This blog has been very neglected this past year for a number of reasons….

In late May on our 8th anniversary Geoff proposed to me and I accepted. 10 weeks later on the 13th of August we were married in front of our closest friends and family. It was a very intense preparation period but I would not have had it any other way. As a result a lot of my photography was effectively put on hold.

Since March we have had the prospect of a job loss for Geoff hanging over our heads and at the end of September, the Visceral Melbourne studio was officially closed. This means some big changes for us, primarily that since there is no prospect of jobs in Australia we will be heading overseas. At this point in time we don’t really know where but somewhere in the northern hemisphere.

Once we get past this busy part of our lives, my intention is to attend to my blog more and post a bit more about our lives wherever we end up, my photography and our adventures.

Bear with me and I hope to back on board soon!

In the meantime I leave you with some of my favourite photos from our wedding. Photography was by Lara Luz who you can find on her Facebook page or at her website

xxx

Tonight, because quite frankly I suck at writing blogs, I bring you the expertly written summary of The Bout with No Name courtesy of the VRDL….and some pretty pictures by me

Summary supplied by the VRDL expert commentary team
The Victorian Roller Derby League’s 2011 home season began with a scintillating rematch between 2010 finalists, the Toxic Avengers and the Dolls Au Go Go. Despite the Toxics being heavily reduced in number against a strong Dolls line up, the bout turned out to be a real nailbiter that kept everybody guessing right to the end.

The first bout of the night saw VRDL’s third home team, the Dead Ringer Rosies, take on the brand new Regional All Stars. A team composed of some of the best roller girls from around Victoria, the All Stars had players from Ballarat Roller Derby League, Dragon City Derby Dolls and South Sea Roller Derby.

This was the first bout the Regional All Stars had played together as a team, and they took a little while to warm up. But it wasn’t long before the All Stars started pulling it together, forming some good walls in the fourth jam and Mad Mel Arena putting the first three points on the board for the All Stars in the fifth jam. By that time, however, the Rosies had given themselves a healthy lead at 56-3.

Over the next several jams the All Stars managed to keep the Rosies from scoring more than another six points, whilst adding 13 more points to their own score, bringing it to 62-19. But the final jam of the first period saw the Regional All Stars jammer Mean Piece in and out of the penalty box. The Rosies gave the All Stars blockers hell and helped Penny Carving power jam her way round the track, bringing the score up to 89-19 as halftime whistle blew.

The beginning of the second period was similar to the end of the first, with Mean Piece still in the box and Penny Carving lining up on the jammer line again. Although this time round Penny found it a little hard to get round the All Stars blockers, particularly Miss Helfire and Apocalypse Nerd. But as the second period progressed the All Stars found it difficult to counter the Rosies’ coordinated defences and effective blocking, which often kept them too busy to fend off the Rosies jammers. The game ended with the Dead Ringer Rosies victorious with a final score of 155-57.

The main bout of the night and the first bout of VRDL’s 2011 home season was between the Toxic Avengers and the Dolls Au Go Go. The Toxics went in with the disadvantage of having only eight players against the Dolls’ twelve, meaning the Toxics would have to play more jams and have fewer rests than their opponents. However the incredible stamina and excellent team communication of the Toxics pitted against the effective offensive play and clever strategy of the Dolls lead to a very exciting and tight game, characterised by some big falls, a high number of penalties and quite a lot of jammer musical chairs.

With two of the four absent Toxics being key jammers, the team was forced to rely heavily on star jammer Kittie von Krusher—though not so heavily as would have been the case if less regular jammers, Rocky Rogue, Keasey Rider and Nasty Beasty hadn’t stepped up and given some excellent performances. However, it was still a blow when Kittie von Krusher successfully called off the first jam without being lead jammer and so earned herself a minute in the penalty box. But the Toxics blockers had the situation in hand, blocking the Dolls jammer and then waterfalling back into place so effectively that she was unable to complete a scoring pass.

