The Burke family, a wonderful day in Allen’s Rivulet | by Hobart family photographer, Katinka Smith

A few weeks ago I traveled down to Allens Rivulet, Tasmania, to photograph some dear friends of mine, Daniel and Anna, with their two children, Essie and Henry. I had my work cut out for me, it’s not everyday I set out to photograph a family with a nearly 3yo, a 15 month old, a dog and a horse! haha. I’m also allergic to horses and had a scary incident as a child, so you would think I would have gone prepared hey? Nope. in true Katinka fashion I completely forgot to take any kind of antihistamines with me and was left to just *hope* that I wouldn’t succumb to some kind of allergy attack. It turns out that over the years I have gotten better and I just had the regular kind of allergy reaction to Toby – runny nose and eyes etc. Phew! I even found out that I quite like horses, I just need to stay a number of metres away 🙂 Anna is an animal lover, so having two of her special fur children join in on the session was also very meaningful. Harvey the boxer is their ‘furry firstborn’ and Toby is Anna’s beloved horse. The location that we chose is where Toby is agisted and it allowed the children to run free in the paddocks, which is one of their favourite past times.

Daniel and I were great friends in high school, college and beyond. We used to go bushwalking a lot though we were often underprepared and usually freezing. Ha! So it was pretty clear that a location in the outdoors was going to be meaningful to Dan. I also met Anna in year 11 or 12. Dan and I were at Guildford Young in Glenorchy, and Anna was at the Hobart campus. As these things happen, activities span the campuses, friendships are made and Dan and Anna mixed in the same circles through mutual friends. In 2001, when we all had our licences and were adjusting to university life after graduating from GYC, Dan and Anna got together. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Dan and Anna are very good at teasing each other and most definitely aren’t into PDA, but it is obvious to anyone that they are a perfect pair and have a beautiful love. Over the years they have added dogs and cats and birds and a horse to their lives; gotten married; bought a house, sold a house and bought a house again; traveled overseas and most recently they have added two beautiful children to their incredible world, Essie and Henry.

I don’t need to tell you the rest, because a picture paints a thousand words…and there are a few thousand words below for you to enjoy. The slideshow contains many more images from the session as well as some extra words – Dan and Anna’s very own special words to each other and to their children.

Enjoy x

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