I Love Wednesdays

The blog's a moving.

2010-01-01T23:06:00.002+11:00

Hi all,

I hope you all had a fantastic New Year, and that 2010 is a much better year than the last. Thank you so much for reading my blog and being a part of the last year. I'm moving the blog to my I Love Wednesdays page and it will be the face of ILW.

I hope to see you all there at http://www.ilovewednesdays.com.

Love you all,

Len

The Picnic Music Mix

2009-12-23T21:05:00.009+11:00

It's a ridiculously hot Wednesday night and I'm sitting in my office finishing up everything that needs to be done before Christmas. I'm trying to finish it all tonight so that tomorrow I can relax with Nick and maybe go for a picnic.

I've already prepared the perfect Picnic Mix to go with our outing. If not, I'm still going to listen to it tomorrow, though probably in a dimly lit office starting at the screen. At least I know the music is going to be killer!

You can check it out on iTunes along with some other ILW playlists. Or you can sample some of it below.

Hope you all enjoyed your Wednesday and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and that you get to spend it with all the lovelies in your life.

(Also, you might notice a running theme with trees in the music mixes. I do so love trees. This one's my favourite in Centennial Park...and yes I have hugged it...it was oddly comforting).

Tuesday

2009-12-22T17:06:00.005+11:00

Oh, how I loathe thee, Tuesday. Really, I don't hate all Tuesdays, just this Tuesday. I feel rather like a headless chook. My website and email are down for the day, because the server they were on has died. Luckily there's backups and whatnot, but whilst the new server is being built and everything being restored, I am sans email.

So, if anyone is wondering why there's no love being returned, it really isn't that I've shaved my head and decided to join a cult. I still love you all, just have no way of seeing or responding to it all.

However, it also means that I got a day off, a day to play, and boy did I ever!

I sometimes think that we get into creative fields so that in a way we don't have to grow up. We get to play, take photos, draw pretty pictures (well, logo designs for companies, but they're pretty, and they are pictures). But still, it's an awesome job, if you can call it that, and today was definitely one of the reasons I love to do it.

I went around taking photos. This is one of them.

Definitely one of the perks of being a photographer. Loads of camera gear and the entire city to explore.

Rush for a change of atmosphere

2009-12-19T21:28:00.004+11:00

While listening to Big Audio Dynamite's song Rush I started thinking about all the things that have changed in the last year. I know, very strange song to start thinking about life to, but well, sometimes that's the way these things go. The last year has been a crazy, hectic and ultimately awesome year. I've spent it doing what I love, and I can honestly say that I can't imagine doing it any other way. Even with the sometimes sleepless nights because of deadlines, it's always worth it.

But, with the good comes the bad, and I have had quite a lot of loss in terms of family and friends that have passed away this year. To be honest, I don't think any of that hit me until very recently. When you take one hit after the next, you don't really realise what's happened until you get a moment to resurface, at least that's how I felt this week when I got to reflect on the year gone by. Saying that, I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of those people's lives and have them be a part of mine.

This is a photo of a rose from Nick's grandmother Marisa's funeral last year. We left it hanging upside down to dry. It reminds me of her every time I see it.

Where The Wild Things Are

2009-12-04T14:04:00.003+11:00

Nick & I went to see Where The Wild Things Are last night and I have to say that it was an absolutely amazing piece of film-making. I was a little worried at the start that it would be another of those movie adaptations that goes in the "why did they do it" pile, but I was pleasantly surprised. Though, I shouldn't have been worried with the very talented Dave Eggers handling the screenplay and the ever awesome Spike Jonze directing. If you have haven't heard of Spike Jonze, his movies Being John Malkovich & Adaptation should show you how brilliantly he can bring very weird concepts to life.

I'm absolutely in love with the cinematography, the story, the directing, everything, including the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack that perfectly accompanies the story by Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Absolutely stunningly haunting and melancholic.

The fantastic movie was topped off by our trip to Borders and checking out some magazines, this in itself, not that fantastic, however, as Nick was making his purchase I noticed a Where The Wild Things Are crown behind the counter. I said to the two guys behind the counter that it was awesome, and that I totally wanted to get one, the lovely guys actually gave it to me! I really felt like a kid in a candy store...a candy store in which everything is free and wonderful.

I did a little happy dance, to which Nick & the Borders guys can attest to, put on my crown and proceeded to drive home.

The End.

Inspirations Abound: Where The Wild Things Are

2009-12-01T10:38:00.008+11:00

So, I've been a tad obsessed with Where The Wild Things Are, and eagerly anticipating it's release in Australia this Thursday. It's a story that I think most of us grew up with and I'm ridiculously excited about seeing it. I'm actually thinking about getting tickets early for it, and perhaps treating Nick & I to gold class.

I've found myself also obsessing about all things Wild including the recent Where The Wild Things Are clothing collection by Opening Ceremony and their range of jewelery. I want it all!

I also came across this shoot styled by the incredibly inspiring Sasha Leibowitz for Karen magazine. It reminds me of playing dress ups as a kid and definitely has a Where The Wild Things Are feel to it.

Edward Gorey's gothic, macabre illustrations.

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, would be complete without a music tying everything together and my inspirations aren't any different. The video for When I Grow Up by Fever Ray and the music itself has an eerie quality that is absolutely mesmerising. Hope you enjoy

A Little Bit Of Silliness

2009-11-30T18:22:00.005+11:00

I was cleaning up my muck about CF card, which is a separate card I have that I take silly photos or personal projects on, and I only clean that one out every once in a while.

Today I came across these photos of Natalie Biller & I. We were having a meeting about our beauty shoot with Tereza Kysilkova some time in October (yes, it has actually been that long since I looked at this card), and I had my beauty dish set up from taking my self-portrait series for the ILW website.

Well, you can see for yourself what we got up to. These are my favourites and also rather silly.