But the next Toxics jammer also took a trip to the box, where she joined two of her own blockers, giving Dolls jammer Kitty DeCapitate a chance for a power jam that she and her team didn’t neglect, so that, by the end of the fourth jam, the Toxics had failed to score any points while the Dolls had collected 29.

Kittie von Krusher returned to the track to score the Toxics’ first three points of the game, however in the very next jam the Dolls racked up another 13 points, bringing the score to 3-42. It was at about this point that the Dolls jammers began to spend a lot of time in the sin bin too, and the musical chairs began, with first one jammer being sent to the box and then the next being sent there and freeing the first. This meant that, despite there being only one jammer on the track for most of this time, there were no very high-scoring jams. Ultimately the Toxics responded a little quicker to the rapidly changing situations and gained a small advantage, scoring an extra 18 points by halfway through the first period whereas the Dolls raised their score by ten, bringing the overall score to 21-52.

The Toxics seem to play best as the underdogs and this bout was no different. They held the Dolls’ score fairly static whilst they steadily closed the gap until they had almost halved it, turning the Dolls’ early 29-point lead into a 16-point lead by the time the end of the first period was within sight. The Dolls then snuck in a few extra points and brought the halftime score to 44-63.

The second period continued to show how closely matched the teams were; the Toxics only managed to narrow the gap on the Dolls’ halftime lead by three points over the next ten jams. Then some terrific blocking on the part of the Toxics kept the Dolls’ score static long enough to bring the gap down to four points. The Dolls retaliated, however, and kept the Toxics from scoring for three consecutive jams, widening the gap again to a 12-point lead. For two jams after that it was a stalemate, with no points scored by either side. As the end of the game drew near the Toxics had halved the gap back down to six points at 93-99 and Dolls jammer, Miss Chivas, was in the box.

The Toxics sent Rocky Rogue in to jam, but just as the they had securely captured a carcass and were set to give Rocky the chance at a real game-changing power jam, she was sent to the bin. Miss Chivas came back from the box and scored another 5 points, but even worse, it turned out to be Rocky’s seventh trip to the box and so she was ejected from the game. Now the Toxics had lost not only an excellent jammer but one of the best blockers in the team (and in the league) with less than four minutes left in the game and with the score standing at 93-104 in favour of the Dolls.

Meanwhile Miss Chivas had been sent back to the box (she scraped through to the end of the game on six trips to the box) and the Toxics prepared a second time for a power jam whilst the Dolls went on down a jammer and two blockers. Kittie von Krusher quickly scored ten points for the Toxics and started to call off the jam but was sent to the box herself instead, releasing Chivas to score eight points of her own before the jam ended. The score was now 103-112 with one minute left on the game clock.

In the final jam Kitty DeCapitate lined up to jam for the Dolls whilst Kittie von Krusher waited in the box. But this Kitty ended up repeating the performance of the Kittie before her, rapidly scoring 11 points and then being sent to the box. Kittie von Krusher rushed back onto the track and skated hard, scoring 13 points. But it was not quite enough; the Dolls were victorious with a score of 117-123. Despite the fact that the Toxics never managed to take the lead for the entire game, it was an incredibly exciting bout that no one was game to call early.

Next bouts are May 7 and June 4 – visit the VRDL website to find out more details about how to purchase tickets

After a short break, La Lucha Glamourosa (produced by the stunning Dolores Daquiri) is returning to Melbourne for another night of all-girl, all-grit all-Mexican freestyle wrestling!
Place
Red Bennies
373 Chapel Street
South Yarra VIC 3141
(03) 9826 2689
Date
1st April 2011
Time
Doors open 8pm, show at 9pm
Cost
General admission: $20 (pre-sale or on the door)
VIP Mezzanine: $30 (best view to watch wrestling)

And to whet your appetite here are some photos from the Original Lu Lucha Glamourosa!

So now you want to come South of the Border… meet your matches

VESPER WHITE as “La Muerte Verde” (The Green Death)
VERSUS
MISS NIC as “Enchilada Redback” Mexican hero & crowd favourite!

