A wonderful roller coaster photo week

I imagine if you were a specialist photographer and only shot say, weddings or food, maybe, (and I could well be wrong) there would be a routine and sameness in your weeks. A bit like having cheesecake for dessert every night. At Diva, we’re smorgasbord girls, we flit, we flirt (naughty!!), we want to taste it all – ok so I don’t flirt, but I might one day – although it was certainly fun to be cheek kissed by a beautiful young man in Lygon Street this week (sigh!), but that’s another story.

So taste it all we did this week (sans wedding). Tuesday we were in cosmopolitan Lygon Street, Carlton shooting the ‘must have’ 2012 range of imported French bags from Fetch Imports (www.fetchimports.com). It was a BLAST, great team, fabulous location, beautiful young men, divine product, and we finished the day with a glass of French bubbly ooh lala!!!

Wednesday saw us back in the studio for a cake smash photo shoot with the delicious Milly who is turning 1.  Sore cheeks from smiling and laughing here. Despite what WC Fields said about working with children, Milly has the sweetest disposition, and was the last word in charm. And manners, looking for permission before hoeing into her cake. Although I’m a little concerned about what’s going to happen on her actual birthday now, her little friends may get cake with footprints

Friday we were back to cake smashing, handsome Ryder and big brother Rocky.  We laughed and laughed. Once again, the almost 1 year old had the Sunday best manners on  (these babies have amazing parents, doing a fab job!) and was tentative to start, but warmed nicely when Rocky joined in. Ryder finished his day in a bucket splashing happily in icing coloured warm water!!!

Saturday saw me at a basketball game, proudly taking photos of my grandson Jackson, and right now, off for a session with a 6 week old baby and his family, life’s good  Oh, what’s the downside of the roller coaster you ask??  When I work it out, I’ll let you know….

How were you thinking of displaying your portraits?

That’s one of the first questions we ask before a sitting, maybe you have a wall space in mind where you’d like to display a beautiful portrait.Or were you thinking of displaying a smaller framed print on a buffet or wall unit, perhaps a portrait box, with a selection of images so you can change your images from time to time? It may seem an odd question for your photographer to ask, but it is important.

You see, when we shoot a wedding, we shoot with the wedding album in mind, to tell the story of the day, with images that can be used as features and some that are like the supporting cast with all the important details of the day. When we shoot a portrait session, we shoot with the end result in mind, small prints or large wall displays.

So here’s some ideas for you to keep in mind before your portrait session.

Perhaps a montage would be fun, a selection of images that work together, with complimentary colouring and framing. Add to your display over time, tell the family history, perhaps create an entire photo wall to break up bland and boring walls, in hallways, so many possibilities.

Or perhaps use a sumptuous frame and display your portrait (or wedding print) as a fine art piece. Your own personal art gallery.

You may want to consider prints using some contemporary methods. Printing to acrylic or metal is very beautiful and stylish, the image appears almost illuminated from within, and floats out from the wall. A statement piece.

Or another thought for you, have you considered a collage? Allows you to have all those images you love so much, combined into one fun portrait, framed, acrylic, canvas or metal the choice is yours. We can have a heap of fun in a collage shoot, pulling different faces, happy, sad, puzzled, smart and silly (love silly!!).

So, how were YOU thinking of displaying your portraits???

Not the $6,000,000 Man – bigger, stronger, faster, just the best me I can be!

Headlines in the fashion mags – see the cellulite on xxxxxxx (insert name of actress/model/singer here – must be female, men it seems are immune), or see how xxxxxxxxx has been photoshopped, or gained weight, or has grown bingo wings or felony offence, has sun damage and wrinkles, noooooooooo!!!!!

Memo to fashion mag – THEYRE HUMAN!! Oh, the exquisite pain and shame of that statement.

So there is acceptance that most times, in these magazines, either they’re “critiquing” the poor celebrities, or the images are enhanced in some way to show the subject at their best, and most beautiful. Firstly, there is amazing lighting, then the subject poses so their limbs and bodies appear curvy where curves are ‘good’ and lean where that is required (posing is part of “Beautiful People 101″), then finally as the icing on the cake, they are photoshopped to remove any flaws or flesh that fail to co-operate.

