If you’ve visited our Studio chances are you have tasted my mum’s (Bev’s) homemade biscuits. I know I am not biased in saying her biscuits are the best because many of you tell us so too. With this in mind, I thought I would get her to share her Anzac Biscuit recipe that she has been using for many years.
Ingredients
1 Cup Rolled Oats
1 Cup Plain flour
1 Cup Sugar
¾ Cup Cocnut
125 grms Butter
2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup
½ Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
1 Tablespoon Boiling Water
Our great friends at Superheroes Inc gave Amanda & Andrew a thank you gift of a Portrait Gift Certificate. Amanda told us about the closeness her boys have with both mum & dad, and with each other. Her eldest son is starting school next year and starting to really take care of his little brother. Amanda really wanted to capture the closeness with relaxed, casual portraits showing them having fun as a family. The beautiful grounds of Wahroonga Park made a perfect backdrop for these Cute & Cuddly family portraits.
James captured exactly what Amanda was after, and here we share the family’s favourites!
I love this image – it melts my heart as a mum. Big brother ‘teaching’ little brother about life, and making sure he is safe by holding his hand – too sweet for words really!
Love how the boys are clearly the centre of attention and always with lots of hands on cuddles.
Mersina purchased a Portrait Gift Certificate as part of South Coogee Public School’s Fundraiser. Mersina said “This is important” because they had not had professional portraits since her daughter was 4 & now she is 15. Her son is 8.
Although these portraits were taken at beautiful Coogee Beach & surrounds, Israel made sure these “important portraits’ were all about the family and the kids. This selection are the favourites of the family.
How cute is the wrinkle in Stephen’s nose & the big big smile of Natalia. I hope Indrani & Rilien have this kind of relationship when they are this age.
Thank you for supporting us. As a special thank you, we are offering our mums the opportunity to win this great prize.
Our Zen Treat
A 90 minute private relaxation session with yoga teacher and relaxation specialist Liz Kerr. After 20 years in Corporate life and 2 children, Liz is now working to help people find balance in their lives. Liz says true relaxation requires work! (Liz is an Israel Smith client, a mum who supports us and wonderful friend too).
Liz’s dulcet tones will guide you to a world of peace and calm, one that you won’t want to leave.
In your 90 minute session, you will discover how to trigger your relaxation response when you need to. You will walk away with a number of techniques you can use for different situations and an overall sense of well-being. And most importantly you will have had 90 minutes in your day where it was all about you!
To Enter:
Email Liz and tell Liz in 25 words or less why you need this Zen Treat!
Like us on facebook, and write “Om” on our wall (just for a bit of fun – the competition can’t be too easy;-)
Important:
Competition is open to Israel Smith Clients only. (If you have friends who might like this, please refer them to us so they can become clients & enter too!)
Steps 1 & 2 must both be completed for your entry to be valid.
Valid entries must be received by Friday 20th April.
All valid entries will go in the drawer & the winner will be drawn randomly.
The winner will be announced on the Israel Smith Photographers FaceBook page, and will be contacted directly by Liz Kerr. Together you and Liz will work out the logistics of your private relaxation session.
Liz is a qualified Yoga Teacher & is registered with YogaAustralia.
As a follow up to our last post about the Kids Aquatic Survival School, Rilien graduated with his “fully clothed” float after being tipped into the pool!
All I can say is OMG I tried this Chocolate Brownie today and I just had to have another piece. AMAZING!
I just had to ask for the recipe so you could try it yourself.
So here it is – Best Ever Chocolate Brownie Recipe courtesy of my friend Sue.
Ingredients:
100g of 70% Dark Chocolate (the better the quality, the better the brownie)
2 eggs
125g butter
1/3 cup Self Raising Flour
1/4 cup Cocoa
Splash of Vanilla Essence
Just under a cup of Caster Sugar
Pinch of salt
Directions
Melt butter in pot over gentle heat
Remove pan from heat & add sugar, lightlt beaten eggs, cocoa & vanilla essence
Mix gently with a fork
Give the chocolate a good whack on the kitchen bench & make sure it’s broken into bite sized pieces
Next add sifted flour, pinch of salt & chocolate
Mix all ingredients
Pour into a greased 23cm tin
Cook for 30 minutes at 160 degrees in fan forced over (otherwise 170 degs). Important cook no longer than 30 minutes regardless of how it looks.
