# 80 The New Arrival is here!

For the last few months we have been talking about the introduction of Anne’s new pure range of clothing, featuring the "pure singlet".

We are both pleased and proud to announce that it is now available both on-line, and also in Anne’s Flagship store in Downtown Disney.

Initial reaction has been wonderful, and soon we will be able to give to you some feedback from those who have purchased various items; if the reaction to the range of new pure images on Anne’s Facebook page is any indication, then it will be nothing short of terrific! Click here to check out the Facebook reaction and comments.

You can discover the Full range today by clicking here, and did you know you can co-ordinate your screen with our pure inspired Desktop Calendars, Wallpapers & Screensavers, or you can send a pure E-Card.

Here is a link for the release that describes the full range for your better understanding, and then you can go to the gift shop, by clicking here, to make a purchase.

Remember this new pure range is designed by Anne to make just one person happy...your baby.

#79 It's a small world

A young couple visited the studio this week and brought in their newborn son, he was their second child.

Interestingly they had lived in Switzerland for a few years prior to his arrival as the woman worked for a large multinational pharmaceutical company and she was based in Switzerland. Her husband did not work whilst they were there, but instead looked after their first child.

There were some forty husbands apparently who were doing the same thing, looking after the children while their wives worked.

He said it was a wonderful life over there for both of them as he was able to bond with their first child and his wife was able to pursue her career. When she returns from maternity leave, it looks as though they may go back to Switzerland to live.

In the meantime, he is back at work in Australia as a forensic scientist working for the New South Wales police department in Australia.

We certainly meet some interesting people from all walks of life.

#78 Say hello to someone new!

Anne recently had a young lady into the studio who was pregnant with her first baby. The mother is a mixture of Torres Strait Islander, Australian Aboriginal, South Sea Islander, West Ghanaian. (quite a combination of countries) Anne photographed her when she was pregnant for Anne's new book and last week had the pleasure of saying hello to the new baby boy. (We will introduce you to everyone's name when the book comes out or in the 2010 blogs as we get closer to the launch)

The young lady and her own mother came to the studio with the new baby and it just so happened it was the new mum’s 20th birthday on the day, so we celebrated with (?????) cupcakes!! (once again, cupcakes of course, Blog’s 54 & 44)

Here are two photographs of the new baby, one of the baby himself held by Anne, and one with the new mum and the grandmother with Anne in her studio in Sydney.

Don't you just love new babies!!!!!

#77 A caring father!!!! Have you a story??

A few weeks ago we had a lovely young couple into the studio who were having their first baby. They host their own television program which is aired on one of the Christian television stations here in Australia.

Last week they brought their new daughter into the studio to be photographed. While the baby was sleeping and her husband had dashed out for a quick coffee, the new mum told us a couple of nice stories about her husband, all in good humor of course.

She said that he is so besotted with his new daughter (as most fathers are, isn't that nice) that the other night she heard her hairdryer going and went to the bedroom to investigate (as he has a shaved head she wondered what was going on) and found him blowing the hot air onto the mattress of the new baby’s bassinette to make it warm for her when she had finished feeding!

To add to this curious behaviour she found him the other day filing the baby’s nails so that she would not scratch herself…all very kind gestures, but as the new mum pointed out, it’s high time he went back to work!

Who can identify???

Have we any other nice, funny, caring stories such as this about new fathers???

In Australia and New Zealand, Father's Day is in September, this year the 6th.

# 76:- To Anne's Facebook Fans:

What a wonderful response to the alternative names for the pacifier! We have a large range of countries covered in the world, and it’s lovely to see how we can speak in so many languages about the same subject!

Love of children is another global subject that we can also speak about with one voice.

A note to look out for! There are some photographers who are posting photos on the photo page advertising their studios. Anne does not endorse any other photographer, and you should be wary if people try and pass themselves off as taking photos like Anne! Anne has worked for so many years with her talented team and her work is her own, it's also very closely supervised and is the result of Anne's creativity and 20 years + of taking photographs. Be careful of pretenders and very poor imitators. We monitor the pages and will remove them as quickly as we can.

