winter

dan and i got home from london, greeted with a warm winter in australia. we jumped straight back into life. i shot a wedding a few days after getting back home, and it has all been as busy as ever since. winter was a time of staying up late and waking up early. here are a collection of pictures of the things i got up to.

my friends and i stayed in a little country house in the middle of nowhere.

making fires to stay warm.

trying to pat the cows.

the fire keeper.

our little fire turned big and warm.

staying up to see the thousands of stars blanketing the sky.

waking up before dawn.

a kangaroo in our backyard.

exploring with nat.

the night in the river.

last breakfast on the sunny porch before going home.

dan and i went driving when the night was covered in thick fog.

behind the scenes of our

rain-clouds on the cliffedge

editorial. this is lisa doing megan's makeup.

dan filming megan

.

walking back over the huge hills at the end of our shoot.

jessie mcnaught hosted an amazing fashion event where our

atomic neon

photos were on display everywhere.

madeline opening the fashion show.

the talented bridgette may live drawing an image of mine during the night.

afterwards, we all went to hang out in this lovely outdoor bar for the rest of the night.

my job takes me to beautiful places.

we went to watch some live music.

behind the scenes of our 

bad santa editorial

.

chereine working her makeup magic on madeline.

my glitter-covered lens after shooting (i'm still finding glitter on the camera weeks later!)

location scouting with dan.

the clouds in the dirt.

i received a lovely surprise in the mail from kiara rose; she made some prints of a shoot we had together!

spending some days sick in bed.

more location scouting with dan on cold afternoons.

one of the things i am most excited about that happened in the winter-time, is that dan and i released a brand new website - Swoon Weddings - where we film & photograph people in love. you can see a whole new set of pictures & short films on our website here:

www.swoonweddings.com.au

and it would mean the world to me if you could go through and like our slowly growing

facebook page

too!

poland

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

we were still in london while waiting for a bus in the city. i had butterflies in my stomach telling dan i was so excited and nervous at the same time to go to poland. i didn't know what to expect. we got on the bus and traveled through the country-side of england until we reached standsted airport. we took off in the plane while i filmed outside the window and as quickly as we got to paris, we landed in poland. 

dan's family were waiting for us at the airport, and as we walked out of customs, we all hugged hello even though we've never met before and i couldn't understand polish - my butterflies instantly disappeared with how warmly they introduced themselves. as soon as we walked outside the cold air stung my skin and painted my arms with goosebumps. i was too distracted by the first thing i noticed which was the sun in the distance about to set, differently to how i've ever seen it shine before to care about the cold though. we hopped in the car and were taken to their home in the country where we had dinner, looked at photos and fell asleep.

we were in poland for three days, and i couldn't thank dan's family enough for making it the most memorable three days ever. they took us somewhere new every day, explaining to dan the history of the places we were visiting and dan translating for me. i learnt a few polish words and his family were very patient with me when i was trying to talk, i could say hello, good, thank you, beer, cold, water, yes and no. we made do with those little words i knew, and somehow language was hardly a barrier while i was there. 

dan and i are longing to go to poland again soon, it would be so lovely to be able to spend a longer amount of time with his wonderful family exploring, hanging out and taking pictures. im so happy we got to do this though, coming to poland was definitely a highlight of our trip.

i was obsessed with the beautiful forests we constantly passed while driving.

the city was filled with blossoming trees.

on the first day we were there, they took us to walk through the city of gdansk.

there were lots of people dressed up so they could busk on the streets.

gdansk is beautiful, i love all the buildings and how they're all decorated with different colours.

the oldest church in the city. we were about to walk to the very top.

halfway through walking to the top of the curch.

we then went to an old army barracks were you could also see the entire city from.

driving back home.

some photos from dan's uncle's backyard.

we went for a walk around the empty lots close to dan's family's home.

it felt like the sunsets in poland last forever.

dan and his cousin, karol.

that night we had a big bbq where i put away my camera and just enjoyed the company.

we woke up on the second day, and they wanted to take us to a real european forest which was just a short walk away from their home.

dan and his cousins.

beautiful backyards.

half and half.

i have always wanted to see a pile of logs in a forest!

walking back home. the air out here was so fresh, it made dan and i sleepy.

when we got back from the forest, we got in the car again and drove 20 minutes to the next city.

walking through the city of sopot.

the baltic sea.

here we walked to very end of the longest pier off the baltic sea.

the last minutes of light at the baltic sea.

sun setting in the next city; gdynia.

driving back home at the end of a long day.

this was the morning of our last day in poland.

we drove into the country to see an upside down house, i still couldn't get enough of the scenery.

and the forests..

i would love to live in one of these houses!

on our way back from the upside down house, we made a stop at a gorgeous lake. a natural lake like this is something else i have always wanted to see.

dan & i.

we stopped at a lookout to see the lake and trees from up high.

