Want a Koala?

Since it's hard to get close to a Koala in the wild, most of these photos are from the Featherdale Wildlife Park between Sydney and the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia.




Apparently the Koala's preferred diet of Eucalyptus leaves is what causes them to sleep alot. I think they look cuter and nicer with their eyes closed anyway. ;-)


Can you find the wild Koala in the photo below? This was captured at Noosa National Park in Queensland, Australia.


If you couldn't see it in the photo above, use this next photo to help you see what kind of place they naturally end up in.


At many parks in Australia, you get a chance to "Cuddle a Koala" - so I did! While I found most Australian animals in the wild to be quite tame around people, I still wouldn't attempt this outside of a supervised park, did you see those nails above?


On twitter and facebook a lot of people asked me to bring a Koala back from Australia- so I did! Unfortunately it wasn't any of the ones above. However, the Koalas I did bring back require no supply of eucalyptus leaves, tall gum trees for sleeping, or cleaning maintenance. They can cling to your camera strap, keep your pens and pencils safe, or ride everywhere with you on your keychain! To win one of these cute little mini koalas pictured below, just find one of your favorite TwitPic photos from my Australian adventures, copy the link to the photo and paste it in the blog comments below!! That's it! Oh, make sure your name is on your comment too! I'll announce the winners Monday morning in the comments, so be sure to check back then!

Thank You Bloggers!

It's not always easy to find out who's blogging my work because not everyone lets me know before blogging images they find on my blog or in my Flickr stream through the Creative Commons License Agreement search feature. Luckily Google Alerts is keeping an eye out for me, so I know who to thank for sharing my work with others!

To all bloggers out there, THANK YOU for loving my work and sharing it with your readers! My goal is to give you more blog about in 2010 than I did in 2009!! Click on any of the blog headers below to see various blog features of my work! (Sincere apologies to all bloggers I've missed!!)

Thank You Photographers!

This last year has had me quite absent from the blogosphere, but it hasn't had me absent from shooting and sharing my creative talents with others as I always do. I had made a goal this year to shoot with other photographers as often as possible (when I wasn't shooting my own weddings), and while there wasn't a ton of room in my schedule, I was happy to help out whenever I could. So, I wanted to send my heartfelt thanks to some wonderful friends and photographers who I've had the chance to work with this year, and who have been able to share my work with others.

I had a wonderful time getting to take some creative risks at a wedding with Krista Photo this year at the wedding of her dear friends, Meaghan & Steve. Click the photo to see more of our combined work from that wedding:


I was able to step up to bat for MKD Photography when they were asked to do double duty as wedding party attendants and photographers for their sister's wedding (can't find a link to that one - sorry!)

When Cordele Photography had a second shooter back out, I was able to volunteer my time to help for a very special wedding. Click the image below to see more of our combined work:


So often we do a wonderful job of documenting the lives of those around us, but when our friends and family look back at those images, we're often absent from the moments because we're behind the camera. Because of this, there's a special place in my heart for capturing photographers spending time with their families. My love & joy goes to the Domingues Photography family, for letting me capture a small slice of their life together, and for sharing that little slice with the world. ;-) Click on the image below to access the slideshow from their session.



I have to give a huge hug and THANK YOU to Meghan Moore of megpix for letting me photograph her in her studio AND for getting a chance to be professionally photographed with my hubby for the FIRST time since our wedding!! (I kid you not!) Alex isn't always a willing subject, so it's such a rare treat for me to be photographed with him professionally. ;-) Thank you Meg - and thank you for partnering up for the Holiday Photo Booth!!


Alex and I - courtesy of megpix.com


Last but not least by any means, a huge thank you to the Pizzuti Studios for having a super fun Señor Portrait session for Rachel & Ali's Adios Fiesta! There were some HILARIOUS images from that evening, but I'll leave you with just one with a fabulous scarf-that-one-day-will-be-missing-from-Ashley's-closet-but-I-won't-know-who-took-it. ;-)


I lied - one more shout out & thank you to Grazier Photography, who recently launched LUXEBooth, and shared samples at our Boston PUG!

(I'm going to guess the other person in this photo would like to remain anonymous! HA!)

Hi! I'm in Australia right now...

... I'll be back in the office on January 25th! Want to see what I'm doing in Australia? Follow me on Facebook or Twitter @anneruthmann! Want me to take a photo of something special for you? Tell me in the comments below!

January Desktop Image - A New Year

I love New Year's Day - it's a day full of hope for all the ways in which we can make this year a better year. ;-)

One of the things that I've been thinking a lot about lately is the idea of perfection. We know what perfection is, and yet nature is full of imperfection. The earth is not perfectly round, the moon is not perfectly bright, even leaves and snowflakes are not always perfectly symmetrical, and yet humans try so hard to achieve perfection. Sure, we can make machines and cubes and chemicals that are perfect in some way, but what nature tells us is that there is so much beauty to be found in imperfections. It is the imperfections and differences that create variety and surprise in our lives- that create fascination. If everything were perfect, the world would be so boring! So this year, rather than trying to be more perfect in some way, recognize that perfection is an illusion created by the human mind and that your natural imperfections are what make you unique and valuable to everyone around you. (Click an image to begin downloading the photo for your desktop!)