OMA GOSH WHAT A WEEKEND
SURFING IN THE SHADOW OF CYCLONES
With Cyclone Oma causing havoc up and down the Southern Queensland coast this weekend there seemed no better time for my son and I to have a father and son weekend combining our love of surfing and of cameras.
Now when it comes to photography I’m pretty confident saying I know my stuff but when it comes to surfing, while I love both doing it and watching it, I have to be honest and say I’m pretty hopeless at it.
My little boy on the other hand is still learning his camera work but loves his surfing and after only a couple of lessons can go off and catch a wave and unlike his dad actually stay standing riding it to the end.
All that said the set after set of bumper waves crashing up and down the Gold and Sunshine Coasts were well beyond anything we could even pretend to go out in so we decided to stay on dry land, break out the cameras and have a great father and son weekend watching and capturing the action by surfers we can only dream about ever being as good as.
And what a pleasure it was to watch those men and women out among terrifyingly large crashing waves. Saturday was the most dramatic down at Kirra Point and Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast and then Sunday a quieter session up at the Spit at Noosa.
Though while I must say the surfing was impressive, and it is always fantastic to photograph people in their element, what was more impressive to me was my little boy using a big telephoto lens for the first time and shooting fast sports for the first time and nailing some absolutely amazing shots.
No random firing of the camera for him, but careful framing and timing his shots for the best drama. He has owned and been using cameras since he was three. Now at 11 he is becoming a really accomplished young photographer.
As a father there is no greater thing than sharing two of your favourite things with your child and also watching them develop realising with pride that they will, without doubt, one day surpass you at both of them.
So here are my pics….. and my son’s follow below…
…and here are some of Jack’s…
Brisbane Commercial Photography - Brisbane Event Photography, Australian Event Photography, Lifestyle Photography, Advertising Photography
Inside an Industrial Warehouse Project for Miele & Tomkins - Brisbane Architectural Photography
We regularly photograph architecture and building and construction completion projects across Brisbane, Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast and last week I felt like an ant inside this warehouse!
I photographed the Miele Warehouse at Brisbane Airport for our valued client Tomkins, doing an amazing job on the project. Comprising of a 6,000sqm warehouse and an attached 1,065sqm office, this project continues the ongoing relationship that Tomkins have built with Brisbane Airport Corporation.
The Miele Warehouse includes a showroom and service centre with polished concrete in the office. The development also includes an external car park and a concrete loading facility.
See some of the images below of the completion project photography.
Em
Brisbane Commercial Photography | Brisbane Architecture Photography | Brisbane Architectural Photography | Brisbane Construction Photography | Brisbane Building Photography
A WEEKEND CELEBRATING THE BEST IN AUSTRALIAN COMMERCIAL RADIO
The Faces of Radio - Recap of the Australian Commercial Radio Awards Conference Radio Alive and the Commercial Radio Awards for 2018.
The Faces of Radio - Recap of the Commercial Radio Australia’s conference, Radio Alive and the Commercial Radio Awards for 2018.
October is an interesting month. For my son it’s all about creating weird fancy dress costumes and getting ready for a ridiculous amount of lollies on Halloween, for some of my friends it’s about bratwurst, schnitzels and too much German beer at Oktoberfest (I’m not mentioning names but you know who you are J). Here at Life Portraits and LP Commercial Photography it’s about prepping for one of our largest event gigs of the year, two days of fast paced, shutter clicking celebrations at the Commercial Radio Conference Radio Alive and the star-studded Australian Commercial Radio Awards.
Photographically what do the ACRAS mean for us? A four person team, nearly 1000 press images processed, captioned, uploaded and delivered to the media as the events are taking place, roughly another 3,000 images processed and delivered electronically to the client for distribution to attendees, sponsors etc within 24 hours of the event closing.
