I want to tell you a bit about who I am. Not the polished version. The real one.
Because I think when you're trusting someone to photograph your family - the people you love most in the world - you deserve to know who's actually behind the camera.
I Spent Twenty Years in Rooms With Children Before I Ever Started my Photography Business
Before Wonderland Photography existed, I was a teacher. Early childhood, primary school, special needs support. Twenty years of it, give or take.
I've spent most of my life sitting on the floor with toddlers who didn't want to cooperate with anything. I've navigated classrooms full of kids at varying stages of chaos. I've worked with children who needed more patience, more creativity, more genuine connection than a standard approach could offer. I've learned - slowly, through a lot of trial and error and a 10 year degree - what actually works when you're trying to reach a child who doesn't feel like being reached.
That background is not separate from my photography. It is my photography.
When I show up to your session and your four-year-old decides she is absolutely not doing photos today, I'm not rattled. I've got a toolkit built over two decades, and I know how to use it. The games, the silliness, the way I talk to kids differently depending on their age and temperament - none of that came from a photography course. It came from years of actually being with children and paying attention.
It's the thing I'm most proud of, honestly. And it's the thing that makes my sessions feel different.
I Know What It Feels Like to Wish You Had More Photos
Eight years ago I lost my dad. Suddenly, without warning, the way those things sometimes happen. The shock is still very real and the pain never goes away fully.
In the weeks after, my family went looking for photos of him. Good ones. Recent ones. The kind that actually look like the person you knew.
We didn't have enough.
I'm not going to dwell on that here, because this isn't a sad post. But I will say it quietly changed the way I think about what photographs are actually for. They're not just wall art. They're not just content. They're the thing you reach for when someone is gone, or when your kids are grown, or when you just want to remember what a particular ordinary Tuesday felt like.
That's what I'm making when I photograph your family. Not pretty pictures. Evidence that you were here, together, and that it mattered.
What Wonderland Photography Actually Is
I run a family, newborn and elopement photography business on the Tweed Coast, photographing families and couples across Tweed Heads, Kingscliff, Murwillumbah and the Gold Coast.
My pricing is designed to be simple and affordable - because you shouldn't have to choose between making memories and the food bill this week.
There's a $200 session fee for all sessions, which secures your date and time. Your images are chosen separately after your session, once you've actually seen them - collections start from $375. No buying a package blind, no pressure tactics, ever. Payment plans are also available if that helps.
The Kind of Photographer I Am
I am not a "everyone line up and smile" photographer.
I'm also not a "just ignore me and pretend I'm not here" photographer, because that never works and we all know it.
What I actually am is someone who gets involved. I'll be on the ground if that's where your toddler is. I'll be making genuinely terrible jokes if that's what gets a real laugh out of your ten-year-old. I'll be redirecting your teenager's eye-roll into something that actually looks good in a frame. I'll notice the moment between your kids that you almost missed, and I'll be ready for it.
My style is light and airy - warm tones, natural settings, nothing heavy or over-processed. I want your photos to look like your family on a beautiful day, not like a magazine shoot that happens to feature people who look like you.
Why I Left Teaching to Do This Full Time
At the end of 2023 I stepped away from teaching, and it wasn't because I stopped loving it. I genuinely love education. I love what it can be at its best.
But earlier that year my son Fletcher was in the ICU. He nearly didn't make it.
When you sit in a hospital waiting to find out if your child is going to be okay, your priorities become very clear very fast. And what became clear to me was this: I wanted to spend my time showing people the love that's already in their families. Not measuring it. Not reporting on it. Just capturing it, so they could see it the way I do.
So much of what the school system does - unintentionally, I think - is tell parents what's missing. What needs work. What their child can't do yet. Parents leave interviews questioning themselves, questioning their kids, wondering if they're enough.
I wanted to do the opposite of that. I wanted to be the person who hands you a photo of your child looking at you and says: look. Look at what's already there.
That's what Wonderland Photography is. That's why I do this.
If You're Thinking About Booking
I'd love to hear from you. Not in a salesy way. Just... if you've been sitting on the idea of a family session and you keep putting it off because you're not sure the kids will cooperate, or you don't know what to wear, or it all just feels a bit overwhelming, please reach out.
That's exactly what I'm here for.
Send me a message →
