This Blog is Moving

This blog has moved from the current wordpress hosting and become a subdomain of my website. The new location is blog.anitajean.com.au. I am expecting bigger and better things from it in the future, so stay tuned. If you currently subscribe to the blog, or have it bookmarked, please update the address. I wouldn’t want you to miss anything exciting…

Better still, subscribe to receive blog updates via email, and you will never miss any news. See the sidebar at the new blog to subscribe…

Ballarat International Foto Biennale

I am in Ballarat.
The opening of BIFB on Saturday night launched me into a new mindset and I mingled with photographers and those interested in photography.
Today I have been participating in the Portfolio Reviews, and I showed my work to five different reviewers. From each one I took away new information or feedback, which is all very helpful. Tomorrow I will be meeting five more reviewers, and getting more excited about the possibilities for my journey as a photographer.
After the reviews ar eover I hope to have time to take in some of the dozens of exhibiitions on show around Ballarat for the bIennale. And maybe I will have a chance to get out and about with my camera…

Blue Lily Photo Shoot

The children running towards Wendy

Last Saturday I took my children to Kings Park in Perth to meet “Blue Lily Photography”. I have been following Wendy and Tyler’s blog for some time, ever since I saw these photos Wendy Whitacre took of the Nielson family in the NieNie Dialogues in 2008. When I discovered that Wendy was coming to Perth (from California, USA) I was very excited and booked my spot right away. It was meant to be a family photo shoot, but Roger wasn’t available on Saturday, so it was just me, with Sophie, Bonnie, Odette and Hugh. I wanted some photos of me taking photos of the kids, because I do that all the time, but it is not something that I can take photos of myself.

I must say that being on the other side of the camera was not such a daunting experience. Although I did have my camera (security blanket) with me for some of the time. That is how I managed to take these photos of Wendy taking photos of my kids!

Kids on the ground

I am sure Wendy’s photos will be far superior to the snaps I managed to take during the proceedings, but I had to post some pictures from the other side..

The children meeting Wendy

Thank you Wendy for taking our photos, and we were thrilled to be able to meet you and your gorgeous family.

Teenager

Sophie will turn thirteen tomorrow. My eldest daughter a teenager!

Are all parents surprised when they look at their child and see a teenager where there was once a baby? I am amazed how she has grown so quickly – well thirteen years seems to have gone very quickly. I didn’t even have a digital camera when Sophie was born! So the only photos of her when she was a baby are in albums somewhere. In fact some of them are not in albums any more because when she was little she took them out and they got ruined. Does anyone ever reprint old photos from negatives? I don’t even know if the negatives still exist, and I am pretty sure that I couldn’t find them if I wanted a reprint now. Actually I am quite fond of Sophie’s baby photos, not just because she was a very beautiful baby, but because I look really young and slim in them too!

In honour of Sophie’s birthday I have made a “magazine cover” featuring her as the cover girl. It is something I have been doing for years, to celebrate special occasions. I choose a magazine title that references the occasion, and choose appropriate short headlines for the cover. They usually get printed to A3 size, and laminated.

If you have a good editing program on your computer you could try this too…

Cover Girl

Summer Family Portrait Photography

South Family Photo

The South family have had a family portrait voucher since last Christmas, so it was about time I got them organised for a family photo shoot on their family farm. With the eldest son away at boarding school it is not so easy to get the family together for photos during term time, so the summer holidays seemed the perfect time to get some great family photos at home.

Little mermaid

Dan in the pool

I have recently bought a cheap underwater camera, and this was the first time I had used it. After finishing the photo shoot I got into my bathers and got into the pool. The Souths have a lovely big swimming pool on their farm and the children were mostly fun to photograph, except when the water gun fights got too serious and I had to coax one back into the water.

Fun in the swimming pool, with supervision

Actually I think I had more fun in the pool than the kids did, although Jen was more than happy to pose for me!

