Here’s some photos from a brief shoot i had on Friday with famous New York transexual Amanda Lepore for Time Out Sydney. Amanda was in town to launch a new gay club night.

This was a pretty intimidating and exciting shoot for me, not because of Amanda Lepore per se, but for the fact that she was/is David LaChapelle’s muse and subject of so many of his photographs.

While i don’t ape his style, it was discovering his work over ten years ago that first made me open my eyes to how amazing photography could be and planted the seeds of my obsession with the craft.

With Amanda i just had a brief window of time to shoot after an interview and it had to be done at the Sheraton on the Park where she was staying.

I’ve shot there before and know the walls are pretty bland, so in a technique i picked up from Cybele, i brought my own wall in the form of some strips of vintage wallpaper.

It’s a simple thing, but adds more character to a shot than a plain cream wall.

Those shots were over so quick there was a bit more time to move into a corner with a grand piano for some more pictures.

There was also some spherical lamps which were cool looking, so i got her to hold one for a couple of frames.

It was all done in about 10 minutes.

Update (7/11/09)

Amanda Lepore backstage at Disgraceland before performing

And here’s some photos of Amanda Lepore performing at the launch of Saturday F*cking Night at Disgraceland on Oxford St.

Hundreds of sweaty gay men clamour for a look at Amanda Lepore

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In light of this week’s news of JD Fortune and his inauspicious exit from INXS i thought it might be timely to revisit some photos i took of the band in happier times.

These are photos i took for Drum Media in April 2006, two different shots ended up on the cover of Drum in Sydney and Inpress in Melbourne.

It was a pretty amazing assignment for me to get at the time. I’d hardly had any photos published before, had very little experience using off camera lighting and was nervous as all hell shooting a legendary band like INXS.

It turns out i got the gig based on a recommendation by someone in Melbourne who read my blog and though i’d be up for the task. Thanks Jez!

Anyway, as i really didn’t know what i was doing i enlisted Cybele to help and borrowed a couple of studio lights. The shoot was held at the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney at 10am.

Before arriving, Cybele and i stopped by a local bottle shop to pick up some champagne to use as a prop. I thought it’d be nice to inject some life and party vibes into the shot by having JD burst open the champagne. I was also a little nervous about the idea since i heard that some members of the band were alcoholic and teetotal now.

After arriving we found a colourful backdrop and set up two lights with reflector heads pointed to the ceiling to bounce the light off the roof. That was the one lighting setup i understood from bouncing light around with my flash while doing party photography.

I was using my Canon Rebel XT (350D) and hired a Canon 16-35mm f2.8 lens.

The band arrived and after brief introductions we were snapping away. I was very thankful for JD Fortune’s expressive personality as he really played up for the camera, pulling all sorts of poses and really embracing the champagne idea.

Just as i’d hoped, he popped open the bottle and sprayed it all over me with glee, dousing the ceiling with champagne in the process. Following that he swigged from the bottle and spat it everywhere. Classic rock’n'roll shenanigans.

I was at the hotel the other week, some 3 years later, and had a pang of pride and nostalgia seeing that the champagne stains are still visible on the ceiling.

Now three years down the track i’m shooting pictures full time and have numerous magazine covers under my belt, JD Fortune has kicked his cocaine habit and is living out of his pick up truck, and INXS are prodding the desecrated corpse of INXS considering whether to bring it back to life.

For the aspiring photographers out there i hope this is a lesson that you never know when a dream assignment will pop up out of the blue. If it does, just say yes, even if it scares the hell out of you. But don’t be too proud to ask for help.

It could be the shoot that changes everything.

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