February 2013 | Bruce Loves Susie | Wedding Photographer Brisbane

The Tierney family–Eye Spy

Here is the first look at the Tierney family – round of applause for them, please!

Tierney070 Tierney007

More to come soon – keep an eye out!

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Advice from former brides–Rebecca McDonald

In case you missed it, Rebecca and LJ were married last year in a beautiful garden ceremony at the Benowa Botanical Gardens on the Gold Coast. Rebecca wore an AMAZING wedding dress that was made by her mum (right?!) and had to be one of the most radiant, ecstatic brides I have ever photographed.

Bec&LJ_416

This is Rebecca’s advice to future brides:

Ensure you get to know your photographer by having an engagement shoot, so you’re comfortable in front of the camera. That was one of the best things we did before our special day! It meant that we were way more relaxed in front of the camera for the actual event. Also, booking your reception at a venue that does everything for you makes everything so easy; you just walk in and walk out and don't have to worry about a thing on the day. Try having your ceremony and reception close by so that guests who are travelling don't have a long drive between venues. And if, for unavoidable reasons, you have a big gap between the ceremony ending and the reception starting (like we did), make sure there is a pub or a cafe nearby for your guests to hang out at for the time in between! Surround yourself with the people you love, keep it simple and don't sweat the small things. Keep that in mind and your day will be bliss. :)

Thank you Rebecca! I hope you, LJ and puppy Chino are enjoying family life!

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My dreams for 2013

I figured it was about time for me to share my 2013 dreams with you, seeing as 2013 is well and truly underway.

NYE 2012 bonfire with friends

New Years Eve 2012 bonfire

I’ve never been one for New Year’s Resolutions – or should I say, I never been one for being able to tick them all off the list when I write them down at the beginning of the year! Too many times I have written them down in a diary, shiny with hope that by the end of the year I will be able to put a big line through all of them (did I mention that I like writing lists?), and only ever really accomplishing maybe half, if I’m lucky. Which just makes me frowny by the end of the year, really.

So this year I’m not doing that, instead I’m going to tell you some dreams that I have for 2013. And maybe I’ll achieve them in 2013, maybe not. Maybe they will carry on! We’ll see. So here goes!

Dreams for 2013

To grow my photography business.
A no-brainer, right?! I’m totally motivated to grow my business, not just in the number of weddings or portraits that I photograph, but also in the level of service that I provide and the joy that I get out of every job. I want to learn more about my clients, really get in to the details of what makes them a great couple, and then use that to produce gorgeous pictures for them. :)

To photograph more!
Sort of following on from the last one, I just want to photograph more! I spend so much of my time photographing other people that I forget to photograph my own life sometimes! I think that my day-to-day must be so boring as to not warrant any pictures, but I think I will regret that once I get older when I want to look back at my younger years. And now that I’m married (!), I want to document more of our crazy life together!

To go to America.
Luke and I have never been to the US, and we’ve always wanted to go. Finally, this year, we might be able to do it. But it’s dependant on a lot of factors that I can only hope will come together for us! I REALLY want to go to Broadway and see every musical conceivable that’s currently playing. If it doesn’t happen, we will just have to push this dream back a little bit, but that’s okay. An on-going dream, perhaps?

To learn something new.
This could be anything, really. A new skill, a new way of living? A new philosophy? I’m not sure! At the beginning of the year I bought a bunch of books on gardening, so maybe it will be gardening! That is definitely something I would like to learn more about. Attending Matt and Katie’s workshop last month started me on a path of learning for 2013, and I’m already inspired. I love learning; I don’t think we ever stop really, right? At any rate, I don’t want to stop!

What are your dreams for 2013? Maybe it’s something simple, or maybe it’s something huge? Maybe you’re getting married and your dream is the fruition of your wedding! That was certainly my dream last year. Whatever it is, let me know! Join my Team Awesome Dreams 2013!

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Nana’s 90th Birthday

So here we are; I can finally share some photos of my Nana’s 90th with you! Yay!

If you’re not aware, a couple of weeks ago I went down to Sydney to celebrate my Nana’s 90th birthday with my extended family (thus also making the situation like a family reunion, too). This is my mother’s side of the family and they all live in Sydney, while my immediate family are the ones that live interstate (my parents, my sister and I on the Gold Coast and Brisbane and my brother in Melbourne).

I used to spend a lot of time in Sydney as a kid. My cousins and I are all around the same age so we hung out together quite a bit. Some of the happiest memories of my childhood are of holidays spent visiting family in Sydney. It’s a shame that, as we got older, we spent less and less time together. But it’s nice to realise that my cousins have all become pretty cool adults. :)

This Nana in question is actually the Nana that my business is named after – Susie! And since we lost Bruce a few years ago, every year that we have with Susie is special to us. I’m so happy that we could all be there to celebrate with her, with each other, and spend some quality time catching up with the goings-on of each other’s lives.

Let me premise the next image by saying – my Uncle Ken was the bear. In the bear trap. According to my little niece Lily!

And I love this next photo – this is what getting a big bunch of people together for a group photograph looks like!!

But in the end, my cousin Erin’s boyfriend Gavin got this photograph (fantastic work Gavin! Please excuse the bad quality as I stole this from facebook! haha):

We then took Nana (poor Nana!) outside for some more family photographs like the one below – all of the grandchildren (and one great grandchild) together with Nana!

And this next photo was very special to my sister – she wanted to get the 4 generations of women in the family. Also, might I add, doesn’t Nana look lovely in her dress?

There’s nothing much to say about this next photo except… I’m sure my brother loves his sisters… :-/

This is what happens when you let your brother take over photography duties:

My mother with her brother:

It was a really, really lovely day. My cousin Vicki gave a beautiful speech about how much we all love Nana, telling her ‘look at what you created!’, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I’m so glad that we all got to be together for such a momentous occasion.

Luke and I had the following day to explore Sydney before we had to fly back home to Brisbane. It was a beautiful day on the harbour.