that afternoon we went back to dan's uncle's house and more of dan's family came over to say hello and goodbye. we all sat around and talked (dan translating for me!) and drank coffee. before we knew it we were hugging and waving goodbye at the airport before jumping on a long flight back home. we'll definitely be back soon.

last but not least, dan and i were filming throughout our entire adventure overseas, and dan put a little video together from the hundreds of clips of silly faces, beautiful landscapes and busy streets. our memories from london, paris and poland: 

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

paris

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

we woke up one morning before the sun rose and made our way in the freezing cold to the train station in london. we bought two coffees and two amazing blueberry danishes and waited to board our train to the city of love. still sleepy-eyed but filled with excitement we crossed beautiful oceans of land on the eurostar, saw countless fields of flowers and little houses sitting quaintly in the middle of nowhere.

we arrived in paris just a few hours later - i love how you can just hop on a train in europe and a few hours later you are in a completely different city. we had one day to see everything we could. it was beautiful and sunny and my camera clicked endlessly at everything i saw. 

ears popping as we ride above ground and under the sea on the eurostar.

taking photos of all the beautiful buildings with balconies covered in flowers.

the streets were still quiet in the morning.

scaffolding.

so many people in red coats!

an ordinary starbucks decorated in a fancy building.

making our way past the louvre.

so many people on the streets had bicycles. 

painters painting.

we took a cruise down the seine river.

we watched and people waved at us as i was taking pictures of them. we almost saw a girl fall into the river as she started sliding down the stone ramp.

green trees, green boats, green water.

 i finally got to see the carousel i have wanted to see since i was sixteen years old.

saying i was a little excited to see the carousel is a bit of an understatement!

we spent the rest of the day walking around the city.

dan taking pictures of people selling key chains on the street.

map reading.

one last look at the eiffel tower.

a big messy round-a-bout and a pack of cyclists.

the gorgeous gardens close to the louvre. 

taking a little break after walking around all day.

exploring the outside of the louvre.

taking pictures of strangers on the way back to the train station.

balcony conversations.

the last picture i took before falling asleep on the train ride home with my camera still sitting soundly around my neck.

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

london part ii - kew gardens

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

the days of rain we had in london were few and far between. today was a little different. we woke up to a cloudy windowsill, the air was cold and sharp down my throat as we walked towards the bus stop. the streets were busier than ever today as we decided to explore kew gardens. we jumped on a double decker bus and rode far away, out into the suburbs. the houses in kew were big and beautiful. they were decorated with manicured gardens, all pretty and perfect.

for as long as i can remember i have always wanted to visit kew gardens. it has been my dream to see their giant greenhouse in real life and take some pictures of it. we don't have anything that looks like this in australia, and just as i imagined the whole day was dream-like and beautiful. it rained but we didn't care, the sun still came out on occasion to warm our frozen skin. here is our day in pictures.

busy baker street.

we thought the bus wouldn't fit in the tunnel.

arriving at kew gardens, it felt like a dream.

inside the greenhouse. it was hot like an australian summer inside and the glass of my lens fogged up.

the pretty plants inside the second greenhouse.

we kept tripping over while trying to take a picture.

dan distracted by a squirrel running around in the trees. it's the first time we've ever seen a real squirrel! 

basking in the warm sunshine.

dan made a friend.

juice breaks as clouds started to roll over and cover every inch of the sky.

exploring the last greenhouse (while taking shelter away from the rain) that had 7 different environments. every room you walked into felt like you were walking into a different country in a different season of the year.

the rain finally stopped while we were inside the last greenhouse and i was finally able to get some pictures with the pink cherry blossoms.

swans are my favourite.

the sun came out again, the most beautiful way to end a perfect day.

 i can't wait to visit you again kew gardens!

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

london part i

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

flying over l.a.

i know you have all been patiently waiting to hear about my adventures overseas and today i've finally finished putting everything together. there is so much to say and so much to show and i didn't want to miss out on a single second. i decided to split the blog posts into five different posts which will be published over the next few weeks! so on with the story..

a few weeks ago i was flown to london to shoot a campaign (which i will reveal everything about soon) and our stay there was amazing. dan and i were in london for two weeks and after a day there it already felt like home. we woke up early, some days even before the sun rose, and walked around the city until we felt like collapsing. my camera was home around my neck from the moment i was out the door and i hardly ever put it down for a second.

the flight over was long but i was filled with excitement and butterflies as the big aeroplanes took off leaving tiny cities behind and landed in different countries, slowly getting closer and closer to london. when we arrived dan and i were eager to explore the city and took a walk around. the first day we were there was the only day we were lost, but i didn't mind one bit walking down streets i didn't know and not knowing where to go next. 

the days afterwards were a beautiful mess. we spent every second in between model castings, location scouting and meetings getting to know london and taking pictures of everything we saw. the city was blooming and there were busy people everywhere. we rode in taxis forcing our eyes shut whenever they u-turned on a busy street or squeezed in between too-tight places with cars, buses or people on either side of the taxi, we walked down long flights of stairs to watch live music in venues underground, we flicked through boxes and boxes of records in soho and had dinner at different pubs every night. 