BETTY BLOOD “La Ojo del Tigre” (Eye of the Tiger)
VERSUS
BECKY LOU as La Gatita Bonita (The Pretty Kitty)

MISS STRAWBERRY SIREN as Fresas y Crema! (Strawberries & Cream)
VERSUS
LILLIKOI KAOS

DOLORES DAIQUIRI as Guapa Dolores Del Rio! (Femme Fatale)
VERSUS
SAPPHIRA

And a super special appearance from L’amour!!

Get your tickets now by checking out the La Lucha Glamourosa event page

I had the pleasure to join the team at Jungle Jim Documentary Pictures a couple of weeks ago to shoot the Australian Body Art Awards held at the Daylesford Town Hall.

I was able to indulge my candid photography bug and shoot the works in progress during the day and then jump into the studio and shoot the finished products after the judging process.

Some candid shots of work in progress. The artists started around about 1pm and depending on their catagory, had approximately 6-7 hours to complete their artwork on the models. The models were amazing! Not only did they in some case have to stand in the same position for hours but they aren’t able to pee the whole time!
It was very interesting catching glimpses of the concept art for the pieces as well. In some cases it was very well planned out and others were using reference photography or illustration to design their finished pieces.

The studio shooting was pretty hardcore, although I tend to shoot fast, I am used to being able to take my time and if needs be talk to my models/clients about the direction we are heading in, consult reference pieces or just chat. No chatting at this shoot. This was shooting hard and fast – approximately 1-2 minutes per model with the aim to capture as much detail from the overall artwork.

Here is a selection of the studio shoot for the finished works. The divisions were split up into Doubles (painting in pairs), Special Effects and UV/Blacklight.

Aztec bikini waitresses for From Dusk Till Dawn party on this Friday night, a snake charmer with a real python, a dirty black motorcycle with a bad ass group of all-girl riders, and mexican bikers as bartenders to serve you as much tequila as you can stomach. Red Bennies Presents: FROM DUSK TILL DAWN is this Friday… bring it on!

Since Geoff and I both worked through Xmas last year, we decided that we need a mini-break away to take some time out from the general craziness that is our lives in Melbourne. It was some severely required downtime and Geoff’s parents very nicely gave a us a break in Port Fairy for our Xmas present.

We decided to incorporate some annual leave after the Australia Day public holiday so took Thursday to Monday off. Given that we had an awesome Australia Day BBQ which meant copious amounts of alcohol consumed over approximately 7 hours which meant a probable hangover, a shoot with the gorgeous L’amour for a new project and the fact that I had a Model Posing workshop on Thursday night (and late onset hangover blurgh!) we decided not to head off until Friday morning.

Port Fairy is about a 3 and a half hour drive to the west of Melbourne, although it takes considerably longer if you are stuck behind someone doing 60kmh in a 100kmh zone! We took the inland route via Colac given that I tend to get incredibly carsick just driving down the Great Ocean Road (which is intensely beautiful but winding somewhat like the Parapara’s back home) and that it would add another hour or three onto the drive.

We booked into some little cottages that used to be I suppose what you would call government buildings in the late 1800′s. Very cute brick cottages with open fireplaces and spa bath (very very important consideration for us when travelling!). It was right on the main strip of town and close to the beach so we didn’t bother using the car all weekend really.

Our Accommodation

We got out Friday afternoon and hit the main strip so I could indulge in some abstract photography…

Down the shopping strip – Geoff would have preferred to be at the Husband Creche!

We really didn’t do much all weekend which is what we intended although I did mention to Geoff quite a few times that I felt insanely guilty lying around doing nothing. I think that the most strenuous thing we did was walk to the icecream shop down the road!

Saturday night we got some fish and chips, apple cider (unfortunately not Monteiths) and walked down to the beach to watch the sunset, except we got hungry early and got bored waiting for the sunset after being on the beach for a couple of hours (best intentions!)

