An Angel In The Studio

So after over 3 months away (thanks to the broken ankle!) last week it was time to head back to class and as one of my friends puts it 'get my learn on'. The first week back was pretty brutal - not in terms of workload. In fact we didn't undertake that much work. But having had 3 months off and dealing with two feet still trying to get back to 'normal' it was still intense...

But yesterday we got to start something that I've been looking forward to since enrolling in the class - studio work!! Working with studio strobes is so fantastic. When I first started taking photography seriously I never thought I'd be interested in studio lighting. I saw myself more as a 'natural light photographer' and don't get me wrong I still love working with natural light. But since I started working as a photographer's assistant for a downright amazing Brisbane photographer I quickly came to realize the beauty and versatility of studio lights. While working for the phenomenally talented Trine Barfod-Jensen I have/am learning so much about all aspects of photography. It's so fantastic to work for someone so talented who is also willing to answer my unending amount of questions.

Anyway we got into the studio with one strobe and were told to photograph each other using different lighting techniques. To make things a bit more interesting we brought in some clothes and different props. The wonderful Miss Rebekah Thomson (seriously click the link she has some amazing photos on there) agreed to be my model and let me put angel wings on her! Thanks for being a fantastic model Bek! I thought I'd share my favourite shot of the set:

I decided to photograph her on the black background (we had access to either black or white) to make the white wings stand out a little more. While I have great photos of her side or (almost) front on I liked the over the shoulder shots the best. I also deliberately positioned the lights so there would be a bit of shadow in the wings to add a bit more texture and definition.

So tell me... What do you think of the photo? I'd love to hear your opinion. And anyone who would like to be a model for me or have your picture taken by me just let me know. I hope to post again soon. But in the meantime I hope you have a wonderful week!

 

A Bit of Friday Night Fun

How has everyone's week been? Are you all excited for the weekend like I am? I hope you have a great one!

So last night a friend and I went on a little adventure... well a slightly bigger adventure than planned but it was still pretty awesome. After taking the long way round and a couple of false starts we found the prefect spot to set up our cameras and tripods to try and capture some magic within the night. I thought it would be nice to share my three favourite pictures of the night.

If you read this blog or follow me on Twitter or know me personally at all you would know that I am a dreamer... BIG time! Be they extremely vivid, detailed night dreams (or nightmares) or spending my time daydreaming my imagination just runs wild. If you ever catch me staring off into space chances are that I'm caught up in a dream. Anyway as the fog settled over our little spot I felt like I was living out one of my many daydreams. The road leading off into the darkness just adds to the idea of the unknown dream...

What do you think of it? This one little spot we settled on was such a fantastic find. Full of wonderful little vignettes that allowed for quite a few different photos within the same spot... I think I'll head back there sometime soon. There was a fantastically beautiful gnarly, half-dead tree that I simply had to work into a few of my photographs.

This last photograph was kind of the reason why we headed off on this adventure. My friend had found some absolutely stunning star photographs on flickr (like this one) and we were keen to give it a go ourselves. Unfortunately mine didn't turn out quite so spectacularly but I'm still rather happy with it given that it was my first try.

I am completely keen to get out there and give this type of photography a go again. Once I manage to get the technique absolutely spot on I think I could get some stunning star photographs of my very own. I always love trying new techniques and adding things like this to my photography bag of tricks.

I hope to post again soon. But in the meantime I'd love to hear what you think of these photographs. Thanks for stopping by my little part of the internet. I hope you have a fabulous week!