Imagery a Win

Picture THIS - winning $100 000 for your start-up.

This post is an update to a previous post titled  The Parameters of Play - one of many rambles about the creative process. On that occasion it was my fortune to work with a fabulous entrepreneur by the name of Helen Bird from Street Foods Australia.

Fun is Not Frivolous

What a très triffic time was had by all at this shoot with the delightful Betty and the Betties.

The shoot was a hoot, and another thought-provoking experience in terms of creative process and collaboration – two topics of great interest to me.

I shall harp on about them some more…

Nice Bok, eh?

Recently I spied these two common crow butterflies engaged in something of a tryst on my clothes line. After blushing, and then quickly taking stock of the incumbent ethical considerations I fetched my camera in a flurry of entomomania.

The lovers were unfazed by my voyeuristic intrusion, allowing me time to think about how I might exploit their love for the purpose of image making...

The Parameters of Play

Recently I worked with an interesting woman called Helen Bird from Street Food Australia. Helen is an entrepreneur who is working on a project to bring street food vending to Australia. The little drawing here is an idea Helen sketched at a meeting in a cafe to discuss the photo-shoot. Concept development is a stage of the creative process that I really enjoy. It's a time to brainstorm and wax lyrical about ideas. Bring hither the coffees, rip out the pens and paper, and I am the proverbial pig in poo...

Making Visual Sense of Chaos

Fresh water creeks are round about my favourite thing in the world; however, as stunning as they are it's difficult to take photographs of them that convey their beauty. I have not worked at it very much at all, but I had a go at it again this Summer on a short camping trip to Tamborine Mountain. Technical issues aside, how does one compose an image of such chaotic elements that is descriptive and also pleasing to the eye?

Glorious Maelstrom

This shot was taken outside my house during an epic Brisbane thunderstorm. In fact, the Bureau of Meteorology called it a 'super cell'. Having gained forewarning of the approaching storm, my first thought was 'yikes', closely followed by my second thought which was 'get your camera Pandora'.  Braving the outdoors, I found the sky to be a maelstrom of clouds and lightening. Twas grand. See more of my beloved skies in my skies gallery.

Photography, Personality & Social Media

As a social media marketer I have found photography perhaps the best strategy in content creation. Social media has revolutionised the entire paradigm that is marketing. Success is totally content-driven - create engaging content or be damned to internet oblivion.

In studying metrics in my work in facebook marketing it is apparent that the rate of engagement with photographic content is significantly higher than it is for other forms of content, in fact many times higher. The numbers don't lie.

The salient thing is, people are inherently social creatures, so it follows that they like to click on images of people, especially people that they know or people in their extended social networks. The ability to connect with community has become more than ever a core concern for business. The best Social Media Marketing practitioners are those who understand the social dimension and who can consistently generate content with 'personality'.

Sovereignty

Is this the sweetest little face you've ever seen?

It is the first portrait I have had time to produce from the 30th anniversary of the Commonwealth Games Protests event earlier this month. As well as shooting key aspects of the event such as the rally and corroboree, I took as many portraits as I could. They will become a part of the archives for future generations. Who knows, this child may become a movement leader.

Hard Work & Hilarity

This picture is from a recent photoshoot for a kooky vintage/retro clothing shop in Brisbane called Lucia Good Gear. The low-budget shoot was done in a small room at the front of the shop with a crushed satin sheet as the backdrop, natural light and one off-camera flash.  Lucia, the owner, did the styling and the subjects were unprofessional models who are friends and customers of the shop.  'Twas an ocassion of much mirth and merriment, as well as hard work.

This post is about working with unprofessional models and the process of this shoot.

New Faces

It's just now that I have gotten around to editing photographs I took at the World Refugee Day festival in June. I am glad to have met some tremendous people, captured some wonderful faces and documented a new wave of migration. See the photographs & a slideshow with wonderful music on my website.

Bogus is Back

Just a snap from a house party where the band Bogus reformed for a one-off giggle. The glam-rock parody is comprised of a circus performer, a film photographer and an eccentric music maestro. Hilarity ensued. The lighting conditions in the little workers cottage were mucho crapola, so I bounced a flash from the ceiling, and otherwise redeemed the shot through post-production.

Jacaranda Trees & The Colour Yellow

I admit it - I'm a botany nerd - but there will be no Latin names here, thanks. For nature I have a deep and abiding love, but I shall take care not to write a poem. Not in this forum anyhow, because it is after-all a photography blog. But what does that mean? Well, I'm glad you asked...

Vaudeville Artiste

This picture is from a photoshoot with the stunning star of street and stage, Ms Judith Lanigan. Judith and I have known each other for many years - since my former life prancing around like a fool doing circus acrobatics, in fact. I also photographed the enigmatic Ms Lanigan 10 years previous. Her portrait was a part of an exhibition series of circus performers portraits.

