CLIENT SHOWCASE: Dudley Wines

I've been to Kangaroo Island many times. I love wine. So why have I never been to Dudley Wines? 

Interest peaked when I read about it on yTravels blog, talking about having one of the best views from a cellar door ever - which is quite a statement. So finally I am here. And I'm photographing them. 

It's a whirlwind, arriving straight after hiking the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, late in the day. But it's fun. 

I'm soon laughing away, bossing people around, trying to work as quick as I can. I do feel slightly sorry for everyone, copping my craziness after being alone for almost a week. I know what I'm like after working in front of the computer for a day, I can only imagine how whacko I act today.

Dudley Wines had organised friends to be our talent in photos, and they did such a good job. 

Of course, everyone enjoyed the wine with cheese platters.

Clearly, the boys loved having a hit with the golf clubs.

And the kids loved running around on the grass.

What did I love? Lots of things. But the Shiraz was pretty good! At the end of the shoot, I sat and chatted with family and staff, so welcoming and friendly.

If only all shoots were like this....

Shooting people... with your camera

Disappointed by your photos of people?

No matter the device (phone or camera), here are my top three tips...

Moving your subjects under some shade will eliminate a lot of ugly shadows on their faces. 

1. Look at the light on your subject - are their eyes in shadows? Is the background too bright or dark? 

Are they looking into the sun and squinting their eyes? Perhaps turn them away from the sun, or have the sun to the side of them. 

Turning your subject side on to the light makes for great shadow and three dimension on the face but also means they are not squinting into the light.

Some of the best natural light is in a shaded area where sunlight is gently falling in. Near a window, just under a verandah... 

Keeping the background out of focus is one way of removing distractions. White paper also reflects beautiful light back onto faces. 

2. Look at the backgrounds - declutter to make sure the attention is on the person. 
Check there are no trees, poles or other things growing out of heads. 

If you have to use the on-camera flash, move your subject away from the walls. That dark, harsh shadow on the wall doesn't add to the photo (in a positive way).

And of course, you can expose for the background and make silhouette portraits. 

3. Get them naturally - either by taking candid pics or talking to them when you are taking the photo. A real smile is always going to be better than a tight-lipped fake one. 

Photographs were the subject isn't looking at the camera are great for story-telling. 

Kids photos will be much better when you allow them to play rather than making them sit stiffly smiling at the camera.

Want to learn more? Check out my Better Pics for Business eCourse... I'll teach you how to get better people, event, product and landscape photos. Easily. With any camera. 

3 adventure places to visit on Kangaroo Island...

Giant boulders that make up Remarkable Rocks.

1. Flinders Chase National Park - Admirals Arch, Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, Remarkable Rocks. Get about on day hikes, multi day hikes, guided tours or cruise in your car. The coastal views, rough cliffs, and natural scrub combine beautifully (of course, it's Mother Nature). And animals? There are kangaroos, Cape Barren geese, a smelly seal colony (which is totally worth persisting with), and various bird life.

Pups at Admirals Arch... playful and inquisitive. 

Where the southern ocean hits Kangaroo Island - dramatic and beautiful at once. The road to Remarkable Rocks.

The road that leads into the park. 

Just wandering about... the entrance to the the last campsite of Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail. 

Remarkable Rocks. They truly are. 

2. Seal Bay - there aren't too many places I know of where you can get so close to these cute animals. Stand on the beach with them, watch the males fight, smell their unremarkable stench, hear the pups cry for their mums to return from fishing. A guide is always with you ensuring we don't get too close - although the seals sometimes don't know the rules, coming right up to groups to say hello. While I was there, a little pup came sliding down the dunes right up to a group. He checked them out then waddled on.

Meeting cute critters at Seal Bay. Tourists can't approach the seals but nothing stops them coming up to tourists. 

Where's mum? The young seals let out mournful cries while searching for mum and the food she brings back for them. 