So, what does that mean to a humble Yarra Valley Photographer, and how does it affect you Diva’s out there?

Most people, on the day of their shoot will ask either to have some flaw removed, or will point out a disobedient piece of gravity affected flesh, or angry red, pulsing zit that just appeared this morning. Said A-R-P zit is NOT part of who they are, they do NOT want to be smiling down from a wall portrait for the next 5 years with a feature zit on their nose, therefore, the message is clear – zit must go.

Hence, humble Yarra Valley Photographer has invested a painful amount of money, and a more painful amount of time, skilling up on the tools to be an A-R-P zit destroyer. But what is my philosophy on photoshop? How does it work at Diva, and importantly, how will you look afterwards?

Philosophy - To make you, the best you, you can be! Our aim, is to get the shot right in the camera. We work hard to make you relaxed and comfortable, we fuss over lighting, and direction of light, we arrange hairstyling, a makeup artist who is a specialist in preparing you for the camera, we walk you through posing as though you blitzed “Beautiful People 101″. Then we take the shot.

How does it work at Diva - We then use photoshop as a post processing tool, to the point where your family and friends when looking at the portrait will not know it has been edited, even you may not suspect, until you notice missing A-R-P zit!

How will you look afterwards - in a moment of sisterly generosity, I edited a picture of myself (see below). Sad, no nice lighting, no makeup or hair job, just me, a camera and a mirror. On the left, straight out of the camera, on the right, processed. I’d say, if you saw the picture on the right without the one on the left you’d say, I hadn’t been photoshopped.On close up the wrinkles are all there, softened but there, a nice bit of jowl, the attractive scrunch of the eye, (OK I confess I removed the blemish off my cheek, I am a girl after all), the harsh light which creates shadows is now a warm glow, same picture, just more flattering, I’m not the $6,000,000 man – bigger, stronger, faster, just the best me I can be!

So what will you do when you have a shoot, “shop” or not?

I confess, it’s been three months since my last post!!

I don’t think I should begin to tell you all about the last three months, it’s been HUGE!!  For me incredibly exciting, but I’ll spare you the detail. Just to keep you up to date though, I’ll quickly give you a statistical run through:

• 7,000+ images shot
• 6 Yarra Valley events covered
• babies, glamour portraits , weddings, family shoots, commercial work - (mwah!! shooting, I love you, love you, love you)
• 1 bout of pneumonia (blah!! disgusting)
• 1 new grandchild born – divine
• Christmas, New Year – what same for you, imagine the coincidence of that
• sharing studio with new friends

Which brings me right up to yesterday. Feeling so squeaky clean and smug now I’m up to date

What a fabulous day yesterday was. AIPP Shoot Out workshop. We photographers are constantly educating ourselves, we go to workshops to listen to amazing photographers talk about their passion and their craft, and as a bonus we get to meet other workshoppers and chat about the juicy stuff – did you see the props on that web page, how did you do that, ah the very marrow of our lives, it was bliss!!

Almost since the first day I fell in love with my Nikon baby, I have been blown away by how generous photographers are with their knowledge and their time.  The fabulous Damien Bowerman (Portrait Photographer), Gavin Blue (Commercial Photographer)  and Kelly Nowell (Wedding Photographer) were exactly that. Not protective of their ‘secret camera business’, but open and encouraging and candid. The truth is, even if Damien were to walk with me step by step through a shoot, I would not take a portrait in the same way he does, I couldn’t, because portraits/images/pictures are taken in the mind first. Sure it helps to have a nice camera, and the technical aspects of exposure and composure are important, you can’t skip that stuff. Post processing can’t be eliminated from the equation either. What workshops do is remind us of all the technical stuff, so that when our creative minds go to work, we have tools in our recent memory, to craft the images that we are envisioning, and most importantly, that will make our clients happy, and we’ll all feel good. Oh, and we go to workshops because  you come out pumped!!

