We all have days when everything seems to be going wrong. Your last shoot sucked, you lost a client, or you just feel meh and think all your photos are shite. I usually curl up in the fetal position with a 500gm jar of Nutella and watch One Tree Hill. I also find reading these quotes (while eating Nutella) really help. Here are a few of my faves. Enjoy. “It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” ~ W.C. Fields “I never loved another person the way I loved myself.”~ Mae West “I used to be self conscious about my height, but then I thought, f*** that, I’m Harry Potter. ~ Daniel Radcliffe “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” ~ Marianne Williamson “Having...

I call this the “goalie” or “goolie” pose because soccer players do it to protect their *coughs* family jewels when they line up during a penalty shoot out. Left to their own devices, most men will naturally go to this pose. You see it everywhere, including magazine covers and corporate shoots My biggest problem with this pose is the body language represents vulnerability. People who are feeling nervous or lacking in confidence will automatically go into this pose. Posing your models in this way sends the wrong message. If you want to portray your models as confident people who have their shite together, then please, please leave this pose where it belongs: on the soccer field.

“Your portrait style just isn’t strong enough… we’re looking for photographers with edgier work – but thanks anyway.” This was the 5th time in a row I had been told that my folio sucked. I was absolutely gutted. This last blow was delivered by Dave, an art director from one of Melbourne’s most well known advertising agencies. Back then, I was 25 and had just spent the entire day schlepping my folio around in the hope that I would land my big break and pick up the Coca Cola account – and a couple of other big brands – before lunch. All my appointments that day pretty much went the same way: *flick, flick, flick of the pages of my folio*… silence… followed by… “Thanks” *tight smile*. “Your work is not really what we are looking for… but… “ I can’t remember what else they said but in my head...

Very, very cool custom bling for photographers from Philip’s Diamond Shop. This ring was created for a well-known aviation photographer who still couldn’t stop thinking about the first lens he really fell in love with: the Pentax 50mm/1.7. Awesome!   Charm necklace There are plenty of beautiful and unique designs on Etsy and you are also supporting independent artists, which is a great thing. This sweet little sterling silver camera charm necklace comes with a sterling silver hand stamped disk with your initial stamped into it and a Swarovski crystal birthstone charm and comes on a sterling silver box chain. Approx $40 US from always4evercreations. Love these cool keychains from The Awesomer Lomography Keychains are miniature replicas of four of the most popular Lomo cameras – Lubitel+, Diana F+, Fisheye 2, and the LOMO LC-A+. Each keychain comes in a gift-ready tin. Get the Lomo Camera Keychains from the Awesomer.

May I take your picture? Have you ever walked past a complete stranger and thought: “Wow I’d love to photograph that person, they look incredible”? How many times have you acted on that impulse? Asking a stranger to do something for us isn’t easy, even for the most confident person. We’re all afraid of being rejected or looking silly. What will other people think about us? “You don’t ask, you don’t get.” This was my dad’s favourite saying and the secret of getting what you want is A. Asking B. How you ask. At a recent workshop I was running, I asked two of my students to approach a complete stranger and ask to take their portrait. One of the students came back with an amazing shot. The other with nothing. Why? The difference was all in the asking. Here’s what they each said to the stranger: Student A said:...

“It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting.”

Check out these awesome retro camera straps. The straps on both my cameras are holding on for dear life with my “I never went to girl guides” style nanna knots that I’ve tied. They make me really nervous so I decided it was time to upgrade. I was going to stick with a generic brand one but then decided I really wanted something more unique. That’s when I spotted these retro vintage camera straps on an instagram feed. You can buy them from local artists on Etsy or check out some of the ones online below. Just make sure they are really secure and will hold the weight of your precious SLR (better than my nanna knots). Tapestry Hippy (Hippie) Retro Camera Strap – You Choose the Design! Red and White Racing Stripe Camera Strap- Vegan, Upcycled The Spring Break Camera Strap

Hold glasses parallel to the ground to see the reflection of the sun. Try this cool little trick next time you want to check the position of the sun in the sky. Your eyes will love you for it. Have you ever been photographing someone on one of those sunny days with passing clouds that give you bright sunshine followed by cloud cover? These situations make it really difficult to shoot consistently, particularly if you are trying to shoot with cloud cover or specifically need sunshine for your shot. The most obvious way to check where the position of the sun is to look directly into the sky. The downside of this is you are temporarily blinded and doing this can cause permanent damage. This is a cool little trick I picked up from a cinematographer years ago. Instead of looking at the sun he took off his sunglasses and...

“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” Friedrich Nietzsche My new Ikea treadmill standing desk When I heard that sitting was the new smoking I got really annoyed. I quit smoking 4 years ago and it was really difficult. How the hell am I going to quit sitting? I’ve been worried about the effect of all those long hours of retouching files is having on my body. I also felt really tired and sore after a session and decided to do something about it. This newsletter is currently being written from my treadmill desk. I’ve been researching this for the past couple of months and thanks to a few geniuses on the interwebs and Ikea (where dreams come true) I’ve managed to McGyver something together that I’m pretty happy with, in fact I fricken love it! Typing and walking is something I’ve already mastered thanks to my iPhone and...

I’ve got a real blind spot when it comes to verticals and horizontals. It’s kind of like vertical dyslexia. I can never get my images completely square. This is can be a problem particularly when I’m shooting portraits of people in a room or anywhere with vertical or horizontal features such as light poles doorways etc. I get so involved with capturing facial expressions that I fail to see the image is completely on an angle. The one way I’ve learnt to overcome this habit is to work with a tripod, which is great, but I still couldn’t get my shots completely square until now with the discovery of this nifty $5 device. It’s a cool little spirit level that fits in the hot shoe of my camera and tells me exactly when my camera is level so my shots will always be square.