Bundaberg Floods 30 December
We are an island. North cut off from South, East from West. I am blessed to not be under water but others are not so lucky. In the last two days of shooting our town, I have met some brave and inspiring folk that are facing an uncertain future. Sitting on a porch of a flooded unit with no electricity and no yard or garage left, a man told me that if he had a boat he would go fishing, and that all his life he had dreamed of living on the riverfront. “Million dollar views” he joked with me. I don’t think I would be quite so happy.
I have no idea if my shoot space over north is under water, and if it is, so would be the other businesses that I am blessed to share the space with. Most of my friends are safe. Some are locked in with water. Thank God i all I can say. I have only had one person mad at me for taking photos. She told her friend that I should be run over. What I don’t understand is the following:
People letting kids swim in the dirty and extremely dangerous water.
People in boats with no life jackets on zipping through the water around submerged cars
People wading through it just to get a better look
Things I am thankful for:
The SES
The police and fire service
THE SES!!!! I used to be a member until I had to become a full time dad carer, and i never had to go out in an emergency but they do the most amazing job…TOTALLY UNPAID! So please don’t make it harder for them.
So photos….I have been putting them up on FB but it is down so here are todays shots.
couture…Celyna Ziolkowski Style
All I can say is OMG! These are truly stunning gowns from Celyna Ziolkowski’s new collection. SO easy to shoot. So easy to see her vision and make it work with mine. Megan Topham did makeup and hair the stunning model was Monica Daley. We arrived at Cupitts Winery in Ulludulla to shoot, and even though it was raining the day we arrived, I knew that all would be well. Day one was prep & styling each gown with hair and makeup. I styled the shoot as ” goddess in a french garden” which was perfect for the gowns and the model.
Thanks to the team as well as everyone at Cupitts. I am going to try and upload a couple of shots to the bog to see if my silly blog works.
cupcakes, cuddles and supemodels
I will have more superb shots to share shortly (say that fast ten times lol) but I only have one at the moment and I will get them on as soon as I can
here is ne of the supermodel – miss gorgeous. There must be something in the water here coz all my clients are flipping stunning…and please note: this beautiful girl dod NOT have ANY makeup on at all. None. nada. Zip. And OMG look at her. Stunnnnnning!
G & J wow…yep, just wow….
It is funny how you can start off a day with one set of expectations and then magic happens and everything changes. That happened today. One of my beautiful wedding couples allowed me to be creative with them today and all I can say is WOW – I am so blessed with my clients. They rocked, the locations were amazing and we ended up using a whole bunch of places that weren’t on my menu but so glad for it. So here are a couple of my couple. And again, WOW! I love my job when magic happens.
les amants marchent dans provence
boudoir with a difference
I love to shoot boudoir and most of my gorgeous clients get all embarrassed about how fabulous they look. Miss J looked gorgeous as usual. We did some cool things and then one of my evil cf cards ate the last 20 rocking images. AGH times like this that just suck. So, here is one shot done two different
sparty arty Miss J
Half of it
ways. yep me… being arty farty again
my creative couples engagement & family shoots – new shots coming!
My costume and antiques prop cupboard is overflowing which is really great because in May one of my fabulous couples and my amazing makeup artist Megan will be making magic in Gayndah, followed closely by one of my other couples hitting the 60′s with me for sexy gorgeous. No shots to show off from these yet, but I am still on the hunt for one more nurses uniform. Also, if you have a car from before 1948, we would love to have it in our shoot in Gayndah.
What I love about these shoots are they allow my brides and grooms to really let their hair down and be as creative as they would love to be. It is like being on a movie set, with makeup and styling, as well as s story that shows off who they are as people. It is about creating a love story that is unique to them, and I get to capture this.
I also love shooting families with a bit of an edge too. These are some older shots…Tara and Mitchell’s engagement shoot last year, and baby M and his mommy…new shots coming soon…
TTD – Trash The Dress Bundaberg
I love shooting these Trash The Dress shoots. They rock. It is a way for my brides to get amazing magazine styled shots with my fabulous makeup artist and stylist and the rest of my team. My beautiful bride got dirty and wet and looked fabulous while doing it.
Hollywood glamour all the way!
Kirsten: you rock!
I love my job
Having passion in what you do is so important to getting what you want out of life. Lately I have been blessed with the best clients. Clients that let me shoot and have fun. Clients that get my vision for their shots. clients that want art. Clients that trust me. I have shoot boudoir this week – too hot to blog. I have shot pre-formals. I did a gig for the local paper. I had a very sad morning shooting another little angel. That was hard, and she was so perfect. My sincerest condolences to her family.
So it has been joy and it has been sorrow and every thing in between. I even had two of my clients jump in a river in dresses. And soon I will be shooting a secret – sorry can’t tell you all yet. It is still secret santa shhshh.
I have also joined BNI and Barter Card. New clients from these were the lovely team at Villa Mirasol and their cute little grand-daughter Milly.
So here are a mix of shots from the recent shoots.
formal and fun
It is school formals time and I got to play with some gorgeous girls:
Sunday: Ashliegh (still to come to blog world)
Tuesday: Nadia and Amelia
Wednesday: Rochelle (still getting shots off camera) so I will post them shortly but here are a couple from Amelia and Nadia’s cool shoot out at the farm:
marvellous makeup…
ok so we did this shoot and it was amazing and awesome and then at the end of the day I said to the girls and to Marvellous Megan the makeup magic maker that i would like to do some shots in a pool that is owned by a client. The pool has fabulous black/grey tiles and is long and skinny and his house is on the market so it is empty of deck chairs etc. Perfect location. So we did a quick changeroo of the makeup for a water nymph feel on Em and left Jane as a water bird and like models they went in to a very cold pool for some very hot shots. These ones are just of the makeup, as I haven’t finished the work on the OMG girls in pool shots, but it is amazing how fan the makeup looked even after Jane had swum in hers for me to get under water shots. I loved working with the girls and with Megan. She understands my visions without me having to explain them too much. We have loads of other projects that we are going to work on in between weddings and formals and life. Cant wait!!!!
Bundaberg Has Supermodels
and what a joy to not only shoot them, but discover them. Last year it was Lydia, who I think is now modeling in Melbourne, and this year it is Emmalise and Jane! You ladies ROCK big time. And worked again with the ever most fabulous and gorgeous makeup artist Megan Topham. I tell you folks, working with her is magic and her work is Un-flipping-believeable. Love her!
rainy days and Mondays…
There is a storm coming. It reminds me of so many songs, most of which are country ones. So, I have a leaky roof now to add to the mounting things missed by the property inspector when I bought this new place. The joys of buying history. My new studio and home was built in 1908. She is a grand old lady with really high ceilings and the most gorgeous ceilings I have ever seen. Each room has a different design and each was done by hand by craftsmen in horse hair plaster. My bedroom is my favorite, with straight art deco styled lines broken only by beautiful roses. I lay awake at night and wish that the people that I bought the house from had not been smokers.
I also wish that they hadn’t painted the silky oak panelling in a hideous peach colour. Such a crime to wood lovers everywhere.
It is Monday, it is raining and I feel a bit melancholy. A bit odd. A bit out of connection with the world around me. The wind is really high and I want to go and stand in it and let it whip my hair around my face but the neighbors would think I was insane and maybe call someone to come and take me away.
Also, I have decided to cut sugar out of my diet completely. MAybe that is why I feel disconnected. Not enough sugar in my system. I am going to go down to the beach soon and get some storm shots. Don’t know why as I am not a landscape photographer, but who knows eh?
Thought for today: Blessed are those that believe.
rainy days and Mondays