mattjamesphotography

Tokyo: A New World

2009-07-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

So I made it to Japan! This country is amazing, it's a whole new world and I'm loving every second of being here. I don't want to leave!

I've been here for 6 days now and have managed to take a few photos so far.

(click to enlarge)

Much more to come! I'm here for another 6 weeks so expect a lot more..

So close, but so far away

2009-07-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

In just over a week I will be traveling to Tokyo, Japan! I am sooooo excited, I already have a model there waiting for me haha. The funny thing is, she's an Australian who happens to be from Adelaide too.

I will be taking a LOT of photos in Japan, but I will be keeping a blog at www.mattintokyo.tumblr.com which is where I will be posting most of my photos. So keep checking that if you're interested.

I haven't taken much photos as of late, but I'll possibly be shooting next week before I leave. I also have a client shoot that week, but I won't be uploading those photos.

So that is all, until I'm in Japan!

New Shoots & Daily Deviation

2009-06-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been feeling extremely inspired and motivated to take my photography to the next level. I'm starting to become more confident each time I shoot, and believing that my ideas will project well.

Last week I got my first ever Daily Deviation at DeviantArt.

I'm completely stoked about it!

I got hundreds of favs, comments, watchers and a MEGA load of page views. Ever since then I have been receiving more attention to my photo stream. It feels great that my work is being recognised by many more people.

Today I am shooting for a "client". Not really a client, but one of my sister's friends wants photos of her and her kid, and she's going to pay me for it. This is the second time I've been paid for photos, and to be honest I still don't think I'm worthy of being paid!

Also, a fellow co-worker of mine wants some family portraits done. I told her she doesn't have to pay me, but she insists.

I want to get as much shoots done as possible before I embark on my epic voyage to the crazy world of Japan! I only have three and a half weeks left in Australia, though I'm hoping to get a week or so off work before I leave so I can take said photos and catch up with people.

I'll only be in Japan for 7 weeks, but I really want to get shooting before I leave.

A few days ago my sister, Aleisha, and I pulled out my mum's old wedding dress whilst at our grandparent's house, and she thought "hey, let's do a corpse bride shoot!" so two days later we did just that.

It was just a bit of fun, we only got a few good shots:

(click photo to enlarge)

We also took some "nice" shots too that day, but while I was at Mt Crawford forest with Kelly for a shoot, I got a phone call from Aleisha saying she'd bought a black bob wig and wanted some photos done with it. So I ended up shooting her again when I got home.

Go HERE to see more.

The Mt Crawford shoot was pretty good, we didn't take very many shots (which I am now kicking myself about. It was bloody cold that day and we weren't particularly rugged up for it..).

I took some normal portraits of Kelly, but my main aim was to get some cool shots for my Beautiful Corpses series, and we found the perfect spot in the forest for it:

(click photo to enlarge)

Click HERE to see more.

I am soooo mega pumped for my upcoming shoots. I have no dates planned as of yet, so hopefully I still end up doing them.. Stay tuuuuned, yo.

Redemption

2009-05-24T23:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, I feel like a bit of a fool after my last blog. I guess I was just frustrated with my lack of photographing, but since then I have taken quite a lot of photos and I am more than happy with them!

The shoot with Ree went swimmingly. We just walked around the Tambelin train station and found some cool places to shoot. We even went to her parents’ house and used their front and back garden.

One of my favourite photos from the day (click to enlarge)
See the whole set HERE.

~

Last week I went on a bit of a photographic expedition in Gawler with Megan (one of my friends, also a fellow photographer: http://deviantart.com/midnight-fantasy).
My initial goal was to take a photo of Megan with her WKAP t-shirt on for potential display on Amanda Palmer’s web store, but we ended up taking a whole lot of other photos too.

We ended up at Dead Man’s Pass (a reserve in Gawler) where I have taken photos SO many times (including shoots of Kelly and Rhiannon Faith), so I was hesitant as first... but as I have grown a lot as a photographer since then I managed to take some pretty awesome photos. Including some of Megan to add to my upcoming “death” photo series (working title: Beautiful Corpses).

(click photos to enlarge)

~

This/these photos were taken a while back now, but I hadn’t done anything with them til now. It’s just some seaside daisies and a duck statue in my front garden, put together as a diptych. I like how the duck is old and decayed, whereas the flowers are fresh and new. Sort of a representation of old and new.

