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When your Mum & Dad announce they’re renovating, you never expect to meet the love of your life. That’s exactly what happened to Alicia! Joel was one of the builders on site and Mums place and when Alicia popped in to check out the goings on, there were sparks and not just from the nail guns.

They were engaged in New Zealand and married at the amazing Ravensthorpe in Albion Park. Their brady bunch family were all in attendance and it was an amazing day!

Bride’s & Bridesmaid’s Accessories –  Collette Miranda

Bride’s Earrings – Swarovski

Shoes – Betts Miranda

Make-up & hair – Samantha Lee MUA

Celebrant – Belinda Richardson

Ceremony Location – Ravensthorpe

Entertainment and/or DJ – Ultimate Entertainment

Rings – Michael Hill Jeweller Sylvania

Floral Artist – Fancy Flowers by Felicity

Honeymoon destination – Hunter valley

 

Yesterday would have been my Grandmother’s 101st birthday. Here she is with my Dad in Melbourne, 1949.

Captured by a random street photographer, this is one of my favourite family photos. She couldn’t remember why they were there, but they were having a terrible argument, my Dad whinging about being made to wear such nice (but apparently dreadfully uncomfortable) clothes. The photographer appeared out of nowhere and “snap!”, scowls replaced with smiles in a 1/60th of a second. “Ooo, he could be such a little bugger!” she’d tell me.

She always took much care with her appearance, as if at any moment she’d get the call-up for a @vogue cover shoot. Well, you never know do you!?!?! Coming up to Mother’s Day, I think about all the mothers in my life – the very long line of firebrand women who all helped shape my history and my future. I think about this photo and how lucky I am to have this perfect window into a time in my history that so many never get to see. Its these precious pieces of my historical puzzle that are missing completely from my Mother’s side of my family thanks to Hitler.

I know that in a small way this image influenced my career choice, to capture that which cannot be described any other way, moments impossible to reproduce. The future of a family’s history. I wish I could tell these two how it would all turn out, how unexpected the twists their lives would take, how hard the fight would be. They’re both gone now, so I like to think they’re like they are here, a Mother and a son, happy together in one moment, no past quarrels, no future uncertain, just them, a street and one unknown photographer to whom I’m eternally grateful. #happymothersday #mothersday #motherandson #family #melbourne @melbourne #streetphotography #familyhistory #grandmother

One of the absolute delights of my job is watching my client’s lives unfold over many years. I first met Tracey and Pat when their first daughter Chloe was just a baby and I photographed the family at Blackwoods Beach, Cronulla. Pat being a mad keen surfer, it was a no-brainer to include his board in that first family portrait (well, what kind of Aussie family portrait would this be without a piece of sporting equipment???)

So when Tracey emailed me to request an update of their family portrait because of their new addition, I was thrilled! Tracey wanted the new shoot to match the old, so we again visited Blackwoods Beach, but this time I found a different corner to shoot in to give their imagery a new feel but still keeping with the theme. Congratulations Tracey and Pat on the arrival of Kirra-Rose. She’s delightful! I can’t wait to see what the two of you have in store next. xxxxx

Its not too late to update your family legacy before the weather gets too chilly! The light is absolutely divine this time of year and because daylight savings is over, we can start much earlier to catch the perfect light – which makes for happier little ones 😉

sam@jettyblue.com.au or 0414 412 069

Looking forward to chatting with you soon!
Sam.  Xxxxx

So Australia voted and it came to pass…same sex marriage equality is here! Hurrah! But what does that mean for all couples? How has the legal landscape changed when it comes to the “I do’s”??? I spoke to my good friend and expert celebrant Lillian Lyon to get the low-down on what has changed, what you need to be across and what it all means…

Thanks to industry expert and good friend Lillian Lyon of Lyonheart Celebrations, I can share with you the little-publicised nugget of info that could potentially sway your decision to hire one celebrant over another. As of March 9th 2018 all celebrants without exception must declare whether they are EITHER a “Marriage Celebrant” or “Religious Marriage Celebrant”. If a celebrant defines themselves as a “marriage celebrant” they by law cannot refuse your booking based on gender preference. Only a “religious marriage celebrant” has the right to refuse a same sex couple based on their religious beliefs. All celebrants MUST by law display exactly the words “marriage celebrant” or “religious marriage celebrant” on all business material including business cards, advertising, online and social, letterheads and all correspondence. The terms “celebrant” or “civil celebrant” alone are no longer legally accepted. Same sex couples will be able to identify whether a celebrant supports marriage equality or not based on these definitions.

