New Studio – First pics and Test

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Kenny

Here’s a couple pics shot today of the new studio space, what is missing is a desk for post processing and office area, a small rug to go under the couches, and a bulb for the groovy reading lamp. What’s not pictured is the 6 person hair and makeup room, reception area and restroom.

3 walls are painted gray, to stop light bouncing around the room. I left the floor bare which has a cool industrial texture to it with paint spilled all over by the original builders, kinda adds character.

And here’s your truly in a quick test of the setup.

KSP Promo Brochures

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Kenny

Thought I’d share a couple pics of my portfolio brochures I just had printed up. When working with my business development coach Becs Arnott we came up with the concept for something to leave with people on my contact list that I meet with, beyond the normal calling card. After a bit of conceptualising this is what we came up with.

I split my portfolio between my hard edge look (Core) and my lifestyle look (Life & Styles). The branding is exactly the same as my business cards and the focus is really on the images, 12 nice big A4 sized pages with edge to edge photos. It’s helpful to show what my stuff looks like in print, and I gotta say, it looks really cool. For something different we made the covers plastic and used funky little metal rings to bind it down the side.

Welcome to the New Bigger and Better Blog

Posted on July 3, 2010 by Kenny

Welcome!

As I said in my previous post, I’ve been working with my peeps over at Cyberdo on redoing my blog to make it a part of my site. Blogspot was great for what it was, but I was essentially generating traffic to someone else’s site and it was time to harness that.

This new blog integrates completely into my site and is still really easy to use.

I’ve tried to contact most people who subscribe to my old blog, but in case I missed someone, I’m gonna leave the Blogspot site up for a while with a link here. Please go ahead and change your bookmarks, you will need to resubscribe via RSS feed if you did before.

For those of you who want to know the nerdy details about the shot on white above, here are some tips:

Light the background first and get your exposure right (In this case I used 2 AB strobes on 1/4 power)
Flag the background strobes so you don’t get spill from those lights onto your subject
Once you’re happy with the background, light your subject (In this case I used a single AB strobe on 1/8th power through a beauty dish)
I got a lot of tips from Zack Arias’ blog on seamless white backgrounds, Google him, it’s worth a read

3 of My (current) Favourite Things

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Kenny

For fellow photogs out there, here are 3 things I’m digging lately:

Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) Being able to upload files by syncing a drive on the computer is awesome, and probably the best way I’ve found so far to deliver images online. You can share folders using a unique email link for each folder, and your recipient can download them, saves heaps of time.
Billings 3 (www.marketcircle.com/billings) I’ve just started using the program Billings for all my accounting, and so far I’ve found it to be AMAZING. You can use a timer for tasks to accurately track your work in progress, enter activity slips for each client, then raise a bill when you want to. The reports module ties everything all together, and if that wasn’t enough, you can sync it with your iPhone for when you are on location. So much easier and more relative for creatives than MYOB. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I got mine from the Apple store for $69AUD!
My custom made lighting case. I used a Stanley “Fat Max” giant toolbox, removed the inside molded compartments, lined it with molded foam and now have a watertight case to house 3 strobe heads, all the cables and attachments. It’s key lockable, and my foam lining ensures nothing moves out of place and can be flipped upside down without disturbing anything. I’ve attached some iPhone pics, check it out.

Amanzi Swimwear Campaign – Behind the Scenes

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Kenny

AMANZI Swimwear Behind The Scenes 2010 from AMANZI Swimwear on Vimeo.

Here’s a video that my assistant Kyle shot and edited during the shooting day for the Amanzi Swimwear 2010 campaign.

Kyle shot all the footage and took all the stills as I was working on the actual campaign pics. He then wrapped it all together in this neat little edit.

The original soundtrack was licenced from party masters The Surecut Kids. Check out their site or connect with them on Facebook.