Event photography isn’t for everyone. Many underestimate what the job entails. It’s not just a case of snapping a few socials then getting a couple of speakers on a stage. Your images have to capture a mood and feeling of the event. You are constantly looking for moments to capture, unscripted as well as scripted, and shooting multiple styles of images for the many audiences a larger event attracts:
There are the fun and interesting shots for attendees to share with their friends and colleagues on social media. Good shots of the speakers and participants that can be gifted to them to use in their profiles and portfolios and online marketing. Images that the client and event organisers can use to market the event to future attendees. Sponsor shots to show that their decision to back the event or have a trade stand there was money well spent and to help the organisers to market to sponsors in future years. And then there are the press shots. Images which have to satisfy both the various local, national and international print and online news hounds while at the same time projecting the image of the event demanded by the client’s public relations specialists.
On larger events there are also the technical difficulties of shooting in multiple and often complicated lighting conditions from natural light to complicate stage lighting, from near darkness to full studio conditions and often jumping between them all at a seconds notice.
And lastly, there is the issue of how long you have to turn the images round. If there is media interest then images have to be online minutes after being taken. If press photographers are at the event it is our responsibility to make sure that our pictures hit the newsdesks before other freelance media photographers to give a better chance of the client’s images being used.
Not all events demand all of these things. Many conferences and awards ceremonies are much more about internal distribution of images inside companies or offerings to specialist media with longer lead times of up to a month.
But the Commercial Radio Australia weekend demands it all and while it is a tough weekend, we love it!!!
For me, a former daily press photographer, events like the Radio Alive conference and the ACRAS bring back that adrenaline rush of media work. There is nowhere to hide, your images have to be right first time and there is no re-staging a shot. You either capture the moment or you don’t and all too often not capturing that moment is simply not an option. That pressure drives you to succeed, and that is a brilliant rush.
Commercial Radio Australia is also a dream client to work with. They are loyal to their suppliers which has seen us working on the awards for a number of years now. They were my client a good few years before Emily and I joined forces and created the LP brand. Yes they demand a high level of quality and responsiveness but their team works harder than any of their suppliers to deliver one of Australia’s biggest star-studded awards ceremonies. It is only right that they expect and demand the best from us. That drive in their team also means we know at all times what is expected from us which actually makes delivery easier.
The job itself is actually too big for Emily and I to handle alone. But this is where our policy of working cooperatively with other photographers comes in and allows us to tackle jobs of all sizes. We have a group of people we can call on to work under our brand to help us on large or interstate projects and we in turn return the favour and work under their brand whenever they need.
In this instance we are lucky enough to have two great friends and great photographers join our team, Dan Gray and Simon Harrington, both of whom are highly experienced photographers with years of running their own businesses and delivering for clients.
This in turn has a fantastic impact for the client as it means every person on our team is highly experienced…. At this year’s ACRAS we had nearly 70 years of combined skills and knowledge in photography and event coverage in play. We don’t fill our numbers by bringing in in-experienced trainees and students we simply put in place the best team we can for each and every event.
So how did we organise this year’s coverage?
Thursday: Dan, Emily and I flew into Melbourne and spent the evening checking gear, ensuring batteries were charged and cameras were time synced and lightroom galleries and captioning were prepared.
Friday 7am: Arrive at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre and we are off, day one, Radio Alive 2018.
Conference day was fast paced but fairly straight forward. Dan and I were on cameras, Emily was stationed in the press room on the laptop processing, captioning and uploading images for the media. Dan and I would regularly swap out of the different conference rooms so at least one of us was always shooting and the other was feeding cards of images back to Emily.
Emily had the absolutely crucial job of being the lynchpin of our operation during the conference and while we tease her about being a bossy boots the reality is her amazingly organised and direct way of working is always a god send in these situations.
She was the only one seeing all our images so as well as processing our images to make them consistent, selecting the best ones to meet the media and client needs, captioning them and uploading them, she would feed us instructions throughout the day. “We need more candids during networking times”, “we have enough audience shots now concentrate on the speakers”, “highlights are blowing out a little under that stage lighting knock your exposure back a fraction”, “we’ve had a specific request for a shot of….”, and so it went and all the time she would be processing and captioning and uploading hundreds of images during the day.