 

Shopping for a celebrant is the most important part of planning your wedding and recommendations from friends is a good place to start. Once you’ve got your short list to visit, make sure your celebrant is more than a pretty face with a good PA and is 100% up to date with the latest changes to the marriage legislation. It is their responsibility as part of their professional practice to keep themselves informed, not to wait for a memo from the Attorney General. Ask them to explain these new changes to you and if you’re met with a blank face, that’s your que to exit stage left. Quick.

In nearly 20years shooting weddings, I’ve seen some absolute shockers from celebrants…rings exchange forgotten, an overbooked (and somewhat flustered) celebrant mixing up their couples’ ceremonies and my all time favourite – the marriage certificate with the Groom’s Dad’s name instead of the Groom’s! The calligraphy was gorgeous though. So ask family and friends for their recommendations along with solid opinions from experienced vendors. With such an important change in the marriage laws, I would not hesitate to recommend these two ladies who are not only very pretty and have great PA’s, but are highly experienced, have been celebrants for a long time and are simply wonderful people. Tell them I sent you 😉

 

 

Lillian Lyon
LyonHeart Celebrations
https://www.facebook.com/weddingcelebrantsydney.lillianlyon/

Catherine Kennedy
Your Sydney Celebrant
https://www.facebook.com/YourSydneyCelebrant/

 

 

 

Have you ever been “stung” by the experience of working with a creative? You thought you understood what was going on, you thought THEY understood your instructions clearly but still, despite your best intentions, something went awry. In my nearly 20years experience working as a photographer, designer and advertising exec, I’ve seen a few projects fall over for all kinds of reasons. But when they come off, it’s a sight to behold and the success of each project hinges on these three elements:

RELATIONSHIP – Who the “client” is sometimes can be a blurry line. However, after many years of working with international corporate clients who have accounts departments who don’t recognise my client delineations, I’ve quickly established a very complicated client hierarchy which is; who pays my bill, is my client. Sounds so fundamentally simple, right? Money in = Services out. Hmmmm…so what happens when my “client” (the person paying the bill) is NOT the person I’m shooting? It happens all the time – my client is the marketing/graphic design/advertising/web design agency who is creating a print/branding/advertising/social media/web campaign for their client the small or large business owner/corporate CEO/marketing manager of a large corporate/franchise manager. This is where REALLY good relationships are key and speak louder than any financial contract.

You don’t have to sit by the fire and braid each other’s hair, but there is a certain level of personal connection that is required for a project to to reach a level of success that you never thought possible. But tread lightly… Sometimes you have such a well worn and trusted relationship with your creative, that you know that they know what the expectations are before they’re spoken. When you can relax into a business relationship with a creative that “just gets it”, it’s like nirvana! But these kinds of relationships rarely happen spontaneously. Like any relationship, they take understanding, patience nurturing and work. If you’re not quite at the “nirvana” level with your relationship, don’t feel awkward to spell out the bleeding obvious. What is a gimme to you, may not be so much to your creative. It’s better to risk a few slightly long-winded and “captain obvious” emails and make your request crystal clear than make assumptions for fear of hurting someone’s feelings and end up with a result that is quite unexpected, and not in a good way.

COMMUNICATION – “For my creative to effectively communicate my brand message to my customers, I must first communicate my intent to my creative.”

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Understanding your intent for your project is key. Who am I communicating to? What do I want to say? What channels will I use to communicate them? You can’t expect to get a good ROI if you leave your creative team to stab around in the dark, looking for your message for you. Communication also means to do exactly that, communicate. Meet with your creative face to face. If you’re distance affected, pick up the phone and be available for conversations – ie, if your creative is trying to get you on the phone three times in a day, there’s a good chance they have some information that you need to hear.