3. Little Sahara dunes  - clamber up the top then whizz back down on a toboggan or sand board. Repeat. Grab some beautiful views while there too - it's worth risking the camera (or keep it in a sealed plastic bag to improve your chances of a sand free camera when you slide back down. This place is just fun. Prepare to get sandy. 

Wind patterns atop the dunes at Little Sahara.

Don't let the legs get away from you... running down Little Sahara dunes.

Monkey fun at Little Sahara.

Where the dunes meet the bush. Little Sahara.

CLIENT SHOWCASE: Clare Valley Wine Food and Tourism Centre

In July 2017 I worked with Clare Valley Wine Food and Tourism Centre... here are the pics. These are all taken within a half day shoot. A 'basic' to 'medium' retouch has been done on these keeping the images real but removing distracting objects like 'Exit' signs. 

Many more images were taken, proofs given to the client for selection, the client selects finals for delivery.

Let me tell you... there's choice. :)

If you want some ideas of what could work for you - email me. 

CLIENT SHOWCASE: Flinders Bush Retreats

Billy tea and scones by the campfire in the Gorge

How old are the Flinders Ranges? I don't know, but apparently, some of the worlds oldest fossils have been found here.

View from the property

I used to camp up at the Flinders Ranges with my grandparents and family as a child. We’d set up camp by a creek, sit around campfires at night, hike during the day and construct gravestones for the baby rabbits accidentally caught in my Grandpa’s traps that day. We’d name them, bury them, have a ceremony and put a headstone on top. 

Mt Scott Homestead kitchen

Twenty years later, and a few visits in between, I’m back. But this time I’m not camping, I'm staying in a three bedroom home complete with indoor fire, fire pit outside and bath overlooking the gorge hills. There is even a coffee machine. Luxurious. There is a water trough out the back which emus come and drink. Each day I take a bath mid-afternoon, so I can laze back and watch the sun play hide and seek with the stormy clouds while the emus slurp away. I laugh as sheep come running to the trough and scatter the emus one afternoon. I wonder who rules the roost?

Mt Scott Homestead

The Quarters

Eco tent

Eco tent

Flinders Bush Retreats is a working station about 10 minutes out of Hawker. There is a range of accommodation. Bush campsites, Eco tent, The Quarters (which are quite luxe shearers quarters) and where I’m staying, Mount Scott Homestead. Something for everyone, I’d like to think. 

Getting hands on and learning in the shearing shed

I love the isolation of Mount Scott Homestead. Five minutes drive from the nearest house through paddocks. I hear nothing but the wind, birds and occasional creak from the trees. I sit at the breakfast bar and see the outback farm for as far as my short sighted eyes can see. Adventuring up into the hills of the Willow Waters Gorge, I am comfortable knowing if I get lost I only need to head west, and I’ll see ‘home’. 

Walking through the Gorge

I am alone, but I can imagine having a few nights away with friends or family. Willow Waters Gorge, the gorge on the property is old. Very old. Boringly old apparently. So the scientific folk said when they came to survey the area. But it is perfect for wandering. It’s small enough not to get lost but big enough to walk for a few hours each day. I climb up to a peak one chilly morning and get a 360-degree view of the gorge. It’s a little utopia amongst the barren farmland over the other side of the hills. 

One of the campsites

Another day I climb up the hills, losing the track I'm meant to walk up, but find my way around on the goat and kangaroo tracks. I get over to the gorge side of the hills, but rain and wind lash in. I retreat, slipping down the hill on the scree. Just as I get back to Mount Scott Homestead, the sky opens and a storm rolls in. The wind makes a song as it hurtles across the farmland and through the gum trees lining the front of the house. I’m glad I turned back when I did. The hills were steep, and I can imagine the wind picking me up and throwing me somewhere further down if I’d been up on top still. 

Meet and greet with the farm animals

Sharon and Allen McInnes are working farmers. They live nearby with their children and have a farm of animals for guests to meet. Mini ponies, geese, chooks, sheep, pigs, cat, dogs… City kids (big and small) will be amazed. Unfortunately, due to weather, I missed out on shearing, but at the right time of year, guests can get involved with farm chores too. 

