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???

Serendipity

The fun part of being a Diva is that you never quite know what the week will bring, sure you have bookings and appointments and even a task list, but it’s the stuff in the middle that’s the marrow of life…. and this week has been exactly that.

Saturday, rock chick shoot with gorgeous Blair, ACDC Lane Melbourne, fun, champagne. Serendipity moment? I asked Blair to sing to look authentic while I shot, did she sing rock? or hip hop? or rap? or maybe the latest pop song? no, she gave the most beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, gives me shivers thinking about it……….

There were people lined up at the end of the street, watching and listening, and taking their own shots, a group graffiti painting with organisational precision at the end of the lane, the makeup room was the carpark (complete with champagne – see Lis from Lets Get Gorgeous above ‘doin her thang’) – just a really fun shoot.

On Thursday (?) we had an eclipse of the moon in Melbourne, leaping out of bed at 5am I went in search of the promised ‘blood red’ moon.  Well, I don’t know where the moon went, I checked west, I drove to the top of the hill in Yarra Glen, nothing, drove madly around the nearby suburbs, realising that it would be gone very soon, but I didn’t see it at all.  How could the moon just go missing?????  Serendipity moment?  Returning home I saw the most beautiful sunrise, frost in the foreground, and the sun bathing the sky in gorgeous light, warmed the cockles of this heart….

Finally, Thursday night saw us at a Bar Mitzvah rehearsal.  A new experience for me which I enjoyed immensely, just full of warmth and love and tradition and pride, in the nicest possible way.  Serendipity moment, an uncle (?) asked me to take a photograph of his wife and adult daughters together, his face shone with love, his eyes brimmed with tears, and he thumped his chest, his love and pride were almost overwhelming for both himself and this lucky, lucky Diva.

Can’t wait to find out what treats are in store for next week

Have mercy on your humble photographer :)

Thoughts this week turned to spray tans, you see, Lis from Lets Get Gorgeous has just added spray tanning to her long list of skills/talents and she was looking for models.  Not I, shrieked this Diva, firstly orange (skin that is) and I just don’t match, secondly, I am the girl who drinks organic tea with organic milk… why would I have chemical sprayed on my largest organ (yes folks read that in an encyclopaedia).  After Lis calmed me down and explained that I would be a mediterranean hue after treatment with her ORGANIC spray tan, I succumbed, and am secretly proud of my ‘sun kissed’ glow.

This brings me to the subject of this blog – having mercy etc….  Brides, Debs, special occasion people… please, you have a hair trial, you have a makeup trial, pleeeeaaassse have a tan trial, and then check exposed skin carefully and critically.  In the ‘olden days’ the photographers problem used to be a gorgeous bride, in a divine gown, complete with sparkles and frills and whopping big criss cross tan lines across her back, out of her sight but waving a ‘look at me’ sign to the camera.  Then if you chose your photographer carefully, commenced hours of careful retouching (believe me, some allowed you to appear ‘au natural’).

Now we have a new and exciting phenomena, how to neutralise dribbles of tan, dark patches where your tan has attached to rough skin and light patches where the tan has rubbed against tight clothing – you get the picture.  Our cameras are so clever they pick up the most amazing range of detail variations, and even converting the image to black and white doesn’t work, just gives you an interesting soldier on night patrol camouflage appearance.  So commences hours of me hanging with my buddy Photoshop.

My desire is that you will look drop dead gorgeous in your images, after all, in 5 years time the dress may not fit, the flowers are long gone, the music is silent, but you will still have your pictures to transport you back to a time and a place and a feeling… and we don’t want that feeling to be ‘what was I thinking?”

p.s.  Lets Get Gorgeous has a super special promotion on spray tans at the moment, give Lis a call on 0433 806 793 and enter an ‘orange free’ zone lol!

Have you ever thought about a themed shoot?

How I love a themed shoot, so much planning and excitement, and high fives and horror moments that end up in fits of giggles!!

Our first ever ‘Diva’ themed shoot was based on the movie Breakfast at Tiffanys.  Although the movie was released in 1961 (that’s 50 years ago folks) the images are iconic and stylish and very, very beautiful.  The theme music written for the movie was Moon River gorgeous, this movie had it all, romance and New York and timeless designer clothes and sparkly jewels and beautiful people.

So on a VERY cold Sunday morning in May 2010 at around 5am we met outside Tiffany’s in Collins Street Melbourne.  Lis from Let Get Gorgeous, styled the divine Paris (yes that’s her real name) inside my trusty Diva mobile (Chrysler Voyager with seats folded into the floor), Lynda supplied croissants and coffee and Donna from BlackCherry Photography and I waited and entertained ourselves watching the clubbers going home…. and thank you to that nice young man who offered to remove his clothing so we could capture him in his full glory, maybe next time love

Hair styling and makeup usually takes about an hour and a half, but today Lisa’s brief was to have our ‘Holly’ ready in 1 hour so we could capture the first thing in the morning light and empty feeling of a city just waking up….. and it all just happened… only just, but that was all we needed.

Best moments were all the people, just going about their daily business who got caught up in our fun and our vision and contributed in some way, the nice workmen who were setting up a ‘work’ thing on the footpath outside the building next door, but held off till we’d finished, the fruit shop man and the flower seller, people hurrying on their way to work, the man buying his coffee in Vic Market…. but more of that later.

So, shoot, shoot, shoot outside Tiffany’s, high fives and laughter, quick move up to Melbourne Town Hall captured the last of the lights before they closed off for the night, hurry, hurry, mad u-turns, driving around the city like paparazzi capturing the ‘light’ before it changed, finishing up at Vic Market, as their day was starting, the fruit man with his big smile “I love being here first thing in the morning, the best things happen”, and wasn’t that the truth.

So finally, we think we’ve nailed it, we’ve had some fun, let’s go see  if the coffee shop is open. Then I ‘see’ the shot that’s going to be my absolute favourite, I ask if I can come behind the counter and shoot (they not speaking much English and me not speaking any Vietnamese was no barrier they knew fun when they saw it) man coming by for coffee and breakfast became Holly’s co-star, and just quietly I think he had talent .

So, five o’clock in the morning, no worries… rain, cold, wind…. just details…would we do it again… in a heart beat…. anyone fancy a Casablanca shoot???