Welcome! My name is Kelly Asmus Albornoz and I am addicted to photography!

Hi! I’m Kelly and Albatross Photography & Design is my professional portrait photography studio based in Bairnsdale, the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. My family and I live in Bairnsdale; my Latin Lover / husband, Lou and our kids, Braxton and Ziara. We have a sweet little Jack Russell called Diesel, a rescue fuzzball called Max and a bunny named after the Pokemon, Umbreon.

I absolutely love being creative; I love costumes, pretty dresses, props, creating artworks and capturing stories and most of all I love empowering people through my photography.

As women, we have so many roles; Mum, wife, lover, guardian, pet supervisor, alarm clock, nutritionist, cook, mediator, coach, taxi, finance manager, cleaner, nurse, …. You see what I’m saying?! Being a responsible adult is a lot of work!! We deserve to be ‘just me’ sometimes. Taking time to fill your own cup allows you to be a better version of you. It’s not possible to pour from an empty cup. We’re worth it!

Personally, my cup is filled by swimming laps, playing with our pets, all of which love cuddles, and our family adventures where we get to explore and capture landscape photos. We love travelling; around East Gippsland or other parts of Australia too. Next stop … THE WORLD!

My cup is also filled by empowering others, especially with my work. In my spare time, I volunteer on the EmpowHer East Gippsland committee with a group of inspiring women. We create events for other women to be supported, motivated and have time to chat with like-minded local women.

Freedom and Empower are 2 of my favourite words!

As you can probably tell, I’m a little bit silly and try not to take life too seriously. My photography mentor when I was starting out called me a “Loveable Weirdo” because I kept giving things away for free; it makes me happy! My favourite giveaway is my Mothers’ Day Competition where the prize is a full photoshoot, including hair and make-up and all final photos both printed and the digital copies. Just because I can!

Talking about silly, you can be guaranteed that the photos of you smiling will be REAL smiles. Often at my hilariously terrible jokes. My Dad taught me well! My son has my sense of humour too! His Poppy would be proud!

Most people feel nervous in front of the camera. I mean, it’s outside of the comfort zone for most of us, but with the right photographer coaching you through it, you’re guaranteed to get some beautiful photos. I promise to make your Experience in front of my camera fun!!

I’m a huge fan of Canon, in fact, I was accepted as a Member of Canon Professional Photographers a couple of years ago, which is a huge honour, and also a little dangerous because it means that I get to trial their new equipment. I currently have a Canon EOS R5 Mirrorless DSLR Camera and my favourite lenses are my Canon EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS III USM which is incredible for portraiture, my little Nifty Fifty, Canon 50mm Prime lens which is fun to play with and also great for portraiture, and my Canon EF 24-105mm 1:4 L IS USM Lens which I use for creating Panoramas, capturing landscape photos and great in the studio too (a great all-rounder).

Learning new skills is high up on my priority list, including studying Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which helps me to coach you through your Photography Experience too. I’m accredited up to Master Practitioner of NLP and am currently waiting on assessments from the Trainers Training Level of NLP. Reframing the way that you feel about yourself and being able to truly embrace yourself is all part of your Experience. I’m ALWAYS studying photography too; new photographic techniques, different ways of editing and then there’s the business side of things too.