Shooting Products

2009-11-26T14:18:00.002+11:00

I did a shoot quite some time ago for the lovely Giselle from My Chameleon. It's an online clothing store that just launched! I was really excited to see it all up and running and very glad that I could finally share some of the images.

The clothing is all impeccable. Giselle really has a flair for picking great pieces that are going to be big brands. When we shot, in September, she introduced me to a new range of t-shirts by the brand Kain. I hadn't really heard of them, but sure enough about two weeks later I saw some photos from the set of Sex & The City and Sarah Jessica Parker is wearing a Kain t-shirt.

The shoot was a tough slog and my back was none too pleased about holding a big camera at off angles for two days straight, but I think it was well worth it. The online store looks amazing, and with her knack for finding amazing brands, I'm sure both Giselle & My Chameleon will be a fashion force in the future. Looking back on that shoot though, tough slog still somehow managed to include Ice Cream sandwiches. They seem to be a theme with my studio shoots, I really hope it continues that way...I might write that into my contracts or something...

Check out the My Chameleon store, I'm sure you'll find lots of things to tickle your fancy.

I Love Wednesdays' Thursday Music Mix

2009-11-26T11:59:00.007+11:00

This post was supposed to be done yesterday and made into a Wednesday Music Mix to celebrate the awesomeness that is Wednesday, but alas work needed to be done and sent to all my lovely clients. So, we have the confusing title of the I Love Wednesdays' Thursday Music Mix.

For those of you that don't know me very well, I LOVE music and I mean LUUUUUURVE. If I had it my way, I'd have music playing pretty much 24/7. I've played the piano ever since I was 9, having just seen Amadeus and declaring that I wanted to be "like that kid."

Lofty ambitions aside, I loved to play, I love being part of the music, creating something beautiful that can be so incredibly moving. However, saying that, the whole practicing scales for hours thing was never really my thing. I wanted to experience the joy of music, not sit playing scales all day. But, one is part of the other, so I endured the scales to enjoy the music. I still play now, though not as much as I used to, and that's something that I do definitely regret.

Nick & I didn't have the space (or money to move/tune) for my piano when we moved into our apartment a couple of years ago and I can tell you that the pain of living without Alfred (my piano's name, because he looks like an Alfred, he just needs a bow-tie) was quite frankly, well I don't think I have the words to describe it, It's almost like you're missing a part of yourself. We finally moved Alfred around June and I'm very glad that he's with me. Even if I don't get time to play as much as I'd like, it's still nice to have him there.

This Thursday Music Mix is a compilation of songs that are leaning more towards the "alternative" music genre. Though anything gets thrown in there. They all remind me of specific events, moments or things that I have been a part of over the last 4 or 5 years.

I've made them into playlists on iTunes so you can check them out. I'd love to know what you all have been listening to lately.

An E-Session with James & Christine

2009-11-24T14:28:00.003+11:00

James & Christine both worked for Oz-Email back in the day (and by back in the day, I mean a few years ago, which in the world of technology really is back in the day). James had a thing for Christine, but she insisted that she didn't want to be involved in a relationship. He knew better, refused to take no for an answer and very slyly convinced Christine to go get drinks after work without her really realising that she'd just agreed to it. A few drinks and a work harbour cruise later and they were official dating.

It's now 5 years later and next November James & Christine will be tying the knot and I'll be there to capture all those moments. I really can't wait!

Love you both!

Attack of the Doppelganger....Or Attack on the Doppelganger...

2009-11-11T00:26:00.003+11:00

Have you ever thought that a stranger was in fact a person that you knew?

I don't know whether I'm phrasing that correctly or not, but yesterday I walked (read ran) up to a lady I thought was my friend Jo...now I should also say that I approached/ran at her from behind and rather excitedly uttered/yelled "Jo...Oh my god, what are you doing here? It's been forever, how was your trip? Did you have an awesome time? I want pictures, lots of pictures...though not all 13,000 you said you...."

It was at this point that she turned around to face me completely and stared with a look that can only be described as an intriguing mix of horror and pity at the crazy lady yelling at her and going in for a hug.

Now, there's nothing much I could do at this point than to try and stop my hug motion, which only went so far as becoming a very awkward half hug as I had really gone too far into my hugging motion to stop.

I looked at her, she realising my "situation" looked at me, I mouthed the words "I'm really sorry, I thought you were someone else," and scurried on to do my banking.

Oh, if only this were the first time that had happened...maybe I'll learn one day...I wonder if this happens to other people...

Sunday Night, A Great Drink and a Cool Breeze

2009-11-08T18:21:00.021+11:00

It's Sunday Night and I'm sitting on my balcony drinking an awesome concoction of Paraiso (a lychee liqueur), lemonade with lemon and lime juice. It is so incredibly tasty. I'm also wondering what happened to the week that was. It's been a very strange one. I've been designing a few wedding albums, retouching photos for the upcoming few issues of Freestyle Magazine and just trying to organise myself before the end of the year. I'm going to be upgrading my studio and equipment in the next few months and absolutely can't wait to have new toys to play with!

Though, I have to admit that I was looking forward to the weekend and getting some rest. Nick and I have been looking for a house to move to and it's a really tricky finding a place to suit you, in the area that you want to live and within your budget. I'm starting to think that it's almost impossible and I have to admit that both of us were feeling rather down after viewing the houses in the wee hours of the mid-morning, so we took ourselves out for breakfast to our favourite cafe, Urban Bites in Newtown for some absolutely scrumptious bacon and eggs and then over to the Rocks Markets to check out the stall of the lovely Miss PenelopeRED. I had to photograph Penny's stall and I decided to buy myself that very cute stripey top with the red bow. So incredibly cute! I suggest you go check out the lovel Penny's stand at next week's Rocks Market. She has some absolutely beautiful things and they're all hand-made.

Wanna Play Dress Up?

