I love it when....

......model comp cards have my pictures on it! lol

I went to see the lovely guys at Nevs Models recently and was pleased to discover some of my pictures have been used on model comp cards. Little things like that excite me quite a lot.

The lovely Eliza who I shot with a few months ago with my partner in crime Adam Robertson. Reminded me what a fun day we had.

Glad they picked this image cause I really like it. Eliza looks gorgous and the colour in her eyes goes with the wall behind.



I was supposed to be shooting today, but the model cancelled last minute. Which means the make up artist and myself ended up planning some super fab shoots over a few cocktails. Yes, I know how to turn a bad situation into a good one obviously.

Beauty on the street

I've been having a lot of fun with my 5D lately, and been enjoying shooting fashion again. Wanted to share some images that was shot for a submission. These images are from the first look of the day, I have a completely different look to share in a later blog. But I love these as they're so delicate and innocent. Tamara (Nevs Models) was wonderful at going for the expressions and moods I gave her and giving me plenty of variety within that.

I wanted to give the images an urban and rough feel, but mix in the beauty of Tamara in this setting. As like a miracle it didn't rain that day, so we were able to shoot outside. I found this treasure of a place outside (ok, so boring end of street for others) to shoot. Also had the wonderful Sandra Berminham to do her usual make-up wonders and amazing hair stylist Kim Roy on the team for the day.







On a completely different note thanks so much to those who have submitted images for my photographer editing challenge so far. I'm still keeping it open for a few more days to collect some more entries, then I will be sharing the results with you. It's amazing how many versions and interpretations of an image there can be. Be excited!

Also the second set from my shoot with Tamara will be posted up soon, so even more to be excited about. It is Friday to be fair, so one should have things to look forward to :)

A photography challenge for photographers

After a discussion on Twitter this morning with fellow photographers I thought a bit of a post processing challenge might be quite fun. When I asked the question on Twitter how to process one of my images for an interesting effect, I got loads of responses, suggestions and willingness to help. I don't do a lot of cross-processing, but wanted to add a bit of a dreamy/romantic effect. I love Twitter :)

Also, it got me thinking that each photographer really has their own style of processing their images. Everyone has different techniques that makes their work stand out. I've been told that people can recognise my images just by looking at them. I haven't been able to put the finger on exactly why, but I see the same with other photographers. You look at an image and can often tell who's work it might be.

So I thought it would be interesting to see how different photographer might deal with the on the same image! How do we see potential in an image and how do we put our mark on it? So this is what I'm thinking......

* I have an unedited image of a couple I took recently (see below)
* Any photographers who's up for the challenge let me know and I will email the high resolution version to you
* I'll post results I get back here with a link to your website so people can check out the rest of your work
* Play around, have fun, add effects, don't add effects - do with it how you think it would represent you and your style



Friends, peers and photographers dudes and dudettes, gather around and get involved in this little challenge. Contributions will be displayed on the blog to showcase how differently we might approach an image.

Shooting with Miss Sara

Valentines day came and went, and I hadn't even shaved in places that needs shaving... Needless to say I was one of many that didn't have a date on Valentines. BUT, I did have a great time. I spent the day photographing couples to capture the spirit of romance, so will soon be putting together a video showcasing those images. I also had drinks with friends, so it ended up being quite a lovely day.

The Valentines shoot wasn't the only shoot I did over the weekend. I also did a fashion editorial and a shoot with Sara Skjoldnes (aka Miss Norway). The first images I wanted to share with you are some of my images of Sara.

What I wanted to do for this shoot was to do some urban street style black and white images, which I thought would be a less obvious way to shoot Sara. She is such a beauty, which makes me want to bring in a roughness to contrast it. We pretty much hit the streets early morning, found a street corner and got shooting. Sara was such a pleasure to shoot. She also reminded me of a young Claudia Schiffer, so I'm excited to see where her modeling career will take her. Really pleased with the results we got! I love working with big fashion teams, but sometimes being just you and the model brings awesome results as well.

End of month check....

Right, I set out the year to be structured and ambitious about things, so thought I'd check in (as January seems to have gone already) on how I'm doing with my plans and new year resolutions.

So far these resolutions have been going particularly well:

* Share useful information on Twitter - Tick. Definitely sharing more stuff trying to be helpful or share inspiration

* Take awesome pictures of the a1 boys - Tick. Took some awesome shots during their Melodi Grand Prix performance in January

* Update my website and blog more regularly - Tick. Have been blogging 2-3 times a week

* Make time to read other people's blogs - Tick. After I signed up to Bloglovin, I am reading other people's blogs on a daily basis pending on time and commenting

* See a musical in the West end - Tick. Went to see Legally Blonde, which was awesome!

For February I've been able to set aside some time for shooting fashion again and also model portfolios, so looking forward to use my 5D for those shoots. Plus I bought a beauty dish! (Thanks to my good friend Jay Mclaughlin) Ooh the excitement for using it.......

I also became a year older and had a lovely celebration (reminds me there are some drunken picture somewhere. Not sure they're blogging material haha). I do have some thoughts and questions around social networking and birthdays, that maybe you guys can help me give your thoughts on. So I got 190 comments on Facebook/Twitter wishing me happy birthday (keeping mobile texts out of this). I had 5 phone calls. I had 1 gift on the day. So what's up with that? So does my 190 congratulations say anything about how popular I am and how many people care about me? Or is it just how times have changed with social networking taking over from traditional patterns? I'd be curious to know if it's just me that hardly spoke to anyone on my birthday just because it was a Wednesday. Anyways, the Saturday celebration was absolutely lovely. Drunken pictures may or may not appear :)

Collaborating over Telepresence to share my photography experience

Although I couldn't get the room with 3 screens, Telepresence is still one of my favorite things to do. For those not in the know = video conferencing with pretty much an experience of seeing someone real size in front of you. Awesome!

To share my experience and photography with a group of photographers in Oklahoma, I spent an hour collaborating over Telepresence recently. We also used our good friend the Flip cam to film some of it.

I find collaborating with other photographers interesting and inspiring, and when I was asked to present to this cool bunch I had to say yes. Plus I feel I needed some new friends in Oklahoma. I also found out they've got some awesome locations to shoot over there, so I might go out at some point, who knows!

As a photographer it's great that there are so many tools to enable us to collaborate whether it's technology or social networking tools. There are a lot of them out there, but used wisely it can give great benefit and it's also fun :)

Want to be photographed with your loved one on Valentines day?

Hmmm... February... how did that happen so quickly!?

I realised I'll be stuck on my own on Valentines day, so I immediately felt inspired to do a bit of a photography Valentines project. So here's the deal!

I am looking for couples to photograph on Valentines day during the day. You don't have to be a model, I'm just looking for normal couples who are photogenic and comfortable in front of a camera. Ideally I will shoot 6 couples and arrange this in different slots on the day with different scenarios dedicated. I want to capture couply love on Valentines day seen through my eyes, and in the end capture a Valentines story featuring these different couples. Sounds like fun? Good, get in touch and you could be part of it!

Most scenarios are likely to be outside (park, street, cafe etc) and I'll have a couple of more intimate ones inside. I'm keeping this simple. In return you will get at least 3 edited high resolution images that I decide I want to use for my project for free. I may do more, but this will depend on what I see will work for the project. There will be no make up artist or stylist, as I want to go for natural looks and real scenarios. I will also forward the best ones to my agency Camera Press, so you will need to sign a standard model release form. Just put aside a couple of hours of your day.

So, do you want some romantic pictures taken on Valentines day with your boyfriend, girlfriend, partner and be part of this little Valentines story... let me know!