I'm On The Move

Hello all. This will be my last post at this particular address. I've relaunched my new website at www.darrenlunny.com and so have moved the blog to another address as well. You can find me at http://www.darrenlunny.com/blog/ Hope to see there!

A Career In Diplomacy

Well, sort of...the good people at Childwise have asked me to be one of their ambassadors and help promote their great work. It absolutely staggers me that one in five Australian children will be sexually abused, more often than not by people they know. I've never met a team of people more dedicated to stamping out this insidious global problem than the crew at Childwise. So, Carol Croce, the deputy CEO at Childwise has asked me to promote one of her 'dreams' on website Sunsuper and help raise some much-needed cash for her not for profit organisation. Click on the link and vote away. It's for a great cause.

Great Spread

A big thank you to the guys at Australian Digital Photography, in particular Editor Greg Barton, who's dedicated way too many pages to a photographer of my ilk in his great magazine. Anyway, if you're at all interested in reading a bit about me and my background then here's the article.

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A Bit Of Inspiration Of My Own

I've always been a pretty inquisitive sort of person; keen to learn and better my lot in life. So over the past weeks I've been interviewing a great mix of insightful, creative, inspirational and  interesting people about the art of photography. Not just the process of pushing the shutter but the art of successfully combining photography and business - how to better market yourself and your work, how to start a business and keep it running and of course what makes some of our top photographers tick. I've loved it because it's all information that I crave and I hope you do too. So keep an eye out for it over the next few weeks. I'm just in the process of editing down the first interview and should have it posted soon. 

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Say Hello To Grayce

It's been the worst year imaginable for the Ozga/Andrews family with the death of Gary Andrews late last month. His wife, Basia, was thirty eight weeks pregnant when she farewelled her husband of nineteen days. Well, a little ray of sunshine appeared today in the form of Grayce Isobel Ozga Andrews, born at 4.28 this afternoon. The name Grayce was chosen because it has all four letters of Gary's name and best illustrates the way he carried himself in the last months of his life. Mum and baby are doing well! 

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Reflections

Our dear friend Gary Andrews was farewelled two weeks ago in front of 300 of his family and friends. Nineteen days after getting married, his beautiful wife Basia stood in front of Gary's casket to say goodbye to the love of her life. A truly remarkable feat under normal circumstances but at thirty eight weeks pregnant it was very humbling to witness. My wife, Mel, led the service and I shot some video. 48 years condensed into eight-and-a-half minutes. I hope this film does him justice.
  

 

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Kill City - The Players

Since I exhibited these images a few years ago I've had lots of people visit the Kill City page on my website and so I thought I'd try to re-create what the exhibition space was like. I say 'try' because the images measured almost a metre square so you don't quite get the same effect here. I've also combined the images with the same music - Massive Attack's Angel - I had running on a loop throughout the two-week show. You can read a lot more about each character on my website but essentially I photographed 12 people who'd all played a part in Melbourne's deadly underworld war. One of them, Des "Tuppence" Moran, was shot dead (his sister-in-law was found guilty of organising the hit) in a cafe in Melbourne a few years after I took his portrait. Click on the thumbnail below to watch the short video. And don't forget to turn the sound up. Enjoy! 

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R.I.P Gary Andrews

Devastating news today. Gary Andrews passed away with his wife of a few weeks, Basia, by his side. There were many goals Gaz had set for himself along the journey. First and foremost obviously was not to let the cancer beat him. But as the arrival of his daughter drew ever closer he was more determined than ever to be there for the birth. Tragically, it wasn't to be. He drew his last breath feeling his unborn child kicking inside Basia's belly. The last time I saw Gaz a week and a half ago he was watching the video of his wedding from the week before; a wedding my wife was honoured to lead and a ceremony I captured (below) with my camera. It was a privilege to know Gaz. I'm in a long, long line of people who'll miss him dearly. 

