Who photographs big first-birthday functions in Point Cook?
I do, happily. If you've booked a hall, a cake taller than the birthday kid and eighty guests, that's a function, and it's photographed by the hour: from $150 an hour with a two-hour minimum, roughly 40 edited photos for every hour, and one share link the whole family can use.
First-birthday functions in our community are basically small weddings. There are outfit changes, a cake ceremony, grandparents who flew in for exactly this, and a dance floor by nine. I cover the rituals and the formalities, then spend the rest of the night catching the candids people actually frame.
Planning something smaller and messier at home instead? A relaxed cake smash session is its own thing: 45 minutes, $350 flat. More about first birthday sessions
Is there a Lohri photographer in Melbourne's west?
Yes. I photograph Lohri celebrations across Point Cook, Tarneit, Hoppers Crossing and the rest of Melbourne's west, from $150 an hour. A baby's first Lohri, or the first Lohri after a wedding, is a once-only night, and it deserves better than somebody's phone.
Lohri is bonfire light, which most photographers fear and I plan for. The fire gets lit, the rewri and popcorn go around, the boliyan start, and suddenly everyone from the toddler to the tayaji is dancing. I know the rhythm of the night, so the important moments get photographed instead of explained to me afterwards.
Do you photograph mundan ceremonies?
Yes, and they're some of my favourite work. I photograph mundan ceremonies with care around the ritual itself, from $150 an hour: the ceremony, the family around it, and the before-and-after of that famous first haircut.
A mundan swings from solemn to hilarious in about four minutes, usually when the baby works out what's happening to their hair. I stay close enough to catch the priest, the parents' faces and the grandparents supervising, without ever getting in the way of the ceremony. And I always make time for a clean set of family photos while everyone is dressed up.
Do you cover naming ceremonies and christenings?
I do. Naam karan, christenings, baptisms and welcome-to-the-world lunches across Melbourne's west, booked by the hour from $150. Ceremony first, then the family groups, then the long lunch where the real photos happen.
These are days built around one small guest of honour who has zero idea what's going on, which is exactly what makes the photos good. I photograph the formal moments properly, then let the day breathe: cousins everywhere, too much food, four generations in one room.
Can you photograph our Diwali party?
Absolutely. House parties, society gatherings and community Diwali nights, from $150 an hour. Diyas, sparklers, fairy lights and the whole family in their best outfits: honestly the most photogenic night of the year.
My favourite Diwali photos are the in-between ones: kids writing their names in the air with sparklers, the rangoli that took three hours, aunties mid-laugh at the dinner table. I'll also set up a corner for quick family portraits while everyone is dressed up, because when else are you all this shiny at once?
Do you photograph mehndi nights and at-home wedding functions?
Yes. Mehndi nights, haldi mornings, sangeets and the at-home functions in the week around a wedding, booked by the hour from $150. The wedding day usually has its own photographer; these nights, full of the actual family chaos, are the ones that get missed.
Ask the older relatives and these were their favourite part of the whole wedding. Music in the living room, mehndi drying on forty hands, someone's dad on the dhol. I cover them like the celebrations they are, and hand back a gallery of the week nobody else photographed.