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.

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.

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

I thought I was going to have a challenging day today…..as soon as I said hello to Matthew he broke out tears. Obviously a photographer with a big scary camera & flash frightened him, however he soon started to get comfortable with me around.

Soon after he got dressed managed to capture some cute photographs.

Here is Mathew with his big sister Laura. I met Laura over 2 years ago when she was an infant, I photographed her baptism as well.

The church was St Charles Borromeo in Ryde, I got there a bit early & captured this using natural light.

Father Paul had a good demeanour with the children. He invited them up to the baptismal font & explained the significance of the Water.

He then got all the children to assist in the blessing of the water.

Matthew getting baptised with his very proud parents looking on.

A close-up of the water being poured on Mathew’s head from a shell.

Here is a couple of candid shots I liked, both capturing a special moment.

It was a sense of Déjà vu at the Greek Orthodox Parish of ‘St. Paraskeve & St. Barbara’. I guess it’s best to explain the feeling I had with photos.

I took this photo of Eleni today.

Yet two months ago at Kalista’s christening, I took this photo.

So when it came to selecting a photo of the baby in the baptismal font, I decided to stray from my regular black and white photos and try something different, what do you think of this treatment?

Sometimes I stand back & take a wider shot, not just the baby, gives a bit of perspective to what’s happening.

I’m keeping today’s entry short, been a long day and there’s a cold beer waiting for me

The best compliment I receive for my photography is when I get repeat business from the same clients. This is the case today with the Greek Orthodox baptism of Mia. Almost 2 years ago in April 2007, I photographed the baptism of her elder sister Eleftheria. My how she’s grown into a lovely young lady.

I always take still photography of what the godparents bring, the cross, candle, clothes, box, toys, I try to capture everything. Mia got herself a gorgeous pair of shoes.

If you’re a regular follower of my blog, you’ll know I love using natural light where possible, which is rarely an option in most churches. It was a bright Sydney day and the light was beaming into St Nicholas church Marrickville which helped me capture this moment.

The proud grandmothers, after stripping Mia before her big moment.

My favourite shot, the baby in the baptismal font, which I always love to convert into black & white.

And after a long day, a drink & a lye down is the way to end it.

Young Kalista was baptised on the last day of the short month at the Greek Orthodox church, Annunciation of our Lady. My first pic is the godmother is anointing her with oil, sadly in the current climate I’m forced to pixelate parts of the image.

There was a great moment during the service, Kalista turned around and looked at directly at the priest. Don’t know what she was thinking….

Of course what would a christening in my blog be without the black & white image of the baby in the baptismal font.

After the service, guests were given a boubouniere that was gorgeously presented.

The cake was unreal, not only because it looked great, but Kalista’s mum made it herself.

Have a look at the detail in this photograph.

Now I’m not one that would usually take photo’s of food at a reception, however the baked barramundi looked (and tasted) fantastic.

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When I first booked this christening, I thought it was going to be twins. When I showed up I discovered it was a double christening, the two getting baptised were first cousins. To confuse the issue even more, the godparents were the parents of the two children, who happen to be siblings, the parents, not the children, they’re cousins. Confused? So am I, lets get to the photo’s.

At the All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Belmore, there was not only two children being baptised, there were two priests to perform the service. They alternated at different sections; One in Greek the other in English.

With all the extra people during this service things got a little tight around the baptismal font.

First was Zac, with his Auntie (now Godmother) is just about to start covering him in oil.

Zac enjoying the water.

First haircut.

Then it was Maddie’s turn. The oil being poured into her uncle’s (now godfather) hands.

Unlike Zac, she didn’t seem to enjoy the water.

Out she came into the white towel.

With the service over, everyone headed off to the reception at the Campsie Bowling & Recreational Club where a colourful & delicious cake was sitting at the front.

A candid during the reception, part of the day I love, capturing moments like this.