Photo-nuttery vs Philistinery

My photo-nuttery knows no bounds since I bonded with my mobile phone camera. For years I thumbed my nose at such philisteinery. To suggestions phone photography may have any merit I was oft heard to comment 'pfffffft!' and other such laconic rebuttals. So anyhow, it's got me now. In particular I like to use the simple app called Retro Camera for my android phone. This sunset was captured [while driving] with the use of said app. You may like to look at the full mobile-photo-nuttery collection of my retro camera snaps on my website.

Shooting People

Alfred hits the nail on the head methinks! Social skills, a good sense of humour and genuine interest in people are more useful to the photographer than the most expensive equipment. This is most certainly true when working with strangers and unprofessional models.

Squatting for Art

On a recent trip to Noosa National Park I found myself without a tripod at sunset. Instead of throwing my body from the jagged cliffs in despair I decided to practice hand-holding some time-exposures. Despite looking quite foolish, some pleasing results were achieved by squatting and bracing my elbows between my knees for the long shutter speeds.

Praying for Homosexuals

I wanted to contribute something to the social justice campaign for marriage equality, so I attended a rally against homophobia. For this project I combined recorded interviews with photography. It was great to capture the sounds of the occasion and the opinions of those present. I was also fortunate to be the only freelance photographer allowed to photograph the prayer meeting and interview the fundamentalist Christian ring-leader. They prayed for homosexuals, and they got them - hundreds of them. See a slideshow with vox pops from the event.

Protest Against Coal Seam Gas Mining

This landmark protest in rural Queensland brought together people from all sides of politics, united against coal seam gas mining. Pictured here sharing the stage are Drew Hutton, environmentalist and founding member of the Greens, and Bob Katter, [in]famous right-wing politician. Documenting this event was a part of a broader research and media project.

More on Street Portraits

The genre of street portraiture interests me a lot. There are many ways of going about it, and it seems that it is for each photographer to find their own style and approach. I have been doing a stint of late, taking my camera with me when I go to the shops. I passed this woman waiting at the bus stop in front of a lingerie store and saw the shot. For me, it's really hitting on the sort of shots I hope to produce. She has a wonderful face and the juxtaposition of the background makes it a powerful photograph. See more street photography on my website.

Candid Capture & the Sagacious Glance

I met this woman on the streets of Nimbin. She was holding a street stall as a tarot card reader. I was struck by her interesting face when I saw her look up from the cards over her glasses during a card reading. Red heads can be very striking and their freckled skin is interesting photographically. This woman also has intelligent eyes, which is something I am always taken by. Despite all this, the first shots didn't really convey what I 'saw'. I had to work with her a little bit to get the shot I envisaged. I asked her to look down and then to look up at me again. At that instant I released the shutter and captured the sagacious glance that I had noticed walking by. See more street photography on my website.

La Luz y la Sombra

Now there's a face. This guy is sporting some top-shelf wrinkles - wrinkles of such magnitude one might even call them 'rumples'. A soft light falling upon such faces can render an appearance with the appeal of the suns last rays over some vast terrain - the valleys and rivulets hinting at the vicissitudes of the person's history. Every face tells a story, as they say...but let me not fall into the chasm of cliché, as I dangle my metaphorical tootsies from it's precipice. [That was a metaphor about metaphors...but I digress.] 

So there I am with my camera...and there's that face. How do I capture it's  topography with optimum chiaroscuro? The face, la luz y la sombra [the light and the shadow] will make the portrait - not the face alone. There was a doorway a few steps away. I asked the man to stand just inside it, away from the direct light. The soft ambient light fell beautifully across his rugged face, and the blackness of the room behind bestowed a brooding atmosphere, while leaving all focus on the face. See more street photography on my website.

Live Shot to Promo Shot

This shot was taken during a live show called Grave Effects performed in a cemetery by Vulcana Women's Circus. To make the shot more effective for use as a promotions picture, I removed some distracting elements from the background replaced a drab sky with a more dramatic one.

Ode to the Exquisite Harlequin Beetle

A deep love of nature is at the core of my being. Nothing brings me to a state of reverence like nature. [Sorry to get all poignant on you, but it happens to be true.] All that man creates, in a sense, pales beside the grandeur that is nature. But then again, perhaps, in striving towards its magnificence we blunder into our own. 

See pictures and a slideshow with music of my beloved harlequin beetles on my website, and nerdilly enough, a slideshow of the native hibiscus upon which they dwell.

The Blue Yonder & Personal References

One loves a bit of blue yonder.  The ever-changing forms and colours of the sky are a great source of fascination and inspiration. In this shot, I love the frame of sky. As well as that, I like the shot because the helicopter looks like a toy. It reminds me of a metal toy helicopter I had as a child.  My own personal association adds value to the shot as I see it - I'm talkin' subjectivity. See the Blue Yonder gallery on my website.

Photoshoot with an Author

This shot is one of a number produced from a photoshoot with eccentric author Nomikos Glinatis. Nomikos writes as a character which is the alter-ego of himself. The book is a semi-autobiographical story written in poetic prose covering the philosophical, spiritual, and genealogical journey of the author. This picture was taken in his own kitchen, and post-produced with a colour balance to imbue a retro print feel.