Gold Coast: Grab your kids and join me for a photography workshop!

Hello. Happy Friday!

How has your week been? Mine has been eventful! Nothing major, but lots of small things happening, and kids being sick. I’ve kinda got to the point that I don’t really care. Lulu has taken ownership of one of my lipsticks and I fear for our walls. I’ll find her, once I finish this, of course. Priorities!

I had a shoot this morning to get some new photos for my blog. Once I got home, I snapped a selfie or two. Here’s {poor under-the-weather} Lulu and I.

You would have laughed at my selfie situation this morning. I have my Olympus camera on top of a chair and two boxes, on top of my table. And with the OM-D E-M10 you can link it with your phone, and use your phone as a remote. It was very handy. With the lunches I hosted last year, and this year too, we’ve showed a little bit of this functionality, which always wows the pants off of my guests.

Which also brings me to this next topic. I mentioned last week that Olympus, Rachel Devine and myself were doing more lunches around Australia. Today I want to kick off an invite to you lovely readers and your children to do lunchy workshop on the Gold Coast.

Are you keen?

This is my new baby. The OM-D E-M10 Mark II. I’ll share more about it in a later post.

The lunches I’m hosting with Olympus and Rachel this year are all about passing on the passion of photography to our kids. I love sharing a lot of photography with Lacey, and I’m sure it will be passed on to Lulu too when she’s a little older. At our last workshop 15 years and their kids spent the day learning about photography, and putting it in to action. It was so beautiful to see the joy in their faces when they were getting creative.

We’ll be hosting the Gold Coast lunch at one of my favourite places, QT in Surfers Paradise. It’s the perfect spot to enjoy delicious food, and to take photos of all the quirky things they have around. Their garden is currently home to a few beautiful flamingoes.

Here’s all the details:

WHEN: Thursday 24th September {School Holidays!}

WHERE: QT Hotel, Surfers Paradise

TIME: 11am until 2pm

WHAT: You, and your child, learning cool stuff about photography. There’s goodie bags to take home, good food to be eaten, little gifts and good times to be had.

If you’d love to join us, simply leave a comment below answering the following question: What’s your favourite thing to do with your kid/s? And why?

Competition closes September 15th at noon. Lucky guests will be notified by email. Guests must make their own way to the event. Lunch is on us!

I look forward to meeting you and your kids, and having fun with you!

P.S. I’m an ambassador for Olympus. If you’d like to read more about our relationship you can read this post. 🙂

109 thoughts on “Gold Coast: Grab your kids and join me for a photography workshop!”

  1. My favourite thing to do with the kids is go on Bush walks. I love seeing the awe in their eyes when they experience new things.

  3. There are different things for each of the kids. For my oldest, it’s watching her passion for dance and seeing her explore new styles… although I’m not a fan of her nicking off with my red lipstick and mascara on concert days before I’ve had a chance to use them! *lol* For my second, it’s watching the grin on his face as he swings higher and higher and seeing him achieve true freedom for a moment. And my youngest… he’s my little buddy, always wanting to help with anything and everything. Seeing the smile of pride and achievement on his face when he helps successfully makes my heart glow.

  5. YAY the Gold Coast! Gosh Maddison, 7, would LOVE this, she’s so interested in taking photos and the iPads are FULL of her crazy images. The favourite thing I like doing with my kids is beach combing, walking up and down searching for treasures, jumping waves and watching their delight as they get soaking wet even after I tell them not to. This is in winter of course, it’s game on in summer in their swimmers! xxx

  6. Mr 5 and Mr 7 are both very keen runners and I love nothing more than to run beside them encouraging them and enjoying doing something together that we all love!

  7. I’d LOVE to come along! My daughter Isla is nearly 2 1/2 and I’m a stay at home mum. Every day is an adventure and opportunity to see the world through her eyes. We love the beach, parks, dancing and most importantly Seaworld. She is obsessed with animals at the moment <3

  8. My kids are grown-ups now and I love spending time with them- shopping, movies, eating – just loving the beautiful women they have become. I would love to bring my gorgeous niece to this workshop. She is 12 and AWESOME!! She and compare our photos on Instgram. It’s a new love for her and a wonderful for us to bond. ?

