If you're looking for a beautiful all-in-one wedding venue not too far out of Ballarat, it's worth checking out The Tangled Maze. It's far enough out of the way that you won't be bothered by the hustle and bustle of town, but easy enough to find that your guests won't get lost on their way there (although there's no guarantees what will happen if they wander into the maze).

Our groom, Dean, was waiting patiently for awhile. Until the heat started to get to him too.

The guests found ways to keep themselves amused while waiting for the bride to arrive.

Is it bad that I love it when the groom cries?

The ceremony was conducted by Kellie Dunn. I loved working with Kellie, she's so bright and bubbly, and is an absolute dream to work with as a photographer. I highly recommend her!

After the serious business, the silliness returned...

My inner child comes out when the bubbles start flowing. I love this!

Next time we're off on a wander around the gardens for portraits...come back soon and check it out!

Brides, without exception, run late. I was therefore a bit skeptical when Ash told me she'd be ready to put her dress on when we arrived at her parents' house at 9:00am on Sunday morning.

Colour me surprised, because she managed to do it.

Bridesmaid Lindsey was still in make-up, but nearly done.

Then it was all hands on deck to help Ash's mum button the bride into her beautiful gown.

Ash's parents have a spacious property just a short distance out of town, so we headed outside for some family portraits.

It was a warm day. The heat was getting to everyone. Things started to get a little crazy...

Then it was into the car and off to the ceremony!

Check back soon for the next part of this blog post to see Ashleigh & Dean's beautiful ceremony location!

Dean had an early morning start to his wedding day. We arrived at 8am on a warm December Sunday morning to photograph he and his brother getting ready for the big day.

The tie proved to be quite challenging for a nervous groom with fumbling fingers.

But a quick check of YouTube got the matter sorted in no time.

There are no rules on your wedding day. You're allowed to have beer for breakfast.

Brides, if you don't think you need/want photos of your groom getting ready, consider this...how else will you know what they got up to when you weren't around? ;)

After decades on the land, this Western district farmer decided it was time. Time to rest. Time to retire. Time to move on.

And with that, time for the last shear.

I was lucky enough to be present at the last shearing before all the sheep were sold. I think I found it more emotional than anyone else. Perhaps the shearer, having done this day in and day out for as long as he could remember, just saw it as another day. The rouseabout just saw a day's pay. And the farmer, well, it had to be done. He saw a finality, I'm sure, but perhaps also a sense of relief that it would be the last time. So he just got in and did it. No further thought required after 60 years of farming.

I saw a chapter of history coming to an end. And I couldn't let that go by without recording it.

These hands have seen countless sheep and bales of wool in their time. They'll never see another again.

A glimpse of the man responsible for the entire operation. Even at 80, a farmer's hands are never idle.

Something you may not know about me is that I have an arts degree from the University of New England. I majored in history and was invited back to do honours, but my career path took me elsewhere. However, I never lost my curiosity about the past and my desire to preserve knowledge for future generations. That desire to record and preserve history, above all else, is what brings me to photography, and why I thoroughly enjoyed photographing the last shear.

It's been a long time since I've blogged. You know what it's like. No matter what line of work you're in, there just never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done.

I'm a lawyer. I also work at Infocus Photography & Video. And I run blue*jean*photography. And I run a household, as we all do. And I have family, and friends, and hobbies. And I need to sleep. I really like sleep. And sometimes, I even like to watch TV, just to give my brain a rest. But not very often because there's very little to watch since Bones and The Good Wife both finished up within the same year and for some unknown reason 7 thought it was a genius idea to put Grey's Anatomy on 7Flix...

But I digress.

I have been busy. Hence the blog has been neglected. Hopefully you can forgive me.

If you scroll through some earlier posts this week you'll see that I've finally gotten around to blogging some of the community events I shot in the last part of 2016. 

I've also started a new Instagram page, mostly because I wanted to see if it would make any difference having a personal page vs. having a business page. Apparently Instagram is now ruining business page reach, but that's a whole other soapbox that I don't have time for today, and I'm sure you don't want to be bored with the details.

Anyway, the short version is - I'm back and looking forward to keeping in touch with you more often. Feel free to keep in touch with me by clicking the buttons below.