Grounded in Korea

Well it began with fun intentions, I heard there was an indoor driving range at the airport in Seoul so was pretty excited about hitting a few balls during my stopover here. But the weather had other plans and after circling the airport for 40 minutes on top of our 10 hour plus flight, we landed in snow all over the airport and minus 10c temps.
So I'm inside using the free wireless and drinking coffee for a few hours....meh, I've had worse.
I took these pics just now, one is from my seat on the flight and shows what it looks like on the ground here and the other one I just put my camera on the ground on the moving travelator for a 10 sec exposure and took a photo of my feet.
Gonna get some food and get out of here......Hawaii here I come.

2009, Its a Wrap

Merry Christmas everyone! It sounds cliché but man this year has gone by fast. On top of the catching up with family and friends, it’s made me think about where I am now compared to this time last year, and where I want to be this time next year.
Almost exactly to the day this time last year I made a decision to go for it and start trading as a professional photographer, up till then I had success within my own network doing fun little commercial gigs for friends, shooting my friends and family, pretty much the way everyone else starts out.
Looking back at the year now, I can attribute anything that I’ve accomplished in my first year to just a few basic principles:
· Hard work, lots of it. I live eat and sleep the projects I’m working on
· Passion for making great pictures and never being satisfied with where I am, I’m always looking to the next step forward.
· Good advice, no, GREAT advice from trusted sources and close friends with everything from business tips to encouragement. A big thank you to everyone who has been a part of this.
· A great relationship with my marketing rep in 2009 Luke Boman and his team

2010 is already shaping up to be a busy year, with some exciting projects coming up. As far as business direction one big change is that my business has shifted from marketing representation to in house marketing. To this end I’ve secured the services of web guru and marketing man Michael McMahon AKA Mike. Mike’s official title is Web Guru & Marketing Dude. He is gonna spearhead our online presence across social and formal networks and keep our work out there. There will also be a revamp to the website that will make it easier for current projects to be viewed as we roll them out, watch this space.

Personally, I also have a couple goals and resolutions for 2010, they are:
· Do everything perfectly ALL the time, hahaha just kidding, I know I’m gonna make a heap of mistakes.
Seriously this time:
· Creative work – on the top of my list is setting aside time for creative work, and this has been for a long time, what is gonna be different in 2010 is I’m setting aside a budget as well. A percentage of all gross revenue is going into a kitty for creative shoots, whether its used for paying the best talent, securing the craziest locations or hiring kick ass props, 2010 is gonna see me push the envelope creatively and back it up with the budget it deserves.
· Giving back – 2010 is gonna see a regular giveaway of images from my fine art collection. In between my commercial creating I take thousands of fine art images so as a way of saying thanks to everyone for the support I intend to get select ones out to you absolutely free.
Well I’ll leave it there; I’m off to Hawaii tomorrow so better get around to packing.

Cheers to a 2010 full of creativity in everything we do!

Shane and Cecilia

These are my friends Shane, Cecilia and Teal. They're off to Norway soon, we took some pics along the beach around where I live. Tech info: Canon 1Ds MkIII, 50mm 1.4, natural light

The Deep End - A Shoot for the Australian Dive Team

We new it was in the pipeline, the Australian Dive Team had wanted to get their star athletes photographed for a recruitment drive and we were gonna shoot it. My representitive Luke Boman had shown my book to the right people and everyone was excited. Great!
The problem was when. When were we gonna get the whole squad at one place from all over Australia? We got the call on Saturday while I was on a forklift shooting down from above in a hangar we had painted black to form a giant studio. "Can we do it Monday?" yelled Luke. I said no, then yes, then yes, then no. Not because it was too rushed, but because before he yelled out the date he told me that the whole squad was together because it was during a national competition. I hesitated because I wasn't sure if I was gonna be able to deliver what we said we would during a competition. I wasn't just gonna shoot from the sidelines, they could get anyone for that.
I knew there was gonna be one question that would tell me how much access I could have..."can I use flashes?" Luke relayed on the phone...the answer came back yes, huh, I thought, cool.
We turned up Monday morning, sure enough, everyone was there. I met with Mary Godden the CEO of Diving Australia and was briefed on the days format. My first question was "where CAN'T I go?" She said "you can do whatever you like, just dont stand in front of the judges"
We set up speedlights in one corner where we would line up the athletes, and during the events I roamed around. I chose to shoot from the diving platforms for the mens heat, and shoot the underwater shots for the womens. The shot of Matthew Mitcham was taken while we were both standing on the 8 meter platform, he stopped and asked if I could read the scoreboard. I couldn't, my eyes aren't too good. He dove off and scored 3 nines.
Everyone was very cool, relaxed, and we had a good time. Big props to Jarrod Casey who assisted during the shoot and to Mary Godden and her staff for having me.
Of course the biggest thanks goes to all the athletes: Ethan, Briony, Alexandra, Matthew, Melissa, Scott, Olivia, and Sharleen. It was great working with you guys.

You can view the rest of the days work and connect on Facebook here

Brief technical info for us nerds:

Equipment list: Canon 1DsMkIII, 17 – 40 F4L, 50 1.4, 20 2.8 and 70 – 200 2.8IS, 3 speedlights, shot all action at 1600 ISO, portraits at 100 ISO