In the beginning...

I was going through some old photos and had a chuckle. My photography has evolved so much! Thank God! I look at where I was eight months ago and am amazed at the growth I've seen in myself in such a short time. I know I have a long way to go, but at least I can say, thankfully, that I am heading in the right direction. If I didn't believe it, I would quit right now.

I decided to get serious about photography in September last year. I had a studio set up in our spare room - black backdrop and a few soft boxes, with a white wall as an alternative to the black. I put up an ad online for anyone who might be interested in being my model. I had a good response!

Mary was the first to get in touch. She is pictured below. I can remember how nervous I felt preparing for this shoot. What if she hates my photos? What if it gets weird? What if she feels uncomfortable being shut away in a room and thinks I'm a pervert!!?? (Silly, I know, but it was my first time shooting a complete stranger and a HUGE privacy issue for me to overcome) I did not hesitate to tell her straight out: "I'm kinda packing my dacks right now." To which she laughed and replied, "Me too!"

So we shot away. I didn't know anything about directing, posing or general interaction with the client - nothing. Fortunately for me she was an aspiring model and did a bit of posing on her own. But the silence was so thick it was ridiculous. I just kept shooting. Mumbling and fumbling with equipment. I have about 10 pictures for each slight pose change resulting in 500 photos over three hours!! I laugh now... 500 photos of one person just standing there... Wow. It really didn't occur to me that I was allowed to tell her what to do and that, in fact, it was my obligation as the photographer to tell her how she would look her best in my photos. Didn't think of that.

I also want to make a point that just because someone has the newest fanciest equipment, doesn't automatically make them a better photographer. I am still using the same basic DSLR and lens. I have Photoshopped the images a tad, but even so, you can't change the fact that her elbow dominates in the first image. Her hair is all over her face. Elastic on her wrist? Her expression in the second photo is pretty lifeless and the catchlights cover her pupils. (These were some of my favourite photos!) All things I had control over but didn't change because I didn't know I could. Now I will tell you how I want you to look, right down to your fingers, THEN take the shot. It's good fun.

Well, we all have to start somewhere. I have learnt so much these past eight months and am so grateful to all the beautiful women who have offered their time for me to practise and learn, even through the awkward silences. Can't wait to see where I'll be a year from now.

Kirsten

Last week I had the opportunity to practise more natural light photography with the lovely Kirsten. Even after a big night out she looked radiant and ready for some serious shooting. She arrived with a BIG suitcase full of clothes, shoes and accessories, and if there were ever a contest of who's brought the most clothing to a shoot, she'd win hands down! We picked a variety of colours and styles and created the following images. She did an amazing job, even if she felt a bit strange at times with the posing ("More booty Kirsten!" ;). 

It was so overcast outside, which meant the light was well-diffused with very little need to soften it further. It also meant however that as it got later in the day, the images became darker. I refused to up my ISO because I absolutely hate noise and try to avoid it when I can. The result (especially in the black backdrop images) creates a moody scene where her eyes and face pop out of the image, framed by soft dark curls.

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I was also very pleased to trial Alienskin-Exposure 4 with Kirsten's photos. All the pictures in this post have been modified using Exposure 4. It's a very cool plugin if you're after actions that mimic real film, from vintage film to light leaks to dark room effects. I personally love the vintage black and white films, they are amazing. There are dozens of presets, each of which can be modified, and even further so by adjusting layer opacity in Photoshop. You can trial it for 15 days so give it a try. I'm thinking of buying and seeing how my photos of Europe turn out :)

Left: Kodak Ektar 100 Holga 120 Right: Agfacolor Neu Dust & Scratches

Mother's Day

I love boudoir, but these past few weeks I have been busy learning about different styles and techniques to apply in my studio. In particular, natural light glamour portraiture. Now, when most people hear the words 'glamour photography' they think of this:

Epic. Although I wouldn't mind knowing how to get such big hair.

