26 July 2012

some manifesto kinda thoughts



This post has taken a long time to write, almost two years in fact.  After having my second boy I put myself on maternity leave and spent a lot of time reading and thinking about my creative future, and thinking some more.  I like to be busy and have projects on the go, so while I wasn’t working I decided to do a 365 project – a photo a day for a year.  It was a hard project to get through but it was even more rewarding as I learned a lot about myself as an artist.  It reminded me how important it is to create for yourself.  I allowed myself to go back to basics which strengthened my love for photography, it also helped to clarify my direction and define my goals.  And so, the time has come to put these thoughts onto… the computer screen.


I used to view my personal and commercial work as different entities, and I thought I should keep them separated as brides wouldn’t want to know about my personal art practice for example.  But it’s all me.  Which led me to my big epiphany - I approach my personal and commercial photography the same way.  When I’m looking at the landscape my eye tells me where and how the figure needs to be.  It’s hard to put my process into words as I just know when I see the shot, I always work from instinct.

As Annie Leibovitz said ‘This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it’.  And who am I to argue with her…


It’s easy to fall into the information overload trap where you look at too many blogs, start to doubt yourself and get sucked into thinking you need to be a glossy photographer.  But I’m not.  I’m a matte paper Lula, Peppermint and frankie magazine girl where the images are real and natural, not heavily photoshopped. When I think of my work and how I visualise my business the word that always comes to me is organic.  I know it’s an overused word these days but it truly does reflect my approach; I work on instinct (as I just mentioned), I’m not keen on heavy posing (won’t be sticking babies in flowerpots), my strength lies in a photo journalism approach - from a fine art perspective.  I’m interested in capturing the true you and those quiet moments. 


I love contrast.  Whether it’s the contrast between the image and title or a delicate dress against a harsh landscape.  I love texture and photographing through things to create it.  I love natural light and discovering shadows.  I love playing with film and I’m totally addicted to the excitement of picking up the negs to see what you’ve created.  I love pushing the definition of what a photograph is by embellishing it with drawing and sewing.

These elements combine to create depth in the imagery.  And I love that too.


hellooooooooo holidays


Before the wedding season kicks off again I'm stealing away for a little holiday with my little family from the 1st of August, and I'll be back online Monday the 20th.  If you have any queries please shoot me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
See you on the flip side x

25 July 2012

Photo Finish


The ABC has a new photography show Photo Finish and they're hosting a competition where the brief is to submit an image that includes a camera lens in it.  Um... I think Profile Picture meets the brief!  I don't normally like entering these competitions as they are popularity contests, but the prize is some mentoring sessions with Andrew Quilty which is an awesome opportunity.


If you feel like voting for my work please click here.  Voting finishes on the 29th (my birthday!).  
Thank you so much and wish me luck!

22 July 2012

bats


I'm on a mammoth mission to edit my backlog of personal snapshots and file them by date order before wedding season kicks off (September 1st for me).  And I just came across a few photos I snapped of some bats from my hotel balcony while I was in Sydney to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibition last year, so I smooshed them together and here we are....  


I like bats.  Sometimes they fly over my house and that makes me happy.


Ps. I couldn't think of a witty title on this Sunday evening so I went with.. bats.  Creative huh?


Pps. smooshed is a technical photography term


18 July 2012

location scouts






The boys and I went on an adventure on the weekend.. We were using my foggy memories on a foggy day to try and find the oak plantation near Harcourt, and amazingly, we did!  I scouted a couple of locations for my next series actions. while the boys fell/jumped in muddy puddles.  I sure was glad I packed a change of clothes...


R's trousers are actually a cream colour.. can't you tell?  


11 July 2012

milk men



I'm catching up on my personal snapshots and made my first animated gif with this series of my R and a friend's bub from a year ago.  Pretty fun!  I made it in Photoshop CS2 and found the how-to tutorial here.


Ps. hers is the milk stealer ;)

10 July 2012

film love

 
 

One of my most favourite things is getting films back from the lab!  I've had three films floating around for a while and finally got around to having them developed, and these are a few...  They were shot at the Melbourne zoo, Altona beach and Bendigo with my good old Canon EOS 500 35mm and Diana cameras.