To end a truly memorable workshop,  so we could suffer for our art, we had a divine dinner at Yering Station, here in the Yarra Valley, with matched wines and amazing service, a fabulous start to a Diva’s year

As we left Yering Station, this was the scene before us, a treat for the eyes.

Deep within us all is a golden seed……….. waiting……

ET (phone home, remember him) called it your heart light. It’s like the pure essence of you, beautiful, magnificent, amazing.

Recently, when we were shooting at our very first Bar Mitzvah reception (amazing, a room jam packed full of love), part of this poem  by Marianne Williamson was read (thanks Jonno, powerful message)

Our Deepest Fear

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, 
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 
As we are liberated from our own fear, 
our presence automatically liberates others.”

As a photographer, I  seek that golden seed, that shining light, I know it’s there. Young children glow with it. Sometimes people have been surprised when viewing their images how truly beautiful they are. Sometimes they think it’s photoshop or retouching. Truly there is no retouching tool in the world as powerful or as complimentary as your heart light.

Embrace your magnificence, enjoy your inner beauty, liberate others!!!!

FAQ – the glamour portrait session

Thought I’d share with you some of the questions we get asked when someone books a glamour shoot, because these questions get asked pretty much every time. Mainly these questions are about bodies, because let’s face it, only girls book glamour shoots, and girls are super, super conscious about every real/imagined body flaw, and totally oblivious to all their most beautiful features. Go figure, truly a girl thing.

How much skin do I have to show?

I think it’s good if your face is uncovered, sorry, I was giggling while I wrote that, because we both know that’s not what you mean. OK, truth is, you call it, we TALK to you the entire time, we get to know you, and our plan is to NEVER take you where you don’t feel comfortable. Some of the most glamorous and sexy shots you see hardly any skin at all. There’s a look in the eyes. Your makeup is skilfully applied.  Your hair looks fabulous. The lighting is soft and sensous.  You glow, you giggle, you purrrr……. no skin required.

I don’t know how to pose

We understand that. That’s what gives the shoot the WOW factor. We’ll direct you, talk with you the entire time.  Hand placement, a hip movement, an arch of the back, the catchlights shining in your eyes. We want you to relax, be comfortable, ‘cos that’s the loveliest ‘pose’ of all.

Do you think I need to lose/gain 5 kilos before my session?

No!  Never!  Truth is, if you wait it probably won’t happen. And will you regret it?  In the words of the great movie Casablanca “maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life”. I know from personal experience, that we can let ‘stuff’ get in the way, we create our own barriers. Whether you lose/gain that 5 kilos or not, I know you are going to have a fabulous time, we are going to create together images of which we’ll all be immensely proud, and as a bonus, if you have a partner, they are going to be completely blown away.

What do I need to wear for my shoot?

Anything that makes you feel that you look good.  Bring along a selection of items that you really like, we can mix and match them with accessories and items in our prop wardrobe.  It’s amazing what we can achieve with a length of velvet and some pins

Am I going to be airbrushed?

This question is a bit of a two edged sword, we girls want to be able to recognise that a picture is of us, but we don’t want the picture to show the area of cellulite on the thighs that diet and exercise just won’t budge.

Just about everyone I speak to has a friend who had a glamour shoot, and they are unrecognisable in the pictures because they have been airbrushed so much. Girls don’t want pictures like that, because everyone knows they’re fake. We want to be who we are, sort of with “gloss”. Which is exactly what we do at Diva.  We give our images ‘glamour mag pizzaz’, we remove the cellulite, the little pocket of skin that pops over the strapless top, the bruise on the thigh where you bumped the car door.  We do not make your skin look like shiny plastic, and we definitely do not make your body look like Barbie. A lot of the work is done in the camera with good lighting, good posing and camera angles using my very clever ‘skinny’ lens.

Is it true my hair is easier for styling if it hasn’t been washed?

We ask on the day of the shoot for you to arrive with clean, DRY, hair, no makeup, just moisturiser. This gives our lovely hair and makeup girls a great start, and they can spend more time pampering you, and makes brilliant results much easier.

