Photoshoot with handsome twins

In 2008, I gave birth to two incredibly beautiful (and big) baby boys. They were 3.3 kgs and 3.7 kgs (or 7 pounds 4 and 8 pounds 4 if you're using the old system). We were told that they were fraternal, but as time went on and their weight became similar, it was harder and harder to tell them apart. We decided that we would have them DNA tested to be sure that they were fraternal. Of course, they are identical. This happens way more than people think! As they have reached their milestones, it has been bittersweet. It's lovely that they are growing beautifully and are reaching their milestones however, they are my last babies, so in some ways it's sad to leave that time behind. Still, that's not a good reason to have more babies, so I will accept that we are entering the next phase of our lives, where they will grow up to be fine, young gentlemen.

Noah told me yesterday that his tooth was wobbly. And it is VERY wobbly! You would think he told me he was moving out with my reaction. I immediately called for a photoshoot to have a memory of those tiny baby teeth. I imagine Zane won't be far behind, as identical twins tend to lose teeth at similar times.

These boys have always been so incredibly happy. They are always smiling and giggling. I love the way their eyes close and their noses crinkle up when they laugh. And their laugh is infectious. It's impossible not to smile around them. As a result, I am sharing lots of photos, there are way too many to choose from and I love them all. Here are my baby boys with their baby teeth. Perhaps the last day of their baby teeth.

Behind the scenes | Sydney Family Photographer

I had a few private messages and emails about the following image, so I thought I would give a behind the scenes look at what my vision was and how this image was created. A little bit of background first...when it comes to photography, I like clean lines, clean processing and uncluttered imagery. I have been trying to push myself lately, both in terms of imagery and processing. I am pushing my vision of styling the shoot and telling the story. I am also playing more with post processing, to try and enhance the story telling.

My vision for this shoot was a boy in a boat. He is on an adventure and is looking out to the distance, contemplating what is ahead, what is in the future. My vision had a whimsical feel. And with that in mind, I headed out with my 5 year old twins into the bush.

This is the plate shot, the basis of the image.

This is a pretty magic setting in Carlingford, but still, I wanted something more whimsical. I wanted the water to be more misty. I knew I needed a slower shutter speed to make it happen. I was going to experiment with my flash, to see how far I could lower the shutter speed, however, it was a cold day and I didn't want my son to have to wait in the cold as I experimented with my equipement, so I decided a composite would do. My tripod broke (yes, everything was going against me that day), so I used a rock as a tripod to get this image, which became the water shot.

I knew I wanted the boat to have a sail, so I made one from some material I have for my newborn shoots, and a stick we found on the way into the bush. My twins helped create the image.

And finally, I got one of the boys into the boat in the pose I had in mind.

I took all of these images into photoshop and merged them together. This process was quite time consuming, as I was quite specific with what I wanted my image to be. So there was plenty of cloning, masking and patching to make the final image just right. This is the final result and I was so pleased that it turned out very close to my original vision.