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Oz Comic Con | Melbourne | 2017

Been down in Melbourne a fair bit lately with the day job so took the opportunity to delay my return flight and enjoy Oz Comic Con down south for a change (though, still quite likely go to Sydney come September too!).

Lot of fun, people just as friendly and some truly awesome cosplay on display as always. Having done a few of these things though I’m starting to form the opinion that shooting cons should be classed as an endurance sport! I do long distance running, 100+ km’s cycles and triathlon’s and generally feel pretty fine afterwards, my wristwatch clocked about 6km walking on Sunday and I was a physical wreck, glad for the cradle of the seat on the flight back (and the extra leg room afford by the exit row).

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Supanova | Sydney | 2017

First chance to get to Supanova after having no knowledge of it until after the fact my first year here, out of state with work (and country) on the second and third years it’s now fourth year lucky.

And boy it wasn’t a let down, what a lot of fun, though, I have come to realise something over the weekend. I do endurance sport events, long bike rides (like 160km+ rides), long distance running and olympic distance triathlons and none of them have left me as worn out as a couple of days pounding the convention floor!

Very surreal moment of having an odd urge to look up and see the organiser ‘Quinny’ waving down at me from one of the management pens windows a floor above us (I’ve chatted to Quinny a few times as he introduces “In The House” for Event’s cinemas, part of which involves greeting viewers as they arrive and I’m regularly outside waiting for meetup people myself).

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Miss Ink & Miss Tattoo Australia

Good fun night, the girls were amazing and super nice, I’ve still got to finish this album but never seem to find the time (have the crowning, some post show pics and some from the awesome live band they had on between the last two heats to do). Will update once they’re done – was a tricky shoot, the location is amazing to enjoy the show and a drink but terrible for shooting in as it’s so dark!

Done my best to compensate, I’ll let you judge the results!

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Exotica Swimwear Runway Show

Challenging shoot, models moving up and down a catwalk in a dark bar, the speedlight wasn’t an option, it was a necessity, even with my dislike for the harsh light it casts (even bounced and diffused). So there’s not a particular picture in the set that stands out that I’m proud of, usually in every shoot there’s one, one you look at and go, that one, that’s the one I’m most proud of here, these are just, generic.

Added challenge of about fifteen photographers on the night (and their helpers) even though it was supposed to be a group of ten so ended up with a lot of people getting in the back of shots, beating you to the angle you want or simply not paying attention to other togs and getting in the edge of shots, which annoyed me quite a bit, as a bit of consideration for others should be basic, though, the one who pissed me off the most was the one who in his rush to get in the way of about six other peoples shots walked into my gear and didn’t even apologise, I hope to not come across the dickhead in any future shoots (shouldn’t’ve been there in the first place, doesn’t even know how to use the camera – which is not an exaggeration, he’d spent about an hour at the start complaining he couldn’t get a sharp shot, bugging everyone for advice on settings, when it transpired he had the lens set to manual focus, not auto).

Anyway, enough bitching, if I keep up these fashion shoots I’m going to have to add a new category to the site!

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Summerama Festival With Marina’s Beach Couture

Given how much fun last year’s “Trashion” shoot was I had to get down and shoot at the Summerama Festival when I saw Marina DeBris would be showcasing her unique style of work again.

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BTW the close ups of the models is for the Hair & Makeup artists to use for promotion, if you were thinking it odd there’s a fair few portraits that don’t include much of the outfits = )

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Garbage

Garbage

I don’t usually post smartphone pictures here, not because I’m some camera snob who insists you can only take a proper picture on a dSLR, the best camera is the one you have with you – and that was my Galaxy Note4 Friday night when watching this awesome band when they came to Sydney. The stage lighting had been various bright, colourful patterns all night, complementing to the vibrate and energetic performance, but when the colour bled out and the rear lighting pulled up for a slow one, I grappled quickly for the phone in my pocket and snapped this.

Pleased with the image itself, I still probably wouldn’t’ve posted it here – a picture for personal reflection and a reminder of an awesome gig. It was posted to my personal social media to serve as a reminder when scrolling through or timehop brings it up, what I wasn’t expecting was it to be SHARED BY THE BAND THEMSELVES!!!!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNiBSVxF64G/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/garbage/status/804814351425122304

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GarbageOfficial/photos/a.252533808090811.78027.243166889027503/1373056079371906/?type=1&theater

Clocking up nearly 4k of likes, shares, retweets and comments across the channels this is the most enjoyed picture I’ve taken so far, a simple snap, a memory, no setup, no forethought, no planning, just in the moment, a quick capture that came out well. As multi-decade spanning world touring band, I’m sure they know the joy and wonder they bring to people who enjoy their performances, find meaning in their words and kick back to their melodies, but I wonder if they appreciate the excitement and jubilation simply sharing a picture has brought?

Bonus picture I’d taken earlier and run through prisma, my current picture editing addiction (least it looks better than the last, spot colouring = p ):

Garbage Prisma

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Roxy, Ivy & Pearl

Spent the afternoon with the talented Roxy, Ivy & Pearl doing some web-promo shots for them, had a lot fun with these absolute pleasures to work with.

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Oz Comic Con | Sydney | 2016

I realised what I love about convention photography this weekend, it’s the five second portraits. As that’s the time you have after asking someone if they don’t mind a picture to thanking them and letting them go, five seconds, tops. The flow of people, the rest of the day they have and the fact you’re probably the hundred and nth person to have asked for a picture that day means you can’t really take much of their time (well, to me), so all these shots are done in very little time, camera settings are set for the day at the start and hope they work best for the various lighting challenges that come up in the day.

Cosplay was as fun as ever, some great efforts made by many, including the 3D printed Batman armour that took 6 months, or the guy who spent four hours painting himself to look like Darth Maul, my highlight though was the portrait shot of a Harley Quinn, the eyes are so emotive, I feel it’s the best photo I’ve ever taken

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Trashion – Sculptures By The Sea

So this was a fun morning out at Tamarama beach shooting a show put on by Marina DeBris (quite possibly a pseudonym ; p ) who creates these beautiful works of art from detritus that turns up on beaches!

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Lots of fun running around the beach trying to get these, swapping lenses and hoping to not get sand/grit on them! Challenging but rewarding, especially the early shots where I got to work closer with the models, they seem to come out best and are my favorite of the shoot – if I were to do this again I’d try to get more like that..

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Sad Grrrls

Went to watch my colleague Faith perform at the Sad Grrrls Club tour in Paddington today – lighting wasn’t photo friendly so had to crank the ISO on these (wasn’t going to start using a flash and annoy the audience) so only got a couple of “ok” shots, still, none-the-less an enjoyable day out and some awesome music by her followed by Zara A and La Luz Music.

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