May The Force Be With You, Fflur and Kevin

by Weddings

You might recall Fflur and Kevin’s wedding images from a little while back. Fflur and Kevin are self-confessed massive Star Wars fans. Themed wedding images are all the rage at the moment – you don’t have to look too hard before you bump in to an image of a wedding party being chased by a T-Rex! We thought it would be cool to arrange something unique for them to treasure.

We shot this at the old Tallebudgera post office. (You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villany.) (Not really, that’s a Star Wars quote. It’s quite a cool old building.) It took a few months of searching around to find actual working lightsabers. Not toys, mind you, the real deal. They’re pretty cool if you can get your hands on one.

Actually… this is a Photoshop masterpiece from Wanda. Normally her PS work doesn’t extend to science fiction weaponry! She had a lot of fun bringing this image to life.

Hope you love this image, guys. It’s very you. 🙂

Dawn at the Old Museum

by Music

Band of Dawn. You may recognise these guys from a previous blog post.

A few months ago we did a photo session with them for their album “The Spinning Jenny – Volume 1”.  It was an amazing experience to work with this band, such elaborate costumes and amazing concepts. I was beside myself that my editing ended up on the COVER of the album.  Definitely a proud moment in my working life.  People probably wondered who the squealing lunatic was in JB Hi Fi.

Our next job with Dawn was to photograph their show at The Old Museum in Brisbane at the beginning of their Australian East Coast tour.

Their songs are a blend of folk, Celtic and Western styles.  Haunting lyrics and melodies, making you imagine a time gone by or a time yet to come.  We were so happy to get to go along and hear their music but of course Kris was in his element, being able to capture photos of the band during the show.  It shows a different side, the side that you see only in the moment.  For some reason, I love photos taken at live shows.  Knowing that you were there and saw these people in real life.  It’s different to a posed photo.  I think it’s because it’s a moment that you cannot go back and get again. It’s a snapshot of a split second in time.

 

The Band of Dawn.  A beautiful Victorian-Steampunk look.  Costumes by Clockwork Butterfly. Stage dressing by Jodie Hilton.

Left to right: Brent Moetara (Harmonica), Nathan Moore (Drums), Stirling Gill-Chambers (Electric Amazing Violin Thing), Brenton Page (Bass), Richard Grantham (Strings), Andrew Yeldham (Guitar), Lauren Mackay (Keyboards and vocals)

Kimberley Dawn Lysons (Lead Vocals)

 

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Kimberley looking gorgeous.

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The fun after the show.

 

Thank you once again Dawn for inviting us in to your world to take some amazing images.  I cannot wait to work on another project with you.

Elizabeth

by Portraits

I’ve had a shot in my head for a few months now, taking inspiration from a production image I shot for ImproMafia’s production Long Journey Home, and a cool lighting effect we saw in Cirque du Soleil’s Love show in Las Vegas.

The final image represented a collaboration with a bunch of very clever people – makeup artist Danielle Riley of A La Lumiere Makeup and Beauty, location scout and all-round legend Shane Skerik, and mysterious male talent Nigel Riley. And of course our subject, Elizabeth Best. I’ve had the pleasure of photographing Liz before for several theatre productions (He Died With A Falafel In His Hand, Catch 22, How To Be A Man), and she was perfect for the concept – 40’s noir-style femme fatale, walking in the rain.  And oh man, this shoot was so much fun!

One of the concepts implied a story between Elizabeth’s character and Nigel’s character – she has the umbrella, with some distance between her and her man in a suit, standing in the rain. The final hero shot didn’t have Nigel in the main part of the frame… but you can see his silhouette, borrowed from another of the frames, in the window upstairs, watching Elizabeth’s character walking away.

Here’s the team! And yep, there was actually quite a bit of rain that evening. Handy. 🙂