Nice to hear from you Anette, say hello to Jasmine from Anne.

As a final comment on use of the word “dummy” in Australia/ New Zealand and the UK; it seems as best we can find is that a London doctor in 1914 complained about a “dummy teat”! (This was from Wikipedia.)

Not long now for the Singlet and pure range to be available on line.

#75 Dance competition!

As you may know, Anne’s daughters, Stephanie and Kelly, both work for Anne at the studio. Just recently they were going to enter a dance competition staged by the Sydney Dance Company.

There was a video on the Internet, which showed you the dance routine that you had to learn, and then you had to make up your own routine for the final few seconds. Then when you had “mastered” it, you had to film it and send it in for the judges to look at.

For a couple of weeks they practiced in the studio because of the large floor space. (Naturally after shooting and work was over.)

Unfortunately they ran out of time and have missed the deadline to enter. But their photography career comes first, and the Sydney Dance Company will have to make do without their obvious talents!!!! :)

A chance to hear Anne speak about her autobiography

Hi for those in and around Los Angeles, you have another chance to view an interview recorded with Anne during her tour to promote her autobiography A Labor of Love. It is a very nice, informative interview with Barry Kibrick of Between the Lines.

Tuesday, August 18, at 2:30 PM LOS ANGELES KLCS-TV - www.klcs.org

#73 Triplets and a need for calm

In the last shooting week, we had the good fortune to have six month old triplets into the studio. It’s always fun to have older babies in because they need to be entertained, and everyone enjoys that. Anne has a box of toys which we take out when six month old children come to visit.

The triplets were sitting lined up in a row with their backs to the camera. They had beautiful little hats on their heads, and looked extremely cute.

One of them, name withheld to save embarrassment!!!!! :) however decided that she was going to be the odd one out, so became a little vocal every time the flash went off. The other two were not at all concerned, and were waving their arms and laughing at the adults who were lined up at the base of the platform, out of shot, entertaining them.

Anne quickly called for the little girl’s pacifier, which she accepted gratefully, and of course nobody would ever be the wiser looking at the photo that she has a bright blue pacifier sticking out of her mouth!

It is a story their mother can tell at their 21st birthday party!

Now as a post script to this story, in Australia, New Zealand and The United Kingdom, the pacifier is called a “dummy”, in Italy a “ciuccio”, in France a “sucette”, and in Spanish a “chupete”. How interesting is that? It seems that every other country has a better name then we do “down under”!!! A dummy!!!!! :)

I know Anne’s Facebook Fans will be telling us what the pacifier is called in other countries. Anne’s Facebook Fans are good like that!!

For those reading the blog on annegeddes.com have a look at Anne’s Official Facebook page to see what pops up.

#72 A field trip

We sometimes need to go on what we call field trips or excursions. It’s a very exciting time because it means time out of the studio, often visiting very interesting museums, art galleries, gardens, and something as simple as visiting a shop, to source elements to be photographed by Anne.

Recently a few of us accompanied Anne and her husband Kel down to our Australia’s National Capital, Canberra (about three hours drive south west of Sydney) to see an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery is quite new, in fact it opened in December 2008 and houses the nation’s portrait collection, as well as hosting special portrait exhibitions.

Here is a photograph of two of Anne’s team outside Parliament House in Canberra where the Government gathers to run the country.

On the left is Kerry, a good friend, who also helps Anne with co-ordinating the babies and the pregnant women, on the right is Anne’s daughter Kelly, who, as you have read in other blogs, is also her Studio Assistant.

#71 Behind the scenes

Following the last blog, and the comments made regarding the question by Dakota about the flower images, we explained that the end result of a composite flower image is made with the help of a computer. Also thanks to Wendy who could have written the blog for us from her 3 books; we like that!

Usually, and depending of course what the image is going to be used for, there always needs to be a certain amount of retouching. This happened before computers, but involved a much more manual approach. The computer work still involves an enormous amount of skill, and there are people out there who specialize in doing it.