london won over my heart and i hope to be back there again soon, and again soon after that. i could spend forever wandering the streets and living the way we did for two weeks. 

 lost on the streets on our first day in london and dan trying to figure out which way to go.

 the end of baker street, close to where we were staying.

the entire city was blooming.

 coffees in pretty cafe's before location scouting.

one of the streets of a location we were shooting at.

the cat of the house we were shooting the campaign.

more gorgeous locations scouted in the suburbs, filled to the brim with hand-made love and kick-knacks.

the pretty balcony of our hotel room overlooking the streets. the sun would shine on us early in the morning while we were drinking coffee. 

back in the city, walking around after a model casting in knightsbridge.

spending the afternoon in museums.

 getting excited for my picture with the dinosaur.

 dinosaurs are the best.

a band busking on the streets.

in a live butterfly museum, where i never knew i was scared of butterflies.

 souvenirs. 

 busy oxford street.

walking around the streets of soho.

 catching the tube.

spring-time shoots in the sun. i was lucky to meet ailera stone who was lovely and put together this little shoot for us! i'll be blogging all the photos from this day soon..

the evening before we left for paris, dan and i decided to go to london eye & see the big ben.

the view of the city from the top of the london eye.

big ben.

dan and i spent our last day in london sitting in hyde park under the shade of the trees.

london part i  //  london part ii  //  campaign  //  paris  //  poland

how i started taking pictures

this is something i have wanted to share with you all for a very long time. in fact, it's been a long time since i first picked up a camera and things were much different back then to where they are now. this post has been sitting in my drafts for weeks and today, right now, i feel like is the right time to press publish... this is a blog post without any photos (maybe even for the first time ever), just words. about how i started taking pictures.

for as long as i can remember i have always been artistic or creative in some way. i was a quiet girl with long, untamed hair and bruised legs from rollerskating falls. i was quite dark when i was younger. i think looking back on those days now, i understand why. i didn't know what to do with my thoughts or my creativity, i didn't really understand who i was or what i was meant to be doing. i would spend a lot of time alone, i didn't like talking to new people and i always quiet at school and would mind my own business. i think inside i knew there was meant to be something more for me, something that i couldn't find by doing what everyone else was doing; i needed to do it myself.

in 2005, i was fourteen years old when colour and art began to really spark an interest in me. i opened up a deviantart account under the name of vampire-zombie for lack of a clearer vision of what me or my art was about. from there i became obsessed at watching other people's artworks. the first thing i would do when i came home from school is log on and flick through the endless pages of inspiration in this new world i discovered. at first i gushed over the work of traditional artists; drawers, painters, people who used mixed media. that slowly grew into discovering the world of digital painters and slowly after, the world of photomanipulations.

about a year after opening my deviantart account i decided to take matters into my own hands and try my hand at some manipulations. at first i would use stock images from the internet and post them up online and ask people what they thought. i never got much of a response. i would put together digital wallpapers of my favourite bands and things i thought were pretty. but after a while i realised all that was not for me. the next thing i did was grab my family's digital camera, it was nothing special - just a little compact camera, but i took it with me everywhere i went and took pictures of everything. there was something about documenting the everyday things; the mundane, the usual, that captivated me. it seemed like a whole new world of remembering had been opened up for me.

i was too scared to take pictures of people. even of myself. i would take landscape photos, pictures of my dogs and i would stop on the side of highways just to look at the flowers close up. i was particularly inspired by the sky and created conceptual photos every now and then.

eventually i tired of taking photos of the same things and started to take self portraits. i would set my compact camera on the floor on a ten second timer and would get photos of myself running through fields or jumping in the air. at the same time i would ask my sister if i could take photos of her sitting on rocks or walking through the water at the beach. my photos even when i started, were natural and full of movement, i liked the quiet moments, the little nothings.

i took photos of my sister and i for half a year while saving up for my first slr. the pictures i took and posted online were sold as book and album covers, much to my bewilderment. but i still took every offer i had with appreciation even though i didn't quite understand what was going on. when i finally had my pentax k1000d in my hands, i spent time learning how to shoot manually, with confidence that i could finally take control over the images i wanted to create. i shot self portraits and pictures of my sister for a little while longer before i asked two of my friends if they could model for me. my first ever shoot with someone other than me, was an alice in wonderland shoot. we set up a table full of teacups and pills, walked down to the supermarket to buy cupcakes to shoot with and spent the afternoon living a mad hatter's tea party while i took photos.

i didn't do any fashion shoots with my pentax camera. i spent that time learning what my style was, learning how to shoot portraits and work with people in photography. it helped me realise that i loved taking photos of people; but not in the ordinary way that the photography magazines i bought told me to. i liked to take photos while they are doing something, jumping, lost in thought, exploring the wilderness, brushing a strand of hair off their face.

