BJM Creations

December 11th 2011 - O'Donnell Family Photoshoot

2012-01-19T12:06:00.000+10:00

I have known this Felicity since I was four years old - we went to pre-school together and we are still such amazing friends now. It has been exciting to watch her find and marry her husband Adrian and to start their own family, now with 3 children and number 4 on the way!

For Christmas, Felic wanted to be able to give her and Adrian's family some updated photos and so we headed out to see what we could capture! I think we got a nice balance of family shots as well as individuals really show casing each of the childrens personalities.

October 22nd 2011

2012-01-18T16:32:00.000+10:00

I am skipping ahead here, as I am still not quite finished editing the wedding images from October..yes slack I know and we are lucky to have a very understanding bride and groom who understand that I also work a full time job, but I do need to knuckle down and get it done so they have all of their wonderful images and album.

So this was the weekend after the wedding where we headed out to my partners parents and I just purely had an artistic play with the camera - it was so therapeutic after the hustle and bustle of the wedding.

September 24th 2011 - Tammi's Hens Party

2012-01-18T15:58:00.000+10:00

In the last two weeks leading up to the big day - their wedding - Tammi celebrated with close family and friends on her Hens Party. Tammi also used this day for her hair and make up trial so we thought before leaving the house we would throw in a little mini session of just her - and it turned out awesomely - Tammi - you are stunning and our cameras love you!

We headed to Sirromet Winery for a little entertainment, games and lunch - it was a wonderful day put together by her sister, Michelle (also her Maid of Honour) and her two bridesmaids (or "Maids" as they came to be known) Nicole and Rebecca, both of Matt's sisters.

September 3rd 2011 - Riverdale Park

2012-01-18T15:11:00.002+10:00

Before heading home to get ready for a friends wedding in the afternoon, we stopped at the Riverdale park to show Tammi the swans and their babies - we got to see these little guys grow up and now they have moved on - which saddens us as we loved seeing them at the park.

August 14th 2011 - Matt & Tammi's Engagement Shoot

2012-01-18T14:53:00.000+10:00

On August 14th 2011 Shan and I headed out with Matt and Tammi to shoot some portrait shots of them for use in their Guest Book for their upcoming wedding to be held in October 2011.

We had a great time with these guys, and have come to know them as such close friends and wouldn't have it any other way. We love that we could help them have more photos of themselves and as a couple as it seemed that they didn't have too many before this. We are pleased to say that the Guest Book turned out amazing - I am so in love with it I always try to smuggle it home when we visit and love looking through it, especially now that it has such amazing messages from their wedding guests also. We even got some of the shots on canvas and they are proudly hanging in their home.

For the first part of the shoot we headed out to the Natural Bridge at Numinbah Valley and then we headed back to Surfers Paradise to the Surf Life Saving Club where the two first met one night over four years ago!

I apologise in advance for the lengthy post - but I just wanted to show off this amazing couple and thank them for all they have allowed us to do - they chose us as their photographers despite only being amateurs and this was the first kind of engagement session we had ever done. We had spoken about locations and we decided that we wanted some props so we went with chalkboards - of course you can never find what you are looking for when you want them so we made these and love how they turned out for the shoot, a large photo frame and the words WE DO! Love how they turned out.

Here we go:

We had a little fun with the letters...they are such a fun couple!

There was a lot of trust to be had for Tammi during this one particular scene as she was dangling over the bridge at approximately 3m off the ground - good job Matt.

Then we headed on over to Surfers Paradise after a quick outfit change in the car.

For this next section using the chalk boards - Tammi did know what Matt had written until she finally saw the photos - he loves keeping her in the dark.

For this next one, the shot on the right - can you make out the heart in the clouds? We couldn't have planned that if we tried - love it!

Such tenderness - this is one of the things that Tammi loves about Matt - he will always make her feel special with a kiss on the forehead.

August 7th 2011

2012-01-18T14:09:00.002+10:00

On the 7th of August Shan's parents picked up a new miniture horse - Kabooki - to come and live with their male stallion - Captain. I had a great time capturing their first moments together as they got to know each other better.

