to start than with the Prime Minister of Australia!

I received an email the next day thanking me for my calm manner under pressure, and the quick photography that didn’t impose on people’s time (one of the most important issues of the brief was time).
I'm unable to put the portraits online due to a confidentiality clause, but I was also hired by the Hume council to take some candid shots of the special guests taking a tour of the Centre including morning tea, and these photos are not covered by the clause.

I think I will do some similiar corporate style portraits that I can put online to try and get more of this sort of work... I think it may be time to expand.
I'm also going to offer a more affordable kids portrait session, something quicker and easier, while continuing to offer the fuller service that I currently do.

Colour of Autumn

2008-04-26T16:30:00.002+10:00

A few colour photos taken at a park showing a few green leaves still hanging in there

It must be autumn

2008-04-21T19:09:00.002+10:00

The plan was simple... scoop up as many leaves as we can and... Get Daddy!

until...the betrayal

but sisters think alike so while the betrayal came fast and without warning

it came from both sides

InBloom exhibition

2008-04-06T19:48:00.004+10:00

There will be a group photo exhibition at the kerala gallery, in Northcote, called "In Bloom" and will feature a photo by yours truly!
Come along to opening night and I might even let you buy me a free beer.

I'll be dropping in on Sat(19th) afternoon after a photo shoot too, probably around 1pm (ish) if you'd like to say hi and see the photos without the opening night crowd.

Hope to see lots of familiar faces, click on the above invite to see it larger for address etc..

Neice/Nephew?

2008-03-30T23:12:00.002+11:00

My sister and her husband are expecting their first child very soon, so I went around to their house to take some photos of them and the "telltale baby bump" as who magazine would put it.

kodak salon opening night

2008-03-30T22:51:00.002+11:00

The Kodak Salon Exhibition opening night was great, nice to see one of my photos hanging in a gallery. We took the kids along and saw Mum and Dad were there too. The kids enjoyed going to an opening night and seeing the photos but it was a bit crowded for them and our eldest didn't think much of how a lot of the people were dressed! She must have developed an expectation from movies or tv because she said she thought everyone would be all dressed up.

There was a lot of high quality work, but there was also a lot of people which made it difficult to view most of them so I'll have to go back to have a better look, I'd definitely recomend anyone to go see it, hundreds of photos, huge range of styles and the majority at a very high standard.

Kodak salon entry

2008-03-25T22:23:00.005+11:00

I've entered this photo of Father Bob Macguire into the "Kodak salon" exhibition and competition at the ccp gallery in fitzroy.

I'ts an open entry exhibition, meaning anyone can enter and since I want to get some experience doing these sorts of things I thought it would be a good way to start.

If you don't know who Father Bob is, he's a catholic priest in Sth Melbourne who does a lot of work feeding and helping out poor, homeless and anyone else in need. If you've ever wished you could help but don't like the idea of beurocratrats taking a cut of your donation I'd recommend donating to the father bob foundation. I'm not catholic myself or even at all religious but helping out people in need seems like something to get behind

Opening night is Thu 27th of March from 6pm till 8pm at the Centre for Contemporary Photography at 404 George St, Fitzroy and the photos will be on display until the 10th of May.

I've since had another photo accepted into a gallery show in April which I'm excited about and I'll let you know more about it soon.

Weddings

2008-03-07T23:31:00.005+11:00

After doing a couple of weddings last year and one last weekend I've decided to start answering "yes" when I'm asked if I do weddings. My usual response is no but occasionally I'm talked into it with the use of flattery.

I've worked out some prices and will add a wedding section to the website some time soon.

I only shot a couple of rolls of film during the wedding with the majority on digital, but I think next time I'll do most of the candid stuff on film. It definitely adds something and is much more enjoyable.

Tupperware

2008-02-06T23:12:00.000+11:00

There's no better excuse to go out taking photos than having a tupperware party at your house.

We had a tupperware party and I managed to get these and many more photos, as well as some kind of stacking containers.

new addiition

2008-01-16T21:03:00.000+11:00

I've finally added a gallery with some of my landscapes to my website.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2008-01-03T18:38:00.000+11:00

So we thought we'd do something special this year for new years eve and spend a couple of nights in a Melbourne hotel. 21st floor of the Crown Promenade Hotel with a great view of the city. It was a great relaxing break that I think we all needed and it felt like more than only 2 nights. The hotel was a very family friendly place and most of our time was shared between the pool and in our room ordering room service.

