A quote from Francoise Rene Auguste Chateaubriand



“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.”   Francoise Rene Auguste Chateaubriand

OK, something a little different.  Today I was preparing to spend some time with one of my mentee's about goals and directions for her career, and remembered a quote someone had shown me recently.  It resonated with me and both my careers (strategic reform and photography).  Yes, I spend lots of time and resources in improving my craft, vision and skill... but without trying to sound all 'wanky*', I am driven and compelled to do it (working), and I love it, and it fun (playing).  So my little bit of sharing today is that I hope you have, or are able to develop something in your life that equally compels you and is enjoyable. 

* Australian slang term for something overly clever.


Iris blues

Just a little bit of colour to start the weekend off .. enjoy


... another one from the Calendar....

OK, I have another image from the calendar.  This time of Rixy. Great bloke.  He was really great to work with.  Working on that wire ladder is bloody difficult, and to hang around and try and get into position is a great dare harder than it looks.  The rest of the images were great from the shoot... but this is the final image.

Very happy with it, well done mate.  Hope the new adventures go well.



... our buddies are on an adventure

Nic and Juddy (pictured below, Nic (L) Juddy (R)) are mates of ours who are on an adventure for the rest of the year.  They are driving up to Broome (about 2300km away) over the next couple of days to spend a year up there.  Whilst it was sad to see the guys go... hey, now we have a good reason to come up to Broome for a break.

Safe travels boys. xx


Welcome to 2012...

Well for those of us in Oz, welcome to 2012.  Those buddies in far off countries, enjoy your New Years Eve.

Now to start 2012 off with a bang, I thought I would share one of my all time favourite images.  This one is of my buddy Damien, who is a professional diver, and we did a shoot for a fundraising campaign which we are expecting to be launched this year.

I really like this image and had the opportunity to shoot it twice... first whilst we were scouting locations, then again many months later.  Now what you don't see is the crew (Craig and Paul) getting very wet and trying to avoid getting the flash equipment wet, and myself dropping my flash remote in the water, and copping a full wave in the face!  Thank goodness for pro-gear with good seals!

Anyways ladies and gents... welcome to the new year and I hope you enjoy this image and get to see the final image in the production that it was created for... more to come...


...last of Xmas certificates



Phew. Last lot of certificates printed up! Now to wrap the images.  I might have to secure the resources of the official wrapper :-)  Really happy with the images and the certificates.  Big thanks to Fitzgerald Photo Labs for handling all the orders as they were coming through.  This bunch* are all face mount acrylics which the image has a sandwich of clear acrylic in front.  I'll grab a shot over the next day or so.


* of final images, not the certificates, thanks Megan ;-)

Broome Salt Artist Proof

Bit of a different type of image from me this time.  This is an image of the salt flats outside of Broome, whilst climbing to cruising altitude in a light aircraft.  I really like this one at the moment.  The original image has actually been made into a very large painting that is hanging in my office by one of my ex-colleagues Jeff Ovens.  I'll take a photo of the painting tomorrow.


Just a splash of colour....

I felt that I haven't posted something floral for a while, and I am a sucker for great floral imagery.  I did have someone ask me about why I actually take pictures of flowers (and often unusual ones), and I think that I am drawn to the beauty of their design.  Simplicity of form, colour and texture... anyhoo I hope you like this one.  Another richly coloured image for you.  A red beauty.... would be great on a large acrylic!


Gena....

I was recently fortunate to have the opportunity to capture some images of a stunning young woman.  Gena.  What a looker and a really nice person as well.  The two images below are from two shoots we did, one in Fremantle, in which Gena kept stopping the traffic ;-)  and the other in the studio.  Well done Gena.  I'm really happy with the results.




Blue and Black....

Last night I had some time to look through the 55k+ images in the library, and I came across this one.  Interestingly I had rated it as a 1-star when I did the inital edit, but when I was skimming through the images last night it just jumped out at me.  Its currently on the printer on its way out.

Let me know what you think.


