They said they wanted a cartoon illustration of a city skyline. So I went away and found some nice, sensible-looking, lawyer-appropriate line drawing illustrations and sent those back to them… I realllly should have known better!

The team at Marque are unlike any other lawyers you’ve ever met. As it turns out, they wanted a cartoon – a real cartoony-looking cartoon – with aiplanes trailing banners, a little man jumping out of a plane, billboards and skywriting to boot!

So after some design dialogue – they have uploaded the final graphic to their website and I can finally share. One of the more fun projects from this year. Make sure to take a look around their website too, it’s witty and entertaining – as I said, they are not like any other lawyers you’ll ever meet. Put simply – they just rock!

It was something different for me, so I got to play a bit with some cool graffiti backdrops and some urban landscapes. Audrey looks just a cherub – complete with blonde curly hair, chubby cheeks and an adorable pout. It took her a while to warm to me, but we managed to coax some smiles out of her towards the end. I know Audrey’s extended family will be waiting patiently to see the photos, so without further ado, here they are…

I wanted her look to be about scorching hot days at the beach, ice-creams that melt too fast and scratchy transistor radios. I really got into the retro groove with this project and was just about to don my afro wig and flares, when I came up with this concept. Bec said:

“Love, love, love!  It’s fun, it’s full of sunshine and retro, it’s all about summer… I just wanted to let you know that I am so, so happy with what you’ve done.  Thank you so much!”

  So without futher ado, here it is!

With a business name like hers, there is a automatic gravitation towards making the most of the ‘chilli’ component, but Philly (as she prefers to be called) wanted to stay away from all things hot and spicy and tone down her brand to match her niche and target market. She wanted to maintain her name as she found it was working well and clients remembered her.

To be honest it was a very challenging brief and we didn’t want to use an icon that was irrelevant or random. So after much brainstorming I decided to focus on the initials of her biz name and develop a seal or crest somewhat like a cameo, that could be used as part of her packaging as well.

One of the very first concepts I did had included the notion of some dubious looking supporting brand elements in the shape of a few animal characters (dubious due to my dubious computer illustration skills). After much refinement, and a few epiphanies to boot, the final range of ’sweet’ animals came to be. They include a puppy, a cat, an elephant, a solemn looking bear, a ladybird and an egg in a nest. If you didn’t notice, each of the faces of the little guys are based on the shape of the logo – in fact the outline of the logo was used to create their little heads. These little characters will support the SCP brand and appear in her marketing and promotional material.

This family was going to be my last official portrait session (but I’ve scheduled another next week for a family who were given a gift voucher and of course I will still be honouring all gift vouchers).

I got to photograph Jed and Abbey whose gorgeous blue eyes you can see below. Abbey was a delight, such a bubbly and fun child to photograph. Mr J was a bit more serious, and it took him a while to warm up to me, until we started playing peek-a-boo and then it was all good!

Some photos from the session…

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 Greg B was my very first boss when I got a job right out of University and he offered me my first promotion to come and work with him at the flagship Kinko’s store in Liverpool Street in Sydney.

Those were crazy days doing crazy hours filled with crazy clients and even more crazy colleagues. I have fond memories of an accidental giant gargoyle print in the middle of a window banner, a old lady we nick named Granny Smith and her aversion to Windex and the strange woman who asked me to type up a letter to “The People of the USA” warning them about aliens. She was arranging ‘a plane to fly over the USA’ and drop her 10,000 leaflets as a public service.

Anyway, after I left Kinko’s in Australia in 1998, Greg and I have kept in touch over the years. He has been quite inolved in his local council and when he contacted me asking for a logo I was more than happy to help out.

It was a surprisingly quick and efficient process – and this is the final logo they selected. The idea behind the logo is that its about community and standing together. The houses can also be seen as arrows pointing upwards signifying growth and new things to come. The middle 3 colours are of the aboriginal flag to represent the indigenous people in the area and the wavy bottom represents the proximity to the sea. It’s a lot crammed into a little space – but here it is…

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Mel specifically requested a butterfly be incorporated into her logo as well as a fairly relaxed, friendly style that suited her personality and her style of photography. The process took a little longer than usual, probably because there was no urgent deadline and we enjoyed bantering back and forth via email a few times.

I am happy to say we are both really pleased with the end result. Its not often I get to produce something that is just ‘pretty’ and I got the chance with this project. The minimal use of colour (black + pure cyan) will mean this suite of collateral will be really affordable to produce over and over again, as will any additional material she chooses to develop over time.

so without more ado – here it is…

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I don’t often get to photograph newborns, and the fact that Jamie is the daughter of one of my closest friends made her even that much more special to me. I was pretty happy with the photos while at the same time being so scared that Enjel and her husband Ray wouldn’t like them! Thankfully they do, so all is well!

Congratulations Enjel and Ray, she is just the sweetest thing and I hope to capture many, many more photos of her as she grows up!

The Australian Community of Child Photographers (formerly known as the Australian Charity of Child Photographers) is a volunteer organisation of child photographers from all over Australia who have come together to form an organisation dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature and ill infants and children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of their local hospitals, as well as children with serious and terminal illnesses. The ACOCP is dedicated to providing this gift to families in a caring, compassionate and heartfelt manner.

I was recently contacted by Sharon Mallin who is also an ACOCP photogapher in NSW. She had recently photographed baby girl ’A’ who had had a nasal tube. You can see the images on Sharon’s blog here. A’s parents had wanted the tube removed from just a couple of her photos. Digital retouching is never, EVER something suggested by our photographers, it is only ever at the request of the parents of the child. It is part of the free service we offer and are very grateful to the family for allowing us to share the images of their baby girl.

You can find out more about the ACOCP and their services by visiting their website www.acocp.org.au. If you, or anyone you know ever has need of you services, please contact the ACOCP rep in your state, contact details available on the website.