With the new year having only just begun it seems my business worries were a little premature. I suppose I shouldn't have assumed that this year would be the same as last year. It seems this year that many people are taking advantage of the extra time they have with their whole family at home, while last year everyone wanted photos in time for christmas. I'm going to have to try and take advantage of these sorts of trends if I want to make a go of this, unfortunately as a businessman I make a great photographer.

merry christmas

2007-12-24T20:18:00.000+11:00

Wishing you all a happy, jolly christmas, and a fun filled new year!

morning melbourne

2007-11-17T22:07:00.000+11:00

I love taking photos around the city just before light and before all the people come out, here are a couple I took recently that I'm happy with

sneak peek

2007-11-07T23:29:00.000+11:00

here are a few shots from a recent session and a sneak peek for mum and dad, enjoy.

night shooting again

2007-11-04T02:02:00.000+11:00

Went down to Williamstown last week to take some long exposure shots on the water at around 1am, and despite having a photo shoot that morning, I didn't get home till 4am.

I'm glad I went.

When you are in the mood and everything feels right you should do it.

Older kids just wanna have fun, too

2007-09-09T14:18:00.000+10:00

Many older kids, like most adults, dread the idea of having their photos taken and the idea of a family portrait is about as appealing as a bowl of brussel sprouts.

I find the best way to get them on board is to come up with locations that interest them and to involve them in the decision making.

This family had walked through hosier lane in the city together and the kids loved looking at all the graffiti and the parents thought it would make a good spot for photos but a second location might be needed.

I asked if the boys were interested in skating, as there was a skatepark just across the river, this turned out to be perfect and the 11 year old bought his board with him

I probably had as much fun as the kids did and even managed to take some great photos at the same time, but I don't think thats coincidental.

Kids can tell if your not interested or don't want to be there, but if they know your actually enjoying hanging out with them, and willing to listen to their suggestions, they will always be happy to go along with any photo ideas you might have. And getting nice natural expressions is easy because they soon get used to me pointing the camera in their direction and have other distractions

Happy Fathers Day!

2007-09-05T00:19:00.001+10:00

Happy Fathers day to all the dads!
My girls were kind enough to make me pancakes for breakfast, then we sat around playing uno.

and then it was off to the park

updated website

2007-08-21T19:40:00.000+10:00

I've finally updated my website!

http://www.geoffburrows.com.au/index.html

I still have a few things to do but I couldn't wait any longer.

I will also be starting an exciting long term project pretty soon, I'm still in the planning stages so watch this space for updates.

Meanwhile I've fallen in love with b&w film after a 10 year break.

Here are a few shots from my 1st roll, this millenium:

the humble sun

2007-08-14T00:52:00.000+10:00

There was no big entrance from the sun this morning because of the low cloud, instead it was a more humble begining for old mr sun.

But while he's entrance was pretty casual, the light he shone was still magnificent

An old friend

2007-08-14T00:26:00.000+10:00

spent some time down the coast again, not long after we arrived an old friend showed up.

I got up in the dark and headed down to the beach to get some night time and early morning photos, forgot my torch and my phone, luckily there was plenty of moonlight.

This last shot is where the inlet meets the sea... almost

After the first couple of shots the head of my tripod broke clean off and I had to make do with balancing the camera on my back pack, the shots came out o.k but I was kinda limited to where I could rest the bag...

...more importantly

2007-08-11T22:31:00.000+10:00

So, there was another birthday in our house just before my two girls, and that was the other special lady of my life, my lovely wife!
Photographing her is even harder than our eldest but I managed to take one that she really liked so I'm sure she won't mind me sharing it.
She has been super supportive of me in my attempt to make a living doing what I love, and without that understanding and encouragement I never would have made it, so, thanks luv!.

2 years and 2 weeks later...

2007-07-05T23:45:00.000+10:00

Our second "baby" has just had her birthday too, now 7 years old.

This would have to be one of my favourite photos of her(so far)

and I love the colour of these

Happy birthday

2007-07-05T23:03:00.000+10:00

Birthday season is upon us again, and no more so than in my own home.

Our eldest "baby" just turned 9...

3 words, whole...lee... cow

You think you understand when people say how quickly kids grow up but you really have no idea.

I'm usually banned from pointing the camera in her direction, but birthdays are open season, and I made the most of it.

Luna park in Williamstown?

2007-06-17T23:16:00.000+10:00

Sneak peek for family, enjoy...

Had a fun photo shoot recently that didn't really get off to an ideal start.