But some may be surprised to know it has evolved over the years. One woman in particular has completely revolutionised this particular genre: Sue Bryce. This woman is an absolute inspiration, not only to photographers but to anyone thinking of starting a business. She does more than address business, marketing, advertising, technique, ideas ideas and more ideas in her workshops, but also the personal obstacles holding anyone back from valuing themselves and just getting out there and getting started. She has become a household name (at least in this household). Luke has probably heard her name mentioned more than members of my own family (who I love xxxxooxx!!!!)

I have recently completed a 28 day challenge with Sue and will discuss more in a future post, because there is waaaay too much to go over in this little post, and seriously she has completely changed my whole mindset. So for now, rather than talk about it, I will show you my latest work, after watching 28 Days with Sue Bryce. (Be kind I'm still learning :)

So I needed someone to apply all this newfound knowledge on. And as much as I love practising on Luke, he wasn't all that keen on getting dolled up for a glamour shoot.

So that's when I heard from Teagan! I had the pleasure of meeting and shooting her the day before Mother's Day. Being a mother herself, it was a lovely way to celebrate motherhood and for her to take a little break, have her hair and makeup done and get photographed. Like a lot of mothers, she's not one to indulge or pamper herself often. This is normal when a mother puts her family first. She often comes last. And a photo shoot is probably out of the question when there are mouths to feed, bills to pay and a hundred other things to do. So I really enjoyed offering something a little different to this beautiful woman: an opportunity for a hard-working mum to feel a little bit glamorous for a day, and photos to treasure forever.

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Changes

I've been changing a few things. Mainly my mind. Boudoir or glam portraiture? Artificial or natural light? Photography or teaching? Melbourne or Sydney? That's the problem with choice: choosing!! 

I have set up a studio in my home. We have a spare bedroom which I have blacked out for my boudoir studio. I have a few soft boxes that I like to work with because of the soft light (that's right, soft boxes create soft light dontchaknow) they create, which also give me the ability to control where light falls. It's pretty basic gear with very basic props (namely one drumming stool).

Then I get all inspired by natural light images and it's like, well I just spent all that money on my blacked out studio (back drop, lights, stands, not to mention all the boudoir accessories) when all this time I could've just used free light from the sun.

(Reading this over, there is nothing stopping me from shooting boudoir in natural light. I just invested a lot of time and money into a blacked out studio. I think I'm having a bit of a rant to be honest.)

So then I start to think have I made a mistake? 'Behind The Veil' is a play on what lies beneath the bridal veil. I wanted to target women who wanted to gift the men in their lives with something a little bit more risqué, revealing what lay 'behind the veil' and hence the whole boudoir thing. And now I'm thinking 'Behind the veil' probably doesn't suit, say a family portrait studio, for example. What if I decide to shoot babies one day, or young children? I'm hoping I haven't limited myself. But then I'm torn because my own name is impossible to pronounce. Grr! (That said, the other day I had a postal delivery from a young man who pronounced my name perfectly and I nearly cried. He was from Serbia - yay for Serbians!)

All I know is that I want to photograph women. You can ask anyone - family, friends, colleagues, old classmates - and they will tell you that I am a doodler. I love to draw. My books are full of sketches, but not just mindless scribbles; they're mainly girls. I don't know why, I'm just drawn to a woman's beauty, and I see it everywhere. I'm especially drawn to eyes. My books are full of eyes. If I find an old school book I will show you. It's kinda freaky. 

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Not a school book and not my best work but you get the idea. Eyes everywhere. This is where I contemplate reconsidering boudoir photography. Boudoir tends to be more body focused, and whilst I'm happy to do that, I think I'd rather spend my time editing faces and eyes than bums and boobs. It just makes sense!

Anyway, what a privilege it would be to capture that? To capture women the way I see them? And for them to be able to see themselves the way I see them? Perhaps there's no need to sweat the small stuff, like what type of lighting I use or where I choose to work. If I can make a woman feel beautiful, what else really matters?  

So I was thinking of perhaps changing my whole 'look' or brand, if you will. As you can see from the layout of this blog and also my website, I tend to lean more towards dark tones, mainly because of my darker images. But I am loving natural light! So below is just something I played around with, just to see. Different name too, which hopefully appeals to a wider market. I'm liking the white and the simplicity of the layout. What do you think?

