Yesterday, Dave and I piled the kids into the car and took a drive up to Shepparton to visit my sweet friend and incredible photographer, Liz Arcus.
Liz is a wedding and portrait photographer, and her first two exhibitions are personal projects that are being shown until the end of April.
“a part of me – the light within” and “hear my heart”
I don’t even know where to start. I want to say — please just go! Take an easy drive (2hrs) from Melbourne, and be gifted by her work. With so much of our art consumption being viewed digitally these days, seeing it in the flesh is such a treat!
We made a fun day trip of it — lunch at Letizia’s (which is where “a part of me – the light within” is showing), ice-creams, fantastic children’s park by the river and then home again!
This is Liz – such a truly gentle and gorgeous soul. (please excuse the restaurant lighting!)
And here is her happy face in front of the ‘a part of me – the light within’ exhibition.
I adore the way Liz has approached this project and the sentiment behind it. ”A collection of documentary style images of teenagers in their bedrooms, from a diverse cultural background within the Goulburn Vallery region.” Liz wanted to celebrate teenagers and the space that they call their own — the room they decorate, listen to music in, do homework in, chat with friends in — for many, the space where they spend a lot of their time. The diversity of the teens photographed is incredible too — some who have been challenged too much already, some who have a hard journey ahead, and many who have a room just like mine was as a teenager (minus the Bon Jovi posters).
I felt such an affinity with this project. It reminded me how precious our teenage years are. Dave and I ( and the kids!) were absorbed by each individual story told in each photograph. They are photographs that you want to stand in front of, for long minutes — my favourite kind of photo!
Each person photographed then wrote about their favourite things underneath the image. The sample above is Liz’s own daughter!
And then we moved up the road to see “hear my heart”, which is a brave journey of women who have suffered or are suffering abuse. This project has been part of their recovery — follow this link for more information on Liz’s collaboration with Relationships Australia Victoria, as I feel my commentary cannot adequately do it justice. In addition to the gallery of framed images, there is a book to look through that photographically tells the story of the work these ladies went through.
These exhibitions are both so inspiring and are exhibiting until the end of April here:
This was such a great idea. Kylie and Greg celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary perfectly. A photo session at the exact place they were married 10 years earlier, then a catered picnic at a local winery (sans children) with fresh yummies and a bottle of vino. How wonderful does that sound?!
March has been a super busy month for me with workshops in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. I have been so thankful for some gorgeous reviews from Bloggers who have attended. Jen from Lovely Living, Sonia from Life, Love and Hiccups, and Gemma from My Big Nutshell.
New dates are being released soon, so if you are keen on learning how to improve your photography, register your interest here and come along to the next workshop!
This little munchkin was just 4 weeks old at her session. Too cute for words!
I love the drunken sleepy face after a feed x
Photographers Tip: Most of these were taken with ISOs ranging from 1250 to 2000.
Photography Workshop Dates for 2012 are about to be released. If you would like to hear about them when they’re announced, please let me know here. This release also includes information for available photography sessions around Australia for first half of the year.
Rachel and I met recently, literally on the street outside my house Will and Gemma quickly became friends, bonding over magic tricks and home-made perfume concoctions. And Rachel and I have talked photography, motherhood and life. I know she has put a lot of passion and energy into her new eBook Click, and I was excited when she asked me to review it.
Click is an eBook about photographing children. It is not a technical manual nor a step-by-step portrait basics. This easy-to-read guide is about creating more than smiley-faced portraits. It is a book on recording children as they really are and visually telling genuine stories. Rachel writes in an honest biographical style and shares lots of fantastic photos on every page. I highly recommend Click for any Love Your Camera attendees — professional and enthusiast photographers alike.
Will leave you with a shot of my Jazzy at a piano recital a few weeks ago. She played with four other children in front of a small group. Confident but shy, this shot was taken just before she played. x
I love taking a few photos whenever we eat out. It’s always such a relaxing time for us. And it probably borders on obsessive that I choose the table with the best light when we sit down. Here are a couple of Jazzy from a diner in New York. Yes indeed… a good old fashioned, Americano, waitress wearing frilly apron and carrying around a percolated coffee jug for refills, kind of diner. Pity I didn’t take any photos of that, although I think I was too busy marvelling at the extraordinary size of the vegie burger and fries that did not even fit on the platter-size plate.