We had agreed that Williamstown would make a great place for a photo shoot of a fun family day out, lots of nice backgrounds and things to keep everyone distracted enough for me to take some nice, natural shots.

I later rang with an address for us to meet, the forecast was for rain all weekend so I was relieved that it seemed to be staying away.

I arrived a little early, soon my phone rang and they let me know they were just parking the car and would be walking down, "I'll be the one with the camera standing on the corner" I said.

I walked over to the corner and wondered where they were walking from as the street was almost empty.

After about five minutes with no sign of them up the empty street, I rang to see if maybe one of us was in the wrong street. No, we were both at the corner of the two streets I had suggested, they were walking down and had just gone past Luna Park.

Same address different beachside suburb...

We had a laugh, a fun shoot, and the photos turned out great

thanks for driving all the way to meet me after the mix up, I'm sure the photos will be worth it.

A Natural

2007-06-01T22:04:00.000+10:00

Here are a few shots from a recent session that I really love, I plan on using them on my website but I rarely get around to updating that thing so I thought I'd post them here.

A lot of time during a baby session is spent crawling around on the floor, and while it might seem a bit odd at first before you know it you'll want to join in too

You can't tell me what to do!

2007-04-10T23:53:00.000+10:00

"Never work with children or animals"

I'm sure you've heard this said before by somebody someone or other.

Whenever I hear this I think "You can't tell me what to do!"

While I'm sure this saying may be true in regard to acting, it doesn't really apply to the work that I do - although I should point out that this never ever feels anything even remotely like working, but I'll make that the topic of my next post - so yeah, the reason this saying doesn't really apply to what I do is that I'm not trying to tell the kids or animals what to do, firstly because that's not really the type of photos I want to take and secondly, because I know that if I do they will most likely be thinking "You can't tell me what to do!" and I will only end up with an awful head-ache for my trouble

These photos are all from a recent session with a Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier puppy, thanks for permission,

Geoff.

now act natural

2007-04-07T01:21:00.000+10:00

When I do a photo session my goal is to capture the subject looking as natural as possible.
I find the best way to photograph people candidly and looking natural is to stick with places and activities that are part of their everyday life.
The home is always a great place to start for a family...

and having a second location definitely makes for a nice collection of photos and can help provide memories of that particular time in their life.

This family chose a local cafe for their location.
They often go there as a family and I'm sure having these photos will be a nice reminder of time spent together, which I know I would prefer over memories of "the day we went to the photographers studio and had our picture taken".

(Thanks to the family in these photos for granting me permision to use their images.)

routine

2007-03-24T09:30:00.000+11:00

The original idea for starting this blog was to share a little of my family life as well as some of my photography experiences, going into people's homes to photograph their family can be a very personal experience and I thought it might help if people knew a little about me and my family.

Weekends in our home are full of routine, well as far as breakfast goes anyway.

Saturday is eggy day, one has 'eggy bread' (french toast) ...

and the other has either egg on a plate or egg in a cup, both with soldiers...

...and Sunday is pancake day!

which means regardless of how big a party we might have been to Saturday night, I will be up making pancakes Sunday morning

coastal morning

2007-02-25T15:48:00.000+11:00

Went down to the beach an hour or so before sunrise and took these

It was great having the whole beach to myself until eventually the sun rose and other people started to show up, another photographer, fishermen, people walking their dogs and others just out for a walk

After all this I still got back to the house in time for breakfast.

beach house

2007-02-21T22:51:00.000+11:00

Took the kids down to their grandparents beach house at Aireys Inlet, on the great ocean rd, on the weekend.

Due to appointments we didn't get down there until after 5pm on Sat, but we still managed a quick swim before dinner, and of course a roll down the sand dunes!

When we returned to the house we were greeted by a surprise visitor with a young chick who had invited themselves to our bbq, luckily there were enough sausages to go round

Kids Cargo

2007-02-07T23:21:00.000+11:00

My good friends at Kids cargo have been working hard advertising for me, displaying my cards in their shop and recommending me to their customers, so we organised a photo session in the park with their kids to thank them.
But because they are so nice they agreed to display a couple of posters in the shop for me (starring their children of course!) including this one

I highly recommend you check out their children's clothing store, Kids Cargo at 238 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.

Chasing comets

2007-01-27T22:37:00.000+11:00

Well one comet in particular, comet McNaught has been hanging around lately but to photograph it two events need to occur. First there must be a clear sky, at least to the west anyway, and second and most important is I need to remember. So far this has happened twice.

