While shooting around our hotel at Mission Beach, the ever creative Vassanta put together some different looks using the husks off the side of palm trees as a headdress, discarded palm fronds to frame her face and some discarded branches to create some “antlersâ€.   I thought it would be interesting to share some of the different versions of these portraits from my experiments in Lightroom. More photos to come from the sessions around Mission Beach and the palms.
I made two excursions to Babinda Boulders. It’s located in a park in the jungle midway between Cairns and Mission Beach, Australia. Rapids run through beautiful curvy rock formations carved by the river as well as rain erosion. The first visit was upon arrival in Australia. Claudine and I were anxious to shoot and stopped by there on the way to Mission Beach after flying into Cairns from Auckland, NZ. There is about a mile of paved paths running high above the river bank to give you several lookout points over the beautiful rocks. We reached the end of the trail overlooking a vast stretch of boulders with rapids running through them and cascading in small waterfalls. Kids were everywhere jumping from boulder to boulder and over the stream as well. Danger signs were everywhere – “Extremely Slippery, People have died here !”   With all the kids jumping from boulder to boulder, how dangerous could it be? So we ventured out. Of course, I find a wet patch and proceed to fall on my ass. It was like walking on ice! The signs were not joking. So we gingerly wandered among the boulders trying to find private places to shoot. In most cases, we had just a few minutes opportunity to shoot before onlookers materialized. However, even with those limitations, I love the images we got – especially the ones of her curled up in these gorgeous womb like carvings in the rock.
The next day I went on a scouting trip of some locations for shooting later in the week and Rebecca came along for the adventure and also some shooting if we found some places. Josephine Falls was gorgeous, but too crowded. We were near Babinda Boulders and thought Rebecca might enjoy seeing it. Plus, there was a whole section I had not seen the day before, and it might not be as crowded to shoot in the areas I had been. We went back to the area Claudine and I had shot in. It was not as crowded as the day before and we wandered around looking for shooting locations. I warned Becca about the slippery rocks. She thought it would be cool to shoot by the water by jumping down about 4 feet into this cubby hole by the water. I was nervous, but off she jumped…..annnnd slipped right off the little rock ledge and into the rapids. She was caught in a shoot of water barely clutching the rock walls before being swept down stream. I jumped down in the same cubby hole, slipping myself and it took all my strength to steady myself on the slippery rock and pull her out against the current. Miraculously, the sarong she had on didn’t get ripped off her by the current. So now we are holding on to each other stuck in this cubby hole, just big enough for the both of us, with the rock ledge we need to get out 4 feet up. So, I steadied myself and pushed her up the ledge and she was out. But now I was stuck. It was too slippery for me to get any kind of footing to get out. Luckily two Aussie teenagers came the rescue. One holding on to me to pull me out and the other holding on to his mate to prevent him from slipping down into the hole with me. Without them, it would have been a loooonggg wait because nobody was around. So we were both bruised and banged up, but nothing major. We had lost the confidence in remaining safe in the area, so we departed for the upper part of the river. Here, the water pools into a small lake before being channeled into the rapids below. Rebecca went swimming in the pool with me shooting at a distance with a 300mm lens. I couldn’t get closer due to the danger of slipping on the rocks to get to the pool and going swimming with my camera gear. I think Rebecca enjoyed her skinny dipping and swimming except for one time putting her hand on a rock and finding a spider larger than her hand in a cubby hole. I love the ones we got with the light highlighting her form while swimming. Later in the week, we visited a crocodile farm and learned that crocs are known to habitat bodies of water like the one Becca was swimming in. hmm. That’s one bitey thing I’m glad we didn’t meet in the wild!