This constant flow of feedback then allowed Dan and I to fully concentrate on the moments in the conference rooms and networking areas and keep our eyes peeled for those magic moments.
At 6.30pm we were cameras down and ready to enjoy a couple of after event drinks happy that a good job had been done.
Saturday morning Simon flew in from Sydney and after a leisurely morning we started to get ready, kit cleaned and prepped, batteries fully charged, images from the previous day backed up and secure, cards cleared and formatted, seven cameras time synced and a pre-event meeting to discuss responsibilities and shooting tactics and we walk ourselves through the evening that is coming, the big one, the Australian Commercial Radio awards.
We arrive at 3pm, two hours to go before the red carpet opens. Dan and Emily set up studio lights around the winners wall to ensure crisp well lit images of all 90 or so award winners as they come off stage. Simon starts taking room set up pictures and images for sponsors etc. I start getting ready for the VIP red carpet images and be on standby should any of the celebrities arrive early so we can get going on the red carpet as fast as possible.
The event kicks off at 5pm. Emily and I are up first. I shoot the red carpet and organise the press photographers as we capture images of the radio stars and their partners, tight shots, face shots, full length gown shots, the works. Most arrive late and at 6pm there is a massive rush to get everything done while I constantly pass images to Emily for her to process, caption and get online for the media.
6pm the event is already underway. Simon is up and working like a trojan capturing the crowds entering and the first performer on stage while I wrap up on the red carpet. 6.15pm and the red carpet is finished. I abandon Emily to the uploads and processing while I head into the main room to cover the stage and crowd for the rest of the night with Simon.
6.30pm Emily has finished processing and uploading around 100 red carpet pictures and is already with Dan at the studio award wall set-up as the first of the award winners are already coming out with their ACRA microphone statue, proudly smiling at their win.
The night disappears in a blur. As Emily and Dan work solidly through the night in a rhythm of winners, images, processing, uploading. Simon and I cover inside as the performers sing their hearts out, Andrew Hansen & Chris Taylor from The Chaser entertain (and roast) the crowd as hosts and some of Australia’s best comedians and radio stars and experts present and receive their awards. Simon and I continually shoot, and he covers me when I put cameras down every now and then to grab the laptop I’ve stashed at the back of the room to offload cards and process and upload suitable media pictures from all the action on stage, adding to Emily’s press pictures from the VIP Red Carpet and Award Wall.
Despite a full night, 90 awards, three on stage bands and interludes, the amazing team at Commercial Radio Australia finish the event bang on time and by 11pm we are all in the media room wrapping up. I’m putting the last of the inside images online in our press galleries. Emily has amazingly finished getting every award winner picture captioned and online and the press are already picking them up with our images being used by online media that night. Dan is breaking down the equipment and studio and Simon is popping in and out snapping the last of the socials as the final people head to the after-show parties.
We head back to the hotel apartment, order pizzas and swap war stories from the evening in that wonderful post event, fatigue ridden, warm glow in a wonderful moment of camaraderie… then realise we forgot one important thing…. to stock the fridge with beer that morning… Note for next year.
The next day (Sunday) Dan and Simon sleep-in, their ACRA weekend has come to an end and they will return to Sydney at a leisurely pace after relaxing in Melbourne. Emily and I are up and away flying back to Brisbane and by 11am I’m home with 10,000 images to sort through, cull, edit and upload to the client by 9am Monday morning.
I get everything underway and thankfully Emily managed to find time during the conference to process most of those pictures or at least set up editing presets which I can now just copy. That alone saves me a couple of hours. But then disaster strikes, a Brisbane thunderstorm knocks out power and my NBN line keeps failing. I keep working on the laptop until the battery fails. I’ve already phoned round friends to find somewhere I can move my editing suite to if I don’t get power back on but thankfully it’s not required in the end as the power cut only lasts a few hours. By 3am Monday morning the images are sorted, processed and uploading begins. Later that day we send all the images on a hard drive to the client as a second back up to the digital uploads.
