Portrait and Beauty Photography – Its all in the eyes

Hi Everyone,

I was browsing through Russell James’s beauty, fashion and lingerie photography work today and I was blown away by his work.  Particularly his beauty work.   Its simple but dramatic and amazing.    His story is really interesting as he is now Victoria Secret’s main photographer yet he is a Perth boy, obviously he has gone a long way!    Anyhow it got me to looking through some of my old work from my previous life as a fashion / glamour photographer and I realised that the photos I liked best were the close up face shots.   Why?   Because you get a great view of someone’s eyes, its cliched I know but it is like your looking into their soul.   If you can capture the eyes accurately you’ve got a fantastic shot.   That’s my rant for the day.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jamie Paterson

Jamie Paterson Photography

Hovea Falls Recon Run

Hi Everyone,

On Friday evening I thought I’d take a quick trip up into the hills to see if any of the waterfalls had started to run after all the rainfall we had.   I decided to head up to Hovea Falls as they were the easiest to get to.    I’m happy to say that yes there was some water flow but I think they need another couple of weeks of rain before they really start to flow at their maximum.    So back to being patient again, I think August is the best month for waterfalls in Perth.   What do you guys think?   Perhaps we should all head down south and find some decent waterfalls in the meantime.  

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson Photography

Bennion Beach Streaks

Hi Everyone,

I managed to pick a wicked Saturday morning to go shooting down at Bennion Beach!    I started off down at Cottesloe Beach and then saw it was high tide so I worked my way up to Trigg Beach and then settled at Bennion Beach.   The surf was smashing through and the waves were coming in huge sets.   Just before I captured this shot I was lining it up when a freak wave came through and covered me up to my waist, I had to hold the tripod above my head to keep it dry.    I certainly felt like I was in an action movie instead of trying to capture a half decent seascape!     Unfortunately there was a casualty from the wave soaking (aside from wet tracksuit pants), I lost a saftey thong, fortunately I managed to put my camera into a safe spot and then had to wade back into the water waist deep again to rescue my thong.

I certainly got a lot of weird looks from people when I crawled back up to the carpark soaking wet with camera in hand.   Oh well, no pain, no gain.   I certainly think the shot was worth it, hopefully you guys do as well.

What is the craziest thing you’ve done to capture a photo?

Thanks for reading my post,

Jamie Paterson Photography

Subtle Sunsets and Silky Waves

Hi Everyone,

I decided to take my new 16-35mm F2.8 lens out for a test run here on our fair beaches of Perth.    I knew the sunset wasn’t going to be a firey sunset and it was raining but I just knew I had to get down to the beach and try and capture a seascape with my new lens even though I didn’t have a filter adapter ring for it.   I got lucky and the moment I parked the car the rain stopped and held off and decided to be nice to me, in fact the rain held off until quite literally I had hopped back into the car, you can’t time it much better than that.   I think the photo turned out really well considering I didn’t have a filter available.      This lens was sharp as a tack and I can’t wait to go inland and capture some great country and waterfall landscapes once the fields start turning green and once the waterfalls starting hammering down.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank James Knight-Smith who has been helping me out with some issues that I’ve been having, he is an absolute creative genius.   Thanks James!!!

On other news, welcome back to Perth Beau!

Has anyone else been out and about?   I’m guessing with all the really nice sunsets and sunrises over the past few weeks most of you would’ve.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jamie Paterson Photography

North West Australia Adventure

Hi Everyone,

On Sunday I had such an awesome day that I wanted to share it with you all. I was asked to record a visit of a VIP touring some company facilities in the North West of Western Australia and of course I jumped at the chance, it was a change from doing landscapes and I absolutely love helicopters (I had always wanted to be a helicopter pilot) and don’t need to be asked twice to hop into one espcecially when its a Kawasaki BK117, they would have to be one of the best helicopters around.  At least they are my favourite.

The morning started at 0400 for me as I had to be at the airport by 0530 in the morning.   I was fortunate enough to be invited into the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge where we all had a quick bite to eat and some coffee to kick start the day.   We took off from Perth at 0630 and arrived in Karratha at 0830, early morning Karratha was warmer than Perth in the middle of the day at the moment!!!    After a quick helicopter briefing we hopped into the Kawasaki BK117 and took off, once in the air we did a number of circuits around Karratha and Dampier where I managed to get some aerial photographs.   If you look closely you can see two mini drilling rigs just sitting there.