i started to save up for a new camera. the lens on my pentax camera broke and i had been using it with a $7 film lens i found at the markets which wouldn't screw onto my camera so it sat on the body taped up with electrical tape. the photos were lovely either way, but i wanted something more. i started to have dreams of seeing my work up on billboards and to create art that would be remembered forever. somewhere my passion for taking portraits evolved into the desire to shoot fashion. i wanted a new challenge, to take photos of people i've never met before, put teams together and shoot for a reason (although just shooting for yourself is probably one of the best reasons to shoot). i wanted to put all my concentration into shooting and using the camera rather than trying to juggle both photography and modeling for my photos.

when i finally got my hands on my new camera, the canon 5dmkii, it was a breath of fresh air, like i was rejuvinated with inspiration. i had ideas and absolutely nothing in my way of making them happen. i planned a few shoots with some pretty models i found online and the shooting started. i spent a lot of time still just shooting for fun, i blogged all the photos i took and continued sharing my work online. eventually people started emailing me asking if i could shoot for them for money. i got to shoot book covers, photos for bands, eventually i started shooting model portfolios and lookbooks for designers. all of that came with me growing in what i'm doing. i never really pushed for that side of things or even thought about it all that much. they happened and all i tried to do was put as much passion into those jobs as i did for my personal work.

along the way my family and dan have helped me endlessly and supported me. i know a lot of people don't have that luxury, but i am so appreciative to have the love of the people who are close to me and even their help and advice when i needed it the most.

since then until now it has all been a wonderful ride of experiences and learning and meeting new people that i never expected to happen. i feel so blessed to be living the way i do and being able to do what i love every single day. i know i worked hard and i've been doing this for a long time even though i am young. since the beginning, taking photos would be the first thing i thought about and the only thing i would do during the day and night.

i guess i'm writing all this, not just to share it with you, but for myself too. even after years of taking photos and being a photographer i still feel unsure about myself every now and then. sometimes old feelings crawl back under my skin and haunt me for a couple of days. sometimes something doesn't go right and i question what i'm really doing. but the answer will always be i'm doing what i love and what makes me most happy (more than anything).

it's okay to be uncertain sometimes, it's okay if things go wrong and it's okay if you don't know where you're going or how to get there. i still don't know.

all you need to know is that if you're passionate about something; follow those dreams and make them come true. all the hard work is worth it if you enjoy the journey and live a full life knowing that you're living for something you love.

last weekend

i spent last weekend with my family. we went driving on long roads, went to eat at yummy restaurants and came home to the stars sparkling on our rooftop.

tomorrow i will be blogging the story of how i got started in photography. im scared and excited to share something so personal with you all. for the time being, i will leave you with a self portrait i took against a blank wall the other day with one of my presents from wildfox couture!

behind the scenes

behind the scenes of the

sheer

shoot.

behind the scenes of the

night fever

shoot.

second shooting a wedding with one love photography.

behind the scenes of a shoot that hasn't been released yet!

model: josephine

mua: lidija j

stylist: jessie m

sneak peek of a final photo.

 our companion for the day, creepily watching us shoot from above.

i spend a lot of time on the road

i hardly ever post personal things to my blog. this is something i really want to change this year. i want to share with you my thoughts, things as meaningless as tea at midnight to the photos and stories from my roadtrips around the countryside. these pictures might not be much, but i need to start somewhere! i hope you like these small nothing pictures for now. i've been taking photos every day so my next blog post will include even more. if there is anything you'd like me to blog about in particular, please let me know! 

this bench belongs to the backyard of my second home by the mountain side and the shoreline in wollongong. my mum and her partner live here with my sister and his son.

this is the view now just outside my old room. the edge of the forest used to be lined with beautiful and lush bamboo trees before the awful council came around and chopped them all down. now my view is dead trees.

pile of bamboo.

dan came to visit me while i was staying in wollongong for a few weeks at the end of the year. 

we saw a mini carnival being set up on the way home from visiting my dad's so we stopped to have a look. last time we went to a carnival we ate too much fairy floss and felt sick after going on the same upside-down ride five times in a row. we had the best time. this time the carnival had a few 'try your luck' games and a ghost train, so we ended up standing by the river for a few seconds before heading off.

we stopped and sat in the car until it went dark, waiting for our table for mexican food. it's becoming my new favourite thing to take photos when it's almost dark. 

my younger sister learning how to drive.

too windy to take photos.

the beautiful roads my mum, sister and i explored one afternoon. 

me by the river, taken by my sister.

soundtrack when driving with dan.

 two pictures of me in the front yard, taken by dan on australia day.

lunch dates with dan and realising i need to take more photos of us together.

morning light through the window.

the first photo i took with my 35mm. the day before i was going to shoot a wedding i had my mind made up that there was nothing else that i wanted more but to get a 35mm lens that day. i called up countless of places until i found a camera store that had just one left in stock. dan and i drove into the city just before the store closed and it is now happily part of my little family.