The beautiful Kabooki.

Captain deciding to have a roll in the ashes of a fire - that out to win Kabooki over.

Having a little run and play.

July 20th 2011

2012-01-18T14:01:00.002+10:00

Ok, so that was a very long unplanned absence! I am so sorry to have been gone so long and I have a whole lot to catch up on - so I will get straight into it.

We have a plant at home that has the most adorable little flowers - the shape of stars - however it seems very hard to focus on them as they are so small - but I gave it a go and will again in the future to try and get better each time at capturing these beautiful flowers.

More practice

2011-07-27T19:39:00.000+10:00

I have been again practicing with the manual focus on the flowers, and then I gave it a real go at going completely manual in the shots after the flowers.

And I am so thankful for my wonderful friend Tammi for letting me use her as a model to start learning to shoot completely manual - it is nice to have someone not telling me to stop pointing the camera in their direction.

I absolutely love these last two - the light, the colour and just the way she is posed. Thanks again Tammi - you rock.

Playing with Fire

2011-07-27T19:25:00.000+10:00

My partner and I celebrated our 9th anniversary with a small get together at home in early July and due to it being so cold (absolutely loving this years Winter) we had three open fires to keep everyone warm. I took a few photos of our guests and of course took some shots of the fires - these three are my favourites - and I would love to get these on a canvas.

The Snow Flake

2011-07-27T19:21:00.000+10:00

We have quite a few Snow Flakes in our yard and I absolutely love when they are flowering. I finally got out and had a play, still practicing with the manual focus and loving how they turned out. Here are a few of my favourites.

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday #100

2011-05-29T06:24:00.000+10:00

I have missed quite a few Fix it Fridays as I wasn't aware they had moved them to a new community. If you would like to participate you can now go to http://iheartfaces.ning.com/

This weeks photo is supplied by Amy Locurto, you can check out her work on her blog

The original photo:

My Edit:

I didn't keep track of all of my edits, but I adjusted Levels, Curves, Ran MCP's Color Fixer - removing the Yellow, popped the colours and made the grass greener and ran MCP's Eye Doctor. Love how this edit has turned out. Great photo to start with, and now I love it even more.

Master Alex's Portraits

2011-05-23T11:00:00.001+10:00

We were lucky enough to be able to photograph Master Alex, he is the gorgeous 'bump' from our maternity shoot in February. It was a little late to be doing 'newborn' photos with Alex as he was too alert to be posed, but we got some great shots of him and his Mum and a few of his gorgeous little face, hands and feet! Enjoy!

I Heart Flowers

2011-05-17T09:15:00.000+10:00

I Heart Flowers and am excited that this weeks photo challenge on I Heart Faces is May Flowers!

I love the following photo more and more everytime I see it and would love it as a canvas print...I think I can see one in the future :-)

Beautiful Flowers

2011-05-01T17:00:00.001+10:00

This week I was lucky enough to receive some flowers from a wonderful friend and I have been wanting to find the time to get out the camera for a play since Wednesday and today I finally found some time and some sun! Again, I have been playing with manual focus and loving what I can get it to do.

Maternity Shoot - Kane + Cassie

2011-04-25T21:11:00.001+10:00

Back in February, Shan and I did our first maternity shoot of her brother and soon to be sister in law, and of course their baby bump. It was an honour to be able to capture such a beautiful time in there lives, the calm before the storm and they were so full of love - thank you for letting us help you remember this time in your lives.

Photos in the Backyard

2011-04-23T17:55:00.001+10:00

I have been wanting to get out and take some photos as I have been lacking so far this year in this department. So this afternoon, while time permitted I took my camera and headed to the backyard. I also had a bit of a play with the manual focus - here are some of the shots I got:

Spider Web Dew

2011-04-22T17:12:00.001+10:00

On Wednesday morning my partner told me about a spiders web that was outside and that I should get my camera and as usual she was so right - here are some of the images I captured:

Port Office Hotel Brisbane Wedding: George & Caroline

2011-04-12T11:00:00.000+10:00

Saturday 12 February, 2011 - George married his sweet heart Caroline at the Port Office Hotel in Brisbane.

