D.A YATES PHOTOGRAPHY + Design : blog

Kerrie-Anne & Lucas’ Wedding at Batemans Bay

Denise Yates — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:17:35 +0000

Sometimes love can take a while, but when it does come knocking on your door (even if its a little tardy) there is a sigh of relief and a warm embrace that never lets go. Love took its time coming to Kerrie-Ann and Lucas, but we are super happy its here. A touching union in picturesque Batemans Bay followed by one hell of a party to celebrate. This is their beautiful day.

Hi Lucas…one happy man assisted by Jose and little Mica on the day.

And Dad…they are always so handy…

I was anxious to get to Kerrie-Anne, I knew everything would be amazing, and I was just so happy for her.

Love a bow…

KA was flanked by her sister Amanda and little lady in waiting Zara. And mother Baker here helping out…

KA you look stunning, the perfect bride!

Love a good suprise from Dad…its such a great moment.

Fantastic, no nerves only happy times.

Again…beautiful.

No dry eyes…

Lucas and his beautiful daughter Isabella.

Can you tell I have a huge smile on my face as I write this? They are so sweet!!!

We headed off to a beautiful and quite secluded nearby beach for some gorgeous location photos.

What an amazing spot.

My favorite picture above…

The evenings celebrations were held at On The Pier an incredible venue with fantastic food and the best view.

Awesome, tear jerking and hillarious speeches followed with some great dancing and fantastic company. What a way to seal the deal. KA and Lucas, I know only good things are to come from this, its quite obvious from the way you constantly look at each other. Wishing you amazingness. And thank you…. x Denise

Angus + Suzy at Lake Cowal

Denise Yates — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:31:03 +0000

There is something magical about our light down here in NSW. When Suzy phoned me about her wedding photography and let me know she would be getting married by the beautiful Lake Cowal (between Forbes and West Wyalong) on her folks property I knew we would be taking advantage of this gorgeous summer light. I met Suzy and Angus for the first time when we got together just before the wedding for our location meeting. They took me out in the ute to the ceremony site right on the banks of the lake. Being a photographer with a bit of an obsession for landscapes I was blown away by the serenity and starkness of the lake. What a backdrop to start your married lives in front of. Please enjoy.

Suzy looked amazing and completely relaxed getting ready at her Mum and Dad’s place.

Angus waiting anxiously…

And our beautiful venue.

Emma, Lucy, Alex, Will and Charlie did a great job of attending to Suzy and Angus.

Suzy looking incredible and her Dad Tony.

The ceremony was looked after by Anthony Myers who is an amazing and down to earth celebrant. (Just what you need when you are a ball of nerves)

I think the girls had been waiting all day to throw their bags of goodies at Angus and Suzy!

I love the number plates on the rolls.

Such amazing scenery to photograph.

Suzy and Angus celebrated in style with a beautiful marquee in Suzy’s parent’s garden which looked stunning. Thank you for letting me be apart of your amazing day and giving me such beautiful scenery, we truly are blessed with such gorgeous country around us.

x Denise (photographer who loves lakes, landscapes and light)

Maddie loves Nick and Nick loves Maddie

Denise Yates — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:11:27 +0000

One of my new years resolutions was to blog, blog more, blog regularly. I don’t know what it is that stops me, I have a sneaking suspicion its a bit of shyness…Yes, I know I am NOT a shy person but I am when it comes to my work, my art, this is my life, its what feeds my family and feeds my soul. So here I am, I promise to be regular, to give you more and stop being silly. Hello 2012. And a big hello to our first blog from the kooky and fun wedding of Maddie and Nick.
Hello Nick. He loves Maddie and just to prove it he is donning a suit on a wet day to marry her.

Loving the cuff links. There was a bit of a skull theme happening today. I love themes and themes that suit the people so well. Nice posing for me Nick, hope my Mum is not reading my blog.

And to Maddie. I love Maddie! Cute as a button, rocker bride. With a super sexy yet dainty dress. Only Maddie can pull this off I am sure.

Layers and layers, like little bo peep meets madonna.

So pretty, so cheeky. Lucky Nick.

Hello ladies…

OK, so you can clearly see I am loving photographing this dress.

Ok back to business, we headed off in a bit of rain to Hillstone St Lucia where the ceremony was moved inside, but hey does it really matter? When the one you love is standing in front of you and you are surrounded by your nearest and dearest nothing and nowhere matters.

Gorgeous.

I love all of these details, Maddie has basically made everything for the day, all unique and relevant to what they are about. Particularly love the guitar picks.