Don’t communicate ANY details/questions/conversations about the job at hand via txt. Txt’ing is ideal for minor notifications; “did you see the email from the client?”, but any detail that requires it to be written down and responded to intelligently deserves the time for an email. A phone call is my chosen method of communication as it is much more efficient and there is much less risk of misunderstanding. The nuance and intent of human language is completely missing from a txt or email which leaves yourself wide open to misinterpretations by others which at best are hilarious, at worst can be disastrous.

CLIENT BRIEF – Ahhh, the golden egg, the Mickey to my Minnie. Good ones are like a Capiroska at the end of a hot summers day, bad one’s are not dissimilar to the toilet in Trainspotting (Google it, I dare you). As a community service to all my fellow creatives, I’ve attached my JettyBlue_Photography brief for all you business owners to download. PLEASE! I implore you – download it, read it and fill it out BEFORE you engage your creative.

If you don’t know what a brief is, never had to do one before or thought it was something only the big corporates do for projects with a dollar value of in the hundreds of thousands…think again. Your brief is the lynch pin in the success of your project. I have devised this brief after many years of working in advertising with huge multi nationals such as Volvo Trucks, Oroton and Novartis. Even when their marketing managers from time to time thought a brief was a bit of over-kill, I at the very least sat down with them and verbally asked them the relevant question from my brief template, taking notes the whole time. I got a brief from them in the end, they just didn’t know it. An experienced creative will at the very least, ask for your brief before they can even quote your project.

A brief is essentially a set of instructions for your creative team to follow. Think of it like building a house – you would never expect a builder to construct your dream house based on “four bedrooms and an ensuite please” scribbled onto a post-it. How would he even quote such a request? In this instance, the “brief” comes in the form of the architect’s plans. The client and their creative team have collaborated to create an agreed upon set of instructions for the builder to follow. Only then can the builder accurately quote the project and begin construction.

So, if you engage a creative without a 100% concrete idea of what you want, that’s not the end of the world either. Nothing is ever black and white and a good creative will help guide you through the maze of indecision. We understand that sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know so you don’t know what to ask! If when you’re sitting down at a meeting with your creative and you don’t have a brief and in turn she/he asks what seems like an inane amount of questions at a level of tediousness that borders on certifiably psychotic – they’re the creatives you engage. The ones who nod a lot and tell you what you want to hear just to get the job won’t give you the return you’re after. They’ll give you a reflection of what you’ve given them – not very much.

It’s the creatives who aren’t afraid to say “no” to your face that are the most valuable. Because chances are, those are the creatives that have been around the block more than a few times and they DO know all the things you don’t know you don’t know. All the tedious questions are their way of extracting the brief out of you. You never know, you might just learn something about your business in the process. That’s the power of a really good creative mind. Use it wisely.

Want to see the success stories that are the direct result of a killer brief and a co-operative relationship between all stakeholders? Here they are:

Kookaburra Air Conditioning

Edcon Steel

Barra Building

 St George Montessori

DJW Property

Isuzu Trucks Drives Winx

Sports Medicine Institute

By Samantha Halpern
B. Visual Communications (Photography & Digital Imaging)
Dip. Fine Arts (Photography)
Fully Accredited Member of the AIPP since 2008

Owner and Principle Photographer at JettyBlue Photography

Email me to connect and book a personal consult to discuss your online business branding and how JettyBlue Photography can give you the tools to compliment your content marketing strategy.

sam@jettyblue.com.au 0414 412 069.

I first met Justine way back in 2009 (I think) when I photographed her family portrait with her Mum and uncles. I then met her and her school girlfriends when they asked me to capture their friendship group portrait when they all graduated from high-school together.

So I was absolutely delighted to capture this next stage of her life with a family portrait of her own! Husband Brad and the two kids were a delight and these shoots is one of the truly joyous reasons I do what I do…

If you’re a budding actor, or a veteran looking to re-fresh your personal brand, then an updated headshot is a must. I’ve worked with loads of agents and actors, so I’ve complied my most asked questions about an actors headshot shoot…

Where does the shoot take place?

