About — Yaara Duek Photography

“Don’t tell your children about the world. Show them” - Penny Whitehouse

Hi, I’m Yaara.

I’m a Melbourne based, natural light portrait and lifestyle photographer with a passion for the everyday moments of which memories are made of.

I’m a mother of two little monkeys (Tom & Noa) who make my heart flutter with joy and my body in desperate need of caffeine. I love dancing, I’m a sucker for rom-coms, I can talk for days (although English is my second language, so awkward misuse of words is a common occurrence) and I love capturing memories.

I know what it’s like to be a parent and believe that amongst the chaos which fills the time between early mornings and oh so late nights, magic lies. Moments of laughter and tears and a love you couldn’t imagine before.

Allow me to join you for a brief moment in time and capture your story, right now, as you are. No studio lights, no big scenes constructed and imposed. Just your family love story, me and my camera.

Love stories

BASED IN south caulfield
AVAILABLE — metro melbourne & mornington peninsula

HI, I AM

Yaara

MELBOURNE BASED MOTHERHOOD NEWBORNE & FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

Messy old photo of mum sitting by hear 1 year old and kissing her on the cheek

My Why.

This photo right here, is my why. It is one of the only photos I have as a baby with my mum. It’s grainy, and dark, and full of love.

My beautiful mumma, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and said her final goodbye to us in 2017. After the funeral, the first thing my sister and I did was to take out the family photo albums.

You see, my mum had to work hard to support our family. She never took photos of my sister and I. Most of our baby photos are from friends or family who happen to have a camera, so all we have are a couple of family albums to look back on to try and piece together the love and connection we shared.

I became a mum for the first time 10 weeks before my own mum passed away. That journey has shaped my motherhood and changed the way I look at the bond between a mother and her children forever.

The simple truth is, we’re not here forever.
And this love we share as a family, the time we spend together - it shapes who we are but we won’t necessarily remember any of it as we grow older.

My children deserve to have those memories captured. They deserve to see how loved they are. And as parents, we deserve to be able to look back and remember the moments that made us a family. It’s the little promise I made my self when my son was 10 weeks old and all I had left of my own mum was photos.

And your kids deserve the same. You deserve the same.

Your time is now.

“The days are long but the years are short”

black and white image of young siblings standing on the couch in home made animal masks and capes. older brother stands in super hero position and younger sister looks up to him

5 little things you should know about me

I’m 37 and still find it surprising every single day. I swear I was in me early 20’s yesterday. Which is a legit old people’s thing to say, proving the fact that I am in fact 37...
I was born in Israel and lived there until I was 20. That’s when I met my other half, and decided to follow him half way across the world to Melbourne. My whole family is in Israel and it will forever be my home. Hebrew is my first language and my accent gets thicker the more tired / liquored up I am.
I’m a mumma of two little people (they’re the superheroes on the couch right there) - Tom (6) & Noa (4). Motherhood is not something I always wanted. I wanted a family but found it hard to define when I’d like to have children. In 2017 Tom was born and the mum in me was born with him. Becoming a mum is the best thing that happened to me. It shaped who I am, it made me realise how strong I can be and challenged both my relationship with my self and with others in a way that helped me grow. Seriously, I can’t imagine this world without my two little monkeys in it. They light the darkest places in me and I’m forever grateful for them.
I love to dance. LOVE IT. So don’t be surprised if we play music at your session and my hips start doing their thing. I can’t control it. Believe me, I tried.
The sea is my happy place. I’m not a great swimmer, so rarely go in but when my soul needs some healing, I find my self standing on the sand.

The most important thing you need to know about me is that I love what I do. I work best when you trust me and when you allow yourself to be true to who you are around me.

