Photography Masterclass Magazine

There's a new photography magazine on the block! Photography Masterclass Magazine has just hit the iPad Newstand! Stroll down and pick up your virtual copy! Plus, if you look closely you may just see a familiar face :)

The lovely folks behind this creative magazine iPad app are aiming to deliver a monthly issue full of digital photography tutorials, techniques, inspiring content & stunning images from around the world! Their first issue was released to the world on Nov 15, 2012.

So how did I end up with a mention on the cover? 

Well, you see... you never know who's watching you at a wedding...

I'm hanging ballgowns from chandeliers, crawling beneath cake tables, and wrangling distant relatives into bear hugs — how could I possibly have time to notice the eyes that may or may not be following me around the room? I'm like a one-woman circus on a wedding day & back in May my crazy cool moves (ha!) caught the attention of a guest at Ruthie & James' wedding at Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland.

A month later, this special guest, Miss Gill Roberts of Photography Masterclass Magazine, dropped me an email requesting a wee something something for their first issue. 

Just a few weeks before writing this article, I'd watched Sue Bryce's "Glamour Photography" creativeLIVE workshop for the first time EVER. I was an instant glamour convert & I was rearing to charge full steam ahead! 

I couldn't help myself — glamour was all I wanted to talk/write about. Sue Bryce shared glamour with me and I wanted to share it with the world (too!). So, despite having no more than a weekend glamour workshop beneath my belt & about ten photo shoots on my harddrive, I pitched my a wee intro to glamour article (that included literally everything I knew at that point lol) to Gill and voila!  

Have a wonderful day and tune in to creativeLIVE! We've got AWESOME workshops playing at the moment! They could change your life. www.creativelive.com

Buying a Chair is like Choosing a Husband

I feel compelled to purchase every piece of flamboyant furniture that struts itself before me BUT that would be just like mixing all the paints together until you get puke poopy brown sludge — not exactly the look I'm going for with my new photography studio. I needed a colour pallette for guidance — I decided to go with fresh calming colours like cream & gold with charcoal & sea-foam accents. Sounds fabulous, I know :P lol

Deciding on the palette was the easy part though. Over the past week I've been hunting through furniture stores & consignment shops in agony — it physically hurts to say "no" to the gorgeous hot pink velvet arm chair and the perfect purple chaise lounge! Buying white furniture just doesn't feel as exciting. I was stressin' over this until last night when I was driving home on 520 and a beautiful metaphor flew in through my sunroof....

Buying Furniture is Like Choosing a Husband

There are plenty of drop dead handsome men in this world that make my knees weak BUT that doesn't mean I should marry ALL of them. Just because we'd look cute together at the alter doesn't mean he'll be the best contribution to my life; the one who can make me feel calm when life gets hectic and help me reach my full potential.

Likewise....

There are plenty of drop dead gorgeous chairs with vibrant colours, popping patterns & curves that would make J-Lo jealous BUT that doesn't mean I should buy them ALL! Just because we look amazing together in the store doen't mean it'll be the best contribution to my photography studio; the chair that will give my space that perfect atmosphere of glamorous tranquility.

Flashy fashions are fleeting (lovin' the alliteration today!) but I'm looking for the chair that I want to grow old with, right?! The chair that will compliment every outfit I wear, match every mood I'm in, and adjust to every stage I go through in life/business. That's not asking much or anything :P

Now I'm content — I can walk into Pier 1 and flirt a little with the turquoise armchair knowing that despite his uncanny good looks, he's not "the one" for me. Goodbye internal turmoil!

PS: FYI — I've already found & married a wonderful man that is "just right" for me. This post is infused with hypothetical-ness. :P

Shooting in Paradise :: Behind the Scenes Hawaiian Style

Behind the Scenes is my favourite place to be....especially when "Behind the Scenes" is located on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii during a tropical golden sunset.... 

While I was crawling around like a crab in the sand, asking Ricky & Nozomi to spin & twirl for my camera, little did I know that my dad was creeping over in the bushes with his zoom lens, capturing the FULL picture in action! As far as I'm concerned, what could possibly be more fascinating than seeing pictures of me taking pictures?! I LOVE it! Plus, I just generally love a behind-the-scenes image sitting beside the final image taken in that same moment. Kinda fun & magical! 

I'm going to guess that I actually shoot 60% of a wedding day from down on the ground :P I get funny looks and very dirty knees but I just love the perspective from down there. Nothing quite like it.

Aloha rainbow! Every single day there's a rainbow on that beautiful island! 

Rainbows mean sudden downpour of rain.....

Ah, what a dream.... I miss you Hawaii. :)

Behind the Scenes VIDEO of Sydney's Glamour Shoot

A-rat-a-tat-tat...a-tinki-tinki-tinki.

The music was synchronized perfectly with my brother's dance moves. I'd spent days carefully crafting the most amazing home-video in the history of mankind. 

And then I lost it. All of it...gone! 

Some virus corrupted my files and my 13 year old heart broke over the PC's keyboard. 

So scarred by this experience of creative robbery, I've hardly touched video since 

(not counting those goofy movies I made with friends at university).

But the time has come to get back on the horse and hit record! 

Inspired by Sue Bryce {of course} I'm ready to start playing with video and sharing 

my new business with the world through moving pictures!

So, voila! My first behind-the-scenes video of a glamour shoot:

no fancy monopod; no super-duper editing software; no profesh videographer — 

just the beautiful Sydney + my Canon 5D Mark II + iMovie + a big dollop of homemade love 

= attempt #1 at assembling a photo shoot story :) Enjoy!

Read more about Sydney's experience (in her own words) on her "From the Model's Perspective" blog post HERE.

Thank you to Make-Up Artist Hanna Mazur for her amazing beauty skills!

Have a fabulous Monday :D