Not the child — the age. The way she says that one word wrong. The dinosaur obsession. The gap where the front teeth should be. Twelve months from now every bit of it will be gone and you will not be able to say precisely when it went.
Children change in a way that is invisible from the inside. You see them every day, so you see nothing. Then someone sends you a photo from two years ago and you cannot believe that was the same child.
Every parent means to do this. Most do it once, in a hurry, when there is a school photo they hate or a grandparent asking. Meanwhile the phone fills up with eight thousand pictures that live in a folder nobody scrolls to the end of, and the walls stay empty, and the years go past.
A proper portrait does something a phone photo cannot. It fixes one age, deliberately, at a size you cannot ignore. Framed on a wall, seen every day, until your child is old enough to be embarrassed by it and then old enough to want a copy.
Every parent warns us on the way in. She won’t look at you. He’s in a phase. They’re shocking in photos. We have heard it several thousand times and it has never once changed the outcome.
Good. We do not need them to. A session built on making a child sit still is a session built to fail, which is why so many parents arrive here having already had one.
We direct, we play, and we photograph what your child actually does. Running, spinning, jumping off things, hiding behind you, that hard belly laugh you only get when someone gets it wrong on purpose. The stillness, when it arrives, arrives on its own about forty minutes in — and that is the frame that ends up on the wall.
She does not have to. We do not greet a shy child at the door with a camera and a big voice — that is exactly how you lose them for the whole session. We ignore her, talk to you, let her stand behind your leg and watch until she has decided for herself that this room is fine.
We start with her on your lap, facing you rather than us. Shy children give you something the confident ones do not: a serious, level, watchful look straight down the lens. It is often the strongest portrait of the day.
Threes negotiate, sevens pull the fake grin, elevens would rather be anywhere else. None of it is new to us and none of it is a problem to solve — it is the age, and the age is the thing worth photographing.
With the older ones we give them a job, take them seriously, and never ask them to say cheese. Talk to them about something they actually care about and the real face turns up within ten minutes. Binh and Lin have three of their own, so nothing on offer here is a surprise.
We hear this a lot, and the reason is nearly always one of two things. The session was too short, so there was no time for the child to warm up before the shooting had to start. Or the child was asked to perform — sit there, look here, smile now — and sensibly refused.
Our sessions run up to ninety minutes and a good chunk of that is deliberately spent achieving nothing. If a child needs the first half hour to decide about us, they get the first half hour.
Age by age
What each age gives you.
If you are trying to work out whether now is the moment, this is the honest breakdown — including what to expect on the day.
Age
What it gives you
What to expect on the day
6–12 months
The sitting-up stage: upright, round, still entirely a baby, and giving eye contact for the first time.
Short bursts around a feed and a nap. Book mid-morning and bring a favourite noisy toy.
1–2 years
Motion. First steps, first words, the run that is still mostly falling forwards.
They will not stay put and we do not want them to. Expect to be in the frame yourself holding a hand.
3–5 years
Full personality with no self-consciousness yet. The most expressive age we photograph.
Negotiation, silliness and one flat refusal somewhere in the middle. All normal, all budgeted for.
6–9 years
A real face beginning to settle, plus the missing teeth that will not be missing for long.
The pretend smile turns up first. We talk it out of them, and then get the real one.
10–12 years
The last portrait before the teenager arrives — still a child, almost not.
Treat them like an adult, give them a say in the styling, and they will give you a quiet, strong portrait.
Planning by age
The annual portrait
Same child. Same wall. Once a year.
This is the single best idea we can give you, and it costs nothing to start.
Photograph your child once a year, the same way, framed the same way, and hang them in a run down one wall or a hallway. The first year it is simply a nice portrait. By the third it has become something else entirely: the face lengthening, the shoulders arriving, the same slightly wary expression turning up at four and eight and eleven.
Give it a decade and you have the thing every family says they wish they had. Not a folder, not a phone. A wall you walk past every day that shows you a whole childhood at once, in order. Grandparents stop dead in front of it. So, eventually, does the child.
Pick a month you will remember — a birthday month is easiest — and tell us at your first session that this is what you are building. We keep your framing, size and finish on file so year two matches year one exactly.
The session fee covers the photography and the design consultation. Artwork is chosen afterwards at the reveal, once you have seen everything at size.
The children’s session
Up to ninety minutes, studio or location, planning call and full direction included.
Session fee$395
Mini Love
Fifteen minutes on a set date, up to seven family members, three professionally edited photographs. A good first taste.
Fixed$150
The Wall Collection
A framed statement piece plus a matched pair for a second room. Matching digital files included.
Most chosenfrom $3,200
Heirloom album
Hand-bound, linen cover, twenty spreads. Designed by us, approved by you before printing.
Add onfrom $1,250
Most families invest between $1,800 and $4,500 all in, and there is no minimum spend. If you are weighing up Mini Love against a full session, the comparison table on the sessions page is the fastest way to decide.
Questions
Before you email us.
For babies and toddlers, mid-morning after the first nap and a feed. For school-age children, a Saturday morning before the day gets long. The studio runs Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm.
Plain, solid, soft colours, and clothes they already like. Skip character prints, slogans and anything brand new that itches. Bring a second outfit and we will decide together on the day.
Please do. We will photograph the children on their own, then the siblings together, then all of you — including the parent who is always behind the camera. If the whole family is the point, look at family sessions instead.
Yes. We shoot on location across Sydney including the Northern Beaches, Inner West, Sutherland Shire, the Hills, Ryde, Hornsby, Eastwood and the North Shore. Small children often do better on home ground.
Four to six weeks. We reply to every enquiry within one business day with current availability.
Also worth reading
The rest of the family.
Newborn, 5–14 days
Another one on the way? Reserved by due-date month, enquire around 28 to 34 weeks.
