December 07, 2011

monozygote

part 1
from an ongoing portrait series of identical twins

Rachel and Christine Chung 



behind the scenes!

(These were taken on the second day of my birthday trip in Sydney.)

It's the holiday break now so I've got quite a few shoots lined up over the next couple of weeks! Last Saturday I had a shoot with the gorgeous Erica Foster. You can see some of them on my facebook page and on my flickr.

I've had some time to redesign some of my website's navigation, too. Now the links to 'Collections' and 'Music' have pretty pictures. :)

In other news, I have a shoot on Friday with Kate and another on Sunday with Kathryn. Can't wait!

Oh, and I've ordered prints that will be for sale on my Etsy as soon as they arrive.

Danièle
x

November 16, 2011

Sydney


Two days ago, I turned 20.

     As a birthday gift to myself I had gotten tickets to see Bright Eyes live in concert in Sydney. I made my way there by bus (a 3.5 hour trip). While I was in Sydney I met with Ally for the first time and we had a small photoshoot. She is such a lovely person, inside and out. Unfortunately the 37 degree weather meant I really hadn't the stamina to shoot for very long.



     The concert was magical. I didn't bring my camera with me because I wanted to focus on the show (plus I don't think they allowed semi-professional cameras into the venue.)
      Conor Oberst touched my hand, and played some of my favourite songs. I left the theatre filled with admiration and a strange sense of hope that I would one day have such an impact on people - through photography, or whatever - because I need to. Life is so fleeting. 



     The next day, I had breakfast/brunch with another friend I had only spoken to online. Meeting for the first time, I was surprised with how well we got along and how amazing it felt to talk to someone so freely and carelessly. There's no substitute for a truly meaningful conversation.

     Afterwards I met with twins Rachel and Christine Chung and had another mini photoshoot. The girls were so nervous, but they were fantastic. I haven't edited those shots yet, but they'll be up on my facebook page / flickr as soon as I do.

     In the past two days I've had some of the most unforgettable and life-changing experiences in my life so far. I've not felt this inspired in a very, very long time. 

I hope everyone else is doing well,

Danièle
xx

November 02, 2011

FAQ


Since I get quite a few questions via different mediums (Tumblr, Formspring, Flickr, Blog comments) I thought I might compile a set of them and keep them altogether. There's a link I added down the right of the page for future reference.

__________________



(via Tumblr) Anonymous asked: 
Can I blog your photo(s)?

     I get this question a lot. I don't mind people blogging them as long as there is credit given and a link to my website/flickr!

(via formspring) Anonymous asked: 
what websites do you use? links?

     Tumblr: http://lymerence.tumblr.com 


(via formspring) Anonymous asked:
Do you shoot in RAW or JPEG and do you always use your 35mm or do you have more lenses? 

     I tend to shoot JPEG so there's less data to deal with - usually when I'm shooting self-portraits or just-for-fun photoshoots. When I am shooting a proper shoot (especially paid shoots) I will shoot RAW and bring along extra memory cards! The main thing is if you are doing any post-processing (or think you will) then I would recommend you shoot with RAW. You lose a little bit of quality each time you edit and save over a JPEG so shoot RAW to save quality. For the past year and a half I've only been shooting with my 35mm - simply because I don't feel like changing it. I'm quite comfortable with a prime lens and zoom lenses feel really odd in my hands now! I do own a 18-105mm though. It came with my D7000.

(via blog) 'daniele martinie fan' said... 
Im going to take photos for my school magazine (probably next week). I have always wanted to this and finally my dream has come true. This is first time im doing it & I’m very excited. But im nervous as well. Its all about portraits & nature. So i am hoping to get your suggestions/tips about how do you take yours


     That's great! It's all about practice and finding your style and your 'feel'.
     For portraits, I suggest you take photos of anyone and everyone to practice getting the right angles, lighting, poses etc. Lighting is really important. When you look at people in general you won't notice things like shadows and angles, because our visual system ignores that information. The camera picks all of this up so you have to train yourself to notice the little details (it can make all the difference!)
     For nature, I guess I tend to look for patterns. Plants tend to follow perfect mathematical rules of symmetry that can be very striking in a photograph. Again lighting is always important and can be used to your advantage. For example, try looking out for patterns of shadows cast by trees.

(via formspring) Anonymous asked: 
Do you know any good free Lightroom presets?

     I use presets of my own, and mostly tweak it after applying them. Each individual shot would be differently exposed etc. so it's not always helpful using a preset! You can download some of the ones I use here: http://www.danielemartinie.com/downloads.html 
     Otherwise, maybe peruse some photography blogs for presets that other photographers have recommended/uploaded.

(via formspring) Anonymous asked:
Would ou recommend a 35mm prime lens for fulll body portraits? 