More questions?  Leave a comment, if you need to know, I bet someone else does too.

See you in the studio

How do you choose your photographer?

A fellow photographer, a friend on Facebook, posted the above image recently, which prompted a deal of chest thumping, and one syllable exclamations (yeah! yeah!) from myself and my talented work colleagues.  Okay, so my work colleagues that day were my two princess dogs who can’t chest thump, their paws won’t reach, and rarely say yeah, but I could see the steely glint of intent in their eyes!

But, it set me to thinking, why so often is the first question most potential clients ask their photographer, how much?  I believe the answer is simply, they don’t know what else to ask.  They need some work done, maybe a wedding or a family session and consumer education has taught us we must ask questions.  We can’t just bowl in the studio door and say “do you take nice pictures, or are you going to make me look like a slimy monster from the deep with a seaweed coiffure?”.  Price is the question they know about.

So, I thought I’d offer some ways, clients can work out if the photographer is a good fit for them, some other questions to ask. If you’ve got different ideas, please comment, I’d love to hear what you think.

• is it all about YOU, not them – think about it…
• ask to talk to the photographer, not a person behind a counter, but the real person who will be doing the shoot. Talk to them about your session.  You can usually pick from a mile off if that person loves the type of session you have in mind, say weddings. Some photographers are wedding commandoes, battle weary, cynical, clinical and mercenary, it’s all about making a living. Whereas others, love a wedding, every detail, every glance, touch, smile, warms their heart and makes their shutter finger twitch. Either photographer might have shot 5 or 500 weddings, it’s not in the number, it’s in their heart.
• ask about the coverage you will be receiving. If it’s a newborn session, are you going to receive one production line image, (not even of your choice) of your baby plonked in a bowl with a hat on their head like the previous 10 sessions that day. Or are you going to receive time and effort, while someone works with you to produce a piece of art which reflects just how precious that little person is in your life?  If it’s a wedding, are they going to pack their bags and go home because you are allocated 5 hours and your time is up?
• which products do you want? Which products do they recommend?  Do you want something for the wall?  An album?  Thank you cards?  Not sure?  Ask to be shown samples so you get an idea of what suits you.
• ask to look at some of their work. Not necessarily to see if it’s good or bad, as such, but to see if their style suits you. Hard to define ‘style’, but you’ll know it when you see it. Some photographers airbrush their images to within an inch of their lives, if that’s not your style, move on,  if you don’t want to look like you’re from Madame Tussauds.
• does someone offer you the unedited images on a CD straight up? If so, my recommendation would be to run.  All the photographers that I would want to work with love their work, they sweat over each image to make sure it is as good as it can possibly be, that you are shown at your gorgeous best.  Colour matched, no embarrassing stains or exposures (nip slips?).  Well focused, exposed, composed.  To offer you a CD of unedited images is like visiting an italian restaurant and being given a pot of boiling water and a packet of pasta, you don’t have a product you only had the ingredients!

I know there are many ideas which could be added to my list, word of mouth is a pretty popular recommendation, but I just look at my best friends husband and know that everyone my best friend loves is not necessarily for me. So, ask the above questions for yourself,  in short, can they come up with the work you want and can you work with them while they do it. Then ask how much! Hey, and let me know if this little blog helped at all

“the studio” – our first three months

What a sensational ride this has been so far.  Hard physical work, OK so I only removed the rubble after the tiles had been jack hammered up, but I did cut myself, there was blood, and I’m sure I pulled a muscle.  Really, all kudos to Brad and DJ, who did the bigger, harder yards, but I maintain I did suffer too!!  The hard work was rapidly followed by shock horror – heating malfunction, then warm fuzzies from the sensational welcome we have received from the other Yarra Glen traders, and all wrapped up in a huge sense of pride and accomplishment, truly the studio is starting to look amazing;  - see below- I say starting, simply because with some fairly heavy investment (and more hard work eek!!) it can becomes the elegant and comfortable, yet luxurious, environment that is part of the vision – the journey has begun.