George, from Brisbane and Caroline, from Canberra met at the Boat House in Hervey Bay in January 2008 when George was away for business meetings. As fate would have it, George's clients were unable to make it to the meeting and so he got to talking to Caroline and her daughter Ashley who were in Hervey Bay on holiday.

Through getting to know each other and maintaining a long distance friendship both George and Caroline realised that what they had was something worth persuing so Caroline moved to Queensland to be with George.

While on a trip to Tasmania in May 2008 George proposed and Caroline accepted, which bought us to this amazing day in 2011.

As a part of their ceremony, George and Caroline included a Wine Ceremony, by which a red wine, representing George and a white wine, representing Caroline was blended representing their lives joined together as one family.

We were a part of a wonderfully magic day, both as guests and photographers and could not be more appreciative of their support and belief in our passion for capturing memories.

Congratulations to you both, it was a beautiful day, and we wish you all the love in the many many years to come.

Coming Soon - Kunowski Wedding Post

2011-04-09T12:38:00.000+10:00

Coming soon to the blog - the Kunowski Wedding that Shandel and I shot in February - we are looking very forward to sharing it with you.

A little bit of Beauty

2011-04-09T12:36:00.001+10:00

I haven't been taking as many photos this year, and I feel bad about it - I like to document and capture memories - but time just manages to get away from me. I did, however manage grab my camera two days in a row to capture some beautiful sky, a rainbow and of course some gorgeous Birds of Paradise.

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 87

2011-02-18T22:30:00.000+10:00

This weeks image for 'Fix-it Friday' has been supplied by Andrea Riley so check out her blog to find out more about her!

As always, this is not my photo - we have just been given permission to edit and display the photo for the purpose of Fix-it Friday!

Original Image:

My Edit:

I decided I wanted to adjust the focus of the image and to use selective colour! I hope you enjoy and will share your feedback!

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday #86

2011-02-14T11:26:00.000+10:00

Of course we have rolled around to another Fix it Friday and I am running behind - I have had a huge weekend this weekend, with my partner and I shooting our first ever wedding...very excited and nervous at the same time - however it turned out to be amazing, and then it was birthday celebrations for me yesterday as I turned 27!

This photo is by Rachel Durik and is of her beautiful daughter Chloe - you can find Rachel's work at:

Website: Savor Photography

Blog: The Adventures of an American Mum

I hope you enjoy this Fit it Friday!

The original Photo:

My Edit:

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 85

2011-02-05T07:21:00.000+10:00

Fix it Friday has come around again and this week we are editing an image from Julie Rivera - you can check out her work and blog at http://www.julierivera.blogspot.com/

The original image:

My Edit:

The Recipe:

Firstly I ran MCP's High Definition Sharpening and adjusted the layer to 100%
I flattened the image
I cropped the image to my taste
I adjusted the Levels
I adjusted the Colour Balance making the colour more cool
I flattened the image
Adjusted the Gamma in the Exposure settings
Adjusted the Contrast up by 10 points
I ran MCP's Color Burst and adjusted
I then ran MCP's Take action on Cancer action
I decreased the Add Contrast Layer to 20%
I adjusted the Black Ribbon to 50%
I adjusted the Dark Blue Ribbon to 80%
I adjusted the Gold Ribbon to 50%
Once I was happy with the colour I flattened the image
I ran MCP's Magic skin and adjusted, just to help with the skin

Birthday Invitation

2011-02-01T10:20:00.001+10:00

My brothers 30th birthday is coming up in March and he is organising a boat cruise to celebrate with friends and family! I had offered early in during discussion to help put together invitations if needed but wasn't sure he would take me up on the offer! He did call a few weeks later and by this time, I had been busy buying a few digital papers and digital kits to help in designing things just like this!