     It depends where you're shooting and how close you can get to the subject. Anything wider than a 35mm will make your subject look distorted (like exaggerating their nose or other features) particularly if you're standing close to them. I would probably go for a 50mm or 85mm prime, or a zoom within those ranges. That gives you the flexibility of positioning yourself according to your surroundings i.e. studio vs. field.


__________________

If you also have a photography-related question, ask me here and I'll be happy to answer it!

November 01, 2011

October 28, 2011

Academia

I got a roll of film developed yesterday. These must have been from my last visit to Melbourne. I've always loved the atmosphere of the State Library.




October 24, 2011

Jessica G

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

This series was shot yesterday not too far from my place. It was 26 degrees Celsius...

Model is Jessica G, with makeup by her sister-in-law, Jolina O'Hair MUA (you might remember her from my lace shoot with Nastia, Celia and Natalia).





October 22, 2011

musings

Lately I've felt like my photography is missing something. With university work always on my tail I've barely left the house to shoot anything. I feel like my life consists of waking up, heading to classes, heading home and staying there. I have no inspiration and no adventure. I need the inspiration from the real and the tangible. I need to walk through the tree-filled countryside, wander along stepping stones through pretty rivers and experience surprise encounters with Australian wildlife. What I have right now is repetitive, jejune, tedious... Life is bigger than this.

October 20, 2011

Lauren

Hi everyone!

As you may have read, a couple of days ago I had a shoot with the lovely Lauren with makeup by Lisa Cassel (you might remember her from my shoot with Jessica Claire a while back). Two of the three shots that I uploaded made it to Flickr's Explore (peaked at #6 and #240)!







I have a shoot on Sunday with Jolina O'Hair MUA and Jessica, so new photos will be up soon!

I'm still taking bookings for portrait sessions in Canberra/Melbourne/Sydney over the next few months (but cheapest if you book before November when my rates go up!) so shoot me an email if you're interested! (I'm also shooting families and couples)

E-mail me at info@danielemartinie.com for more details!

Danièle 
x

October 14, 2011

Purple


Hello readers!

I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been doing tonnes of uni work and cramming assignments in so I haven't had much time.

Recently, I modeled for friend/amazing photographer Geoff Jones and had SO much fun! Make up was by his lovely wife, Mary Li. Check it out!

(click through to see it larger)

In other news, my tripod broke today while taking some self-portraits :(

RIP tripod. You've served me well.
At least I got these very purple selfies in the last moments before its death!

(Click through for better quality!)
(Click through for better quality!)

On Saturday I have a shoot with Lauren which will be much, much fun. I haven't had a proper shoot in a while. School keeps getting in the way of me picking up the camera! I've also had to put off buying the 50mm f/1.4 because I'm going to Soundwave music festival instead. I think I'll survive... For now.

I hope everyone is doing well! And for my Sydney/Melbourne/Canberra readers, I still have the special offer running for portrait sessions if you book before the end of the month! You're saving over $50 so if you were planning to make a booking anyway, why not do it now? e-mail me at info@danielemartinie.com for a quote!


Will blog after my shoot this weekend,

Danièle xx

October 01, 2011

Monochrome - New Lightroom preset!


Hello, lovelies!

So I hit 500 fans on Facebook today (YAY!) and as promised, I've got a black and white preset up for downloading at my website: http://www.danielemartinie.com/downloads.html

(Like the last one, just right-click the file and select 'save as...')

Monochrome by Danièle:

Before
After






















Download Monochrome by Danièle
Please leave a link in the comments if you've used the preset - I'd love to see your work!

In other news, I'll be assisting in a photoshoot on Monday, modelling for a fellow photographer on Wednesday and (hopefully) have a shoot planned and ready for next Sunday.

I hope everyone is doing well! 
xx

September 28, 2011

Monbizwé

Hello people!

So this is probably the quirkiest photoshoot I've ever done and I'm SO happy with how it turned out. As you may know already, it was a style shoot for Monbizwé Bow Ties - an adorable label of handmade bow ties from new and recycled materials. Each individual bow tie is super cute and super unique. 

Each of the four girls and four boys had to bring their own image to the single bow tie, showing us that you could totally wear a bow tie no matter what your style is. Big thanks to Miranda and William for letting us shoot in their adorable house - and I apologise to them again for rearranging furniture to accommodate my shooting! The great thing about this shoot was that I could really show each model's personality and taste through the photos, using things in the environment to add a bit of character to each shoot. Thanks to Chloé T for doing the boys' make-up!

(See the full collections and mini-interviews with the models at Monbizwé Bow Ties' facebook page)

Katherine
William
Megan

Julia

Miranda
Isaac
Nicolino

The creator of Monbizwé (centre) and her models
Rowan and I (taken by Miranda)
Rowan, William and alcohol
Megan and I