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Author Archives: darren
Reality Check
Don’t know about you but I certainly thought I’d be doing much more of what’s in the left pie chart than the right when I first dreamt of becoming a photographer! Reality bites pretty quickly though once you make the move to full-time shooter and realise that each and every decision about what your business does and which direction it’s heading rests on your shoulders. You are the CEO, the CFO, the PR department, the marketing department, the tea maker and the photographer. I wish the charts (by SwissMiss via Seth Godin) were in some way inaccurate, but they are bang …
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Photographer Andrew Richey On Running A Studio; Winning Fashion Campaigns & Meeting The Queen
Renowned Australian fashion and portrait photographer Andrew Richey has just celebrated ten years at Ripe Studios (which he built from the ground up) and in this interview he opens up about running a successful studio; winning campaigns; the importance of making time for personal work; how to price your work; what to do when things get quiet and how he met the Queen. Twice!
Gotta Love Hipstamatic
I know that Instagram is second (albeit a LONG way) behind Facebook for sharing photos on the net but another great photo app that’s right up there alongside it is Hipstamatic. I’ve been using it on my iPhone for a few months and never really saw its potential until yesterday when I bought the Mission HipstaPak for it which includes a Bettie XL Lense, Ina’s 1935 Film and and Eggshell White Camera Case for 99 cents (which sadly doesn’t make your photos look any better but YOU look cooler taking them). I can’t stop shooting! And, no, I am not …
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Nikon D800 Release Date?
I’ve been doing a lot of homework on all the bits and pieces I’m going to need for my video kit and I just got a very interesting email from a woman at Zacuto. Zacuto’s been doing some tests on the D800 and Canon 5d mklll, or more specifically, how to fit its Z-Finder to the camera’s 3.2″ LCD screen and in amongst everything else she told me the D800 should start shipping in three to four weeks. I don’t want to start doing somersaults just yet but it’s the nearest thing I’ve had to a release date. We’ll have to …
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The Other Side Of The Story
In response to Philip Bloom’s assessment of the D800 I asked the man behind ‘Joy Ride’, shot entirely on a series of D800s, for his take on the camera. He essentially said Philip Bloom was wrong. Sandro said there was a little bit of noise in the shadows but only at the lowest of low light situations, and that despite the huge 36mp sensor the processor does not throw information away to get the picture down to 1920×1080. Now, admittedly, Joy Ride was clearly a Nikon sponsored film but have a look for yourself and let me know what you …
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Thinking Of Jumping
I went to the Philip Bloom workshop here in Melbourne Yesterday and learnt lots of interesting stuff including the fact that he won’t be using the Nikon D800 to shoot video. He says the 36mp sensor is simply too big and the camera will need to throw away too much information to get the picture down to 1920×1080. It’s not what I wanted to hear as I’ve got a D800 on pre-order, but then again it’s not too late to cancel it and get something else. I’m very tempted to wait for the Canon 5D mklll which is due to …
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Think it’s Just About Taking Great Images? Think Again…
There’s so many things to think of when you run your own photography business. I always thought that if I simply took great photographs the rest would take care of itself. Wrong! Fail! Thankfully there’s guys like Andrew Mackinnon around. He’s the managing director at Taboo, a youth marketing company based in Melbourne and I recently sat down with him to get his take on how to successfully market yourself as a creative. Andrew’s been running Taboo for more than ten years and what he doesn’t know about the dos and don’ts of marketing is not worth listening to.
A Career In Diplomacy…
Well, sort of…the good people at Childwise have asked me to be one of their ambassadors and help promote their great work. It absolutely staggers me that one in five Australian children will be sexually abused, more often than not by people they know. I’ve never met a team of people more dedicated to stamping out this insidious global problem than the crew at Childwise. So, Carol Croce, the deputy CEO at Childwise has asked me to promote one of her ‘dreams’ on website Sunsuper and help raise some much-needed cash for her not for profit organisation. Click on the link and vote …
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A Bit Of Inspiration Of My Own
I’ve always been a pretty inquisitive sort of person; keen to learn and better my lot in life. So over the past weeks I’ve been interviewing a great mix of insightful, creative, inspirational and interesting people about the art of photography. Not just the process of pushing the shutter but the art of successfully combining photography and business – how to better market yourself and your work, how to start a business and keep it running and of course what makes some of our top photographers tick. I’ve loved it because it’s all information that I crave and I hope …
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Say Hello To Grayce
It’s been the worst year imaginable for the Ozga/Andrews family with the death of Gary Andrews late last month. His wife, Basia, was thirty eight weeks pregnant when she farewelled her husband of nineteen days. Well, a little ray of sunshine appeared today in the form of Grayce Isobel Ozga Andrews, born at 4.28 this afternoon. The name Grayce was chosen because it has all four letters of Gary’s name and best illustrates the way he carried himself in the last months of his life. Mum and baby are doing well!