Saturday night at the beach with the seagulls

Sunday we thought we would go and check out Koroit since Geoff’s Mum had told him it was pretty cool – except the whole town was closed and Geoff’s Mum didn’t actually mention that the reason she thought it was cool was because of the botanic gardens, the crater and the garden nursery at the crater. We drove past the crater and kept going until we got to Warnambool where I decided to hunt down some antiques.

Monday morning we drove back and arrived home to some grumpy kitties who have decided to claim the antiques as their new beds and a massive pile of washing!

Rastus tires of the day bed I bought him last week and appreciates the new decor as his bed instead!

Feathery top I got from one of the less Nanna-like boutiques (bargain from $130 to $49!)

$10 Fur Coat from the Lifeline shop at Port Fairy

This year has been a little crazy in many aspects – my photography started to take up more and more of my spare time while my actual real job also got busier and busier. Its been a bit of a juggling act at times but its all been worth it in the end. Here is an account of my life in pictures for 2010

January
I started toying with the idea of doing a bit more studio photography. I had been a member of Kommune for a few months so I asked Vesper White if she would volunteer to be my model for the day at Terry’s Kommune studio in Alphington. It was one of the hottest days of summer but Vesper was an absolute trooper and along with Jake Burrell (hairstylist) I think we created something awesome.

January also saw me return to Burlesque Bar to shoot a couple of shows including one with the delightful Rosy Rabbit

February
February saw me shoot for the first time in my home studio. Geoff and I bought a house in West Footscray in September 2009 and we moved in late November. We had only been in for about 2 weeks before heading to NZ for Xmas so it took us a while to settle in and get everything sorted. During this time, I had done a bit of research and discovered some beautiful work by George Hurrell back in the 30′s and 40′s…and so began my experiments with old Hollywood glamour beginning with the gorgeous Rosy Rabbit.

And Samantha Diamond

And Scarlett

Also in February, I realised a long awaited project recreating a homage to Zeigfeild Follies photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston. Again Jake Burrell did some amazing work on Red’s super long hair to evoke some 20′s styling.
Red was amazing as a folly and I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.

It also saw a return to some live performance work at Burlesque Bar – this time with the amazing Lux St Sin. Needless to say, February was quite busy!

March
In March I played some more in the studio, more black and white work with Kerry X

And went on location to the beach with a fellow photographer Brett and Lux St Sin on a steamy Melbourne evening to try some outdoor lighting. This image was subsequently featured in Inked Australia/NZ.

We got back into the Victorian Rollery Derby League’s Season 5 with Burn Your Brass. Dolls Au-Go-Go vs Toxic Avengers.

Again in the studio to shoot some more Old Hollywood Glamour with the beautiful Katie Pink.

Also in March I shot a benefit performance for Rosy Rabbit. The show was to fund her trip to London Burlesque Week. After an awesome show, Rosy was unfortunately unable to attend due to a very unruly Icelandic volcano shutting down airports around the world. London’s loss but Rosy went on to shine later on in the year.

Back to the Kommune studios to shoot the delightful Dolores Daquiri – again on an absolute scorcher!

April
April saw the advent of some very dark Cabaret/Burlesque with the debut performance of Atrocity at Burlesque Bar.

A visit from Brisbane based band Bertie Page Clinic saw me shooting at The Old Bar in Fitzroy for their show.

VRDL celebrated their birthday with a Birthday Bash which saw the Dead Ringer Rosies take on the Toxic Avengers

I finished up April with a shoot for The Signet Bureau with a 20′s theme

March and April also saw me away from home for 4 weeks to work onsite in Brisbane – not entirely sure looking back how I fit everything in!

May

The Footscray follies took hold again with Kelly Ann Doll bringing out the essence of the Zeigfield girl. Jake Burrell created his hair magic again and Jenelle Marie recreated the dark make up. This shoot was a challenge as I had been attacked by one of my cats the previous day and bitten in 15 places on my right hand including through my trigger finger. One hand was blown up like a balloon and the other arm was in agony from the tetanus shot. Good times!

