International Stock and Commercial Photographer, in the Byron Bay, Lismore, Kingscliff and Ballina Areas
I’m about to abandon my family again for another photographic adventure. In the morning I am off to India for a couple of weeks to photograph the Holi colour festival among other things. Here’s how you can keep track of my adventures.
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Sending out good vibes and wishes to everyone sweltering across Australia this week in the hot, hot summer. Here’s a greeting and some ‘coolth’ from a photo shoot I did in London a few weeks back.
Just thought I’d drop in a quick note about the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). The AIPP was established in 1963 with the twin objectives of:
As the AIPP says “nearly 50 years after our inception, using an AIPP accredited photographer is still the best assurance you can get that your chosen photographer is a professional, skilled in the art of photography.
If you want to be sure you are using an AIPP accredited professional photographer…..look for the logo!”
I’m a professional photographer and I am also a time traveller.
The new iPhone is expected to be announced next week and I will most likely buy one. My current phone is over 3 years old now and so makes for an interesting look at my life. Looking back through the photos it chronicles a remarkable journey. Appropriately the very first photo I took with my iPhone was of an aeroplane.
Scrolling through the rest of the images is like travelling through time. My children grow from being 2 and 4 year olds into (mostly) lovely young girls, we buy a new house, move, go on road trips, Christmas and birthdays pass, babies are born, school starts, people get married, sailing trips, we go to the beach (many, many times), visit Europe and have fun. Lots of fun.
I’ve only just realised it. The images I capture on my ‘proper’ cameras are the story of my professional life. The images on my telephone tell the story of my private life.
Here’s one of my favourite images from my phone. Dad hamming it up with his 70th birthday cake.
Just thought I’d mention that I am an Accredited Member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). I’m also an Associate Member of the AIPP. What’s that mean? I’m glad you asked.
There are levels to membership of the AIPP and for the most part moving through the levels is based on continued demonstration of excellence in photography and continued commitment to learning the field of photography. These levels range from being a student member through to being a Grand Master. I’m currently an Associate Member and need a frustrating 3 measly points to achieve Master Photographer status.
As part of AIPP members commitment to achieving excellence there is a Continuing Professional Development program in place. As part of this there is a huge conference on right this very minute, but due to prior commitments I can’t go this year. But I’m in the studio watching it via a Livestream link.
As I travelled around Paris I constantly encountered enormous groups of tourists armed with the latest high end camera gear. Unfortunately for them, I can pretty much guarantee that their images are terrible and they would have been better off buying some postcards and sticking to taking photographs on their telephones.
In order to get photos better than that of the average tourists you need to do something the average tourist won’t do. You need to beat them to the punch and get up early. Really early. Really, really early. If you want great photos you’ll need to be ready to shoot before the sun comes up. Sunrise in Paris tomorrow is at 5.53am.
You’ll get great light and you’ll get the rarest of things in Paris. No crowds.
And you will be done with plenty of time to put the camera down and enjoy the sights. You’ll be first in line for the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Musee Dorsay, everything. The queues for the usual sights don’t normally start building until 8am (but by 8.10am they are already enormous) and opening times tend to be 9am or 9.30am.
Here’s an image I made of Notre Dame Cathedral with only a few cleaners around. Bliss.
Completely off topic from anything I normally post about, but here’s my daughter’s school marching for ANZAC Day in Lismore. The parade was huge and the crowds enormous. Great to see the community spirit and support.
Every year the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) publishes a book showcasing all the award winning photographs from the previous year. It’s sent to all members and was delayed a bit this year. I’m stoked the book has just arrived. So proud to have my work featured alongside some of the best photography in the world. I’ve also just realised I now have 10 of these books. That means I have been mixing it with the best photographers in the world for over a decade.
My work as a photographer is therefore nicely standing the test of time and continuing to evolve. Looking back in old books it is amazing to see to the continued development of photography and photographic skills. The raising of the bar of excellence is so profound that imagery produced only a few years ago would fail to win an award today.
I’ve had some dramas over the past few weeks; good dramas. I’ve just redone my website. Some blog pictures and posts got messed up so some old links may not work, but it’s back and looking classy.
I liked the old website and blog, but it had a major problem – Microsoft changed some things and it didn’t work properly with new versions of Internet Explorer – and therefore had to be changed. All should be good now.
Here’s a quick photo from a recent beach wedding at Wategoes in Byron Bay.
It’s an issue that pretty much every bride fears and every wedding photographer faces. If not managed properly the fear results in a simple statement to the photographer on the wedding day, “Can you Photoshop out my back fat?”. The problem is that’s the wrong question. The bride should have asked the question months before, “How do I get rid of my back fat?”. The irony is, it’s pretty easy and I’m here to give you some tips.
1. When to start.
Easy answer, immediately. Ideally you’ll be starting at least 3 months before the wedding. Longer is better. Don’t worry about your dress, you can get it altered.
2. I hate running, gyms, sport, whatever. Find exercise you like.
If you hate running, then cool, don’t run. But you’re going to have to find some kind of exercise you do like. Try a bunch of stuff (swimming, walking, cross fit, bootcamp, kayaking) and keep going until you find something you like. Aerobic exercise isn’t really going to help you slim down that much. It will make you fell better though, you’ll be toned and tightened. Life in general will get easier.
3. Why exercise alone won’t cut fat
There are lots of people out there who are ‘skinny fat’, that is they are thin but unfit. There are also other people who are overweight but super fit. The difference is the thin / unfit person is probably eating a good diet, but not exercising. The overweight yet fit person is likely to be eating poorly while doing a lot of exercise. The problem is, both are unhealthy. A good diet and exercise are both required to be healthy. The surprising part if the exercise / food equation is the amount of exercise required to burn off a given amount of food. Everyone knows apples are good for you, but you’re going to have to run for over a kilometre to burn it off. Without changing your diet, you’ll need to do excessive amounts of exercise to burn off the food you eat.
4. Fat Doesn’t Make You Fat, Carbs Make You Fat
Fat is essential for your body to function and fat in your diet is not the culprit for making you gain weight. The predominant cause of weight gain are carbohydrates. Carbs can be complex or simple. The simple carbs are pretty much just various forms of sugar. They cause an insulin response and that leads to the body storing the sugar in fat cells. Carbs make you fat. These bad carbs are found in soft drinks, fruit, bread, pasta, potatoes, sauces, cereal, cakes, etc. Eliminate carbs from your diet and you’ll strip kilos off in no time. No calorie counting, no points, no shakes, no hassles. Just stop eating carbs. And drink water. Lots of it. About 30mls per kilo of body weight. That’s 2250mls per day for a 75kg woman.
5. Lift Weights, Heavy Ones
Girls are scared of lifting weights but they shouldn’t be. Big, bulky muscles are hard to grow. You will grow some muscle though – firm, fat burning muscle. You might even get yourself a set of Sarah Connor arms (see pic)
That’s it. Give yourself plenty of time. Get rid of carbs from your diet. Find exercise you like. Lift weights. Drink lots of water. Done, no back fat.
Want to know more? Check out Mark’s Daily Apple for food ideas, Nerd Fitness for exercise and if you’re looking to get really ripped, follow the Miss Nutrition blog.
To finish, here’s a fun pic from Natalie and Jonathan’s wedding at Kingscliff. They’re both runners and wanted to have a bit of fun with their running shoes on the wedding day.