Photography Blog | Israel Smith

Rilien, Indrani & Israel all shared the love of a stomach bug recently. After a couple of days of not really eating, they needed something light but nourishing.

I googled what I could make for them & found a chicken soup recipe. Then I added my own flare to create what Israel calls a Belinda Surprise meal. A bit of this & a bit of that thrown together with love. They all loved it (of course!) – hope you do too. And, as an added bonus, you can use the meat balls from this recipe for other meals!

Belinda Surprise Soup for uneasy tummies.

This recipe comes in 2 parts. The soup broth & the meatballs to give it a bit of a boost of something more substantial. I’ve also included at the end of the recipe some tips on how you can use the extra meatballs for other meals.

Ingredients:

Mini Chicken Meatballs

• 500g chicken mince
• 1 green apple
• 1 zucchini
• 1 carrot
• good pinch of vegeta stock
• half cup of bread crumbs
• olive oil spray

The soup broth

• 4 cups water
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• good splash of soy sauce

Directions:
Grate the apple, carrot, zucchini into a large bowl. Add the chicken mince, bread crumbs & stock. Use your hands to mix the ingredients. Take a good size teaspoon of the mixture & roll into small balls. When you have rolled all the mixture, spray a frying pan with olive oil spray & cook the meat balls.

In a separate pot, add the water, vegetables & garlic and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the meatballs (allow say 3 per person), the chicken stock & soy. Add salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Your are now ready to serve.

Other ways to use the left over meatballs:

- serve as finger food with sweet chilli sauce

- saute some mushrooms, then some baby spinach until wilted. Serve meatballs on top of the spinach & mushrooms. Drizzle with Kepap Manis.

- make a bolognese sauce & use the chicken meatballs instead of beef mince.

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What can we say about this shoot? We love it! … the memories captured are great, the location (Paddington Reservoir) chosen by Penny is awesome, BUT most of all the family had loads of fun together! Israel was laughing his head off when he came back from this shoot. Penny had been singing a LMFAO song to her boys at the shoot, and Israel loved it so much he had to buy it from itunes. It’s now frequently played around the house and I have told Israel he will have to explain to Indrani what it means if she asks. :-)

Getting back to the shoot itself, Penny had two special requests of Israel and that was to have portraits which show the family’s affection and to have a great family shot. Take a look for yourself and see why Penny & Andrew loved their portraits so much.

I love this shot of the boys. You can just see how much fun they were having!

Here’s a few of the playful shots from the shoot. No wonder Israel was having so much fun too!


Typical boys – out come the rabbit ears over mum:-)

We thought we’d also share 2 of the beautiful frames Penny, Andrew & Israel designed to decorate the family home. Great choices hey!

Funloving and easy going are 2 words that immediately came to mind when Israel met Carolyn & Terry. Stunning and stylish are 2 words that will come to your mind when you see their wedding images. Carolyn & Terry chose Form Over Function to help style their special day. The flowers, candelight, amazing array of lollies, the fabulous cheese table, the venue, the couple and their guests – everything was absolutely perfect.

Carolyn and Terry shared their special day with 150 family and friends at Ottoman Cuisine. Just like every aspect of this day, the venue and the backdrop of the Harbour Bridge was spectacular.

Carolyn had the fantastic idea of inviting all her girlfriends to be part of her big day by wearing pink, rather than having to pick only a couple of friends as bridesmaids. She topped this off by having beautiful bouquets of pink flowers for the ladies in pink. This idea got everyone involved and when they hit the dance floor later in the evening, the kaleidoscope of pink was incredible.

Israel was in his element – so much photographic fodder, so much love and so many lollies:-) Thank you to Carolyn & Terry for honouring us with being part of your day! We hope you all enjoy this little tribute to what was an amazing day!

Carolyn & Terry’s beautiful invitation, including Carolyn’s very special way of inviting all the girls to play a part in their day by wearing pink.

Did we mention lollies? How is this deluxe sweets bar for guests at the reception!

Alicia from Form Over Function designed and arranged these amazing varieties of floral decor.

Can you picture a more relaxed groom on his wedding day…?

The view from the Hyde Park Suite in the Sheraton On The Park. Beautiful.

Carolyn’s sons getting ready – starting to look rather dapper already don’t you think?

The pink bouquets for all of Carolyn’s friends in pink.

What an incredible cheese table! A cheese lovers delight!

Ottoman Cuisine has it all. Classy venue, an abundance of ambiance and spectacular backrop!

Just checking mum – yep, all in order back here. Time to make your entrance!

Nothing to say – Terry’s look says it all;-)

This couple just smiled and laughed all night. Love it!

Perfect night backdrop for a perfect couple.

More of Form Over Functions‘ magical touches.

