Thought I'd post these shots from the location part of last weeks editorial shoot where our model wanted to wear the beautiful Sherri Hill ballgown that I wore to last years SAPPA's ....as when I was in After Dark Boutique getting a gown for this years I noticed that they are still stocking this range and if you want to feel like a princess I'd grab one fast....the fabric is so soft and floaty it makes you want to swirl...just ask for Sherri Hill at After Dark Boutique...or Wildchild Boutique and then make sure you have photos taken wearing it.
SAPPA update
Hugest congratulations to the winners, participants and the AIPP who put on the best SAPPA event yet I think last night at the Semaphore Palais....the atmosphere was electric and it was a truely joyous celebration of our industry and the year that has been 2012....it is fantastic to be able to be part of an organisation when most of us work alone for the most part but no one feels isolated in any way....well done to the board... a great job done by all
SAPPA 2012 (South Australian professional Photography Awards)
Well day 1 of the SAPPAS's started this morning with the Contemporary Photographic Art category where we had to display between 3 and 6 prints as we would in an exhibition and also write an artist statement....it was the first time that this category has been held and was totally new ground for all who entered and more than a little nerve racking. The judges were mostly art curators alongside one of our national photographic judges and they assessed each entry by separately scoring the print and the statement and then giving the series as a whole a overall score....I am more than happy to have received 2 Silver with distinctions and 2 silvers for my prints with an overall score of 85 which is a Siver dist for the series...not quite enough to win the category I don't think but very encouraging from an exhibition point of view....here are the final prints entered...
Heres to a Great Weekend
Had a bit of time at the end of the day to play around with a couple more shots from this shoot and thought I'd post them for the weekend....we have our annual South Australian Professional Photography awards starting this weekend....they are being held at the Norwood hotel from Sunday until Wed and there will be a great many nail biting photographers in there....the upside is that its great to see all our collegues and friends in one place at one time and it all finishes up with a Gala dinner at the Semaphore Palais on Wed night...so these shots were a nice distraction....hope you all have a great weekend and see you on the other side.....now off to see Jesh le Rox
Full of Life on a beautiful afternoon
Had a beautiful day and a full of beans family for the last shoot down at the 7 sisters a couple of weeks ago. I have been waiting to get my new blog up before posting about the shoot which started at the studio before we all headed outside and let our hair down. Its the third time I have photographed the Levitons and I always love the result of these expressive children and whenever I need timeless looks and long hair they are the first ones I call...this time it was a full family shoot with Mum and Dad which is being compiled into a beautiful coffee table book.
Photoshop...friend or foe?
OK I have seen a lot of posts on blogs and magazine sites about the evils of Photoshop and its overuse particularly in relation to womans body image. There have been endless debates about magazine covers and the unrealistic interpretation of normal people glamourised beyond belief. For sure this is an issue but it is the ridiculous end of the spectrum and not really what most people do with it.....so ....an explaination of why PS is necessary as well as proper training in how to use it.
Before the digital age in the good old days when we used film, photographers had a large range of Films to use to get the effects that they wanted....and to add to that we used filters on the lenses if a certain look was required. There were films which produced saturated colours with little grain and others which were softer colours with a lot of grain. There were also different colour gamuts and different tonal ranges. When they were processed, you could push or pull the film and even put the film through different chemicals eg slide film processed and printed on paper to get different (high contrast) effects. Then the actual neg could be dodged and burned etc etc. etc
With black and white photography the possibilities were endless....from the films used through to the printing in the darkroom....just about everything could be manipulated if you had the time money and skills. One of the last things I did in the darkroom was use a product called "liquid light" which was a photographic emulsion that you could paint onto paper (in this case it was handmade paper). It was really hit and miss as it had to be done in pitch darkness but it was always fun to end up with usually 1 decent shot at the end of the process.
Enter the first digital cameras....well they were not quite up to standard when they first came out and we all had to compensate with the help of photoshop. PS was brought out as a digital processing engine to replace what the lab was doing before....the difference was that now instead of professional labs processing photos now anyone could and everybody else was learning a new tool, some better than others. However there was basically no choice...if you wanted to do photography professionally you had to learn it (and carry on learning it for the rest of your days)....all of a sudden PS skills were as important as actual shooting skills and professional photography changed forever.
