Kapa's Blog

At the Greek Orthodox Parish & Community Of The Resurrection Of Our Lord; Our Lady Of Myrtles; Saint Elessa, in Kogarah, young Lucas was baptised. The light in this church is a huge contrast to the photographs I took last week at Chrisovalantou’s christening. Here I was relying a lot less on natural light and much more on flash.

Here is a candid of Lucas with his godmother before the service began.

A very proud grandmother holding Lucas before being immersed in the baptismal font.

The godmother anoints Lucas with oil all over the body. Do you the smiley

The priest pouring water of Lucas’ head & body.

All done, about to go into the waiting arms of the godmother.

How Good is This !!!!!! Not only a baptism cake, but a stack of cup cakes to match.

Today I was at the Greek Orthodox Parish of ‘St. Stylianos; Saints Peter & Paul & St. Gregory of Palama’ for the Christening of Chrysovalantou. The service started at the rear of the church, where the godmother stands and vouches for Chrysovalantou, since she is unable to make the necessary confession of faith herself.

Chrysovalantou’s older brother holding the candle for the service.

I was having a bit of a play with selective colouring on this photo. The Olive Oil was a lot more yellow however with the light it’s come through more of an orange.

Chrysovalantou has stunning blue eyes, this was taken less than a second before they started crying.

Inside the baptismal font.

The first offering – a lock of hair.

A tip for any budding photographers out there, learn how to use the manual settings on your camera. Look at the background of this photograph. There was a huge amount of glare that was coming through the opaque doors and windows at this time of the day. I almost always shoot with manual settings, and compensating for this much glare was a quick flick. No automatic / program modes would be able to handle this much contrast as well.

Chrysovalandou is blessed with four older sisters, here is three of them dressing her after the baptism.

The sun was setting towards the end of the service, I absolutely love the colour generated here – by natural light.

A delicious looking Christening Cake with a lot of attention to detail.

Some random photographs taken during the month.

One of the things I truly enjoy about being a baptism photographer is when I get a call from a family to photograph the christening of their next child. This is the case with Mikaela, I met her family back in September 2007 for her older brother Stevens Christening.

The baptism was held at the same church, the Greek Orthodox Parish & Community of Kogarah. Here the priest is conducting the first part of the service which is held near the the doorway.

Part of the service the godfather (godparent) rubs oil all over the child.

Mikaela in the baptismal font, I love capturing this moment.

Back when I photographed Stevens Christening, his father had a Chrysler Charger, check it out below.

A true Chrysler man, here is the family shot taken with the new car.

The delicious christening cake with the gorgeous backdrop taken at the St George Motor Boat Club.

Here’s a shot of Steven & his cousin taken just as the sun was starting to set. Sydney has some great locations on the water, this is one of them.

During speeches, a candid fun moment captured.

Some photographs taken during the family holiday, any idea where in the world these were taken? Your only clue:

Not in Australia

a bit of architecture

More pretty flowers

If you look carefully, you can see my son on the bridge looking at the fish.

One of the shops we came across.

Only a handful of the photos I took that day. All these were taken at the same location within walking distance of each other.

25th March, Greece celebrates it’s national day, known as the Greek War of Independence.

In Sydney, Australia, the Greek community celebrates it firstly with a remembrance ceremony held at Martin Place. It is then followed by a march down George St to the steps of the Sydney Opera House, where the day is celebrated with singing & dancing.

This photograph I liked because it highlights the contrast of the different uniforms. The ‘Greek Digger’, Army, Navy, Greek National costume.

The NSW State Premier Kristina Keneally, was there as well, very photogenic as usual.

All aspects of the Greek Community were represented, in this photo we have the principal & students from All Saints Grammar.

Many dressed in various interpretations of the Greek National Costume having a great time.

A sea of hats, proudly brought to you by All Saints Grammar

Students from St Euphemia, with the crowd sitting on the steps of the Sydney Opera House on the right, the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background. If you look carefully on arch right next to the Greek flag, you can see the people on top of the bridge doing the ‘bridge climb‘.

Finally, the one that brought a smile to everyone’s face. This kid is so young he could barely walk, yet here he is in the Greek National Costume strutting his stuff.

ZHTO H ELLAS!

Today I was at the Greek Orthodox Parish & Community of ‘St. Andrew’ in Gladesville to photograph the orthodox christening of Chloe. The ‘psalti’ reads the Creed with Chloe’s parents captured in the background.

Chloe being immersed in the baptismal font.

After the service, Chloe grabbing a power nap on mums shoulder.

A tight portrait with Chloe, Mum & the Godmother.

Soon after, Chloe was snuggled up into her dads shoulder, grabbed this (my favourite shot of the day) using natural light and the aperture wide open.

The reception was at Banjo Patterson’s Cottage Restaurant, and while everyone was enjoying drinks during a beautiful (but humid) Sydney day, I was grabbing candid shots of the family & guests.

A very impressive cake put together by Sweet Art.

And a signature bear for all the guests to sign.

Kids entertainment was provided by “Fairy Star” from FairyCrystal.

While Fairy Star was telling her story, the expression on Chloe’s face was priceless.

Chloe giving me the Robert de Nero “Are you looking at me” look.

Had some time to capture some cute portraits using an off-camera flash.

Happy Valentines Day

Normally I wouldn’t take my camera gear to a game, however I went straight there from Chloe’s Christening – stay tuned for photos later this week. It was the last game of the regular season, the winner not only becomes the minor premiers, but also get direct qualification into the Asia cup.

It was the biggest crowd of the year, the cove was a sea of blue supporters.

Second half, Sydney was up 1-0 and the action was happening at my end of the field, Brosque making a few moves.

Soon after, Aloisi nailed it, taking the shot.

He soaked in the roar of the crowd

Then was joined in by his team mates.

The cove went crazy.

Final result, 2-0 congratulations.

The Australian Community of Child Photographers (ACOCP) is a group of dedicated photographers that do something I could not bring myself to do. I’m left speechless & in awe of their work. I’m fortunate that I photograph children & their families at times of joy & celebration, and to be honest until recently didn’t know that photographers provide their services at the other end of the spectrum.

Read about them in an article published by Sunny Days here.

Visit the ACOCP Website here.

God Bless.