Debut House Tour: Apartment Therapy

Well, my first tour is now live.
I hope you like it!!







You can pop over and see it here:
Apartment Therapy


***

Do you know someone with a cool home?
Maybe it's you?


Apartment Therapy is not about having the best things or the most money. 
It’s about real people with real lives.  It’s about people that craft a home with what they have
and curate and comfort their nest with a mixture of old and new, of things bought,
of things found or things made with their own hands.

Items that reflect their travels and interests and people that follow their heart.

Words I would use to describe a good Apartment Therapy “fit” would be:

- artists
- artisans
- collectors
- eclectics
- designers
- hipsters
- eccentrics
- scavengers
- amassers
- lovers of colour
- creatives
- individuals


So, you know ... people! 

If this is you or someone you know, get them to flick a few pics my way and say Hi!
You ( or they ) can reach me at: apartmenttherapy@leannebertram.com


I hope you love Jo's house .. make sure you leave her some love .. I know she's pretty nervous too!

xx
Lea

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Remember Me :: The Lost Diggers of Vignacourt

Today it is ANZAC Day.

Last January, we escaped the intense heat of Melbourne and the tiny airless upstairs flat
by taking a little trip to Canberra.  There was a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition on at the
National Gallery, and my husband had never been to the Australian War Memorial before.





I've been quite a few times. 

Canberra was the closest "big" city to the town where I grew up, and thus where culture
lived.  So all our school excursions were to Canberra - the War Memorial, Galleries,
Parliament House, the Mint, the Planetarium, the Universities... 








The "Remember Me" exhibition was also on display.

We had been devouring this story in the news, of the lost photographs discovered in an attic.
AB had received the book for Christmas to add to his already prolific collection of WWI reading.

You can read more about the collection here:
http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/remember-me/





^ the original rolled canvas backdrop of the photographer.
 














The photographs have been lovingly restored, hand printed in the style of the day and mounted.
They are beautiful.








Lest We Forget. 












After touring the special photographic exhibition, we explored the rest of the Memorial.
I must say, staff ( who are often history buffs and volunteers ) are the kindest,
most helpful and most interested of all staff I think I have ever encountered anywhere.

There were special interest tours, and tours for children, interactive displays,
and on a number of occasions, when looking at a display, a staff member might just
come up and add a little story .. a bit of "did you know..." 

I thought they were fabulous!





As always, my favourite pieces were the model displays.  I could stare into them
forever, seeing new things and hearing the stories in my mind.











The Vietnam story was very big and loud ..










"G for George"

The Avro Lancaster B1, known with affection as "G for George", has a remarkable history.
"G for George" flew ninety operational missions over Germany and occupied Europe
during the height of the bomber offensive.













With every entry ticket bought coming in we received a red poppy of remembrance.
You could use these to place by your relative's name, or take home if you wish.




It is a very humbling place to be





On our way out, we were also handed a packet of poppy seeds, to plant at home.

Due to the renovation, we haven't done this yet, but we know exactly where they will go.



We will remember them.

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A Little Diversion: Some pics from Amsterdam..

As many of you know, I took some much-needed time off work to concentrate on this
renovation, and i'm so glad I did .. everything went out the window, and I was constantly
being called to be there, look at that, move things carefully stored to other places
more haphazardly stacked.

It's only now i'm starting to feel a little more ín control'.  My mind has been so absent
these past 6months .. other mothers knowing my propensity to the blurrr and the vague
would carefully remind me about the kiddy-party or not to forget some school function.
I stopped using my diary, then I misplaced it and didn't care to find it.

I relished in the freedom of anarchy.





I lived one day at a time.  If you asked me to meet you tomorrow at 3pm or today at 5pm,
I could do that.  If you wanted me to attend something that required a month's notice,
I didn't commit and resented the imposition .. even if it was something I wanted to do.

"Ask me closer to the date" i'd say .. or remind me .. send me an email.

Being non-committed made me free, and thus, when a teacher was desperate for parents
on a community walk at last moment, I could do that.

When someone suggested we should have a playdate tomorrow, I said yes.

No planning, no thinking, just a "sure, why not!"
because I didn't have to consult a diary, or be tied to something else. 

Because i'd committed to nothing, I had no plans, I had no diary.

And amazingly, my schedule was very full, and with a little help of my ever-mindful friends,
we managed to get to all the birthday parties, although to a couple we were late, and to one
of them I may have just jumped out of bed and dressed sans shower and bolted out the door.

At times I doubted my sanity and googled 'early onset dementia' more than once. 