  he he – bet you can pick the difference between before     and after

So what has happened in three months – 4,000+ images have been shot, a couple of GORGEOUS weddings, bar mitzvah, a most glamorous 50th birthday party in the Regent Theatre ballroom, family shoots and some portrait shoots to warm the cockles of your heart.  We’ve met the best people, and learned about different cultures and traditions, amazing.  A delightful, vivacious, bubbly, fun assistant walked into the studio and asked for work experience, bless you Hollie Tucker, she loves fashion, glamour and photography, winning combo.  Copious quantities of tea, both chai and irish breakfast and coffee have partnered with champagne to refresh and relax us.  Did I tell you about the cray fish and Bolinger???  Needed to call everyone dahrrrrling for at least a week after that decadent outing!!  In short it’s been fun, and an adventure, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

I’ve allowed myself to enjoy the last three months enough now, so on to the next three months.  What next??  I don’t know, altogether which is part of the adventure.  I know there are beautiful pictures out there waiting for us, I know that every shoot will be an experience, and that Hollie will most likely cry with the beauty and love of it all, I of course will want to but won’t because it will blur up the view finder and I might miss the very image that will capture the moment forever

I don’t know who will walk through the door of the studio next, but I do know I can’t wait to meet them… and I know we’re going to have a blast…..

p.s. Don’t forget “Supermodel Saturday”  - Saturday 3rd September, places are filling up – if you haven’t heard, check out the flyer below.

we do not remember days, we remember moments….. cesare pavese

Spent the last two days in a seminar.  I have a love/hate relationship with workshops and seminars. Hate sitting still, love all the information and the photo people, and the creativity flowing through the air that you wish you could just bottle, and bring out later when you need topping up.

Saw some amazing speakers, and some amazing images.  

It made me think of the quote on the front page of the Diva web page,

“we do not remember days, we remember moments”.

That’s what we’re there for, at the weddings and the events, even the portrait sessions.

At the weddings and events, we capture the main event, the excitement of the preparation, the romance of the ceremony, the vows, the exhilaration, the outpouring of love and sheer joy.  But we also capture the moments that the bride and groom, or the birthday boy/girl don’t see, so they can take those moments off the shelf later on, and savour them, smell their perfume and feel their texture.

We love capturing the ‘main event’, but there is a delicious thrill in the ‘moments’.

Yes, it’s true, Diva is in love with love!!

A shoot is like a little birthday party!!

Why a birthday party?  Because generally it’s about celebrating one (sometimes two) people.  They get dressed up, we give them a bit of a shush with the hair and makeup, and then the party starts.  It’s fun, there’s laughing, dancing, sometimes champagne!!

I first noticed when I was taking shots for a project for a retirement village, how, we could be laughing and chatting, but, when I raised the camera to compose and focus, the smile disappeared, and the shot I got was stiff and formal.  No matter how I tried I couldn’t get a relaxed happy face, if they tried to lose the stiff formal expression, the self conscious, uncomfy expression took it’s place.  Then I realised, the stiff formal face was a blast from the past, something these dear people had been taught.  We were celebrating them, but the party wasn’t making it onto their face.

In years gone by photography was extremely expensive, and you didn’t know the results until some time after the shot was taken, after the film had been developed in the darkroom.  So, people knew, if they kept still, and maintained a straight face, there was a better opportunity for a successful shot.  Problem for me is that it doesn’t reveal much of a person’s character, that that is the delight of photography, recording not just the face, but the personality and the heart.  When you look at the old sepia photographs, you could be forgiven for believing that it was the most serious time in history.

Thank heavens we’ve changed, the fashion now is for ‘natural’ style.  We want to shine our ‘real’ self to the world, as we should.  Problem is,  you’ve seen your friends at a party, heaps of fun, completely natural, but NO-ONE wants those shots on Facebook.  Way too much party on the face.  Truth is, most of the great ‘natural’ shots are carefully posed to appear completely ‘natural’.  And if we need, we add props or special outfits to make our portraits tell your story.  It’s fun. It’s all about YOU.  Are you ready to party???