(click photo to enlarge)

~

And now some behind-the-scenes photos.

Cynicism, fashion victims and publicism.

2009-05-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

Weeelllll, I haven’t updated this bloggity in a while. I don’t even know if anyone actually reads it!

My photography has been going pretty blah as of late, nothing new there. I don’t know why I fail so much. I’m so passionate about my art, yet I never put myself out there.
I guess I just still feel really cynical about my work. I see that I have some sort of talent, but it’s still in that “beginner” stage and it’s frustrating me.
I feel absolutely pathetic.

I really really want to buy more photography equipment, like reflectors, lenses, flashes, etc. Even a new camera, but I have been saving my mulah hardcore for my trip to Japan in July.
I haven’t had the luxury of spending large amounts of money on myself! So I have to make do with what I’ve got.

I’m also getting frustrated with my processing. I’m always editing my photos the same way. I need to experiment with photoshop more so I can discover new effects and new/better ways to do things.
It’s time to take things to the next level me thinks. This lack of confidence is a total bitch, Matt James shall kick ass.

~

A few weeks ago I had an idea. I a complete picture in my head of a photo I wanted to take. I decided Kelly would be the perfect model for it.
So I invited her over for a very short shoot and I got the exact shot I wanted.

~

One thing I am especially trying to achieve is to get more conceptual in my photo shoots. So I done just that the other week with Jess. My idea was to create a “fashion crime”, where Jess was the victim.
The shoot was very short and sweet, albeit a little bit of a let down. My photos did not turn out the way I wanted, but kudos for trying, right?

~

In other news (rather excellent news, really), I saw Amanda Fucking Palmer live at the Gov in March. I had the pleasure of photographing the gig, and also meeting Miss Gee Greenslade (also photographing the gig). I got some pretty rad shots, even though I was more focused on the performance.
But the best news? Amanda herself featured a shit load of my photos in her blog! And I got emailed from her photo intern asking if I could send in 30 of my photos in full resolution to be used for Amanda’s Flickr gallery, Myspace, and for potential promo use.
A dream come true, really. Amanda Palmer is my idol and artistic muse.

Go HERE to see some of my photos from the night.

<3

Shoot with Danae

2009-01-24T21:38:00.001-08:00

I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with my photography. My photo shoot with Danae last Monday made me realise that.
I'm really satisfied with the outcome - the photos turned out great! Danae was a pleasure to work with, as well as the makeup artist, Monique, who assisted us. It felt really good to collaborate with more than just a model!

I still, and always will, look at my work with an editing eye though. You can't always be 100% happy with what you produce because there is always room for improvement. No artist is ever 100% happy with their work. If they are, they are abnormal lol.

I had been totally uninspired as of late, due to lack of taking photos. So I came into this shoot with not much ideas at all. Michael drove us all to Hamley Bridge, and on the way we spotted a nice field to shoot in.Then continued on to Hamley Bridge where we found an awesome little location under a bridge. There was an old barrel and a twisted old bike there waiting for us, it looked like someone had actually set it up for a shoot. It was perfect!

Oh and who'd ever think a cake board would have more than one use??
I needed a reflector and all I had was a silver cake board, and it worked a treat! Props to Michael for holding it up for every shot haha.

We then ventured to snobs hill in Gawler (its not actually called snobs hill - I just call it that because there's large fancy houses on it!) and took some photos at sunset.

Click HERE to view photos from the shoot. More should be coming soon.

And here's some behind-the-scenes shots:

Children, Tokyo and Plans!

2008-11-22T20:40:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately lately I have only been taking photographs of children! And it is hard work.

My sister is making a calendar of my nephew, Ryder, to give out for Christmas. There's only a few more photos I need to take and we'll have all 12 months.
My auntie liked this idea and decided to do the same thing for her kids. Luckily cousins Jack and Abbey are older than Ryder, so it was much easier to photograph them! They actually kept still for photos.

So here's some random photos (click to enlarge).

~

In other news, I am traveling to Tokyo next year for about 2 months!
Since I will be alone on most of my days there, I plan to venture everywhere (and get very very lost at the same time) and take lots and lots of awesome photos of the amazing sights! I'm much looking forward to Harajuku, the many shrines of Tokyo, gardens and buildings. I will be in photography heaven.