I found Sassy Designs some time ago (as you do when you love following photography blogs and facebook...amazing what you can come across!) and finally got the momentum up to make a purchase (or 23 to be exact - yes in the one transaction) when she had her $1.00 sale - yes, everything in her shop was $1.00! Terry has sales like this all the time - she is amazing - and her designs are amazing - I love all that she does! Be sure to check our Sassy Designs!

Below is the design I came up with for my brothers invitations - obviously I have adjusted and or removed information for the purpose of sharing this here - but you can see the design I went with! The background paper, the frame, the 3 & 0 etc are all individual components that I purchased and have put together to create this invitation:

I then printed the invitations in A5 - so we got 2 invitations per A4 page and I have to say that I was more than happy with how they turned out - as was my brother! It was an inside joke to also put a photo on the invite as Ian doesn't like having his photo taken, and in my original idea, depending on the room the information took up I wasn't worried about putting a photo on - but when I knew it would fit, I just had to use Terry's polaroid frame and think it turned out perfect!

Sally and Jeff are Married

2011-01-31T22:10:00.000+10:00

I had the honour of being asked to second shoot my first ever wedding with a great friend of mine - Christina Day of Day Photography! It was August 7th, 2010 on a Saturday and we captured the special ocassion for Sally and Jeff.

While I was extremely nervous it was calming to be working with Christina, especially when she had such confidence in me.

It was up to me to get to the location - the Comfort Inn & Suites Robertson Gardens Brisbane prior to the start of the ceremony to photograph the setup, as well as this, I was able to head into the reception area as they were finishing the setup in there. The staff were all so helpful and very lovely - even letting me know when the cake would be ready for me to photograph also. I really liked this location.

Now onto the photos:

We all then welcomed the beautiful bride:

And so the ceremony began - you can just see the love in Jeff's eyes as he sees Sally for the first time as she makes her way down the aisle:

And then they were Mr and Mrs!

Heading into the reception:

Welcoming the newly married couple:

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 84

2011-01-30T21:46:00.000+10:00

Fix it Friday #84 - loved making the colours pop in this photo! The photo was taken by Kelli over at http://www.kidnappedbysuburbia.com/ and edited by me.

The original photo:

Edit #1:

And of course I love a B&W:

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 83

2011-01-22T18:12:00.000+10:00

Fix it Friday #83 over at I Heart Faces. Below you can see the original photo as taken by Angie Arthur - you can check Angie's work out at: www.thearthurclan.com and below the original is my edit! Enjoy!

The original photo:

My Edit:

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 82

2011-01-16T07:15:00.000+10:00

You can check out I Heart Faces at: http://www.iheartfaces.com/

I have been looking forward to the Fix It Friday challenge coming back for 2011! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I know that we here in Queensland, Australia, have been experiencing some awful devastation (I personally have been blessed not to have been directly affected by the floods) and it is going to take a lot of time and hard work to be able to get through this flooding we have experienced.

This weeks photo was taken by Rachel Durik of Savor Photography, this is not my photo - I have just been given permission to practice editing using this photo.

Check out Rachel's work at: www.savorphotographyblog.com

The original photo:

My Edit:

The Recipe:

I opened the photo in Photoshop CS2
I ran the MCP's High Definition Sharpening Action
I flattened the image
I ran Coffeeshop Blogs Coffeeshop Little Perk and adjusted the layer to 100% for a real pop!
I flattened the image
I adjusted the Colour Balance - Red +20
I adjusted the Colour Balance - Yellow -25 (steps 6&7 to help reduce the Blue in the photo)
I did a little edit around the eyes
I flattened the image
I did a slight crop
And increased the contrast by 10 points!

I also did a creamy Chocolate B&W Edit too - love these:

Our Christmas Tree

2010-12-28T23:04:00.000+10:00

I had been wanting to take photos of our Christmas tree and the Baubles and finally got around to having a play. I am really happy with the results, but would really like to learn to use the settings in my camera to be able to get the shot that I have in my mind each time! I look forward to learning more again in 2011!

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 81

2010-12-18T06:42:00.002+10:00

You can check out I Heart Faces at: http://www.iheartfaces.com/

I have really become excited about Fix it Friday - I love seeing what everyone else does with the same photo - and it is great that the photographers allow us to practise editing on their photos.

