Well I guess this is aimed more at school age children as I am at that time in my life and unlike some Mums, most school holidays I am working, as understandably, it is a great time to have your family portraits taken.

On the days that I don't work I love to do things with my girls or have their friends over. This works well in our family as my husband likes a break, he is constantly bombarded by the women in his life so adding 3-5 more girls to the mix happens on my time....

Last night we took a bunch of 7 girls to the much anticipated "Eclipse"

We had been looking forward to it for awhile and I loved how it was something to look forward to. I remember as a kid waiting for months for a party and being so excited just waiting.Now I know my childhood was very different as a bush kid, but I really enjoyed the build up that all the girls and thier friends were experiencing.

They loved it, and in true motherly style I honestly gasped at all these girls who audibly sighed when Jacob appeared on screen without his shirt, and abs on show.. Oh mi gosh  these are are our little girls...

Having girls, I realize will be so different to keepign boys busy. Ours are at the stage of wanting to shop, go to the movies or "hanging out" with friends. I do want them to do some exercise during the holidays and so we are looking at day trips and hikes.Jumping on the trampoline, walking the dog, hmmm swimming a bit cold. Although we did do a overnight trip to Caloundra and went walking on all the rocks on the beach, looking for sea life etc and laughing at each other falling over.The big play area up there is fantastic at Kings beach and a great walk around to Bullcock Beach, so this can be a fun idea as a day trip.

We have been slowly doing up our daughters rooms. We renovated 7 years ago and so it really is time to change from the pink and purple rooms once so loved. I actually got some inspiration from the internet.We googled kids designer rooms and found some beautiful colours and  ideas.

So the girls have been helping dad paint and we have gradually been buying bits and pieces here and there. I really love the idea of making their room "theirs".

My girlfiend Ruth owns Vanilla House in Coorparoo and she had some wonderful pieces to add the room and it now has a french provincial feel which I love as well.My eldest daughter  is very into her friendships, already I can see this will be important in her life and so I have decided to pick photos of her and her friends and make a photo wall for her. My challenge will be putting up images taken by kids on their little digi cameras. I think it may be a bit hard for me to overlook the quality. I have told her my idea and she is so excited.

Vanilla House 380 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo. 3324 2136‎ - for inspiration and a beautiful range.

This could be something you do with your kids as well.

In fact if you have any other suggestions please let us all know.

Happy holiday , I hope you all have fun with your kids and enjoy them.

Katrina xxx

Well I was all geared up to write up on the recent Australian Professional Photography Awards held in sunny Melbourne (we Queenslanders froze), however as it is also going on our Brisbane blog so please look in there.

I will say, we did have a fabulous fabulous weekend , 3 days of judging, dinner along Southbank and on Lygon St, a bit of shopping and a very late evening after all the judging was done and dusted.

Having your work (which you may have spent a lot, or a little time on) being dissected and then judged by your peers can be both satisfying and maybe a bit soul destroying. Either way it is a fair system and so you can rest assured that it is always a fair score.

It is always great to see what everyone out there is doing, and where you, personally, sit.

I was so excited to see my staff here in Brisbane do so well, the theme was well and truly set in the last few weeks when we were all madly finishing prints and the energy was contagious.

There was alittle hiccup with Australia Post. My prints did not actually make it to Melbourne, in fact I'm not sure of their journey at all , suffice to say they arrived back in my studio.

One of the gorgeous ladies organsing the event , another photographer from Toowoomba very kindly extended my entry untill 11am the next day.     I had actually thrown my hands up in the air, an absolute impossibility!!!

Amazingly I had them printed in 1 hr (normally a 3-5 day turnaround), mounted on the spot and then driven in and personally handed over by 12pm. Aren't people just wonderful when you ask for help. yes I did explain the importance , however I am just so so thankful to those who helped make it happen. Lani, my manager here, the lab, the framer and Margot in our Katrina Christ Photographer studio in Melbourne who raced around for me. THANK YOU... 

AND congratulations to my staff who made such a huge effort , and were rewarded.

Inspiring stuff.

Katrina xxxx

Well this is totally off the wall, however thought I would share it with you for a bit of fun.

Its awards fever in the studio at the moment with a lot of us entering the AIPP National Photography awards which are being held in Melbourne this weekend.

These awards are held each year and are such fun. It is a wonderful opportunity to catch up and meet other professional photographers from all over Australia. Our work is judged by a panel of 5 and awarded appropriately. Of course we are aiming for Silvers and Gold and ultimately the photographer of the year.The image below is a lot of fun I had a few years ago and received a silver with distinction, how gorgeous!!! Apart from photographing families and children my next love is photographing  girls/women , big dress up stuff, amazing makeup and hair and incredible locations. This was shot in a retro shop in Brisbane, gotta love the outfits etc. I love the feel and fun of this shot. My inspiration was to photograph "girlfriends" and what these friends do is "dress up" , seriously , I was in heaven.

Along with the awards, is the PMA convention where there is everything photographic, the latest camera equipment to the latest products along with seminars from our peers.

I will be sure to let you all know how we do this year. Enjoy your weekend.

Katrina xx

Well hello and welcome to my first newsletter.

I have decided to make all articles light and interesting and hopefully of some content to help all mums, and families.

"Keeping Busy"

As a mother of 3 girls , I find myself among a group of women who's lives are "busy". Whether you have 1 , 2 or 4 children, it doesn't seem to matter, life is just busy isn't it.

Lots of people say to me how do you do it with your business and franchises,But do you know WE ALL DO!! it is just different for each of us.

I don't know that we encourage and support each other as much as we should. For me I have the support of my husband Andy who is amazing, he keeps our family and house running. In turn I work and certainly in my earlier years in business ,often long hours. So as a team we work really well together.

In relation to our female friendships, I wonder if we are all trying to be supermums. Do we tell each other how amazing we are and what a great job we are doing, probably not. Think back to our childhood, the demands we put on ourselves as mums now is worlds apart. The majority of mums now work, because they have to or they are main income earner.

So while it is lovely being busy, don't forget to stop!!!

Have a cup of tea overlooking the garden, enjoy the kids,  a date with your husband ,a coffee with a girlfriend after drop off in the morning. In fact I have just started doing this once a fortnight with some of the mums at school, even though I have million things to do at home,  it is such a treat and we just chat and laugh and drink coffee. heaven...

My twin sister has much younger children than I , and on a late friday afternoon every week she takes the kids across to the park with their precooked dinner for a catch up with all the families in the neighbourhood. What a great idea, the kids all run around playing, mums chat and dads turn up a bit later. Everyone loves this chilled time.

More to come later on work life balance.

Katrina xxxxx