If ever I entertain the ideas I am anything other than average, listening to wedding speeches always brings things back to earth in a helpful way. At Kacey and Richards wedding a few little things came out during the formalities at the reception like Dux of a GPS School, fluent in several languages, multiple degrees, lived and worked around the world and so on. Not to mention a serious mastery of Origami and paper crane folding. Wonderful stuff guys, wonderful! See you soon:)
brisbane wedding photographer, goma wedding, green and bloom flowers, berry nice wedding photographer
(Thursday, 12 May 2011)
Troy and Laurel had both levels of their homely, unpretentious farmhouse flooded recently, which is very horrible. I was there in spring 2008 and the place was under drought. Troy wanted a photo with Adam Harvey because they were going on a tour together. From my place it’s up over Mt Glorious and down to Wivenhoe dam, turn left and right and right again.
The property is in amongst paddocks of flat ground and the river flows along one boundary at the bottom of a steep ravine, maybe 50 or 60 feet below. We had a coffee upstairs and watched Laurel and the kids saddle up and take off on a ride.
Adam turned up so the three of us headed out into a field of grain and looked out for Taipans.
After a while a few locals rolled up with beers, and CD’s to autograph.
I don’t want to be flippant about your house and things being underwater mate, and maybe you’ve had a chance to think the same thing, but there’ll be some music in there somewhere.
brisbane photographer, troy cassar-daley , adam harvey
(Saturday, 22 January 2011)
Scene one:
I’m surfing free to air channels and notice one guy pinning another guy to the floor in a cage fight. The guy underneath is having his arm twisted in an arm lock, suddenly, his arm goes floppy, it’s either broken or dislocated at the elbow, a cut to the studio and the host says “guess who just became a southpaw?” The audience laughs and I change stations a little more disturbed than I wanted to be at 8 o’clock on a weekday night.
Scene two:
Condense the disregard we demonstrate towards each other, add in some self obsession and insecurity, then express it verbally in a 70 minute stream of consciousness rant, and you'd probably end up with something like Thom Pain.
Jon Halpin, Jason Klarwein and the Queensland Theatre Co, delivered Will Eno’s play uncompromisingly. Luckily in the tradition of many productions at the Billie Brown Theatre, it didn’t need to be liked. Thom Pain has a higher purpose than that.
It’s harshness appeared to prompt numerous walk out’s and at the Billie Brown no one gets out without being noticed. The exit is up the front along side the stage and the door itself makes a racket when opened.
Thom was 10 minutes in and footsteps came down the aisle. Jason paused and then, with every eye in the house on the guy, called the him a “c#nt” (gasp from audience) as he exited.
Scene three:
The phone rang and it was the almost daily call from some charity, this time it was for two wheel chairs for a couple of kids with muscular dystrophy, but it could have been in aid of any one with a need that they can’t meet themselves.
In this rich country needy people have to beg. Evidently the majority don’t agree that they should automatically count on us.
Scene four:
Interesting, most people think Beckett’s work is absurd, impenetrable, and elusive. But I have a feeling Joe Mitchell who deftly directed the QTC’s “Waiting for Godot” knows better.
The play centres on two anxious characters feeling sorry for themselves and awaiting something, they’re not sure what, but hoping it will make things better for themselves, though they’re not sure how.
Careless disregard, exploitation and selfishness all make an appearance. No one shows any real compassion and concern for others. The suffering of others is either ignored or reduced to a curiosity or an object of fun.
Now where did Samuel Beckett get those crazy ideas from, and what could he possibly have been getting at?
(Tuesday, 08 June 2010)
It was one of the best seats in the house. There’re no bad ones at the Cremorne, but this one was two rows behind and a few seats to the right of David Williamson who was watching his “Let the Sunshine” being performed.
A chance to observe one of our greatest observers reacting in sync with the rest of the audience, chuckling and laughing as we recognized bits of ourselves and each other up on stage.
Part of Let the Sunshine's subtext is that our politics are not an adequate reflections of who we are, and our values, interests and beliefs are fluid and overlapping. If we ever need to be reminded of anything, it's that! To be able to do that in an entertaining way that disarms everyone is David Williamson’s gift.
As for the storyline … go and see it you’ll love it!! (actually I think it might almost be sold out)
The after party was also Michael Gow’s swansong as Artistic Director of the Queensland Theatre Company after ten successful years. Sad, but the flipside is he’ll get a chance to write more which is very, very good!
(Sunday, 18 April 2010)
I’ve got a friend who is a bit like Clark Kent. At first glance he’s a dude in an office job, but he’s been under the radar. A few years ago Marty (Hill) bought over a set of clay-mation figures to be photographed. They were characters in a sitcom he’d dreamt up called Rockdogs, and he was planning to computer animate it and pitch it at the likes of MTV.
Most of us have daydreams about such things but Marty acted on his and has since backed himself further and written (funny) scripts and produced them using live actors, … and a second series is underway!! He’s also teamed up with Greg Shaw who is Keith Urban’s Australian manager, to help promote the ‘dogs. We arranged a swap where I’d do the promo shots for Rockdogs and Marty would build me this 2.0 site.
You can see Rockdogs light hearted “college” style humor here on youtube.
(Tuesday, 06 April 2010)
There’re two types of performance photography, each in many ways the opposite of the other. Rehearsal photography involves a virtually empty room with even (but usually low) lighting, actor/s and a director, often an assortment of designers, sound composers and lighting specialists and occasionally the playwright, all meeting to discuss and perform the script. Over three hours or so there may be the same 5-10 minute scene repeated over and over interspersed with discussion. The trick is to get variety.
Production photography is recording the performance in its finished form with costumes, and often with bright constantly changing, high contrast lighting, you’ve got no idea what will happen next and there’s only one chance to get it.