She is a body of work

Last week I had the pleasure of shooting the lovely Miss W. She wanted some boudoir images for her boyfriend and has been kind enough to allow me to share some of those pictures with you.

The awesome thing about this girl, apart from being absolutely lovely, is that she is a body builder! I admire anyone who has the sheer determination, willpower and self-discipline to sculpt their body to how they want it to look, especially at a competitive level. I'm also starting to realise that physical strength in women is so important. I think we tend to focus so much on losing weight, being skinny, dieting, dropping a dress size, etc. etc. etc.... But how often do we strive towards having a strong body?

I tagged along to my boyfriend's personal training session one time, and somehow got talked into trying out some of the equipment. Despite my protests (No, no, thank you, I'm perfectly fine just sitting here on this yoga ball thing, watching him suffer and sweat it out. Please carry on. Oh alright then.) I started doing a few light reps. Oh the cracks in my back and shoulders as they strained under the (light) weights and started to actually work. 

After my light workout there was no pain, only a tingly warmth in my muscles. I felt great! I felt stronger. I believe that is what we should work towards when we drag ourselves to the gym at 5 in the morning, rather than focussing on losing x kilos and reaching an 'ideal' weight, etc. Each person is different. I believe when you respect your body and take care of it, give it the exercise and nourishment it needs, it's going to look good anyway. Not to mention the confidence that shines from within. 

Anyway, I massively digress! Back to my client. If you've got it, flaunt it. Being in such great shape, it wasn't hard to create stunning images of Miss W, playing with soft lighting and shadows to highlight her amazing figure. Here are some of my favourites. 

She is a burst of colour

Geri got in touch with me looking for a photographer to update her modelling portfolio. She had this amazing red hair and as soon as I saw it I thought, I need to make the most of that red!! For those who don't know, I think red hair is the most amazing thing ever. I personally don't understand why natural redheads (think Lindsay Lohan) bleach the life out of their gorgeous red locks. I even tried red hair on myself once upon a time but the shade of red wasn't quite what I had in mind. And it was too expensive :(

Anyway, when the time came to select an outfit for the first part of the shoot, Geri pulled out a whole wardrobe of fluoro coloured mini dresses and funky jewellery. I was kinda blown away. Maybe even stunned. Not to mention her heels were absolute killer, of which she had brought three pairs. Good girl.

So because she wanted images for her modelling portfolio, I tried to lean more towards editorial style poses. Tried being the key word. I will admit it was hard for me to shake the 'rules' for portraiture that I've been learning and putting into practice with all my girls. Here I had someone who didn't need as much direction, who didn't need to contort herself into a pose that flattered her body. She pretty much just had to stand there and she looked gorgeous. So what to do? Fortunately for me she knew how to work her stuff. She knew her own best angles, she knew how she wanted to look in her photos, and she did that. So we worked together and achieved some great shots.

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She is beauty and grace

This entry is about a young lady named Mel.

She contacted me via email and wrote with such elegance and reservation that I assumed she was much older than she was. Usually I have some idea of what my clients look like, whether they send me photos or have a profile picture I can view. But I had no idea what Mel looked like, nor her age. All I knew was that she had "never done anything like this before", and that contacting me for a shoot was a big step for her. Something I hear often, and something that gets me excited!

When women come to me feeling hesitant or shy or whatever you want to call it, I am especially motivated and determined to give them the experience that ends with them looking and feeling a million dollars. After all, ALL women are beautiful and should feel it and know it. I just try to capture that with my camera.

So I had no idea what to expect when she arrived for the shoot. I can safely say I was not expecting to see a motorcycle pull into the driveway! Like a boss.

Then she walked in the door, helmet in hand, with the biggest smile, and I decided that my biggest challenge would be capturing such a beautiful and kind soul on my little camera. She kinda radiated. And when she spoke, she had only good things to say, especially about helping other people. Now that's real beauty. How does one convey someone's inner awesomeness on film? No pose, no lighting, no technique can really grasp a person's goodness. But I tried!

Working with Mel was an absolute pleasure. Not to mention she was a complete natural!

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