A model gets her hair and makeup finished

Last week i photographed behind the scenes at a number of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week shows for Little Hero PR.

It’s a pretty fun gig, shooting models and hanging out with photographer buddies. A lot of my brief was shooting sponsorship stuff but i snapped some frames for my own interest in between.

I made a gallery of some of my photos and there’s some samples below.

Romance Was Born

Romance Was Born designer's Luke and Anna overlook a rehearsal for their show at Mitchell Library

Alex from Hobo Gestapo shoots Louise Van Der Vorst dressed in Romance Was Born

Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett from Romance Was Born

The Australian Youth Choir backstage before singing The Never Ending Story

Flannel

Gail Sorronda

Alice McCall

A model's light reading while she gets her makeup done

Therese Rawsthorne

Carl Kapp

Kate Sylvester

Stolen Girlfriend’s Club

See more in my fashion week gallery and check out coverage from my photo comrades at Hobogestapo and Yimmy Yayo. Those guys knocked it out of the park with their unique perspective on things.

Related Posts

• Stolen Girlfriends Club : RAFW 2010
• Romance Was Born : RAFW 2010
• Therese Rawsthorne : RAFW 2010
• Friedrich Gray : RAFW 2010
• Flannel : RAFW 2010

Back in June i had an assignment for ACP magazines, shooting pictures behind-the-scenes at the taping of an Australia’s Next Top Model shoot.

I’ve never seen the show before, except for that kerfuffle over Sarah Murdoch announcing the wrong winner. No such problems on a non-live taping like i was tagging along with though.

The shoot was a challenge for the models at B2 Studios, an advertising photo shoot for Kotex with photographer Stephen Ward. Five girls posed separately for the photo with the winner being chosen to feature in the real advertisement.

The models get their hair and makeup done while the cameras roll

Model Sophie Van Den Akker gets her make up started

Sophie has final touches done to her makeup

Sophie gets a wig fitted

Models Kathryn Lyons and Sophie Van Den Akker in her wig

"Model Mentor" Josh Flinn chats to Sophie after her shoot

Photography assistants test the shot before the models arrive

Model Kelsey Martinovich poses for the shot while the crew look on

Behind the scenes in the studio

Photographer Stephen Ward with his eye to the camera

There's a digital operator on set who downloads the shots and comps them straight into an ad layout

A preview mock up of what the final ad layout will look like

After the five models are shot, mockups of the ad layouts are printed with their photo in it. Here, photographer Stephen Ward surveys the images determining whose photo is best.

Kelsey is announced the winner

Related Posts

• Triple j’s Nick Cave tribute
• Sarah Doyle in Time Out Sydney
• Backstage at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week
• Dan Sultan
• General Pants lookbook

2008 Miss Pole Dance Australia Winner Felix Cane

Back in October i took some pictures at Miss Pole Dance Australia 2010 at the Enmore Theatre.

I spent most of my time backstage.

Felix Cane warms up backstage. She is ridiculously flexible.

A vase makes a convenient place to leave some headwear backstage

Standard issue footwear

Kylie J from Victoria limbers up backstage

Kylie J onstage

While i’m at it, here’s some photos from last year’s competition.

I told you Felix Cane was flexible

Backstage stretching and listening to music

Say cheese!

A mother and daughter duo

Hair and makeup

Here’s some video of this year’s competition.

Related Posts

• Miss Pole Dance 2008
• Triple j’s Nick Cave tribute
• Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Next Top Model
• Sparkadia’s homecoming
• Expatriate at The Gaelic Theatre

The last of my fashion week posts is from the spectacular Romance Was Born show at The Wharf Restaurant on Sydney Harbour. As with previous shows from the designers it was extravagant, theatrical, kitsch and featured my old neighbour Pauly.

Paul

There was an aquatic theme going on, with shells, sea creatures, scales, coral, sea captains and nymphs.

The show was all set to the ethereal tunes of Bat for Lashes before the grand finale set to Prince. It brought tears to the eyes of several in the crowd.

Related Posts

• Friedrich Gray : RAFW 2009
• Romance Was Born : RAFW 2010
• ANT!PODiUM : RAFW 2009
• Fashion show model casting
• Backstage at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week

A few weeks ago i had the pleasure of spending some time backstage at Miss Pole Dance Australia 2008.

Evidently pole dancing isn’t the sleazy underground pursuit it once was, with this event held at the 2000 capacity Enmore Theatre with most of the audience made up of women.

Behind the scenes it was relatively calm; lots of stretching, listening to iPods, doing hair and make-up and spraying of thighs with hairspray.

The winner of Miss Pole Dance Australia was Felix Cane from Perth.

Follow the link from Time Out Sydney for a slideshow with over 50 more photos.