We then headed off to some offshore installations and the VIP got a tour of the facilities.    We then headed back inland, which took 30mins of flying time across the water and coast, the best thing about a pilot’s job is the view from their office!   We reached our location and landed in the middle of a paddock and then did an inspection of another facility.   At this stage it was time to say goodbye to the BK117 as the rest of the trip was via road.

Once the facility inspection was complete we headed back up to Karratha to experience the highlight of the day.   We were going to be taken on a tour through Deep Gorge in Karratha to see some Indigenous paintings and the tour leaders were very senior Indigenous people in the area.   We walked into the gorge and after our eyes were used to spotting the paintings we saw at least a hundred paintings, it was amazing.   We were told the meaning to some of the paintings as well as shown grinding stones and other interesting artifacts.  

It was a trully rewarding experience to spend time with the guys and at the end of our visit the senior law man sang us two songs which they sang to the Kangaroo and Emu.  After that it was back to the airport, and after a 30min wait we hopped onto the plane.   I ended up getting home at 8pm and headed straight to bed.   What an awesome day!

Thank You for stopping by,

Jamie Paterson

Jamie Paterson Photography

Firey Redgate Beach

Hi Everyone,

About four weeks now I was down south relaxing around the sametime Dylan Fox and Clint Baker were down there.   The farmers in the Dunsborough and Margaret River region had been buring off for days and it was really hazy down there.    Though it made taking landscape photographs during the day extremely hard, what it did do was provide amazing sunsets that just seemed to hang around for ever.    I had been taking a stack of photos of the waves crashing over the rocks at Redgate Beach (which is near Margaret River) and I was walking back to the carpark when I saw this photo opportunity present itself, how could I resist?   

Hope you all enjoy the photo!

Thank You,

Jamie Paterson Photography

Perth Rock Party

Hi Everyone,

Last Saturday I managed to get out and about and capture this great seascape photo.    I was annoyed that I had to stay in Perth for the long weekend and wasn’t able to go away, I was planning on going down to Dunsborough or Yallinup to capture more landscapes.   After seeing this unfold before me I was stoked that I didn’t go down south after all.   It was fantastic light that just seemed to stay around for ages and amazingly the ocean was so still that I was able to stand right on the edge of the reef without fear of getting my camera wet.  Have to be happy with that!!!

Sunday is going to be heaps of fun I’m flying up to the North West Shelf with a VIP and hoping into a helicopter and flying around to a couple of offshore installations so I’m going to be ‘happy snapping’ like crazy, it would be great if I could pull off some awesome aerial shots of us landing on some offshore installations.  Fingers crossed.

What is everyone else getting up to this weekend?   Any great photography plans?

Have a great weekend everyone,

Jamie Paterson Photography

Deep Red Perth Seascape

Hi Crew,   

Hope everyone had a great long weekend, those of us who had to stay in Perth were still treated to some awesome sunsets.   I figured that since everything was so still that I would head down to the beach and capture some silky smooth water.     Capturing seascapes would have to be my favourite as they are so relaxing, you get to listen to the calming waves lapping against the rocks and I always feel recharged after coming home from one of these shoots.   

Did anyone else get out and about this weekend and get some great shots?

Jamie Paterson Photography

Busselton Jetty Reds

Hello Crew,

This is a shot that I managed to get on a recent trip down to Busselton.   The farmers had been burning off the whole time I’d been down there and the smoke was ensuring that the sunsets were staying around for ages (at least 20mins) and were a really deep red.   Its a pleasure taking landscapes like this when the sunset hangs around for ever instead of the usual two second sunsets that we get here in Perth, Australia.   Normally as any other West Australian landscape photographer will tell you, we get about 5 maybe 10mins max to capture a sunset so if you ever see someone tearing up and down a beach clambering over sand dunes and rocks and doing crazy things chances are its one of us taking photos.

I know that Dylan Fox and Clint Baker were down there at the same time and I’m sure we’ll be seeing some more awesome photos from those guys shortly.   I think with light like I had down at Busselton / Dunsborough / Margaret River during that week Clint’s Curse is finally broken.    

So has anyone else been caputring any good photos?   They don’t even have to be landscapes.

Anyone want to place a bet on how long Clint gets to stay in Greece before we see in the Greek news “Australian Landscape Photographer deported for bad light” lol.

Thank You for stopping by,

Jamie Paterson Photography

Cottesloe Pylon Gone………….. For Now

Hi Everyone,

I’ve just read in the West Australian that the Cottesloe Pylon has been knocked down overnight due to the wild weather we are having.    Time to get some different landscape photos of Cottesloe.

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=143334

Thanks,

Jamie Paterson Photography