2009-10-25T15:09:00.024+11:00

So, I'm finally getting on top of everything after the holiday/food poisoning debacle that was the last couple of weeks and I have another shoot to share with you. This was a pet project of mine that I've wanted to shoot for about the last 6 months. The first time we were supposed to shoot, our lovely model, who is also a fabulous singer, Charmaine Bingwa was taken to hospital. We were all really worried and cancelled the shoot because we really wanted to do it with her.

When I got around to organising it again, it all fell apart with one week to go and I had to find a new stylist & make-up artist. I really lucked out when I found Elisa Chan, who came on board with less than a week to go and organised clothing & accessories and...literally EVERYTHING. She was easy to get along with and so talented that I was glad to have randomly come across her work. She got into contact with Rosalyn Win, a Sydney-based fashion designer, and Rosalyn was lovely enough to give us a selection of her dresses for the day. The make-up artist Corrine Grbevski who was so meticulously organised, talented and lovely to work with.

I really don't have enough words to describe how lovely these ladies were to work with and how lucky I have been to work with only lovely people. I really consider myself blessed.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Catching up on work

2009-10-18T11:34:00.006+11:00

Before Nick & I left for New Zealand I did two shoots that I'm only now getting a chance to edit. The first was "Wanna Play Dress Up?" with the lovely Charmaine Bingwa, which I'm still finishing off at the moment and the second is a beauty shoot with the absolutely stunning Tereza Kysilkova from Platform Models. The make-up artist was someone who I've worked with a number of times, the very talented Natalie Biller. I got Tereza addicted to Ice Cream Sandwiches during the shoot, which I have to say was a really quick, but fun shoot.

I have to say it is the only shot that I've ever done which has contained both Ice Cream Sandwiches and Flight of The Conchords...but it's definitely something that I hope to repeat.

Enjoy.

This one goes out too the one I love...

2009-10-16T09:53:00.005+11:00

While we were staying at the Crowne Plaza in Christchurch we had the most amazing light coming through the window in the afternoon.

On our last afternoon, Nick was sitting on the sofa chair in the corner of the room and the light filtering through was just so lovely that I needed to take a few photos of both the light and Nick. I have to say that I'm ridiculously lucky to have a partner who will sit there for hours posing for me in front of the camera because I think the light is beautiful.

This is the result of those photos. Hope you like them.

Holiday.....Celebrate

2009-10-14T16:42:00.058+11:00

Nick & I went for our first proper holiday together to New Zealand. We've both been working uber hard lately and we'd been saving a bit of cashola to take a holiday. It's my first holiday in about 4 years and Nick's first holiday since he started working, which is kind of insane, but we both love what we do, so it's not completely, totally and utterly insane.

We started off in Queenstown, where we stayed at the Novotel. We got an awesome 40% off on the standard room rate through one of those last minute reservation websites...annnnnnnnd when we arrived they told us we'd been upgraded to the premium room. WIN! The room was amazing and our room overlooked a little forest and stream. It was amazingly beautiful.

The smell reminded me so much of Belgrade and my childhood. The smell of winter, cold and burning wood. I don't know how to describe it, but it always reminds me so much of my childhood, and it always, always makes me happy. We had breakfast on our first day at Ferg Burger where the have the most hilariously awesome burger names and the biggest tastiest burgers both Nick & I have ever had.

To be honest, we didn't have anything much planned for our vacation, except to relax and unwind. We wanted to see as much as we could and I wanted to go Luge-ing at the top of the Gondola in Queenstown, which Nick didn't seem to be too excited about until we actually started going down hill. It's like uber-awesome go-carting.

We drove down to Te Anau & Milford Sound to see the Fiords. Our captain was hilarious and steered the ship/boat thing we were on with his feet whilst chilling with the crew. The drive down to the fiords was just as amazing as the fiords themselves. The scenery changed so incredibly much between Te Anau and the Milford Sound area, even though they are a mere 100km apart.

We stayed in Te Anau at the delightful Fiordland Hotel. I must admit that after staying at the gorgeous Novotel in Queenstown Nick & I were both a bit worried about staying at a small town hotel, but it was so clean and lovely that we really had nothing to worry about. The owners were really sweet and the whole check-in and check-out took maybe a minute, seriously!

From Te Anau we drove to Lake Wanaka where we stayed at the Oakridge Grand Mercure, which I think they need to be more specific when advertising. In my opinion, putting two single beds together to make a king size bed does not equal a king size bed. We also had one of the weirdest showers in which the shower curtain was hella short and didn't cover the entire showering area, so EVERYTHING in the bathroom got wet including the bathroom door which then got the carpet in the room wet. I also absolutely hate when people advertise something as being in Lake Wanaka (or in Canberra as our Canberra hotel did as well) and not actually being in that location. What's up with that?

One of my favourite things from the trip was The Cathedral Of The Blessed Sacrament. I really love the architecture of churches and this one, I have to say is one of my favourites. For some reason it reminds me of the 1950s/1960s and I almost expect an old-school Studebaker or something parked out the front.

The other was the Air Force Museum where Nick & I went on the Restoration Tour led by the absolutely remarkable and endlessly fascinating Ron Tait, who was a pilot in WWII and has been involved with the Royal New Zealand Air Force since 1940. It was awesome to see how much work goes on into rebuilding these amazing planes and the stories about how they flew and their history. Amazing day and an absolutely amazing trip.

I Love Wednesdays, but what else is new...

2009-10-14T09:24:00.002+11:00

So, I know I've been a bad blogger lately and haven't updated too much, but I've been uber busy working on new shoots and have just had my first vacation in about 4 years! It was absolutely, smashingly awesome and I promise, promise, promise that I'll have photos up in the next few days. However, I have to say that I am excessively excited at the redesign of the ILW website. It's design has changed quite a lot over the last year or so, but I think that all the changes have been leading me this final design and development.

I think sometimes designers get confused when designing things for themselves. I work really well when planning and designing things for other people, but for myself, it's a whole other story. It's sort of the whole thing about a builder never finishing his own house kind of thing.

