With The MHS Conference and awards held today we had the honor and opportunity to capture the proceedings and the lucky winners of such awards.
There was a great vibe and with a whole lot of happy faces with all the photos up on our online store that can be found off the menu on the left hand side.
If you have any issues let me know. đ
Just about every morning before I get up I look at what the weather is going be doing to my for the day, as it helps me plan what I am going to wear, carry and do for that day.
Is it going to be hot so I have to pack water bottles and ice creams in my portable fridges or freezing or do I need to take hot coffee?? Do I need to wear beanie or sunscreen?? Is it going to be so windy that I am going to be like Mary Poppins with all my portable lighting or still as a lake in the early morning?
These are very important questions I ask about the coming day and the days following as I need to make sure everything is taken into consideration for the success of the shoot and the comfort of the people I am working with,  be it a family, a wedding, board members of a large company, gala event, or even a conference with thousands of people attending.
Why I am telling you this by the way. đ
When I looked at today’s weather I noticed that it is almost identical to the same weather and time when I looked at a few days and it got me thinking.
Is it so bad that today is starting out and looking like it is going to be a repeat of the other day? Â What happened the other day after I saw the weather? How did the day pan out? Was it good or bad?
All very important questions and ones I quickly asked and answered in my own head like a mad man talks to himself…. While the answers in themselves were not that amazing it was the act of self critiquing that I thought I would share. It is something that I do a lot,  after every shoot, event, or workshop I conduct.  After every meeting or interactions with key people and general people in my life.
It forms part or my personal and professional growth.
What are the areas you would like to see grow in your life and what do you do to make that happen or what first make that happen?
Are there areas in your photography that would like to improve in but not sure where to start?  Or other areas like post processing that you would like to pursue?
I would love to hear your stories as there may be things I can use or avoid in my life and business!
So please do share and comment below. đ
First I photographed the State iAwards gala dinner and award ceremony here at the National Art Gallery of Australia which I must say was a fantastic evening and I think I might blog about it when I did it.
The AIIA (Australian information industry Association) who hosted this evening was so happy with my work they are requested that I fly down to Melbourne and cover the national iAwards gala dinner and award ceremony at the Convention Centre. This my friend is going to be a massive evening as it is more than just a gala evening. It is a three-day event that includes judging, exhibitions, a conference and of course the gala dinner with subsequent award ceremony.
They will have speakers giving presentations throughout the Convention Centre to which we have to capture all of them along with being an opportunity for the AIIA board of directors to get together, so we’re going to use that opportunity to capture their portraits photos for their annual reports and publications. đ
All the images of the speakers and people getting the awards are being filtered out to the various media outlets as fast as we can after the images are taken with one of the key problems we faced in our planning was being out to tag and name everyone in the images, along with descriptions of what is happening in the photo they these images are in line with photojournalistic rules, all without missing any action on the media walls and the VIP areas.
With maybe about 1000 people attending the gala event itself and having to cover the entertainment along with the various areas throughout the centre it became fairly apparent that this was not a one-man job, so I enlisted various photographers including myself and an assistant to fly, drive, swim down there so make this a truly great success…. ok ok ok maybe no one will be swimming down there but you get the point.. lol
The gala event going till around 11 PM and that day starting around 8 AM is going to make for a very long day, and then you add around four hours of postprocessing straight after the event so we can get the images out to the media outlets so they have time to put them to press its going to be a very very very long day.
I must say having said that I’m so looking forward to it!!
There something about events that I just love, I’m not sure whether it is the excitement and the buzz in the air that goes with them or the pressure to ensure that you get the shot matter the lighting conditions and no matter the location. It’s just a buzz!!
If you know of anyone that is going to the iAwards or if you yourself are please say hello and we will make sure we get some special photos of you. đ
Sitting watching Australia and New Zealand play rugby I was trolling through some old photos.
Not that it is helping as the all blacks are giving us a flogging but it does help easy the pain. Â đ
Once again this year I’m privileged to be the official photographer for the Benny Wills gala night.
For anyone that doesn’t know about the Benny Wills foundation you should really pop over to their website and have a read http://www.bennywills.org/
Their story is not only incredibly sad it also is tremendously inspiring. To lose a child to a fatal brain tumour would have to be one of the hardest things to go through in your life but to come back and create a foundation dedicated to the research into the very brain tumour that took your son’s life shows tremendous courage and strength.
To stand there and photograph these incredibly tough parents while they discuss the lives and the process of how this hideous disease takes the lives of their children is heartbreaking. To have to live through that and to know that once your child is diagnosed death is only six months away, I cannot imagine what they would go through. đ
It is for this reason I donate my time to this event as I believe that with time, money and the advancement of technology they will find a cure or as a minimum extend the life of these poor children so they can enjoy some additional time with their loved ones.
If you like to book a table or buy some tickets you can do that online and I urge you to come along as it is really a fantastic night.
http://www.bennywills.org/gala-dinner.aspx
I have dedicated my photography career in the pursuit of capturing the very essence of what I am photographing so as to bring the “forever memories” back to life. Through this, I now have the ability to share my years of experience with you through my on-line courses.
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