Lovelight – Photo & Cinema

There is someone that you just have to meet and I am so proud to tell you all that at 12:30am on Sunday the 15th of April we welcomed Juliet Fiona into our family at Burwood Hospital! She is beautiful and we feel so privileged to have her join our family. This photo was just a few minutes after she arrived.

A bit later as the midwife’s did some checks under a warm halogen lamp Daddy took advantage of having a bit more light to get a photo of Juliet wondering who this man making noises with a big camera is.

Juliet weighed in at 8 pound 2 and was 55cm long so wasn’t small by any means but she sure seemed tiny!! So out came the macro lens for some photos of her dark eyes and gorgeous button nose.

Our midwife Kathy (and student midwife Rachel) were fantastic but the real hero of the day is my amazing wife who did such an incredible job. I have to admit I was overwhelmed by the whole labour process but more overwhelmed by how incredible my wife was throughout the ordeal. And to top it off she still looks amazing just a few moments later… I don’t know how she does it!

After a smidgen of sleep I was back at the hospital again overwhelmed by my two amazing girls Anna and Juliet! Lots of sleeping and feeding meant Daddy could get lots of nice photos.

And even some awake time still be-puzzled by this clicking behemoth (that’s the camera not her Dad by the way!)

My hero Anna after a feeding session.

Different expressions and she seems to be changing every day. It really is true that they grow up so fast, I thought that was just something old people said to explain why they are so old…. oh wait… maybe I’m getting old?

I love these photos of my girls framed looking through the various hospital paraphernalia!

Pretty much the last couple of days have been a blur of cuddles, nappy changing, sleeping when you can, tears, visitors, photos and just stopping to stare at moments like this.

Although I often only use a Macro lens for ring shots at weddings, I was pretty glad to have it to get some nice close ups when we arrived home.

The bath at hospital didn’t go so well but the bath at home was a lot less stressful which bodes well as Juliet is going to be around lots of water growing up!

As you’d imagine, there are so many things to do when you have a newborn in the house and such little sleep to be had so I will finish this post with two photos that make my heart melt.

A huge thank you to:

All the Grandparents: Lloyd, Renouf, Kitto and Leeves for their practical help, food, encouraging texts and gifts.You are all incredible and we love you very much!

Friends and church family that have bought gifts and food over so I don’t have to cook. Seriously we really appreciate it! (and are glad that there is a trend of generous people = good cooks as well)

Our midwives Kathy, Wendy and Rachel from Midwifery Associates and the staff at Burwood Hospital Birthing Unit that were fantastic throughout our stay there.

For those interested in the photography aspect of this; My primary kit for all these photos was the Canon 5dmk2 with my two favourite prime lenses (50mm f1.2 and 85mm f1.2) and a 100mm 2.8 Macro lens… I have to say that using the macro lens when you are.. A) Excited or B) Tired or C) All of the above, is so hard to get the millimeter of focus on the bit you want to, while not getting camera shake! Perhaps time to visit the great team at Photo and Video for an upgrade to the image stabilised version!