Saturday, December 22, 2012

Contacts Christmas Card 2012

Had this idea for my Christmas mailer, which ended up being for Contacts' same purpose.

A North Avalon family kindly offered their home, but the amazing thing is the whole street does the full-on lights thing. Gotta love the far Northern beaches. They are super laid back and and there are almost none of the dramas that Home and Away might suggest.

Rocky, who owns Bike Bug North Sydney, kindly agreed to be our talent, and Rebecca Riegger did an absolutely amazing job of the props and styling. Also ups to Todd Sotheren who did the clipping paths to make the retouch a breeze.

The dog, Reg, makes the shot.

Merry Christmas


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Allianz Library Images

One of my repeat clients, Allianz Insurance, commissioned this project, and it allowed me another opportunity to hone the art of directing real people, not models or actors, to their best performance for the shot.


The brief appealed to my documentary roots at first, but I shifted my style in a enviro-portrait direction to accommodate  the wide range of applications that the images would be used for. 

The client quite rightly felt that there was very little in existing stock that suited their needs, and wanted to use real people, in real situations-their own jobs, with a definite sense that we are looking at real Australians.

There were some pretty stressful challenges in getting the right talent and locations logistics sorted within the budget constraints, not to mention the curve ball thrown by the weather, but I'm proud to say the images portray, for the most part, people in their actual jobs, in their actual workplaces. In fact, the situations where hired talent had to be used, I found less convincing

I wanted to hero the subjects subtly with lighting and casual pose, but keep it feeling natural. We scheduled around the weather for the outdoor shots, as hard sunlight is a strong differentiating factor when trying to make images look more Australian.

Our ÜberProducer Penni pulled absolute miracles with regards to talent, locations and even weather prediction, and needed a relaxing massage by the end of the shoot.

Cherith Crozier did a cracker of a job in the styling, and together with myself and AD Sarah Straker, we had a solid team with a clear direction throughout the shoot.








Praise Whole Egg mayonaise


The AD at +Jack Watts Currie, Pamela Parelli, had put together a concise brief which resonated with me straight away. It called for an expression performance from the talent, and the food to look good too. It also needed to work visually with the hands holding plates reaching in.

We were fortunate to find the perfect location, and the weather smiled upon us, being the first clear day in a while.

Had a dream team of crew, with food styling by Kristine Duran Thiesen, wardrobe by Natasha Harrison, and Contacts' Leeby Sotheren doing makeup, and Todd Sotheren as retoucher.

The model Angela Shallis was serene and professional, and while the exclamatory performance was out of her comfort zone, she kept on trying till we got what we wanted.

Everything was shot on location, including the packshot and additional food tabletop shot to keep costs under control.

The AD, agency and client were very happy with the outcome, and so am I. One of my favourites for the year!