Gold Coast & Brisbane foodies can check out my dedicated food photography site for my latest blog food shoot news, food trends, recipes and other time-sapping wonderment.
The latest news is that I’ve been short-listed for the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Awards! Regarded by many as the most prestigious of international food photography awards, I’m very flattered just to have made it this far. Here’s a direct link to the article… 🙂
The photography business has gotten off to a great start for 2016 – a good sign for business in the Gold Coast/Brisbane region.
I’ve been shooting a lot of food lately, hence the silence on this blog! You can read about these shoots on my independent food photography site here.
One recent shoot was for Pink Pitaya, a Gold Coast company supplying pitaya (AKA: dragonfruit) to cafes, restaurants and health food stores in the region.
Preview of the shoot can be seen below…
Behind the scenes…
Last week I attended the inaugural Big Blue Sky event at Q1 on the Gold Coast.
This was an opportunity that came about after a meeting with my client, Karen, from Gold Coast Food & Wine Tours, who introduced me to her business mentor, Susan. Susan and I gelled almost immediately and got chatting about her past work writing about social justice issues and the UN’s Communications Department. To be honest, this shared passion of ours hijacked the meeting and the photography aspect was almost lost sight of! I later shared some of my past writing on social justice and foreign policy matters and voila, was invited to participate in this most amazing of events.
Big Blue Sky is an initiative that aims to change the way that business is done on the Gold Coast. More broadly, the ‘moonshot’ essence of it, is to change the entire paradigm of the Gold Coast from that of a somewhat tacky, unrealised city in the true sense of the word, to a progressive, community-led destination for innovative businesses, that will enrich the existing community in many more ways than just professionally. Vibrant, engaged communities self perpetuate positivity and flourish. Academics aside, this is the true heart of the Big Blue Sky initiative.
Crucially, this is a new model for sustainable and ethically sound business. It’s a grass-roots movement of critical thinkers and entrepreneurs who have decided to be proactive in creating the change that we’ve been wanting to see and have run out of patience in waiting for what we believe to be inevitable. Big Blue Sky is a community-led, inclusive enterprise that began with a day of keynote presentations from some of the most dynamic and sought-after change-makers in the world. I’ll be honest and say that being involved fundamentally changed how I see the Gold Coast’s future and how I approach business. I’m still digesting everything that was discussed and being intellectually out-gunned in such dramatic fashion, this process may take a while!!!
So now the true work begins.
We workshopped ideas broken into 3 ‘Moonshots’, which will be developed over the coming year, in preparation for major progress reports at the next event in November 2016, as well as infrastructure being put into place during this time. You can read more about these Moonshot specifics here.
This work is voluntary and I encourage anyone who has professional skills to offer, to get in touch with the team or myself for further information, where you will be brought up to speed and supported in any way that we can help us all reach these lofty goals that will benefit everyone on the Gold Coast. Mayor Tom Tate has leant his support to Big Blue Sky after being exposed to the calibre of ideas that the day produced and it’s great to see a member of the establishment recognise that communities need to be democratic, organic and less hierarchical. This will only speed implementation of the positive change.
I look forward to sharing more here over the coming year, as plans for our new community-led paradigm develop here on the Gold Coast. Good times! 🙂
#BigBlueSky2015
Last week I met with the orchestra for the new musical theatre production at The Arts Centre Gold Coast.
The musicians playing down in the pit for the audience are incredibly talented and often the unsung hero’s of a show (if you’ll pardon the pun)!
Pictured is the official portrait that The Arts Centre asked me to shoot and I just love the backstage location with all the theatre rigging. I chose to leave my back-lights in the shot, as I was using barn-doors on the lights which gives them the same look as stage lights. This adds to the theatrical feel of the portrait, which I’m really happy with.
Last week I was asked to photograph the hero shot and program imagery for the new theatre production at The Arts Centre Gold Coast.
‘Miss Saigon’ is set during the fall of Vietnam at the end of their civil war, and addresses some of the many issues that arose from the USA’s illegal interventional policies, both at the time of the conflict and during the decades since.