My first production shoot for The Queensland Theatre Co. was “The Orphanage Project” in 2003. Written by the very talented Angela Beitzen, the play was an alternate history of Australia from the veiwpoint of the non-beneficiaries of settlement and society in general. She teamed up with director Leticia Carceras plus an ensemble of youthful actors and production professionals to deliver a poignant reminder about a wrong this country was collectively denying at the time. It was a stinging volley of shots during the long dark years of the “Howard Culture Wars”. Bravo.
Queensland Theatre Compant 2003
(Wednesday, 24 February 2010)
Rachel Richards
rang and told me she’d written a set of songs for new cd. It was to be called “Beautiful Dreams” and centered on her grandmothers’ dementia and her grandfathers enduring affection regardless of circumstance. She didn’t have anything particularly in mind for the photography and wanted to leave it up to me.
I don’t like to over think photographs and often have an “it’ll be right on the night” approach.
Rach was living at Rosewood which is located in the plains and foothills of the great dividing range west of Brisbane. I did and internet search of local maps and decided we’d meet at a railway siding late one afternoon in June just gone. It was a cold night, and we froze our butts off as we stumbled in the dark with torches but managed to get enough in a few hours. A dragline in a coal mine a mile across the valley provided some handy fill light. The purple sky was an in camera effect, the white balance was on auto. I hope it’s going good for you Rach.
Musicians portraits, Music Photography, Cover Art
(Tuesday, 12 January 2010)
I love this photograph. It was taken during a sound check before a dress rehearsal of Beckett x3, produced by the Queensland Theatre Co. (Education troupe). It’s a short, intense play and the demands of the role seem etched into Georgina Symes face. Amongst other things, a Samuel Beckett play is like a self-absorbed life stripped of all its veneer. The image, for me captures the isolation of being caught in one’s headspace. Life doesn’t have to be that way, but Beckett saw that as often as not, it is.
Queensland Theatre Co. Samuel Beckett
(Thursday, 31 December 2009)
Occasionally we get lucky breaks. When I first came back to Brisbane one of our new neighbors was a jazz trombonist. He asked us along to see him perform at the Jazz Club one Sunday night. I took my camera along and took some shots. The singer Melissa Western, happened to be beautiful as well as a good singer. I emailed her some pix not realising she was also part of the marketing team at the Queensland Theatre Co. and they were after some rehearsal photographs. Since then every month or so I have been invited in to witness people gathering to discuss big ideas and portray life in all its guises, I couldn’t have asked for more.My first gig was photographing “The Lonesome West” by Martin Mc Donagh and directed by Jon Halpin. It is a story of anger, frustration, cruelty and pain and made for riveting albeit awkward experience. Gallows humor deserves a wry smile at best and it was surprising when I got to see the production how some of the audience guffawed at the blackness, …maybe it’s just me.
(Friday, 18 December 2009)
Last week Troy Cassar-Daley won his 4th ARIA and when added to his umpteen Golden Guitars, makes him a genuine legend. It took me back many moons to 2001 and my chance encounter with the great storyteller himself. A few month's after I met Roy Wilders (previous post) he introduced me to Jeff and Vicki Chandler who managed Troy at the time. Roy was getting local gigs through a guy who had an office beside the Chandlers. Jeff was really successful and there were gold discs all over the office walls with names like James Blundell, and Lee and Tania Kernigan etc. Roy being the personality he is, popped his head in to say "hi" every time he went past.
To cut a long story short, Troy had a new single and needed some shots. He drove down to the Northern Rivers in his new red HSV (a birthday present from Laurel) and we spent an afternoon at the Billinudgel Hotel. Troy's love for music just pours out of him and he could hardly put down his guitar, except for when he was spotting fish from the bridge at Brunswick Heads.
Soon after he signed with EMI and I shot two of his first album covers with them too. That time I'd driven to Briso to hire a new fangle DSLR which weighed the same as two bricks. The only trouble was I couldn't get it to work. So there was Troy, a stylist, his management team and Chris O'hearn who was A+R manager with EMI at the time, all looking at me. Anyway I made some excuse I didn't understand myself and hoped they didn't realise, and shot it on film. Once it was shot the Art department took over and knocked out some interesting results, some made it some didn't. Anyway Troy congratulations on your ongoing, upward, stellar career!
Troy Cassar-Daley, Musician portraits, Good looking pub dogs
(Wednesday, 09 December 2009)
I was working with Jon Paterson in 2000 in a studio in Lismore. Jon's brother Murray is a talented musician/singer/songwriter who often plays with Tex Perkins.
Word came through that Tex was after a particular shot for his new album and we were the chosen ones. It was a pure stroke of luck, Tex was an international star with a legendary reputation, and I had no reputation at all. After tossing a few ideas around we decided to do the shoot in the back alley behind the studio. Jono was using a hose and at the same time manually triggering a softbox during the time exposure. Tex set off his own flash inside the car, Murray kept everyone amused and I took the shot. Tex is as cool and gracious in person as he is onstage.
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Tex Perkins, Musician Portraits, Music Photography
(Monday, 09 November 2009)
Just after I photographed Tex, local Irish rocker Roy Wilders came in one day with is baby son Keiran and beautiful wife Fiona for some family piccies. It came out that Roy was a singer and was interested in some portraits. A few weeks later we met at a dilapidated car wreckers along Manifold Road at Bentley. A storm brewed up and just before we had the heebie jeebies put up us by some lightning close by, a few things came together for this shot. As a result I soon met Troy Cassar Daley and did a few album covers with him which I'll talk about soon.
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Roy Wilders, Musician Portraits, Music Photography
(Monday, 09 November 2009)