Personal Journey and Adventures of Nina

One of my favourite portraits to shoot are Teen Portraits. They are happy to break the rules a little and do something a little less conventional, in this case a little more fashion orientated. We were lucky enough to have the fabulous Mijung Park for Makeup and Hair today. We have worked together quite a bit but usually business makeup so this was fun for us. We started with a natural look as in the picture above before moving to a more dramatic look. For this first image, I used a three light setup. Alien Bee 1600 on the lowest setting with a 30 degree grid for the background which is my 50% painted gray wall. A Beauty Dish to the model's left, almost beside her and pointed down at a about a 30 degree angle. Laying vertically about waist height was a silver reflector to bounce some of the light back up and rid us of some of the shadows. Camera Settings Canon 1D X 85mm lens 1/160th @ f5.6     Four small changes make a b

Definitely Looking Comfortable!! Little kids are always most comfortable in their own surroundings which is why I enjoy shoots at the clients home. It helped that this gorgeous garden had lots of beautiful chairs, trees and plants to use. I began my photography life as a black and white film shooter (TMX100 girl) so my heart still goes toward the black and whites. The lack of colour allows the image to be less distracting and the focus on the subject. It also provokes a mood that the colour does not. They also work well in any situation so easy to print and place around the home or office because they do not impose their colour identity on to a room. I still like the colour. It is just a different feel. The other great thing about shooting little ones is that I get to be a kid again. I get to be playful and have a fun time hanging out. Love it! Cracks me up!!

Held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre , thunderstorms had been predicted but luckily missed us so we ended up having lovely weather after all. Actually, it got quite warm and had I had a break, I might have jumped in to cool off a bit! 11-12yrs waiting to start Ready, Set, Go..... Start of the Mens 13-15yrs 5km A little hectic at the start but it soon sorts itself out. The strong and experienced open water swimmers pull out ahead right from the beginning and mostly maintain this pace throughout. Some get clear of the pack and find their pace by themselves whilst others stay in a group. One happy swimmer spots her family! What really surprised me was how closely the top swimmers stayed together after such a long race. It really was a fight to the end!  Jarrod Poort and Kane Radford go stroke for stroke for 5km Jared Poort touches first followed closely by Kane Radford Boats patrol the lake and watch fo

Bobby Hurley A pretty fast meet as there aren't age group qualifying times on the 50m races, only Open times. This means I am not as busy because the majority of the families wanting action shots of their swimmers are of the younger age group! I had a little more time to watch a number of amazing swimmers here chasing PB's or National times when I would normally be running frantically around the pool. Here are some of them... Jayden Hadler, SOPAC-200m Butterfly Jordan White, Cranbrook - 200m Butterfly Marieke D'Cruz, SOPAC-50m Freestyle Ami Matsuo, Carlile-200IM It isn't very often that the 1500m comes down to a sprint but it did today! This was the absolute highlight for me. What a race. After 15 + minutes stroke for stroke, the last 50m came down to a sprint. To top this off, a Trifecta for Auburn Swim Club when young Nathan Robinson took third! Lachlan Hansen and Matthew Robinson Auburn-Stroke for Stroke in the 1500m Free On