The Arts Centre have created a beautiful range of stage sets which were great to get a chance to see and incorporate into the shots. Their talented cast were great to shoot and the crew very helpful in assisting with the theatre lighting to complement my studio lights. My kind of shoot!
‘Miss Saigon’ opened this week and tickets to this great show can be purchased here. 🙂
Last week I shot some lifestyle photography for Seachange Developments on the Gold Coast.
This very fun photo shoot involved shooting out the back of a golf cart, as 10 other carts followed, whilst winding our way through one of Australia’s most impressive over 50’s lifestyle communities. Seachange Emerald Lakes really made me think that retirement can be one long laugh, as the residents cruised around the buggy-friendly community to choose an f&b venue for the night, before cruising home with a few wines under the belt and no transport issues! We got some nice vehicle shots and people shots showcasing this lifestyle on the ‘Bridge of the rising sun’, and the surrounding streets that are lined by an 18 hole golf course.
You can read more about Seachange Emerald Lakes here.
Until the next! 🙂
Recently I was asked to photograph the album cover for The Green Room Project – the Gold Coast’s live monthly cabaret talk show.
The brief for the photography was to allow the personality of each group member to be shown, so a wider shot with a range of interesting poses allowed this, while also allowing the models to interact with each other. The striped marquee on the shoot location leant a theatrical feel to the photos, with some great wardrobe and props completing the styling!
Host, Matt Ward created The Green Room project as a novel way of showcasing emerging and undiscovered music talent, combined with mentoring by industry professionals. Recorded at Bignote Productions, six of Queensland’s most talented musical theatre and cabaret performers who have been featured on the show came together for the compilation album and were accompanied by musical director, Brad Rush, on a baby grand piano.
If you’re in the Gold Coast / Brisbane region, you can check out more details of this great concept here, as either an audience member or musician!
The photography side of the business for me was amazingly busy for the last quarter of 2014 – and this blog very much fell by the wayside!
One of the best projects that I worked on over the manic year-end was the brand identity that I designed for a hip new barber shop south of Brisbane, named ‘The Harbour Barber‘.
I designed the logo and full identity for the client, from brand strategy through to all of their print collateral and web design. A subsequent photo shoot followed (naturally!), the results of which are featured here and have featured in 4 or 5 national magazines and newspaper supplements since.
I intended this shoot to be art directed in such a way that was a nod to the nostalgic brand essence that I’d created. Hence, the semi-sepia colour treatment gives a real sense of the old school customer service, while respecting that this is a contemporary business. I also love the confident ‘tude of the models which finds balance in the right amount of approachability. If you’re near the Cleveland area of South Brisbane, why not check out The Harbour Barber? It’s an excellent barbershop, very funky interior decoration and they’ll serve you a free beer with your haircut! Get in! 🙂
Last week I photographed Gold Coast singer/songwriter, John Hosking for his CD single artwork.
John was at Bignote Productions recording a very pensive track and I wanted the photos to reflect the ambience of the music in this black and white portrait, which is more classically lit.
I shot an additional portrait of John in studio 1 at Bignote, which is a great working portrait set against the backdrop of studio gear and the acoustic ceiling.
John’s pumped with the shots and asked me today to shoot his upcoming album cover, so looking forward to collaborating with the man again!
You can connect with John here, as his story unfolds:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Hosking/666702543444809
Last week I shot Gold Coast fitness celebrity, Sam Wallace, for his new website photography. Sam needed some quality fitness shots that showed him training a client as her Personal Trainer.
The shoot had a few restrictions to overcome; we could only access a gym with a very low ceiling, making it tough to control the light. We were also restricted to landscape format shots, which would fit the format of the website’s UI.
Regardless of these, as well as space restrictions, we had an extremely productive evening and got a range of shots that I’m really happy with – and importantly, Sam is “pumped as hell” with the shots!
Lighting from overhead is often what’s needed to flatter a male physique, but side-lighting to allow for such a low ceiling managed to give really nice definition to the models’ muscles and also give them both great separation from the cluttered background.
