Deb Mostert - The Flood Objects project

Deb Mostert, an awesome artist, is currently working on a series where she's meeting with people who lost possessions in the Queensland floods of 2011 and documenting their stories through paintings and text.  I think this series is a great idea as it's bringing the floods back to our attention and I'm sure it helps the healing process of those who lost so much.

Support Deb's important and worthy project here

And find her on FB here

bula!

I've just returned home with a THUD after living in singlets and being barefoot for nine days in Fiji.  Absolute lazy, relaxing, tropical bliss.

The trip over wasn't so bliss as our flight was delayed and we didn't end up flying out until 2am!  Add in a couple of small children that slept a total of 3 hours that night, throw in some parents that didn't get a wink of shut eye, and you got a bunch of adults falling off the plane looking and feeling like they'd been at the disco all night.  Without the good times.

We stayed on the coral coast which is a 1.5 hour drive from the airport and in that time I saw a kabillion things I wanted to photograph.  Literally.  I didn't take a single photo on the first day in my sleep deprived haze, the kids kept going and even had energy to have a dance before tea time.  J was dancing to Elton John's Nikita under the dance lights and he was feeling it, totally in the zone.  I wished I was filming it, it looked like a beautiful film clip.  Both boys fell asleep half way through dinner, I wish I had evidence of that as well...

We had a proper holiday and didn't do much, our days consisted of something like.. eat / walk along the beach / eat / rest / swim / eat / watch the kids dance / bed.  Repeat.

Even though I seemed to live at the buffet, I couldn't get the half built deserted homes I had seen out of my head.  The traces of life within the overgrown landscape has really struck a chord with me and I can see a series in my head, I want to go back to photograph what I saw and learn more about the stories of these homes.  It's been written on the to-do list, travel grant applications here we come!!

Ps. this was our resort.  Terrible huh?

pinterest

I resisted for a while... but a couple of friends convinced me Pinterest is a great place to store your inspirations and ideas, and I gave in!  I'm just starting out on it, please let me know if you're pinning away too!  
You can find me here: www.pinterest.com/ilonanelson

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