The Eco tent view

CLIENT SHOWCASE: Kangaroo Island Day Tours

Did you know that Kangaroo Island is a hot spot for Italian honeymooners in July/August every year? It is one of their must-visit places. 

I can understand why. There aren’t too many places where you can see kangaroo, koala, seals and a variety of other animals and birds in the wild, all in one day. Pretty much guaranteed. 

Many international tourists come for just the day or one night. It’s a big investment, but obviously worth it. 

I go to Kangaroo Island in July and hitch a ride with two of Sealinks tours - Remarkably Wild Tour and Kangaroo Island Odysseys 1 Day Kangaroo Island Wildlife Discovery Tour. Italian and American guests dominate, what starts as a quiet trip ends up in laughter and jokes at the end of the day with me teaching them some Aussie slang. The Americans think it's hilarious, converting words and the different meanings. It is two fun filled days of work. 

I’ve been to Kangaroo Island quite a few times for work and pleasure, so I’m no stranger to the island. But I still haven’t discovered it all. 

I am especially happy to hear we’ll be visiting Seal Bay. I’ve only been once and lost all my images from that visit on the beach with these cute creatures so am keen to photograph them again. I am even happier when yesterdays stormy weather disappears, and blue skies roll in. It’s July, middle of winter, blue skies and no rain is never expected. I thank the weather gods. 

Another stop is at Sealinks private property. We lunch in a marquee surrounded by koala filled trees. Sealink owns this Heritage-listed property, planting many trees each year. Guests have exclusive access to this, making the day even more memorable.

We drive in darkness back to Penneshaw. Everyone battles with staying awake. I’m thankful for not having to drive as I close my eyes. Guests are sailing back to the mainland and onwards to Adelaide, ready to take off the next morning. They still have another four hours ahead of them. I feel tired thinking about it, but they are smiling ear to ear. 

Thoughts and conversations while hiking Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail...

What goes through my head while I'm hiking alone for five days? 

Well, after talking to animals and plants, meditating on the beach, begging whales to come closer and walking in a trance, I have plenty of time to have conversations with myself. 

These may or may not have all been said aloud, multiple times - to myself, the birds and the bees, the plants... 

#1
OMG, what am I doing? I'm so cold. What if it rains the whole time? I hate winter, the cold and being in the rain. I can't escape the rain. What am I doing? What if it rains the whole time? How many more days do I have? (All said within the first 24 hours.)

#2
Wow. Look at the water droplets on the leaves. They are so beautiful. Wow, look at the leaves. Look at the shapes. There are some beautifully shaped leaves. How wonderful is Mother Nature? And look, wow, a redback spider I nearly stepped on. Lucky I missed it. I should get a photo...

#3
Thank you. I am so grateful. I am so lucky to be out here. How special is this? Thank you Weather Gods, you have listened. Look at the sky this side, look at the sky that side - I'll take this side thanks. Please. Wow, winter and summer in one sky. Eek. I hope that's not the 20mm of rain coming.

#4
Damn. I love beaches. I can't get this stupid smile off my face. I want to stay here. Wow. It's a shipwreck beach. Look at all the rubbish? Look there's a shoe - it's a nice shoe. Wonder what happened? Ahh, I don't want to leave. 

#5
Yuck. Sweaty Betty. I'm going to stink from day one. I really should stop and take some layers off, but the rain is too hard. I'll just keep walking. Yuck. Sweating. Argh, my feet feel so wet too. And I've missed stepping in all the puddles. Why? Damn, look, I have a hole in my shoe. Should have looked at them before packing them. Damn it. Hope it doesn't rain every day. My feet are going to be horrible. Wet feet for five days - yuck.

#6
The birds are singing songs. Sounds so pretty. It's natural music. How many different bird sounds can I hear?