My fitness photo shoots will be getting more popular now that summer is on it’s way here on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, so get in early if you’d like to shoot and email me at paul@pwphotography.net!
Until the next! 🙂
Last week I photographed singer/songwriter, Mitch King, in a recording studio session at Bignote Productions. He was tracking a new song for his upcoming album.
This photo was taken through a porthole window to the recording studio. I like the rim-light in this shot and the blurred window frame that frames the shot itself – it reminds me of old Super-8 or medium format film.
After the session, Mitch asked me to shoot his album cover next week here on the Gold Coast, which I’m very much looking forward to. The songs that he’s recorded for the album so far are awesome, so it’s a really nice project to be involved with.
This was my 2nd shoot for Bignote Productions who, to my surprise, asked me to be their in-house photographer from now on! It’s such a talented team at Bignote and being able to provide photography for the musicians producing music at the best recording studio on the Gold Coast feels like an ongoing collaboration that will be a perfect fit. So if you’re looking to produce music and you’re in the Gold Coast / Brisbane region, drop by the studios here to say hello. You just might end up in front of my lens as my next blog entry!
You can check out Mitch’s tunes here: http://mitchkingmusic.com.au/
Last week I was asked to shoot a band recording a track for their upcoming album, at Bignote Recording Studios on the Gold Coast.
I had just 5-10 minutes to shoot each band member while they were warming up, before their studio session began. This is a good example of what can be achieved even in such a rush, with just one small compact flash unit (triggered remotely). For the vocalist, I placed a 2nd compact flash unit beneath the drum kit to illuminate the skins and bring out the background details of the studio, while still keeping the emphasis on the sharp foreground subject.
Everyone at Bignote was really happy to see the results of a photo shoot done within such time constraints and I loved having the chance to see the amazing music being produced there. If you’re a band or independent musician in the Gold Coast or Brisbane region, do yourself a favour and go see the folks at Bignote Productions!
Last week I had the pleasure of photographing corporate portraits for my new client, Global Migration Consultants.
The girls were a pleasure to shoot and wisely, wanted a different take on the generic ‘muslin background portrait’ that you would typically see for lawyers.
We settled on a more approachable portrait that showcased both the friendly staff and the spacious boardroom that their downtown offices boast.
Brochure samples arrived in the mail last week from my client, who I shot the below job for.
I was shooting for a great Singapore design agency named DPI and their client was the Ministry of Social & Family Development.
Shoot day threw me a few curve balls when the Art Director was unable to attend and I was asked to art direct the shoot myself (which is no problem – my comfort in doing exactly this, is why many of my clients hire me). The curve ball came when I was informed by their client that I wasn’t allowed to photograph the faces of the children who I had been sent there to shoot! The kids were all from troubled homes or were juvenile delinquents, so their anonymity was important for privacy reasons.
I quickly decided that more abstract and ‘arty’ imagery would be needed to meet this brief, so I utilised the sunny day to backlight the kids and have their faces drop out to silhouette. Tight shots, low key shots, obstruction and shadow-play were also utilised during the two shoot days, to gather the body of work needed for the brochure.
The client was extremely impressed with the solution to a tricky brief and the brochures look fantastic – props to DPI!
This week I photographed interiors for ABC Construction – a client in Yatala, south of Brisbane.
ABC produce steel kit homes and have an old school business model which, somewhat wonderfully, involves excluding banksters from any of their dealings, in order to reduce liability all round.
I shot both interiors and exteriors for them, photographing the entire show home.
Because the home was still in their enormous warehouse awaiting delivery , I also retouched the warehouse view through each window, with rural property views using Photoshop.
Both the photo shoot and image retouching turned out really well, the client was impressed and I got to hit the famous Yatala Pie Shop on the way home, so everybody was happy!
All images copyright © Paul Williams Photography, Gold Coast & Brisbane. All rights reserved. No image may be copied/modified/distributed without prior written permission.