JettyBlue Photography Blog
To celebrate Felicity & Kevin’s 1st anniversary this weekend, here’s a sneek peek at their gorgeous album, custom designed by yours truly. Themed to reflect their wedding day look and feel, it includes every detail and text hand-picked by Felicity, their digistorybook album is a bespoke artwork piece unlike any other. It has it’s own personality that will take them back to their day with the turn of every page. Forever.
Adam had purchased a Mother’s Day family portrait gift voucher from me earlier in the year, so I was delighted to meet his partner Sarina and their amazing, adorable little Allegra. What fun we had…
I shot Cassandra and Victor’s wedding many moons ago so it was a real joy to see them again and capture their THREE gorgeous kids!
Last month I had the privilege and delight to photograph one of the most joyful souls I know. Laura McLachlan has been at the front of the share working space Executive Republic since she started it. Laura recognised a gap in the market when it came to the hospitality industry, so she leveraged her experience in this industry to connect cafe & restaurant owners with distributors and manufacturers to increase supply chain efficacy.
Laura chose the uber cool 1908 in Cronulla for her shoot, not just because the light is amazing, but because it reflects her personal style, her personality and the owners were more than happy to host us! Specifically targeting her hospitality clients, Laura’s personal branding shoot focussed on the connections between herself and her clients which are paramount to maintaining relationships within the industry.
Did anyone see Four Corners last night? Holy moly, how scary! Last night Peter Greste brought a stunning piece on Facebook and how we are used as data mining pawns and have absolutely no control over it. The most interesting part of this conversation for me, was how this is affecting each and every one of us and how we are being manipulated by the online space and how that in turn, is affecting our online personal brand. Having control over our online personal brand has never been more critical than now. We are at a tipping point with online technology and how our private data is being mined by not only big business such as Facebook, but our Governments.
Did you know that if you have EVER looked at Facebook, not necessarily even logged in, that facebook algorithms know its you based on the computer you’re using, and will market to you based on your browsing history, inside and outside of Faceboo? Creepy isn’t it?!?!? Even if you’ve never been a member of Facebook, or cancel your account, Facebook still builds a profile on you, collect your data (albeit not as detailed) and you have no option to “opt out”. You have NO CONTROL over what information Facebook collects about you, how they use that information or what they do with it.
“History is the story of how we’ve learned to come together in ever greater numbers — from tribes to cities to nations,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote.
“At each step, we built social infrastructure like communities, media and governments to empower us to achieve things we couldn’t on our own … Facebook stands for bringing us closer together and building a global community.”
One of the interviewees, Rebecca MacKinnon from the Internet Privacy Advocate, New America Foundation, said this: “They don’t even tell us what they’re doing…if someone was to build a dossier on me, based on what Facebook knows about me, what would it look like? I should be able to know that so that I can make informed decisions about how I’m going to use the platform.”
It is then recognised that Facebook has moved much further past a commercial platform in which to sell us stuff it thinks we like, Facebook is now potentially influencing world events. Peter Greste knows better than most the influence Facebook can have. He himself used it as a tool to garner support for his cause which in the end, was instrumental in his release from an Egyptian prison. Read Peter’s story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Greste
Peter’s article went on to describe how Facebook is manipulated during political campaigns and the data it collects is “weaponised”. Peter says “One of the most important parts of any democracy is news…the last US election saw the explosion of fake news, turbocharged by sharing on Facebook.” Fake news masquerades as legitimate journalism and was once monitored by a panel of human “moderators” who would filter out fake news from the “whats trending” news feed. Facebook sacked their team of journalist “moderators” and replaced them with an algorithm after accusations of bias. Since then, the proliferation of fake news has gone unabated on Facebook due mainly to the fact that an algorithm cannot reason, it cannot determine what is fake news and what is actual journalism written in the public interest. With half of all American’s getting their news from Facebook, that is a scary scary thought. I don’t think I trust the general public (myself included) to be able to determine the difference between real and fake news. The implications are pretty self explanatory.
Nik Cubrilovic (who is a convicted hacker turned IT security consultant) made the most telling point of the piece when asked about potential harm. “…one of the problems with the privacy realm is that we only have one identity and we can’t take back what we’ve already handed over. There’s no ‘take back’ on private data, the implications that are going to occur in 5 or 10 years time we need to protect against that now…we know that there’s a danger but we don’t know the extent of it and we don’t know the potential implications of it.” OK, now I’m crapping myself.