Reflections
Our dear friend Gary Andrews was farewelled two weeks ago in front of 300 of his family and friends. Nineteen days after getting married, his beautiful wife Basia stood in front of Gary’s casket to say goodbye to the love of her life. A truly remarkable feat under normal circumstances but at thirty eight weeks pregnant it was very humbling to witness. My wife, Mel, led the service and I shot some video. 48 years condensed into eight-and-a-half minutes. I hope this film does him justice.
Kill City – The Players
Since I exhibited these images a few years ago I’ve had lots of people visit the Kill City page on my website and so I thought I’d try to re-create what the exhibition space was like. I say ‘try’ because the images measured almost a metre square so you don’t quite get the same effect here. I’ve also combined the images with the same music – Massive Attack’s Angel – I had running on a loop throughout the two-week show. You can read a lot more about each character on my website but essentially I photographed 12 people who’d all …
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R.I.P Gary Andrews
Devastating news today. Gary Andrews passed away with his wife of a few weeks, Basia, by his side. There were many goals Gaz had set for himself along the journey. First and foremost obviously was not to let the cancer beat him. But as the arrival of his daughter drew ever closer he was more determined than ever to be there for the birth. Tragically, it wasn’t to be. He drew his last breath feeling his unborn child kicking inside Basia’s belly. The last time I saw Gaz a week and a half ago he was watching the video of …
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The Happiest Of Days, The Saddest Of Days
Hard to know where to start with this one. This is the wedding of some close friends of ours Gary and Basia; a wedding that made me cry (a lot!), laugh, and scream at the injustice of it all. The pair was married in front of a small group of family and friends at home. I shot some images and my wife, Mel, was the celebrant. I barely recognise the Gary I first met a few years ago. Cancer has reduced his once fit, healthy frame to skin and bone. While we sobbed into our tissues, Gaz sat proudly in his …
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Men’s Style Article
Well, here it is! Had an article on Tom Elliott published in Men’s Style this month. It’s in the Man On The Move section which Tom certainly is. You’ll no doubt see and hear plenty more of him in the media. He’s got a real skill in being able to explain the most complex financial information in a way even I can understand. And he’s a lovely guy to boot.
Actually While I’m At It……
I also had this article in the Women’s Weekly published in this month’s edition as well. If you get the chance to have a read, please do. It’s a sad but uplifting story of a man who loses his wife to cancer three weeks after she gave birth to their daughter Mia only to find love again with his late partner’s best friend. And they have just had a son, Hugo. I shot the images and wrote the first-person article from Peter’s perspective. The shoot was very straight forward. Had it knocked over in a few hour with the help of …
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Magazine Article
Keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for an Australian Women’s Weekly article I wrote and shot the images for. It’s a lovely story about a man who lost his wife to cancer, three weeks after she gave birth to their daughter, and whose not only found love again but recently welcomed a son into the world with his partner. It will more than likely appear in the September edition of AWW but keep a look out for later publications as well just in case.
This Might Be A Little Indulgent But….
…I had to share this photo of my three month old son. I drew a bit of inspiration from a shot I’d seen of a sports car that showed off the curves of the car beautifully and wanted to emulate it with curves of the human variety. It was a very simple set up involving a flash and mini soft box held directly above him. Had to work fast too as nothing was going to distract him once his mind turned to milk.
Another Great Resource
Haven’t times changed!! Gone are the days where an understanding of f-stops, shutter speeds, lighting, running a photographic business, marketing etc was the domain of a select few. These days there’s a plethora of information at your fingertips. Here’s another great website I found through f-stoppers. It’s called RETV Photography Industry Television.
