Kenny Son's Grandparents..

                                        

        

  

I met Kenny outside his folks restaurant in Balmain, Ma BA Sa... Great food.  I was working on my beard project, at the time and thought he had an interesting look. I shot his portrait the following week and that was now, a few years back..

Kenny has a passion for design, which he studies and a love of photography and has been helping me out on shoots ever since.. I like Kenny a lot, he's very polite, calm and thoughtful.. His parents are lovely too, hard working and his mum loves the girls... For every time we go into the restaurant, they are in her arms..

Kenny has shown me many fantastic black and white images of his Grandparents on his father's side.
They were cool cats back in the day and I've mentioned that if they were to ever visit, to let me know, so I could take a portrait of them. And this happened on Thursday...

I very rarely get nervous before shooting anybody, but I felt slightly apprehensive before they arrived..

Kenny turned up with cakes in hand, I was already set up and didn't want to take too long over the shots. I gave Kenny direction and he translated. I found my usual Dad-Gag routine took a while to get through to my audience, I would say something, Kenny would translate, then a laugh would drop out the other end...

Anyway Kwang-won is 86 and has the verve of a man 20 years younger, as does Dong-soon, a mere 80... One thing I notice was how beautiful his Grandmother's skin was, I complimented her on this, but I felt she thought I was joking, but they both had a beauty about them, that I loved...

Did I mentioned they'd been married for 55 years..

I hope they like what I have taken and hope to see them again sometime...?



As always click on the image to enlarge...

Must Av A Moustache For Archie... Nugget

 

Recently I had some tragic news, that an old school friend had suddenly past away at the tender age of 39.. I had seen Adam 'Archie' Hughes for many years, but the whole school and town community have pulled together, over this sad news...

A Facebook page in honour of him was set up, entitled 'Must Av A Moustache For Archie'.. And all the locals and fellow school colleges are trying to grown Mo's.. Obviously there have been a fair few females uploading false mo's for the cause and my Elkie saw this and wanted to take a photo for the site..

We saw a moustache necklace on the weekend and we thought it would do the trick.. Though when it came time to strike a pose, she got rather camera shy, which is very unlike her.. So Daddy lent a helping hand, literally..

Here's my favourite from the very limited series...

R.I.P. Archie & my best wishes to you all connected with this tragedy, back home. x x

Beat Me To It.. Brendan Maclean. A Light Dusting..

Here is my first clip, a random idea I came up with recently, that I thought would work nicely with rising Singer/Songwriter Brendan Maclean.

Simply shot in one take..

Brendan gave a beautiful performance and I feel he really draws you in, considering it's just one long, three and a half minute shot..

We have a few other clips in the pipeline over the next few months, though the next one will not be so intense. A more humourous clip, which is to be a cover of an 80's Pop classic, will to be the order of the day...

I hope you like..?

Flour Power... Brendan Maclean. Beat Me To It..

So I called Brendan, on my return from London and let him know I want to shoot a video clip, of one of his songs.. Mr Maclean has already shot some great clips, that sum him up brilliantly.. My idea was a little different to that, so I told him the idea.. He said "Yep, sure. I'll be over next week."

I wanted to do this clip in one take, that was my only real direction, apart from keep eye contact and give it some welly, so to speak.. Brendan never disappoints.. We shot one practice run, for lyrics and then shot it for real..

The work process with him is always fun, he is always eager to shoot ideas, that a lot of singers probably wouldn't and he always delivers.. Whilst on Skype with my eldest nephew, back in London, who happens to be an actor of 15 plus years, I ask him if I could play him the clip, via Skype..

Holding the Ipad back to front and lining up the screen was an achievement in itself, but I wanted to see Dan's reaction..?  At first there was a grin and a smirk, then as the clip progressed, his expression changed..


These are some of the grabs from the clip...


http://youtu.be/GsH5arH_XIA


As always click on the image to enlarge...

Porteno Duo.. Ben & Elvis...

 

 

 

Well here are the rest of my shots of the chaps Ben & Elvis, from Porteno...

There isn't much I didn't cover about the guys in the previous blog, both successful for cooking up a storm, I wanted to shoot them as themselves, not in front of the kitchen, that shot is for another day..

I feel these two compliment one another, the same, but different, but both nice chaps, who look the part..

I commented to Kenny, that Elvis's plaster on his left index finger, was even cool...

They didn't rush, just let me do what I liked and seemed at ease throughout, which always helps.. 

I hope we get to work together again, in the not too distant future, I think there is more I'd like to try and bring out in their characters, as just Ben and just Elvis...

And maybe next time I dine there, we can share a beer, or two..?

http://www.porteno.com.au/

Ben & Elvis.. Porteno..

Ben & Elvis from Porteno look the business, very cool cats.. But they're both approachable and down to earth.. My mate Miles who'd tattooed the pair of them, set the session up for me..

I belled Elvis last week and we teed up a time...

The chaps are a real duo, they give each other balance, they work well together..  They both arrived at Porteno at 11am sharp, both looking sharp, Kenny and I set the kit  up, next to the bar upstairs and minutes later in walked Elvis. He's a tall and angular guy, every detail is immaculate, his hair, tattoo's, clothes and jewelry..

He sits down and we start, he easy to photograph and 10 minutes later we're done.. He and Ben have just received these rather sweet denim jackets from The Black Keys, they suit them to a tee, so for my first image from their series, this was what I sent them, for approval..

Obvious they seem pleased with the first shot, as they've uploaded it and I got it sent me by mutual friend, JimBob Country-Estate..

Anyway onto Ben, who just looks like he's stepped out of 1949, as I'm grading his shots, as I type, they really look like we could've been taking these shots, all those years back..

Ben also seems comfortable as we shoot, he's easy going and takes direction well..

I shoot them separately, which they've never been done before.. As I say, they are a strong duo, but also individuals and that's what I want to capture..


The rest of the series will follow in the next day or so...



http://www.porteno.com.au/



As always click on the image to enlarge...

Handy piece of work... Riff Raff Rob..

So I finish photographing Rob and I'm just about to start breaking down the set and he pipes up...

"Thought you wanted to shoot me hands?"

"Yes I did.."

So I go and get the step ladder from out back for him to stand on and dangle his arms over, because I don't want to swop the lights round.. It would have probably been easier to string him up from the ceiling, but we got there..

I'll be shooting Rob again, down the line when he gets more work done, in the meantime, I'll just drop into the shop from time to time, just to nick his chips at lunchtime..

Next up for my tattoo portrait series to send Morrissey, are Porteno duo Ben & Elvis..


As always click on the image to enlarge....