In May I took a deep breath and stepped in front of the lens in a portrait shoot swap with photographer Rachel Mia of Matchless Snapshots. It was very intimidating working with another photographer and especially since I am not known to enjoy being on the other end of the camera. Rachel’s hair and make up was done by MUA Kaysia-Joy.

I went on location with Red Devotchkin and Bertie Page to the chilly Fitzroy streets for an impromptu shoot. These girls were so much fun and you would never know how cold it actually was!

June

June was so much fun! In the midst of one of the coldest Melbourne winters on record, the first annual Australian Burlesque Festival came along to heat things up!

Shimmy Shake

Sexy Circus Sideshow

The Big Tease

Baby Bombshells

I had an awesome shoot with Kelly Ann Doll showcasing designs for Michelle Boyde – my first shoot with a fashion flavour. The hair, makeup and styling was all done my Michelle.

Also in June I had the pleasure of shooting Clairy Baby Brown and the Bangin’ Rackettes for their debut album cover. Fun, fun shoot with some crazy shots appearing at the end of the night!

July

In early July Clairy Baby Brown and the Bangin’ Rackettes held a fundraising performance for their upcoming Australian tour supporting The Cat Empire. Hot show, hot audience, hot band!

VRDL next bout was an interstate affair. Double Dissolution saw the VRDL B team take on Ballarat and the VRDL A team battle Canberra. VRDL had just come off and amazing tournement at the Great Southern Slam where they had beaten out teams from around Australia and NZ to be overall winners!

The second installment of the Atrocity series premiered at Burlesque Bar.

I had the pleasure of photographing one the most gorgeous boys on the planet. Baby Valentine Cash was 3 weeks old for this shoot and was such a darling.

Tableu Vivant was a performance installation by Clare St Clare and saw the participants taking on the persona of dolls in a scene.

August

Friday the 13th of August saw the return of Gorelesque. After a successful show the previous year, Gorelesque moved to a new larger venue with more acts and a fantastic movie trailer.

In August I had the opportunity to attend of one of Peter Coulson’s Continuous Lighting workshops at his Koukei Studios. Such an awesome experience and was great to be able to learn from someone who is very generous with their time and knowledge.

Vixxy Valentine joined me in the studio to work on some more old school Hollywood black and white images.

September

VRDL came back in September with Leader of the Pack between Dolls Au-Go-Go and the Toxic Avengers. The tail end of the season was looming with the battle for the grand final spots underway.

I returned to live performance for Shimmy Shake, produced by Dolores Daquiri and Sapphira. The show is held monthly at Red Bennies and includes resident artists alongside guest performers.

The third installement of Atrocity was unveiled with a dash of Insanity

October

In October I had the worst flu I have ever experienced. I ended up having to take over a week off work and as a result my housewarming gift for the new VRDL Warehouse was a box of tissues!
The warehouse is a new training facility for the VRDL and will allow them to have a dedicated space for fresh meat intakes and training. Looking forward to seeing a bevy of new skaters on the track at the end of 2011!

Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants absolutely brought the house down at Red Bennies – I have never seen a crowd like it before in my life! Excellent show and I am now a proud owner of the album Sellin’ You Salvation

Another live performance in October with the debut performance of La Burlesque Tableaux at Miss Libertines. The show was the brainchild of SheShe Velour and Ginger Lea Rye and included a corsetry fashion show at half time.

Things got a little hot in the studio when Kelly Ann Doll and Tank came around to shoot some promotional images for their upcoming duet at the Hellfire Club.

I also had the opportunity to do some experiments with some new lighting techniques I had learned at the Koukei workshops

My big project came to fruition in October with a Book Launch at Red Bennies for Burlesque a Retrospective. It was also the farewell performance for Samantha Diamond who was a co-collaborator on the book project.

November

November brought a very busy month for the VRDL – first up with Movember Madnes, the last bout before the Grand Final. Dead Ringer Rosies took on the Dolls Au-Go-Go

And then the GRAND FINAL and quite possibly my most favourite bout in my history with the VRDL for a couple of reasons. First of all the change in venue to the Flemington Showgrounds which is only a 10 minute drive from home, the amazing light in the venue even though it was possibly the most disgusting weather Melbourne had seen all year, and the most awesome shot a girl could ever wish to capture. My only down for the night – my team lost, but hey you cant have everything!

