Kapa’s Blog

Gorgeous little girl with a name to match, Angel-Rose. I met her family outside the Greek Orthodox Parish of ‘Saints Constantine & Helen’ and grabbed a couple of candid shots of her in her pram.

The service soon started and Angel-Rose was distracted by the flash on my camera, gave me some good eye contact.

The godfather has his hands cupped filled with oil, the priest dipping his finger into the oil anoints the face, chest, mouth, nose, ears, legs and feet in dedication to the service of Christ. Grand-mum holding Angel-Rose securely. Note the way the priest is holding her feet, definite sign of experience to stop her kicking around.

Angel-Rose getting well and truly baptised.

A candid with mum just after the service.

The reception was held at GEoRGES on King St Wharf, the afternoon sun was terrific and provided a great place for a few informal family portraits.

I’m going to start in the middle today. This photo was taken as they are walking towards the baptismal font after the service of the Catachumen which is conducted at the rear of the church. I know it’s an ordinary pic but what I want to show is the amount of natural light available at the Greek Orthodox Church of “All Saints” in Belmore.

The church is surrounded with yellow stained windows, and with the afternoon sun glowing bright the entire church had a warm natural colour to it. This changed my style of shooting for the service, more to what I like, using the available light to capture the image and the flash is just for a little boost.

When the very first shot of the day looks like this and I only guessed the exposure I know I’m going to have a good day.

A quick formal at the entrance while waiting for the Koumbarie & guests to arrive.

In almost a mirror image of a photo I took a few weeks ago at Ioanna’s Christening, the god child & godparent exchanging a look during the service.

The oil is poured into the Godfathers hands in preparation to anoint Dean.

Dean having a wonderful time in the baptismal font.

A very quick lesson on cropping & making a few basic changes.
A good image like this.

Turns into a gorgeous one like this.

Dean’s first offering, a lock of hair.

A Christening cake in the shape of a christening box made by Sweetart.

A couple of heroes from Superheroes Inc showed up to entertain the kids.

When I did the “first run” processing the images, this candid caught my eye.

However after going through all the images, I’ll leave you with my favourite for the day, the mood and emotion in this one is a standout.

It was a gorgeous day today and although I should have been sleeping in after yesterdays efforts I was at the Greek Orthodox Parish of ‘St. Catherine’ in Mascot for the Christening of Katerina.

During the service of the Catachumen I liked the way everyone including the baby appeared to be reading the prayer book.

Picked up some detail on the bottle of oil, those are Katerina’s initials which also appeared on the cake made from giant alphabet blocks.

The actual christening with the baby immersed in the baptismal font.

When publishing images on my web site, I always have the dilemma of keeping the size and quality of the images at an acceptable level and at the same time showing photographs the way I’d like them to be seen. The tragic consequence of this is the level of detail I cannot show. Here is the above photo at 100% crop, I love the water droplets falling off Katerina’s head and the ones caught in mid air around the Priests hand.

A bit of mayhem while Katerina was being dressed, hands everywhere.

I like the framing and shallow depth of field in this photo. I’ll also use this as an opportunity to explain what is happening. Towards the end of the service, the priest places his hand on the baptised child’s head. This tradition goes back to when Jesus was baptised, and the touch has been passed down since then to all those baptised through all the generations over 2000 years.

The reception was held at the Lakes Golf Club where the balcony and the fairway provided a great location for some family portraits.

I had not been at the Greek Orthodox Parish & Community of ‘St. Michael’ (the Archangel) for several years. I like it when I go to a new church or one I haven’t been to in a long time, it’s interesting how different priests add their own touches or style to the service. Here the service of the Catachumen was actually performed in front of the congregation instead of behind.

I also like how godparents come up with different ideas to deliver all the bits & pieces required for the service. Ioanna scored herself a great timber doll house in addition to her new outfits, talk about lucky.

If you follow my blog, you know I love capturing candid moments, and this one of Ioanna and her godfather exchanging a look during the service is one of my favourites for the day.

It should come to no surprise to find a black and white photo of the baby in the baptismal font. Check out the other dozen or so photos similar to this one from other Greek Orthodox Christenings I have covered.

I have done pre-wedding shoots in the past, however this is the first time I’ve done a pre-christening shoot. Ioanna’s mum Katerina wanted to give the guests a little thank-you / memento of the day. I took a few dozen photo’s in a couple of different outfits, one was the actual outfit Ioanna wore to the christening. Katerina picked two of her favourites & I created a template for her to create these little thank you cards that looked great next to the boubouniere.

Did you notice the candy in the jar? Talk about attention to detail, a little pink heart surrounded by the word IOANNA.

Today I arrived early at the Greek Orthodox Parish of ‘St. Catherine’ in Mascot for Williams christening. While I was outside talking to his parents John & Joanne, I was grabbing candid photo’s of them and their guests and this totally natural shot of the three of them is a great way to start this entry.