stray cats around the city streets breaking my heart.

my first self portrait in a long time. it was a gloomy day outside, it had been raining non stop for two days by then and my shoot was cancelled. so i thought i should take some pictures against a blank wall.

 our cat, dean (named after supernatural), the attention seeker.

competition: lightroom light leaks preset

*EDIT*

after spending time going through pages and pages of amazing submissions my competition has sadly come to an end! i really love all the photos everyone submitted, thank you so much for taking part in this! i have ten lucky winners who i will announce in a second, who will be able to use the lightroom 4 light leaks preset before anyone else.

here are the winners + links to their entry, in no particular order:

1. Fae - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44661754086/sun-rose-fae-faes-book-at-facebook

2. Anna Sophie Shams - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44894072310/used-the-digital-film-curve-anna-sophie-shams

3. Molly Lichten - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44661551349/molly-lichten-ambers

4. Mandy Tan Jing Wei - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44091690888/name-mandy-tan-jing-wei-mandy-faith-name-of

5. Hannah Goerges - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44091814233/hannah-goerges-i-used-the-actions-queen-of-hearts

6. Marcelo de Coghlan - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44606427501/edited-with-alice-in-wonderland-marcelo-de

7. Tess Janssen - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44255348630/tess-janssen-film-light-leak-in-original

8. Nathalia Pavon - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/43931814192/nathalia-pavon-curve-used-window-warmth

9. Ulysses Gaygay - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44661809803/ulysses-gaygay-digital-film

10. Barbara Carneiro - http://digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com/post/44174492072/name-barbara-carneiro-the-name-of-the-colour

congratulations!! i will be contacting you all individually over the next week to have your prizes sorted out :)

thank you again for sharing all your beautiful pictures xx


--


in anticipation of the release of my new lightroom 4 light leaks preset, i thought i would hold a little competition! i've never done this before, so it should be fun!

5 lucky winners will be chosen at random to win my new lightroom 4 light leaks preset. here is a little example of what it looks like:

light leaks contains two different presets, with two varying light leaks to add colour to your image. it hasn't been released yet, so the winners will be able to use these presets before anyone else. see more examples in my latest blog post, aurora.

the winners will also receive a free unreleased photoshop action that i was going to put up on digital film but decided to make an exclusive prize for this competition. but that's not all! on top of that, you get to choose one more product from digital film actions of your choice to be all yours.

now, onto the finer details of the competition!

prizes:

- a free copy of the lightroom 4 light leaks preset before it is released on digital film actions
- a free unreleased & exclusive photoshop action
- one free copy of anything from digital film actions

how to enter:

- submit your photos edited with the colours from free curve friday or presets and actions from digital film to this blog: www.digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com
- every entry must include your full name and the name of the action, curve or preset of mine that you used to edit that photo
- like my facebook photography page (so i can match your entry name + notify the winners)

details:

- the competition will run for 7 days, starting today! (saturday, 23rd of february)
- submissions close on saturday, 2nd of march. no submissions count after midnight (EST - sydney, australia time) on this date
- if you don't like my photography facebook page, i will have no way to tag you/be able to notify you that you've won
- if you don't include your name in your entry, i won't be able to match your name up through the likes on my photography page and notify you if you win
- submissions that don't include the name of the curve, action or preset used to edit them will be disqualified
- 5 winners will be chosen at random and will be announced on my facebook photography page + an edited version of this blog post
- you can enter as many times are you like!

how to submit your photos to the blog:

- go to www.digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com
- click on the 'submit' link on the top menu
- choose your competition entry
- add your name + the name of the colour preset used to edit the photo
- accept the terms of submission
- press submit!

your entry will be published no longer than a day after it was submitted if it follows all the rules!


don't forget to have a look through all the other submissions on the blog. i see this blog as a lovely collection of work from creatives just like you and me! so please try to support other photographers just like you'd like to receive support from them!

www.digitalfilmactions.tumblr.com

good luck! x

yesterday

behind the scenes of my first shoot of the year. we took photos until the sun disappeared behind the mountain. i'm so excited to share these photos with you all soon!

model: megan

makeup & hair: lisa

some thoughts from yesterday

i’ve always been a lover of the ugly pretty. i don’t mind shooting in harsh sunlight or when my model is looking the other way or has a tangled mess of hair on her face. my camera clicks when someone takes a deep breath in or are tying their shoelaces on the side of the road. this year i want to shoot that more than ever. i want to shoot knees with bruises and hands rubbing tired eyes with dirt underneath plain fingernails. i want to run around barefoot in the forest with the wild bird i am taking pictures of in the few minutes of blue light after the sun sets and before the night sets in. i want to shoot designer clothing in the ocean and climb trees in dresses. 

so i would like to start. this is me. dan took some pictures of me in the blue light after the sun sets and the night sets in, in our front yard. this is me with bruises on my arms from listening to live music and bruises on my legs from being clumsy. my messy hair on my nape, barefoot and sitting in the grass. i hope this year is the start of something different - something more natural and more honest.

i want to breathe life into my photography like it breathes life into me.

