After the birth of our child, the only thing that comes close to the feeling of being pregnant is wrapping up your baby in a sling and holding them close to your heart. It is a feeling of love and protection. It is also the only way to get things done when you have more than one child. There are times when sitting and cuddling endlessly is just not possible. One of my fondest memories of my newborn child was holding them in a sling. So when Rebecca approached me about a babywearing session for my {Mother Nature} project, well these memories came flooding back.

Her baby boy is reaching that stage where he is getting heavy and carrying him for a long period is a strain on the body. She wanted to capture this moment before it was gone. This is what she had to say about our session; ”

I’m what I consider an old mum. I waited for so long to find the right person to spend my life with and create a little human with. Over the years, I busied myself with study, climbing the career ladder, being social and experiencing life as an adult. When I became a mum, my life turned upside down and slowed in a way I was not used to. I didn’t know how to merge all I was before with all I had become.
During my session with Cindy, I literally had to slow down and just be a mum sharing nature with her son. It’s so easy to get caught in all the mundane tasks of everyday life, especially as a mum, but when I look at these photos, I see a little human awakening from being that tiny newborn to someone who is taking in their surroundings and learning to really see the beauty around them. We adults can learn a lot from babies. Thank you Cindy for helping me slow down to see the beauty of motherhood.

{shapes} I started thinking about this theme as soon as Angie first mentioned it. I thought of the obvious choice of cookie cutters and some of the kids toys. However, I decided to think about it more. As I went about my week, shapes began to appear in my view. The blueberries on my yoghurt are circles. The croissant is a crescent. The coffee beans are an oval. I realized our world is shapes. We forget this as we go about our day-to-day, but when we pause, it is obvious. It wasn’t so much what to capture but what not to capture.

Angie Marie Photographer

This year, I have put considerable energy into capturing the beauty of motherhood. I believe, we forget how beautiful it is to be a Mother on the days where chaos reigns. We get stuck in the laundry, the to do list, and the mess. We focus on the doing rather than the being. I know I do this all too often. I am constantly reminding myself of the importance of time with my children rather than a clean room.

This is my motivation behind this series. It has changed a little as the project has evolved. I find I am attracted to the nature of motherhood. I started noticing the small ways we mother our children. The actions that we do unconsciously. We wipe the hair out of the eyes or carry them on our hips when their little legs get tired. We gently tug on their pig tails or kiss them on the cheek as they squirm out of our arms. It is these small actions we never think about. These actions that scream, “I love you” and “You are my world”.

In light of this, the project has evolved.  It is now called {mother nature}. Now, I want to capture Mothers and their children in nature, a kind of play on “Mother Nature”.

I met Lauren and Miss G at the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden. It was a gorgeous morning and quite warm for this time of year. The birds chirped and there was a slight breeze. We wandered through the garden, and talked about fairy tales, and princesses. We found the wildflowers and walked through the long grass. Again, it was the little ways of motherhood that I noticed. After looking at her gallery, Lauren wrote:

“Stuck between my beautiful daughter and the infertility issues of creating our second, put me in a funk. I was unappreciative of what I have and wanting what I thought I should have. The photo session brought me out of that.

Our photos are beautiful, and to pick our top five was an emotional experience. They capture Georgia beautifully and also things that I do as her mummy, that I probably didn’t realise I do. More importantly, they capture our friendship as it stands while she is a three year old. If only I could freeze time where it is in those photos”

To reserve your {mother nature} session, please send me an email to cindy.cavanagh@gmail.com

{Orange is the new black}. This week we decided to play with the colour orange. For no particular reason other than that orange is a bright and beautiful colour. I found roses, gerberas, macaroons and mandarins.  While I was shooting this theme, I really noticed the peace of creating still life. There was no background noise as the kids were at school, and I noticed the quiet. I noticed myself slow down, and just shoot. The joy of doing a project for yourself is there is no pressure. It is for me, and each week I enjoy it more.

Angie Marie Photographer

{Photo Technique: Shooting Through} This week Angie picked the theme. She thought it would be great to work on a technique, and we decided on shooting through. Our house was in celebration mode as we celebrated a 16th Birthday party. We decided on a Halloween theme, even though we don’t celebrate it here in Australia. My daughter has always loved the idea of Halloween, and being a week after her birthday, she has always wanted to do a spooky party. It was an obvious choice for her birthday. I captured some of the decorations through a ziplock bag. I love how it softened the edges, and has a free lensed look.

Angie Marie Photographer

This month, we enjoyed two weeks of spring vacation. I love school holidays. Some Mums loathe the holidays, and dread the two weeks of fighting, the “I’m bored”, and the “there is nothing to eat” complaints. I don’t like this part either, but I do like the break from the routine. I do like the chance to relax, and just be. To enjoy days of wearing pajamas all day, baking in the kitchen, and watching movies. I don’t fill our days with activities. I allow time to relax. And when we need to burn off any extra energy, we explore. We go on adventures, and explore the city. On this day, we went to the beach. It is still a little cold for the beach. The weather is warming up but the days are a little too cool for laying on the beach and swimming. Well for me that is. The kids didn’t care. They went in the water, and they played on the beach. While they played, I played with my camera. I climbed up on a small cliff, and watched from a distance. The kids soon followed, and I loved the perspective of looking down on them. The textures of the beach and the rocks soon had me swooning. This is 30 minutes in the life at the beach.

Now follow along to see Joni Burtt, New Brunswick, Canada Lifestyle Photographer, and what her month looked like.

{neutral tones} This week, I was out at a “Beauty of Motherhood session”. It was with a Mum and her sweet daughter. We met at a wildflower garden. I had not visited this garden before, so I arrived early to go for a walk and investigate. It was a beautiful garden, and I was inspired by the flowers and the trees. I noticed the neutral tones of the scribbly gum. I thought it would be a great theme for our {wonder of the oddments} project and it was one that we had previously discussed.
I was inspired by this theme. I found many elements to include and had to stop myself from shooting more. Usually, I shoot one morning a week for this project. This week, I had many ideas so I captured the subjects over two mornings and one afternoon. I tried to maintain a connection with the scribbly gum, and have a modern Australian feel. Enjoy.

Angie Marie Photographer

{unusual objects} I woke up on Friday morning with no idea about what to capture for this theme. I knew I needed to shoot my images that morning or I would be trying to do it over the weekend with the kids running around me. I thought about it as I went about my morning routine, but it was at the back of my thoughts. Getting everyone out the door, and on time, was at the forefront of my thoughts. As we all piled into the car, an idea started to form. As my mind started to quiet, the idea gathered momentum. By the time I got home, I was almost running to the front door. Inspiration had found me. These unusual objects are found around my house. Some the kids have collected on our many walks, and some sit in a bowl on our dining room table. But they are dead things, a collection of pretty dead things, and that is very unusual when you think about it.

Angie Marie Photographer

{the art of baking} My second passion is baking. Well in fact it was my first and has since been replaced by photography. I love spending time in the kitchen, and feel a deep sense of peace. I grew up watching my Mum bake, and she taught me how to bake without a recipe. She taught me to go by feel. I connect with my children by baking together. I love the conversations that are shared while you sift flour. I love the mess, well not so much, but I love that we can create something together.

I envisaged something different for this theme, some more dramatic. Something that captured all of these feelings. Maybe it does, but maybe it never will. How do you capture those feelings in one image?

Angie Marie Photographer