Soon the service of the Catachumen began where I managed to capture the page with the image of Mary & Jesus on the page next to where the priest was reading from.

The baptism itself, William immersed in the baptismal font.

William showing of his two tiny teeth.

With the first glance at this photo I was disappointed by the fact that the second priest got partly in the way of the photo, however, I was also pleasantly surprised by what I had captured, and yes, I admit, it was a fluke. William and his godmother were standing in the only direct sunlight that was coming into the church from the window, the way they glow and the shadow they cast on the floor gives them an angelic appearance.

Family social events is a great place for relatives and friends to catch up, and an even better opportunity to grab a photo with them. This one of Joanne and her two sisters with the afternoon sun providing a rim light over their shoulders is one that would proudly be displayed in their parents home, (at least I think so).

Today is the name day of Agios Haralambos (St Harry) and what better day to have the christening of young Harrison than on his name day.

For my first image, I couldn’t decide which of the three to choose. In all three, I liked the way Harrison was following the priests hand, so in the end, I decided to create an animated gif showing all three. A sequence of three images like this looks great in an album.

Harrison in the baptismal font, he was so relaxed and calm.

The reception was held at Aesop’s Greek Restaurant where guests were greeted by this amazing cake, made by Crumb Cake Art.

The kids were entertained by a magician that had an albino rabbit as part of the act.

Live entertainment provided by bouzouki player Tommy Tsonis.

Harrison’s parents Eleni & Kosta dishing out plates for breaking
(apologies for really bad pun).

The final image, a family portrait.

Today at the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in Marrickville, I was fortunate enough to photograph the christening of a gorgeous little doll called Kleopatra.

The godmother was from Mexico Melbourne, you know what I mean, south of the border. Anyway, she was lovely and one of my favourite pics of the day was this candid just before the service started.

The timing of the christening was late afternoon, right about the time she should have been napping. Moments after I took this picture she had fallen asleep.

The oil used in the service was special, all the way from Greece.

Of course, the one shot I always try to get, the baby immersed in the baptismal font.

Finish of with proof she’s a little doll, one grandma holding her, the other putting the final touches to her outfit before being returned to the godmother for the remaining of the service.

Today I arrived early at the Annunciation of our Lady Greek Orthodox church so I grabbed the opportunity while no-one was there to takes a few images of the architecture. I really love sandstone cathedrals with the exposed timber rafters, black and white is the only way to show this image.

I was there for the baptism of Zayle Pavlos, and I even tried something different, I stepped outside the doorway during the service of the Catechumen grabbing the architectural lines of the cathedrals doorway.

Zayle gave me some great eye contact, taken just before he was going to be baptised.

Of course my mandatory shot of the child in the baptismal font, as usual, black and white.

At the reception was a great looking Christmas tree, it is that time of year after all. Great backdrop to take a pic of Zayle & his mum.

The symmetry and colours of the bombomniere boxes makes an interesting picture. For those that have been following my blog, I used the remote flash triggers to take this image and the ones of the cake. The flash was sitting on a table about 2 metres away from me pointing straight to the ceiling on 1/8 power. Note how there is no shadows, no bright spots from the flash, beautiful soft light. If I hadn’t told you, would you have thought I used a flash ?

Finally the delicious cake.

Check out the detail, they obviously had some kind of stamp to get this done.

That’s it for 2007. Interesting fact or co-incidence? My last entry in 2006 was also a Christening at the Annunciation of our Lady, I’ve got goosebumps down my spine just typing this

Everyone out there, may God bless you & your family with a safe and happy Christmas, and may 2008 bring you everything you desire.

Kapa

Today Laura got baptised at St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church at Gladesville. The traditions starts at home, this is when the godparents dress the baby in preparation for its baptism. I love this candid / photo journalistic style image. The godmother is looking at the baptismal dress that Laura is going to wear and if you look in the mirror you can see Laura’s mum holding it out showing it to her. If case you’re wondering, this wasn’t a set up shot.

Laura dressed in her outfit and laid out on her parents bed, she sat there like a little princess.

I grabbed a bunch of close ups, and I really wanted to show off her lovely big brown eyes. Decisions, decisions, couldn’t decide which photo I liked the most, couldn’t decide which treatment suited her best, so here is a combination of all.

Laura held by mum and dad standing right next to her during the baptism.

Outside as everyone was leaving, I grabbed Nadia (godmother) for an idea I got. It was a pearler of a day, sunshine, clouds to add perspective, an old sandstone church, what more could I ask for.

The beauty of a good flash, I manually pushed the output by two full stops to balance the very bright background with Nadia in the shadows.

At the reception, this little feller was being passed around for everyone to sign. A really cool outfit and a fine momemto for Laura to treasure.