This was a day of firsts. First time working with the lovely Soph from Australia, first time entering the jungle forests of Australia and the first time I encountered the biting things of Australia. The first two firsts more than made up for the last one. We shot in two locations, first in some forest near Mission Beach and then among the rocks and trees on Mission Beach. We entered the forest on a trail and did some shooting among some trees using the shadows of the leaves to paint her body. Then we continued down the trail coming to a creek where we also ran into some other members of our group. Soph wandered up the creek where we got some stunning shots with the jungle canopy surrounding her. And this is where the jungle dance comes in. It was my first experience with the biting flies of Mission Beach. And it’s not one or two attacking you..but swarms of them about the size of a US horse fly biting you and drawing blood. But what am I complaining about! I had shorts on and they were just biting my legs. Poor naked Soph was getting bitten all over. It’s amazing either of us could hold still enough under the dark canopy of the jungle to get any sharp images! We then escaped the killer flies to go to the flyless beach. When we arrived at the beach, we ran into the same members of our group we encountered in the forest. I swear we were not stalking them!!! Once on the beach, we got some beautiful images among the boulders and trees. Thanks to Soph for sharing the experience, the bites  and getting some lovely images
After 3 days of rain on the South Island of New Zealand, our drenched group headed back to the North Island. We passed through Wellington and headed about 40 minutes north to spend the night at Raumati Beach before traveling on to Taupo the next day. I awoke in the early morning darkness to go check out the weather and beach for a possible shoot that morning. OMG….not a cloud in the sky and the beach was gorgeous was a small river flowing into the ocean strewn with logs and debris. I found some beautiful shooting locations using that debris, and stumps of trees on the beach with the large Kapiti Island as background. Claudine was ready for an early morning shoot and we got some beautiful pre-dawn shots as the light was just hitting the waves giving it an amber bluish hue. I then went back to our hotel and grabbed Rebecca. The sun had risen at that point and got some nice slightly overexposed shots with the sun behind her as well as it accentuating her porceline complexion.  It was a tricky location because there were houses all along the beach. A few early morning passerbys just waved or ignored us. Shooting like this is so natural to me now, that I forget it might offend some people. Well apparently it did, becuase by the time Edward and Vassanta started shooting the police were out. I wish we had more time to spend here becuase you could take a boat to Kapiti island and I’m sure there’d be interesting shooting and hiking there.
Our merry band had spent a lovely day watching rain drops fall as we drove through the New Zealand countryside on the South Island. What to do if it’s raining? Tour some wineries for some tastings at least. We arrive at our first one, only to find it closed. But discovered this massive steel sculpture on the grounds…and the rain had actually stopped. We split up taking different sides of the steel behemoth to do our shooting. Claudine and I did our first shoot together and she did a wonderful job turning her body into a piece of art suspended from art. I love the angles we shot to accentuate the angles of the sculpture and her curves.
Prior to arriving for OzFest, several of us ventured to New Zealand where it rained most of the seven days we were there and didn’t do as much shooting as we’d planned. Our B & B hostess was a former Playboy model (1960’s Girls of the Benelux) and recommended several places to shoot. One of them was Rabbit Island about 30 minutes from Nelson. After driving in the rain all day trying to see some natural sights, we ended the day on Rabbit Island. We got out of the car long enough to see a deserted beach  with massive logs strewn across the beach – a great location, but then the rain started AGAIN. We sat in the car for 30 minutes praying for the rain to stop, giving it another 10 minutes before giving up as the light was fading too. At the 10 minute mark, the rain miraculously stopped and we ran to the beach for a quick 30 minute shoot as the light faded with even, but dull lighting on such an overcast day. My challenge was to try to create some images that “popped” and not just a dull gray look. Vassanta was masterful (as she always is) using the environment around her to create some magic.
You’ve seen it on facebook and now it’s arrived. To honor our Ozzie hosts, I’ve started to learn to play the Aborigine’s wind instrument, the didgeridoo. So this is my first concert after one lesson. Actually….this is sooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaadddddd that it’s funny and I don’t mind embarrassing myself for a good laugh…enjoy…or cover your ears. ;) Don’t have your windows open in the northwest when you play this….I’ve been told Moose go wild upon hearing it!