Hello skulls.

With umbrellas up we headed over to UQ for some location shots. A couple of little kids were very curious about Maddie and thought she was a princess so we stopped for a chat.

Awwwwwwwwww…….

And again awwwwwwwwww….

Just having a chat..

We found this van with the tape across it, so we thought why not.

And my favorites of the day.

Wow. What a fun start to a marriage. I think it sets the tone for what these two have in store for their journey together. Thank you so much Maddie, for picking me up at a commercial shoot, how funny…I wish you guys all the best for your lives in sunny Canberra.

x Denise (photographer who is keeping ALL her resolutions and a fan of skulls)

We have Style.

Denise Yates — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:11:53 +0000

When Michael and I made the big move almost 12 months ago I thought to myself, where am I going to get the word out to country NSW about Studio Yates? There is only one word…Style. I had picked up a few copies here and there on my various trips home and thought I should make contact with the editor and sales team about some advertising. I met Jacqui Greig – head honcho of the Style express in February this year and I was sold. Jacqui has created an incredible magazine dedicated to country and regional NSW. I was completely inspired by Jacqui and thought to myself wouldn’t it be lovely to work with the magazine (not just have my advertising). But being new, I didn’t want to push the envelope. But to my delight we had a secret mutual thing for each other and I commenced putting my Yates Stamp on Style.

Please enjoy some Yates snippets from the last two issues Spring and Summer 2011…

My first cover shot in a random paddock that we found halfway between Forbes and Grenfell. Sarah and her beautiful daughter Layla looking very summery and incredible. Please note the balloons that Sarah has…The things I do for Jacqui..

Fashion spread Summer edition directed by the fabulous Cherie Quade. Shot at the quaintest little blue church just outside of Grenfell. I had been scheming of ways I can make the most of this location and Jacqui and Cherie were very supportive of my crazy ideas.

Love your work Chez.

Fashion Spring 2011. Photographed in Studio Yates. Love my bricks. Again styled by Cherie.

The ladies sent me on a mission to Naromine to work with lifestyle stylist Kezz Brett and capture a bush beach theme.

The food was incredible, it was really hard to photograph when all I wanted to do was eat. Our models were fantastic and we had a beautiful afternoon on the Macquarie River. I also had another 2 pages of social events but I didn’t want to bore you to death…

A little feature of moi.

More Style. adventures to come with some amazing shoots planned for the Autumn issue. Many thanks to Jacqui, what lucky ladies we are that she continues to produce such an inspiring publication that we can all enjoy. x Denise (photographer with a girl crush on Style.)

An Age of Innocence

Denise Yates — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:29:06 +0000

If I could think back to my youth, I would say 15/16 is the age of innocence. A tradition that celebrates this time and is still alive and well in many country and regional towns is the Debutant Ball. For those unaware of this practice its a celebration and an introduction to society to lovely young ladies aged around sixteen. Sometimes I think of it as a bit of a practice to marriage, you pick the white dress, hair and make-up, learn a dance and very importantly pick a partner to lead you down the aisle. Eight lovely young ladies graced Studio Yates to capture this important occasion.

Our first lass is Emily, she is a little special to me (she is my niece) and totally gorgeous..of course she gets it from her Aunty…;)

Her partner in crime is Alec

The beautiful India and her partner Luke.

Love this shot below.

Aren’t they cute!

Miss Nicole partnered by Blake.

We like having a laugh. Maybe I have a funny face?

Lauren, looking amazing with partner Matthew.

Love the gloves. I think we are breeding some future models out here!

The fabulous Courntey with Terry.

Love this shot and of Courtney’s family…Aww.

All of the girls were looking for some “non traditional” deb shots, you know the ones were they put the flowers right next to their faces i.e pixie photo style, well they are all no-go poses at Studio Yates. Young Brooke and her partner jason were great examples of the fun stuff we can do.

These two are good examples!

Amy and Phil – IN LOVE!

LOVE the dress. All the girls had such a sense of style that was perfect for them.

And last but certainly not least is the very lovely Holly and Brent.

Rad curls Holly..

A very loving family portrait.

And just to finish there is always a “planker” around somewhere…Oh Dear..

Thank you lovely ladies and your families, we wish you well as you enter the world of adulthood.