Jen underwater

Using the camera was not easy. I couldn’t see a thing on the screen when I was underwater, even when I was wearing goggles. So I just pointed in the general direction and hoped that I got something in the frame. Maybe it was the auto focus with moving subjects underwater that meant that sometimes even when I held my finger on the shutter I didn’t get a photo. That is something I can practice with when we head off on our own summer holiday to Bremer Bay on Thursday…

More Sports Carnival Photos

Go Red!!

Bonnie's 200 metres

Year One boys

Odette's Bean Bag Relay

The starting pistol

Sack Race

Passball

School Sports

The school athletics carnival was a great opportunity to get some action shots. I tried to take photos of each of the children. Some I tried extra hard because their parents were not there to watch them. Nicole appreciated the photos of her children. She said of the photos:
“I love them, thank you. Even though I was not there I feel I can see part of their day now.”

4th Annual Photography Masters Cup – Winner

de la rue

I received an email today notifying me that I had won an award. I thought it was a hoax, because I couldn’t remembering entering the award. But it seems I did in fact enter; it was just so long ago that I thought it was last year’s competition.

My photo “de la rue” (taken in Sainte Marie d’Alloix in 2008) was the winner of the Architecture (amateur) section of the 4th Annual Photography Masters Cup, also known as the “International Color Awards”. Two other photos received nominations, but no honours. They are “Dave” (portraits) and “Plateau Sportif” (people).

I must admit I did feel a little bit pleased with myself, and it is motivation to keep on trying, and entering awards. Sometimes I print out entry forms but don’t get around to entering but, as they say in the classics: “You have to be in it to win it!”

Dave

Plateau Sportif

Below is a copy of the press release for the Award.

CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY HONOUR AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHER CAROLINE TELFER AT 4TH ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERS CUP

LONDON (17 August 2010) – Photographer Caroline Telfer of Darkan, Western Australia, was presented with the 4th Annual Photography Masters Cup Outstanding Achievement (Amateur) Award in the category of Architecture at a prestigious Nomination & Winners Photo Show attended by over
40,000 online viewers who logged on live from 154 countries to see the climax of the industry’s most important event for colour photography.
The award’s international Jury included captains of the industry ranging from Christie’s in New York, National Geographic Channel, Fox Broadcasting Company, Amsterdam Worldwide, Kodak USA to Esquire in London who honoured Color Masters with 235 coveted title awards in 31 categories.
The judges reviewed thousands of images submitted from every corner of the globe online for eight weeks before making their final nominations and Caroline’s “de la rue”, an exceptional image entered in the Architecture category, received a high percentage of votes overall.
“The Masters Cup celebrates photographers who operate at the highest levels of their craft,” said Basil O’Brien, the awards Creative Director.
“Caroline’s work represents contemporary colour photography at its finest, and we’re pleased to present her with the Outstanding Achievement Award.”
See the 4th Annual Winners at
http://www.thecolorawards.com/gallery/index.php?x=a
INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERS CUP is the leading international award honouring excellence in colour photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honours the finest images with the highest achievements in colour photography.

Amy and the Hula Hoop – Studio photography

I have wanted to photograph Amy with a hula hoop ever since she beat me in the hula hoop competition at the Lions Family Fun Day at Duranillin last year. It was not surprising that she beat me, because everybody beat me – I couldn’t get that damned hoop to spin! Amy just rocked back and forth a bit and the hoop went spinning around in a blur. The judges had to ask her to stop, or she would have kept it up all day!!

So Amy came into the studio, with a very flash pink and white hula hoop, and she even had clothes to match! We tried a few different outfits, as you will see from the photos.

Hula Hoop Amy

Beautiful Brown eyes.

Happy Birthday Brenna!

Brenna turned one last week, so she came into the studio for her cake smash session yesterday. She was not very interested in the cake unfortunately, but we managed to make up a storyboard for her first birthday.

Happy Birthday Brenna!