The Nikon AIPP Then Event: Day Four part two

... ok the down hill run....  Two more sessions to go.

First was Steve Saporito, who spoke on portrait marketing.  What I got out of Steve's talk was the importance of market segmentation, and being clear with your marketing with each of the segments. Other messages included strategic alliances, and understanding what the people you are serving value.

Next and finally was the industry forum hosted by SBS Insight host and journalist Jenny Brockle, on the topic of "what makes for a professional photographer".

Now my initial reaction was - brave choice, she will have to work this hard but it was really fascinating to hear from a number of the panel members and the audience on diverging or similar views.  Certainly, there was a theme that there are clear difference between the degree of professionalism, consistent technical competence, craft/skill, business acumen and adhering to a industry code of conduct.  It was clear that gear is not the key point, which is just as well as the barriers to entry into the industry are tumbling down.  Personally, experience and expertise and in a lot of instances, relationships are important.  It was good to see that the new Continuing Professional Development program seemed to get a big tick, with the intent of ensuring contemporary skill development with the ultimate aim of branding and recognising an Accredited photographer.

The panel members were... awesome (yes I know... awesome again), with a high degree of insight. Jenny did a great job in exploring the topic.  In all, a great discussion that seemed to pass very quickly.

Then at the end I had an opportunity to talk with Rosh Sillars for a bit, which was a real treat. Thanks Rosh for the time.

All in all I was very impressed with the scale, scope and professionalism of the conference.  The mix was great, and evidenced a well thought out conference program that had something for everyone.  I would highly recommend attendance at next years event, which will be in NSW from the 26 - 29 Aug 2012... and I'm already booked in!

ok, back to the normal programming.

The Nikon AIPP Then Event: Day Four part one

Oh boy... now you have read three of the days of the conference.  Moving, powerful, inspirational. Again, if I had walked away at the end of day three I would have been content.  BUT, Day Four commenced with a bang and I was blown away again.

First up, another international keynote by Jesh de Rox.  What an amazing guy.  I'm going to post something below from a master photographer who was also at the event.  But before I do I will try and sum up my feeling about this session.  I'm going to use powerful, profound, emotional, and genuine.  Jesh has a gift in his ability to connect with people and enable them to express something very deep.  Jesh is a portrait photographer, who gave up a booming wedding photography business, do only do 30 couple portrait shots per year, and teach his approach to other photogs.  Now for those of you who know me, I have a psychology and business background and I understand his techniques and approach, but the thing I have learnt over the years is that you can't bullshit this stuff... you either 'feel it' and 'be it' or you dont.  I liked his approach and style.  I get why some people wont like him/his approach, but... you can't argue with success. I can image people trying to emulate his approach through replicating his techniques and not quiet getting the same outcomes.  Jesh is a pretty savy,  talented and creative guy. Kudos.

Oh, the quote from the other photographer.  I read this on Sue Bryce's blog, she has captured it more eloquently than I felt it, or could express it.  I wont put it all up but if you want to know what an experience and accomplished portrait photographer thought of the session, go to her site, and find the post on the 26 Oct. titled "Jesh de Rox".

From Sue ... "As he began I listened to the messages, work from the heart, value, care, life journey and purpose. All things that most good speakers unfold about their own path to success and all of this resonated with me. The way of the artist, the experience society that we are returning to. All of these things I to believe. Then he decided to demonstrate a simple powerful technique of the connection Jesh has branded as beloved. A good name yes, but just a label for an avenue to CONNECT and direct a client in front of the camera to their inside truth and light ready for capture.
After 22 years of shooting portrait I can honestly say, I have never seen a live demonstration of that power. I have never seen so many people openly cry. Men and women. Not from a contrived tear jerker way but truly mind blowing eye opening truth. Australians are a hard public to present to. Like Kiwi’s we are colder more rigid outwardly than our American counterparts, not less receptive just more ‘contained’ if you will. A product of our Poppy cropping upbringing. We don’t make a noise, we listen and we laugh gently when it is funny, no false bravado or as we say here. (No blowing smoke up your arse.) This is a true statement . . sorry Ha.
Today I watched Men cry, some went and called their wives and children. Women were sobbing. and NOT because Jesh did ANYTHING to make us cry. But because he took a gorgeous couple out of the audience and asked them some questions about each other. What they then did made us cry. I will never be the same after witnessing the exchange, between this Man and Woman. They will never be the same, I’m quite sure. There is an audience of Photographers here that have just experienced the most simple, beautiful and honest thing you can see and that is the open expression of love between 2 human beings.
Jesh you are a hero for being brave enough to remind the world of the beauty of why we are here. I stand corrected, informed, honoured and humbled. and I GET IT !
http://www.jeshderox.com/
" quoted from Sue Bryce, http://www.inbedwithsue.com/2011/10/jesh-de-rox/ 26 Oct 2011.