  9. I love to find out what my kids want me to do with them. Letting them choose and be in charge gives a huge boost to their confidence!

  10. I love to go geocaching with my boys. (8 & 4) The excitement of following a map and discovering treasure is magical for them!

  12. I love, more than nothing else, spending time in the backyard with Miss 2. She loves the sunshine & rainy days are super fun too. I work full-time & we spend as much time as we can in the outdoors every weekend. Miss 2 is becoming more inquisitive everyday, particularly towards my camera. It’s almost impossible to take photos of her anymore, as she already wants to be behind the lens!

  13. My little 16 month old loves nothing more than being outside! We often grab a coffee (well I do) and head to the park! Lots of other toddlers for Stella to play with and lovely mummies to have a chat with! ?

  14. I’m a stay at home mum to my beautiful 14 month old daughter Milanya. She makes everyday an adventure as she shows me the world through her innocent eyes and teaches me to take time to appreciate the small things like watering the plants and watching them grow, to picking wild flowers for her Nanna and Pa and splashing in a bubble bath while her puppy watches on!

  15. Being on holidays recently reminded me of how great it is to have unstructured exploring and adventure time in creeks, rock pools, nature reserves, national parks etc where you can sit back and just watch kids amuse themselves and occasionally have some input when they want to show you something.

  16. Oh my daughter would love this! My favourite thing to do with my daughter is painting. She loves it so much and it’s fun to get back to my childhood days of splatering random colours around.

  17. My daughter loves getting out and about so most days we go to the beach/park/cafes. She is such a little social butterfly, she would love this experience… And I would too haha

  18. Eeek, so excited that you are doing this on the GC I am jigging up and down in my seat 🙂 My favourite thing to do with my girls is to get outside and go walking in nature. We regularly go on little adventures and hikes in the rainforests around us, not only does it get them moving but they ask so many questions and we talk about absolutely everything – both habits I really want to instill in them for the years to come.

  19. OMG!!!!! What an amazing opportunity to be given. My daughter 12 and I would love to be given the gift of attending such an amazing & educational day. We love to spend time together with our beautiful puppy, also getting out in our vegie garden and see what is growing (or what has been eaten by the wildlife). My favourite thing to do is watch my daughter experience new things and conquer her fears. This workshop you have on offer would be an amazing bonding session for my nearly teenage daughter and myself. Sharing a love of photography is a common interest I hope keeps us united in the years we have ahead of us.

  20. I love just being with them and spending time with them, doing heaps or nothing at all especially now that they go to school/kindy each week and I get less of them till school holidays when they’re all mine again!!!

  21. Ahhhh Chantelle, this is so great…..my answer is the same as last time (when I was interested in the Sydney trip before I realised that I couldn’t make it that weekend)!! I love doing everything with my two girls but travelling and exploring new places near and far with them has resulted in some of the best and most fulfilling times of my life. I have albums full of photos documenting precious memories of family holidays and relish any opportunity to add more….in fact we’re all off to Hong Kong on the 27th September so that trip is sure to result in another couple of thousand photos to add to the collection!! I’d love to bring one of my daughters to meet you and spend time eating yummy food and taking some cool pics. I have never seen an actual live flamingo – that alone would be pretty awesome, let alone getting the chance to spend the day in paradise with a bunch of like-minded people! And I’m only just up the road in Brissie, so I can zoom down in my Monaro at the drop of a hat 😉 xx

  23. My absolute favourite thing to do with my small humans is to get creative with them. As adults we lose a lot of our ability to be free and just to “let go” when we are creating. We are always guided by what we perceive to be the “right” way of doing things and staying within those parameters. The more creative time I spend with my kids the more I learn how to return to my child-like state and enjoy the process of making rather than be guided by the outcome. Colouring outside the lines is something I’ve learnt to embrace thanks to them.

  24. My favourite thing to do with my girl is when we grab the soccer ball and head down to the park for a kick around. She absolutely loves it…hard to photograph these moments because we are never standing still 😉

  25. My favourite thing is to play with her and make memories. Spending time together in any way because my parents always worked so I never really saw them, I want things to be different for her. Although I think she’s a little young at 2 for the photography workshop 🙁 She’s not really a fan of sitting still haha.

