Field Notes from a Wandering Photographer – A Love Letter to 2025

This year, I stood quietly to witness one of my nearest and dearest friends ask the love of his life to marry him, and I got to photograph it.

I watched the way his hands shook, the way her face changed when she realised what was happening, the way the world seemed to pause for a moment that would alter the shape of their lives forever. Being there, not just as a friend but as the person trusted to hold that moment, was such an honour. Truly one of those how is this my job moments.

People whose weddings I photographed years ago reached out again, this time asking me to capture their newborns, their growing families, and quiet moments on their front steps. Being trusted not just once but again, at a completely different chapter of life, is something I feel deeply.

I photographed front-door sessions where people stood exactly where they belong.

Weddings full of real emotion.

Elopements that stripped everything back to what mattered.

Lifestyle sessions that felt more like afternoons unfolding than something planned.

Again and again, I was invited into moments that do not repeat. Moments that exist once, and then live on in memory unless someone is there to catch them.

There is something incredibly grounding about being trusted with that responsibility. About knowing that what I give people is not just images, but something they can return to years from now. Proof of how it felt to be loved, seen, held, chosen.

2025 reminded me that this work is a privilege.

That bearing witness is not a small thing.

And that being allowed to turn fleeting moments into something people can hold onto forever is an honour I do not take lightly.

Below are a few of my favourite moments from this year, quietly pinching myself that this gets to be my job.

Book your 2026/27 Wedding or Elopement

If you’re dreaming of photos that feel soft, editorial, and real:

I’m now taking bookings for 2026 weddings and elopements in:

• Canberra and surrounds

• East Gippsland and Lakes Entrance

• Melbourne and Regional Victoria

Enquire here → BOOK MY 2026 DATE

Let’s tell your story.

In Between Shoots

I started the year at home, in my own backyard, hosting what can only be described as a tiny, chaotic Rochella. Friends, glamping tents, music drifting through the night. Standing in a space I own, surrounded by people I love, in a garden full of seeds I had planted myself.

Not long after, I found myself in Bali, easing into the year with warmth, water, and space to breathe, before heading to the Catskills for the summer. Long days. Quiet roads. Trees in every direction. Life slowed down in a way that softened me. It felt wildly cool, not in a loud way, but in the way that comes from real spaciousness. From having time to think, to walk, to let ideas arrive without chasing them.

A lot of the work this year happened away from the camera. I took care of my body in a way I had not before, showing up for it daily and learning how to listen instead of push. Over time, twenty kilos fell away, not as a headline moment, but as a by-product of consistency, patience, and choosing myself again and again. I felt stronger. More at home in my body. More capable of carrying the life I was building.

There was grief threaded through the year too. Letting go of an old relationship. Letting go of certain futures I once assumed would happen. Sitting with the reality that some things may not be possible for me anymore, and learning how to hold that without bitterness. That kind of reckoning does not announce itself. It just quietly reshapes you.

At the same time, I found myself meeting new people. Saying yes more often. Finding joy in ordinary days, in routines, in small conversations, in moments that would have once passed unnoticed. Joy stopped being something I waited for and became something I practiced.

After the Catskills, I went to England and slept in the same room I lived in when I was eighteen, when I was an emo nanny with absolutely no idea how my life would unfold. Being there again did not feel strange or sad. It felt affirming. Like acknowledging how young and lost I once was, and quietly saying to my younger self, look what we built from here.

From there, Europe opened up in the most expansive way. Poland. The High Tatras in Slovakia, climbing higher than I once believed my body could carry me. Lake Bled, ringing the bell and making a wish, not because I needed magic, but because sometimes it is beautiful to believe in it anyway. Moving through Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Greece, and Montenegro, places layered with history, resilience, beauty, and truth.

Between shoots, between edits, between plans, I kept having the same quiet thought.

This is actually my life.

The Work and the Joy of it All

This was the year I stopped squeezing my work into the margins.

