Tasmania

A quiet week on the work front in Sydney gave me the excuse to jump on a  flight down to Australia's island state. My first, well overdue visit...what a great place! 

So, my flight from warm, sunny New South Wales landed just after Jetstar flight no. -010 from Antarctica touched down in Hobart. On board that flight was 'Mr Brass-Balls cold-as-ice weather front' who came up to join me on my Spring trip.    Crikey...even the locals were rugged-up and swearing under visible breath as they walked into the pub!  Unfortunately, along with the unseasonably low temperatures came some snow, which meant the roads up to Mt Wellington and Cradle Mountain were shut, so I missed a few photography hotspots I was hoping to get to. I'll have to go back another time!

Here are the things I learned about the island on my quick visit...

• This is a charming beautiful island; super empty and remote at this time of year.
• Tasmania doesn’t have 'four seasons in one day’. It has four seasons every hour.
• Here phone coverage & working WIFI are wondrous myths, rather than an actual real things that exist.
• Tasmanian people are extremely inclusive, knowledgable and proud (I found this from all my cafe, petrol station, restaurant and pub conversations)

Below are some photographs from my journey (plus some random iPhone shots mixed in for good measure). You'll notice the lack of people & cars in the images. That's because there aren't many! I left out any photos from the MONA on my first day... 'The Wall of  Vaginas' and Cloaca's real life 'poop machine' are best seen in person...  that place is brilliant, and totally bonkers.

Here's my hire car at Hobart International Airport... and off I went for five days...

Late afternoon at the famous Wineglass Bay

People must live here!... somewhere...

Wine tasing at Devil's Corner...okay so there were a bunch of people in there of course!  

Cradle Valley roads just make me want to come back in Summer....with a motorbike

Nuts!   No Cradle Mountain for me this time

Unimpressed. That's now twice I've got my Hyundai match-box-of-a-hire-car stuck in the snow : I

Nose to the ground... animal tracking in the snow...

Public House accommodation. My favourite!

Sheffield 'town of murals'

Here's me looking all 'adventury' after my gruelling 25 minute hike to this lookout point in Freycinet National Park

I really give full credit to those photographers who make landscape photography their full-time job.  Yes they go to some beautiful places; working with stunning environments, animals and people, but I also realise it takes a lot of time, local knowledge & research, and a ton of patience and persistence to get brilliant results.  

Bombing around the countryside for a few days with a camera and a tripod and no real plan (i.e this trip), is really no match for researching locations, watching weather charts, traveling to the right place and then waiting hours/days in position, hoping for that ideal time where all perfect photographic conditions align.  

It was fun though, and that counts for a lot!

Night Flash Photography with Peter Coulson

I have long followed the portrait photography of Melbourne based photographer Peter Coulson. I recently joined a night-time flash photography workshop of his up here in Sydney.

Great to meet him in person; to learn a few techniques and styles with new gear, and uproot some of the old myths, assumptions and even bad habits that many of us are guilty of falling into. Refreshing to actually un-learn a bit, and just play with a fresh approach to shooting.

Model: Rara @ririchix

Kate Powell

You still get the odd rainy day in the middle of summer here, so for me, a great time to get back in the studio. 

I was remarkably lucky to meet two lovely, and very humble women in the last couple of weeks...our model (who doesn't even model?!) Kate Powell, and makeup artist Lorella Giannini. None of us knew each other before this shoot... but I think we made a great little team. Thanks again to both of you - so stoked with the results!

@k_annalise        @lorellagianninimakeupartist      @andsroberts

...and a little extra one at the end for fun....

Julia Wheeler. Photographers photographing photographers

I have a friend. An infectiously passionate underwater & lifestyle photographer; competitive freediving, African wildlife crusading, anti-poaching, clean-ocean advocating, endlessly adventuring…….kind of friend.  She is no 'Swampy' the activist either!

As a fellow photographer, I’m flattered when asked to help her out when she needs to get on that side of the lens. Here are a few images from the last shoot we did…a kinda' Ursula Andress/Dr No influenced little series featuring the beautiful wetsuits & swimwear by Abysse.

HMU by Samantha Symonds @makeup_bysamantha

Check out all her work at http://juliawheelerphotography.com/ and follow her envy-inducing and inspiring adventures on Instagram @iamjuliawheeler and @juliawheelerphotography

Behind the Scenes from The Hunter Valley with The Throttle Dolls

Video by Ollie Khedun @wearebörja. Thanks guys! 

