Matt Hickey

My beautiful wife Wendy required a shot for her new work place.  Lucky she knew a guy who knew another guy who could do the photo for her.  Wenz is a personal trainer over at Fighting Fit, and absolutely loves it.  The team are awesome to work with and Wenz always has a laugh with her clients.  We also had a laugh or two while taking the photos if you didn’t notice.  If you are interested in pursuing some fitness goals, give Fighting Fit a call and ask for Wendy… you know, the girl that’s in the photos!

It’s now only two weeks away from Matt & Rachel’s wedding day so items are getting ticked off the list and finalised.  That includes their dance lessons.  I was lucky enough to be invited along to their last dance session to get a taste of Matt’s exceptionally slick dance moves.  Oh yeah, Rachel’s got the moves down too, she’s a mover and shaker from way back!

Here’s a quick sample of what to expect from Matt & Rachel’s moves in 14 days time.  A couple of Rachel’s bridesmaids also got into the action practicing their moves together.  Let’s hope their partners are dance stars and bring the moves on the night.

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The national road series made it’s way to Toowoomba for another year.  The final day of the five stage event is hosted around the picturesque Queen’s Park streets.  I packed up the camera and hit the streets on my trusty fixie and rode to my favourite position to view the event… the tough climb up Margaret Street.  It’s a great spot to capture some strained, oxygen deprived cyclists.  JP and his wife Kylie came out to view the action with their beautiful baby Scarlet, so I managed to snap a couple of pictures while waiting for the guys to come around for another lap.  I also managed to snap a disturbing picture of my cycling buddy Rubby warming up in the sun.

It was great seeing some of the boys I have ridden with over the years competing in the national event.  Jamie Lacey, Darren Rolfe (Stage Win), Haden Brooks and Karl Evans (Stage 3rd) all had great rides and appeared to stay out of trouble in the crashes.

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It’s the season for babies… apparently.  My brother and wife Chiya just had a baby boy, two workmates just had their babies and our friends, the Stockwell’s just introduced their new addition to the family, Heidi.  Here is a series of pictures from the “week old” baby shoot and Christening day.

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Christopher and Chiya welcome the edition of their new baby Kai-Jack.  He came into the world on Saturday morning, 9th June 2012.  The family are all doing well and settling into the new world of parenthood.

Congratulations Christopher and Chiya, you have a beautiful baby boy.

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My friend Cindy graciously helped me out with some modeling work and I have to say, it was an awesome experience.  Cindy knows how to model so it made my job easy.  Really, all I had to do was point the camera and shoot, and the result would have been great.

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I took the digital and two medium formats along for the session.  My aim was to produce some high quality shots on film which could be blown up poster size, if I got something nice.  I planned the shoot many days before and selected a number of locations which would suite the four main styles I was trying to achieve: Sexy Glamour, Fashion, Conceptual Art and a traditional Wedding shot.

Toowoomba turned on a nasty day.  Wind, rain, you name it.  We got through the first two locations well, mainly because they were in-doors, but once we ventured out side things became challenging.

One location I wanted Cindy to be jumping over a stream but because of all the rain, the small stream had turned into a river.  That was out.  Another location I had in mind was a really interesting chain link roller door.  Little did I realise that 7 o’clock in the morning my security access didn’t allow me into that area to shoot… another one out.

I saw another location a few days earlier while walking around grabbing some lunch and remembered it was undercover, perfect I thought.  Despite the wind, we managed to get some nice fashion shots, and also attracted a small crowd in the process.

We moved onto another location to do a little more of an arty conceptual style image.  The fog rolled in and the rain started pouring down.  Cindy was awesome and didn’t give up, even though she had goosebumps and was socking wet.  I really want to go back and revisit this series when we have more time because I didn’t get to a chance to push the boundaries with this style.

Finally we moved onto a site where we could do the wedding shots.  A slight hitch in the wardrobe department meant using the dress wasn’t going to be an option so we decided to go with getting some fun shots before moving on.

Looking back over the day, it proved to be a great challenge.  When using a softbox, umbrella, stands, strobes, changes of clothes and a model, you need to work fast.  If you are not prepared with your gear, locations and composition, you subject will get bored easily and probably never want to model for you again.  Fortunately for me, Cindy wants to do some more shoots and this time we are getting even more creative.

Here’s my tips for a successful day shooting with a model:

• Locations: Do your research.  Select multiple sites.  There may be an issue with one or more sites so you don’t want to be searching around for new sites on the day.  Keep the locations simple.  Remember, less is more

• Scrapbook: Map out your ideas into a scrapbook.  Workout your lighting setups (both natural light or strobes/flashes) for each idea.  Have backups.  You don’t want to be doing to much thinking on the spot because you will miss details

• Models: Make sure they are comfortable with you, and you are comfortable with them.  You are not only a photographer but a comedian, psychologist, listener… anything you need to be to make them feel relaxed.  Your images will show if they are uncomfortable.

• Gear: Charge your batteries, get the backup sets ready, clean your lenses, format your memory cards, reset your camera settings to your normal settings (ISO, Priority: Aperture/Shutter/Manual, White Balance, JPEG/RAW), pack your camera bag and get it ready to go the night before.  Make sure you place everything in the one spot.  Don’t leave your camera sitting on your desk and have everything else next to the front door.  Pretty embarrassing turning up to a photo shoot without your camera.

• The Day: If the conditions are not how you planned, think on your feet.  How can you make it work.  Change tack.  Most importantly, have fun.  If you are fun, good chances that will rub off on people around you.  If nothings working…. pack up, go home and call it a day.  You can always try again tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed the shoot.  I really encourage you to do the same some time.

My sister-in-law Teresa and her partner Jeff had a beautiful wedding in the Blue Mountains on ANZAC day 2012.  I wasn’t the official photographer but I had the pleasure of following the girls at the hair dressers and make-up session.  I was able to capture a few special moments before the ceremony.

My beautiful wife was MC and she blew away everyone with her performance… including me.  Definitely a career opportunity there.

While in NSW, we decided to do some site seeing in Sydney prior to the wedding and also explore the Janolan Caves after the wedding.  I haven’t been since I was a little kid but I soon felt like a little kid again.  The centre and tours are truly amazing.  I would suggest spending a whole day there, if not two and stay overnight in the accommodation at the centre.  We will definitely be going back to experience a concert performance in the caves at some stage.