The update was really influenced by a friend of mine, Erin, who saw my business cards and absolutely loved them, but didn't think that my website represented either the business cards or my personality. I've been thinking that same exact thing for a while, but haven't really had a chance to do anything about it, until the last couple of weeks when I just thought that I really need to take care of myself along with everyone else.

My business cards, which I do have to say, I absolutely love.

The new site.

Part of the redesign was creating photos to go with each section of the website. I did a mini self-portrait shoot to show both my personality and give a little more info about the sections of the site. Below are the final images from the shoot that Nick helped me choose (I find I'm rather critical of photos of myself, so it's easier to give it to someone else...hahaha)

Check out the site and let me know what you think.

I LOVE WEDNESDAYS WEBSITE

A Little Bit About Retouching

2009-09-21T20:06:00.008+10:00

I get asked quite a lot about how it is I do what I do. I've done a lot of retouching and I have ways of approaching each image. I always start with a light colour-balance and then if an image requires heavy re-shaping and liquifying, generally I'll move on to that and then do the skin. If there's not a lot of liquifying I'll just work on the skin first. But I thought it would just be easiest to show you the process with one of my retouched images. This photo is from the lovely Nina De Lianin. She had some images that she needed retouched and this was the one I was instantly drawn to. I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted to give it a vintage beauty feel.

You can hover over each step to see the difference between the current step and the previous one.

ORIGINAL IMAGE

The image above is definitely beautiful, but to me it was missing drama and refinement.

CLEANING UP THE SKIN

The first thing I did was to go through and clean up all the skin and just quickly remove the bit of hair over her ear on the left side of the image and the hair that's still on her face near the ear too. This might look a little rough at first, but for me, it's about getting the big bits right and then focusing on finishing details on all. At this point, I've also tried to smooth out the shadow of the earring behind the ear and fix up the lipstick line on the bottom lip. To do all of these steps I've used the healing brush and clone tool.

When using these tools it's important to remember to match up skin textures, so if you're cleaning up the image around the eye, use the skin that's near the area that you want to fix to heal it. If you're using the clone stamp tool and you're using it with a low opacity it will make your image look blurred and it is all about maintaining the texture of the skin.

FIXING THE LITTLE DETAILS

Now we get to fixing up the little details that we started to set up in the previous step. Cleaning up the lines under the eyes, removing the fly away hairs and the hair on and around the ear. Below I've included a detail shot of this step so you can see the amount of work that actually goes into creating the clean, smooth skin & details.

HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS AND SHAPING

Once you've cleaned up the skin in your image it's about creating great highlights and lowlights. In this instance, I've also noticed that the eyebrows needed to be shaped slightly along with the top lip (which I didn't really mind when I started editing the photo, but I wanted it to have a more defined line when I got to this point of the iamge). This can all be done, again with the clone and healing brush tools.

To create more dramatic highlights and lowlights you can do it multiple ways by either putting a layer with 50% grey on top of the image you are working on, setting it to "Soft Light" in the layer blend modes and using the brush tool with white(dodge) and black(burn) to create your highlights and lowlights. Another method is to use the dodge & burn tools for those same respective purposes.

Personally, I prefer to use a Soft Light layer as it's much more versatile and a non-destructive way of editing as you're not actually doing anything to your actual image.

ALMOST THERE

I have a variety of actions that I've either bought, been given or written myself that I sometimes apply to my photos to achieve a desired affect. In order to prepare for those actions, I sometimes have to change the levels of my photos to make them suit the actions more. In this instance, I knew that I wanted my photo to have a fairly high mid-tonal range, so I lightened both the highlights and midtones to suit the action I had made and tested for this photo.

THE FINAL PRODUCT

This is the final image with my vintage action applied to it. I think it suits the make-up and the style of the photography of the image. I loved the look of this image, but the hair that I'd cleaned up I thought made her head look a little too straight, so using the absolutely awesome Liquify tool, with the Push Left Tool selected, I rounded out her head shape. If you want to experiment with the liquify tool, start with your brush at a fairly large size, between 250 and 350, with your Brush Density & Brush Pressure set to between 1 and 4. You'll find that this actually alters the image quite a lot and it'll give you a lot of control with the way you shape your images.

At the end of the day it's all about creating a gorgeous overall image and retouching it to suit the model, the make-up and the photography.

If you are looking at playing with some actions, I quite like the Totally Rad Actions by Boutwell Studios as they are really easy to mix and match and it you are just starting out with actions you can check out the Get Totally Rad Recipes site for some ideas on how to mix and match the actions.

Hope you enjoyed and hope you have picked up a few things along the way. Let me know of any questions and I'm always more than happy to help fellow creatives.

At The End Of The Day, It's All About Love

2009-09-19T20:21:00.007+10:00

Working long days and even longer nights can lead to craziness and getting sick, both of which I've experienced in the last few days. My lovely boyfriend has been hassling me to at least take the weekend off (which I did, begrudgingly) in order to try and regain some sanity. Those couple days off have though, given me a chance to think about the things that I've done in the last almost year that I Love Wednesdays has been around and about what I want to be doing and I have to say that I do absolutely love what I do.

I've been lucky enough to have worked with some awesome people and work on projects that I'm really proud of. I've done things that, quite frankly I wouldn't have even thought I could possibly do or that I would never have the chance to do.

I'm very glad to Nick for making me take some time off, I get so caught up in what I'm doing sometimes that I tend to forget about everything outside of work. However, now I have an epically busy week to catch up on everything I had planned for the weekend. I have work that needs to go out, work that needs to be finished, stylists to find and a multitude of other things. Still, I think I needed a couple of days off to reflect on the last few months and even more so the last few years. I am definitely not the same photographer, designer or even person I was when I started out and I look forward to changing and experiencing even more in the years to come. I leave you all with a couple of photos from a shoot I did last week.