  26. My favourite thing to do with the kids is go for a walk/ scooter/ bike ride, we all feel better after we get back, we explore our area and we talk.

  28. Beautiful photos of you and Lulu! I would be soo interested in something like this as photography is my absolute passion (and just a hobby but I document everything!) My 10 year old daughter would love this so much. I hand over my DSLR and let her snap as I want her to know the thrill of capturing special moments. We love just chatting and being silly on the trampoline. I can’t recommend the trampoline enough for great fun shots of the kiddos!

  29. My favourite thing to do with my children is just to be with them. Even if it is just small grabs. But to let everything else go, and just focus on them

  30. Oh! I would love to come! I don’t have a fancy schmancy camera – just my phone andmy trusty samsung digitial- but i love taking photos (mainly of my kids!) My fave thing to do with the kids is anything by the water, beach, river, lake- it’s relaxing, kids can roam and be kids and obviously the photo ops! ?

  31. My favourite thing to do with my kids is visit the beach and living on the Gold Coast is the perfect spot to do this – we walk, talk, recharge, play, splash, dig, swim, explore and spend time together. It grounds us and connects us.

  32. Being a single full time working mum and a blogger my favourite things to do with my little two year old guy at the moment is enjoy cuddles when he allows it, visit cafes for breakfast and babycinos, wrestling (his choice) and photograph him.

  33. My favorite thing to do with our boys is LAUGH! we go for walks, run around our backyard, Skype daddy on his weeks away at work and I continually tell our 3 year old ‘stop chasing the dog with the broom!’ And we take photos of all these moments so we can look back and remember all those times we couldn’t stop giggling. X

  34. My fav things to do with my little people is just enjoying everyday I have with them and watching the grow in every way. Being creative is in our blood .

  35. My favourite thing to do with my son is to get outside in nature and discover new things together. We fossick for shells in rockpools or pebbles in creeks. We collect flowers, seed pods and sticks. Discuss bugs and animal tracks. When we get home we sort our collections and create all sorts of different things like nature mandalas and mobiles.

  36. My favourite thing to do with my little man is to make moments….and capture them of course lol. Watching his curiousity in everything & how everything works fascinates me. We love to Giggle, explore, read, run, jump, climb & dance. I’m very conscious to really be present in every moment with him…it’s a blessing x

  37. My favourite thing I do with my kids is our drive to and from school everyday. We live 30mins away from our school so we have lots of time where they are ‘trapped’ and have to talk to me. Of course we talk about our day and what is happening or happened. I love to hear what new things they have learnt and we sing. Lots. Lots of singing. With 5 kids in the car it can get noisy but it’s my favourite times of the day.

  38. Oh my! I am so keen!
    Our favourite thing to do is go on unplanned adventures, we love to feed our local (huge) ducks, find new parks and bake yummy food! We also love to make popcorn and watch a good movie together.
    Kids really do teach you the meaning of life! ❤️

  39. My favourite thing to do with my kids is to explore nature. We go on random adventures & look for any little thing around us. The kids don’t let anything go unnoticed & it’s so amazing seeing the world through their eyes. Something small can seem so wonderful to them & it’s a really refreshing way to view the world

  40. My fave thing to do with my 7 year old son is play golf! My dad taught me the game, and nurtured my love for it, and now its my turn to pass the passion for the game on to my son. It also means I get at least 2 hours of uninterrupted time with him, with no TV, video games, distractions. I’d love to be able to pass on my love of photography to him, too! This workshop sounds like the perfect avenue for doing just that.

  41. Our favourite thing
    and this ain’t a joke
    is to dance and sing
    like silly fun folk!
    We draw and color
    and craft and create
    So invites us please
    you know it is fate 🙂

  42. Oh my daughter and I would LOVE this! Our favourite thing to do (four kids in total!) is to stroll along beaches and find ‘treasures’. Its relaxing, all the kids have their own idea of what a treasure is and it gives me quiet time. Everyone wins! Happy kids, happy mama!

