Happy Holidays from Mandi

Happy Holidays everyone...Had a lovely Christmas with my kids, Craig, and of course Amandine.  I was stupidly busy right up until Christmas eve so I was appauld that I hadn't set anything up for the holidays.   Will's is allergic to real Christmas trees so on Christmas Eve.  I took one of those willow garden thingies...you know the kind that you can grow peas up and I put it in the lounge and decorated it with Pahutakawa flowers....My mum and I when I was still at home in Atlanta, used to go completely bonkers for Christmas and would have a tree decorated perfectly, all of the presents meticulously wrapped with designer paper and real ribbons (of course we had bought it all in the sales the year before).  It never snowed but last year I went back home for Christmas and we got snowed in...in Georgia if you can believe it.

Now I have lived in New Zealand for 10 years and I had always heard about Christmas's at the hot summery beach but thought they were a bit of a myth because the temperature in Wellington has been blustery and cold or rainy for the last 9 years but certainly not this one.  What a blessing and our silly little Christmas tree with the jellyfish tree topper (a two dollarshop hair piece), looked right at home.   Those flowers were part of a shoot I was doing for the Gaya Aotearoa collection.  This one involved getting Emma (Craig's beautiful daughter) painted up like a Pahutakawa tree....beautiful.
I hope you have had a Christmas filled with moments that touched your heart and made you happy.
That you found time to think about all of the things that you were grateful for.   I hope your next year is amazing, beautiful, soul inspiring, juicy, and succulent.
Be amazing.
Love,
Mandi Lynn

Haylee Burgess | Free Range Kids

Slowly getting through the images I took for the free range kids book....her is a look at the beautiful Halee.  What a nature lover this wee girl was...she was fascinated by the grass on the farm and was weaving the most lovely things from it. An old soul she is.

A La Mode Legwear

Nic the momepreneur from Lucy Lou was gifted by her best friend a ticket to one of my photography classes.... She seemed to like what she was learning and after seeing some of my work decided she would hire me to shoot her legwear range...yeah!  I have LOVED them from the moment I saw their inspired designs.  I told her I would only work for her if she promised to bring out a plus size range and if she would make some A La Mode tights.   Nic is a woman of her word and look at this!  Lucy Lou has been A La Moded.   And her designers are working on a plus size range using my gorgeously ample legs as a model....because as we all know there is nothing worse than trying to fit into a pair of stockings that are too small and that keep walking down your thighs...the stocking hike up is not the most attractive look in public...and if I am wearing tights and I am shooting, I certainly don't have time to go find a bathroom to hike the crotch up off my knees... So Nic has promised to create a beautiful range of leggings for us girls that "pack more back" and have thunderific thighs....Waiting with baited breath because legwear envy is not a pretty thing. 

If you would like a  pair of Lucy Lou tights you can go to her sparkly new website and order yourself a pair of A La Mode's of course!

Larissa, Ian, Max, and Ethan | Wellington Family Photography

This is the part I love....becoming a photographer for life.   I was incredibly lucky to photograph Larissa and Ian at their beautiful wedding and reception. Max featured there but he was significantly shorter at that time.  What a little character he has turned into!  I had heard that Ethan had come on the scene but I did not know how gorgeous he was.  My favourite shot is definitely the top one where he was walking the "catwalk" for me.  He thought it was hysterical....so did I!

Lucy Lou Legwear

Had a lovely shoot yesterday with Lauren, Emma, and Jepha all celebrating LucyLou Legwear.  The coolest thing about Lucy Lou Legwear is that she has a way for you to design your own......so of course we had  A La Mode tights made...they are available on her website.  I love them!!!!  She has promised to get some made in Plus sizes for me later....very happy about this. 

Renee and Amandine did the makeup and hair, Jepha and Lauren's top was from Goodness, Emma's Top photographers own. 

Angelic Arianna | Wellington Teen Photographer

This gorgeous creature is Arianna.  Her mum works for our framers and after seeing our work come through she decided that a photoshoot with us would be the perfect thing for her daughter.  What a cool mum.  Arianna came in with her mother and for the life of me I couldn't make eye contact with her.  I thought "oh boy, this might be a wee challenge."  Nah....her mum left to go back to work and we stuck her in the hair and make up chair.  As the makeup went on the girl started blossoming...by the time we started on the braids we had a down right chatty little thing...then we fed her pineapple lumps and that was it...she was off and ready to pose....and not just posing politely...she was twirling and leaping in the air.  We had a complete and utter blast.  It was fantastic!  I love tweens they are one moment a playful young girl and the next minute you see the woman they will become pulling to the surface.  And oh my goddess is it a beautiful thing to behold!

The Why of A La Mode

The Why of A La Mode:

A La Mode is a playground for Artists and Muses
With the soul purpose of capturing a persons inner crackle, fizz, and whistle and turn it into a piece of art.
We are soul and spirit chasers and diviners.
We want to get into our muses heads and find out what makes them tick, get excited, and happy...then we create art that celebrates them and their passions.
We remind women that they are feminine creatures...adorable, loveable, and powerful.
We remind men that they are masculine, loving, and amazing.
We get down and roll around and really play with the kids we are gifted playtime with.
We explore and push boundaries, we see how far we can go and what new horizon we can cross.
We are always learning, reaching, growing, and pushing our crafts to the next level.
We really just love people...in all of their shapes and sizes, ages and stages.
We are curious creatures and we fall in love easily...with the babies who come to play...with the kids...with the parents..  We want to be part of the lives of these gorgeous creatures and so we push ourselves to dazzle with our visual story telling..because we plan on always becoming the family photographer for life.
Every muse that comes to visit us is a treasure...a gift from the wonderful and we are blessed to be able to celebrate that.


Most of all we just love to play...who wants to come and join us?

Body Painting at A La Mode Photographic Boutique

Just thought I would show you a bit of the mischief we have been getting up to over the last few weeks. We have bought a slew of body paints for Amandine to show off her mad skills....look at some of the things she has come up with.