I Love Wednesdays around and about

2009-09-15T13:28:00.006+10:00

So,I Love Wednesdays has been lucky enough to be featured in quite a few places lately. As you know, I worked on the latest issue of Freestyle Magazine and a designer that I have photographed collections for PenelopeRED was featured in the current issue of the e-zine Viva La Moda in their Designer Spotlight section along with the Autumn/Winter shoot we did. It's always so rewarding to see your work appreciated and it's always awesome to see it in a magazine or e-zine.

I feel that Penelope and I have a little Mutual Admiration Society going on between us as I absolutely love her work and she's lovely to work with (which is also possibly the reason I'm always clamoring to do a photo shoot with her). You can check her out at her BLOG or WEBSITE. She recently had a little feature on me and I Love Wednesdays on her blog The World of Ms. Penelope Red and you can check it out HERE. I definitely agree with her sentiments that working in the creative industry we get to meet a lot of talented and creative people and I always look forward to working with Penelope. Her clothing is so wonderfully executed and creatively thought out that it's a pleasure to shoot and she always brings a great energy and enthusiasm onto the set and is great fun to work with.

Below is the front cover of Viva La Moda along with a couple of the interior pages we're featured in. To check it out, go to the Viva La Moda website.

Señor Iggsy

2009-09-12T17:56:00.020+10:00

I had some fun last weekend taking some photos of my friend Igor. We had some Indian food, watched some telly and took some photos. Unfortunately my flash decided that it didn't like me half way through our shoot, but that just left more time for the Indian food and re-watching of Tron for the hundredth time. Such a weird and wonderful movie, and so hideously, awesomely kitchy. Anywho, here are some photos of Iggs, hope you like 'em.

And so another week comes to a close

2009-09-11T20:04:00.008+10:00

I've been a busy bee this week and to be honest, I can't remember too much of it except for working lots. Yesterday I had a shoot for My Chameleon, a clothing website which is starting soon, it was all clothing items for the site and was an epic day. My entire body is now sore and I have a carpet burn on my elbow from when I was on the floor taking photos of the shoes and whatnot. I'll have some of those photos up on my website and here after the site goes live.

Also, I am a contributing photographer and retoucher in this month's Freestyle Magazine. I photographed the Jealous Ahura feature alongside a good mate and fellow photographer Ricardo Awadallah. It was a crazy last-minute day and we had traffic and torrential rain to contend with, but I think the photos turned out pretty sweet!

I was rather excited to see the final magazine and the images and I've scanned them for you to check out, along with the feature that is on the Freestyle Magazine Website

Nemanja's 3rd Birthday

2009-09-06T19:04:00.007+10:00

It was my gorgeous nephew's 3rd Birthday party yesterday and it was a blast. There were so many cute kiddies, none of which really wanted to share their toys. I took my camera and new lens to test it out and document the day. There were so many cute moments with little food stuffed faces, chasing blown bubbles and an impromptu soccer game with a Thomas The Tank goal post that the kiddies seemed more interested in riding than watching the soccer game being played by the older kids and the dads. I thought I'd share with you my favourite moment of the day between the birthday boy Nemanja and his best-friend and uber crush, Maria-Bella.

It was so cute to see these two little kiddies, Nemanja is 3 and Maribe (Maria-Bella) has just turned 2, and the way they treat their crushes. Anywho, this is the favourite moment I was talking about. Nemanja was holding the mini soccer ball that they were throwing to each other when he just threw it away, ran up to Maribe and gave her an uber-hug. It was the sweetest thing I've seen in a while and I feel very lucky to have had my camera with me. Hope you enjoy.

And my favourite photo

New Lens, New Lens, New Lens

2009-09-01T22:12:00.008+10:00

So, as you can probably tell from the title...I just got a new lens. I was convinced by Nick, after receiving my tax return from last year, to go buy it. I've been wanting to get a fast prime lens for some time, so convincing me was rather easy. I went with the Canon 85mm f1.8, which for the $575 price tag is a steal.

There are heaps of people who have already commented on the fact that I went with a non-L series lens, which for those of you who don't know is the "Luxury" or "Professional" series lens, but to be honest with you, I've seen lots and lots of comparisons between the two lenses and in my opinion the 85mm f1.8 is probably the best value for money of the Canon series lenses. The bokeh is amazing and the sharpness at 1.8 is crisp and beautiful...and with the $2200 price difference, it was an easy choice.

I have a shoot coming up on Saturday with my friend Igor and I can't wait to use it and experiment properly. At the moment I've only taken a couple of photos of Nick in our very dimly lit lounge room to test sharpness, which are below so you can check out the awesomeness of the lens, it is seriously fast. (please don't judge the photos, they were taken in haste...hahaha)

Enjoy!

On a side note, I totally love Nick's "serious" face in the first shot, priceless.

A Trip To...Sunny...Canberra

2009-08-31T10:03:00.024+10:00

This past weekend Nick & I went down to Canberra to visit my friend Mel on what was supposed to be a skiing trip. Unfortunately the skiing portion was canceled due to the massive wind and rain on the ski field, but we still had a great time with Mel and it was nice to get away for a mini vacation for the first time in...well...at least a year or two.

On the drive down I had to coerce Nick into taking some light photos of the road on our way down to Canberra, but once he took the first one and had a look at the result, he was hooked and got a little crazy with it. I used to love taking these photos when driving at night with my parents and it was awesome to see Nick enjoying it as much as I do.

Here are a few of them.

We surprisingly didn't take many photos of ourselves in front of touristy things, but did take a few of us getting ready to go out and in transit, including a crazy Nick!

There was a Nick Cave exhibition which was incredible, but we couldn't take any photos in there. You can find info on the exhibition >>>HERE<<< We also visited the Telstra tower and the National Mint, which Nick and I completely geeked out about. We'd seen the "How It's Made"episode on the Discovery Channel about how coins are made and were extremely excited to check it out. If you're going to go to the mint, go on a work day because weekends are kind of...dead. The orange mechanical arm that moves the drums however, was still awesome and did a little bow when it had finished it's routine. Again, the geeking out ensued. I don't have any photos from the mint, but we did mint some $1 coins ourselves...which oddly enough cost us $3 each....