#7
The wind is singing songs. I can see the colours and tones of the wind blowing through like waves over the treetops. It's a bit spooky. Is this a place of cultural significance? I feel different here. Something in my soul. 

#8
Am I going to get bored? I'm going to get so bored. What am I going to do? I forgot my book and only have one magazine with me. Shit. Oh well, guess I should practice meditating. Be good for me. How many pages a day can I read?

#9
So thankful it has stopped raining. I am grateful. I am blessed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

#10
Live a life that makes me happy. Life is a process, a journey of coming out of my shell. 

#11
I need more holidays alone.

#12
Nature is true, amazing beauty. Nature makes me calm. This is amazing. I'm so happy and lucky to be here. 

#13
The bonus of hiking through winter. I don't need to keep an eye out for snakes. I can look around a bit more while walking. There are so many twigs laying around, if it were summer, I'd be jumping every minute or two. (On day 3 I realise that snakes don't hibernate on Kangaroo Island. The guys hiking the trail at the same time spotted 2.)

#14
Shit. Up to 50km winds and up to 20mm of rain. Oh no. What if I get totally wet and can't dry out. I'll be freezing. I don't like it. Perhaps I can just keep walking today and do it all? Argh. Rain. Lots of it. Oh no. 

#15
F**K, so fricken cold. I'm freezing. Oh my god. What can I do? How long til morning (of course I don't know because I forgot to bring anything, except my flat phone, that tells the time). Really? I have three more nights of this? Oh shit. I'm not going to cope. I'm going to go crazy, not sleeping. This is horrible. 
*Thankfully I find a way of keeping warm the following nights.

#16                                                                                                                                                (When my knee starts 'talking' to me, I speak straight back to it - out loud.) Be quiet and stay quiet. I don't want to hear from you on this hike. 

#17
Um, why on earth did I choose to be here and not lazing on a warm beach somewhere? I guess the only answer is 'I love adventure'. Although, I remember now that I said one to two-night hikes are best for me. Oops. 

#18
I feel you girl; I know you are there, now steady. (Yep, I actually start talking to the wind as it tries to blow me sideways while hiking the clifftop. It is that intense I can feel all the muscles in my legs and core battling to keep me upright.)

#19
Thoughts are like the surrounds on the trail... always changing and never permanent or solely one thing. 

#20
Not a spoken word but written in my diary...
Cold afternoon, cold night, cold sleep, cold morning... only when I'm moving, am I not cold. Thankfully, I have the sun til 4-4.30pm to keep me warmish. But when that sun starts to drop, brr. It's cold. Which is about now and I start to think... 
"Sitting by myself at camp as it gets colder and the dark creeps in. I wish the night to go quick. I want the hours to zoom by so I can crawl into my sleeping bag and be warm. Now that I know I can be warm."

I also sang songs. In English and Portuguese. I made songs up of strength and courage, of living a life you love but perhaps the most intense thought, however, was a realisation that brought tears to my eyes. 

Most of my thinking time is while walking through the bush as I'm not as 'wowed' by the vistas, but this aha comes on a clifftop. 

"I feel like I've been living in a box. I am finally pushing the top off and living the life I am meant to. A life of adventure, fun, love and discovery. I can have this life. And by doing that, I can show my kids how to live a life that makes them happy. Not a prescribed life that they think they have to live." 

I wipe my eyes so I can see and walk on.

UPDATE: South Australian Regional Tours - new dates and new packages!

I'm very excited to announce some new dates for regional South Australian tours. Maybe Tasmania has given me itchy feet? (Who am I kidding, I've always got itchy feet for discovery.)

If you missed out last time, then now is your chance. I loved my last tours and clients found them ultra beneficial and cost effective. Email me now to get going.

BOOK ASAP FOR THESE TWO...

Riverland/Murrayland - Weds 27 Sept - Sat 30 Sept

Fleurieu Peninsula - Mon 18 Sept - Fri 22 Sept

DATES TO BE COMFIRMED...
Limestone - Oct
Yorkes/Eyre - Nov
 

A range of packages are on offer for these tours, check them out...

