Goodbye

1. EAT, SLEEP, BOUDOIR, REPEAT.

At the beginning of this year, I decided that my photography journey was going to focus purely on Boudoir Sessions. I decided to close the family focused photography business I was also running (tbh, more like juggling) along side of Leaf & Lace. Once I made this decision, I was able to give more love and dedicate more time into Leaf & Lace and as a result, Leaf & Lace rapidly grew. It has honestly made me so happy! Throughout 2021, I have photographed more sessions than I ever managed to do while juggling the two photography business and its been ALL Boudoir!! Additional to that, set aside my own personal bias towards Boudoir, 2021 has proven that the Leaf & Lace community loves it as much as I do and I can't wait to see what next year brings!

2. NEW LOGO, WHO DIS?

After a rough 2020, the urge to bloom post-pandemic was very strong. Having decided that 2021 was the year that I commit to Boudoir Photography, I felt like it was also time to give Leaf & Lace a little lovin'.

Okay, confession time - my last logo I made on Paint in less than 5 minutes, with absolutely no thought into it and I stuck with that dodgy look for OVER TWO YEARS (SHAME!!). With a new found motivation and focus, I knew it was time to give Leaf & Lace a look that it deserved. I reached out to the beautiful Denni at Jellyfish Illustrations and over a coffee, we had come up with something fresh and exciting. I fell in love with Denni’s creation the moment I saw it and knew that it was exactly what Leaf & Lace needed!

3. NEW LOGO, NEW BRANDING!

After I had my logo in my hot little hands, I was stumped on how to launch it. I didn’t want to JUST upload it - I was way too excited about it. That’s when my favourite two Bishes came along. Around the same time that I was trying to figure out how to launch my new logo and branding, I won a giveaway for a Content Creation session with Bish School. I met with the beautiful Rylee and within a couple of hours, we had created a plan I was very excited about. During this session together, Rylee also took photos of me. Believe it or not – this was the first time someone else had taken Boudoir photos of ME! I left the session on a high and feeling extremely motivated. And that feeling hasn’t left me all year.

4. I'M BOOKED OUT, BABY!

After the logo launch, I wasn’t the only one who was filled with motivation and excitement for what Leaf & Lace was becoming. Within a week of rebranding, my bookings quickly filled up. I went from being inconsistently booked out for maybe 1 month at a time to instantly being booked out for 6 months and it has stayed that way since. In the past 12 months, I have photographed more sessions in 2021 than I have collectively in previous years. With so many new clients, the little community that Leaf & Lace had created grew very quickly. I created a private group to create a space for this community to connect with each other and continue to bloom together on their Self Love Journeys.

5. THE BODY LOVE PROJECT

With the growth of Leaf & Lace as a community, I realised that I wanted to support people who weren't ready to book a Boudoir Shoot, but were still consistently supporting Leaf & Lace. I wanted to empower the Leaf & Lace community outside the realms of just my photography. So I created the Body Love Project. The Body Love Project is a monthly event that I host on my social media to focus on normalising normal bodies. It is raw and unfiltered. Each month has a different theme that is chosen by the Leaf & Lace community. Once the event starts, I welcome people to share images and their stories with me that match that month’s theme. I then share these images on their behalf to my story. And each month it continues to grow, leaving me consistently impressed with the amount of submissions.

This little project, just might be my favourite thing to come out of 2021.

6. CHEEKY PODCASTS AND BOUDIE TALK

This year was full of couple of big firsts, and this one was definitely the biggest jump out of my comfort zone! Again, I had the luxury of spending the afternoon with my fave two bishes Rylee & Rhi but this time we were talking body love, among other cheeky topics, on their podcast Keepin up with the Bishes (You can listen to it here.)

If you know me personally, you will know that I love a big yarn and honestly I could probably could still speak underwater with my mouth full of marbles, but for some reason the idea of speaking on a Podcast WAS DAUNTING AF!! I knew at the end of the day, I would have fun and that I would be proud of me for doing something new, exciting and different but I'm not going to lie - I was nervy! I remember thinking that this is how some of my clients must feel before entering a shoot hehe. But guess what (and to no one's surprise) - I had fun and I was 100% proud of me for doing something new, exciting and different. Remember Lovers - stepping out of your comfort zone is where you grow!

7. LEAF & LACE IS MORE THAN JUST FEMALE PHOTOGRAPHY.

This year I recognised that Body Love shouldn’t just exclusively target females. So I expanded Leaf & Lace into photographing all genders & couples. In the last 12 months, I have expanded into capturing males (colloquially titled "Dude-oir") as well as couples! Its been great to expand my creativity and art and empower even more people!

Secret time - Here's a sneak peek at something special I'm working on for the male session I've done. I am hoping to launch this special project next year (hence why you haven’t seen these photos pop up in my feed just yet – watch this space!!) If you want to be involved or want more information, send me a message!!

8. COMMUNITY OVER COMPETITION

Leaf & Lace's growing community hasn’t just stopped at people I've photographed. This year, I also connected with multiple local photographers and other small business owners and it’s been incredible. It’s been beautiful to connect with people who have the same shared passion, creativity and motivation. As Leaf & Lace is a one woman show when it comes to running the business side of things, it’s so empowering to have a bunch of phenomenal humans in my corner who not only get the hustle but also are there motivating and empowering you! Leaf & Lace might just be little old me running the behind the scenes, but there's a whole heap of powerful and phenomenal humans that have my back and are supporting me all the damn time!

This year I also have had multiple opportunities to photograph empowering business sessions - capturing the strong female leads behind these beautiful local businesses, their products and everything that encapsulates their brand. Its definitely something I am looking forward to doing more in 2022!

Highly recommend you go and give some love to the following:

@createwjay, @sovereignandstone, @scrunchaalot, @wovenlightco, @creativelife.photography, @minxu.photography, @lashys_by_jenny, @tropicalplatters_, @madebytayau.

9. NEW CAMERA!!

With such a successful year, I decided to treat myself and upgraded my equipment. Its something that has been on my wish list of things to do for a very long time but when I finally made the decision to treat myself with a new faaaaaaaaaaancy toy, I definitely treated myself. It might not seem like a big deal to some, but if I could go back and tell little Shelby that when she bought her first baby camera 10 years ago that it would be the start of a life long passion that will be changing people's lives, I would happily do so.

10. NEW LOCATIONS

Cairns will always be the home of Leaf & Lace, but this year I started to expand my horizon and planned a few shoots in other cities. This year, Leaf & Lace has empowered humans in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Magnetic Island (that's where that gorgeous picture above is from!) and Newcastle.

Ps. I love travelling so if you live somewhere other than Cairns, I would LOVE to have the excuse to come visit your corner of the world and photograph you! Message me and lets organise my next trip.

11. Shake it like a polaroid picture

This year I decided to offer more than just digital images and take it old school by offering Polaroid Film Prints. They are taken in session and taken home with you that very day! I know I said it earlier about something else, but I've changed my mind - THESE are absolutely hands-down my new favourite thing! I also realised that after I started offering it, that my own Self Love Journey started with a polaroid too. That polaroid I decided to take on a whim 8 years ago was the catalyst for falling deeply and unconditionally with my body (you can read about my Self Love Journey here) and definitely was the seed that helped create Leaf & Lace! Funny how life works in a cycle like that right?!