Words and Pictures

 

I’m trying to find my “voice” at the moment (thankfully I don’t need to go on a reality singing show with Deltra Goodrem to do it.) I’m writing, taking photos, making itty bitty films. I’m trying to work out what I want to say (no idea) and how I want to say it (having fun trying).

 

Using film is a pretty new medium to me. I’ve played, but not actually put any real deliberate effort into it. I made a short promo film for my wedding photography business (which you can view here) and really enjoyed it. I actually had a shot list, and an assistant and a storyboard and talent. I liked being able to use music in the film to create feeling (sometimes I find photographs and words literally too quiet. Is that weird?). I liked editing, and learning about splicing and dicing. I made plenty of mistakes, but got there in the end. All in all it was a great experience though. It satiated my need to learn learn learn. I’m keen to do more.

 

I’m 100% sure I don’t have the right equipment for making films, but I’m making do. When I started photography I didn’t have the right equipment either, and that turned out alright. I’ve got friends who know what they’re doing who are answering my questions, and as my friend pointed out there’s good old youtube to help me.

 

This one was taken in 3 minutes in our backyard. It went like this:

Me: Miles, stand in the leaves.

Miles: What? Here?

Me: aaaannnnddd, action.

 

This was the result. No judging. I’m not. I’m simply enjoying making stuff.

One of my favourite things to do is watch movie trailers.

 

No, not the whole movie, just the little movie trailer the studio’s send out as a way of brainwashing you into going to see the movie. DANG! Dey is goooood!

 

I started doing it a few years back when I didn’t have the time to get to the cinema. I would watch them longingly knowing I wouldn’t be able to get to see the film until it came out on video (and by then I usually had forgotten about it.) I used to watch, getting drawn in, only to have my heart broken at the end when the realisation that I’d probably never see the film hit me. I had a love/hate relationship with movie trailers.

 

Now I watch them all the time because I love them so much.  Addicted perhaps. I don’t care if I won’t get to see the movie, that’s become beside the point. I just love watching them full stop.

 

I used to just watch for what they’re supposed to be: little teasers of what the movie will be like. Ooo, that one looks good, or bah, that one looks woeful. But now I watch them for the little golden nuggets they are all of their own. I love they way they grab me in within 0.002 seconds and don’t let me go until a minute and half later. If I’m kinda panting at the end of a trailer, I know it was a good one. (If I’ve checked my Facebook or made a cup of tea in the middle, it’s truly a dud.)

 

The movement, the music, the snatches of conversations, the glimpses at locations. They are (for the most part) beautifully crafted and I’ll often watch them again and again to catch every little part of it.

 

You the movie The Holiday with Cameraon Diaz, and her job is to make movie trailers? Dream job.

 

There are a few different times in the day I find myself watching movie trailers. If I’ve been glued to my computer working, I give my eyes a rest by flicking on one or two. If the kids are watching tellie and I’m not ineterested, I sit with my iPad on my lap and watch them. Or I watch them in the dead of night when I’m supposed to be asleep but invariably I am not. When I’m that tired, but still awake, I’m in no state to concentrate for longer than 2 minutes, so trailers are my perfect friend.

 

Have a go and watch some of these ones for moving coming out soon (or have recently been released).

 

Ones that I’ve watched recently and loved are:

 

Sophia Coppola’s The Bling Ring

 

Baz Lurhman’s The Great Gatsby

 

 

The Place Beyond the Pines

 

Admission – Tina Fey

 

If you have any recommendations of trailers you think I should watch, let me know in the comments below. I like the good AND the bad.

Our wedding was a group effort. I’ve got some people I want to thank publicly for making our wedding so special.

Connie Trathen

 

I cannot thank Connie enough for everything she did on our wedding day. About a month out from the wedding I caught up with Connie for a coffee, and I burst into tears. There were many logistical stresses in the lead up to the wedding, and I blubbered them all to Connie. Without hesitation, Connie took control and said she would come along to the wedding and run the day for me. I cannot emphasize how grateful Amba and I are to her. I knew from that moment on, nothing would go wrong at the wedding, and it didn’t. (I’ve not got a photo of Connie. She was so busy on the day, we didn’t get a photo of her!)

 

Georgie Stanton

The moment Georgie hugged me on my wedding day was the moment my first tears started to well. Georgie has been a wonderful friend to me since we moved to Ocean Grove, and it was really special to have her look after all the flowers for us. She didn’t even blink an eye when I came to her with the idea about the giant flower wall. Her eyes lit up, and as you can see in the photographs, she made it happen. Her flowers were divine, that is obvious in the photographs. What’s a little less obvious in the photos, but perhaps more important, was the love she gave to both Amba and I.

 

Melissa Jacobs

Our celebrant was Melissa Jacobs from the Ceremony Store. I had seen her conduct a ceremony where she had a room full of people both laughing and crying at the same time. She is artful and sincere and warm and perfect. She was all these things and more at our wedding. And did you know she has also been a sailor and a gardener for celebrities? This girl has amazing stories to tell.

 

Megan Slattery, Corey Vella and their team

Three days before my wedding I received a distressed message from Megan Slattery. Her little baby had made a rush arrival into the world and she was worried about my wedding. My first thought was don’t worry about me! You’ve got to focus on yourself and your son! In that moment I had two choices though, to freak out or put things in perspective and know that the people Megan would send in her place would be fabulous. And fabulous they were! No freak out necessary. Corey and her girls were bubbly, chatty, relaxing, and of course, amazing at what they did. They even gave my friend a fix-up haircut after he had come back from the hair dressers that morning looking like an 80’s rock god.

