21st shoot

 Ok a bit late but...
Had the chance to go to a friends 21st the other weekend. partly as friend, mostly as the photographer. something i never thought of when hearing about 21st (other than the things that go on!) is that more people are getting a photographer to do shots during the evening before they go out. and seeing i was going to get paid (not much, but still worth the effort) i thought this would be great experience for on-site 'studio/portrait' work.

 now i have a cheap twin strobe setup that i never use, so this would be a good start to get to know the setup and start actually using these strobes. now they asked beforehand on what i needed. one thing was of course the background. you got to get that right, but with this being just a birthday gig you cant ask for much. but the girls did a great job of cutting up metallic look wrapping paper and cutting it into hearts and stars. it may be a bit too reflective for shoots, but i think it still worked out pretty good. and really, its is a birthday shoot. not a mega$$$ bling fashion job!

 Although it took some time to work out the lights and triggers,(always bring spare batteries!) i got it all going and then we started. doing whoever was dressed and ready, then as new people came in, after they got settled get them in front of the camera. Of course there are those who hate getting their photo taken..but just wait till they have a few more drinks and everyone else is doing it and they'll get in on the action! especially when they dont smile to start with. but a gentle prod and reassurance and they'll do it. and of course as the evening goes along the people tend to loosen up and you can get some great group shots with plenty of smiles and laughs, thats gotta be good! as a result a got 2 genuine inquiries and 1 booking! (i'll really have to work out a good price, as some pro's who's only job is photography can charge $100phr. and i'm not that good!)

 anyways, here's the pics!

thats the b'day girl on the left!

"dodgey's angels"!

phew!.. ok. till next time yo ;)

Fashion shoot

One thing that i dont do photography wise is portraits. I just wouldn't have the foggiest on how to. last year i did a post on mojo (you may wanna read it to know where i'm up to in regards to this topic) whereby i did a shoot with a friend who makes small hats (facinators) for all sorts of occasions. That shoot was with her younger sister and was taken next to the woolstores in Freo with the dodge as an accessory. All outdoors with available light, not the best to give perfect results for her hats. well now she rings me and wants to do it again, but this time she called on a friend from a burlesque studio (she sells a few hats to them) and said she had a few more hats and they had another wardrobe change from a shop that she sells them from. (Vicious delicious in freo). ok so i roughly knew what i was in for, but this time i thought ahead and asked a good friend (Seng Mah) who has the use of a proper studio in freo. so i tee'd up the studio and the girls for a shoot late sunday arvo.
Luckily Seng helped me set the studio lights and the backdrop (well he did it all!) and where everyone stands and which of the cheap lenses i brought would be the best. After a trial of his sync remote we found a little problem. my Pentax wont sync to his Elinchrome lights! bugga!! all we could do was he lent me his Nikon D700 so i could at least start getting some pics while he played with the Pentax. and after about 15mins he yelled " I GOT IT!".  seems you need to use 1/160 to sync....not 1/200 like we had it on! *phew*. so back with my camera i started to get in the groove. 6 wardrobe changes, heaps of hats and a couple of interesting accessories including an original 50's phone and an exercise girdle! i kid you not, this thing looked like someone has sown a couple of occy straps onto the front of a girdle and marketed it as a alternate exercise machine while doing the housework!  WEIRD!

Anyways, it turned out being a great day for all, as none of us had ever used a real studio before (i'd been there many times, but never for my own shoots) and the photos were just what they wanted, if not more! and i came away wanting to do it again as the girls made it so easy for me as they did all their own make-up and dresses and props. all i did was shoot!
I think it's my best work so far (excluding all those magnificent cars pics, of course!).
so here are some of what came out of this little session. i hope you like them as much as the girls and i did.

behind the scenes

risque behind the scenes (thanks to seng for these shots)

If you would like a shoot in the studio, check out http://venturephotography.com.au/  for sengs 'stay and play' sessions


also, you may have noticed i have a new watermark! i think these photos deserved it, so i made a new one just for them!

chow!!