Allow to cool in tin before turning out
Enjoy whilst it’s warm – the gooey chocolate & slightly crunchy top is so yum!
Special Note
The first time I made this, I did things a little out of order & even though I only cooked for 30 minutes, it was probably overcooked. Sue’s brownie was seriously delicious so I recommend following her order, and follow your own instinct about how your oven works. If you know yours cooks faster (ie. is hotter) than what most recipes say, then reduce the time & or the temperature. I should have done this. Despite attempt being ordinary compared to Sue’s, Israel still loves it! Can’t wait till I get it like Sue’s so he really knows how good it is;-)
We are so blessed to have clients that are not only wonderful but very talented too. We’d love to introduce you to Pamela’s brain child, Bright Bubs.
Did you know research has proven that musical interactions with babies promotes healthy brain growth, language, social and emotional development?
This is where the Bright Bubs program of DVD’s can help you.
The Bright Bubs DVD’s help you with different ways of using song and dance to play with your baby. Not only do these activities promote healthy brain growth, but also deepens your bond with your baby.
The Bright Bubs website is full of useful tips about sharing music and motion with your baby, covering areas ranging from language, memory, social etc.
Visit the Bright Bubs website to learn more and to purchase these great DVD’s.
It’s clear when you look at the portraits of this family that they have fun together. The eye contact, their smiles, their arms wrapped around each other says it all. And what we especially love is the connection between mum and dad.
Pamela asked us to capture some candid and natural portraits of the family, and chose Balmoral as their shoot location. As you’ll see from these family favourites, James did a brilliant job! We can’t help but smile at them ourselves. They are so full of family fun!
Did you say smile, or crack up? Neither, this just happened!
As a mum, I love these. Strong individual portraits looking directly at the camera, compared to brotherly-sisterly messing about of the following four. Pamela chose to print each image onto canvas so she can hang them in this sort of arrangement. Looks brilliant don’t you think! (ps. the canvases look AMAZING!)
Love this moment between Pamela & Craig – clearly a strong connection which flows through to how the family interacts.
Ps. Pamela runs a business called Bright Bubs, providing sound and movement dvd’s for children. Bright Bubs will be shortly featured in our Community Local Spotlight section but you learn lots of amazing things just by reading Pamela’s website – www.brightbubs.com.au
Melissa received our “Love Your Bump” Red Balloon Experience. For us, Melissa epitomised what it means to be pregnant. She was glowing, and really loved her bump and baby body. Melissa asked Israel for some bare belly images but also wanted her family to be part of the shoot too.
Here we share Melissa & Andrew’s favourite images from the first family of four portrait shoot.
I love this image. I love Melissa & Andrew’s expression as they look dotingly down to their new family member to be. And I love ‘big sister’ pointing out where her baby is.
Other than a brand new bub, is there anything more perfect and beautiful than belly so full of baby. Such a special time!
Felicia received a Gift Certificate as a thank you from local business Yellow Brick Road, Randwick. When our Customer Courtesy Angel, Dorothy spoke to Felicia about what she was looking for from her portraits, Felicia said she really wanted portraits that captured the closeness of her family, how happy they are.
When I asked Felicia if we could share her portraits with you, this is what she said “Sure we would love you to share it with everyone. Israel did a very good job on capturing our expression n love in our family. We keep replaying our DVD. Well done and definitely be back for another photo session in the future.”
So here goes, these were Felicia and Andy’s favourite’s. They chose to order one of our mini box collections of 6 mounted prints (ready to frame themselves) and the DVD slideshow set to music of all the images from their shoot.
Thank you for supporting us. As a special thank you, we are offering our mums the opportunity to win this great prize. 
We are so blessed to have clients that are not only wonderful but very talented too. We’d love to introduce you to Pamela’s brain child, Bright Bubs.