In return the client sends us a lovely email and a list of all the national and regional newspapers, magazines and online news outlets that have already downloaded and used our images.
…and with that the ACRAS And Radio Alive are over for another year and we are already starting to look forward to 2019.
ANDY
LP Commercial Photography cover events of all sizes from large awards, conferences and exhibitions to media launches, customer hosting events, office functions and parties. If you would like further information just contact Andy or Emily at info@lpcommercial.photography
Brisbane Commercial Photography - Brisbane Event Photography, Australian Event Photography, Brisbane Corporate Photography, Radio, Commercial Radio Australia, Australian Commercial Radio, Awards ACRAs,
www.lpcommercial.photography
Going Behind the scenes with an award winning cutting edge company: LP Commercial visits QLD Telstra Business Awards Winners, HeliMods
The Telstra Business Awards has been and continues to be a wonderful journey for us here at Life Portraits and LP Commercial Photography. It has helped us focus our minds and take a long hard look at how we do business and how we plan for our future.
But the best thing about the awards process has been the amazing and inspirational people and businesses we have met along the way. One such is the team at HeliMods, this year's Queensland overall Telstra Business Awards winner. The team are now through to the national finals and stand a real chance of bringing home the national award in their category and overall title for Queensland.
It's said that no matter how far you think you have come in business, if you want to excel, don't surround yourselves with your equals or those who are not developed as far as you.... that only leads to flattering your ego or keeping you comfortable. Instead seek out those who have surpassed you, who inspire you, who you can learn from and by doing that you challenge yourself to raise your own bar and excel further.
Well when it comes to inspiration HeliMods hit that nail on the head big time, so when they invited us to visit them at their base of operations at Caloundra airport on the Sunshine Coast, we jumped at the chance.
From the outside the office and hangers look like any airport side industrial park buildings, but when you enter the reception you know this is no ordinary business. You are greeted by two massive windows. One opens onto a pristine hanger spotlessly clean and organised despite it containing a helicopter stripped down to its bare bones with technicians working to build a complete custom interior for it and in the distance you see state-of-the-art computer controlled production equipment. The other window opens to a room that is filled with some of the most advanced, next generation scanning and imaging systems, connected to a 3D printer. I have to admit that as an equipment and engineering geek I started grinning a grin that didn't leave me until well after we had finished our visit and started driving back to Brisbane.
In complete layman's terms, HeliMods customise helicopters, but in a way, that's a massive over-simplification. It's probably more accurate to say they completely re-engineer existing airframes to suit any role a client might require. Part of that includes building and inventing complete new systems from scratch to deliver the perfect unit, including a world first and supposedly impossible to create air ambulance stretcher system that will literally save lives and cut down injuries in the transferring of patients in helicopter medevacs.
This is the type of business that Queensland and Australia should be shouting about and celebrating. High-end, world leading ingenuity, know-how and manufacturing all in the most unassuming position at Caloundra airport, opposite the Queensland Air Museum. A monument to the past across the road from a foundation of the future.
Modern thinking comes into every part of the HeliMods experience. The team not only employs leading edge technology throughout every part of their process, but also uses it as an enabler in their truly user-centred approach to every project, involving clients and end-users in their iterative designs and solutions. This allows the team to deliver truly custom outcomes to every client and often to provide better engineering solutions that their client may not have had the opportunity to consider. The end result is a finished helicopter perfect for whatever role is required and allowing HeliMods to not just deliver on a brief, but cost effectively adapt and perfect the finished product beyond the brief specifications.
But as with any good business, the end-product, no matter how amazing, is only half of what makes this company special.
While you can walk around the facility and easily get lost at marvelling at the high-tech toys and creations that are key to delivering their end-product, for those not in their sector, it's how they operate and have structured the business that is the true inspirational aspect of HeliMods.
In an industry which can be slow moving and hierarchical, HeliMods have thrown away the handbook on how an aeronautical engineering business should be run.