2012

2012 was an amazing year. it is the last day of the year today (only three hours to go until midnight) and i thought nothing would be more fitting if i wrote a blog post about all the wonderful things that have happened in the past twelve months. i've met with more talented and creative people than i can count on two hands, traveled everywhere beautiful, and have grown so much as a person and as a photographer. here is a little list of the things that happened to me: 

i started off the year exploring and

traveling melbourne

with dan.

i officially make a living only from photography.

i set out to shoot a

music festival

and ended up shooting

two

.

i am part of the

evoke images

team shooting weddings.

i was

printed

in culture magazine.

i shot for some

pretty

amazing

brands

.

i hosted a

photography workshop

. and taught a few one on one workshops in between.

i went to a

photography meetup

and made lots of new friends.

i thought i would show you some things i got up to this year in pictures as well, after all i'm better at talking with pictures than i am at writing: 

i spent a lovely day with kiara rose. she showed me around her forest backyard and we took pictures and sat and talked in the long grass.

i became part of evoke images. a wonderful little team i am so proud to be shooting with! matt and i drove past forest fire burnt landscapes and stopped on the side of the road to get some pictures.

his camera bag vs. my tiny bag!

dan bought a ukulele which he records music for my short films with.

i went on lots of long drives. most of them with dan.

abbey love taking a photo of amelia zadro on one of our shoots. and some more behind the scenes:

the top of the world.

lauren was lovely enough to come along with me to two of my shoots to take behind the scenes pictures. i can't wait to share them with you!

lots of test shooting throughout the year. this is the lovely krystal from ava models.

my cat who jumps on my car the second i get home from shooting weddings in the middle of the night.

some self portraits on rainy christmas day.

bright fish swimming on the pavement.

a moment in between with ellie on our oh deer shoot.

sunsets while exploring.

walking down to the river at shoots and being tempted to swim in the muddy water on heatwave days.

visiting my dad.

a couple daydreaming in the park.

shoots on the side of the road (this is emma sabjan) where police drove past and put their sirens on to scare us. they drove away laughing when we all jumped and screamed.

self portraits by the creek.

outtakes from lookbook shoots.

wise words on the side of the street.

exploring the streets of sydney on shoots.

lunchtime with the lenni vintage team.

we made the street turn red.

blue rocks from smoke bombs.

wrapping up the lenni vintage shoot.

drives to the beach a few days ago.

detours through the countryside.

2013 will be different. simple, i guess. this is what i want to do:

travel somewhere outside of australia.

love more and be kind.

it's a short list i admit, but doing these two things will make me the happiest soul in the world. i guess i will see you all on the other side where i've got lots of new blog posts to make of pretty pictures and short films full of colour and wonder.

have a happy new year everyone! xo

sydney photographer meet up

 not too long ago i had a wonderful day with 6 talented and down to earth photographers. we decided to all meet up, just so we could spend the day talking and taking pictures. 

this is a group shot taken by christian at the end of the day. from left to right we have: alexandra benetel, kiara rose, asher lilly, myself, caitlin worthington, jessica christie & christian benetel.

it was so lovely to be able to meet all these talented people. we had such a fun time taking photos of each other (which at times was quite daunting when out of nowhere there are six cameras pointing at you rather than just the one you had to begin with!) while climbing trees, walking across giant rocks, laying down in the middle of the road just as photographers do to get a good picture.

this day was so inspiring and i would love to go back at the first chance i get to photograph with all these guys again <3>

here is a little video of bits and pieces that i filmed on the day:

this weekend

 we left early in the morning.

long, winding roads and trees everywhere. 

 the sun slowly peeking over the tree.

 location scouting at the wedding venue, acres and acres worth of land to explore.

shooting the lolly table and hanging up the wedding dress in the tree.

we had two cameras to shoot with thanks to our lovely friend max! these tree photos are edited with 'white lace' from digital film.

a pretty wooden window with a pretty view in our temporary home.

sitting outside in the sunlight.

we had the most wonderful home-made breakfast.

the sights in the beautiful town of bundanoon.

markets with lovely home-made things wrapped up in flowers and vintage colours.

the best coffee shop, ever.

midday lunch before newly married katie & austin and their family joined us.

edited with 'white lace' from digital film.

parked on the side of the road.

day two of taking photos was at this beautiful location.

the long drive back home.

a wall of trees.

i spent this weekend with dan shooting katie & austin's wedding, who are both dear friends to me. everything was amazing to say the least. dan and i left early on saturday morning and drove a few hours to get to moss vale. when we got to the location of their wedding, we spent a little while walking around the acres of land scouting for locations to shoot at, these were the last few quiet moments we had for that day.