The majority of our sessions take place in our studio located in Como, Sydney. Here at the studio we have a full service professional studio as well as gorgeous Hamptons style deck for those natural light and “in situ” editorial style shots. We also have a beautiful garden. If your needs require something different, we are available to go on location for a small fee.

What do I wear for my session?

You should bring plenty of options to the shoot, we will go over it before hand and here’s a link to my Personal Branding eMag that contains my pricing and loads more top prep tips, but here are some pointers for you to get you started:

Always bring clothes that match your style and personality.

Avoid black clothes or white clothes, they tend to lose detail in some photographs. Look for charcoals, navy and creme’s instead.

Stay away from clothes with busy patterns. Solid colors are best.

Make sure any clothes that you bring are clean and neatly pressed. This goes double for collared shirts and suits. The camera picks up a lot more detail than you think.

Blue Jeans always look great on camera, unless they are dingy and torn. For headshots your lower half won’t make it in to most of the pictures, but don’t neglect to pick out some good pants for the shoot.

Make sure to dress comfortable but classy, v-neck and u-neck sweaters and shirts are great. For women tank-tops are always good, stay away from clothes that are too tight or uncomfortable.

Collared button down shirts are great, a solid color with a crisp-clean white shirt underneath for the men and a stylish solid color for women. All shirts need to be clean and pressed.

Be rested and drink plenty of water the day before your shoot, it is amazing for your skin.

Don’t bring any jewelry or props; the shoot is all about you, not accessories.

Any color is great for tops, but remember that bright colors can draw away from your face so pick something muted that matches your eye color and skin tone.

What about hair and makeup?

Hair and makeup is not included in the session fee. Most of the time men can get by without using professional hair and makeup, but we recommend a powder or foundation to help even out skin tones and to keep the face from looking shiny and is helpful if you have fair skin or are prone to redness. You can pick up a powder in your color at any department store, we recommend the MAC counter or a beauty supply store where you can get professional help picking the right color.

For women we always recommend professional makeup. A professional makeup artist knows how to make you look your best for the camera.

You can bring your own makeup artist to the shoot, or we can book our favourite HMUA’s that we work with all the time and love!

Our studio is open for you to have your hair and makeup done before your session, just make sure to let us know when you schedule your appointment.

How long does it take to get my images?

For most headshot sessions our turnaround time is three business days to get your gallery of images. Once you make your retouching selections it is typically another two to three business days before your final, edited images are delivered to you. If you have a deadline and need something even faster, be sure to let us know when you book.

How much retouching do you do?

Straight out of the camera your images will be pretty much ready to go. We use the right lighting and posing techniques to make you look your best. Before we deliver the images to you we sort through and ditch any of the blinky or blurry ones, color-correct and crop them.

You can order images to be digitally retouched as an add on to your session. Each image you order is then given the highest level of attention to reduce and remove wrinkles and blemishes as well as stray hairs and dark circles. The key is to enhance the image without making you look fake.

Getting a facial several days to a week before the shoot can ensure that your skin will look its best. It is important for you to look natural, and too much retouching can make you look fake.

It’s my first time, what kind of acting headshots do I need?

As an actor, the type of shots you need is going to be determined by a few factors including your market (where you live and work), your type (what you look and act like), what you want to audition for and more. Here are a couple of things to consider.

  • You should always consult your agent on what you need. They have experience in the industry and more importantly, they know what you need to book more jobs.
  • If you don’t have an agent yet then by default you want to get a clean, simple, commercial headshot. Basically a smiling, looking-at-the-camera head and shoulders image with minimal retouching to show potential agents and casting directors what you look like.
  • Remember that the majority of casting for film and television, at least in the early stages, is done online. Casting directors look at an array of small thumbnails to determine the initial round of auditions so it’s important that your headshot is impactful and close up. A small thumbnail of your whole body from head to toe will make your face a lot less visable at that size.
  • Don’t worry too much about specific character shots unless directed by your agent. Your two basic looks will be commercial (upbeat and happy) and theatrical (more dramatic).

If you’d like more information about your headshot, you can contact the studio or download our eBook

To make a booking or chat to us in the studio, call 0414 412 069 during business hours or email anytime sam@jettyblue.com.au