Dec 1st
There are many wonderful locations in the world to have your pre wedding photography shoot and Bali is definitely one of them. Here are a few of the images from Charisse and Aldo’s shoot in Indonesia.
Oct 25th
It’s no secret that I love travelling to Bali, be it to photograph a wedding, a portrait, or even just to holiday. It is one of my favourite places on Earth. Over the years I have made many great friendships there and found that Bali is whatever you want to make of it. Just like anywhere else, beyond the tourist strip lies a whole different place where the day to day life of the people that live there varies so much from the places we tourists frequent. There are so many faces to Bali that my two favourite things to do when I’m not working are to enjoy an incredible sunset over the water or to venture into the back streets and take a little glimpse of the people that call Bali home.
If you love Bali too & want to see some more images click on the links below to view some of the recent weddings and portrait shoots we’ve photographed in Bali.
Charisse and Aldo Bali wedding
Apr 8th
On the shelves at Angus & Robertson this week you will find a new book by Susanna De Vries – Trailblazers. As Susanna best describes in her intro, ”This book profiles 15 Australian women who blazed a trail for the younger generation.” These women have really made a difference. One of those women is the current Governor General, Quentin Bryce. When Ms Bryce was Governor of Queensland, Studio Impressions, (Adam & I) were commissioned to take her official portrait for Government House. When I received my copy of Trailblazers this week, I was really excited to see, there on the cover, one of our portraits of the Governor General. Today I feel very honored to have played a small part in recording a little of Australian history, and I feel just a little proud that my portrait has been chosen to represent this amazing woman in print.
Susanna De Vries is an art historian and full time writer. She is a fabulous lady who writes fabulous books. My wife Penny, has already started reading this one. I put it on my desk at work & she picked it straight up. Any book on women in leadership will always get her attention, but an historical book on women in leadership through the ages – I’m not sure she will lift her head out of it the whole weekend.
Adam and I have been very lucky in our careers to meet many amazing people. The Governor General is certainly one of those. Seeing this book has inspired me to bring out some of my other portraits of people that have inspired me, people that are successful because they are passionate and because they care about making a difference. I’ll be posting some of these over the next few weeks. Then I think I’ll start photographing some more – just to celebrate the difference that dedication, passion and compassion in an individual, can make to the world.
Nov 22nd
It’s 2:47am and my phone beeps. Who is texting me at this time of the morning? Why am I even looking at it?
How quickly I’ve forgotten what it is like to have a newborn. 2:47am, that’s like daylight when your baby is less than 4 weeks old. And so it was that I got a text from Bede Durbridge updating me on the weather on the Gold Coast that day. With plans in place to photograph Bede, Tarryn and tiny Willow at Currumbin that day, I had a choice – take Bede’s advice on the rain & sleep in (aaah so tempting) or get up anyway & head to the coast to meet this new addition to the world. Had a hunch on the weather & I was awake anyway, so I headed down and the gods were good to us that day.
I HAD to photograph Bede & Tarryn with Willow at the same place I photographed their wedding only 2 years ago. THIS is what I love about what I do. Seeing good people in happy times, as their lives grow, and fill with more and more joy (and maybe a few more sleepless nights). How could I put this off at the prospect of a little rain?
Welcome to the world Willow. May your life be filled with wonder and opportunity and your days be filled with clean waves .
(The gallery is password protected. Please contact Bede & Tarryn for access).
Sep 13th
A few weeks ago it was my twin boys’ 5th birthday and the boys planned a ”Super Hero” party to celebrate. Evan loves Batman and, conveniently, Rohan loves Robin. He desperately wanted a Robin suit for his birthday. Well, it is impossible to find a Robin suit to fit a 5 year old anywhere in Brisbane. You can easily get one to fit a 25 year old, but not one for kids (go figure?). After much searching we found one online, expecting delivery just in time for his birthday and the big party. Of course, as with all best laid plans, the suit didn’t arrive until the day after the party. You won’t believe the crazy things we were doing in an effort to get a Robin suit in time for his birthday. Penny even stopped on the side of the road to ask a group of guys dressed as Superheros if they knew where she could get a Robin costume. I’m still trying to figure out why there were a group of adult men walking around Brisbane at midday on a Saturday dressed as Superheros! Who knows?
When the suit did arrive, it was on as fast as Rohan could get it out of the box. I couldn’t help to take a few pics of my dynamic duo.
Technique: These were shot on the Nikon D3s with the 24-70mm lens. I set up a portable studio light from Profoto, the “B600″, together with the ”Beauty Dish” with white reflector. I also used the diffuser attachment over the dish to soften the light a little.
Sometimes it is worth doing that little extra with equipment, even for a family shoot. One day they will be adults and I hope they look back and remember how cool it was to be 5 and be Batman and Robin for a day. At the very least, these will make great bribes on their 21st!
Sep 1st
What a week!
I have just spent an unbelievable time in Indonesia for work. That is, if you call attending someone’s wedding (as photographer), hanging out with some of the nicest people you could meet and taking photos of their family, snapping some cool fashion for a magazine and learning about one of the most impressive photography studios I have ever seen – “work”. Sometimes I forget how unreal my job is. My head’s still spinning so I will post more about this trip later, along with some of my favourite shots. Enough boasting, what I really wanted to write about was what was going on back here! No, I’m not talking about the election (who wants to anymore?).
One of the things I missed out on was the opportunity to have lunch with Lord Mayor Campbell Newman at the Brisbane Powerhouse. For a number of years Studio Impressions has been helping the Powerhouse with their publicity by capturing some of the cool events they have on, and letting them use these shots for their promotional material. We think the Powerhouse is an essential part of keeping Brisbane’s art community thriving, and we want to do our bit. Photographers grow if they are surrounded by talent, art, inspiration. This place and the people it brings to our city give me inspiration.
The lunch was to say Thank You to those businesses that sponsor and support the Powerhouse and to unveil their upcoming Program. Penny & Nicola went to represent Studio Impressions & they tell me lunch was great and the program of events for September – December 2010 is outstanding! Check it out for yourself – www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/events
This year the Brisbane Powerhouse turned 10. What a year it has been so far. We’ve had a great time photographing some really diverse events. Here are some of our favourites so far….
10th Birthday Celebrations – Happy Birthday Powerhouse!
The Comedy Festival
The Queer Film Festival
Powerkidz
Bringing photography to life
Describes what we do. This blog is about exactly that - here we will share a little of our life and a lot of what we love - people, art and photography. Whether you are planning a wedding, a family portrait or building your own professional photography business, I hope you find something to inspire you here. Thank you for visiting.
- Marcus Bell | Brisbane, Australia