Hazel Spencer Chapman

Stoked we got the chance to do shoot with West Country surf girl Hazel Spencer Chapman just before she left Australia on her travels through Sri Lank & India, and home to the UK. A talented designer, an adventurer, and water woman at heart....she'll be missed by her friends in Bondi! New surfing and motorcycle adventures from her to come on @thelittlerocket

All natural light with the help of some ideal white wall pillars to bounce some of that lovely light around…

Natural light portrait of @hazelinanutshell

Bondi Skate Park with Santina Malacarne

Here is this shoot in 25 seconds....a fun one in the blue bowl!

Editorial published in ELEGANT Magazine - Summer (Sept 2016) print edition

@elegantmagazine  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1167262

Cuban travels

This was my first trip to this charismatic and beautiful island. Compelled to explore ‘before it all changes’, but soon realising that the country’s charm and lure will not simply vanish over-night (thankfully!). While so many things really do make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time to the 1950s (1850s when it comes to Trinidad!), a cultural shift is definitely in progress and it's an exciting time to be in Cuba.

I was keenly anticipating impressive old American cars, matured multi-coloured building facades, cigars and rum. But it’s not until you are actually there do you really feel the island’s rumba heartbeat, and absorb its peoples’ pride and very evident sense of community. 

You also can’t help but be compelled to learn more about it’s history over the last century; especially with revolutionary icons such as Martí, Fidel and Che so visibly revered.  In Hababa Vieja, Hemingway seems to be next on the list of national heroes, with seemingly every bar enticing travellers with the claim that he used to drink his mojitos or daiquiris there!

Things we’ll remember:

• The energy, music and history of Old Havana
• Long cross-country Taxi Colectivo rides (6-8 people + bags stuffed into a well aged American classic)
• The vivid colours, timeworn lifestyle and tropical backdrop of Spanish colonial Trinidad.
• Scuba Diving in the beautiful blue waters near Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs)
• Our Cuban hosts' extra warm & helpful hospitality (and humouring my made-up Spanish)

Cars, colours and Cubans in Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus province

Milwaukee Art Museum, USA

I have always wanted to visit and shoot this stunning Santiago Calatrava designed lakeside building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The 'Burke Brise Soleil' is the main feature; a massive moveable wing like structure which acts as a sunshade and automatic wind defense. Winds aside, the huge bird folds it's wings down twice a day. It is such a beautiful thing to witness in person.

Santiago Calatrava designed: leading suspension bridge, mast and Burke Brise Soleil

Morocco. Black & White series II of II

2nd part of this little black and white series...

During a very hot, dry Ramadan last July, we travelled east from the beautiful confusion of Marrakesh, up over the vivid High Atlas mountains and across the dusty baked savannas to the the desert village of Merzouga on the Algerian boarder.  From here we took the southern loop back around to the shabby Atlantic surf town of Tagazout, and finally a few kms north to the artisan city of Essaouira for Eid al-Fatr.

Our journey gave us ancient medinas, soukes, and legions of minarets. Timeworn and abandoned riads, lush palmeraies, Saharan sand dunes and Berber desert camps. Nerve-racking low-fuel car journeys through the 50°+ desert tracks, a camel ride crash (yep, that happened), surprising local musical encounters, and the promise of the infamous Argan fruit-pooping 'goats in trees' (Eilidh reckons she glimpsed this phenomena from the car, but I didn't see it?!)

Sahara silvers

This last shot again taken by Eilidh.... me waiting half asleep for the the sunrise over the Sahara Desert 

Morocco. Black & White series I of II

Just a year ago, one of my oldest & greatest friends Eilidh and I took a little adventure to Morocco. I thought it about time I put a few of the images up (sorry its taken me a while Eils!)

During a very hot, dry Ramadan last July, we travelled east from the beautiful confusion of Marrakesh, up over the vivid High Atlas mountains and across the dusty baked savannas to the the desert village of Merzouga on the Algerian boarder.  From here we took the southern loop back around to the shabby Atlantic surf town of Tagazout, and finally a few kms north to the artisan city of Essaouira for Eid al-Fatr.

Our journey gave us ancient medinas, soukes, and legions of minarets. Timeworn and abandoned riads, lush palmeraies, Saharan sand dunes and Berber desert camps. Nerve-racking low-fuel car journeys through the 50°+ desert tracks, a camel ride crash (yep, that happened), surprising local musical encounters, and the promise of the infamous Argan fruit-pooping 'goats in trees' (Eilidh reckons she glimpsed this phenomena from the car, but I didn't see it?!)

West Sahara.  Morocco, North Africa

This final photo by Eilidh McGregor.... before my camel crash