Photobat

Photobat Family Portraits, Small and big business branding photographer. Bayside more specifically but travel about all over the place Hello!

I'm Alan, thanks for dropping by to check out my images. I'm originally from Tasmania and now live in Melbourne, Bayside area to be specific. It's not the first time I've lived here, I actually studied photography at RMIT and managed to get myself an honours degree in applied science photography. That meant I could go out into the world and take photos of yucky things like medical specimens, I qui

ckly decided that I would rather work with people on happy things like portraits and wedding. Essentially I love stories, I do love to read a good book and watch a great movie. The story is always the key for me in all my work. When I was studying I would head out every week to see live comedy and realised that my favourite comedians were the story tellers who took you on a journey. I love tagging along on my client's journeys and giving them the memories that they can display in their homes and give to their families. My own journeys have been fantastic, living and exploring Tasmania, moving and growing up in Melbourne, returning to Tasmania and starting and developing a business, heading overseas to investigate cultures and discover places I'd only seen in books, getting to know and build friendships with my clients, meeting and loving my wife, raising and being a fun dad to our fantastic little girl. Some other things that might (or might not) be interesting
I tend to prefer ordering off the all day breakfast menu over the lunch menu
Coffee is my other addiction after photography
If the groom cries at the wedding, I'll be a mess too
I seem to win some awards from time to time, read more about that here
Quite often I get the chef of a restaurant to cook me his/her favourite dish rather than order off the menu
I miss CD's, mixed tapes and real books

The Barkology book is almost done.Oodles of Oodles. One charity book. Thousands of fart jokes (approximately).Now we nee...
04/06/2026

The Barkology book is almost done.
Oodles of Oodles. One charity book. Thousands of fart jokes (approximately).

Now we need a cover. And after staring at these images for longer than is probably healthy, we've decided to let YOU pick it.

Swipe through the contenders, vote for your favourite and help us send the 2026 Barkology book to print.

Voting closes 5pm on 12 June. The winning cover gets revealed at our book launch in early July.

Oh, and everyone who votes can choose to go in the draw to win a $660 Photobat portrait prize. Yes, just for voting.

Vote here 👉 www.photobat.net/barkology-oodle-cover/

The Barkology book raises funds for Pets Of The Homeless, supporting people experiencing homelessness to stay with their pets.

Autumn in the city. A pile of dry leaves. Three kids (including Dad) and zero hesitation.This is exactly what a Photobat...
26/05/2026

Autumn in the city. A pile of dry leaves. Three kids (including Dad) and zero hesitation.

This is exactly what a Photobat session looks like, and Marco's family nailed it.

"Friendly, professional and amazing with kids. Made us all feel very comfortable."

If you've been thinking about getting photos done but worried your kids won't cooperate, this is your sign. They don't need to cooperate. They just need leaves.

Write "curious" below and I'll send you the details.

05/05/2026

Last week I gave him a photo for his birthday.

Not the main present. Just a little something extra I’d wrapped up at the last minute, almost as an afterthought. A framed family portrait from our last shoot together.

He unwrapped it, and before I could even gauge his reaction, he said “I know exactly where I’m going to put this,” and walked off to his room.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Maybe a family photo isn’t really a “present” to a kid his age. Maybe I should have stuck with even more Lego than he already got.

Later that night, I went in to check on him like I always do before I head to bed.

It was already on his bedside table. Right next to him. The first thing he’d see in the morning and the last thing before he closed his eyes.

This is the bit nobody tells you about family photos.

We book them thinking they’re for us. For the wall. For the grandparents. For one day, much later, when the kids are grown and we want to remember their cheeky little personalities and the way they used to climb into bed for a cuddle.

But the kids see them differently. To them, a family photo is proof. Proof that they belong somewhere.

Proof that the people in the picture love each other, and love them. Proof that their family is a real, solid, permanent thing in a world that mostly isn’t.

That’s why he put it there. Not because the photo is beautiful (although, it really is). Because it’s the people in it.

If you’ve been putting off booking a family photo shoot because you think the kids won’t care, or because you’ll “do it next year,” or because you’re waiting until everyone looks a bit less feral: I promise you they care more than you think.

They just won’t tell you until you find the photo on their bedside table.

Photobat. Melbourne family photographer. Unboring portraits for fun families across Bayside and beyond.

02/05/2026

It may be warm but the leaves are changing! We were heading to the city for some urban shots but the TREES ARE TOO PRETTY! It’s perfect time for some colour!