X Denise (photographer who remembers her deb with fond memories ohhhh sooo many years ago)

Vintage and Big Balloons

Denise Yates — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:08:12 +0000

Meet Kyle and Denver…such a romantic and groovy couple of love birds. I had the pleasure of photographing their beautiful wedding last year in Brisbane. Kylie is a super organised lass with fantastic attention to the details as you will see. I am a big fan of Kylie’s skills in this area as everything was so beautiful with a vintage and classic feel. Kylie and Den set this tone throughout the whole wedding making it a pleasure to be around and for all the guests to enjoy a very relaxed but elegant day. And of course…it always starts with the dress…

Kylie wore a stunning lace gown, so delicate and pretty! With cute little shoes.

Loving the details.

Possibly my most favorite shots…look at those eyes!

Kylie was joined by her best friend Tash. And I love that Mum and Dad were in on the action.

Most folks know of my immence fear/phobia of balloons. And these giant ones did nothing to help my anxiety…but they look so pretty…from a distance..

Den and his lovely Mum and brother Nathan.
”

Den was kind enough to have a drink for me

Our lovely little ladies.

The venue for the ceremony and reception was Eves on the River at New Farm. Always a lovely backdrop.

Den’s Mum feeling the love. Awww.

”
”

We did have a laugh at the random people just strolling past as these two made a life long commitment. Especially the cyclists in the back ground right on the all important “you may kiss” bit.

The balloons are lovely…but you hold onto them Den.

We made the most of all the Teneriffe and Newfarm locations for our pictures.
”
”

Beautiful.

We headed back to Eve’s to begin the celebrations. I love both parent’s wedding photos. It’s fantastic for them to honour where they came from and the love that brought them both to this point.

The cutest typewriter with a note to all friends and family thanking them for sharing and asking to “type” their thoughts of these two. What a beautiful wedding for two madly in love people. Kylie and Den, it was amazing to watch and be a part of your day, and to see so much of your personalities shine through with all the beautiful touches. I wish you so much love for the many years to come.

x Denise (photographer still allergic to balloons)

Pockets + Pink and a Party

Denise Yates — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 05:51:23 +0000

You know I am a sucker for a beautiful dress with a beautiful bride and every wedding I photograph I become “suckered in”. Frankly, I love it. I love the attention that our ladies go to to match their dress with their own personal style, I love the details and I love the love. So on this fine day, I was “suckered” completely by Shelly and Mark.

This is Mark, and we love him especially because he is giving Shelly two rings. Lucky Lady.

Now speaking of matching style, here are the prettiest pink wedding shoes and below is a simply stunning lady, Shelly. Her dress has pockets! (Practicality and beauty)

Beautiful.

Shelly and her best lady Natalie booked the always photogenic Treasury Hotel in Brisbane.

Oh I do love these shoes and the soles even sparkled!

Shelly and Mark celebrated their marriage vows at St Augustines in Ascot, where Shelly’s Mum and sister were also married. Indeed it is a gorgeous church.

We wandered around Kangaroo Point for some great location shots. Mark just brings out this amazing smile from Shelly.

All good celebrations should have a cocktail party and these guys put on an excellent evening upstairs at the Story Bridge Hotel. Ooooooh lollies…

And a fancy cake, matches the shoes in my mind!

A fantastic night was had by all celebrating the beginning of a journey for Shelly and Mark. I know it will be amazing.

x Denise (Photographer, who also comes with pockets and pink shoes)

Speedys day by Yatesy

Denise Yates — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 07:40:27 +0000

It was all very official when I first met Caroline (Ponti), she was busy naming a new bridge for Brisbane and everything was proper and lovely…Then I met Drew (Speedy) and it all came undone. Completely and utterly in a good way. Drew is a country lad, so we bonded over 4wd’s Rover vs Jeep vs Toyota and chatted about sheep. Caroline and I bonded over THE dress and our love for nearly everything the same as each other. I was christened Yatesy, became apart of the family and now I never want to leave. This is their day with love from Yatesy.

Oh how can you not love this smile, hillarious. And he is totally irresistable.

The boys, Luke and Luke.

Caroline had booked the Empourium in the Valley to get ready in…ladies it is a little bit fabulous to start your day in, well done.

Details, details.

Hi Mum.

And now for the dress… the bow…the shoes….its all so pretty and beautiful and dreamy to take pictures of. Speedy, you lovely bride. S.T.Y.L.E

Dress by Darb Bridal Couture.

LOVE IT.

Hello ladies Libby and Emma love the blue.

Completley feeling the love, and thinking I am on a fashion shoot. Below is my favorite of Speedy.

So off we went to St Pats in the Valley. I see where Drew gets his smile from (his lovely Mum)

I promise to look after her Mr Ponti.

Such a gorgeous church.

Yay we are married, and below is my future apprentice.