The cameras we use today are not designed to produce life as we see it with our eyes....although some get very close if you have a lot of money to invest...the images have to be processed to produce correct colour and contrast and the lenses are so sharp that I can only equate them to looking in a magnifying hotel bathroom mirror. Every skin pore is visable ...every hair and I can only speak for my own vision but most peoples skin looks fairly soft and glowing to me....a raw picture straight out of camera is a low contrast slightly dull image...and at the least a slight contrast adjustment will be necessary before printing. You have the choice of lowering the clarity or accentuating it which can have the effect of making someone look 5 years younger or 20 years older...these are creative choices the photographer must make. If we want to create a black and white film image then the image has to be tweaked in a number of different ways just to get it to look authentic. Digital naturally has no grain which again creates an unnatural sharpness...and this has to be filtered in through photoshop to get the right look for B & W
In conclusion PS is very very necessary in the professional world....without it you are doing a dis-service to your customers by making them look less than they really do. In the fashion world they have always manipulated images to create whatever look is in vogue and most people are able to distinguish the fantasy of that. Most people are not 6 foot tall and 57 kilos but models usually are!....the extreme photoshopping has been outed on many occasions and PS usually cops the flak rather than the fashion editors who approve the covers? I think this is unfair. Photoshop is a tool and its up for abuse like any other tool but its totally subject to whoevers hands it is in!
I will attach a couple of examples...
All Images from the old blog on a slideshow for my records
March 2012
MAR 21
Renee and Dans Wedding 18th March 2012
PERMALINK COMMENT SHOW COMMENTS (0)
MAR 21
Dan and Renees Wedding
Every now and then an opportunity comes up which is irristible and when I was asked to shoot this wedding I knew it would be gorgeous and jumped at the chance...Renee and Dan flew out from England a few months ago and Dan popped the question soon after...they wanted to keep it simple and elegant so Mt Lofty house was chosen as the location. Renee was surrounded by all her family and Dan's family flew out from England as well. It was a beautiful day on Sunday and the bride and the groom were so in love and looked simply stunning it was hard to see as I was getting a bit misty eyed at times!...here is a sneak peak...<3
Dec 2011
DEC 12
PERMALINK COMMENT SHOW COMMENTS (0)
DEC 12
All about "She"
Wondering what "She" is all about and didn't make it to Wednesdays Champagne Launch?...well "She" is everything about You...your beauty and femininity and a celebration of who you are. Over the years I have enjoyed doing makeover type shoots and have also had a couple done myself and this year I heard some things that struck a chord with me and made me decide to embrace and offer this product...because as wives/partners, mothers, young women or grandmothers its really important to have something beautiful to remind us of who we really are...something that is specially for us and that makes us feel good to help us get through our busy lives...something that will last a lifetime and something so precious that if it gets found in an attic in 100 years time it will be viewed with wonder and admiration.
Most of you have already taken the time and commissioned Family Portraits which have documented your family and created the most precious memories...My mother has a beautiful classic portrait of herself in her 20's as have most of her friends...their generation understood the value of good photography and we need to make sure we don't lose the art along with disposable digital technology of today...As women life races past at enormous speed...sometimes its important to step off the rollercoaster and feed our souls...there are lots of ways of doing that and some of them we take time to do....we go to the gym, yoga, go to the beauty therapist and hairdresser...but I passionately believe we really need to have something to be able to appreciate the end result of all that work...and this is what "She" is about...its a reward for all the things we do for our loved ones...its is a gift to yourself...and one day it will be as meaningful to your daughters as it is to you.
The "She" shoots take place in studio with our Makeup artist helping you look your best...you need 3 changes of clothes and a relaxed attitude and the rest is up to us...posing, lighting and capturing your beauty are our jobs and not for you to be worried about...the shoots are relaxed and fun and nowhere near as glamourous as the results will be...we want you to leave feeling like youve had a morning with friends enjoying yourself...
It is never too early or too late to treat yourself or a friend or loved one to a "She" Beauty Shoot...Gift Vouchers are available and you have the choice of "A La Carte" prints or one of our Exquisite Packages once you see your images...we also welcome you to come in for a pre-shoot consult to be able to fashion the shoot to your requirements...if you would like to know more please give me a call on 0404208102...I am presently taking bookings for 2012 x L
I would especially like to thank Sue Bryce , Steve Saporito , William Long , Tom Putt and Simone Hanckel x for collectively switching the Lights on during the Nikon Event and before!