Tag Archives: melbourne

2012 was a big year.

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I am sitting on a plane heading back to Melbourne and my head is spinning.  When I get off this flight, I pack up all my belongings  and also sell off and give away as much as I can. I am moving out of my apartment in Melbourne that I have called home for the last little while.  I am going to be living out of a suitcase for the next few months until I find a place in New York City to call home.

I am moving to New York.

These words do not even seem real.

In May last year, this thought had not even crossed my mind.   I actually had not even made my mind up properly until a few weeks ago.

Some may call me foolish. Some may think I am crazy.  All I know is in the importance of chasing after all that you desire with everything you have.

But before I attempt any packing.  I need to finally sit down and go through all the images I took in 2012. To look back and reflect upon what an amazing year it was.

It was a beautiful year. It had a lot of ups and downs. Laughter and tears. Heartbreaks and aches. Right decisions and wrong decisions.  But most importantly it was a year that taught me that anything is possible.

It was a crazy year.

2013 is already going to be more so. It already is.  I am going to write another blog post about that this week.

But until then, here is a look back at my wedding and portrait work from 2012. Being a photographer is a peculiar thing. I step into people’s lives for a day, wander around with them and report back my findings through a series of images. I have become an anthropologist.  In the process I spend some pretty intimate moments with them. I will never take that for granted. So here is all the very amazing people I had the honor of photographing in 2012.  Thank you to all my clients that has made all this possible. Thank you for letting me witness this all. x

 

 

 ♥♥♥

 

 

SARAH & ROB

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Sarah and Rob were married on a wet & rainy morning in Melbourne. They had a intimate little ceremony with their closest loved ones, followed by a long lunch at Siglo Bar. We dodged many a raindrop while we wandered the lane ways and the many pedestrians in Chinatown. The following day, they put on their wedding attire again and had a big fancy dinner and a night of dancing with all their family and friends at the Newport Substation.

art and my heart

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Late one afternoon in a land far far away (Tokyo), sitting with my dear friend Dan O’Day, sipping sake, discussing all things worldly and photography related. It soon become clear that we, two like-minded explorers/photographers had a lot to offer each other and shortly came to the conclusion, a lot to offer others. We discussed how amazing it would be to hold a photography workshop together that would combine the things in life, art and business that we are most passionate about.

Art and the Heart : a 3 day photography workshop by Dan O'Day and Samm Blake. Melbourne, New York and London 2012.

dan and samm in japan. shortly before or after discussing all things worldly. june 2011


Many bottles of sake, a couple of months of planning, lots of miles traveled and many late night skype sessions later, “Art and the Heart – A Photography Workshop by Dan O’Day and Samm Blake” is born.

We launched the workshop website a few days ago and we have been overwhelmed with the response we have received so far. Melbourne is almost sold out, and we have a waiting list of people for the New York and London workshops. We are so excited incredibly excited for everything we have planned for these workshops.

If you are interested in the New York or London workshops, send us an email so you will be one of the first to be notified when we announce the dates and registration opens.

If you are interested in our Melbourne workshop, get in contact with us quickly to get one of the last tickets :)

You Thought You Knew You : a blog cooperative to inspire, renew, discover and stimulate creativity. ❤

 

I have also been working on another project with Dan, collaborating together on a blog cooperative, You Thought You Knew You, to inspire, renew, discover and stimulate creativity. The project was introduced while Dan was speaking at the AIPP event “Hair of the Dog” in Brisbane, in February. It seeks to be an inspirational home for all types of creative photographers, so to challenge one another in thinking of new creative patterns and ways of looking at sometimes not-so-creative things.

The blog is to serve as a reminder of the importance of working on personal projects and getting a little “uncomfortable” when exploring creativity & art and exercising “seeing”. It ultimately seeks to bring out the best in us publicly – to an audience of like minded peers and colleagues, family and friends, or even to our clients.

Every week one artist will be selected and given a photography brief (created by YTYKY Creative HQ OR by a creative brief submitted by the public). The artist will be given seven days to complete the brief by providing around 10 images in response to their particular assignment. Each artist will also submit a written post, explaining their experience with the assignment as well as their thoughts on the experience as a whole.

To stimulate as much “uncomfortableness” as possible, the selected artist must shoot in a style or method outside their usual area of expertise. If, for example, the brief is “Blue” and “Grass” and the artist selected is a wedding photographer who shoots with a Canon 5D Mark II, YTYKY does not wish to see images of blue wedding shoes sitting in fields of grass shot on a DSLR. Instead, YTYKY seeks to push the boundaries of whatever “norms” the artist of the week is most comfortable with. Shoot blue garden gnomes with a Polaroid camera. Be as different as possible. Extend the imagination as far as it will go. Steer away from what feels “natural” and discover another side to your creative potential.

The site is to also serve as a hub / portal to inspire us all even further, featuring many links to videos, books and awesome sites that feature amazing photography projects.

Come join our facebook page or follow us on twitter to keep in the loop about what we are up to. We would love for you to become involved… come nominate a photographer who you would love to see issued with a challenge (or get someone to nominate you if you would like a challenge!)

My project I have been working on over winter is currently the feature of the week on YTYKY :)

❤❤❤

film is not dead

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I attended the Film Is Not Dead workshop in Melbourne back in January. I had the *best* week and learnt so so so much from Jonathan Canlas. That man knows his stuff and I am so grateful for his passion in sharing and teaching his amazing knowledge in all things film. The best thing about going to a photography workshop is the beautiful friendships that are made. My dearest and best friends are all people I have met at photography workshops. There are many perks to my amazing job.. but the highest on the list is the amazing photography community I get to be part of.

❤❤❤