Sparkography

Friday 23^rd Oct was a big night for ten young ladies who had made it through to the NSW final of fashiontv’s Diamond Model Awards, one of the biggest model search competitions in Australia. The venue: Sydney’s Favela nightclub in Pott’s Point, which had also hosted three of the qualifying rounds.

As a regular photographer for Favela I snapped up the opportunity to shoot the final. Although it meant I’d had to leave my good friend Naomi’s birthday celebrations to do so (something I’m sure I may never be forgiven for). However, I also had a personal interest in attending the event as another Naomi (my mate Naomi Fitzgerald De Grave) was one of the finalists.

The final had been hyped up by the media as well as, of course, the models so the club was packed well before the competition started. A judging panel of leading names in fashion and styling, plus performances from previous finalists on So You Think You Can Dance added extra punch to the occasion.

The crowd was stylish and good looking as you’d expect; girls were in their best frocks and guys in their most fitted shirts. Plus there was a heap of photographers present which created a real fashion show buzz. Luckily as I was on home turf I was able not only to command the best shooting location but crucially also had backstage access to the dressing room.

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Dateline: Thursday 22^nd Oct

Time: 18.30

Venue: Simmer On The Bay

Mission: Investigate rumours that eight of the biggest media agencies in Sydney were congregating for an almighty showdown, armed with sharp knives, hot plates and, er, blunt spoons.

Yes, it was that time again for the Better Homes and Gardens Agency Cook Off; think Masterchef meets Ready Steady Cook with eight pairs of budding Jamies and Nigellas fighting it out for bragging rights. Oh, and a trophy which handily doubles up as a saucepan.

There was a 50s theme to this year’s event, so the crew from organisers Pacific Magazines turned up as extras from Grease, and the Mitchell’s girls followed suit by forming a posse of pink ladies to cheer on their cooks. In fact I think the supporters from all the agencies made an effort…apart from our rabble from OMD.

Still, the proof is, as they say, in the pudding. Or rather in the stir fry, as the culinary theme of the evening was unveiled as Asian. Yep, I’m still wondering how that relates to the 50s.

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Last week I did what some guys will puzzle over even more so than The DaVinci Code: I turned an invitation to spend the evening indulging in perfectly free food and drink and playing video games, into a full on photography job. Well, it’s not like me to miss an opportunity is it?

Nintendo were launching five new games to the market and throwing a party to mark the occasion at the very trendy Oxford Art Factory. The venue had been brilliantly converted into five themed worlds to represent the new games, including Mario World, a huge make up room, and a steam train, all organised by my friend Louise and her company Impact. And of course there were Wiis and DSis all over the place so people could try the games out for themselves. All that was lacking was a photographer to record the fun and frivolity of the evening. Step forward yours truly.

My brief was to shoot all the zones, people playing, enjoying themselves, typical event stuff. Plus getting shots of the celebs that had been invited along to say nice things about Nintendo. Shooting anyone vaguely famous was something I hadn’t really done before (unless you include my mate Rob who allegedly looks like Jason Statham), so I was going to have to step my event photography up a notch. And in a show of self belief rivalling David Blaine I decided to keep the 5D2 in manual mode.

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It was a long weekend and a good weekend. And I’m still recovering from it!

In Australia the Labour Day long weekend varies by state. In WA and Victoria it’s in March, while in Queensland it’s in May. In NSW and SA it falls quite neatly in early October, forming a bridge between the Queen’s Birthday in Jun and Christmas (yes, you’ve guessed it, in Dec).

Most people look forward to the long weekend as a chance to have a rest and perhaps get away from the city to enjoy the first days of spring at one of the many beautiful spots along the northern or southern NSW coastline.

I, on the other hand, was keeping busy with the camera as long weekends ultimately also lend themselves to special events. And I had two of them.

The first was on Sunday night. SpringRocks was a celebration of dance music at The Argyle, one of Sydney’s biggest bar/clubs located in the historic Rocks district of the CBD and a Speedlite’s effective range from the Harbour Bridge. SpringRocks was promoted by Paul Strange, who I do social photography for at both The Argyle and Favela in Kings Cross. It was a big event consisting of 9 hours of dance music DJs and bands performing in each of the 3 main rooms. I was down for a 5 hour shift during the peak hours of 9pm – 2am, and as if shooting moving targets in a dimly lit, busy environment while trying not to knock anyone’s drink out their hands wasn’t enough to manage, I decided to make things even more interesting by setting both the camera and Speedlite to manual. Well, I like a challenge!

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