They have started out with a flat management structure. The principle is, whoever is the expert at any part of a business, engineering, manufacturing or installation processes, naturally adopts a leadership position across those project areas, so that at every stage, expert teams of highly skilled people are coordinating the outcome seamlessly as opposed to relying on 'management'. This means not only is control in the hands of the most knowledgeable person in the room at all times, but also that people are encouraged to use their intelligence, experience and imagination to seek out new ways of working and resolving issues, rather than risk being held back by a general manager who may not have the depth of knowledge and experience or creativity to do anything more than what is the norm.
This in turn does present some issues when recruiting new staff as not only do they need particular skill-sets they also need a particular, non-standard mindset. But as Tim explained, when they find the right people, particularly grad students, it's amazing to watch them blossom and their imaginations flourish creating new and innovative solutions.
And it works, not only in their success but also in the atmosphere in the workplace. We spent some time chatting with aerospace engineer and closest to what would be second in command in a normal business, Tim, in their coffee room and while we were there people from all sections of the business walked in. From accounts to fabrication, engineers to technicians, the mood was jovial, happy, empowered and engaging. People would walk in discussing issues and collegiality working towards solutions. It was a tremendous atmosphere.
Now I'm sure there are arguments and disagreements, no creative process can exist without some interesting, slightly heated moments or difference of opinions and often it is those moments, which are critical to the generation of new thinking and new methods of problem solving. But what we saw more than anything was the level of easy and happily given respect for skills and knowledge between staff in all the different departments. It lay behind all the banter and discussions, and when you have that working environment you have something truly special.
That spirit is something that I see reflected in us and the way we work. Emily and I are two very competitive individuals and are so different in so many ways that we should argue much more in our workplace when discussing our business, tactics and future, but genuinely we don't.
We do have some great and in-depth discussions mixed in with the odd eye-rolling sessions but nothing ever boils over. Underneath all differences of opinions there is a strong backbone of respect for the other's skills, integrity and honour. As we grow our business over the coming years bringing in new people and skill sets that is something we must protect and if we do it as well as HeliMods and their team have then that is something we will be very proud of.
So what other things did we learn when visiting....
Many things, but I think the most important was creating a vision and striving for it. Fifteen years ago HeliMods was a small business in a shed run by owner Will Shrapnel. He did one very important thing at this point. He created a very honest and detailed concept of what his business was at the time and what he would make it into in ten years’ time.
Then he laid out a path to create that business and every decision he made was built on what he had to do to lead him to that end goal and continues to lead him on where he now wants the business to be in another ten years.
Emily and I are a two-person business in the creative industries. Over the past three years our critical goal has been to learn how to make best use of each others skills and personalities, build our client base, achieve a baseline earning level that maintains the business and maintains us, keeping food on the table and roofs over our heads and we have done that and built a successful business that is becoming admired by our peers along the way.
It would now be easy for us to fall into the trap of taking a rest and becoming comfortable with what we have. But becoming comfortable in business is a dangerous thing which can very easily lead to stagnation, a lack of flexibility, a lack of creativity and all too easy end in the death of a business.
After our trip to HeliMods we realise now it is time to become serious about what we do in the future. So now for us, the big planning sessions start, deciding what shape the business is going form in 10 years time and what the photography industry is going to look like in that time. What do I want to be doing when I turn 60 and start to think about retiring or at least slowing down a little as I pass that milestone and where Emily's life may be by then and how that may shape our business. What staff do we need and how do we incorporate them into the business and so on.
So now we start to create in our minds, not the business we have, but the business we want to own and, like HeliMods, start down the path of creating the future.
Andy
An Authentic Italian Experience - Prova Pizzeria: Brisbane Food Photography
Who loves Italian!?
I'm a hugeeee lover of authentic food and unique food experiences and had the opportunity to experience Prova Pizzeria in Stafford recently for an amazing feast! A big thanks to Cat & Joe for looking after Corey and I with a beautiful tapas entree, two pizzas for our main, red wine and of course finishing with nutella doughnuts surrounded by a pizza base bowl! TO DIE FOR!