The first night I went out near the airport which has a pretty clear view and I came up with these

The next time that I remembered, and the sky was clear I went out to a place called Gellibrand hill, I saw in the melways that it has 360 deg views and was in the middle of a great big park with walking tracks, homestead ruins, a koorie cemetary, and other usual park like things, sounds good I thought.

While I did think to check the batteries in the torch, unfortunately I forgot to take the torch from the coffee table to the car, so there I was walking through what turned out to be more like the bush than a park, with only the light of the moon and my mobile phone I made my way to the top, which was easy to find as it has a great big radar with red lights going round and round. There I took a few shots including this

After taking a few different shots I thought I might try another view from other parts of the hill, as I started walking away I heard voices of people coming my way. I figured they were probably up there doing what I was, but I didn't really want to find out. Then my phone beeped.Serving two purposes, one to let me know the battery was flat, and two to alertothers of my presence. This has all the makings of a horror movie I thought remembering that Aussie movie "Wolf creek". While I was in a hurry to get back to the car I stopped for a couple more shots on the way, then I heard twigs breaking and leaves cracking, I prepared for the worst, then heard who ever it was scurry up a tree. "I'm going home, I hope the car's still where I left it"

I'm going to have to see this place during the day, I'm sure I'll have a laugh at how lame I was, 31 years old and apparently I'm still scared of the dark!

Early mornings, seaside II

2007-01-26T16:20:00.000+11:00

My last post were all early morning, long exposure shots of Port Melbourne, I have also taken some in Williamstown

I enjoy doing these as they show a view of the world we don't normaly see. Unless you happen to eat lot's and lot's of carrots and can see in the dark - of course then you would also have bright orange skin like a bad fake tan and be ridiculed, so I sugegest you just eat the recomended amount of carrots and if you want to see in the dark just check out my pictures.

Early mornings, seaside

2007-01-26T16:04:00.000+11:00

Have been doing a lot of long exposure photography lately and thought I might share some with you.
These were taken at Port Melbourne

Happy new year/website

2006-12-31T17:22:00.000+11:00

Hope you have had a great Christmas, business has quietened down now so I can get to work on the new website(now with added colour!) I hope to have up and running soon in the new year.
While it's not ready yet, you can see a sneak preview at www.geoffburrows.com.au/v2
Not all links will work yet, but that should change soon, if you want to let me know what you think you can leave comments here or send an e-mail.
Thanks, have a happy new year!

Other little things

2006-12-08T01:10:00.000+11:00

Got some more pics from our weekend away. Our first visit to this ever changing beach happened to be at low tide when you can find all sorts of little things washed up on the shore

Weekend away

2006-11-30T00:07:00.000+11:00

I have increased the number of shoots I do per week, so if you want photos before christmas it's not too late to book :)

Despite being very busy at the moment we managed to get away on the weekend to Aireys Inlet where my parents have a house.

Took loads of photos, so many that I had to keep dumping them onto my dad's laptop. I did bring one full memory card home so I'll share a few of these until I get the rest on the weekend.

These were all taken early monday morning, I got up at 6am and went to a nearby cliff-top walking track to see what the view was like, the previous morning was completely overcast, so I didn't have very high hopes but thought the walk would be good anyway. This is the view I was greeted with

There are a lot of references to eagles in the area and now I know why

I stood on the beach mesmorised by at least 4 of these birds playing around the cliff-top chasing each other, gliding, then swooping toward the ground, and then landing in different spots on the cliff barking like dogs until they seemed to dissapear.
I checked the photos on my camera to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and then headed toward the rocky point that I was on my way to, before I got distracted.

(That's Eagle rock in the distance)Then pointed the camera back the way I came

see my footprints in the sand

and the rest are stuck on a laptop somewhere far away :(

but I'm sure I'll have more to share after the weekend.

The little things

2006-11-21T01:44:00.000+11:00

Seem to be doing a lot of newborn sessions lately, which I love. I think because babies grow so fast, I feel proud to be able to freeze that moment in time for parents.
The most vivid memories seem to be made up of little details, and that's why a lot of my baby photos focus on the little things...

...while other photos focus on something much, much bigger

Hail in november

2006-11-15T21:59:00.000+11:00

This is the scene in our yard with only 2 weeks until summer begins, and during one of the worst droughts on record.

The dog senses danger, and with good reason, because for kids who have never seen snow... well this is close enough!