I posted in a local community group last night looking for the last few oodles for Barkology: The Oodle Edition and I ma...
30/04/2026

I posted in a local community group last night looking for the last few oodles for Barkology: The Oodle Edition and I managed to get a heap of oodles showing up…

Oodle owners, you never disappoint!

We still have a few spots left in the book with the aim of having it all completed by the end of May and I’m specifically looking for these breeds:

👉 Chipoo
👉 Maltipoo
👉 Peekapoo
👉 Aussiedoodle
👉 Schnoodle
👉 Poochon
👉 Springerdoodle
👉 Whoodle
BUT all oodles are still welcome!

A percentage of every sale goes to Pets of the Homeless, because good dogs deserve good humans.

Is your oodle next? Or do you know and oodle mad dog mum or family? Tag them or jump in to the Link in bio. 🐶OR comment Back and I’ll send you the info.

🐾 LAST CALL FOR OODLES: Curly dogs and the humans who let them sleep on the bed.🐾Barkology: The Oodle Edition is almost ...
29/04/2026

🐾 LAST CALL FOR OODLES: Curly dogs and the humans who let them sleep on the bed.🐾

Barkology: The Oodle Edition is almost full, but I'm still hunting for a few specific breeds to round out the book.

Got one of these? Your dog needs to be famous!

👉 Schnoodle
👉 Bernedoodle
👉 Chipoo
👉 Maltipoo
👉 Peekapoo
👉 Aussiedoodle
👉 Poochon
👉 Springerdoodle
👉 Whoodle
👉 Still, if you have a cavoodle, groodle, labradoodle or any other oodle, you are still all welcome!

A percentage of every sale goes straight to Pets of the Homeless, because good dogs deserve good humans, so far we are over halfway to out $1000 goal!

And here's the part your future self will thank you for: get in the photo. You, the kids, the whole chaotic pack. Because ten years from now, that goofy curly face staring back at you from your wall is going to make you ridiculously happy you did.

Sessions are fun, fast, and your dog is the undisputed star. You're just the very good-looking supporting cast.

DM me, drop a pic of your Oodle below or tag someone whose Oodle deserves a double-page spread. 🐶

The pics are of some of the soon-to-be-famous puppies already in the book, as well as some with their humans! (Only oodles in the book!)

I spend my days telling families to get in front of the camera. Turns out I’m terrible at taking my own advice.So we fin...
27/04/2026

I spend my days telling families to get in front of the camera. Turns out I’m terrible at taking my own advice.

So we finally got an update! We got the brilliant
to photograph us: me, Vikashni, Saffron, Fox, Apollo and Fluff, who wanted absolutely nothing to do with it, and our girl Skye.

This photo was taken in our backyard. No studio. No matching outfits. Fox is sitting on a milk crate wearing every colour in existence, mostly crocheted by V.

There are garden gnomes involved and lots of props of our likes and interests. Even a Union Jack flag that I believe belonged to my grandfather got into the act, breaking up the grey of the fence.

What we didn’t know when this was taken was that the very next day, we’d have to say goodbye to Skye. We had no idea that night would be her last at home with us. So this photo, this chaotic, imperfect, everyone-look-serious-but-not-really photo, is now one of the most important things we own.

The second snap is a close-up from another photo of Fox’s “funny face.” He was very proud of sneaking that into a couple of shots.

This is why I do what I do. Not because photos are pretty (though Rowena’s certainly are). Because one day a photo stops being just a photo and becomes the thing you’re most grateful you have.

Get in the photo. All of you. Even the pets who don’t want to cooperate.

Rowena, thank you. You have no idea what you’ve given us.

📷

Please note that instead of our annual Easter egg guessing competition we will be doing a KitKat guessing competition! F...
02/04/2026

Please note that instead of our annual Easter egg guessing competition we will be doing a KitKat guessing competition!

First person to correctly guess the number of Kit Kats Apollo is sitting on AND tell us how she got hold of them will win a Kit Kat !

30/03/2026

Deep in the bowels of the I had a little exhibition. The third year I’ve held it. And the third year that no one except people who are performing or working backstage can see it. All the guests from variety night for the , snapped in a dressing room and then up on the wall/door the following night.
This was the final look at the exhibit as the run was only 4 nights this year so less faces and I hadn’t printed the acts who were on the final night.
So whose pic do you like the best?
Look out for the last few Portraits soon

Night 3 of  variety night. What a line up. After seeing their spots I need to see these full shows     and I’d see  if h...
29/03/2026

Night 3 of variety night. What a line up.
After seeing their spots I need to see these full shows and I’d see if he has a show on! Last night tonight

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Beaumaris, VIC

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