Recently I had a chance to attend a fashion photography workshop (fashion, glamour and beauty master class) in Sydney, run by Peter Coulson from Koukei Photography, who is a well respected photographer in the fashion industry.
Ever since I started in the photo industry I have continually tried to improve my photo skills - this means gaining knowledge and new ways of doing things….and the quickest way is to learn from the best. Workshops are a great way to watch and learn from someone else, and practice new things in a controlled environment.
I found the workshop really interesting and had a ball shooting the 3 models that Peter had brought up from Melbourne. We tried different lighting conditions, poses and outfits. I have even made a short video:
Recently we had a beautiful young couple in to have their portraits done. Kylie came to us through Allgeria Dance Company.
It was rather an overcast day, we took photos through the long lens as the couple strolled along the Zenith Beach together, just as they would any other weekend. Very natural shots, the peace and harmony reflected in their images is something very special. It gently started to rain and Brent has carefully captued this magical moment and the rain drop appear like tiny diamonds around them. That momemt in time captured forever, will now proudly hang on their lounge room wall for them and their family to enjoy, not just a photo but now a personal artwork.
I have always wanted to photograph this area around seal rocks, and sugarloaf point lighthouse. We went camping with the family and a few friends for a night at seal rocks holiday park. Didn’t know if the weather would hold out, but it did and we were only rained on in the morning. We hiked up to the lighthouse after 9pm at night, beautiful walk through the overhanging trees, and finally up the hill to where the lighthouse sits. Most of these were shot with an exposure of over 2 minutes, and I had the chance of running down and adding some light to the right hand side of the lighthouse with my led torch (blue light). The full moon illuminated the structure so much that some of these images look like daylight.
Do you prefer the black and white or colour images? I haven’t made up my mind yet? I do like the arty look of these images…more long exposure landscapes will be coming over the next few months.
I did manage to sneak in a surf the next morning in front of the holiday park, really good right hander off the point.
Tamara is a stunning girl, that has come to us through the Miss Surfest competition through Fannys Night club in Newcastle.
This was her first professional modeling shoot, naturally she was a little nervous at the start. As usual Brent and his assistant Alex with their laid back attitude were able to work with Tamara, showing her the ropes and letting her view some images as they went. Tamara could see the amazing images that we being produced, with that her confidence soared and I think you will agree that Brent has captured the true essence of this young woman.
What an incredible family to photograph, I loved every minute of it. Bill, Esther, Ben, Katie and little Emily were waiting for me at Tomaree Headland parking lot at the end of Shoal Bay road. We walked over to Zenith beach for our family portait session. There was a light wind and the conditions were perfect.
We had a great time, running and playing on the beach, sitting in the dune grass, and climbing the rocks. The thing that really touched me about Bill and family was the total peace I felt while shooting and interacting with them all. I can’t quite put my finger on it, maybe its part of the church that Bill is the pastor for, or maybe just the way everyone has been brought up. Everyone in the family seemed to be happy….truly happy. Wow, had me thinking about them for days afterwards.
It was a treat to show Bill and Esther the final images in our viewing room at our studio. I felt the same emotions during the slideshow, and was pretty moved by the whole experience.
Thank you Bill and Esther for letting me into your lives in such a wonderful way, and for trusting me with such and important job – captureing your lifestyle in the way I do and creating personal family art. I loved it!!!!!
Gail and her family lost everything in the Victorian fires. We are part of Port Stephens Tourism League, and we donated a portrait session to any Victorian Fire Victims, while others donated accomodation in our area too. We met Gail and her family at Zenith beach on a very windy day. We had so much fun photographing them, just being themselves, running and playing. Good to see them smiling again. Here are a few images from the day.
17/2/10 Just got a letter from Gail today and it says “To be made feel so special, the care given to help replace what we lost in the ‘Black Saturday fires’ we will never be able to repay. Our heartfelt thanks just doesn’t seem enough. All the best for the future. Kindest regards….Gail.”
Ashlea is a local Allegria Dance Co. dancer, and wanted to get a couple of underwater dancing images. I love shooting movement and people that are good at what they do. Underwater photography adds a whole new dimension to posing, and this proved a lot more difficult than Ash expected. After a while she started to get the hang of it and we ended up with some stunning images. Well done Ash…..its hard work.
We have been shooting Allegria Dance Co. now for about 4 years. This is so much fun for us, and every year the girls from Allegria come up with some amazing costumes and themes.
This year the theme was CINEMATIC and there were 3 images we needed for the posters and advertising for the end of year concert.
I decided to try something new, combine my still photography with some high definition video. Since I purchased my new canon 5d mark 2 camera I have been experimenting with hd video.
Attached are the poster images, plus a short movie called CINEMATIC
Angela and Peter held their wedding at Peppers Anchorage in Corlette. The weather turned out to be perfect.
Everything went according to plan, well… almost. One of the groom’s men had a “shirt malfunction” and there were some last minute shopping to be done. In the meantime the bride was getting ready and we got some really good candid shots with all the girls. Once they were dressed I got the bride and bridesmaids onto the balcony and again using my off-camera lights, we captured the brilliant colours in the dresses without losing the beautiful marina background and blue colours of the bay (port stephens).
Angela and Peter are an active couple and we decided to have some fun after the ceremony and formal shots were over. We headed to the beach close the anchorage and played tug-o-war. We also had a game of touch rugby, which everyone enjoyed. There are so many choices for wedding shots around the anchorage that I could have gone on forever, but we ran out of time and everyone headed back to freshen-up for the reception. I got one last shot of Peter trying to reach Angela up high on the balcony.
After sunset and halfway through dinner, I managed to convince the couple to get a few sunset images on the breakwater. Using one of the bridesmaids to hold my off-camera light, I photographed the wedding couple running past me with the sunset in the background. One of the best images is the silhouette below.
I really enjoyed shooting this wedding, everyone was really relaxed and in a festive mood. Thanks again to Stacy for being the 2nd photographer on the day and for helping me organise all the group shots. Thanks to Rosie for editing the images too.
Attached are the poster images, plus a short movie called CINEMATIC
