Apply for a spot in Babies in Bonnets™ 2020 - a portrait photography project by Heartstory
What is Babies in Bonnets™?
Babies in Bonnets™ is a special photography project run by Heartstory – one of Australia’s most awarded and experienced family portrait photographers – for families with little ones aged 0-2 years old.
This project is an amazing opportunity to celebrate the magic of babyhood with gorgeously styled studio portraits of your baby – and your experience can also include photos of your whole family!
When we have completed all the sessions, we will create a stunning coffee table book, that can be a stunning heirloom for the families in the project, and also available to buy at the conclusion of the project.
This project will also be raising funds for one of Australia’s most important charities: PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia) to help parents on the frontline – especially important during this incredibly challenging year.
Your baby (and family) will be photographed by Katie Kolenberg, two time winner of Australian Family Photographer of the Year in 2015 and 2017, and co-owner of Heartstory. Katie is a mother of two boys: August (2) and Toby (13) and she loves babies, especially when they’re wearing bonnets. Katie has been a professional family photographer for 12 years and her favourite subject to photograph is babies with their mamas. She also has the patience of a saint with toddlers (although she admits she’s not as patient with her own children!). You can find Katie’s personal story about postnatal anxiety on Heartstory’s instagram highlights (@heartstoryphotography).
Families with babies up to approximately the age of 2.5 (at the time of their session) can apply for a spot.
Important update
As at Friday 7th August, we have less than 10 spots left in the project!
We will be closing off applications on or before Friday 14th August and aim to finalise all bookings shortly afterwards.
After we have checked your application, you will get an SMS from us to book a phone consult, so we can get you booked in to the project. Keep an eye out for it and get onto it quickly so someone else doesn’t take your spot!
Application form
Applications are now closed and the project is in it’s final stages.
If you would like to be a part of this project in 2021, please follow us on socials for announcements.
If you would like to contribute a donation, you can visit our Everyday Hero team page.
If you would like to order a copy of the book, please visit our shop.
How does it work?
When: Session times will be available on weekdays and selected weekends from February to September 2020, with the book to be published in November (our original timeframes were extended due to Covid).
Where: Heartstory’s natural light studio, Suite 104, Loop Earth Building, 17 Market Street, Belconnen, ACT 2617.
Cost to participate: $100, which will be donated in full to PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia).
What’s included:
- A Heartstory portrait session with your baby in our Belconnen studio. We encourage you to include your whole family, as it’s a perfect opportunity to update your family photos! We will spend around 30 minutes on your Babies in Bonnets™ portraits, and then move on to family/sibling photos. Total time needed is around an hour.
- A range of beautiful bonnets in many sizes, for boys and girls, just for this project!
- Cute toys, props and other accessories to make your photos look amazing!
- A double page spread in the Babies in Bonnets™ book. One page will be the feature photo, the other will have your baby’s name and some words from you.
- A personal appointment following your portrait session where you may purchase images from your session. We have a selection of special Photographic Artwork Packages available for Babies in Bonnets™ participants, which include a complimentary copy of the book and a discount on our normal pricing. We recommend budgeting for around $1000 to get good value from your experience with us. See our pricing & products to find out more.
What’s not included:
- Photos from the session. Prints and products can be purchased after your session at your personal purchasing appointment, as described above.
- The book itself. We are ‘self publishing’ this book, so we are selling copies for $75 each, which is the same price it costs us to produce it. If you purchase one of our Babies in Bonnets™ Photographic Artwork Packages, you will receive a complimentary copy of the book.
How to apply: Fill out the application form on this page, and we will be in touch to book your session.
Highlights from one of last year’s families
About PANDA
Perinatal Anxiety and Depression affects 1/5 mothers and 1/10 fathers, so out of the 60 families selected for this project, 10+ of them will have been touched by this condition. And this includes your photographer. Katie had her second baby at the ripe old age of 42, 11 years after her first. She found that the support amongst health professionals during her pregnancy and after August was born was very different to what it was like 11 years previously, in part due to the amazing work PANDA does in supporting and educating perinatal caregivers. She made sure she had an amazing network around her of health professionals specialising in perinatal care. But despite this, Katie discovered she had postnatal anxiety when August was 9 months old and found PANDA to be an incredible resource, especially their online mental health checklist, designed to help parents find out if what they’re going through might be a little more than the stress and exhaustion of caring for a new baby. PANDA saves lives and provides vital support, which is even more necessary now that we don’t have villages raising our children. And after living and working in Canberra for the past 23 years, Katie knows that it is in this city where so many people move to for work, away from their family and support networks, where services like these become even more important.
Sadly, there is still a stigma around mental illness and new mums feel intense pressure to put on a brave face and get on with it, no matter what might be beneath the surface. As photographers, we meet hundreds of new parents every year and this topic is always on our minds. That’s why we’ve chosen to support this cause via this project. We want to start a conversation, raise awareness and build community while celebrating our beautiful, precious babes.
A few important things to note
- Because this book will be published, you must be willing to give us permission to display your photographs in print and online, as part of your involvement in this project. This will include the use of first names in the book. Please discuss this with us if you have any concerns.
- Transparency from us: our business makes no income through your participation in this project, because your participation fee is donated to PANDA. What that means is that we will photograph your baby/family and edit your photos, as well as run the project and design the book completely for free as our contribution to this important cause (last year we raised nearly $14,000 and we hope to do similar this year.) We hope that anyone applying for this project will understand that while our business gives us an amazing platform for fundraising, the purpose of the project is not purely for charity, it is also for the provision of our services: original, quality, award standard baby and family photography. We will prioritise families who want to purchase photographs from their session, as well as those who would like to have family photos and/or sibling photos captured as part of their experience with us.
Copyright © 2020 Heartstory Photography
Canberra’s leading family portrait photography studio EST. 2009
