Hi everyone, it has been a very busy last few weeks since we came back home from our three week holiday up along the Coral Coast of Western Australia. I was to bring you more of those travels, but today I have done a little sidestep.
A couple of weekends ago I was able to attend PhotoWest 2025 - a full weekend of photography workshops and talks in Bunbury. PhotoWest is a yearly event put on by the Western Australian Photographic Federation (WAPF) in conjunction with host clubs. This year our club, the Photography Group of Bunbury (PGoB) ran the event. It was a huge undertaking by the Committee and volunteers to put on such a fantastic event with excellent guest speakers and workshops.
One of the workshops I went to was with professional portrait photographer Bell V - Belle Verdiglione . Belle was a vibrant, generous and knowledgeable speaker and it was a joy to meet and learn from her. (photo borrowed from Belle's facebook page) Belle was formerly a birthing photographer but now does a lot of branding imagery for women to promote their businesses.
A few things Belle spoke about on the Saturday morning were -
- making a human connection - photographing emotion - using light
- don't get bogged down by what other people do, don't compare yourself to others. Do it your way.
- Be completely present when you do photography. We bring our own vision and flavour.
- A portrait should make you feel something - evoke emotion and memory. You are creating memories.
- To take authentic portraits, create a safe place when the model can trust and relax. Respect each other. Ask the model for permission before you touch them. Make a connection, talk to them, play music, play, laugh, give clear fun prompts. Adapt as you go along.
- Create drama, mood, contrast with light. Use a reflector to add light.
- Try different angles. Crop in. You don't have to include everything.
In the afternoon we went to the South West Rail and Heritage Centre in Boyanup which houses several old steam engines, train carriages etc. Here after a short intro from Belle we broke up into 3 groups, which went to three different areas to take photos.
I was in Belle's first group who went into the engine shed with professional model Miss Lillian Rose.
I don't often get an opportunity to photograph professional models - especially with the bonus of a professional photographer directing us, and a man with lights, a smoke machine, and reflector. Bonus. I really enjoyed it. Here are a couple of my pics.
The lower set I changed to sepia. I like the vintage feel. This is my favourite. I received some good feed back from Belle and another portrait photographer friend who I hadn't seen for years - thankyou!. Thank you Belle and Miss Lillian Rose for a fabulous photo shoot.
The groups swapped around and we went outside to take some photos of some young models.
And an opportunity to photograph the blacksmiths workshop. There are several resident groups at the South West Rail and Heritage Centre - Boyanup Foundation Blacksmiths, Capel Men’s Shed, Preston River Old Machinery Group, Rail Heritage WA and South West Model Railway Group. You can visit on the 4th Sunday of the month from 10am to 2pm, where you can see the groups at work.
It was my first PhotoWest event. In all it was a fabulous weekend with an amazing lineup of guest speakers and workshops including Alex Cearns animal photographer, Christian Fletcher landscapes, Georgina Steytler bird photography, Russell Ord surfing photographer (did you know that taking photos of surfers is an extreme sport! wow!), Scott Robinson & Vaughan Ransley commercial photographers from The Box, Paul Irvine taking photos of bugs, Susi Nodding blending reality, Nigel Gaunt (Red Dirt Photography) urban abstracts, and wedding photographer Emma Pointon gentle posing for real people. I would have liked to do more workshops but we had to choose only two, plus hear the guest speakers.
We had sea shanty entertainment on Friday night from The Anchormen while we enjoyed delicious meals from Divine Filipino.
Photographers joined us from photography groups across Western Australia and we had plenty of time to mingle over lunch and dinner. In all a fabulous weekend with perfect weather for getting out and about. There were also opportunities to buy some new photography gear - who doesn't want to! - I resisted.
We were also treated to a display of the top 100 (colour and mono) photos from the Print West interclub photographic competition. The top club in Mono was Northern Exposure from Kallaroo in Perth, and the top club in colour was Workshop Camera Club from Riverton in Perth. Congratulations to everyone who entered. Photography Group of Bunbury came 10th overall, which is a good result for a small club. The image gallery for you to see hasn't gone up on the WAPF site as yet - but I am sure will soon.
The weekends events were based at the Koombana Bay Sailing Club. Thank you to Photography Group of Bunbury and the PhotoWest2025 committee for putting on such a fabulous weekend. Next years PhotoWest is being hosted by GEM Camera Club in Darlington in the Perth Hills 11-13 September 2026.
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
Hello Jill,
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fun event. Your photos of the model are beautiful. Take care, have a great day!