The Nikon AIPP The Event: Day Two

OK, back on task.  The Event Day Two.... Now this was the first full day, and it was really busy.


Up at the crack of dawn... and yes to all my landscape buddies, see I 'can' get up early (but normally prefer to be going to bed at this time ;-)  )

First session of the day, international keynote by David Burnett.  As you know I'm going to say, AWESOME.  David who I bumped into and said a brief hello, gave the most amazing talk with profound iconic photo-journalistic imagery that most people would go '... oh I know that image... '.  Website to check his work http://www.davidburnett.com/ and I dont think I can do him justice.  A multi-award winning, honoured, and from his own site " David has won virtually every award in the field of magazine photojournalism. " and was moved by his tenacity, humour and vision. Just three small things from David, 1) dont throw anything away, 2) look to the Flemish painters if you want to understand portraits and light, and 3) be kind in what you do.


Next was a plenary workshop for those interested in how to deal with commercial jobs, how to deal with those difficult or sometimes strange calls asking for quotes.  The session was great, with four of the industry commercial photogs being on the panel.  All the younger members of the profession were madly scribble down there words of wisdom.  We all got involved so much so we went half way through lunch, but it was gold.


Next, after a brief feed and wander around the trade booths (and a hug from Nikon Julie) it was into to listen to Rosh Sillars http://www.roshsillars.com/.  Now if you know anything (or want to know anything) about photography/SEO/social media, and digital marketing then I would recommend Rosh.  He also does a podcast which I would highly recommend.  Rosh spoke of digital marketing and how to grow your profile via various strategies, developing relationships, and branding.  What I really liked about Rosh's talk was that is was not full of jargon.  This guy was very easily able to articulate very complex marketing and technology strategies in a very simple and easy to digest and action. Again, suggest you check him out and subscribe to his blog.


*** brain fried - needed coffee ***


Next off to hear Glenn Gibson again.  This time he talked more about his studio and growing his business to include CGI and CGA.  Glenn as I mentioned is well know in the automotive industry, and I went to listen to him explain his craft, and look at some of the technical aspects of lighting, and to explore how this might be of relevance in my niche. Oh, another great guy who is very willing to share his knowledge.


Next a quick change, and on with the Fedora, for the Nikon Speakeasy Cocktail Event.  Spent most of the night chatting with Jack Atley and Brendan from Lowepro.  Jack is a multi award winning commercial and portrait photographer... jeepers, I can really categorise his work.  He's good!  And a bit of a lad ;-)  He is also the official photographer for the Sydney Opera House, and winner of this years Moran photographic portrait prize, and it just so happens I have been wanting to meet him for sometime and follow his work, so it was great to spend some time.  Check out some of his work.  http://www.jackatley.com/ Had heaps of laughs, those lads know how to have a good time! Must find that picture that David took of us at the cocktail party! Thank you Nikon, good party.


Back to the hotel - passed out! 

say what... satellite dishes?

So we were out and about today doing normal Saturday morning chores, and on the way through Bayswater, mixed suburban and light commerical area, we come across this...errr? thats a serious bit of hardware... luckily I had my nifty little V1 with us.  :D