To see more visit my Zenfolio site

So this rounds up my year in 2010. It’s been interesting revisiting it all and I look back and wonder how I managed to pack it all in some months! I can only hope that I have the same amount of fun this year!
What’s on the cards? Well I am doing more workshops in 2011, you cannot and should not ever stop learning! An 8km run in May (for those who know me well this will be a massive achievement!), maybe an overseas holiday???

I hope you all have had a fantastic 2010 and if not, that 2011 becomes everything you wish it to be!

Well I guess its better late than never! I am finally getting around to catching up on my actual event blogging….

All the way back at the end of November we got to experience the awesome VRDL Grand Final – Dolls Au-Go-Go vs Toxic Avengers

Now I had a vested interest as the Dolls are my team and although some members of the VRDL think that I am maybe just a little too public with my support, I must point out that the other two league photographers are in fact Toxics supporters. I mean who did you really think the Oompa Loompa was supporting???

Back to the bout

The bout was held at the Flemington showgrounds for the first time and I have to say what an amazing venue, so much space, so much light, so much awesome!!! I loved it – pretty please can we have more bouts there VRDL Bout Committee?

First up were the Bloody Mary’s from Geelong (GRDL) vs Dead Ringer Rosies.
It was really interesting shooting the first bout, lots more ambient light than I was used to (even though we had one of those weekends in Melbourne where they tell you to brace for flash flooding!) and a new position to shoot from just ahead of the jammer line. It gave me an opportunity to shoot a bit closer than what I normally would have and single out a few people.

Rosies win! Geoff was happy!

Then the Grand Final!
By this stage the rain had really set in and the ambient light was dropping fast. So we had the stadium lights come on and change it up a bit. I really liked the rim lighting and spot effects that it gave – definitely different from Puckhandlers and I think it adds a bit more drama to the shots which I like.

ok so this shot made my entire Derby season! This was some serious happy dance, bottom wiggling when this came out on the back of the camera. The super awesome Dolly Tartan showing everyone how to fly!

Special mention must be made to Sherribomb who had a very nasty stack and ended up in the Royal Melbourne Hospital for facial surgery and now has some plates in her face. Get well soon Sherribomb!

These girls are super committed to this sport and train long and hard to perform at this level. Do not make the mistake of thinking its a bunch of pretty girls on skates putting on a show.

More pictures can be viewed at my Zenfolio page

Just in case you weren’t sure what to get your loved ones, friends or even a Kris Kringle here are some links to stuff I sell online

My cute little mounted blocks can be purchased on MadeIt

Burlesque a Retrospective can be purchased direct from Blurb

All sorts of goodies Canvas, Laminated Prints, Posters or Cards can be purchase from this site

xxx

So this Xmas will have a few firsts for Geoff and me. The first year that we will be spending Xmas in the house we purchased, the first time we have spent Xmas in Melbourne and the first time we both will be working through the Xmas holidays. Normally Geoff and I have to split Xmas holiday between Canberra and Whanganui, but this year its Melbourne all the way baby!!

Since it is the first Xmas in our house, I decided to head out and get a Xmas tree today and decided to decorate early. Really I was inspired by Cari and her early decorating spree although I am not nearly as handy with the crafts as Cari is.

Anyway so I have decided on a blue and silver themed Xmas tree – I love silver and blue! Its actually weird decorating the tree with new ornaments. I have been so used to decorating with ornaments from my childhood which are obviously now over 30 years old so buying all these new ornaments and starting from scratch is strange in a way.

So here is the finished product! The cats have only tried to eat the tree twice and aren’t really all that interested in the ornaments yet which is an improvement over Cefa who sees the xmas tree as climbing practice!

A little taste of Kiwiana – the Buzzy Bee proudly takes on the angel spot on top of the tree