Happy days for Mr and Mrs Speedy.

Oh he makes her laugh and all of us. Sore, sore cheeks.

We had pre-planned our location and especially the “field” below for Drew. We had to have some “country looking” shots… (courtesy of Eagle Farm) Possible my favorite shots of the day.

The cake monsters!

Oh what a day and a night. Fun was had by all into the wee hours at Portside.To the Speedy’s thank you, you exceptional people that crack me up, but you do it in style. I am very happy to be in the family circle and look forward to doing it all again at Emma’s wedding.

“Dont you just love love”

x Yatesy – photographer who loves the Speedys and the Pontis and internal jokes.

No raining on Lou’s parade

Denise Yates — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:45:39 +0000

And so goes the story of Louise and Michael. Lou would have to rate up there with the most organised of Brides, being a Virgo and a little bit into organisation myself, I knew that no matter what this day threw at us we would just laugh right back at it. And it threw a big one, and we had a great time. Rain…? Storms…? You got nothing on these two.

So off we trudged to commence the day with some shots at Mick’s folks house with the boys.

Meet the boys Josh, Phil, Chris and Glen and of course our lovely groom Mick.

And our completley adorable little boys Zack and Cooper. Aww.

Umbrellas up and off to the city to see our ladies.

Now just a little note that lovely Lou is a bank babe by day and an awesome make-up artist in her spare time. See her work for yourself. (I can’t even do my lipstick properly…I am taking notes Lou)

Fantastic Eyes!!

And we LOVE photographing Lou. I cant tell you how much my face ached. Totally relaxed, totally organised.

After dragging ourselves back out into the rain we headed to our venue for the ceremony and reception Victoria Park Golf Course. Who are extremely well equipped in dealing with “weather situations”.

Great stripey roof and groovy lights.

I love these kids.

Especially when they do things like this.

There is my look, I love when I see this… Lou you have such a great smile!

What was meant to be a lovely October sun-shiny-day turned to dark-shitty-skies. But hey, we get awesome pictures from this.

Poor Michael was soaked after these shots, I dont think Lou felt a thing and she still looked fabulous.

And the look again..

After a quick dry off we returned to Victoria Park for the celebrations, and to take advatage of the beautiful interiors and some warmth/dry.

Lou and Mick, what a funny day we had! Looking back, the rain has got nothing on you two! Thank you again for your superior organisational skills, amazing looks and just overall giving me a glimpse of your fantastic life that has just begun. Wishing you so much love.

x Denise (photographer looking for make-up lady to work every morning)

No Cold Hearts Here

Denise Yates — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:54:02 +0000

Gosh I meet some great people…I really enjoy that the Brides and Grooms who come to me have such a sense of how things are going to be on their wedding day and always this is a refelction of how they are as a couple, their view on love and how they want it to be celebrated. This is why I love Scott and Alison, two groovy people, completely in love and celebrating their grooviness (for the purposes of this blog grooviness is a word) in Brisbane’s grooviest place of all things contemporary and artistic The Powerhouse.

I have to say it was a really wet and awful day, I mean torrential rain as only Brisbane can turn on, but we didnt care, Alison looked amazing, we had umbrellas and everything was indoors. Not a care in the world, we were off to a great start.

Oh you are so fab Alison, Perfect dress, perfect hair, perfect man…

And here is our Groom Scott. Waiting patiently for his lady. Looking fantastic. Scott is the bassist and vocalist for the band “cold heart projects”. When I met these guys we pretty much bonded over music and I was sold on Cold Hearts awesome sound. I grabbed this line from their website which perfectly describes their music (and Scott… he he just kidding but it is funny.) “Think one part Mogwai, one part Sonic Youth and one part ….trail of dead and you would be close to a cocktail that will make most people smile then vomit in pleasure”.

Alison and her lovely Dad (Ipromise I did not strategically place the graffiti halo above his head on purpose)

And yes, it was a touching ceremony….completley personal, completley romantic and completed with many tears.

Congratulations!

We had a little bit of time out to enjoy the architechture of the powerhouse and be sheltered from the rain, and do a spot of dancing in the corridors.

Everywhere was dark and moody inside, perfect for some low light intimate photos

We headed off to Portside to the funky restaurant Manx (Ihighly recommend for an intimate reception gathering) and Scott loved the lighting….:)

A fantastic day, I just loved hanging out with you both and your friends and family. I know you need no wishing, but I do wish you all the best in the band, in life, in love and wishing the most amazing happiness with each other.

x Denise (part mogwai, part photographer) (wishes she was a rock star too)