Website overhaul
Ideas and package prices to be discussed. This is the big kahuna. Something that will set you up - website, printed promos, Instagram. It's all sorted with these packages. 

Social Media Rock Pack - get three months of social pics. 100 pics! $500 - 3-hour shoot

Tell your story SPECIAL PRICE $1500
Various portraits, details, overviews, variations.
Up to four hours
Business
Pics of you
Social media brand style
Website pics
Hero images for advertising
Up to 50 images

Valued at $1900

Region In Residence SPECIAL PRICE $5000
Five days including 2 ‘hero image’ half day shoots including 50 images
3hr workshop
Social media pics x100 taken throughout the week
BONUS: 50% discount Editorial shoots for members/businesses in area booked through this package
Valued at $6500 

Better Pics for Social Workshop $500
Suitable for beginners - no fancy equipment required
Simple tips for photographing people, food, events, architecture
Story and light
3 hours
 

Limited Contra Deals are also available for accommodations.

Of course, if you want something special and unique (who doesn't), I can work with you on that also. Call or email me to discuss ideas.

Conditions: Minimum numbers required for tour to be confirmed. 
All prices are exclusive of GST.

Take a look at some of the shoots on my last tours. All done on the popular Editorial Package (with slight variations) valued at $400. 

Hiking Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail for five days... and the things I forget to pack.

Carrying everything (except for the stuff I forgot) I need on my back for five days. Couldn't do it without the hiking poles - or my knees couldn't.

The track on day one. Nice. 

Presuming most people would check their equipment before going on a five-day hike? Yep, not me. I end up packing the morning I leave for Kangaroo Island. I'm pulling things from that room, a bit from over here, and remember as I'm packing something else that I haven't packed my hiking boots yet. Tell you now... probably not the best idea I've ever had. Not that it was an idea, it's just the way it has turned out.

So, did I forget anything? You bet. 
1. One of my boots has a hole in the side. I discover this after feeling my foot feeling quite wet after hiking in the rain for over an hour. 

2. No clock/watch. Not a biggie, but it's nice to know when I'm tossing and turning, waiting for it to be morning so I can get up.

Of course, everyone packs a tripod and DSLR for a hike, right?

3. No pegs for my tent. Oops. When the wind picks up, it's nice to know my tent isn't going to fly away. Especially since I don't have much weighty stuff to keep it on the ground. Only once did it have a little bit of lift off. Rocks and hiking poles came to good use in keeping the door fly off the inside of the tent. 

4. No pocket knife. Admittedly, this trip, I only needed one a few times. I managed to make do with the flint for my Trangia. 

5. No dishwashing liquid. Oh well. Not dead yet. 

6. No book to read. When I wake up before dawn and only hike until early afternoon... it leaves a lot of time to sit and reflect. A book for some of these hours, or a deck of cards, would be very handy. This is the one item I missed the most. 

Pegs could have been helpful when not on the tent platforms. Oops. 

7. Hat and sunscreen. Oops. Don't tell my Dad.

8. Thongs. It's really nice to get out of wet boots at the end of the day. But when I have nothing else... 

9. Mini Towel. What can I do? Shake 'em dry. 

10. Dehydrated wine. This should exist by now!

Ok, so that is a long list. Oops. Would I have remembered all of this had I packed earlier? Probably not. I always forget something. But next time I will try to pack earlier, and not forget so much. At least I kept the weight down that I had to carry!
 

And then you have to remember to pick things up after you put them down. Left my glasses here after they fell off trying to get the boat untangled from the tree. Enlisted my Jane of the Jungle skills to get that sucker unstuck. 

Photographer of the High Seas

One of my first photography gigs...

The staff and crew bar... not quite as glamorous as the ones above water level. From memory, we were only meant to have a maximum of two beers per person per day... made sure we cleared the table often. 