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You’ve seen the video, now see the pictures…LOLÂ
I had the pleasure to collaborate with Joceline for the first time last year at JT. With her dance and fashion background, I enjoy mixing it up and shooting both nudes and some “fashion” images with her. This session was not an exception. First we went into the jungle near Mission Beach to shoot along a creek. First we did some shooting with a black tutu and corset. The we moved to shooting nudes in the creek.We had many visitors.  First some people. But like most Aussies, they waved back…or took pictures. Then (as was told in the video), we had a large bird visitor. I was shooting nudes of Joceline on a tree stump when she turned and started yelling in a loud stage whisper, “There’s a Cassowary!!!” For those not in the know, this flightless bird is about the size of an ostrich and populates only this part of Australia. It has a large bone protrusion on its head…giving it a dinosaur look. To complete that comparison, it also has a large raptor claw it uses to embed in adversaries and disembowel them. So Joceline was rather fleet of foot bounding down the creek and running up a hill. I stayed near the creek between her and the bird to make sure it didn’t come our way…but also to try to get a shot…Hey…I’m a photographer. It came near us on the path, but then wandered off into the jungle. PHEW!
We finished shooting in the jungle and then headed to the beach at Mission Beach. The sun was setting and we used the light to our advantage among the rocks and beach. She demonstrated her poise and grace with her ballerina shoes…adding a nice touch in contrast to the rocks around her. She then showed her balance and posing ability on a log going into some impossible poses balancing on the log in various positions…WOW…It inspired me to get back to pilates class. How does she do that?! I had also shot Stephanie Ann on the same log….so it was interesting to see how both of these extraordinary talents used the same “tool”.  As you can see, I came away with some wonderful images and even more appreciation of this talented and graceful creature (that is, Joceline…not the bird). More to come!
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Madame Bink…I can’t say enough nice things about her talent and dedication as this story will show. It was one misadventure after another. We shot all day one day at Mission Beach and Dunk Island. We started with sunrise shots at 5:30 AM around the Eco Village resort by the rocks and beach. As stated in earlier blogs, one of my goals was creatively using over and underexposure. We got some lovely shots with the light framing her by shooting into the sun and also some awesome silhouettes. For the ones attached here, I did split processing with them and love the subtle hues of the rocks and her body. We took a breakfast break and then headed to the water taxi for a ride to Dunk Island. Except I went to the wrong departure point. So we raced the 10 KM and barely made it in time for the 20 minute ride to Dunk Island. Once there we hiked over to Muggy Muggy Beach – where The Island and its Critters were waiting to do just that – Mug us.  She spotted a cool formation of three rock outcroppings lined up in a row going out to sea…So she waded out to the middle one for some shots. I noticed after we finished that she was limping and she had cut her foot open on the rocks. Poor Binky’s red blood was spilling and I was really concerned. We applied pressure and wrapped it in a towel and then the rain started. So we limped over to the near by jungle to get under a canopy of trees while we waited about an hour for the rain to stop and her foot to stop bleeding. I thought we should stop shooting, but she insisted she was fine and to continue. After the rain stopped, we limped over to an alcove where the sun was highlighting this rock outcropping. She gracefully lay on the rock as I waded out to sea a little to get the right perspective. Suddenly she jumps screaming! A crab had crawled up on the rock and had bitten her OTHER foot while she was posing. So we took another little break while we got her shoes on and decided we’d take a lunch break and limped the 2 KM back to the Dunk Island resort. I was ready to call it quits, but she keep insisting we should keep shooting. What a marvel! The only condition was, she couldn’t take off her shoes anymore to protect her feet. So the rest of the day we either shot around it or incorporated her boots into the shoot. So we limped up the trail to Mt Kataloo. We stopped in one place where she put on my NZ bush hat (some pictures attached) for some jungle fashion shots. Then we found this marvelous huge tree with all kinds of cubby holes and root extensions coming out. The light was really even and I focused on slightly underexposing it to have her meld into the tree. As you can see, she also expertly used her green wrap to frame her face and body, blending in with the natural surroundings. I love the results we got. The pictures have a feel of pictures taken a century ago. I think part of it is the lighting and use of her wrap…but also her darker looks from her Gypsy ancestors. Of course, this being OZ, all day long, the bitey things were nipping at us in swarms.  All day long it was the Mayfly slappy dance and exclamations of “SOB, leave me alone”, “Will You Please go away”, etc. I was laughing because if anyone came up on us, I was afraid they’d think she was cursing at me. Well, we made it through the whole day, had an adventure and came away with some awesome images…..and I came away with great respect for this dedicated and talented artist.