Anywho, these are some of our photos from the Telstra tower including a panorama of the view of Canberra from the tower. Ridiculously high and ridiculous vertigo.

Enjoy.

Romance and Candlelight

2009-08-17T21:04:00.012+10:00

...well, not really romance, but there was definitely candlelight. My boyfriend & I live near Chatswood, and in the last year we've had quite a few power outages. On the last one, I decided to use our old baking tray to light some candles and once I got started, I didn't stop until the whole thing was filled with candles. It managed to light up almost the entire lounge room, and it looked incredible.

As always, my camera was by my side to capture the evening. Check out the photos below.

Party For Poverty

2009-08-11T10:55:00.005+10:00

Last week I was asked by a mate of mine, Chris, whether I wouldn't mind photographing an event that he'd organised, the Party For Poverty, to raise money for Oxfam. He had the venue, musical acts, everything organised, but no one to photograph it, and of course I was excited to be photograph the event.

The venue was the really awesome La Strada in Darlinghurst and was beautifully dimly lit...unfortunately that also mean that I couldn't photograph a lot of it without flashing the ever loving life out of people. My saviour was the videographer Koji, who had a video-light attached to his camera. I made sure to use his light as much as I could and try not to have too many Deer-In-Headlights looks.

It was an amazing night, Chris did an absolutely fantastic job organising it all and I'm hoping that whenever he needs a photographer, he knows he can call me! It was so much fun to photograph.

Below are some photos of the Sleepyheads, a fun, fantastic Sydney-based band that is filled with the loveliest people who absolutely love what they do.

Too much work and too much illness

2009-08-05T20:50:00.006+10:00

So, I've been kind of working A LOT lately and seem to have been nauseous for the last week and a half as well. Unfortunately that has meant my bloggering has come to a stand still. I'm still nauseous and still working lots and lots, but I've decided to celebrate the fact that it's Friday with a post.

The weekend is here and I've got photography assignments and meeting to go to over the weekend that I'm really excited about. Tonight I'm going to go photograph the Party For Poverty, which is being held to support Oxfam at La Strada in Potts Point and I can't wait for it. There will be music and fun and I'm really looking forward to photographing it.

So, to celebrate my Friday and the beginnings of my weekend I'm sharing some photos of a night shoot I did with my boyfriend Nick. Now, I say night shoot, but it was more of a night shot as it was freezing and we were ill prepared for the cold.

So here're the photos. Enjoy.

Sand Dunes and Good Food

2009-07-07T21:15:00.017+10:00

Today I had the pleasure of being taken for a trip down to Sutherland to check out a location for an upcoming shoot. I was joined and driven by my brother-in-law in-law, which isn't a typo, it is my boyfriend's brother's brother-in-law, DaveDave. We took a lovely drive down south where every single thing we were passing was pointed out to me including shopping centres, stadiums, awesome shops and everything else along the way, and it was actually a lot of fun. I usually drive myself everywhere and being driven and having things pointed out to me reminded me of when i was little and had my head permanently glued to the window of the car because I had to see EVERYTHING and mum, dad or my brother telling me about where we were going, what happened at destinations we were passing along the way and me staring at how beautiful Sydney was.

The walk to the location actually ended up being further that we thought and was very cold, very windy and got very wet towards the end. I also ended up with about half a kilo of sand in my shoe, but that was to be expected since my Chucks have a hole in them... I would replace them, but they're my favourite shoes and have molded to my feet ever so nicely. Lunch and yummy cakes were the icing on my day and defrosted us rather nicely, though I had one of those moment when I got up where you can't really stand up straight because you're so full. Awesome!

But, enough about that, here are some photos from today, along with a couple of my brother-in-law in-law.

Coco Avec Chanel

2009-06-30T17:15:00.003+10:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I've just been doing a whole bunch of retouching lately and haven't had much to report.

However, I bring you something to excite you, I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but am going to go on Thursday to see Coco Avec Chanel. At the very least I can't wait to see the amazing cinematography, the clothing and the ever gorgeous Audrey Tautou. Here's a trailer to get you in the mood and more from me to come soon.

Scouring The Interwebs

2009-06-24T19:29:00.014+10:00

Whilst my very cute BF is cooking me dinner, I'm scouring the internet, reading comics and uploading all my photos from yesterday. I've also recently registered for Us Trendy, you can check out my profile >>>HERE<<<

Before starting to write this, I realised that I'd spent almost a half hour on the Go Fug Yourself Blog, it is a veritable gold mine of terrible celebrity outfits, witty commentary and though I dare say they don't need my help spreading the word, if you haven't checked them out, do so NOW!

I've also always wanted to photograph this water fountain location, just because it's absolutely gorgeous. I'm planning on doing a few shoots in this area because of the variety of locations in the one spot. It's just incredibly beautiful. I work from home a lot when I'm not photographing, and to be honest, if I have lots of work, I can go an entire week without seeing daylight (evidenced even more by my pasty, pasty complexion). So, when I get a chance to go out and take photos, I am honestly struck by the beauty of Sydney. There is such a variety of environments, colours, styles, everything, that it simply amazes me.

Here are the photos. Let me know what you think.

And right across the pond, there is this wonderful view.

Driving Around

2009-06-24T12:34:00.003+10:00

I went driving around yesterday looking for locations to shoot and meeting with my lovely friend and incredible make-up artist Nat Biller, and as we were getting lost in Homebush we came across the location that I've wanted to find for quite some time. This is a preview photo from the location, with more to come as I get to upload everything.

Today is a day I'm pre-preemptively spending curled up on my couch under the doona working on the laptop and hoping that the flu I've had for the last few weeks doesn't come back. I've also just registered myself for the Us Trendy website, who's tagline is Today's Inspiration...Tomorrow's Trend. It's a pretty sweet website and has loads of designers, photographers, artists and other creatives on there. You can check my profile out at http://www.ustrendy.com/i-love-wednesdays/

And on that note, I'm going to leave you and go curl up some more. Hope your Wednesday is going better than mine, and hope mine picks up.