This weeks photo was taken by Michelle Johnson, this is not my photo - I have just been given permission to practice editing using this photo.

Check out Michelle's work at: http://lovethatshot.com/

The original photo:

My Edit:

The Recipe:

I ran MCP's "High Definition Sharpening" - this is always my starting point on any photo
Flattened the image
Ran Morgan Kervin's "Level it Action" setting the opacity of this layer to 25 to decrease the contrast
Flattened the image
Ran The Coffeeshops Blog "Coffeeshop Little Perk" setting the opacity of the layer to 20
Flattened the image
I decided to change it up and try something different - I used My Four Hens Photography - Actions\Felicity - Curly Sue, adjusting the layers to my preference (Hue/Saturation 50%, Colour Fill 1 - turned off, Pop Layer 50%, Soft Tone 100%, Colour Boost 100%)
Flattened the image
Ran My Four Hens Photography - Actions\Even More Freebies - Giggles, adjusted the layers again to my preference (Soft Pop 50%, Warm Up 50%)
Flattened the image

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 80

2010-12-11T13:31:00.000+10:00

You can check out I Heart Faces at: http://www.iheartfaces.com/

I have been looking forward to another Fix It Friday so here we go.

This weeks photo was taken by Jessica Paige, this is not my photo - I have just been given permission to practice editing using this photo.

Check out Jessica's work at: http://www.onewillowboutique.com/

The original photo:

My Edit:

The Recipe:

I ran MCP's "High Definition Sharpening" action
Flattened the image
I cropped to my liking
I ran Morgan Kervin's "Level It" Action, followed by Coffeeshop's "Coffeeshop Little Perk" Action
I flattened the image between running each of the Actions in step 4
I decided to play with the colour of this image and use selective colour, so I duplicated the layer and then desaturated the top layer
Then using the eraser tool I erased the area I wanted to see colour
I then increased the contrast on the B&W layer

The Original Photo:

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday #79

2010-12-05T00:38:00.000+10:00

I am again giving this weeks Fix it Friday a go! I have been having fun with editing and love seeing what everyone else does with the same photo!

This weeks photo was taken by Dana Suggs, this is not my photo - I have just been given permission to practice editing using this photo.

Check out Dana's blog at: http://momof3darlings.wordpress.com/

The Original Photo:

My Edit:

The Recipe:

I firstly cropped the image to my liking
I then ran the 'MCP High Definition Sharpening' Action, making the opacity 100%
I then ran Morgan Kervin's 'Work It' Action (I like to start with step 2 and 3 on most of my images)
I flattened the image
I ran the 'Coffeeshop Little Perk' Action
I flattened the image
I ran the MCP 'Take Action on Cancer Awareness' Action, turning on the 'Pink Ribbon for Breast Cancer' layer and adjusting to 70%, and also turning on 'Peach Ribbon to Fight Uterine Cancer' and adjust to 25% - this is just completely to my liking - there is so much you can do with this action! I also adjusted the 'Add Contrast' layer to 45%
I flattened the image
I then used the burn tool just to lesson the bright starkness to her face

You can check out I Heart Faces at www.iheartfaces.com/

Pamela Topping Photography Giveaway!!!

2010-11-23T09:22:00.003+10:00

There is a wonderful big giveaway going on over at Pamela Topping Photography for Black Friday after Thanksgiving - go and check it out and enter in for what you would like the win:

http://www.pamelatopping.com/2010/11/blackfriday/

Show your Skills - Everyday Elements

2010-11-22T08:47:00.002+10:00

This is week # 2 of having a go at Show your Skills and I am loving it! You can check out this weeks photo (taken by Amanda) at http://everydayelementsonline.com/2010/11/show-your-skills-11-21-10-and-a-giveaway/

For this weeks challenge Amanda wanted to see what we could do in B&W - and I have to say that I love B&W!

