Posts tagged ‘awards’
NRA Australian Fashion Design Awards – 2006
UPDATE: Brad Webb of Darb Couture took out the Supreme Award for the night as Best Fashion Designer in Australia, the second year runnning. Eeni Meeni Miini Moh won the Kids and Innovation awards. Mark Valenton of Metropolitan Institute of TAFE won the student award and if you remember from my shoot at modaitalia, he was the winner from that event this year.
Today I attended the full dress rehearsal at the NRA Australian Fashion Awards Finals on the Gold Coast. This is the 26th year that the awards have been held and is now known for being the longest-running, continously televised fashion event on Australian television. I had the opportunity to shoot at the dress rehearsal and you can view the Fashion Photography photos I took here.
Moved to the new month of December, the final parade will be broadcast on Channel 9 with hosts Richard Wilkins and Deborah Hutton.
The awards are part of the 2006 NRA Fashion Festival which is held on the Gold Coast, various events have been held such as local performances and opportunities to meet stars like Katie Fischer who is also the face of AMP Capital Shopping Centres. The fashion awards showcases the best student and label designers in Australia. The Queensland Government is the other major sponsor for this event and has been a major part in Fashion development in Australia.
There were some extra highlights to the final parade including dance performances and visual displays such as the one below where the female dancer would appear in a new outfut in a matter of seconds underneath the flicker of a sheet of cloth. Almost a magical act, this would have been a treat for guest during the main event.
QUT – Fashion Design Graduate Show 2006
The fashion highlight this week in Brisbane, was the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Fashion Design Graduate Show. I attended the second show of three, which was a packed house at QUT’s creative industries precinct in “The Block” at Kelvin Grove. The events started on November 22 and conclude on the 24th. If you wish to find out more information about attending the last event, get more information here. View the Fashion Photography photos I took here.
This event is a showcase of the work of students from the only Fashion degree in QLD. The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Fashion) program has had great success over the years where some students having gone on to win renowned competitions nationally and internationally.
There was a combination of Womenswear, Menswear and Swimwear on show. The highlight for me in terms of presentation was the Oliver Twist theme shown by one of the students, where the models/actors put on a bit of a show for the audience.
I got myself a cosy spot at the back left in front of the catwalk, where I was shooting from an elevated position to try and shoot over the heads of those in the front row. Once again I shot without a flash, using an 85mm on Canon 20D. This gave me an effective reach of about 136mm which was ideal. The down lights over the stage caused some shadow to occur in the model’s eye sockets. Not much I can do about this besides use a flash, which I rarely want to do. Feel free to check out the photos in my Fashion Photo Gallery.
There were a few models working that night I had done photoshoots with, they included Kristin Parkinson (whom also modelled at the Swimwear from Oz launch party), Diana Rodriquez and Carmen James, all of who are part of the Vivien’s Models agency.
Make sure you check out the photos and let me know what you think. If you say something nice, I’ll send you one of the yummy snakes I got in the goody bags from the night… only yellow ones left.
Swimwear from Oz – Fashion Launch Party – Fox Hotel, Brisbane
Last night I was invited to the Swimwear from Oz fashion launch party at Fox Hotel in Brisbane. This was the unveiling of the hot new swimwear designed by Olympic Swimmer Marieke Guehrer. Check out the photos that I took here in my Fashion Photography Gallery.
Braving the cold winds which swept through the city on an unusually cold night for this time of year, Swimwear from Oz items were shown on the catwalk. The host of the night was David “Lutzy” Lutterall from Nova 106.9 FM, who showed keen support for the new swimwear label.
If you have seen some of the photos I did for Carly Faragher, you would recognise the model above, her name is Kristin Parkinson and she is a model for Vivien’s Models.
Marieke has set up an online store where you can purchase these items, support Australian fashion and check them out here – Swimwear from Oz.
Here is a photo of Marieke and myself. Secretely I wanted to challenge her to a dog paddle race at the pool… Where she dog paddles and I sprint down the side of the pool.. hold on.. I just saw her times for her backstroke, maybe she should dog paddle one handed haha.. Anyways in summary – Swimwear from Oz – it’s all in the name.
Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE Fashion – Graduation Parade 2006
Last night I attended the Metropolitan South Institute of TAFE (MSIT) Fashion – Graduation Parade at the Coffee Club Pavillion, RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane. I was a silver sponsor for this event and was also one of the media photographers shooting on the night. It was a massive turn-out of about 800 people, including 100 VIP guests. Erin McNaught, Miss Universe Australia and runner-up for the crown this year was the host and was looking stunning as per usual.
The parade’s features included swimwear, evening wear, mens, childrens wear etc. There were a few crowd pleasers such as Penelope Bell’s venetian blind skirt which flips from white to a pattern with a swift movent of a cord. There was also the amazing presentation of childrens wear from Ebony de Souza, with kids in fun bright colours bouncing down the catwalk.The whole event seem to be very well organised and well presented, a tribute to the MSIT’s direction and passion for Fashion in QLD.
Just like the modaitalia event, I was the only one not shooting with a flash and this time I was the only one not using a zoom lens, I was using my “nifty fifty” 50mm 1.8 prime lens. There were a few shots I took which were a little soft, but on a whole I got some great natural shots without resorting to using a flash and having harsh shadows in the background. Using the 50mm prime also gave me some extra sharpness and natural angles.
The fashion photos for the Graduation Parade 2006 may be viewed here. These photos are also available for purchase either individually or as a complete set on CD. Please email me if you wish to purchase any photos.
Sweat Diva – Catalogue Photoshoot
Today I did a photoshoot for Erin Cash of Sweat Diva, an Activewear fashion label in Brisbane. These are to replace some photos on the website and will also be used for an upcoming catalogue. Check out the photos here in my Fashion Photo Gallery.
This shoot was done at about 12pm in the middle of the day. Whilst we got some good shade near the Sweat Depot (Brisbane’s Northside), which is where Erin’s fitness studio is, the sun did move to an undesirable position towards the end. You will notice that in some of the shots I got few harsh shadows the highights.
I used the 50mm 1.8 lens on a Canon 20D for this shoot, definately my favourite portrait lens on the 20D.
The models for the shoot were Johanna and Angie. Both girls are part of the All-Australian Million Dollar Babes cabaret show. It was fun working with them both, the photos you see in my gallery are mostly untouched in terms of photo manipulation, only colour and levels were adjusted.
modaitalia 2006 – Euromarque – Maserati Ferrari Showrooms, Brisbane
Last night I attended Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), modaitalia 2006. You may view the pictures in my gallery, let me know what you think.
Mark Velenton was the winner last night and is awarded with a 2 week scholarship with the world-renowned Palimoda fashion institute in Florence, Italy. Mark was one of 20 finalists on the night to present their “Italy inspired” designs to a judging panel of experts and professionals.
I was positioned in possibly the best spot for photos last night, standing in front of one of the large spotlight stands, slightly off centre in front of the catwalk. It is always good to get a in front of a stand as you don’t have to worry about blocking people’s view from behind.
I was using a Canon 28-135mm IS 3.5-5.6 USM on my Canon 20D at ISO 800 on shutter priority at 125th of a second, without a flash. This lens isn’t the sharpest of zoom lenses compared to the canon L series lenses but worked quite well in this lighting. Most of the other photographers were using a flash but I think you lose the theme of the night in the shot. Plus I wanted to get more practice manually focusing in low light. Typically you aren’t allowed to use a flash at indoor events such as parades and concerts.
Anyways, this was a big night of shooting, I took about 680 shots, and got about 500 unique and decent shots of them. There are some shots from the “modaitalia spectular” featuring designer label work late in the shoot after the students, which I shot in JPEG. All I can say is, never again! Shooting using JPEG indoors and night is extremely time consuming to edit and you usually get inconsistant grading and levels. I only used JPEG to keep memory consumption down. Never again. I’d much prefer 1 good shot than several crap shots that need lots of editing.
Check out the photos here and tell me what you think, keep in mind that you will need to order these photos from ICCI.