  43. Ohhhh….I would love to be apart of something like this, with my children!

    Well my favourite thing is simple..I have two nature obsessed children, we have currently complied a list of walking tracks, waterfalls and sky walks we would like to accomplish this spring. We’re starting with the springbrooke sky walk next weekend.
    The kids take photos of interesting facts or wildlife we see during out walk and we add it to a scape book call “our wild adventures”
    I love that as my children have grown (8 & 10) our adventures have progressed into things we can do as a family, outings use to revolve around what was easier for small legs, now they are things we do together, and it really helps push me into being included, as well as working on my mummy fitness.
    Last spring we completed all the tracks and look outs from the gap, to samford valley, it was the most fun they’d ever had.

  44. Simply to laugh. Might be me funny dancing, Jake pulling faces, Zaneta having a ‘moment’ or Dad not listening to me! We laugh. Life is boring without laughter…….AND it’s FREE.

  45. My favourite thing to do with my kids is spend 1 on 1 time with them. Having a large family I find that getting quiet time with each of them is important to really explore their hopes and dreams without the noise a large family brings.

  46. My eldest daughter used to be my photography muse, it was our facourite pass time. Our relationship has been quite fractured recently and I haven’t been able to pick up the camera again since our baby was stillborn 21 months ago. Something like this would be a godsend for both of us.

  47. I’d actually like to nominate my best friend carolann and her daughter to be able to join you in this… Both have a huge love of taking photo’s, her daughter is also a fan of padc at 10yrs of age xx these 2 girls are so precious and deserving

  48. This sounds amazing! The things we like best is to just be together outside on the beach or on the park, life gets to busy and complicated and sometimes just stopping and just being together, listening to them and learning about the big people they are becoming is the best thing to do!!!

  49. Travel. We love to travel and love our kids to experience new and exciting things with us. Quality time together is priceless. Seeing our kids happy makes me happy.

  50. Any activity where we are just together as a family. Life gets so busy and the kids get distracted with screens so I love the opportunity to regroup and experience things together and just enjoy each others company.

  52. My favourite thing to do with my kids? Absolutely everything! I love being around them all (all six of them!). They make me laugh and that’s always a good thing! (PS: I am in Melbourne but I’d fly up in a jiffy to attend this with my littlest Missy!)

  53. I love doing everything with my daughter but mostly playing music. What 10 month old loves singing to a crowd? She loves it! I love it!

  55. My favourite thing is our night time ritual when day is done. We curl up in bed and we chat and read to each other. Peace. Bliss.

  56. My little one is still working on the inside! 38 weeks! Eeep! So he just likes kicking and moving a little. I’m sure things will change once this event comes around! Hope it goes well Chantelle!

  57. Peekaboo is our favourite game for my 6 month old son Arthur & I. Seeing the way his face lights up & getting those smiles is such a joy!

  58. My favourite two people and I love to have a dance off after dinner….we turn up the music real loud, play a bit of rap or dance music and go crazy! A great way to rid all the energies of the day before a calming bath and story in bed.
    (Here’s the littlest of the two, dancing in her high chair)

  59. My favourite parts of the day are the beginning and the end.
    In the mornings I walk to the cafe with my two little ones. My four year old boy collects “nature treasures” and talks all about what he is planning on doing with them…make boats, make a worm home. And my nine month old happily chats away in the pram. Sometimes it takes us 45 minutes to do what should be a 10 minute walk but it is a nice reminder that the rest of life can…and does…wait.
    And of course the evenings, freshly bathed babes, we read books together, then I put my nine month old to sleep, then I come back in to my four year old and he tells me a bedtime story and I tell him one, kisses, and goodnight! The bedtime stories part is really my favourite…he generally tells me stories about happy families of animals…dinosaurs and worms…and I love that he has such a positive image of families and what it means to be a family.

  60. I love connecting one on one with each of my kids… Just being with them, learning from them and doing the things they are interested in at any given time!