I left a job that was not lighting me up and stepped fully into photography, not as a side project, not as a someday, but as my actual life.

And it was genuinely fun.

Weddings that felt like love letters.

Elopements that honoured intimacy.

Surprise proposals that made my heart race right alongside theirs.

Lifestyle sessions that felt lived-in and honest.

Front-door sessions that celebrated everyday belonging.

I worked across East Gippsland, Canberra, New South Wales, and Victoria, meeting people who trusted me with moments they would never get back. Being invited into those spaces, often at pivotal points in people’s lives, is something I hold with real care.

What I keep returning to is closeness.

The way people soften when they feel safe.

The way hands find each other without thinking.

The pause before a moment becomes a memory.

This work does not ask me to perform.

It asks me to pay attention.

And that feels like home.

Vibed in 2025

A soft, supportive, slightly indulgent year, as it should be.

Pure magnesium glycinate most nights.

Collagen powder stirred into whatever I am drinking, because future me will be grateful.

Long headspace walks without music. Just breath, thoughts, and noticing the world again.

Yoga. Always.

Sol Cleanse Daily Celery Juice. Fresh, hydrating, and the perfect offset to days powered mostly by vibes and adrenaline.

Discount code: ROWENA10

That vanilla matcha latte from Woolworths. The Morning Made Vanilla Matcha Latte. Ridiculously good. Slightly dangerous.

ALL’S FAIR on Disney+. My guilty pleasure. Peak escapism. No notes.

GOODBERRYS! A true Canberra institution. My order is chocolate concrete with flake, almonds, and a maraschino cherry. Comfort food absolutely had a year.

My Rochella playlist, linked here for anyone still loyal to Apple Music.

Sunsets at the Marlo Hotel Fresh air, the best Parma I’ve ever had, and giving myself permission not to hustle. Still adjusting, still loving it.

Red light beds at Reset Recovery in Belconnen.

Weekly sauna sessions at Koho Sauna in Lakes Entrance.

Deep heat. Long exhale energy.

What’s Next

Signature Sessions by the Sea, Some ideas arrive fully formed. Others whisper.

This one has been whispering.

A session that feels like summer — like movement, like memory, like the life you’ll want to show your grandkids.

One hour with a little red kite.

Your loved ones barefoot in the sand.

A handful of photos that feel like you.

Bare feet. Laughter. Light.

A documentary-style, intimate family session with warmth, movement and the beautifully chaotic magic of real life baked into every frame.

40+ high-resolution images, delivered through a curated online gallery with an integrated print store.

These sessions will take place in:

Marlo · Eden · Batemans Bay

Dates to be confirmed.

If you can already see it — the water, the wind, the joy — get in touch to join the waitlist.

This offering feels like the first spark of my next chapter.

Soft. Sun-warmed. Honest.

Behind the scenes, I am also saving for a new Hello Ro Photography van. After my car was totalled, having reliable transport again feels essential, practically and creatively. A van that carries me, my gear, and wherever this work needs to take me next.

I am also getting ready to launch a few new offerings.

An Audio Guestbook Phone, plus Polaroid, film, and disposable camera options, because some moments deserve to be heard, touched, and imperfectly remembered.

And I guess plenty of opportunities to meet the LOML at weddings next year.

Where is my husband?

If nothing else, I will be surrounded by love stories in the meantime.

This next chapter feels creative, tactile, and full of possibility.

And that’s it for 2025! The life behind the scenes of Hello Ro Photography an Australian lifestyle and wedding photographer. If there’s something you’d love me to write about, maybe a behind-the-scenes topic, a favourite shoot, or even what I’m packing for my next trip — leave a comment below or DM me on Instagram at @hello.ro.photography. I’d love to hear from you.

If you’d like to see more of my work, visit www.hellorophotography.com or find me on Instagram at @hello.ro.photography.

See you next year! Can’t wait xo