But now i'm home .. and i'm surprised it's been a month back already! ..
i'm starting to feel a calm descend.  Things are going back into their place, and I can find
them once more.  Being the sort of person that puts things back where they belong
( and there are now organised spaces for those things ) , I find i'm not losing my keys,
or that important paperwork and GOING CRAZY.

It's kind of a relief to find "it wasn't me" and it was just the general unsettling of living
between two homes where someone was always moving the goalposts.


In all this unpacking and sorting and putting things away .. I was delighted
to find myself actually opening a folder of images last night and actually wanting
to look at them!!  Because, just between you & me ( and everybody that knows me ),
 photography was making me sick and not bringing me any joy. 

So, I bring you: Amsterdam





I put the photos on my other blog, to be honest, because that's where all the other ones are.

I hope you enjoy them! x

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HÓpa!

While we were away, we ate at a café where my youngest fell in love with the waiter.

Everytime he delivered a drink ( or a bowl of hot frites, which is basically all the youngest lived on while we were away ), he'd call "Hopa!" as he placed them on the table with a flourish.

The 4yr old locked onto the word like an anthem and soon it was infectious and we were all calling out Hopa! randomly, despite having no idea what it meant ( I assumed it meant "here it is!" based on the waiter experience )

Luckily, these are the days of wi-fi, which really broadened my travelling experience. 
See an interesting sign you can't understand?  Simply snap it on the i-phone and translate/research it that night on your i-pad.  Share with your family ( or the world, via facebook if you wish ), and viola! - the world just got a little bit smarter.

Fabulous.  I love the modern age.

So back to the hopa!  ..
It appears to be a slang word, and the clearest definition that fit I found here:
http://kingofromania.com/2010/04/21/slang-word-of-the-day-hopa/

So .. whoops-a-daisy! 




Anyway, we are back home in Australia now, and this post is prompted by a rather interesting lunchtime conversation I just overheard:



Eldest:        "Hópa!"
Youngest:  "That's a Paris word, we're not in Paris anymore, don't say it"

Um, err.  Someone just got told ?!


If you'd like to see more shots from our vacation, I just uploaded some from an amazing Train Station we visited over at my hbfotografic blog.  Yes, train station. 

I'll be uploading bits and pieces as I find time and inclination, so if you're interested, be sure to bookmark my page!

Hópa!
- Lea

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So, I kinda went to Paris, you know?

Only i-phone shots so far, maybe i'll deal with the real images I took in, oh, I don't know, 20yrs time?

So I don't double up though, you can view the pics so far over at my hbfotografic blog ( www.hbfotografic.com/blog )

xX
Lea

Pony

So the 365 died.
Should have known. It's indulgent. I don't have time for indulgent.

Damn.

Merry Christmas to anyone still lurking around, hoping for a crumb of .. anything.. :)


These are but only a few of a fantastic horsie session I did the other night. I love photographing girls with their ponies, but it's only happened to me twice now. Please, if you know of a girl ( or guy! )with a horse that would love some beautiful keepsakes, get them to call me. I love horses. And teens are pretty cool too.

I also love this song:

The World

Weighs heavily on the shoulders of a firstborn.

I should know, i'm one too.




xx

Violator

I feel i've fallen out of step with my personal photography - I spend hours, hours editing, prepping, saving, fastidiously backing up on multiple hard drives, images I take for other people.

When I get a spare moment, someone requires food, or attention, or something requires cleaning, or maintenence of sorts. I fall by the wayside and regularly appear at school pick up in a dishevelled zombie-like state.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to the joy?

So i've embarked on a 365-Project. To do something for me, for my family.
I'm quite aware I may fail - starting in the middle of my busy period isn't particularly smart, but I needed a date and it sure as hell wasn't going to be January 1st.. that never works.

But at least you may see more random updates, more joy.

I hope so!

xx

10.10.10

Yesterday marked 2years since my first photoshoot.
Naturally, because I like to jump in the deep end(?) I started not with family & friends, but a complete stranger.

And it wasn't half bad.

Yesterday I was photographing a wedding in the Yarra Valley, and it was gorgeous.

I'm sure the lovely couple won't mind if I share some of their cake here to celebrate my own little milestone..

;)

Xx

New Studio

Remember my new reception room?

Now i've got the matching studio in the room right next door:

Beautiful huh?

It's a gorgeous space, and again, like the reception room, saying goodbye to yellow walls with red & gold trims was not hard. Not.hard.at.all.

Oh, and to celebrate, I released a limited number of studio sessions at half-price: yes I did!

There's only 5 spots left, and more info and pics can be found over here.

Xx
Lea