Suit-up Selfie

by Portraits

Back in January, we had a supermegahot day – probably the hottest day I can recall in Brisbane. Our probably-not-accurate-but-still-in-working-condition thermometer was sitting at 45.5 degrees when the entire suburb lost power. So there we are, heat wave, no fans or air conditioning, no breeze… “I know! I’ll put on a suit and tie, and shoot a self-portrait!”

Power out? No problem – everything in our location kit is battery powered. In no time I had the camera on a tripod with a remote, tethered to our laptop so I could see the images as they’re shot, and two lights up and running. Focusing is a little tricky when you are on the wrong end of the camera. Still, the results weren’t bad!

So at the risk of putting my mug out there, here are some selfies from the hottest day on record.

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. 🙂

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. 🙂