from there, the rest of the day was a wonderful blur of laughter and tears, family members rushing in and out of rooms to try and get ready. trying to take photos of katie without austin suddenly rushing past and peeking at the bride before the ceremony (which luckily didn't happen but was a little too close for comfort!). but, i'll tell more of the story of their wedding day when i post the final photos!

we didn't finish shooting until about midnight and my hands felt glued to my camera after taking photos for fourteen hours straight! none of it would have been possible either if i hadn't had dan by my side helping me and second shooting throughout the day. we drove back in the middle of the night, going fast down the winding dirt roads lined with forests and i was so excited that i saw my first real life wombat scurrying back into the trees as we were driving past.

when we got to our temporary home, we fell onto the beds and fell asleep without a second thought. in the morning, the owner of the bed & breakfast had the tastiest home-made goods waiting for us to eat. she told us stories of escaping the loud city years ago to retreat in bundanoon and her husband and dan chatted away about their similar interest and job (dan's current and his past) of being a music engineer. after checking out, we headed into the main town (which is old but well taken care of and full of life, even if it's in the middle of nowhere) and sipped on more coffee at our now favourite coffee shop. 

the rest of this day will come soon in photos, we took more portraits of katie and austin at a home with acres of land (all the properites at moss vale seem to have giant backyards) filled with flowers and landscaping, buzzing with bees and mosquitos but beaming with colours.

oh deer boutique: behind the scenes

rose & ellie.

abbey love working her magic.

all the lovely clothes we were shooting.

the model and makeup artist swapped shoes for the day.

 these are a few behind the scenes images i took on the day of our pastel bones shoot with oh deer boutique. you can see the final photos

here

.

age of intimacy: behind the scenes

miserable weather.

standing in the middle of the train tracks. left.

right.

the car through the trees that would soon be lighting our photos.

coralie getting her makeup done in the dark. lit by phone lights.

the team filing up helium balloons.

jess & coralie.

the amazing wonders in the antique store we shot at.

jess working her magic.

penney in the reflections.

the view from above.

jess taking polaroids of everything.

a shelf of harry potter wands.

goodbye lovely antique store.

little car, big trees.

look number ii.

every hour that day it woud start to pour down rain. it's a miracle we had any sunshine to shoot with at all!

"it's cooooolddd!"

penney won't let me take any photos of her.

the long, muddy road home.

wandering around the acres of grass and trees.

this time we brought candles for the dark, we lit the night on fire.

the last look of the day just before it got dark.

 blogging has become sort of an online diary where i post all the adventures i get up to. now it seems like such a normal thing to do, but it will be wonderful when i'm old and wrinkly to look back on all these careless things that we did when we were younger such as running around in an abandoned castle at night while it's raining, screaming and laughing at the bugs and gross mud we walked through just so we could stand in the long, wet grass with a handful of slowly deflating balloons.

i couldn't appreciate more being a photographer at times like these. being outside in the cold air that scratches the back of my throat when i breathe, holding a camera tightly between my palms and taking photos of the light and movement, drenching half my clothes in ocean water for a single photo, running in muddy forests barefoot, breathing in the rain. it hits me almost every day that this has become my life, and i couldn't be happier that i'm living it. slowly making my dreams come true.

bushfire trees

i thought i'd take the time to write a little blog post of all the photos i took that i never got a chance to post, as well as the in-between photos that i take in daily life and let you all know what i've been up to these past couple of months. life has been a sweeping adventure so far this year. sometimes i will sit and think about everything and sometimes i will be firing the shutter, one photo after another and nothing else exists. some of these were taken with my camera and others with my iphone.

driving through the bushfire trees of autumn. roadtrips to nowhere.

hanging out with the boys from scarlet chase.

working with my talented team again for black milk clothing.

i went on a massive roadtrip long ago with the band say it forever. we were running through rivers with our clothes on, and had a watergun fight as the day was ending. after a two hour drive back home, this is half of the band curled up on my driveway.

taking photos in a park with overgrown grass of my lovely friend katie and her lover austin.

dan and i on a drive for no reason.

we dropped off friends at the airport during the week. this year my best friend moved to live in adelaide.

soft acoustic music being played at a wedding i documented with ashley.

more empty stretches of road, it's sort of calming after spending a whole day surrounded by people - to have your hair thrown around by the wind, watching the sun turn black and listen to soft music loudly.

i shot some beautiful weddings far and near; in sydney, berry, wollongong, mittagong.

i had coffee with my sister and family in wollongong. dan was driving us home and i was sleepily taking pictures in the passenger seat.

more rehearsals and staying up til 5am. dreaming of our tour around america, always driving, playing music, taking photos, meeting all of you.

dan and i going to watch live music in the city.

an editorial and lookbook i shot with a cute puppy.

