The Game Chess Squiggle

Ferguson_B_Portrait_1_Finalist

Ferguson_B_Portrait_1_Finalist

You can listen the podcast via this link here 
 

Snap Shots Podcast Recording

For the 2018 competition, I planned the shoot from the beginning and brought in collaborator Meagan O'Keefe who is a gifted dressmaker to deliver extra detail to the project. I was notified last week that I have been awarded the Photographer of the Year in the People and Portrait section!!!! The magazine should be out in newsagents from now on so grab a copy and take a look. Even more exciting for me is my image being on the front cover of the magazine. A huge honour given the rest of the images in the other sections. I am feeling pretty chuffed to say the least!

The concept for this series “The School” was inspired by my family history. The building these images are set in is the school that my Grandmother attended in the 1920’s in North West Victoria. Now abandoned and derelict, the building has so much personal history for me that I wanted to include it in my photographic work. 

The colours and textures in the building are so unique and interesting providing a great visual backdrop for this series.  The various architectural aspects of the building such as the door frames, windows and floorboards all provided me with the ability to focus the viewer’s attention on the subject.  The challenge in producing this series was finding different locations within the small building that would offer visually unique images which would come together to form a cohesive group.  Ultimately this series is one that took many hours of planning and execution but one that I am immensely proud of.

So now I can check off two long time goals - front cover plus photographer of the year all in on hit. And now for a new challenge...

The School The School The School The School The School

Solitude

Recently I have been considering my direction photographically.  Bear with me here – it shouldn’t be as bad as you think.

Most of my current studio work comes about because of a lead from a model wishing to work with me.  Now sometimes I have had the idea first and direct the entire shoot but mostly it tends to be driven by the model (or stylist, or MUA and hair stylist) coming with an idea and then I assess it to see if it will add benefit to my portfolio.  But what does this mean for my own learning.  Well often it makes me consider how I am going to shoot and in addition, how I will ultimately edit the images.  Sometimes this is enough and I am definitely learning organically through this process – but is it enough?  This is the question I am now asking and thinking about where I go next.  More and more, I am thinking about specifically targeting projects rather than seeing what comes up.  The problem with this type of projects is that it requires more work for me up front.  More planning, more preparation and more production.  I’ve spent time building a capability with my photography and editing so I think it is almost time to test that investment.  “Turn your head into the direction you intend to travel.”
 

Arielle

This was a fun shoot and made both the capture and editing processes interesting for me.  This set was recently published in Solis Magazine (https://solismagazine.com/fashion-editorial-doll-face/)Link here

The_kick Trust Dollhouse _BFP7602 _BFP7830_parts

EngagingFun engagement shoot with Liana and Daniel SutffyLiana and Daniel engagement shoot pic ProfessionalsLiana and Daniel Engagement Shoot pic

The Florist

Cocoa Widow_Bridge

Yard sunrise BFerguson_Wellingtons BFerguson_Sunrise_Gates BFerguson_Shearing_Shed

You can see the list here

It is nice but it drives me harder - I have since produced some better images so onwards and upwards!

This month I have the following:

- the final of my inked series with the talented @viennerose which should be a fun shoot

- next week I am shooting once more with @memphisblack11 with a white-on-white theme

- a shoot with @torififoot based on B&W portraiture 

-another shoot with @laurenjohansenbell

- a shoot with an athletic theme and lots of post production

- a shoot with a musician

- perhaps a very special creative project with a MUA that I used on another shoot

OK I can't count- that's seven......  Lets see if they all happen but if they do, I'm going to be busy!

Like this capture of Arvin who has a series of Star Wars lego figurines.  I will now concentrate on making sure that I have some strong captures for this part of the image set.

Arvin_plus_one

Next I have an interest in bringing back some backgrounds but only just a hint of them.  Something in between where I started and this new series of works.  I want the viewer to hold and consider all that's in the frame and to search the frame for more of the story.  I would also like to start incorporating more hidden tags within the image (something that you might miss first time around) to help ask more questions of the viewer.  

