About

Leap of Joy is a small Auckland studio photographing families, the celebrations that matter and the weddings that stay small. One photographer, one session at a time, and an unhurried hour so nobody has to perform for the camera.

Where the name comes from

When Mary arrived at her cousin Elizabeth’s house, the child Elizabeth was carrying moved before a word had been said about it. Nobody arranged that moment and nobody could have posed it. It happened because joy had walked into the room.

That is the whole brief for a session here. The photographs worth keeping are almost never the arranged ones. They are the half-second afterwards — a child who has forgotten the camera, grandparents catching each other’s eye, a father laughing at something only his family finds funny. Our work is to be ready when it happens and then to stay out of its way.

How sessions run

Unhurried by design

Studio mini sessions start on the hour. The session itself is 20 to 30 minutes; the rest of the hour is deliberate breathing room, so nobody is photographed against the clock.

One booking at a time

One family in the studio at a time. Nobody is waiting in the corridor while a baby is being fed or a toddler is being talked round.

A neutral studio

Warm walls and soft daylight, with nothing competing for attention. The people stay the subject.

Honest editing

Colour, delivered as a private online gallery you can download and share. No heavy retouching of children.

The studio

Studio mini sessions run Saturdays 1:00–6:00pm and Sundays 10:00am–2:00pm, New Zealand time. Mini sessions can also be photographed outdoors. Events, celebrations and intimate weddings are always photographed where they happen and quoted after a short briefing call. Parking and the exact address are sent with your booking confirmation.