Category Archives: Just For Me

Personal photographs of people and places near and dear to me.

2011 | The Year That Was

2011 was a brilliant year. I loved every second of it. Looking back now, I’m realising just how far I travelled and how many incredible places I’ve been, both here in Australia and overseas. I’ve met some amazing people on the way and wouldn’t change a single thing.

It started with a bang!

Sydney Photography: New Years Fireworks

Followed by a few days in Fiji to celebrate my 29th birthday (stay tuned for a Fiji wedding in June 2012!!)

Fiji Wedding Photographers: Fishing charter

I helped Mish Koh with this gorgeous wedding in Centennial Park & The Rocks

Centennial Park Wedding Photographer: Bride & Groom portraitsSydney Wedding Photographers: Harbour Bridge

4 weddings in March with Caspix all over the place: Sydney, Berry & the Southern Highlands

First Look Wedding Photographer: GlebeSydney Wedding Photographer: Bride getting readySouthern Highlands Wedding Photography: Bridal PartyBerry Wedding Photographers: Bride & Groom on hill

The Boy & I headed overseas again for 8 magical nights in Thailand – fishing, snorkelling & kayaking!

Thailand Wedding Photographer: Frog on Lotus & Krabi Islands

Sarah & Scott’s engagement amongst the lavender bushes at Lavender Bay

Sydney Engagement Photography: Lavender Bay

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, these little fella’s need no introduction – I caught up with my sister & twin nephews a bunch of times, including their first ever trip to the beach.

Northern Beaches Baby Photographers: Twins on beach

Another wedding with Caspix in July, this time up in the Hunter Valley

Hunter Valley Wedding Photographer: Bridesmaid portrait & couple leaving chapel

Wedding season kicked off again in September with Jacqui & Stuart

North Shore Wedding Photography: Bride & Groom portraits

Followed by a trip or two to Canberra, visiting Floriade for the first time.

Canberra Wedding Photography: Floriade

Sarah & Scott’s wedding in October was a glorious day!

Sydney Wedding Photography: Ceremony first kiss

I met a bunch of bubs with big brown eyes

Sydney Baby Photographer: Babies with big brown eyes

Another trip to Canberra to shoot this lovely wedding with Beata English.

Canberra Wedding Photographers: Kiss in the Rose Gardens

Carly & Michael’s engagement session at Freshwater was simply perfect, and I can’t wait for their March 2012 wedding here on the Northern Beaches!

Northern Beaches Wedding Photographers: Engagement on Freshwater beach

Finally, the year wrapped up with a Destination Elopement at Ayers Rock! I really hope it was the first of many.

Alice Springs Wedding Photography: Desert bouquet

As the sun sets for the last time in 2011, I sometimes can’t believe I get to be so lucky to do this for a living.

Ayers Rock Wedding Photography: Sunset over Uluru

A special thank you to all my clients, you’ve made 2011 so much more than I’d hoped. Thanks also to my photographer friends for inviting me along on to share in your own journeys.

Cheers to a bigger and better 2012 :)

François Hogue - 2011 looked like a beautiful year. congrats for the great pictures and the fabulous work.

Derek - Awesome year!! Can’t wait to see what you do this year!

Matt Ethan - Wow! You make everything look so beautiful! Love the sequence of Uluru!

brett maxwell - wow, what a great 2011, hope your 2012 is even better (if that’s possible)

Christine - So many stunning weddings – and I especially love how you ended this with a sunset post from the last day of the year. Beautiful!

Natalie - Your work is so beautiful! Wishing your the best in 2012!

Lauren Walker - wow, what a great blog post to wrap up an awesome year for you! all the best for 2012!

Leah Muse - Your year looked amazing! Can’t wait to see what’s in store for your 2012.

Elissa - You had such a beautiful year.. here’s to your 2012 – may it be wonderful (and I can’t wait to see what you cook up for that Fiji wedding, yay!)

Heather - WOW awesome shots!

John P - You’ve had an amazing year (I’m a tad jealous). Your work continues to inspire and you’re bound to tare it up in 2012 as well.

Mary Sylvia - Ooo gorgeous. My favorite is the reflective shot during the engagement on freshwater beach, really good stuff.

Tricia - Lovely as always :)

Brian Kraft - Excellent stuff, Kellee! You had a fantastic year it looks like- from a professional and personal standpoint! Here’s to 2012!

Heather Kanillopoolos - I love the way you laid out this post. What wonderful work!! I adore your clean, fresh style. Looking forward to seeing your 2012!

James - What a great year you have had, stunning work!

Anton Chia - Kellee! Beautiful work beautiful 2011~! May your 2012 be even better!

Steve Koo - Looks like a fantastic year, Kellee! Best of luck to you in 2012! :)

Amanda Basteen - What a beautiful year you’ve had! Here’s to 2012! Can’t wait for the fiji wedding!

JESSIE - Love the “Bubs!”

Lindsay Taryn - I LOVE the Uluru sunset series! So gorgeous! And I can’t wait to see the elopement you shot there :D

Christmas Sunrise

They Boy & I were up at 4am Christmas morning to watch the sunrise and cook a BBQ breakfast on the beach.

Who needs presents when you can have this for free :)

Sydney Wedding Photographer: Christmas Sunrise

François Hogue - beautiful lansdcape!

Derek - Beautiful!

Angel Kidwell - Beautiful!