~

I finally have another photo shoot coming up (maybe this week) with Stef, a waitress from my work. We haven't really organised anything yet, so I don't know what kind of photos we're gonna do.

Ree and I also have another shoot planned. Its hard to set a date though because Ree works full-time. Hopefully very soon though!

I also have a shoot planned for Kelly and her sister on December 16th. Just simple portraits that they can give to family for Christmas.

~

Some of my actions will be available soooon. I haven't got around to sorting them out, but I have a few (of my favs) that I am more than happy to share :-)

Peaaacceee.

Botanica (with more free textures)

2008-10-24T06:33:00.001-07:00

So I FINALLY got the chance to shoot this week!
Kelly and I done an impromptu shoot at the Botanic Gardens. We had planned to do a shoot for a part of my song series there, but it was very last minute and the photos came out totally opposite to what we wanted for the song...

From this shoot I have learned I suck at nature, and overall incorporating the surroundings of the model. Practice makes perfect, I guess.
By the way, my lens is 50mm (not very wide at all). So I will invest in buying a goooood lens soon!

So here's my favourite photos from the shoot with Kelly.
There's still more to process, but I'm too impatient.
(Click to enlarge)

I have been working on making some photoshop actions. Once I have enough I will probably release them on the net for everyone to use. I'm not the greatest at photoshop... but eh, just putting myself out there!

And here are some more textures for your own personal use :-)
Though if you use them, please please please show me!

I can't wait to start shooting some different models.
Ree, I need you again!

Ryder Calendar and Textures

2008-10-12T23:56:00.001-07:00

Wow, I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to shoot.
Though I have taken some photos here and there throughout my working hours..

Here's some of my nephew I took the other day for a part of a calendar (click to enlarge).

I've been working on a texture pack. I have 50 texture files all up, but some of them need touching up.
I'm thinking of putting them on the net for people to use, as well as some photoshop actions I've been working on.

Here's some of my favourite textures of mine, feel free to use any (if you do, please show me what you do with them. I'd love to see)

Samples:

If you would like to download them in full resolution (in a zip file), click HERE.

Uninspiration.

2008-09-02T18:35:00.002-07:00

I've been rather uninspired as of late. My life is getting the worst of me.
I rarely get time to do my own things when working full-time hours.
Though my boss is starting to give me at least two full days off per week. So hopefully that means more photo shoots!

Also, the weather has been very uncooperative. Spring has just hit and we've been getting nice sunny weather. But the days I decide to have a photo shoot it's miserable and rainy...

The other week I went shopping in the city with Kelly and Fiona. We had a photo shoot planned to do at the Botanical Gardens, but we canceled at the last minute and decided to a natural shoot instead.

I took some happy snaps of Kelly at the River Torrens. I was being completely experimental. Playing with different light, working with the surroundings and trying new angles. I mostly failed, but we got some good shots in the end.

She wanted a photo with the ticket machine XD

~

Hopefully in the coming weeks I will have more interesting posts. I'm looking forward to what Spring brings.

Blog numero uno.

2008-08-13T07:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my photography blog.

I will try to post here as often as possible. Whether it be about a photo shoot, photography tips, or just plain ol' blather!

Now... let's get to it, shall we?

~

On Sunday, the 10th of August, Miss Ree and I had a shoot planned. We were going to do two different shoots both in the Mt. Crawford forest (Mikel being the chauffeur haha), but, alas, the wet weather didn't agree with us and poor Ree had a cold.
So I packed my crappy makeshift "studio" lights and off we trotted to Ree's house to take some studio-ish photos against her beautiful red walls.

Mikel and I were good friends with this beauty throughout high school, so it was a pleasure to catch up with her!

Ree is an amazing makeup artist, and has some wicked clothes, and she was already all dolled up by the time we arrived.
We done about 4 different looks in total, all against the red wall, but my memory card ran out of space just when we decided to take some "lonely-housewife-looking-out-the-window-waiting-for-her-husband" photos.

I don't have much confidence shooting with my lights, but the photos we got turned out quite lovely.
Take a look for yourselfies.

(one of the very few lonely housewife photos lol)

~

All in all it was a great day and a great shoot. I can't wait to have another shoot with her.
I highly recommend Ree for any other South Aussie photographers out there. She is a pleasure to work with and produces stunning photos.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos Mikel caught, hehe.