Pregnancy Shoot

A friend of mine wanted me to take photo's of her daughter just before she had her first child.  Having never done a shoot like this I thought why not!! 

I was practicing with my flash off camera to experiment with the lighting.  Practice, practice and more practice needed!!!



And this last one was of her little sister and friend just for fun.



22 Images Stitched Together from Kowen Fire Tower

At an RFS Operational Day I had the opportunity to go up Kowen Fire Tower and take this panorama shot stitching together 22 images. I used Microsoft ICE to stitch the images together after converting them from RAW to JPEG in Photoshop.  I need to find a way that I can upload the 1MB size.

Rest In Peace Mylah Mary-Anne Gibbs

I had the honor of getting called up to be a part of little Mylah's last moments on this earth.  Mylah was born at 24 weeks and was with us for 10 days before the parents had to make the heart breaking decision to turn off her life support machine.  The call came in at 11am from the hospital that Mylah was coming off life support and her parents Mic & Kylie would like some family shots done.  When we got to the hospital at 12.30 there was still a faint heart beat and we started the shoot.  The doctor came in around 20 minutes into the shoot to check on Mylah and sadly could not find a heart beat.  We left her parents for a while and then they requested we do some more shots of her without all the tubes.  It was an honor and priviledge to have been invited into total strangers lives at the most devastating time to be able to capture some memorable shots that they can treasure for life. 

Mylah's parents were generous to let me share these images to raise the awareness of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep  and the service that is offered throughout the world.

The slideshow below that I put together was played after Mylah's funeral for her family to see the beautiful girl.

Canberra Photography School

The Sunday before last I had a blast assisting Irene with her one day Face & Body studio workshop.  In the morning I found two lovely models to use for the students, Sarah (worked with her on the Club shoot), & Kirsty.  We also used the wonderful makeup & hair stylist Angela.....also worked with at the Club soot.

In the studio we set up 4 flash units, two in front and two behind to get varied effects.

We also had the pleasure Kokoloco Dance group who were very flexible and showed some great moves.

And here is a behind the scene shot of Angela getting Kirsty ready and the students getting her into the pose they wanted.

It was a fun day had by all the students & myself and am looking forward to the next one.

PS - That dodgy looking fella in the red shirt was yours truly.  Whilst the models were changing I was to step in and 'pose' so the students could keep shooting.  I was dragged into a few couple poses as requested by the students.  Tough job but someone had to do it!! ;)

Club Photoshoot

I had the pleasure of working with 4 models, Tracey, Angeline, Sarah & Kim and the wonderful makeup artist Angela.  The purpose of this shoot was to 'showcase' the Burns Club in Kambah and the facilities it has to offer.  I haven't really done this type of shoot before and had to take things into consideration that I haven't really had to before.  It was also a great opportunity to give my new octagonal soft box a burl as well!!

I have to thank Pat, Ian, Leanne & Izzy who also assisted with this shoot for making the day run smoothly!

Dinner with lovely friends & my new Canon 50mm f1.8

I was invited over to dinner to catch up with my very good friend Sharni who I have known for over 25 years and to discuss a future trip back to my birthplace in Vietnam.  A lovely evening was had and Sharni started showing me pics of her new bub.......very exciting.  As always I had my gear in the car so after dinner pulled out the gear and started to snap away.  I was really keen on trying out my new Canon 50mm f1.8 that I was advised to get for sharp portraits.  A bit more practice and think can get some killer shots......as advised it is a very sharp lens.......when I managed to get the focus right!!!  Practice makes perfect ;)

Child Photography

Having been chatting to friends Nicole, Pieta & Leanne about starting up Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/ here in Canberra I thought it was time I started getting some practice shooting young kids.  This isn't something that I have done much of in the past but so with the experience of these mothers did some shots with some friends who had offered up themselves and their kids.

One thing I learnt VERY quickly was these children do not stay still for long and you really need to be on your game to capture the moment.......as well as shoot lots of shots!!  It was fun shooting with them as you never know what they are going to do next!

Wildlife Photography

Around 12 months ago I was reading an inspiring article from a wildlife photography and the extents they went to in Africa to get the perfect shots of the amazing animals.....it inspired me that much I grabbed my camera bag and headed to the National Zoo & Aquarium.  I know it is piking out a bit as far as wildlife photograhpy goes because it isn't exactly 'wild' but it was a great opportunity to go shoot.

 

Love this guys bright eyes & cheeky grin.

 

 I spent around 3 hours there shooting the 'wild' animals of the zoo and got my fix of trying 'wildlife' photography and then drove 15 minutes back home.......would love to go and actually shoot in Africa one day ;)

Most recent shoot with Tracey from the weekend.

I met the lovely Tracey through Model Mayhem whilst looking for models that wanted to expand their portfolio.  Standing at 6' 7" it was always going to be an interesting shoot.  I had done another shoot at the Sculpture Gardens at the National Art Gallery and wanted to use that location again.....mainly due to the mist making machine always creates a nice background.

Yes, her legs do go on FOREVER!

 After getting full body portrait shots I wanted to capture her fantastic blue eyes.  My post editing skills need some fine tuning but was reasonably happy with the composition of the shots.

 All in all was happy with the shoot the way the shoot went.  Tracey was fantastic and very amiable to lots of ideas and look forward to working with her again.