Large family portrait in country Western Australia

Well, its Mother's Day tomorrow and my wife told me I had better post some appropriate images, so here they are. These were all from the same family portrait session in country Western Australia in March. There were over 20 people in the family with the grandparents, their four children and spouses and all the kids. It was a two hour shoot where I exposed many hundreds of frames of every combination I could think of. (I'm sure I still missed something) this is just a selection of B&Ws that I think is representative of the family. 

I hope all the mums out there have a very happy Mothers Day, 

ROMANIAN WORKSHOPS FOR EPSON, EUROPE

Shirl and I agreed that we were not going anywhere this year and that I would stay in Brisbane to get some real work done. That hasn’t happened. Late January and early Feb was spent in Robe SA, Melbourne and then back to Brisbane. March took us to Western Australia for a Workshop in York, about an hour East of Perth. Then back home for a change of socks and off to Romania. This came about when Epson decided to release a new printer onto the market and they needed a presenter who could teach photography as well as show the advantages of the new printer. By this stage I already had a couple of hundred Romanian photographers following me on Facebook, so Epson gave me a call.

To get to Romania it is a total travel time of some thirty+ hours via Dubai and Istanbul in Turkey. The flights are not too bad, but the ten hour wait at the Dubai airport for a connecting flight to Istanbul (and another four hour wait) gets a bit monotonous. Next time I'll arrange to fly via Antarctica. It couldn't be any worse. 

However, when I got to Bucharest, things changed in a hell of a hurry. I was met at the airport by Andrei from Epson and a friend I had been conversing with for many years, Dinu, a very well known and respected Romanian photographer. 

My itinerary from then on had been arranged! Got to bed about midnight and was up at 4:30am for a 5 o’clock start. Dinu had arranged a trip through Romania which took us through the most beautiful small villages and towns for the next seventeen hours. This included castles, snow covered villages and thousand year old towers and towns. The Romanian tourist bureau really needs to let people know about this place! It is THE most beautiful place I have ever been. We arrived back at 10pm after Dinu had driven for seventeen hours and covered almost 1000 kms. THAT is impressive.

This is a small sampling of the many photos taken on that day, beginning with a snow-covered area in the Carpathian mountains west of Bucharest.

 This Tower has existed for hundreds of years and was built to guard the border between Transylvania and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

 This is Sighisoara, and is the to village that Vlad the Impaler was born. Otherwise known as Vlad Tepes Dracule. The legend of Dracula began with him.

 This is spreading fertilizer the hard way. Shovel, wagon and horse.

It seemed that at each turn in the road there was another spectacular vista. Castles, mist-covered mountains and ancient villages. This is the castle at Rasnov.

.... and this is Vlad Dracule's castle.

 Next morning, up at six am to prepare for an hour-long live interview on National television at 8am. 10 am was a meeting at the Epson Building with Romania’s top photographers. After a leisurely lunch, I was collected by another photographer, Daniel and a professional guide, Valentin, to show me around Bucharest. Valentin had an informed answer to my every question and we finished the day at the oldest restaurant in Bucharest; a beautiful place of carved wood and marble.

The next two days were full-on seminar/workshop for about 120+ each day. These are some of the photos taken by the attendees and sent to me, for which I thank them heartily.

As part of the seminar I was fortunate enough to have the lovely Maria as my model to demonstrate some lighting setups.

I had the great fortune also to photograph the director of the Palatul Stirbei (Stirbey Palace) in the palace itself. A lady of great presence and dignity. This was the residence of the ruling family of Romania until the nineteen twenties or so.  If I get permission I will post the final portrait in the future. Don't worry, the water bottle was not in the final portrait!

Vale Richard Pollett

At the end of last year a young man was killed while riding his bike in Kenmore. I have put off writing this for months because I didn't know how to do it.

I first met Richard Pollett when he was about eighteen when he needed some publicity portraits. He was  a very quiet young man who, I thought, hoped to be a famous violinist one day. I did not know that he already was. Those portraits were used to advertise his appearances with various symphony orchestras for the following couple of years.

His mother Patricia, contacted me recently to arrange for another session to be used to publicise his concerts in Europe and Australia. I subsequently spent an afternoon with Richard in Brisbane city and made some portraits for him. Unfortunately these were some of the last.

You can read about Richard and experience his music by following these links.

Richard Pollett | Barber Violin Concerto | 2nd Mvt | 2010 Young Performers Awards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyIeng5FJD0

Recordings

Some of Richard's recent performances can be found here.

You can see that he was well on his way to fame and fortune.

A COLD DAY IN ROBE.