Below is Amanda's SOOC photo:

And now, below is my edit:

My Edits:

I pulled the photo into Photoshop CS3 and ran the 'Work It' action from Morgan Kervin Photography
I ran 'Work it' action by Morgan Kervin Photography
I flattened the image
I ran 'Coffeeshop Little Perk
I flattened the image

I ran 'MCP High Definition Sharpening' and adjusted to 100%
I flattened the image
I ran MCP's 'Take Action on Cancer Awareness' B&W Action
I turned on the 'Peach Ribbon'
I flattened the image
I cropped the image to my liking
Adjusted the brightness to -10
And ever so slightly adjusted the curves

I hope you enjoy my edit - I love the finished product!

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday # 78

2010-11-20T07:10:00.005+10:00

I have been lurking on I Heart Faces for a while now and I have decided to give their 'Fix it Friday' challenge a go...so here I go...please note that this is not my photo - it was taken by Susan Keller (http://shortonwords.blogspot.com/) and edited by me!

The Original Photo:

My Edit:

How did I get to this:

I Edited in Photoshop CS2
I ran Morgan Kervin's "Level It"
Flattened the image
I ran The Coffeeshop Blogs "Coffeeshop Little Perk"
Flattened the image
I then increased the contrast and the brightness
I ran MCP's High Definition Sharpening - 100%
Flattened the image
Saved!

You can check out I Heart Faces at www.iheartfaces.com/

The Natural Bridge

2010-11-19T14:05:00.003+10:00

I really do have to get out and take some new photos...but in the mean time I have plenty to share with you that I have taken just this year alone, let alone further back! I was catching up with a friend that used to work in my office and he said he knew a place I would love to take photos and boy was he right! We headed to the Natural Bridge down at Numinbah Valley - The Gold Coast Hinterland and it was just breath taking.

We then got to check out where he does the quad bike tours and went for a bit of a drive and had lunch right at the top of his lookout! It was so nice up there and it had changed since we were last there back in June of 2008!

And a special thanks to Jodi at MCP Actions (www.mcpactions.com/blog) for the wonderful action for water marking and resizing images for facebook/blog etc!

Show your skills - Everyday Elements!

2010-11-15T10:18:00.003+10:00

This is my first attempt at something like this - but I thought I would finally give it a go! Amanda from Everyday Elements (http://everydayelementsonline.com), a blog which has resources for workshops, tutorials and actions for Photoshop puts out a weekly challenge to edit one of her own SOOC photos and allows her followers to get creative and edit her photo!

Below is Amanda's SOOC Photo:

And now, below is my Edit!

My Edits:

I pulled it into Photoshop CS3 and ran the 'Work It' action from Morgan Kervin Photography
I flattened the image
I ran 'Coffeeshop Little perk', and you guessed it, it is from The Coffeeshop Blog (I love The Coffeeshop Blog...it is one of my favourite blogs I follow...!)
I flattened the image
I selected the centre of the flower - the pollen tubes and ran 'MCP High Definition Sharpening' and adjusted to 100%
I flattened the image and repeated step 5
I flattened the image and saved!

It is a very basic edit - but I am just learning but still thought I would play along!

Thanks Amanda for all that you share!

Wivenhoe Dam - September 17, 2010

2010-10-25T19:33:00.003+10:00

On Sunday the 17th of September Shan and I headed out with my Dad to see Wivenhoe Dam - after so many years of water restrictions and never enough rain, our dams have finally reached 100% capacity and we headed up to see the excess water being released - it was an amazing sight and of course we couldn't let the day pass by without a few photos.

This last photo was taken at a park stop not too far from the Wivenhoe Dam outlet - Dad and Shan were looking at me funny while I was taking a few shots of these leaves...they just don't see what I see sometimes lol!

Nature - Zoom Lens

2010-10-24T21:11:00.001+10:00

I was lucky enough to have my boss (who also shares my interest in photography) lend me a lens to have a play with and this was the first time I was able to give it a go! I was out at my partners parents place, where I take a lot of photos as I love their property and gardens - here are 3 shots that I thought I would share!

I am hoping to build on this blog and to share some of my previous photos also - so I hope you will bear with me!