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The Happiest Of Days, The Saddest Of Days

Hard to know where to start with this one. This is the wedding of some close friends of ours Gary and Basia; a wedding that made me cry (a lot!), laugh, and scream at the injustice of it all. The pair was married in front of a small group of family and friends at home. I shot some images and my wife, Mel, was the celebrant. I barely recognise the Gary I first met a few years ago. Cancer has reduced his once fit, healthy frame to skin and bone. While we sobbed into our tissues, Gaz sat proudly in his wheelchair awaiting his bride-to- be. She arrived looking beautiful and with all the glow of a woman 34 weeks pregnant. Their two young boys, Ben & Josh, danced and crawled around the loungeroom while the wedding party took turns recounting the memories of decades-long friendships. It was like a lot of weddings and like no other wedding I've been to. A very special day and one none of us will forget in a hurry. Congratulations Mr & Mrs Andrews

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Men's Style Article

Well, here it is! Had an article on Tom Elliott published in Men's Style this month. It's in the Man On The Move section which Tom certainly is. You'll no doubt see and hear plenty more of him in the media. He's got a real skill in being able to explain the most complex financial information in a way even I can understand. And he's a lovely guy to boot.

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Actually While I'm At It......

I also had this article in the Women's Weekly published in this month's edition as well. If you get the chance to have a read, please do. It's a sad but uplifting story of a man who loses his wife to cancer three weeks after she gave birth to their daughter Mia only to find love again with his late partner's best friend. And they have just had a son, Hugo. I shot the images and wrote the first-person article from Peter's perspective. The shoot was very straight forward. Had it knocked over in a few hour with the help of a very good team of people. I shot about 150 images so I'll try to get some of the ones that weren't published up on my blog in the next few weeks.

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Magazine Article

Keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for an Australian Women's Weekly article I wrote and shot the images for. It's a lovely story about a man who lost his wife to cancer, three weeks after she gave birth to their daughter, and whose not only found love again but recently welcomed a son into the world with his partner. It will more than likely appear in the September edition of AWW but keep a look out for later publications as well just in case.    

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This Might Be A Little Indulgent But....

...I had to share this photo of my three month old son. I drew a bit of inspiration from a shot I'd seen of a sports car that showed off the curves of the car beautifully and wanted to emulate it with curves of the human variety. It was a very simple set up involving a flash and mini soft box held directly above him. Had to work fast too as nothing was going to distract him once his mind turned to milk.

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Another Great Resource

Haven't times changed!! Gone are the days where an understanding of f-stops, shutter speeds, lighting, running a photographic business, marketing etc was the domain of a select few. These days there's a plethora of information at your fingertips. Here's another great website I found through f-stoppers. It's called RETV Photography Industry Television. 

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Things Are Never Quite As They Seem

Every time I shoot a portrait I have a vision of what the image will look like. And almost without exception the final image looks nothing like the one I had floating around in my head. Take this picture of Jesse Gerner, head chef and owner of Anada restaurant in Gertrude Street Fitzroy. Initially I had him sitting in a beautiful leather chair with a knife perched in one hand and a plant in the other. Then I wanted to make it look as though the plant was buried in the concrete and he was watering it. Neither was working for me and this was the final result; much stronger than any of the others. It's a good lesson I suppose to try to adapt and experiment if things aren't working for you.

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That's Not A Photo!!

I mentioned a few posts ago that Ted.com wasn't specifically aimed at photographers but provided pure inspiration. Well I found a photography post the other day about a French street artist JR (click on JR to go to his Ted video) who travelled the world taking photos of locals, blowing up the images then pasting them onto buildings. I think I saw something about it a year or so ago so it's not new. But the video is and gives a great insight into the project through the artist's eyes. 

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It's All In the Delivery

There's that moment when my idea for a portrait has to be run past the subject. Sometimes there's a lot of rolling of eyes and shaking of heads and other times it's smooth sailing; we agree on the idea and a date for the shoot. Such was the case with Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle. I ran my idea past him and his Chief of Staff and got the green light straight away. I admit, it wasn't the most outrageous idea to wear an I Love Melbourne T-Shirt under his suit but he still has the reputation of office of Lord Mayor to protect.

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An End To Tethering

If you're sick of tethering to your laptop while shooting on location then check out this great bit of technology at fstoppers. It allows you to wirelessly transmit your images from your camera to an i-pad. Bummer if you haven't got an i-pad! Maybe one day. 

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Great Portraiture

I've been a huge fan of Julian Kingma for a long time. Great to get the creative juices flowing which is guaranteed looking at his portrait work. Check his website out for yourself. Actually, while you're at it have a look at Andrew Richey's portrait and fashion work as well. His use of light is exquisite.

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Olive Cotton Award

Entered the 2011 Olive Cotton Award with my portrait of the boxer below. Wish me luck!!

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