 

Adrian Tuazon

No one envied Adrian his job. To shoot another wedding photographer’s wedding is a tough gig. But one of the reasons we chose Adrian is because he is strong, mature, and has been photographing weddings for a long time. His experience and vision was not going to be swayed just because it was little old me who happened to do the same job as him. On the day I wanted to be nothing more than a bride, and I knew that with Adrian I could do that. On the day Adrian was perfect. I hardly noticed he was there, except for when he would give me cheeky smiles. My guests loved him (and his bowtie!). And the photos are perfect. They capture the day with honesty. To me a good photograph makes you feel something, and with our photos I can feel the love we felt on the day. The make me feel the love that other people showed towards us as well as the love we felt for each other. They are perfect.

 

A few details from the day. 

 

My dress was from Annaessia. The dress was sweeter, cuter and fluffier than I had thought I would wear, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t perfect. For the first time in my life I embraced the fact that I’m a little pot of cuteness. I’m glad I did. (How’s the heels too! Freaking awesome right?!)

 

 

Amba’s suit was from Jack London. Amba was clear in what he wanted. He wanted classic and sharp. Black. With that description I knew it had to be a Jack London suit. They are so well made, cut in at all the right places. He looked INCREDIBLE in it! I don’t care if you agree or not, I thought he was as hot as a BBQ.

 

I’ve no idea where Paul got his suit from (still looks schmick though!)

 

Sarah’s dress was from Cue. The shopping for her dress was done in an unorthodox manner. I was at home in Ocean Grove, Sarah and Lara were in the dress session of Myer. Sarah tried on dresses, and Lara took a photo and texted it to me. I then told them what I thought of the frock, being polite of course. When they texted a photo of a watermelon dress just to trick me, I wasn’t quite as polite!

 

Miles and Ryan’s outfits: We were adamant from the start that the kids needed to be kids, not small people in big people’s suits. No penguin suits here. Instead we went with summery and relaxed. This’ll make you laugh, they had two of everything. The spare outfit was waiting in a secret bag and was close by at all times. I knew I didn’t want to be stressing when Miles dropped an empanada down the front of this white shirt. And of course, having a change of clothes and being overly prepared meant that they stayed clean all day. Of course. (They also kept their hats on all day. Good kids!)

 

We drank: Wine from my uncle’s winery in Adeliade. I love saying that, my uncle’s winery. We also had Leura Park Champagne. The Pink stuff. It’s my absolute favourite. It wasn’t going to be my wedding day without it.

 

The cake was made by my mother’s oldest friend Liz. It was simple in looks, and so so so delicious in taste. There’s still some in my fridge. Saving it for a rainy day.

 

There are two details from the day I’m leaving out here. You can probably work out what they are, and you can probably work out why. I’ve got good manners.

 

A few personal thankyou’s

 

 

To Lauren

Lauren was such a rock through out the planning of my wedding, and on the day. I can’t thank her enough for indulging me in endless wedding conversations. She was also the one to come up with THE BIG IDEA (which I’ll tell you about soon). Her idea solved all our problems, and made our celebration perfect. Thankyou Lozzie! (Lauren also found out just how good my uncle’s red wine is. Delicious right?)

 

To Amba’s family

When there is a farm to look after, it’s not always easy to get everyone in the same place. But Amba’s family pulled out all stops and everyone was there which meant the world to Amba and I .

 

 

A special thankyou to Jan. She made our gorgeously perfect wedding rings for us which just adds to their sentimental value. (I feel like I won the in law lottery for marrying into a family with a gold and silver smith in it.) Jan also gave the speech of the night. It’s always wonderful to hear other people’s perspective of your relationship, and Jan spoke about the early days of Amba and I. Cue the tears. And not just mine! Not a dry eye at the table!

 

Thank you to my family. Look how many of us there are now. (A few more would be okay, hint hint sisters in law).  You all know how I feel about you. A special thankyou to Kasey (you know what you did).

 

And to my dad. Walking down that aisle with you is something I will never forget.

 

This photo of my and my parents is one of my absolute favousites from the day. If you know us, you know this encapsulates all of us perfectly. Just look at our faces. It says IT ALL.

 

Thankyou to my girls. To Lara, Amanda, Elodie and Sarah and Sarah. Official or unofficial, you guys make the best bridesmaids. You guys make the best friends. When you grow up and move out of home and you get to make your own family, I’m lucky that it was you guys who became mine.

 

To my dear darling gorgeous children. Thankyou for being a pure delight for everyone on the day. You guys socialized all day like it was your very own party (you take after your mother on that one). Seeing you sitting front row center while I stood up there with your dad was one of the happiest moments of the day.

 

And lastly, to Amba. What a day hey honey?! Did you think it was possible to have that much fun in one day? You were right, everything did turn out perfectly. Thankyou for, well, you know.

This is where all the fun begins. Our reception was raucous and loud, tear jerking and and sentimental, at times both out of control but completely calm. What a ball!

 

 

 

All photographs by Adrian Tuazon

 

I’m going to post some thankyou’s and some more info about the details about the day in another blog post. And you thought that would be the end!