The Nevilles played up a storm and had everyone dancing the night away.

Carolyn’s friends in pink having a blast!

I love the next series of photos of Carolyn & Terry – their fun loving & easy going style is clear for everyone to see.

Sweet Sweet Holly was just 2 weeks old when her beautiful parents brought her in for her first portrait shoot.  Everytime a bub comes to the Studio I am mush, but I can tell you this, Holly is simply divine! Mum & dad have every reason to be clearly mesmorised by her, as you will see in these lifelong treasures captured by Israel.

This shoot was extra special because one of Holly’s grandmother’s came along too.

Please enjoy some of this families favourites!

How beautiful is this – her tiny little hand gribbing daddy’s big one already.

Mum and Dad’s expressions say it all – they are hooked for life!

Sleeping beauty!

This look says “can you believe we are this blessed!”

Little angel, you are the centre of our world.

How much fun can a photoshoot be for kids? Heaps! James captured these 3 siblings having a blast in Centennial Park.

During her design consult, their mum had simply asked for some natural shots. Suffice to say, she absolutely loved the result. Here are some of her favourites:

Jayne visited our website and left this great tip. Our 2 cats leave loads of fur behind & we’ve tested this, it really does work.

Jayne wrote, “I  thought you may be able to use my household tip, as all my pet loving friends have benefitted from it! As summer approaches our furry friends lose hair! I have found that a rubber kitchen glove far surpasses any vacuum or other method ever tried. I could almost build a new cat from the amount I get from Piper & Phoebe this time of year!”

Moira was very clear what she wanted for her family portraits. Sunshine, and a family photo for the wall – “oh my god, look at this! Remember when we went to Coogee all the time”.  The weather however was not playing fair. Moira’s portraits had been rescheduled due to rain a number of times. Even on the morning of this shoot, Israel had rescheduled again because of the rain. But in the afternoon, when the sunshine came, Israel called Moira and she got the family together and it was Game On!

Well worth the wait, wouldn’t you agree?

Kimberly received our “Love Your Bump” Red Balloon Experience from some friends.  As you can see from these images by Israel, Kimberly had every reason to love her bump – she was absolutely glowing!

Kimberly asked Israel for casual and simple pregnancy portraits. She chose to have them at a place she loves – Coogee Beach!  Just 3 weeks after these beautiful portraits were taken, Kimberly was blessed with the birth of a sweet little angel – Evie. Congratulations!

We are so blessed! Our Wedding Couples have the best weddings – they are different, emotional and so much fun. And Shannon & Kieron excelled – they’re day had plenty of unique special touches, loads of emotion, and an abundance of fun! As well as wearing huge smiles, they also both wore their Chuck Taylor Converse as their wedding shoes.

Shannon & Kieron held their ceremony and reception with close family & friends at The Establishment. The setting was spectacular and really lent itself to the chic vibe of their day.

As we share some favourite images from their day, we should also acknowledge the wonderful people whom without them, we would not have met Shannon & Kieron.

It all started with another great couple, Mandi & Dave. We photographed their wedding in 2007. They introduced us to Karli & Tony, and we photographed their fabulous day in 2008. And at Karli & Tony’s wedding we met MJ (one of Karli’s bridesmaids), and we have since photographed MJ’s beautiful family several times. MJ is Shannon’s sister and she told Shannon to contact us – the rest is history. Thank you to you all!

Kieron’s rather cool wedding shoes – Love them!

What a sweetie… if this is what the front of the envelope says, you just know the contents are worth more than a few tears!

Shannon in her cool and comfortable bridal shoes. What a great idea!

Here Shannon is helping her beautiful sister MJ into her bridesmaid dress.  The relationship these sisters share is incredible. Their love and respect for each other is clear from the moment you meet them. Read MJ’s eloquent speech she prepared for Shannon & Kieron below and you’ll see what we mean.

The Establishment is a real groovy venue, and the vibe fitted Shannon & Kieron’s day perfectly.

Just love this – we (absolutely) do.
 

Kieron looking rather sharp!

MJ looking spectacular – you wouldn’t think she was a new mum not long before this day.

Just take in the look on Kieron’s face as he sees Shannon & Shannon’s as she sees him.
 

This whole family is extremely close, and these few images clearly show this.

The location shots were taken in the cool setting of the Tank Stream Bar.

How fun are these shots? Brilliant!

Back to The Establishment for the reception.

The next few shots show the Shannon & Kieron’s special and unique touches for their reception.

The speeches at this reception were exactly as we expected they would be. Emotional, funny, full of life.

I love this shot of Shannon. It says so much about the speech her mum is giving, and how she’s wrapped her arms around her mum below shows how special this mother daughter bond is.

Sweet and tender!