So with a population of people being fed fake news in such a way that it is almost impossible to distinguish it from real news by accredited journalist sources, coupled with either a perceived or real inability of that population to make informed choices about where they get their news from and whether or not it is fake or real, the question of what is happening to our data without our consent is of real concern. Whether you like it or not, our lives are now measured in “0’s and 1’s”. Everything we look at online, share, talk to, who our friends are, what they do, how we interact, what we like, are all recorded digitally.
We only have one identity. That identity online is slowly but surely permeating our offline identity too. But what does that mean for me in my business or my corporate career? Well, the implications of a potential employer Googling a candidate are well documented and with less “checks and balances” applied to the content we consume online than what is applied to legitimate print journalism, it is becoming more and more difficult for our clients, colleagues, employers, influencers to get to know the REAL us, to trust what they see online about us so that they can make an informed choice as to whether they want to engage with us and our businesses.
You can’t control how your identity is being “data mined” by Facebook and you can’t control what they do with the information they already have about you, but you can choose to cultivate your personal brand, rather than have it be defined on your behalf which is what is already happening. Your personal brand is the manifestation and outward projection of all that’s going on inside you. How you look, your values, how you make people feel, how you are perceived online. So how do you connect with your audience above all this fake news and stolen data??? Through your authentic self. Your online personal brand is not just what you THINK people want to see from you online. It is who you are offline, communicated through the online paradigm.
Your Personal Brand is co-created. It rests upon the platform of YOUR stories and the value it adds to the people that care. Take control of your personal brand now. Your data and your online identity are already being exploited, so take this opportunity to manipulate your personal brand to your favour. In 5 or 10 years time, what will your “online dossier” look like? If you can’t take back now what you have already handed over to the internet, what hope do you think you’ll have of wrestling control over your personal brand then?
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
See last night’s Four corners episode: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2017/04/10/4649443.htm
Nick and Tegan finally tied the knot at the gorgeous Mountain View winery in Shoalhaven Heads. Filled with loads of gorgeous details, Tegan pulled out all the stops on every aspect of her perfect wedding day…
Have you ever watched Grand Designs? I looooove that show! The architecture is genius, the camera work is divine and the commitment of the owners compelling. One thing I am very grateful to my Fine Arts education for, is a comprehensive understanding and appreciation for architecture. So when I was approached a few years back by a local builder to shoot some before, during and after shots for their website, I was thrilled! Since then I’ve gained more and more builders and construction companies as clients and I absolutely LOVE photographing buildings! How a pile of innate materials can be crafted, willed into an existence much more than the sum of its parts is like magic to me.
Many tradies think they’re immune from having to market on their website (if they have one) or on social media. But don’t forget that whether your clients’ project is a new garage or a multi-million $$ re-build, this investment is probably one of the largest they’ll make in their lives after the initial property purchase. Not many clients would trust a builder these days based solely on a verbal recommendation. BEFORE they engage you, probably even before the quote stage, they want to know who you are, what are your values – are they the same as mine? Will you as my builder understand me? Will I understand you? What work have you done thats similar to mine? what problems during that build did you overcome? how will you apply that experience to my build? Sometimes it can come down to a simple perception by the client – the quotes are the same, the recommendations are the same, the testimonials are equally as glowing, but builder A has a website that looks like his teenage son built it and builder B has a website that features clear, professional photography of work he’s completed recently and a facebook page that has posts in a language I understand and not in condescending “builder blabble” and accompanying images to illustrate his point. So, from the clients perspective, who would you choose? The builder who perhaps is too busy to need a good website (then perhaps he doesn’t need my custom either) or the builder who clearly is invested in his work, proud enough of his skill to tell the world about it and hence will be just as invested in my project as I am. It’s a no-brainer.
Give me a call 0414 412 069 or an email sam@jettyblue.com.au to chat about photographing your latest project. Here’s some pics from two amazing projects by my client Barra Building. Their brand new website is coming soon: www.barrabuilding.com.au
Every once in a blue moon an opportunity comes along to be a part of a movement that has the potential to make a difference in thousands of women’s lives. Wouldn’t you do what you could to help? I have been very fortunate to have been gifted the opportunity to use my skills as an artist to raise awareness for an amazing charity called Reclaim Your Curves. They are a very brave and driven group of women who have decided that through their own painful experience of not just breast cancer, but breast reconstruction, that they would band together to try and make the journey for other women through the maze of reconstruction a little easier.