The genius of Regina's work is the reproducibility of her work coupled with great post production skills to get a consistent "look". She also has an amazing talent for using props within the image to tell a story (sometimes quite ridiculous but often humorous).  Her prop library is extensive and she has many different items (wigs, tens of pairs of scissors, food, stuffed birds and the list goes on).

The other strong element in her pictures is the table which was intriguing to me as something so simple and yet provides a stage for the photograph.  Additionally, I suspect, it offers a barrier for the model to feel more comfortable behind - something between the camera and the subject.  The one thing about the table that I never felt comfortable with was the direction of the slats of the table. They are perpendicular to the shot rather than in line with the camera direction (maybe I am a little pedantic?).  When I built my first table for the table series, I was certain that I wanted the lines of the timber to lead to the subject - and I think this works well.  For me in the beginning, the table was the stage but the background was the hero (along with the subject) to set the scene and entertain the viewer.  With my latest experimentation, I decided to forego the background and work on making the image stand alone with the table as the centre of interest with the subject.  I have dabbled with lighting the background and more recently making it completely dark.  One of the realisations that I have made is that the lighting looks 'better' to me when it's more targeted with long moody shadows and expressions from the subject to match.

In parallel, I was amazed by the work of Bill Gekas (see here).  Bill employed both the look of the old masters dutch painters like Vermeer through replica vintage clothing, beautiful lighting and careful attention to detail in his backgrounds.  Typically achieved in camera, his work is quite extraordinary.  He also used his young daughter as the subject in many of the images but put them in scenes that might be normally meant for an older person.  A clever and interesting representation.  Given that I had three (sometimes willing) children, I was ready to begin.

One of the other important elements in making these images look their best is the costumes.  Making the clothing look the part is really one of the most important elements in my opinion.  This is often where I have been slowed down in this process as accessing these items is not simple and I am no seamstress.  I have been fortunate that my maternal grandmother has not thrown anything out (including my mothers childhood clothing) and as a result, we have been able to utilise some of this wardrobe recently to great effect.  I have also engaged my wife to produce several items where specific items were required.

In summary, my series has elements of both Bill and Regina's projects but I can happily say that I have put my own stamp on both and now I am continuing to evolve the theme to see where it leads and to learn more in the process 

The Daydream

 My development of her concept involved using composite techniques to add a background in to assist in the story telling.  The Apple Peeler was the first in that aim of using the background to set the scene and give the viewer a very good context of the image.  This however is both difficult technically and very time consuming.  Plus if you get it wrong in Photoshop, it is possible to destroy the image completely.

As a part of an online photography and social media course, I decided to revisit this project concept and to see if there are elements of it that I could take further and to test my ability to capture a strong image without a background to "lift" the image.  The advantage is that it is theoretically less taxing in PS but it also requires a strong composition and capture to make it work.  This means that at the time of capture, my imagination must be working overtime.

One image captured as a part of this project is from a series that I am developing called "in the library".  This dress was sourced from within my family and is thought to be around 85 years old.  It does require you to be a little delicate with it....  The table doesn't feature strongly here but just a hint at the edge of the frame grounds the portrait I think.

The Book

Ballarat Nationals

Camcait_selects-5759

I had the great pleasure in being the photographer for Cam and Caitlin on the 29th November.  These two people are so good together and one of the happiest couples I know.  The working chemistry between them is immediately obvious and their combined energy is a huge.  

They had some of the best weather for the day in the beautiful Point Nepean National Park set at the Commanding Officers residence.  With views from the top of the hill back towards Portsea beach and the rest of the bay the backdrop was amazing.  Photographically dappled light and strong contrasting light made my job a little more difficult however.  The brief from the couple was quite simply to capture the day although we had a few extra "hero shots" that I wanted to capture and Cam and Cait were only too happy to oblige.

Swirls

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