Inspired By Song - 'Let Her Go'

A while ago I decided to start a new photographic series called 'Inspired By Song'. Because I'm such a visual person whenever I listen to music I always 'see' pictures to accompany the music. I figured it was about time that I start making these imaginary photos into a reality.

I shot the first set of the series yesterday... Inspired by 'Let Her Go' by Passenger. If you haven't heard of Passenger you are seriously missing out! Click through and listen. Then do yourself a favor and buy all of his albums... and oh my is he magnificent live! I've had the privilege to go along to a few of his gigs in recent years and he is one of my favorites for sure.

Here's the official video clip for 'Let Her Go':

Now that you've heard (or are listening to) the song here are a few of my favorites from my photoshoot 'Inspired By Song - Let Her Go':

A huge thank you to Miss R for being my amazing model! She got my vision for the shoot the minute I started explaining it and was on-board with it all. Even after mosquitoes started eating her alive she happily was traipsing through the forest when I asked. If that's not dedication I don't know what is! Thanks so much Miss R!! I can't wait to work with you again. 

Also a big thank you to Miss D for the fantastic make-up artistry skills. I'll be calling on her again for sure... It was so wonderful to be able to capture the images that I saw in my mind's eye. I'll leave you with my two favorite images from the set.
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Thanks for taking a look at the first set in the series! I'd love to hear what you think!!

Stuff Your Eyes With Wonder..

A while ago a friend and I headed out to take a few photos of the sun fading from the sky and stare in wonderment at the stars above. We managed to find a spot not too far from my place that seemed like the perfect location with very little light pollution. A spot I'll be coming back to I'm sure. Here are my three favorite photos from our little adventure.

 Standing out there in the cold beholding the beauty of the stars shining bright and true I couldn't help but think of Ray Bradbury's thoughts in Fahrenheit 451:

"Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories."

 

I've got to say after sitting in that spot for a few hours gazing at the stars above I felt as if I managed to stuff my eyes with the wonder of the world. All in all it was a wonderful way to spend a few hours... But next time I'll be bringing a thermos of hot chocolate!

I Choose...

 It's 3:45 am and smoke hangs heavy in the air. Sleep does not come easy to this restless mind of mine...

So now seems as good a time as any to actually type out a post I've been writing in my head for quite a while now. You know the type that you write and re-write over and over in your mind til one day you actually sit down at your keyboard and punch it out.

Yep it's one of those posts... So settle in for a manifesto of sorts if you will. Hope to see you on the other side.

I Choose

I choose to throw away the measuring stick

I choose not listen to those who seek to bring me down

I choose to stop keeping up with the Jones (who are they anyway?)

I choose to follow my own path wherever it may go

I choose to not get to get discouraged when things don't happen as I expected

I choose to do what makes me happy

I choose to live, laugh, love and learn

I choose to tune out those who don't deserve a say in my life to begin with

I choose to live a BIG life

I choose to be brave and stick to my guns

I choose to passionately pursue my photography career with vigor and determination

I choose to grow and learn and develop my photography skills in every way possible

I choose to go on adventures...even if they are in my own city

I choose not to put life on pause waiting for something to happen

I choose to be confident in my talents and abilities

I choose to be confident in myself

I choose not to care about other's judgments

I choose to dream

I choose to have fun 

I choose to stand up for myself and for what I believe in

I choose not to spend so much time thinking/worrying about tomorrow

I choose to live in the moment

I choose to make mistakes and I choose to learn from them

I choose joy

I choose to be who I am no matter what the circumstance

I choose to see the beauty in every moment I have on this Earth and make the most of each moment

What about you? What do you choose?

 

Twin Bridges

About a week ago I got up and dressed before the sunrise to capture the beauty of a brand new day. It seemed like the perfect day to re-visit a spot that I'd been to roughly a year before. Thankfully I got there a bit before the sun rose which gave me the chance to scout the location a little bit more than the last time and fit in a few sneaky l-o-n-g exposure shots before the sun started its climb to start off a new day.

Of course this was the perfect opportunity to break out my ultra wide lens (gotta love that 8-16mm focal length) and experiment with perspective and distortion. I just loved this little spot underneath the two towering bridges above. While I was there I couldn't help but think that it would make a magnificent backdrop to some stellar portraits. I'm slowly gathering an arsenal of perfect portrait backdrops... So if you're in the area and feel like some photos be sure to contact me.   

As can happen when I'm off taking landscape photos on my own I got completely wrapped up in the experience - completely enthralled in my long exposure shots underneath the bridge. So much so that the next thing I knew colour was starting the creep into the sky and I wasn't in position. Luckily I am now able to pack down my gear in record time and I (almost) ran to the best closest spot to capture the sunrise. 

I know I say it every single time but there's something kind of breathtaking about watching the sunrise. Seeing a band new day full of infinite possibilities take hold is something everyone should witness at least once in their lives.

 

I decided to add a black and white treatment to one of my under the bridges digital shots. I have a bit of an infatuation with black and white photography. Especially film black and white photography - the grain, the texture, the varying hues of black and gray - simply bliss. Given all that you can understand why half my rolls of 35mm film are 'true black' rolls. I'm going to get a bunch of my rolls of film developed soon and I'll be sure to share once I get my hands on them.

There should be a lot more coming up on this little blog super soon so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime I hope you're having a wonderful week!

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!