I wasn’t aware until I met these amazing women that Australia has one of the lowest take up rates of post breast cancer reconstruction in the OECD. Why? There is a real disconnect between patients, GP’s and surgeons and many patients a left feeling they should be just happy they survived, let alone dream of recovering the shape that they loved because their cancer care professionals aren’t having that conversation with them. I mean, if you had your leg amputated because of cancer, one of the first conversations had is about how the cancer can be removed in the best way to facilitate a prosthetic limb. This does not seem to be the case with breast cancer patients. Reclaim Your Curves hopes to educate and communicate to not just patients, but the medical fraternity as well. But, like all charities, they need funds. So please, share this post. We’re hoping to get loads of interest, donations and even some attention from the mainstream media.
This awareness campaign project I’m shooting for them is a visual diary of sorts where I am shooting willing Brest cancer survivors post-cancer but just before they go in for their reconstructions. I’m again photographing them after their reconstruction surgery to illustrate that once you leave the machinations of “cancer treatment” the journey doesn’t end there for many ladies. I’d like to introduce the very courageous Annmaree who is going under the knife yet again tomorrow for her final breast reconstruction surgery. A journey she may not have knew was available had it not been for the Reclaim Your Curves organisation. Annmaree wants to communicate to other patients that its OK to want your curves back, to not be satisfied with just “surviving”. That for many women to “survive” means not just to live, but it also means getting their breasts back to how they were before, or close to.
So far I’ve photographed two ladies, Tracey and Annmaree and both had i guess a sense of duty to their bodies not to deny this point in its journey. Once they go in for reconstruction, it will never look the same again. For the better hopefully, but nevertheless, a moment in time worth documenting for themselves, their families and other cancer patients who perhaps cant see the light at the end of the tunnel. Instead of the wonderful breast cancer photographic campaigns of recent years which feature survivors in a stark and almost confrontational pose, I chose to portray these women in this moment as the beautiful artworks they are. To convey that even though something very ugly has happened to them, they own it. It is theirs, no one can deny them that and they are beautiful despite their scars and even perhaps because of them.
After Annemaree’s reconstruction tomorrow, I’ll be following her story to shoot her again with a “curves reclaimed” photoshoot. With this series of images, Annmaree wanted other cancer patients to see that through the perseverance of yet another surgery, the result is a regaining of her pre-cancer figure. So stay tuned for the next installment of her journey where I’ll be shooting a more “glamour” styled portrait with some tight-fitting clothes to show off her new curves. I can’t wait!
I have to give a HUGE thank you and shout out to the local businesses who generously donated their time and/or services to make this shoot possible. I love it when businesswomen get together to lift up another – there’s way too much tearing down of others going on in this world so it was heart warming to work together with these warm and generous ladies. You restored my faith in humanity. Thank You.
So, for all the information you need about post-breast cancer reconstruction and to leave a donation, please head over the Reclaim your Curves website: www.reclaimyourcurves.org.au
JettyBlue Photography
Samantha Halpern
www.jettyblue.com.au
blog.jettyblue.com.au
facebook.com/jettyblue
instagram.com/jettybluephotography
sam@jettyblue.com.au
0414 412 069
Allison Emmanuel Stylist
www.facebook.com/Allison-Emanuel-Styling
www.instagram.com/allisonemanuel_styling
hello@allisonemanuel.com
0449 556 849
Girl Meraki Floral Artistry
Paige
http://girlmeraki.com/
info@girlmeraki.com
www.instagram.com/girlmeraki/
0451 199 905
The Bridal Bar
Dominique
www.bridalbar.com.au
www.facebook.com/thebridalbarbyamymaree
Everyone has that fear. Its so real you can smell it. Well, I couldn’t quite smell it on James today, but the videographer extraordinaire sure was shaking in his boots. Here’s a sneek peek from his Human Icon Alchemy shoot this arvo…
I walked around the pub listening to the stories she had to tell me. As I listened, I heard the whispers of history and the hope of a new beginning. Last week I had the privilege of photographing the newly renovated Buckley’s Crossing Hotel at Dalgety. Its new owners, sisters Deb and Sharon had their work cut out for them, (remember that carpet!) and they have done a wonderful job restoring the old girl back to life. Who knew there was a grand dining room in there! Next time you visit and you’re enjoying your country breakfast, look up. “Whats that enormous curtain rod doing in the middle of the dining room?” you’ll ask yourself. Sharon is the keeper of pub secrets from history past. She’ll tell you a tale or two…