What else to do when surrounded by hundreds of un-sold photographs? Be models of course! This is the gallery where we would print every image with the aim of selling. 

As long as we weren't in a guests place, we were able to have a drink in any of the bars. Perks of being a Photographer. 

Santorini. When you go every week, you don't even bother getting off the ship. Tender process, stairs... all seemed too much sometimes. But, when we did get off, we had  fun!

Guests would head left, we'd go right. Far, far away. Frappes, Greek salad, beer, no guests. Ahh.

I have read a lot of interviews with photographers, and the question is always asked. How did you get into photography? Many times, the answer is ‘my parents were artists’, ‘I knew from the minute I picked up the camera age five’… and so on. Childhood encounters. But mine is a bit different. 

Sure, I took pics as a child. I loved Photography in high school - even commuted 45 minutes from a different school so I could hang out in the darkroom. I worked at photo labs, camera stores and got an assisting job in a Greek/Italian/Croatian wedding studio by walking in the door with a handful of prints. Literally. 

But then I went overseas...

Working in a bar in Richmond, London, I made friends with a guy who was Photographer for H&M or Mango or something like that. The more I chatted with him, the more I wanted to do what he did. I asked how he got into it. One thing led to another, and next thing I know, I’m working on an Italian cruise liner as a photographer. 

The glamorous part of the job was that we visited Venice, Bari, Dubrovnik, Rhodes, Santorini, Corfu and Piraeus (Athens) weekly - and, unlike other staff, we could get off and explore every port. The less glam side of it was that three of us lived cramped in a two bed cabin for a few months, we pestered the guests for photos every waking minute, then had to stand in the gallery and try to sell them in between functions. 

A mild ‘up’ was the fact we were staff and not the crew. The crew weren’t allowed above sea level; staff could be in passenger areas so long as they were not getting in a passengers way. We could have a drink or two in one of the lounges, as long as we sat at tables towards the back and not near the bar. We weren’t to ride in the elevators. And for goodness sake, we had to be below water by midnight. I tell you what, our past midnight feast runs up the elevators to the only open restaurant on the pool deck were an adrenalin rush. Never would you want to get caught by the Captain. Thankfully, we had a few security guards on our side. 

To be honest, I should have known what it was going to be like. The first week, I felt ‘off’ from all the metal surrounding me. The Captain put us through training for fires. He locked us in a room, let off smoke bombs and told us to find our way out. The choking! OMG.

I was also a minority. It was an Italian cruise liner. Most passengers were Italian, Greek, French or Dutch. The staff and crew were European or Phillipino. I didn’t speak any language spoken on board - the nearest I could get was Brazilian Portuguese. It got me by. I could understand them (sometimes) but rarely could they understand me. It made not understanding ‘no, I don’t want a photo’ very easy. It made selling and the questions that come with it, just slightly difficult. The hardest part though was making friends. English as a second language can be difficult and be tiring to speak for a lot of people. I know - having lived in Brazil and learning Portuguese, I got tired and restless quickly for having to constantly concentrate and think while ‘chatting’. It’s easy for people to hang with their own. I made just a few friends. But we had fun. 

Cabin parties. Drinking sessions in the crew bar. Sneaky food runs up to Pool deck. Dancing in the nightclub. And running ashore away from the hordes to have a sneaky local lunch. 

Seven day work weeks. Morning and night shifts. Lots of hours. Leftover guest food. Grumpy Captains that complain the music is too loud in the gym during the day. Inside cabins. Bunk beds. One locker for all your personal belongings. 

Worth it? I think so. If I had a ship that was English speaking, I could have lasted longer. It’s a great way of discovering parts of the world - especially if you get the opportunity to relocate with the change of seasons. Unfortunately, we’d had enough by the time relocation to the Caribbean came, so quit just a month or so shy of discovering a new side of the world. Oh well. Perhaps I’ll do that as a guest. Haven’t done that yet.