This is the latest in a series of portraits I have made over the last four years of the people of Robe in SA.
The afternoon was extremely cold and the wind was 35kmh, but these two little girls were real troupers, ignoring the cold and smiling on command.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN FISHERMEN

We will leave soon on our annual trip to photograph the people of Robe. We have made this journey for the last four years and the pictures we get!! There are more characters per square metre than I have found in anywhere I've ever been. From the Grays that I met on my first trip (Mr Gray flew bombers in WW2), to 100 yr old Annie Wright and these cray fishermen; and then there's Steve, the grumpiest man in town (and the nicest man you'll ever meet). I think Steve has left town now; he stayed just long enough to get a street named after him. About thirty years. Apparently that's not long enough to become a local, though.

All have a story to tell. 

I wonder who we'll find this year. 

I LOVE B&W KIDS PORTRAITS!!

Every year since 1993 I photograph the same family for Christmas. Right from the wedding and the first anniversary and as each of the three boys was born I have been there for the yearly portrait.. Every year we find a new location and design a new portrait that means something to the family. This year the boys are 10, 11 and 12. The youngest has learned to weld, so it was time to do some portraits in their dad's workshop.  Chrissie (mum) bought overalls for the boys and some dark t-shirts and we worked around the machinery and benches in the shop, always looking for the perfect light. (The boys and I decided we liked the more serious portraits, but we did some smiling ones for mum, too).

All these were shot within a hour and is an example of what can be done when people prepare for a shoot and are willing to go to that little bit of extra trouble to make the session a success. This family is well practised now and the boys usually come up with some of the ideas themselves. I have not shown them these yet. I hope they like them.

SOME IMAGES FROM THE ATTENDEES OF THE LIGHTING COURSE

Our Lighting Course is now finished and we now have a group of very accomplished portrait photographers out there working to present people at their best. Some of the assignments were a bit rough on the students but they came through with flying colours. One task was to approach a total stranger in the street and gain permission to photograph him/her. A daunting task for some.

All of the images on this post are by the course attendees. Space and time (my time) limits the number of images in the post, but you will get the idea.

Two Champions

Yesterday I made a second session for a family for whom I had made some family portraits earlier in the week. It had not been possible to do both sessions on the same day, so I made another time for the sons who are both champion cyclists. They are heading overseas to Germany and Columbia for more competition so they may not even get a chance to see their portraits for some time. This is one of my favourites from the session.

Thought there would be a storm.

I thought there would be a storm today, so I started the portrait session indoors. Their house is newly renovated and extended so I had beautiful bare walls in large rooms as backgrounds. These are just some of the images from this session. The expected rain did not eventuate, so we finished off outside in the garden with their new little dog, Tilly.

Today's Beach Session

Today was a dark and stormy one, with heavy clouds and even heavier precipitation. At the start of the session, after we had made our way carefully over sharp rocks, I found a spot that would suit the portraits admirably. It was then that large lumps of cloud made its way downward and forced a rather rushed family portrait. We then moved around the cliff to a more sheltered spot and  photographed the smaller groups within the family while we waited for the weather to clear a little. 

All of these were photographed within a few yards of each other at the base of a cliff and were all made without the aid of any artificial light or reflectors. If I had asked someone hold a reflector they would have been blown into the surf! 

It is always a pleasure to re-photograph a family because they know that the more effort they put into the portraits, the better job I can do. I guess it's just a confidence thing. With the weather we had today most people would have been on the phone asking to re-schedule but these repeat customers know that I do my best work under difficult conditions. (It always helps to have two beautiful young ladies in the family, too)

Man's Portrait 2009

This is a portrait from two years ago. I have a 20x30 copy of it in my personal collection printed on the most beautiful portrait paper.  And yet there is something about this image that most people miss. Can you see the anomaly?

Andrea.

Yesterday was the first day of a six week lighting course that I am giving for Brisbane photographers. We started with a day of studio lighting so that all could see how each light acts upon a face, and went through quite a lot of theory on exposure etc. Next week we may venture outside if everyone behaves and finishes their homework!  This means you too, Melissa!  :)

Below is the final of a series of photographs that shows much of what was taught.

Pizzas ain't just pizzas

Today it was my great pleasure to photograph the great Ian Wilkinson's family. I have known Ian and Sandy for years. I even remember Ian with hair!
The original idea was to photograph the family with a pizza theme since Ian has built a two and a half ton pizza oven in his back yard, but things got a bit out of hand and I just went with the flow.
I'm convinced that kids will give you more co-operation and better expressions if they think they are doing something naughty.
Lesson for parents:  put the flour away when you have finished with it.