A whole new look...

The thing about creative people, is that we’re never satisfied. As soon as we’ve mastered something we’re on the look out to change it up or try something new. My business has been such an exciting quest for innovation, integrity and authenticity in the last 10+ years, and this last year had me really wanting to transform yet again. When I start feeling like this, everyone around me has to watch out as I birth the new incarnation of Simone Hanckel Photography. I have to say, I don’t say birth lightly...it’s taken as long and has been about as painful... My sincere apologies to the loved ones that have had to witness it all. I'm sure they'll agree it has been worth it!

Enter my gorgeous and incredibly talented friend, Kate Burns of Kate Burns Design. Kate has had to listen to me waffle on about what I want my branding to evolve to for the last year, and patiently sifted through the bazillion ideas, all the while getting to know me on a personal level, until the glorious day that this new branding emerged perfect and whole. I’m so thrilled with it. It says so much about what I do, how I feel about my work and the children I photograph.

This new look encompasses a lot about me. The striking black and white that I’m well known for, the little girl jumping that is inspired by this iconic photo of darling Emily, the perfect name for my new loyalty/VIP programme, and the stamp...sigh...this gorgeous hallmark that says your art prints have been created by me with care and love. I hope you love it as much as I do, I am beyond excited about it all. I especially love the little silhouette that Kate unwittingly hit on as being so much a part of me. My own childhood was spent with my head in books as often as possible, and the little silhouette reminds me of those old fashioned, hard covered books with a little stamp on the cover of the book’s main character. I have many of these books, from Peter Pan to Anne of Green Gables, and when I saw this I was taken back to being the little girl who loved reading so much she was known to climb into a tree to escape my sisters long enough to get some peace and quiet to read. 

The part I'm most excited about is 'Kindred’, my fantastic new loyalty programme. My Kindred families are those who have supported me and my business over time, by referring me to their friends and family, bringing me back to photograph their children more than once, or by loving their photos so much that they have invested well in having my prints on the walls and as keepsakes. As a member you will have access to special offers, competitions, exclusive sittings and products, and every Kindred Family be entitled to one complimentary standard sitting per year (valued at $150). This is my thank you to the families that have welcomed me into their lives, and trusted me to be the photographer that documents their kids’ childhoods. It’s such a privilege and I really appreciate the honour. Full details on the Kindred Programme can be found here, and don’t hesitate to contact me to find out how to become a Kindred Family.

To welcome you to the Kindred Programme, I have a very special gift for you. Kindred Families will receive a special email with a link to take you to your very own app containing a selection of your own favourite photos, that can be opened onto your computer, smartphone or iPad and shared easily with family and friends through email or posting the link to Facebook or Twitter! The instructions are here if you have problems loading it onto your device.

We also have the first of our exclusive offers. For a very limited time, you can purchase the full proof set of the images from one of your sittings in 4x6 inch prints for the incredible price of $500. This is the opportunity to have the full set to use as gifts, put into family albums, or pop in a frame to go on your desk. This offer is open until August 31st, so don’t hesitate to call Simone on 83402838 to order your set now.

I want to thank you personally, for helping me build this amazing business, for allowing me to document your family and becoming part of the family of Simone Hanckel Photography. I look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Simone xo

My favourite 11 photos of the last 11 years...

Last year I mentioned in my newsletter (have you signed up for the newsletter? You can do so here! ) that May signified 10 years as a photographer. This year marks 11 years of course, but this year comes with a specialness to the anniversary that wasn't there in previous years. This is utterly personal, and more than I tend to share here on my blog, but 11 years ago, on Mothers Day ( also May 13), I should have had my second child. We lost that baby fairly early on in the pregnancy though and while I was pretty philosophical about the loss, knowing that he or she had been due on Mothers Day meant that the day would loom with a lot of the commercial fanfare and a great deal of pain. My oldest son was 2 and I did what I could to make the day about him, but it was a tough one nevertheless. We went on to have Toby of course and the story ended happily with the most insanely amazing children on the planet (not biased at all!), but as with any loss, there is always a 'what if' attached. What I didn't realise, is that what was born that Mothers Day was my beautiful career. I knew I loved photography, I had photographed my first little subject the week before, and it was a small dream deep down in my heart to create a great business from this new passion, but I didn't know that I was actually birthing a different type of child. One that I'd nurture, sculpt, be proud of and exasperated with in equal measure, and that would bring me just as much joy and fulfillment as my two incredible sons. They do say there is a silver lining to every cloud.

I've tossed up many ideas on how to promote my business for Mothers Day. I've gone over specials, promotions and ideas to the nth degree, but in the end what I love most about my business, and want to promote, is that people hire me because they love what I do and they want me as part of their family as they grow. I am their photographer for life. So in celebrating what Mothers Day means to me, I wanted to share my favourite eleven photos of the last eleven years. Many of which feature clients that have become firm friends over the years as we've shared the journey of parenthood together. I'd love you to help my business grow by sharing this post with people you know feel the same way you do about being a parent, and I'd love it even more if you would invite me in to photograph your own family with a bit of my magic.

These photos are favourites for many different reasons, so I'll be putting them on Facebook as well to be able to describe each one and give a glimpse behind the scenes. This is the beauty of a photograph, there is always a depth to it that someone outside the family might not know that makes it all the more meaningful for the children in it. I'd love for you to visit and comment on them.  https://www.facebook.com/simonehanckelphotography

My 12th year will bring change with a new brand, new opportunities and hopefully lots of new families to get to know. I can't wait.

Happy Mothers Day. For all the mothers, not just those that get to hold their babies.

Simone xo

Extreme Sport...

