Oh my gosh, HELLO autumn…you beautiful, delicious, honey-coloured, heart-warming season. It is the time of year when Mother Nature produces her best show and the sun is seduced into playing along. Warm winter coats come out of the cupboard and kids can play in the golden hour and not be cranky because it is past bed-time when the photographer wants to shoot.

Join Jo, Andy and their two kids at Hawke’s Bay’s beautiful Ocean Beach for a family portrait session at sunset.

Spending time with Mel and her family made me want to rush home and create more babies (briefly!). As a mum-of-two, normally even the thought of more would seem beyond exhausting but an hour spent with the four Macredie kids and their folks made me appreciate what an amazing unit they’d created, and I absolutely wanted to capture this while we were shooting.

As a Hawke's Bay photographer who adores storytelling and emotional connections between people, it doesn't get much better than having one of my couples get in touch a few years after their wedding to ask me to spend some time with them documenting the next big milestone in their lives, the arrival of children.

Photography is important for so many reasons but mostly because it presses pause on a passing (and precious!) moment in time. I feel so lucky to have been part of a number of passing moments for the Tod family. Firstly it was to celebrate Matt and Kirsten's engagement, then, of course, the wedding. A newborn session followed with the arrival of their first baby, beautiful little Caitlin. And just last week I got to see her all grown up (well, almost four which is kinda the same when you're almost four, right?).