Nessa K - That would’ve made for a very merry Christmas. :)

Heather - STUNNING!

Matt - one word – wow.

Jen Smith - Magnificent! We were up at 5am but I had no plans of rising so early to cook breakfast. You’ve inspired me for next year ;-)

Nora - Beautiful!!!!!!

Tracy Morter - Wow! What a beautiful start to Christmas Day!

John P - Wowza .. yea who needs stuff when you have life, love and sand!

Brian Kraft - Goooorgeous! The rays of light are perfect!

Caroline - Beautiful sunrise and love what you wrote :)

adam houseman - Sounds like my kinda Christmas. Hoping your holiday season is treating you well. Cheers!

Belle - Such a stunning sunrise capture! I love it. :)

ALMA - Awesome…merry christmas.

Teresa K - That looks lovely!! Merry Christmas Kellee; I hope your day was wonderful!

Avalon

A couple of weeks ago, The Boy & I went for a bush walk through the headlands between Whale Beach & Avalon. The views were absolutely stunning.

Sydney Photographer: Avalon

The colour of the water makes me happy!

Anne - Oooh, the color of the water makes me happy too! =)

Andrew Follan - One of my favourite places to surf!

Alyssa Schroeder - So wish I was escaping the cold here!

Jimmy - Beautiful view! thanks for sharing

Joseph - All this talent in AU, I really want to visit, there seems to be so many beautiful areas.

Sachin - That is stunning! Wow!

Natalie - This is so beautiful! Spectacular!

porter - ok this just isnt fair. lol see that little beachy spot, yup thats where i should be, gorgeous!

Rima - Ahh take me there! Beautiful image

El - This is where I grew up and where all my family still lives. I have done that walk many, many times. Beautiful photo, Kellee. Makes me very homesick xoxo

Revenge of The Kings

While it’s hardly the national sport, Ice Hockey is bigger in Australia than most people realise. That said, about 75% of the players are ex-pat Americans, Canadians & Europeans :)

A bit of background info, my boyfriend (AKA The Boy) has been playing hockey for almost 20 years, and in our 5 seasons together, I’ve been to almost every game. I’ve spent the last 3 years shooting from the bench with the boys and despite one close call, I’ve never been hit with the puck!

At the end of the season, I spend the better part of a week sorting through thousands upon thousands of photos to put together a 20 minute slideshow for the end of year party.

Here’s some of the highlights of 2011! (If you missed the pics from 2010, check them out).

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Team Huddle

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Face Off

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Game Play

The butterfly save

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Goalie Save

Plenty of stacks

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Stacks

Pure focus

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Goalie

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Game Play

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Playing the puck

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Game play

There were plenty of fights, but they mostly only make sense as a series

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Fight

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Game play

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Outnumbered

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Canterbury Ice Kings

I’m sure all the fella’s will cringe at this :)

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Hockey skate in the crotch

Having shot easily 100 games, I’ve become pretty good at anticipating what’s going to happen next. Here’s a goal from the Semi Final – the wind up, the goalie going down, and the celebration that followed. They were pretty excited to say the least!

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Semi Final Goal

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Semi Final Goal

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Animated Goal Celebration

Apparently #67 thought he was pretty hard done by for getting penalised for tripping here. Seems pretty clear cut to me!

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Tripping

The Semi Final came down to this goal in double overtime. The Kings were the underdogs much of the season, and gave the Eagles quite the upset.

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Overtime tie breaker

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer:

The Grand Final wasn’t meant to be however. Down 3-0 in the last period, The Kings scored with 15 seconds on the clock. My favourite thing about this shot, is while the goal scorer is celebrating in the background, the captain’s immediate reaction is to check the time left on the clock.

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Captain looking at clock

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Grand Final Loss

Some are happier than others with their silver medal :)

Sydney Ice Hockey Photographer: Silver Medalists

Here’s a trailer I put together as a teaser a few days before the party (I know it’s super cheesy, but that’s what makes it awesome!).

Congratulations to the Ice Kings for another awesome year.  My boys did me very proud!

Bring on 2012!!!!

ryan chan - LOVE Hockey! Some really great shots in here – the boys must have liked them.

Oh, and it isn’t a hockey game without at least one fight! ;-)

Nessa K - I bet these guys were so stoked to see these! I don’t know much about sports even now, but I was a sports photographer for a while and it was such a fun job. :)

Albert Palmer - I’ve never been to a hockey game, but damn it looks fun!

James Murphy - Some great action shots! Well done!

Cassie Rose - Nice work! That’s so awesome that you’re such a huge support for him (and them)!

porter - these are awesome! great coverage!

Cafe Chick - Great shots! I’ve never been to a live ice hockey game but am amazed by the lightning pace at which it is played – making the sharpness of your pics even more spectacular.

Anton Chia - Great coverage Kellee!

Samantha - Sweet, gotta love hockey!

kit - Wow! That tripping shot is visceral! Great capture! For me, sport photography seems the most challenging- you have to be ready for THE shot at any moment! These are great! I bet your man and his teammates love these.

ALMA - SYDNEY ICE HOCKEY?? Awesome!

Chantal - Haha first off, that trailer is amazing. Secondly, this does not look easy to do! I’m really impressed– and especially love the after goal shot! Awesome.

JESSIE - Hockey Players Rule! Awesome work.

heather - This team is sure lucky to have your expertise as a photographer available to them! Great photos capturing the action perfectly!