Portrait

Side trip to Canberra

Side trip to Canberra

I had a weekend free of sorts so I took a trip to Canberra. I had donated a print to the charity Pedal 4 Pierce for their upcoming auction at Fight Night. The framers had insisted that I come down and sign the print before they finished the frame. I had also been wanting to do a shoot with Chris Jefferys, the founder of Pedal 4 Pierce, outside of a race setting as we had always done until this point so that they had a selection of images to use for promotional purposes.

So I guess a little bit of background is in order here first for those that don’t know. Pedal 4 Pierce was a charity started by Chris when he was 10 years old. Chris decided he wanted to ride bikes but did so to raise money for research into a worthy cause. He chose muscular dystrophy as his focus and Pedal 4 Pierce was born. He has been at it for the last 7 years or so. I also asked an outlet of talented dirt jumpers, Jack Baker and Tom Wrigley, to join me for a day shooting down there on some of the local trails that we knew about. The jumps are made from orange dirt that contrasts beautifully with the green of the surrounding vegetation. They had been extended quite a bit since I last shot down there so there was plenty of fresh angle to shoot from.

I also managed to squeeze in a quick shoot for Copic Australia. They brought along one of their new bikes that they had just finished building up, plenty of being on the bike. It was a full steel frame but super light. Keep an eye out for it on the Enduro trails.

The other reason for the trip was just to have a better look around Canberra and its surroundings. I was never too enamored with Canberra before but every time I go down there it grows on me a little bit more. So I drove out into the Brindabella National Park where things were nice and frosty and did a little exploring. There is a lot more exploring needed in this area. I am back down in Canberra next weekend so I shall continue with my exploration then.

Posted by Richard in Bikes, Places
North Curl Curl Pool with Kate McCracken

North Curl Curl Pool with Kate McCracken

Kate McCracken

Kate McCracken, North Curl Curl Rock Pool, Sydney, Australia

Last week I had the pleasure of shooting with the lovely Kate McCracken, a model here in Australia. The goal of the shoot was to make some shots where instead of her being the model being the main focus of the photo she would be an equal part of it along with the landscape.  We weren’t sure until the last minute if the shoot would go ahead due to the weather, the heavens were threatening to rain down upon us the whole time. We took the risk and went to one of my favourite beach pool, North Curl Curl rock pool hoping to get at least a glimpse of a colourful sunset.

The weather held off and it didn’t start to rain until we were packing up to leave. The storm clouds provided a fantastical brooding atmosphere to the shots. The weather also brought with it some wind which twice manages to take my flash out. Not that bad except both times the flash ended up in the pool. I am happy to say that both it and my trigger survived though. Kate also ended up in the pool at one stage while trying to cross to the rock in the middle. She took it in good humour and we turned it to our advantage with some shots in the pool as well.

Many thanks go to Kate for her time and good humour, I’m sure not every model would have taken falling in the pool like that so well.

Posted by Richard in Places, Portraits, 0 comments
Miranda and Gy

Miranda and Gy

Miranda and GY around St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria

Miranda and GY around St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria

Just had 10 lovely days in St. Anton am Arlberg. Beautiful weather for the most part which was great except it had been so nice for so long the the snow was rubbish. There wasn’t really much of an option for shooting action sports there. I didn’t even end up buying a pass or going up any lifts.

I did manage to meet up with a lovely couple Miranda and Gy who were hoping to have a portrait session there. They wanted a selection of photographs to show at their wedding later in the year and had an interesting idea of  Doing a shoot in a simple wedding dress and suit but with the snowboard boots on as well. Sounded like  fun shoot. Below are a selection of the shots.

All were done with one Speedlight and my new Bowens reflective umbrella set up off camera on a Manfrotto travel stand and using Elinchrome Skyport triggers. The umbrella gives off a much nicer light for these shots than the harsh light of a bare speedlight.

 

Posted by Richard in Portraits, 0 comments