I Love Wednesdays - Award Winning Sydney Photography » PERSONAL

Goodbye 2011 {Hello 2012}

Len — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:52:05 +0000

As I get older the years seem to fly by at increasing speeds. I don’t know whether that’s just a part of growing older or a part of starting a small business, but whatever it is, I’d prefer them to slow down just a little bit. If this is the pace at which they’re going now, I shudder to think of the blur they will be in a five or even ten years time. I’m the type of person that just looks to what’s next, that I rarely stop to look at all the things that have happened.This combined with the speediness of the past year and I don’t feel like I’ve had a chance to reflect on all that has happened. That’s actually one of my 2012 New Year’s resolutions, to stop, enjoy and reflect on everything that’s happening.

It wasn’t until I sat down at my computer looking through the images from the last year that I was struck by an overwhelming sense of warmth. To be surrounded by so many amazing couples, such wonderful friends & family and so much love on a weekly basis… I didn’t realise how amazingly fortunate I was and I’m so grateful to have gotten to know each and every one of you in the last year and I’m so excited for the amazingness that 2012 will bring.

The images below are a collection of images that represent the warmth of 2011 and tell the story of the year that was. Thank you all for your love, your support and your friendship.

Places {Melbourne}

Len — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:27:24 +0000

Places condition us.
Places protect us.
Places destroy us.

As metaphorical as they might appear,
places are always real.
You can walk around in them
or lie down on the ground.
You can take a stone with you
or a handful of sand.
But you can’t take the place with you.

…

I guess that’s why I take pictures of places:
I don’t want to take them for granted.
I want to urge them
not to forget us.

~Wim Wenders

Hasselblad 500cm | Zeiss 80mm f2.8 | Kodak Portra 800

Soul

Len — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:41:28 +0000

You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. ~ C.S. Lewis

That quote has stuck with me and whenever I think of it it makes me appreciate the time I have on this world and pushes me to try something new and definitely find things that feed me creatively.

An Impromptu Road Trip

Len — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:44:52 +0000

One of my favourite memories as a kid was family road trips. I loved going to somewhere excitingly awesome and different and just exploring. I’ve always loved talking to strangers, which, I know sounds a little odd, but I love that everyone has their own story, it’s like everyone’s the star of their own movies, with their own story arcs and supporting characters and I have always found that intriguing. So, what does this all mean you might be asking yourself at this point? Well, as luck and slight lack of planning on our part, Nick and I have just realised that this weekend and next week will be the only free time we’ll have until Christmas and seeing as it’s the long weekend here in Aussieland, we’ve decided to take an impromptu road trip to Melbourne. Going down the Great Ocean Rd, and hopefully seeing a lot of awesome things on the way. It’s a drive I’ve been wanting to do for years, so I’m ridiculously excited that it’s finally happening. (Though we’re now frantically doing laundry and trying to pack for the trip which we’ll be leaving on in about an hour.

We’ll be back next Thursday at the latest and if I’m a bit slow to respond to emails I do apologise in advance, I’m not sure what our internet will be like during the drive, but rest assured I will respond!

Hasselblad 500cm | Zeiss 80mm f2.8 | Ilford HP5 iso 400

Thank You!

Len — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:53:16 +0000

There are moments in your life that you are so full of joy that tears burst out of your eyes and you sob uncontrollably like a child on Christmas morning. I had one of those moments last night. It was like the straw that broke the camel’s back, but in awesomeness, not sorrow. I need to say thank you, thank you, thank you to so many amazing people who surround me, to friends, family and clients, though really I could just say family ’cause that’s kind of what you all are.

I am so incredibly thankful that I get to do what I love for people who love what I do, it’s something that if you had told me a very short 3 years ago that I’d be doing, I would have scoffed and told you you were insane, but, how quickly things change.

So on this rainy Wednesday I say thank you to all my friends, family and all my lovely clients. Thank you for your support, your kindness and your beyond awesome amazingness.

And because no post would be complete without a photo, and a wedding I shot has been recently featured on Polka Dot Bride, I leave you with this little screen grab from the post. To see the full post, just click on the image.

LOOK INSIDE YOUR HEART {Melbourne, 2011}

Len — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:46:48 +0000

I try to photograph people’s spirits and thought. As to the soul-taking by the photographer, I don’t feel I take it away, but rather that the sitting and I give to each other. If becomes an act of mutual participation. - Yousuf Karsh

This quote always comes to mind when I think of what I love about photography. I do think it’s more than just people giving and taking from each other, places and spaces can give you a sense of who and what they are. I’ve gone to Melbourne quite a few times this year, partly for business and partly because I just love Melbourne, and every time I’ve photographed a little corner, I feel as if it’s unfurling in front of me, revealing another side of itself and in turn revealing another side of me.