LET’S DOCUMENT YOUR LOVE

Get in touch

Capturing your love story

Family sitting cuddled up on rocks at the beach, laughing and hugging — Connection

Baby holding dad's face while dad kisses his cheeks — Tenderness

parents kiss 1 week old baby's head — Love

Mother holding daughter on couch, throwing head back in laughter — Laughter

Close up on baby sleeping, swaddled in a knitted blanket — Softness

Sisters cuddled on the couch, older sister kissing younger sister's forehead — Trust

family sits on parents bed, dad holding his daughter up side down while she laughs, mum looks at them smiling — Fun

mother sits with older daughters on a log, laughing and tilting head back — Authenticity

black and white couple laughing while hugging and touching cheeks — Happiness

Mother sitting in a chair by the window, breastfeeding her 1 week old — Honesty

Testimonials

Featured

The Schewitz Family

“We recently did a sunset session with Yaara, who delivered the most spectacular set of photos. It was exactly what we wanted; candid & relaxed and she managed to capture the cheekiness of our toddler's personality perfectly. She is personable and made us all feel at ease in front of the camera. To be honest, most of the time we didn't even realise she was shooting. She connected with our child's interests, and ensured that he had a great time. She also captured the cutest photos of our newborn. Couldn't recommend her enough. Would give 6 stars if Google would let me.”

The Sussman Family

“Yaara was wonderful to deal with - nothing was too much trouble. She was very accommodating from helping us find a package that suited, to organising a date/time/location to making sure the photos were right for us. We love the photos and would highly recommend Yaara for any family photos!”

The Burgess Family

“We have had the absolute pleasure of working with Yaara on three occasions. I am an anxious, type A personality who was very nervous going into a photography session with little children. Yaara's calming presence immediately put us all at ease. She is so compassionate and formed an instant genuine connection with my children. Especially my eldest daughter who is quite shy. When my kids were being extra cheeky Yaara found creative ways to keep them entertained and captured beautiful, authentic images as a result. I really adore the natural style of the images and the quality of the edits is amazing. Yaara's fees are very reasonable and it has been the best investment having her work her magic from behind the lens so that we have these precious family memories for life. I am excited to rebook Yaara's service's for future family sessions and for our wedding day when we finally nail down a date. If you're on the fence about booking a family photo session I can't encourage you enough to take the leap. It's so worthwhile.”

Sandeep & Meredith

“We had a great experience with Yaara getting our first l pictures of our son. Not only was Yaara a total professional and able to make the best use of our space to get the amazing photos that she did but she was an incredibly warm and kind presence to these sleep deprived newbies, newly minted grandma and pooch. Thank you Yaara!”

The Steinfeld Family

“Wow!! what a great experience we had! Yaara managed to capture beautiful moments that will stay with us forever. it was fun, flowing and unforgettable! We all felt very comfortable and the photos are absolutely amazing!”

The Porat Family

“I can’t recommend Yaara enough! She took the most magnificent photos of my family recently. Our brief was to mainly capture our girls and dog in Elwood, and she absolutely nailed it. Yaara is a delight to deal with, had a quick turn around time and was very helpful and accommodating. Thanks Yaara for these beautiful shots ❤️”

The Stockwell Family

“We were a little worried about being awkward in front of the camera but Yaara was so warm, fun and engaging when she came to take our family photos, that we instantly relaxed.

She captured the most precious memories for us and we are over the moon with the photos we now have of this special moment in time with our toddler.

Don't hesitate to book this lovely soul to document your family. You honestly won't regret it!”

The Cox Family

“Yaara was an absolute pleasure to work with. She offered wonderful wardrobe and styling advice, and knew exactly how to capture those winning images in that critical split second... We were so happy with the photos that she produced - they were artistic, vibrant and moody, and perfectly captured a dreamy moment in time that we will now never forget. We will certainly ask Yaara to take more photos of us in the future”

The Siewyoke Family

“We did our maternity and newborn photo shoot with Yaara. I chose her because I love her style of candour and post-editing in her photos. Aside from the stunning gallery, we got to meet a kind, lovely and approachable person who went out of her way to make us feel supported. Highly recommended!”