There are times when the weather just does not co-operate. Between the family and I, we do our best to anticipate a gorgeous day, but sometimes a rotten one sneaks up on you! This shoot was on Good Friday, which seemed to be a relatively lovely day, except for the wind... I think we underestimated how strong it would be down at the beach, and coupled with a high tide, it made the whole thing really tricky! This is where a family that is a bunch of troupers comes in. With freezing toes, crazy hair and lots of laughing, we managed to capture a family that has such good grace, and is so loving that they can even look connected and gorgeous after their crazy photographer drags them through a hurricane! Ok, not a hurricane. A cyclone maybe. So, if you're into your photo shoot being an extreme sport, apparently I'm the girl!

Simone xo

The Gardens

The opportunity to photograph families in the beautiful Adelaide Botanic Gardens is always a joy. There is so much scope and every hour of the day gives a different view of this amazing asset to our city. I don't often get to photograph families there in the late afternoon, so it was an incredible pleasure to explore the glorious autumn light with this special family. They showed me parts of the garden I'd never seen before.

A reminder that the mini sessions will be held at the Gardens on April 13th and 14th. There are still some places left (late afternoon Friday is still free...you could take advantage of this amazing light!) so don't miss out. Call for information on 83402838 or email simone@simonehanckel.com.au

Simone xo

Show her you love her, this Mothers Day

Mothers Day is just weeks away and if you're starting to think about what you'd like, I have the perfect gift (and no, it's not slippers or a waffle maker!). My archives are about to be opened for the annual award print choosing for the national awards in May, and it's just in time for Mothers Day! If you'd like to purchase prints from your previous session, I'm offering 30% off reprints for a very limited time. This includes our premium products such as albums and canvas, so if you've been wishing you'd ordered one, now is the time. If that's not enough, I'm also offering for Mothers Day, 'buy one, get one free' gift certificates*. Our gift certificates begin at the sitting fee price of $275. If you buy one, you will get $550 towards your sitting and prints for just $275. Or... you can have two certificates, keep one, and give one to someone you love. How lovely would that be?

Offer ends April 5th, so you do need to hurry. Once that archive closes, that's it! Wish me luck as I trawl through the countless images to find those four award winning moments :)

Simone xx

*Conditions apply. These gift certificates are to be applied to new sittings only and are applicable to the sitting and prints only. Framing, canvas and premium products are not included.

The Autumn Sessions!!

Mothers Day is coming (as are the school holidays!) and what makes a better gift than a gorgeous mini-session celebrating the beautiful Adelaide Autumn. Our mini-sessions have been an enormous hit in past years, and this year will top them all. Held at the magnificent Adelaide Botanic Gardens, each family will have 30 minutes of my undivided attention to have simple and sweet photographs taken that can be used as gifts, art for the walls or just a beautiful keepsake of this time in your lives. To top it off, all families that book will go into the draw to win a $100 gift certificate from the incredibly gorgeous Palas Jewellery. This jewellery has long been a favourite of mine, and makes such a beautiful Mothers Day gift (hope my sons are reading this!).

Bookings are strictly limited and the optimal times will be taken fast. Call Simone on 83402838 to find out about how to book and get the details on the fantastic mini packages also available.

Simone xo

For Carney

A conversation about what a photograph means over time prompted me to remember an experience I had a few weeks ago. I had been going through old photos, looking for a special photo of my youngest son's birth to show him on his tenth birthday. I spent hours going through them, trying to find that one photo that summed up how his birth felt for me and eventually I found it for him and we had a cuddle while talking about it. That photograph, even though it's a blurry snapshot of the moment Toby was placed in my arms, means more to me every year. It takes me straight to that moment, but also reminds me of the ten years we've spent together. A lot of them with him in my arms :) It's a photograph of my grandparents' wedding that caught me by surprise though. I've seen it many times and am fortunate to have taken a photo of it to have it digitised. Coming across it again I saw it in a new light, which really is the true value of a photograph. I've known this set of photos since I can remember and every time I look at them I see something new. As a child I was entranced to see my grandmother (we all called her Carney) as a young girl (weeks shy of turning 18!), the grandfather who had died when I was too little to remember him, her old fashioned outfit, the expression on their faces etc. As a new bride I felt connected to her and her excitement about her life to come, and as a new mother I hung one of these photos on the wall to commemorate her passing the same year as I had my first son. Her life and mine were woven tightly together, and of all of the photographs we have of her life, it's her wedding photo that surprises me every time. It occurred to me tonight that while we consider a photograph to be constant, a permanent record of that moment and something that can't be changed...the truth is that this only exists in a vacuum. A photograph, as with anything, changes with the viewer. Where I am in my life greatly influences what I see when I look at it and how cool is that? The photographs I hold the most dear, like the one below of my beautiful grandmother, show me something new and intensely profound, not only about the people who have gone before me, but about myself.

So what did I see when I looked at this last? I saw my Toby, and also my cousin's daughter too! It was ironic that in trying to find a photo of Toby's birth I found one that reminded me that he existed in my grandmother long before he was even thought of. She never got to meet him, but I hope one day he looks at this photo and sees something I never did.

This March marks what would have been my grandmother's 100th birthday. I'm early, but this is to love and remember her. I hope everyone has photographs they feel like this about. Go dig them out and have a think about what you see in them this time around :)

Simone xx

Summer

I have to start by saying, I can't wait for it to be cooler! Could it have been any hotter this summer? I'm well aware that the worst is probably yet to come, February and March usually turn it on even harder in Adelaide, so the air-conditioner will be getting a work out. This fantastic Summer Session should make you feel cooler just to look at. We had such a great time, all got drenched, and I got some of my favourite images of all time. I just love them. I've extended the Summer Sessions to include February as well, to make the most of the hot weather, so if you missed out for January, give me a call on 83402838.

Simone xo