I photographed this beautiful family back when little miss was a bubby. Now a little bit older but still just as gorgeous, here are some updated photographs. They have ordered this Canvas Cluster which will look simply amazing!
After many long days and nights preparing info, worksheets, models, goody bags… we are ready to start The Scoop workshops in Sydney this week. My lovely hubby is coming with me — fun, fun, fun. Mum and Tony are looking after the kids – who are excited because they have clipboards each like we have for the attendees. We all love stationery deep down, don’t we
So Sydney, please put on some good weather for our shoots! x
It seems like this rebrand has been in the pipeline for so long. I must admit, that since I started this business I have never been happy with my branding — or lack thereof. I have tried numerous logo styles, which were mostly thrown together by me and entirely missed the point that branding is SO MUCH MORE than a logo.
I have studied and researched the ins and outs of brand identity. How was I going to come up with something that would see my business through the envisaged years of growth, that would honestly reflect my shooting style, business model and… well, me?
Then, I met fellow photographer Katie Kolenberg, who is also a designer, and fell in LOVE with her design portfolio. It is so hard to know where to begin with the building of a strong brand, and I knew immediately that I had found the perfect fit.
Stage One started out with some pretty simple questions from Katie. Such as, “what do you have in mind for your logo?” Me: “um… I don’t know.” So, we were off to a flying start.
All I knew was this. When I looked at my current logo/site/marketing, it said nothing about me. There was no connection between my portrait business and photography workshops. It didn’t reflect the way I shoot, the images that I produce, and where I plan to take my little business.
So, more golden insight from me to Katie: “So, could it just be… you know, just to be me and um, you know… just cool and great.”
I gave her so much to work with.
Katie suggested I compile a mood board of images and text that was filled with loads of details, big and small. Things that would help her get a feel for my business.
With her direction, it took about a month to piece together photographs of my favourite house designs, the books in my book case, favourite handbag, material swatches, areas of my home, fave clothing. Loads of notes were compiled on favourite bands, movies, tv shows, cities; keywords put together on my business reflection; ideas on the kind of clients I love to service; lists of the things that I love and the things I don’t love – from seasons to food to the best way to spend an evening. Signature images, hand writing samples and business dreams were sent. I finished with a trip to Bunnings to collect hundreds of paint sample colour cards and spent a few days with a gazillion colour blends until I came up with one I was happy with.
Then, we waited. Katie promised two concepts as a starting point. She had such a good feeling about her first concept that she sent that through on its own. I can quite honestly say that you could have knocked me over with a feather. That was it. It was perfect. In one beautiful design I felt like Katie had created something that said EVERYTHING it needed to. Each letter has been hand-drawn, painted and cut by Katie. We have here one unique little old font.
Next step was the website. And again, Katie did such an amazing job of bringing my limited ability to describe what I want to life. I cannot recommend her more highly. I have never been so excited about design and branding — but it feels so good. Kind of like when you rearrange a room in your house, but HEAPS better.
This whole process has been surprisingly integral on another level. It helped me clearly define goals on so many aspects of my business that I hadn’t thought about too much. Your personal brand is not just a logo — for photographers it is about consistency in your imagery, processing, product delivery, telephone manner and email tone. It is about only showing the sort of work you want to keep producing. It is about attracting the clients that are a perfect fit for your product.
And hopefully, it serves as an accurate starting point for any prospective client — so that when they have their first experience with your business (whether it be a phone call, the website, a referral or a marketing card), it is a fair indication of what they can expect to receive from you.
So, Miss Katie K, you were the dreamiest love to work with. You are so clever. And I am so very grateful for my new look.
If you love it too and want to send some positive vibes, I would love to hear your feedback.
Seeing as it is all brand new, I will leave with some images of a little fella just 18 days brand new. x
I am working overtime to put the finishing touches on the Love Your Camera workshops. We are getting so excited here at Team Baxter! Thank you to everyone who has booked or registered your interest. I can’t wait to meet you. My goal for these workshops is that you will leave me feeling excited, inspired, knowledgeable… that the photos you take after our day together will be infinitely better than they were that morning.
And to add to the gorgeous beauties from my last post — here are some more from that session.