Anne uses a lady called Jo who lives in Auckland in New Zealand. She has been with Anne, as most of her team has, for many years and is very connected to what Anne requires. She travels to Sydney about once a month and spends an intensive few days at the computer working with some of the images that Anne has shot in the previous weeks, since her last visit. Jo is obviously very accomplished, and it’s amazing to watch her at work on the computer.

Anne, as you can see from the photo, is always with Jo during this time so that the end result is exactly what Anne had envisaged. The final image is always the result of the Anne’s creativity, with what she had in her mind, before even the photograph was taken.

#70 Some Facebook replies

We’ve had some lovely comments from Anne’s Facebook fans lately, and also some questions that we're able to answer via the blog.

Dakota asks about the flowers that are in Anne’s baby images. Dakota, these are actually real flowers that Anne takes photos of. She then has comfortable props made that simulate the flowers’ shapes and it is these that are used when taking the babies’ picture. These are then combined digitally, and create such amazing images that the babies look like they are actually in big flower. But also, many of Anne’s photos are made with life sized props, and of course Anne as always says, that it is not wise to try at home to match these as Anne has a professional studio and works with her long serving professional crew.

Amy was wondering if Anne is from New Zealand? Well, Amy, Anne actually is Australian, but lived and worked in her studio in Auckland, New Zealand for many years. Anne and her family have recently moved back to Australia, where she works out of a new studio. Anne’s biography on her web site has many answers to your questions.

We also had questions about stores and the purchase of Anne’s products around the world. At this stage, we just have the Anne Geddes Flagship Store in Downtown Disney in California and a boutique at Wynn Las Vegas. Anne’s website – www.annegeddes.com - has more information on both stores, and of course that’s also where you can buy Anne’s products from her Online Gift Shop. If you have other questions that are not answered there, you will also find contact information for our customer help center so you can email them your query. They will be able to tell you if we have a licensee for your country and who may be able to supply the product you would like to buy.

For those of you with little ones wondering how they can be included in Anne’s photographs, Anne’s studio is in Australia and her baby models are all from the local community. Sydney is very multi-cultural and reading the blog will show you the variety and mix of races that Anne is working with. As you’re all no doubt aware from those reading the blog, Anne is busy on a new book project at present, so unfortunately doesn’t have any shoots planned for outside of her studio in Australia.

If Anne is going to be doing any overseas shoots, we’ll be sure to post on her Facebook page and website so that you can let us know if you are expecting, or have a baby in the location where she will be working.

Keep in touch.

#69 Why made in New Zealand?

Anne’s pure™ clothing collection has been produced in very limited numbers.

Made in New Zealand, in a small factory in the city of Auckland, where there are only a total of 26 staff in the whole factory, ensures that the quality is maintained to the very best of standards. Because of the care and attention that is given to each garment, this accounts for the small quantities that are available at any given time.

The importance of this quality control in the manufacture, and fabric choice, of the pure™ range is the very reason that each and every garment is perfect, not only for your baby, but is also able to be handed down for generations to come.

Pre-orders are now officially open to everyone and if you order during August, you will automatically go in the draw to win a pure™ Gift Set.

#68 An interesting use for sea shells

It's exciting to see the activity around Anne's pure clothing range and your appreciation of what we have been showing on the site and Facebook. Thanks for that!

Concerning Anne's new book, in a couple of weeks time Anne is photographing 5 year old twins. Their mother is originally from Sierra Leone, in West Africa, but the twins were born here in Australia. They came to the studio yesterday so that we could discuss with the mother what Anne intended to do with them for their image and also to take some measurements for their little props.

They were initially quite shy, but soon were entertaining us all with their antics…the bowl of jellybeans may have been responsible! They were beautifully dressed and carried little striped handbags. Anne asked them what they had in their handbags (always interesting to find out the contents of a woman’s purse), both of them had a little container of orange juice, some tissues and some lip gloss in there! They are obviously at the age where they love make-up.

Around the bottom of their skirts were sewn tiny little seashells which tinkled when they walked. They went off to the bathroom together which is a short walk down a corridor from our studio and we could hear them walking all the way there and back again with their mother.

Everyone is looking forward to their return.