  61. My son Sebastian and I love exploring, finding beauty in the day to day activities of life and endeavouring to make the little things fun and memorable just by taking that extra moment of time to enjoy! At 2.5 he is becoming increasingly interested in photography and I’ve had my fair share of snaps from a 2.5 year old perspective which can be a hoot! We’d LOVE to join you for the workshop, live on the Gold Coast and as a LONG time follower of the blog it would be so wonderful to meet and learn from you! Fingers and toes crossed 🙂

  62. At least two times a week, my (almost) 7 year old an I head on down to our favourite park with an ice cream in one hand, and the polaroid camera in the other…well, that what my son is holding – I’m juggling a newborn and usually a double shot latte. This park is awesome and I’m going to stop short of telling you where it is, because it is just THAT awesome (for fear it will become runneth over with locals claiming it to be their new favourite park)! It has peacocks that swan around freely and dance for you, big wild geese that strut about with their beautifully preened white chests sticking out, Mama ducks and their babies taking a bath in the little stream that runs through the park. There’s even a little man made beach that leads down to a salty watering hole where the kids can take a dip. Two little areas with play equipment are centrally located for the kids to play on and there’s even clean-ish public toilets!! You’ll find ample green grass and impressive big trees that call you to climb them and offer lots of shade on hot days. I ALWAYS, ALWAYS get a table or a seat to perch my butt on and feed bub while my big boy goes off exploring the many foot bridges and getting snap happy with the polaroid. There’s something just sooo kewl about instant photos and when we get home we often get a bit scrap-booky and make a collage of the pics together and add lots of textile elements. I so love this little fresh air outing that we do together and time getting crafty with my eldest son is quality one-on-one time where we talk about ‘stuff’ while we glue and cut and paste away….And, no, I will not tell you where this paradise in a park is! I forgot to mention it also has a really wide footpath that snakes around the perimeter of the park – perfect for pushing the pram and keeping pace with my son on his skateboard or scooter.

  63. I love making a mess with my kids because we are a hands-on, hands-dirty kind of family! There is nothing I love more than letting them loose with a big bunch of ‘things’ and seeing what they can create. The mess is always worth it!

  64. We are coming up to the Gold Coast to create some memories during that week as a family. Would love to come along to this as we love photographing our family ☺
    We love going for bike rides on our bike along the beach!

  65. My favourite thing to do with my mini’s is sunsets! We LOVE sunsets! No matter what we are doing we stop to see if it’s a good one & take a moment together marvelling over its beauty, my eldest mini (8yrs old) will encourage me to take photos & give me tips on how to do that! It is the best part of my day & brings stillness to an otherwise crazy day! xx

  66. Me and my daughter Zalia love watching sunsets, looking for whales and dolphins from Byron Bay lighthouse, reading books, taking photos, tickle time and eating avocados! (very messily)

  67. I love love love doing yoga with my kiddies. Its not always as successful and serious as my classes at the gym but Ive done it for years with my 5 and 2 year old and now they grab the yoga mats in the mornings before school before I do. If I only teach them to be entered and grounded in life then I’m stoked!

  68. I love going to the park, singing, dancing and playing with my daughter who is 15 months. I love every moment with her!

  69. These days my favourite thing to do with the kids is lie in bed with them. They wake up in the morning, come into my room and jump into bed with me. I’ve realised with our fast paced day, the best time to cuddle, chat to and enjoy them is in the mornings, snuggled up in bed.

  70. Oh my this is the best! So excited you get to take these workshops around the country! My biggest little lady would adore this workshop! She’s 5.5 and already in love with photography. She often gives me ideas for the photo a day prompts ha ha! Honestly, as creepy as it sounds, I love nothing more than watching my kids play together. They’re so freaking cute right now, and are the best of friends. Their imaginative play is so hilarious, and I love nothing more than getting caught up in their little world. Except when I have to play the evil witch. She gets a bit cackly and then gets a scratchy throat. 🙂 x

  71. How exciting! I’m sure the day will be lots of fun and I would love to come. We enjoy being outdoors with the kids and heading down the Gold Coast to spend the day at the beach. I love coming home to a clean house when we have been out all day, and the kids haven’t had a chance to mess it haha.

  72. I am soooooo very keen. So excited when I saw you might do one up here and was keeping an eye out then uh huh memory loss and fatigue! and nearly missed this. Eeek. Just asked the kids for suggestions and one Rawrrd like a dinosaur and the other one said playing dinosaurs. It’s like pulling teeth getting a straight answer lol. My favourite thing to do with the littlies is well everything, too many things equally make me burst with happiness except maybe the fighting, screaming, chastising, talking to walls, chasing, separating, appeasing, giving in hahahaha it’s ok we survive it especially when I like to make them smile, to dance, to make bright, to giggle, to cuddle, to laugh, to amaze, to play, to be silly, to imagine, to create, to capture and to squeal in delight. I think what I love most is making all our hearts sing.