last but not least i wanted to share with you some beautiful behind the scenes film photos oh deer boutique snapped at our last shoot:

 i hope you've all been wonderful. i told myself that i need to take my camera with me everywhere i go, and that's exactly what i've been trying to do. if you don't mind, i may make a few more blog posts like this - of just life and the little things that happen here and there.

also, one more thing. i've been so busy lately shooting and editing and going to meetings that i haven't had a chance to do free curve friday for a while - and i'm sorry! someone on formspring a while ago gave me a lovely suggestion though, to make a curve that looks like a fairytale, soft and pretty. so instead, for the next few weeks i will be releasing a series of fairytale curves, starting with alice in wonderland:

you can download the free curve "alice in wonderland" here. instructions on how to install your curves can be found here.

this curve works best on photos shot on an overcast day, or photos with lots of shadows. it adds a lovely purple tone like the caterpillar's smoke 'who r u...?'.

hopefully this little surprise + a few more will make up for my silence :)

illawarra folk festival: bulli 2012

to sum it up short and sweet: this folk festival was amazing.

day one. 

i walked into the festival by myself. i explored the massive grounds and started taking pictures of strangers. there was anyone you could imagine; teenage girls with flowers in their hair, hippy adults wearing rainbow clothing, musicians walking around with piles of instruments, dreadlocked hair and screaming children. there was also music wherever i went, it never stopped playing.

while i was shooting, a blue-eyed man tapped me on the shoulder and introduced himself as the woohoo revue's band manager, dan. he let me know that their band was playing on the main stage later that night and asked me nicely if i could take photos of them. i eventually also bumped into my high school music teacher and her nephew and the three of us walked around looking at all the little markets and tents propped up selling scented candles and free-spirited clothes.

after hours of sitting and walking around, watching people dance and sing, we headed off to the main stage to watch the woohoo revue perform. the tent was packed with dancing youth, as their gypsy music filled up the night, they were amazing. after the show we hung out til the early hours of the morning, sharing stories of road trips, music and everything in between. even though the stage music ended, musicians and punters alike formed little circles and jammed on their ukeleles, acoustic guitars and harmonicas in the late night.

day two. 

everyone camped in the torrential rain while i was cosy in bed. i got back to the festival and the entire ground was muddy and filled with puddles. today was the day my favourite shooting-boots were destroyed! it didn't stop anyone though, the soft acoustic music kept playing loud, strangers danced barefoot in the mud. everything i saw was a picture waiting to happen. 

accordions for sale.

the tantric turtle cafe, oh so lovelily decorated.

always.

i asked this man to spin around for me in the rain so i could take photos with his wonderful jacket.

 

a lovely three piece group that filled the room up with soft music.

the woohoo revue.

morning mud.

living room under the sun.

the bearded gypsy band - another of my favourites who played at the festival.

my new friends, hungover.

smiling youth and muddy feet.

leaving town.

sleepy-eyed spiderman.

a marching band marching through the entire festival.

the woohoo revue playing on the second day.

roadtrip to melbourne

we set off for melbourne late one morning

icebergs

too many kms to go

fuel

open land for forever and ever

just after we passed the border between nsw and victoria

night driving into the city

our hotel room after the festival

upside-down world

exploring the graffitied laneways, taken with my iphone

ice cream & coffee at night by the beach in a random suburb

someone's cd collection by the window

gig venue hunting

the very awesome brunswick st

visiting the docklands on our last day

over the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, dan and i went on an adventure to melbourne. we set off for the ten hour drive late one morning. we travelled all through the day, passing broken down cars, dusty towns and forever and ever fields of desert grass, mountains and trees. the sun had started to set by the time we reached the border between two states and finally by the time we reached the city, tired, delirious and excited it was dark and late. we went out for coffee in a close by graffitied laneway, came back to our temporary home in the middle of the city and passed out.

our week in melbourne was amazing after that. i spent two days with my camera glued to my hands and fingers shooting the pyramid rock festival at phillip island, the blistering heat was overwhelming during the day and when the sun set, the island was made of ice - but nothing would stop me from seeing the world through my viewfinder, shooting strangers dancing around in panda suites and musicians running around on stage. the two days were mine to capture, and capture everything is all i did. but i'll write more about this story soon..

when we got back from the loudness and constant music all around, we chose to stay in a suburb just outside the always-moving always-rushed city of melbourne. every day we looked at a map and picked a random suburb that had an interesting name or a lovely view and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the little alleyways and long streets, the quaint shops and food-baby restaurants.

the second half of twenty-eleven was a crazy rush for me and my camera. i spent almost every day shooting, every night editing, every morning sending off cds to clients. while some days in melbourne i rested from my camera and was happy it wasn't hanging around my neck, the days that i did shoot everything i saw were the best.

one thing i'm going to attempt in 2012 is to do a 365 with my

flickr

. sometimes i will take specific photos for that day, but its mostly to motivate me to post a new picture every day for you all. and also, i haven't forgotten about free curve friday, its about to start all over again next week!

x