Beach and surf…

Yep, it’s so easy to just get up and sit by the water’s edge anywhere along the Gold Coasts many beaches and headlands and find something to photograph. At the moments most models are partying fairly hard and the thought of getting out of bed for make up and hair at about 3.00am just doesn’t excite them, so to keep in practice I am shooting everything, and using all the lenses and bodies I have. Sort of moving away from my comfort zone, even when it comes to processing techniques, …always learning something new.

The trouble with stretching yourself is that you discover short comings, both in knowledge and GEAR.

I quite like finding out that I need to learn more about something I thought I was on top off. Learning is easy when its your passion, and time just flies by reading articles on techniques, what I don’t like so much is realising that to step up to the next level further financial investment is required. I need studio lights..now, and I what I want to do with them is take at least one outdoors on location powered by a battery pack . Oh dear, not cheap but the flexibility provided by having so much light will help me produce a greater range of images. Strobist with speedlights is great, and I enjoy the simplicity of this setup, but!

Anyway the surf was lower today but the usual crowd were out in force.

Real Glamour……

Those of us in the photography game (and it truly is a game), see advertisements for glamour shoots all the time. Heavily discounted, some as low as $50.00 including make up and simple hair styling. Targeted at a certain demographic usually, these studios in the main have 5 or 6 poses and styles, use the same lighting every time and then charge huge amounts for the finished product weeks later. If this is what your heart desires then great, however I truly believe that most women given correct lighting, creative direction, costuming that doesn’t make them feeling uncomfortable to the point of being embarrassed have the ability to be glamorous. Hollywood got it right in the thirties and forties, great lighting is the key and then add a little softness and you have real glamour. Copious amounts of bare flesh is not glamour, although in the right setting it can be glamorous but that is a whole different genre.