Things Are Never Quite As They Seem
Every time I shoot a portrait I have a vision of what the image will look like. And almost without exception the final image looks nothing like the one I had floating around in my head. Take this picture of Jesse Gerner, head chef and owner of Anada restaurant in Gertrude Street Fitzroy. Initially I had him sitting in a beautiful leather chair with a knife perched in one hand and a plant in the other. Then I wanted to make it look as though the plant was buried in the concrete and he was watering it. Neither was working for me and this …
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That’s Not A Photo!!
I mentioned a few posts ago that Ted.com wasn’t specifically aimed at photographers but provided pure inspiration. Well I found a photography post the other day about a French street artist JR (click on JR to go to his Ted video) who travelled the world taking photos of locals, blowing up the images then pasting them onto buildings. I think I saw something about it a year or so ago so it’s not new. But the video is and gives a great insight into the project through the artist’s eyes.
It’s All In the Delivery
There’s that moment when my idea for a portrait has to be run past the subject. Sometimes there’s a lot of rolling of eyes and shaking of heads and other times it’s smooth sailing; we agree on the idea and a date for the shoot. Such was the case with Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle. I ran my idea past him and his Chief of Staff and got the green light straight away. I admit, it wasn’t the most outrageous idea to wear an I Love Melbourne T-Shirt under his suit but he still has the reputation of office of Lord Mayor …
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An End To Tethering
If you’re sick of tethering to your laptop while shooting on location then check out this great bit of technology at fstoppers. It allows you to wirelessly transmit your images from your camera to an i-pad. Bummer if you haven’t got an i-pad! Maybe one day.
Great Portraiture
I’ve been a huge fan of Julian Kingma for a long time. Great to get the creative juices flowing which is guaranteed looking at his portrait work. Check his website out for yourself. Actually, while you’re at it have a look at Andrew Richey’s portrait and fashion work as well. His use of light is exquisite.
Olive Cotton Award
Entered the 2011 Olive Cotton Award with my portrait of the boxer below. Wish me luck!!
Inspirational (…and it’s free!)
This is not photography related (well, not literally) but if you’re looking for pure inspiration that we could all apply to business/life/hobby then you should check this out. It’s called Ted and there’s videos at the main site from all kinds of talented people. Videos run a maximum of 20 minutes and I challenge anyone not to get at least one little nugget from each clip. Enjoy!
Happy Birthday
Newsreader Mal Walden will soon celebrate 50 years in the media. Great effort in any industry, television especially!
The Contenders
Went along to the boxing the other night and shot some fighters straight after their bouts. Dwight Ritchie caught my eye, for obvious reasons. He only took his hat off long enough to beat his opponent and become the Victorian middleweight champion.
Portraits
Shot these recently as part of a personal project, although there’s no connection between the two subjects. The image above is the Grand Dragoness of the Australian Ku Klux Klan and the one below is of euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke. A few people have asked me if the KKK image is a joke. But, no, she’s a bonafide member of the KKK.
Home Birthing & Elderly Dating
I want to get my teeth into a few stories but I’m kind of stalling a bit. The two stories are elderly dating and home birthing. Do you know anyone who has a grandmother or grandfather who is back on the dating scene? Maybe they’ve lost a husband or wife and want to find love again. I recently got onto RSVP to see if there were any older folk who were putting themselves out there and there was. Ideally I’d like someone in their 80s or even 90s if possible. So if you know anyone let me know. The other …
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A Great Way To Show Off Your Work
Click on the link to see another great way of getting your work out there and you can link it to Linkedin, blogs, Facebook etc.which is a bonus.
Selling Your Art
Found this website on my travels and thought it was a great way of getting your work out there for the world to admire and maybe even buy. It’s called Red Bubble and definitely worth a look.
A Bit Of Radio
It’s been a while since my last post so I thought I’d share a recent Conversation Hour podcast from Jon Faine’s program on ABC Radio. I was the co-host and one of the guests was author Russell Robinson who’s written Shotgun and Standover; a great tale of Melbourne’s painter and dockers war. I photographed a few of the characters in his book for my Kill City – The Players exhibition and a lot of the people who’ve worked on the docks are names you’ve heard mentioned in the current-day underworld war. The second guest was Richard Bryant; a psychologist who’s …
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