Location, location, location

2009-06-23T08:43:00.008+10:00

So I went around yesterday location scouting seeing as it was one of the only beautiful days we've had in Sydney over the last few weeks. It started off as a lovely afternoon out, but turned not so nice when I got lost and couldn't find the last location I wanted to find for the day. Methinks a trip this morning to the last location is in order to finish off my location scouting for this week. I LOVE both locations and can't wait to shoot them.

Behind The Scenes with ILW

2009-06-22T12:28:00.007+10:00

I've compiled some Behind The Scenes images from a few of my shoots and thought I'd share them all with you. Enjoy!

The model being all serious with me, and me, uber excited to have folded away my reflector. It always takes me about 10 minutes to get that thing put away.

Gettin' down low to get my shot, checking out the photos and Natalie Biller doing make-up for the PenelopeRED winter shoot.

Ray Fretwell adjusting Isabelle Doak's hair. He looks so serious in these photos, but he's such an awesomely goofy guy.

Natalie Biller and Ray Fretwell primping the model, Isabelle Doak. Again, they're looking very serious, though you should have seen them the minute before and right after. They were doing the "Sexy Model Growl." Depending on whether I can figure out whether they'll kill me or not, I might post them up soon.

Charmaine

2009-06-19T09:57:00.004+10:00

A couple of days ago, I went to check out the very talented Charmaine playing with her band at the Piano Room as the opening act to the Singer/Songwriter Showcase and Competition in which she was a finalist last year.

It was an awesome gig only hampered by the fact that I couldn't drink anything due to being the designated driver for the night and I've included a couple of photos from the night for you to check out.

Everyone should definitely check them out at Charmaine's website

Ready, Aim, Fire + The September Issue

2009-06-12T09:36:00.013+10:00

I have, as I'm sure you know, recently purchased new studio lighting and wanting to experiment with it, but without a model in sight I decided to use myself as a guinea pig. Because after all when there are no models around, you have to take aim at yourself.

After my day of experimentation and week of working from my home studio, I decided last night that it was time I get out and go see the premiere of The September Issue at the Sydney Film Festival. I looked online for tickets, sold out, I rang the box office to see what was happening and they just told me to try my luck, come early and keep my fingers crossed. I knew that the stylist extraordinaire Lenya Jones from The Fashion Loving Stylist would be one to join in for the ride, so I made sure to drag her along. We got the last two tickets for the film. Yay! The movie was absolutely amazing to watch. I have a new found fear of Anna Wintour and a new found admiration for Grace Coddington. I knew that this woman was a wonderful stylist. One of, if not, the best living stylist, but her passion for what she does is unmistakable. The way that she puts things together is just remarkable. I think that she makes 90% of her photo shoots and I'd venture a guess and say that no photographer that has worked with her has done a bad shoot.

It's really amazing the amount of power that Anna Wintour wields within the fashion industry. She can launch a designer, a style, a movement in an instant and cause designers to totally rethink their collections with one comment.

After the film, IMG held a cocktail party to which sadly Lenya and I didn't have tickets. We were leaving via the back, creepy alley exit when a lady stopped us, told us that we had killer outfits and gave us to free passes for the party. The party was rather beige, but I think that has more to do with the fact that the movie started almost an hour late, and most people probably had early starts. However, it was still an awesome night and an incredible movie.

Bright Lights, Bright City

2009-06-11T15:47:00.006+10:00

As you may have read my 26th Birthday was last week and I decided to buy myself something pretty for my birthday. Studio Lights. I've been wanting and needing to get studio lights for some time and since I had a little extra cash I bought set of Boling 600W studio lights and had my first beauty shoot. The make up was done by Nat Biller and the hair stylist was the incredibly talented, lovely and perpetual snacker (it was lovely to have another snacker in the hosue) Ray Fretwell from Intershape. Our model for the day was Isabelle Doak, who despite being freezing gave us some interesting looks and lots of variety.

I'm also preparing for a shoot at the Glebe location I blogged about recently which I'm really looking forward to, but don't want to give too much away for fear of it not happening. Anywho..hope you enjoy this shoot.

Locations and Working and Birthdays, Oh My!

2009-06-04T14:21:00.031+10:00

Recently, I've been working my little (not so little in real life, but for the purposes of this post, we'll stick to that) tush off for my old employers and helping them out while they try to find a new full-time employee and also planning my 26th birthday. While it has been mentioned to me that 26th Birthday's aren't as "important" as other ones, I say, who cares. Any time you can get your entire family together for lots of yummy food and drinks is fine by me, and if I can create an excuse for that event, even better! It was actually the first time that my BF's family and mine met for the first time, which actually went a lot better that either one of us could have imagined and I got to wear the new boots and dress I had just gotten, which made it even better. You can see photos from the night below, though I didn't get any full length shots due to my tipsiness. However, I do have to say thank you to my darling who drove over an hour out of the way with me so I could get the boots and I could look pretty for the night.

I've also been location scouting for upcoming shoots, and I have fallen in LOVE with this particular one in Glebe. It's the Rozelle Bus & Train Warehouse in Glebe and has AMAZING nooks and crannies to photograph along with absolutely incredible natural lighting. The way that light filters through the buses and the windows is beautiful. I'll post up some more photos from the location scouting when I have some more time. I really can't wait to shoot there!

A week and a bit of craziness

2009-05-02T08:16:00.028+10:00

It's been an insane week and a half, and I'm ridiculously disappointed that I haven't had a chance to post anything. Fashion Palette, which I attended on the 1st and 2nd of May was not quite what I had expected, but I had an amazing outfit, styled by the fantabulous Lenya Jones which I will be posting up soon (when I can find my missing memory card) and last Sunday I had an awesome shoot with the gorgeous Olga Bokalova modeling the Autumn/Winter range for PenelopeRED.