  73. I love cooking with my little ones, I have struggled with my weight my whole life so I like taking the time to educate my kids with what is good food and what is occasional food. I thinking helping kids cook instils confidence 🙂 We are in Melbourne but I would def fly myself and daughter down for the day for this 🙂 She is 5 a bit older than the picture x

  74. Well…jumping in muddy puddles, eating ice creams til it drips down our fingers, devouring chocolate & cake together, to laugh & giggle but most of all I love “Stacks on” wrestling on a Sunday morning when they run into our room (because Daddy is usually home Sunday Mornings!) and jump on us…ensuring we are awake because the sun is awake! Best moments ever…

  76. my boys give me the hand very time I take my camera out – maybe this would be an opportunity to ignite a photography passion within them! my favourite time with my boys is driving in the car – we have the best chats about a million topics and my biggest laughs are the things they come up with. definitely relishing the little moments with them. x

  77. Helloooo, The first thing i hear from my little 2 and a half year old ‘Miette’ when she wakes up is “mumma I hab a nannah in a bowl with a poon”….yes, she likes to eat her banana with a spoon. When she’s not eating food we like to play in the garden and pick lavender to give to various friends…..my lavender is on steroids and slowly pushing out the neighbours! But the highlight of the week is definitely going to ballet class. I have never seen a 2 year old beam with such pure joy at the prospect of donning her tutu and ‘babet’ shoes. She smiles from the moment class starts until the very moment it ends. I pretty much just enjoy her every waking ans sleeping move! We would adore this opportunity!! X

  78. Travelling travelling and a bit more travel. My hubby and I travelled a lot before kids and love seeing the world through our kids eyes now.

  79. What a fantastic memory making opportunity this would be to share with my little six year old. I couldn’t pin it down to just one favourite thing that I like doing with the kids so I asked my daughter what her favourire thing to do with me was and she said it was cooking our chocolate slice together. When asked the reason why she said it was because she then got to eat it when it was cooked:) kids……….gotta love their honesty. But yes! cooking with the kids is on my list of fun things to do 🙂

  80. My one & only Mr 8 & I share a love of photography. We make sure we get outside once a day, no matter what. Even if it’s just a stroll around the corner to take pictures of fences or weird looking clouds. Then Sunday’s are always reserved for Adventurous family drives, there’s never any plan, we just head to the mountains or the beach or the rainforest and then hike a little, eat a lot, capture precious moments with our cameras and enjoy being together.. Just the 3 of us 🙂

  81. Our favourite things to do are playing outside and picking flowers, reading stories, making music and playing boardgames! We also love to take photos: and always pose a smiling one, a serious one and a silly one! So much fun 🙂

  82. So many things I enjoy doing with my kids, but cooking is one of our favourite ways to fill in an afternoon. My gorgeous Girl Sofie is 9 and lives taking a photo a day to send to her dad as he works away. She would just love to come and learn cool stuff yay super fun☺️at a workshop. And just quietly we love the QT so much fun xx

  84. I love to do many things with my kids, but the thing that I love to do the most is explore this great big world with them & open their eyes and imaginations to all of the wonderful things that are on offer to them in this day and age. I particularly love our holidays because we choose a new destination every time & we all experience and learn together. So much to see, so little time & I want them to experience as much of it as they possibly can xx

  85. I love doing everything with my girls and as a stay at home mum, they are my entire world. We play, run around, garden, paint (and more) and capture these moments on camera so we can return to these memories along with my husband, so he can see exactly what us girls have been up to every single day.

  86. Now I have confirmed bookworms my two boys and I are loving reading together , having a snuggle and sharing books aloud , discussing our favourite parts, finding new series & introducing them to my special faves from my childhood . I love it as it really bonds us together as a family and we create lovely family memories that I loved to do with my mum when I was little too.

  87. With Miss 8, it’s the quiet moments, the one-on-one. The ones where everything else falls away and we can just communicate heart-to-heart. Sometimes there are no words, sometimes there are oceans. These are the most precious to me, that’s when she can show me who she truly is in this loud world.

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