I couldn't help but capture some of experience ❤
I must try in Brisbane for a beautiful authentic Italian experience with a range of items on the menu. Thanks Cat & Jo for having us, we loved the hospitality, customer service and your added personal touch!
Em x
Brisbane Food Photography
www.lpcommercial.photography
Commercial Branding in the Fitness Industry: Lifestyle Marketing Imagery for Movement Mecca
Monique took a risk and left her corporate job to pursue her dream... and Movement Mecca was born!
Monique's idea stemmed from her own personal experience searching for active-wear online, realising that there was a gap in the marketplace for one online location to purchase quality Australian fitness wear.
So Monique acted on this opportunity and created an online destination for women's performance and lifestyle clothing and accessories by 100% Australian boutique brands, Movement Mecca!
After getting an insight into her brand, her values and getting to know Monique myself through our communications, I wanted to channel these fresh, fun and vibrant vibes through her personal marketing imagery. We chose locations that were full of colour, had a lifestyle and nature feel which coincided with the brands target market. See below for some of our lifestyle marketing imagery to represent Monique as the director and also the Movement Mecca brand in her marketing, website and online presence.
Em x
Brisbane Commercial Photography - People
www.lpcommercial.photography
Life Portraits is a top 5 QLD finalist at the 2018 Telstra Business Awards
It is with great honour that we announce that Life Portraits was named one of QLD's top 5 finalists in the Emerging & Energised category at the Telstra Business Award for 2018. Even though we didn't take out the big win, it was an unforgettable night for us and this recognition is an indicator that our hard work, passion and vision is paying off. This in-depth and thorough process of the Telstra Awards application has been an amazing learning experience for us and helped us refine our processes.
See our full gallery of the awards here.
We want to take this moment to thank YOU, our clients, for your support during this journey, without you, there would be no Life Portraits.
We were so overwhelmed by your support on your testimonials that we wanted to share with you part of our submission for the awards. We were asked to provide a video showing how we are unique to our customer, so we asked..... and this is what you all said!
Our Story
Our business success rests on a solid tripod consisting of 3 brands;
- Our consumer brand Life Portraits
- Our commercial brand LP Commercial Photography
- Our educational & mentoring brand LP Training.
Each leg stands alone in it’s own right, but together they support our future growth.
We pride ourselves on providing high quality, creative imagery; in teaching the best photography practices and mentoring those new to the industry; and above all, delivering fun, personalised and memorable client experiences.
Being a finalist in these awards is momentous to us and is recognition of our hard work, dedication and passion for the photography industry.
Andy & Em
Brisbane Portrait & Wedding Photography
www.lifeportraits.photography
Brisbane Commercial Photography
www.lpcommercial.photography
Showcasing your Business Services Through Professional Commercial Imagery: Shique Beauty
Ask yourself, what’s the most attention grabbing thing when someone searches for you, your company or your product? Imagery!
Your imagery reflects your brand. As a service provider, photographs of you working in your field is vital in portraying your personal brand or creating a personal connection with potential future clients.
Under the LP Commercial Photography brand, I captured some commercial branding imagery for the lovely team at Shique Beauty to capture their services, their personalised service and their friendly and 5 star customer service. Such a lovely, open and glowing group of ladies who are amazing at what they do - hair, make-up and beauty services.
The imagery that reflects your brand is the first contact many people will have with you. Simply having well taken imagery is not enough. At a glance, those images must also communicate and uphold your brand identity and core values. In a crowded marketplace identifying photographers who can achieve both stunning images and effectively communicate brand values is critical.
Get it wrong and best case scenario is you will need to spend more money on more imagery, worst case scenario is the imagery could alienate your consumers and clientele and have a real negative effect on your bottom line. Too often, people buy purely on cost then find that the cheapest option only ends up costing far more in the long run.
My business partner, Andy and I are dedicated to working hand-in-hand with our clients to ensure a rewarding and enjoyable working experience and collaboration of minds to create pride in the end result among all those involved in a commission.
Brisbane Commercial Photography
QLD Telstra Business Awards Finalist
www.lpcommercial.photography