Petra

Petra, originally uploaded by brendan.oshea.

By some miracle it stopped pouring with rain every time we stopped the limo to take a shot. And as soon as we got back in the car it started raining again. The clouds were so awesome that day.

Heathcliffe!

The weather was terrible on this day, however the dark and threatening clouds added to the drama

Windy Veil!

This veil had a mind of it's own. Trying to photograph this Bride on one of the windiest days of the year proved to be quite challenging, although some of the shots were interesting.

BettyBlonde

Everything Vintage and embodies Betty Page! Bright red lipstick,golden locks and pin up thigh highs makes one go weak in the knees. As they say in old Hollywood “Smokin!”

Lynchian Bride

Lynchian Bride, originally uploaded by brendan.oshea.

Me and Rom picked the worst day to do an outdoor shoot. We had to keep the gals inside cars until the last minute because the 50 kmh winds made their hair and makeup look like they'd just woken up after a drunken night on the town. We had to change the concept a little since there was no way we'd get a glamour shot, so we went for a kind of David Lynch/Steven Klein thing. We used 4 bare 580EXII's since there was no way to put a brolly up. Even then I had 2 flashes hit the concrete from the stands being blown over.
We tried in vain to fire a flash through a scrim but it was like a kite, and nearly dragged the wardrobe girl across town, like the cow in Wizard of Oz. Next time we'll check the weather report.

wrestling

wrestling, originally uploaded by brendan.oshea.

2 580EXII's, a 430EX and a Sunpak. Me and Rom figured this would be a good double page spread for Melbourne Bride magazine. Lots of room for type and composed to leave room for the gutter. Kind of different to what they're used to it probably raised a few well manicured eyebrows. Or whatever they do with their eyebrows over there.

Blooper#1

There you are, proudly standing there on you big day. Its nice to rely on your mates to watch your back.!

Chunky Move!

A montage from pics that we recently shot for Chunky Move's performance of GLOW! These were shot during rehearsal.
The sequence was shot as the dancer writhes without the effects of the lighting and computer animation.

Electric

Pictures for promotional material for Chunky Move's 'Glow' - an interactive solo performance in which the motion of the human body is used to trigger and control music, lighting and animation.

ringflash solo

ringflash solo, originally uploaded by brendan.oshea.

Trying to get a good balance between an Orbis Ringflash and an Ezybox camera right. As little as half a stop changes the look entirely.

ringflash sisters

ringflash sisters, originally uploaded by brendan.oshea.

Orbis Ringflash and an Ezybox camera right. I cranked the Ringflash up a half stop and that's all it took to get a completely different look. Hard to get any consistency with this combination, but it can look really good when you get it right.

Bridal Expo 2009

We attended the Melbourne Bride Expo last weekend, and it was a great to get so many positive comments. However other people are better than us at the whole expo thing, and we're happy to get back to what we do best. Setting up a booth is harder than you think, and ours tended to look a little like the Sale section at K-Mart. If we do next year, we're going to design it our own way, and not try to be so sales-ish. So don't be surprised if it turns out looking like a 70's batchelor pad, with velvet wallpaper, bean bags and lava lamps.

Shoot insight

This is all the shots we did for a recent shoot all strung together. It shows how we made our lighting, composition and posing choices, and finally how long we spent getting the expression juuuusst right!

Cold as Ice

Ice Queen. Ironically this shot was taken on the hottest day EVER in Victoria. The studio had a corrugated iron roof, the model was sweating every 2 minutes keeping the make-up artist very busy. Outside, the sky was red but the model was a trooper, she kept going.

Float

In between takes on a video shoot at Montsalvat in Melbourne. Ezybox and a 580EXII.

Handy use for an iPhone #152

Stones Winery has to be one of the best locations in the Yarra Valley. Steve and his staff there are great. Except for the time I went back there to take a shot of the vineyard and they wanted to charge me $500 for the privilege. Anyway. But when it gets dark out there it gets dark fast, and we needed a little more light on Brooke's face for this backlit shot. Rom whipped out his trusty iPhone, set the screen to white and viola! instant mini soft box.