Related Posts

• Miss Pole Dance Australia 2010
• Triple j’s Nick Cave tribute
• Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Next Top Model
• Sparkadia’s homecoming
• Expatriate at The Gaelic Theatre

My old chums Sparkadia headlined a packed Gaelic Theatre on Saturday night. It was good to see them back home after touring Europe and playing festival dates at Glastonbury and T in the Park.

Like i did previously with Expatriate, i snapped a few pictures of Sparkadia backstage, nervously anticipating going on stage to a hometown crowd.

Sparkadia have several more weeks of touring across Australia ahead of them, leading up to Homebake and New Years Eve at Purple Sneakers.

UPDATE 30/10/08

Sparkadia visited the breakfast show on Triple J and performed a lovely acoustic version of The Presets ‘This Boy’s in Love’. Follow the link from here to download the mp3, skip to 12mins 25sec in for the song.

Related Posts

• Expatriate at The Gaelic Theatre
• Triple j’s Nick Cave tribute
• Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Next Top Model
• Miss Pole Dance Australia 2010
• Miss Pole Dance 2008

On returning from overseas one of my first assignments was to photograph Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton for a Time Out Sydney cover feature.

The feature is about their roles as Creative Directors of the Sydney Theatre Company and previewing the STC open day where the public can see backstage at the theatre.

I’ve shot a few famous faces in my time, but it’s still intimidating getting one-on-one photo time with one of the world’s most revered actresses. I’d photographed her before, but that was among an anonymous barking press pack.

In the lead up there’s no chance to actually speak with Cate or Andrew, all communication is via the publicist. It’s hard to get too conceptual or lock in shots when you can’t discuss ideas directly with the photo subjects.

I visit the theatre beforehand to map out some potential locations for pictures, but it’s hard to set anything in stone. It’s up to Cate and Andrew what they want to do. And i won’t know that till we meet and i have to start shooting.

True to form, when we meet, Cate suggests a spot underneath the stage that i wasn’t planning on using. But i’m flexible, so we head over and decide it’s worth a shot. If Cate’s keen, then so am I.

I quickly set up a single light, ask for some costumes to hang behind them, grab a nearby bloodied box as a prop and start taking pictures a few minutes from the moment we meet.

There’s no stylist, no hair and make-up. Just straight into it with my trusty 5D and 50mm combination.

I glance at the back of the camera to see how the shots look. I relax a little. Cate looks amazing in every frame. They have great chemistry and Andrew’s nice and playful.

After a dozen or so photos i figure i’ve got what i need from this spot and move on to a new location in a large backstage area where all the sets are built.

The interview is being done at the same time as the photos, so our editor-in-chief keeps them chatting while i set up.

I experiment using flash, but the natural light looks much nicer and i stick with that.

I’m aware of my time running out and try my luck at a few more shots in the props department. I shoot a few, but the momentum is gone and time is up.

I’m relieved. I didn’t reinvent the wheel, or get anything particularly outstanding, but I didn’t fuck it up. That’s the dread that always lurks in the back of my mind.

The magazine is in Sydney newsagents now and the story is online with a slideshow of more images.

Related Posts

• Leeanna Walsman
• Yael Stone
• An afternoon with Carmen
• David and Margaret At The Movies
• Sydney Swan Adam Goodes

Back in February i took some snaps of Van She at iSpy studios in Alexandria. I believe they demoed material there before recording the album properly in London.

It’s been a long gestation for the album, i’m sure they’re very relieved to finally have it out in the shops.

They’re touring heavily to support the album release, starting this weekend in Melbourne and Sydney with label mates Ladyhawke and Tame Impala.

Get the album, go to the show, buy the t-shirt.

Related Posts

• Backstage at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week
• Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Next Top Model
• Miss Pole Dance Australia 2010
• Paul Dempsey recording Everything is True
• Dappled Cities record Zounds

On Saturday night Expatriate headlined a sold out show at The Gaelic Club.

Similarly to the other week when Dappled Cities Fly and Red Riders played the Metro, this was another case of a Sydney band playing a triumphant sold out show in their hometown.

It feels like Expatriate have broken through the trendy indie band scene into a more mainstream following. The crowd wasn’t the regular industry types and subdued cool kids, it was genuine fans who sung along to all the songs and bought the t-shirt at the end of the night. The band are played on Nova, get features in the Telegraph and tour with Simple Minds and Powderfinger. There seems to be a momentum pushing them beyond their Sydney inner city roots.

I spent a little time with the band before they went onstage. It was quite strange to discover them all warming up by singing in the ladies toilet backstage. It sounded great and was quite a privelege to get my own private performance.

I took a little video on my phone. Damian and Dave (the bassist) were singing by themselves when Ben came in to tell them Bit By Bats were almost finished their set.

See more photos in the Expatriate at The Gaelic gallery and plenty more Expatriate posts in the archives.

Related Posts

• Sparkadia’s homecoming
• Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Next Top Model
• Miss Pole Dance Australia 2010
• Miss Pole Dance 2008
• Les Savy Fav at The Gaelic Club