Snakes continue to grow in popularity as household pets in Australia.

The Brown family are well researched snake-enthusiasts who adore their seventeen pet snakes. Misty, a Coastal Carpet Python, is Sarah’s most favourite. There is a beautiful, unspoken understanding between them whenever and wherever they are together.

This image was shot as part of the series Tails in the City, commissioned by The Historic Houses Trust in Sydney.

I don’t really want to tell you where this is… I want to keep it a secret!

It was an unexpected little beauty on some awfully rocky, narrow, windy, steep highway through the mountains between Nice and Chamonix. It was somewhere, like Mundaka, that made me regret not bringing my heavy 14-24mm lens.

This was the closest we came to the Italian border. Severe flooding in Genoa, Cinque Terre and surrounding areas just a week before we arrived, prompted us to change our trip and save Italy for next time : (

With an entry via a charming drawbridge, alleyways that missed the sun and vines that were a vibrant red like nothing else I’ve seen before - this was the tiny French town from my dreams.

It felt like it was just us and a maze of footpaths, curved stone walls, wide steps and colourful shutters. Here and there were tiny hints that someone called this historical town home.

O I wish we had stayed one night and dined there!! I know it would have been special.

We drove till the sun kissed the top of the mountains goodnight and the sky was dark enough to black out everything but the stars.

Kareena has designed both my name logo and also my business card logo … isn’t she talented?

Be sure to check out her new website to see her inspiring creations and also some locations, online and in store, to buy her work.

We spent a whole day walking through the fortified city of Carcassone, it’s quiet cobbled streets and stone towers. I had the most hearty three course french meal for lunch {vegetable soup, duck a l’orange and chocolate mousse} at a quaint pink restaurant within the castle walls.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it…

and my eyes want to go back there and photograph some more : ).

“Natalie is an amazing photographer and we could not be more pleased with the photos from our wedding day! Organising a wedding whilst living overseas can be really difficult, however, Nat made the process that much easier for us by being so patient and understanding in the lead up to our wedding. Although we were only able to meet in person just prior to the wedding, we both knew that she would be the perfect person to capture this important day for us, and our expectations have been surpassed in every way. Her photographs of our wedding are even more beautiful than we could have hoped for and we can not thank her enough for agreeing to spend the day with us. We will treasure these pictures forever. ”

- Melissa & Martin
Wedding Location: Bexhill Open Air Cathedral, Northern NSW.

If you are looking for a wedding venue in the Byron Bay hinterland – Byron View would be the perfect spot!

All of these pics are via my instagr.am.

Once we arrived in Andorra we were feeling pretty stir crazy. We had spent four weeks in our van and it had been rainy and cold for days. Nothing was dry, we couldn’t do too much outside, our gas bottle had run out. We were ready for a little pampering. The glamorous Caldea spa resort came to our rescue (even though we had to sleep in our cold van afterwards!). It’s an amazing place. Check out some pics here.

For the next night we booked some random accomodation in Pas de la Casa. As we got closer and closer, the road took us higher and higher and to my delight, at the bottom of these gorgeous white mountains, in a small town with one main street, snow covered roofs, slippery sidewalks and chilly winter air, was our hotel.

I loved photographing the colourful trees and landscapes changing with the seasons as we drove through Andorra. It is a very unique little country and one I hope to visit again.

For some reason, in the UK, international drivers whose occupation is ‘photographer’ (among 10 other random occupations; Journalist, Diplomat, High Profile Athlete) cannot get insurance to drive a car they have purchased over there.

Maybe it is because we spend some of our time whilst driving not actually driving at all : ). I know here at home I have caught myself so many times looking at the light and the way it’s falling on things, thinking of how I would photograph it.
Quite often I am quickly trying to find somewhere safe to pull over so I can get a snap of that fruit stand or sunset or landscape or nice tree or cute letterbox : ).

They are onto all us-bad-photographer-drivers.

So, as it is illegal to drive without insurance in Europe, my partner had to do all the driving during our trip. All 8400 kms of it.
The same distance as driving from Brisbane to Perth and back.

I spent the whole trip gazing out the passenger window and I wanted to capture it all.

If we had stopped or done a U-turn all the times I had seen something, we would never have gotten anywhere far. I know other photographers can relate to this – we are not the best people to do a road trip with. For as long as my eyes are open, I am photographing or I am wanting to photograph.

As 2011 closes out and I’ve been going through all the photos I’ve taken on our trip – these snaps I’ve taken from the window of the road ahead have taken on a new meaning.

The road in front of us can sometimes look foggy and unclear… or winding with icy corners. Sometimes it is straight, bright and easy. Sometimes there is nowhere to do a U-turn.

I hope you can look through these pics and think back about the year and all you have accomplished, all the roads you have taken to get where you are now and be grateful for how it has all come together… As it always does.

Our European journey has come to an end but another one is beginning here at home.
I still have so many more pictures to post. Be sure to check back early next year for more.

Have a great summer!

The drive along the coastline from San Sebastian to Mundaka was a drive I could do again and again and find many more pictures to take each time. Jagged cliff faces dropped straight into the ocean and steep valleys circled small villages based on the beaches below.

As we headed inland for a bit we drove through luscious farmlands. It seemed everyone had some sort of veggie garden growing. I spotted a pumpkin patch nestled between the highway and the mountains…

A pumpkin patch!

I walked over to the pumpkins and admired their girth, their volume, their size, and wondered how long it took them to grow THAT large and what they tasted like. I wish I had my photo taken next to some of them to show you how big they really were.

The towns we passed through were rustic, colourful and quiet.
Farmers, who looked like they should be retired, slashed their grasses by hand.
Big, fat, juicy chillies were strung out over doorways and window sills to dry out.
Laundry lightly lifted in the breeze as it hung from all apartment block windows, high and low, facing the sunshine.
Large soccer fields glistened green in the sun. I could only imagine how awesome the atmosphere would be at one of the local games.

And again I loved reading and noting the Basque house names; Etchola, Choka Tikka,  Etche Torra…

Mundaka is a world famous surfing hotspot and it did not disappoint. We arrived to see lines and lines of 10ft left handers steaming in and a dozen surfers braving them. Yellow Autumn leaves fell around us whilst we stood at the lookout and breathed it all in.

I hope you can feel the warmth of the afternoon sun come through these pictures.