Attree Images

Today was one of those freaky weather days which only come around every couple of decades. Much of Australia's East Coast was smothered in a fine layer of dust today as strong winds carried tonnes of dust from the outback to the coast. Visibility was reduced considerably which caused airports to close and strong winds took out power lines causing blackouts. 

Yesterday afternoon was spent doing another studio lighting test and portfolio shoot for a lovely young New Zealand model named Sammie. I had to try hard not to hold the fact that she was a Kiwi against her considering it was the day after the All Blacks smashed the Wallabies but I managed to look past it :) Sammie - http://www.modelmayhem.com/1334132 has been a dancer for years and has only recently begun modeling but she did a terrific job and I look forward to shooting with her again soon. 

After a few weeks of moving and setting up the new studio it was time for a test run.

My model for the day was Georgie - http://www.modelmayhem.com/1250149 who was gracious enough to agree to be my guinea pig for the afternoon and let me try out a few different lighting techniques. 

First set up was on a grey background using a fairly simple two light setup - one left of camera with a small grid reflector attached and another just right of camera with a beauty dish.

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything new in the blog and that's mainly because I have been busy moving into a new house with my good friends Adam and Amy. The best part about the new house is of course, there is room for a small studio! The studio was the first thing I set up as I was keen to get shooting again and I have already done two shoots which were quite successful. It's approximately 5x5m and has 2.7m ceilings. Here's some pics of the space. 

A few weeks ago, a few of us had a fun afternoon with a few models and some flash outdoors and I shared some of the results with you here. I've now been given a link to the video that Brian kindly put together from that afternoon as well as some images of the setup courtesy of Adam. I hope you enjoy them. 

Nothing new from me this week but I thought I would share this behind the scenes video from the 2009 Pirelli Calendar Shoot. Shot in some amazing but kinda scary locations in Botswana in front of Africa's wildlife, these models have done an amazing job. This style of photography job would have to be one of the ultimate gigs and something that I would definitely love to do. Combining my love of shooting models and Africa's wildlife! Could there be anything better?

Last Wednesday I took advantage of the public holiday to do a bit more experimenting using Nikon Speedlights outdoors. After having a bit of trouble securing a model, I discovered that Crisly and her friend Margit were heading to the train yard location we used last time to take some photos of their own so Tony and I joined them and Margit was kind enough to model for all of us. 

After our session at Spring Hill we relocated to another outdoor location to give us a different look and also to make use of the late afternoon sun. Unfortunately we spent a little too long at our Spring Hill location so by the time we arrived at the second location we only had about 20 minutes before the sun disappeared behind the tree line. 

Last Sunday afternoon turned into an impromptu outdoor wireless flash workshop for myself and a few other photographer friends. Joining me was Adam Finch, Tony Holden, Brian McKinnon and our lovely models for the afternoon were Megan, Lauren and Crisly. We decided to meet in Spring Hill where the girls got there makeup done by the very capable Annie-Claire.