This year there were two main fashion events which I was hoping to cover here on my website, the EKKA Coffee Club parades and the Mercedes Benz fashion festival.

Unfortunately I was not permitted a media pass to either events as this site isn’t classified by PR or marketing companies as a “bona-fide” media outlet. It amazes me the ignorance of so called “marketing” companies to deny the channel of independent internet publications. Is there not a market for selling the EKKA or Fashion online?

There is a misconception that internet websites/blogs are not an important enough channel to consider them individually to allow to document the event. I’ve documented a fair wack of fashion events and the EKKA previously which is still getting a lot traffic. Most notable was my documentation of the NRA Fashion award finals last year, QUT graduate parades, MSIT graduate parades, plus several other key events in Brisbane. Not only did I document them, but i’ve generated a lot of traffic for those event websites. Try searching for the following keywords in google typically I rank in the top 5.

“nra fashion parade”
“qut fashion parade”
“msit fashion parade”

Most fashion labels I have documented have also benefit from my internet marketing skills, where in some instances my article post about their label ranks higher than their company site for their label name search term.

Here are some traffic stats:

• During the month of July, I had a total 49,707 unique visitors to christianbowman.com.
• More than 17,397 of those visitors landed on my site searching for EKKA or Fashion related content.
• July was a fairly uneventful month in terms of online fashion and EKKA traffic. If I was to use the percentages from the EKKA and fashion season last year where that traffic was at 65%, then I could forecast that during the same season this year I would reach attract over 32,000 unique visitors.

Also note that whilst July was a high traffic month, it isn’t out of the ordinary, i’ve had steady growth over the year, during June this site attracted 43,087 unique visitors.

So my point is, how can anyone in the fashion industry not have me document them when traffic and leads are abundant on this site. I even have a large subscriber base on this site, I know the names of the people who look at my site, I value their support for the EKKA and Fashion events and so should the event organisers!

Anyways, even though I’m a bit disappointed in being restricted in documenting key events in Brisbane, I am still keen supporter of the EKKA and the EKKA fashion parades.

I would hate to see them disappear in the future as organisers refuse to do something different in marketing the event.

Here are the details – ONE DAY TO GO!

Brisbane EKKA
RNA Showgrounds – August 9-18, 2007

Gregory Terrace
Bowen Hills
Brisbane Qld 4006

Ph: 07 3852 1831
Email: enquiries@ekka.com.au

A couple of months ago, I was approached by the agency who is doing the EKKA campaigns to purchase some fashion photography from a parade I did.

Today I saw the photo at a bus shelter on Gregory Terrace in Spring Hill, then again on College Rd on some street banners heading towards Hale St.

Here is the photo that they chose, it wasn’t one of my best photos, but it did look good with some graphics around it.

Anyways, I was definitely curious as to how it would be used and I think it looks great what Axis Campaigns have done with it.

I went to the Ekka Race day at Eagle Farm yesterday and decided to take my camera to take some photos of the fun. I came in with a hand full of cards to advertise a little bit but found that wasn’t enough and ran out during the day.

I have now uploaded the photos I took and you can find them in my photo gallery. If you are new to this site, please contact me with comments about my work. Keep in mind that there is 13 pages of photos in that album, click next to cycle through to the next page.

If you wish to download the photo and print them out, right click on the “Download Photo” link under the photo and save it your computer. You may then take this on CD or memory to your local photo lab for reprints.

It was a very bright day which makes it hard for shooting, especially with digital photography. Whilst I did get a few decent shots, if i had an assistant handy with a reflector board it would have been great working with natural light. However I didnt and had to fight the effects of shadow and silhouetting. Excuses excuses…

If you yourself or know anyone that needs digital on-site or studio photography services, please enquire at bowmandigital.com . I’m currently offering $50 portrait photoshoots in my studio at Wishart. This includes 30mins for shooting and 30mins for post-production work. You will recieve a CD of all of the photos taken during the shoot, ready for you to get printed at your favourite photo lab.

There is a limit of 6 people per shoot. Feel free to call me on 07 3122 3763 or 0422 915 688 if you wish to make a booking. Bookings are only available after hours at either 6:00pm, 7:00pm, 8:00pm or 9:00pm. This is a great opportunity to get professional studio shots before special events such as formals, balls, and fashion events. If you are a looking for family or photos with a partner, model folio photos then this is a great offer. Don’t pay per print like you do at other studios.

Anyways, please feel free to comment on this post by registering on this site and posting a comment. I’d love to hear about your day at the races and about the photos I took. Otherwise just send me comments via my “Contact me” page.
Thanks