Commercial Portrait Photography- Cunard Queen Elizabeth Sydney

During my professional photographic career of 16-years, I still love the diversity of being a photographer in Sydney, one day I'm shooting an architecturally designed building to the next day a Barrister or CEO.

I photograph all forms of Architecture, including residential homes, public architecture, theatres, interiors, office fit-outs, educational learning centres for universities and schools. As well as some of our cities wonderful new redevelopments and re-use of space like Quay Quarter in Sydney and Central Park at Chippendale.

The other side of the business is people in all their shapes, forms and roles. I'm usually in Sydney's CBD photographing corporate portraits for all types of local and international businesses. Often law firms and lawyers. Happy to be on the right side on them.

Back to the diversity of what I do is cool. This time last year just before international lockouts and the crazy pandemic of Covid-19 hit the Australian coastline. I had the privilege of shooting BTS (behind the scenes) of the luxury Cunard Queen Elizabeth Cruise Liner. An amazing ship, with a stella international crew who were humble, positive and funny. Having never really been into cruising or been on such a massive ship it was truly incredible how they organise and provide for the passengers and crew of approximately 3000 people.

You can see the architectural heritage of the interiors and exterior of this ship. With beautiful grand staircases with timber panelled walls. The details are extraordinary. The company has a connection to the White Star Line. This was the name of the Titanic company and it’s followed through to this day with similar style and heritage. Minus the icebergs and 109 years. Omg, it was that long ago!

The photography brief was perfect, shooting to my strengths not stiff and formal. Cunard (a subsidiary of Carnival Cruises) was looking for a photographer to shoot various crew at work in a very relaxed, natural, reportage style without looking set up. The shoot involved a detailed shooting schedule with the ship making sure crew were available in each location. The day was very busy with around 8 locations onboard with 2-3 scenarios in each location, shooting in both landscape and portrait with wide and tight options. With the right preparation and experience, it was thrilling with some pressure to make sure you nailed it.

Naturally, we did!

Creative Business Portraits - inner city Sydney

When Greg Masters contacted me for some corporate portrait photography of himself I was currently overseas. But not to worry I emailed Greg some information about how I worked and the concepts for the photo shoot. He was referred to me by another client of mine. So Greg was more than happy to wait till my return from overseas. Greg was an ideal client because he knew he didn't just want the standard LinkedIn Headshot, he required some creative and alternative images of himself for his business's website and social media. The photography shoot in the inner city took about 80 minutes and the location was at Greg's uber cool New York Style apartment and in the streets of Redfern. 

Greg has more than 25 years experience consulting to government and community sectors. He is passionate about making a difference and helping organisations change for the better. Visit Nexus to learn more about how he can assist your organization. 

Architectural & Portrait Travel Photography

As a busy commercial and photographer in Sydney it’s important to take some time off occasionally and explore our neighbouring countries. However I'm always a passionate photographer even on holidays as I’m still looking for that spontaneous moment or that striking architectural landscape.

I recently visited two amazing and different cities.  Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. I have been to Bangkok previously a number of years ago. It’s just as hectic as I remembered and you can still write you name in the air. Because of the air pollution you can actually get some lovely soft lighting, unlike the harsh Australian light. Kuala Lumper on the other hand was quite a surprise, very modern with just enough of Asia’s chaos to remind you you're actually not in a western city. The architecture of Kuala Lumpur is a blend of old colonial influences, Asian traditions, Malay Islamic inspirations, modern, and postmodern architecture mix. Being a relatively young city compared with other Southeast Asian capitals such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila, most of Kuala Lumpur's colonial buildings were built toward the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Petronas Towers once the world’s tallest buildings till 2004 are truly remarkable. They also built by Australia’s own Lend Lease. 

Adriano Zumbo Black & White Portrait - The Rocks Sydney

Fun and creative portraits. Here's another one of my favourites from my Personal Archive.

Following on from my successful entry in Sydney Morning Herald "Shoot The Chef" portrait competition in 2008. I was thrilled with opportunity to captured a portrait of Adriano Zumbo. I wanted to create something dark and mysterious, reminiscent of Hollywood's classical film noir period, which is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. 

So off i went location scouting. I knew the photograph needed to be captured at night to achieve the right moody look i was after. But i still needed some ambient lighting as well. So with a combination of street lighting and studio flash i was able to create a stunning, moody and even romantic black and white image. Sydney's Rocks area is a wonderful place for timeless portrait photography and classic wedding photos. 

And yes I was again a finalist in the Shoot The Chef photography competition in 2009.

Sydney Photographic Art Prize "Shoot the Chef"- 2008 Finalist!

Welcome to the relaunch of my "Personal Photography" section being on my website. ABOUT TIME!!

Every week I will blogging about some off my past personal projects and previous entries in some of Australia's leading photographic art competitions. 

As well as new stuff of course !!

So the inaugural image is one of most my memorable. It was a fun creative shoot at my previous studio in Balmain which was just around the corner from my current studio in Mansfield street Rozelle. And yes it was real bathtub; yes they had pants on; and no they did not reuse the 10 kgs of coffee beans and yes we had a great time shooting it. 

I captured this image in 2008, the first of four concurrent entries that were finalists in the same competition. More to come!!  Titled "Bath Time - They love their coffee so much they bathe in it" I shot the image for the Sydney Morning Herald's "Shoot The Chef Photographic Competition", which runs in October during the Good Food Month. The subjects were Alberto and Antonio Locano of Bertoni Casalinga who serve awesome coffee and traditional home style Italian food at their cafes in Balmain, Balmoral Beach and the Sydney CBD. 

I'm always on the lookout for new quirky photography subjects and art projects. If you have an idea just drop me line and we'll chat.