There are not enough good things that I can say about these two ladies. Penelope had emailed me photos of her clothing, and I thought I knew what to expect, but nothing could prepare me for the way they looked in real life and the impeccable taste and design this lady exudes. I think that I have come out of this shoot wanting even more of her clothing and have to figure out which outfits I want exactly so I can at least narrow it down a little bit. Penelope is certainly a rare type of designer. A lot of her outfits are one-offs made from vintage fabrics, so you can guarantee that you will never have to worry about someone having the same outfit as you. The make-up artist for the shoot was Nat Biller who I have had the pleasure of working with a few times now, and who did a fantastic job on the make-up despite being quite ill.

Now, enough about that. Here are the photos.

And So Our Wednesday Comes To A Close

2009-04-29T17:36:00.015+10:00

Wednesday has come and gone and been replaced by Thursday. Thursday is shaping up to be a not nearly as awesome day as Wednesday. There is pain, and a missed Etsy purchase, which I am none too pleased with. At least the first of the badness can be solved with pain killers, which have already been amply taken. The latter on the other hand I am still a bit gutted by. I saw this absolutely exquisite turquoise vintage dress on Etsy that I just KNEW I had to have, but by delaying the purchase by 20 minutes to browse the interwebs I missed buying it. Someone had stolen it from right under my nose. (Note to self: When you see AWESOME dress...BUY IT!!!)

Anywho... I've been meaning to share this shoot that I did a few weeks ago, again with the lovely make up artist Nat Biller. It was styled by the impeccable Lenya Jones, an up-and-coming stylist based in Sydney and modeled by Rachelle Hair and a friend who we roped in after our second model pulled out without notifying us. The shoot was done in possibly record time due to the delays with the models and I think we shot the 6 outfits we had in about 2 and a half hours, which includes wardrobe changes and make-up adjustments and EVERYTHING. I was actually really happy with the outcome and I can't wait to shoot Rachelle again. But enough of the details, here are the photos. Hope you enjoy.

I LOVE WEDNESDAYS

2009-04-29T09:15:00.024+10:00

Seeing as it is Wednesday, Hump Day, Margarita Wednesday, Pay Day Wednesday and whatever else Wednesday might mean for you, I decided to share with you the shoot promised from my first post. The shoot was my first model shoot as the principle photographer and was for PenelopeRED and Oren Nuri. The lovely Amy Lyn Cage modeling the clothes, Nat Biller doing the stunning make up and Leona Siano giving me a helpful hand assisting me. I can't say enough wonderful things about the girls I worked with. They are all amazingly talented and to top it off, are all lovely as well.

This post was going to be much, much longer, but in the spirit of the awesomeness of Wednesday, my new phone has just arrived from Optus! Uber yays! ...and... I want to set everything up on it and play with it. I can't wait! It's been painful having a phone that doesn't work properly over the last 4 months so I'm hoping that this phone actually works. So I'm off to play with my phone, I hope you like the photos.

The Beat My Heart Skipped

2009-04-28T15:18:00.013+10:00

In January of this year I was fortunate enough to have an epically musical month. One in which my boyfriend and I went to see a variety of bands. We witnessed the magic that are the Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket within days of each other and every time I hear either one of those bands it takes me back to those few weeks in January when it seemed like the world couldn't get any better. If I could I would travel around with either of those bands just listening to them perform all the time and photographing those escapades.

After witnessing the security at the Fleet Foxes gig, I was sure that I could get my trusty G10 in with me to My Morning Jacket. These are a few of the images captured on that absolutely astounding night when My Morning Jacket played for three hours at the Metro in Sydney to a crowd who was as in awe as I was at their absolute brilliance.

A Day Of Pimples, Dimples, Scabs and Scars

2009-04-28T09:59:00.013+10:00

Today was a day of retouching. I do quite a variety of work, and today was/is a day of retouching. I've still got some images to do, but desperately need a break from retouching pimples/dimples/scars/scabs/backgrounds etc. I have a photo that I've wanted to do for a while and I finally got around to finishing it. It's a 360 degree panoramic of Newtown in Sydney that I just wanted to do some minor adjustments on.

It's one of my favourite areas to shoot as it contains what has always been one of my favourite buildings, Trocadero Hall. For you that know the area it was the giant pink building at the beginning of King Street near the Uni. It's been refurbished and is now a completely characterless beige colour. However, the streets/alleys and abandoned buildings around Newtown make it still one of my favourite areas, despite the gentrification of one of the most amazing buildings in Sydney.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

2009-04-27T14:40:00.003+10:00

Whilst still being relegated to the couch with a terrible case of the flu, I decided that it was time to go through some of my slightly older work and I came across a series of photos of found objects and buildings that I'd taken whilst on a walk near my parents' house in Bondi a couple of years ago. I love walking down random streets and just seeing what's around.

It's really interesting what we see and what we don't see. I've walked those streets thousands of times, but these images always remind me that we don't often notice what's right in front of us and that even the most banal of objects like a discarded carton of milk can become interesting when photographed in an interesting way.

Hope you enjoy.

Hello World Hear The Song That We're Singing...

2009-04-25T16:43:00.002+10:00

C'mon get happyyyyyy!

At the moment I'm sitting in the comfort of my home, rugged up under a blanket, hoping that tissues will mysteriously appear somewhere around me. I also can't seem to get the theme of the Partridge Family out of my head, and tissues have in fact magically appeared.

I should really start this with a "Hello all, and welcome to my very first post. My name is Milena, though most people call me Len," but I've never been one for formal introductions. I'm actually fairly certain that there are a large number of my friends who don't know my first name. Anywho...I do lots of things and at the moment I am attempting to start my designing, photographing, retouching career. You'll be hearing from me a lot more in the future as I continue my foray into fashion.

Hope you are all enjoying your Saturday nights. I'm off to get ready for a fancy dress party and to attempt not to cough up a lung.

I leave you all with an image from one of my recent fashion shoots. There will be many more to come.