I fall in love whenever I’m in a new city, and I feel like I leave behind a little piece of my heart every time I leave. Melbourne definitely has a pretty sizable chunk of it. xx

Hasselblad 500cm | Zeiss 80mm f2.8 | Kodak Portra 800

A Sense of Place {WPPI and beyond}

Len — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:29:42 +0000

This post has been about… 6 months in the making and has to be prefaced with fact that I find it exceptionally difficult to put my feelings into words, and even more so struggle to coherently put those words together, so my profound apologies if this doesn’t make sense.

I went to the US at the end of February for WPPI, which is the Wedding and Portrait Photography International Convention and Competition and I stayed for a couple weeks after it as well to do a road trip around California. Going there I didn’t know what to expect and in many ways I think that was the best way for me to do it. For those of you that don’t know me that well, I am a worrier, if you ask anyone that I know, I can worry with the best of them. I can and do freak out every time I leave the house that I’ve forgotten my keys, which I do indeed do from time to time; I have an irrational fear every time I run down stairs that I’m going to trip and fall and I worry about everyone that I know, especially when I haven’t heard from them in a couple of weeks. If worrying was an Olympic Sport, I’m fairly certain I’d win Gold every single time.

So, planning a trip… to the US… by myself… without really knowing anyone… at an international photography conference… to say my worry hat was on would be an understatement of epic proportions. I’ve never really fit in anywhere and photography has been my security blanket, my calm, my little corner of the world where I fit. Thinking about going somewhere so huge with so many people that feel the same way and not fitting in… well… I didn’t know what I would do.

As it was, I left Australia’s sunny shores with a sense of confusion, worry and fear. Being fairly new to the industry, I honestly wasn’t sure where I stood in the grand scheme of things. None of us wants to be that guy/girl on American Idol who THINKS they can sing and gets torn a new one by the judges, and a fear gripped me that my loving family and friends had been telling me that I was awesome because of their love for me, not because of my work and that I would leave WPPI having been told that I… well… I should probably ask for a refund on my photography equipment and look for a job elsewhere.

This fear manifested itself as an epic case of the hiccups walking through the MGM Grand on that first day, for those of us who who don’t like large groups, Las Vegas is quite the assault on the senses. My hiccups disappeared and worrier status was downgraded to normal upon meeting a group of photographers I’d spoken to online Brittany Staddon (my roomie for WPPI), Luis Godinez, Leo Druker and Matt Shumate (and Dani K Johnson and Chris Lin who couldn’t make it, but who were our late night skype pals). I fit in, and not just fit in, but had found kindred spirits who I really would consider moving to the US or Canada for, just to be closer to their awesomeness.

Having never entered an International Photography Competition and certainly not one against the best photographers in the world, I had hoped to receive just some constructive feedback on my work, and while I did indeed get that, I also left with three awards, an Accolade of Excellence in Wedding Photography, Landscape Photography and for a Wedding Album. Worrier status was downgraded to Happy Dance!

There are things in your life that will impact you so remarkably that you’re almost unrecognizable afterwards, going to the US was one of those for me. My new-found friends and awards in tow, I left WPPI for a trip around California, to visit some places that I’d always wanted to, and some people that I’d missed. What followed is what you’ll see in my USA album and the photos that have shaped the photographer and person I have become over the last 6 months.

You can view the complete slideshow of the album HERE and below is a little sample of what my looks like in real life.

{wanderlust}

Len — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:21:21 +0000

I’ve been feeling the need to travel lately, so go somewhere, anywhere, see new things and take lots of photos and I started off my wanderlust with a mini trip to Bulli. Now, I know… Bulli doesn’t exactly come to mind when most think of traveling somewhere, but the coast is absolutely stunning and it’s filled with little nooks and crannies of awesomeness. I’ll be waiting for a little while to get my film shots back, but until then, I have this one and only digital frame.

This wee frame doesn’t really do the scene justice, so you can view the larger one HERE. (see if you can spot the surfer).

I AM UNIQUE {Melbourne 2011}

Len — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:00:31 +0000

If I could tell stories in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera. – Lewis Hine

Most of the time when I look back on holiday photos I feel almost like a ghost traveling through the landscape, so it was nice to finally have a photo of the both Nick and I IN the landscape. I think it comes from being a photographer and carrying a hunking film camera that means we can’t take those touristy photos of ourselves. So on our last trip to Melbourne I decided to take a couple portraits of the two of us.

For those that don’t know Nick is my other half. He makes sure that the web side of I Love Wednesdays runs smoothly, builds all my crazy web designs/portfolios and generally makes sure that I keep sane.

Hasselblad 500cm | Zeiss 80mm f2.8 | Kodak Portra 800

PALAIS THEATRE {Melbourne 2011}

Len — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 01:09:33 +0000

Every time I go to Melbourne I go past the Palais Theatre, there’s just something about it’s white gleaming walls when the sun hits it that makes me feel fresh – like summer is right around the corner – even when it’s the middle of winter and it feels like my nose is about to drop off.

Hasselblad 500cm | Zeiss 80mm f2 | Kodak Portra 800