After the success of a small event held in Brisbane last year, giving portraits to the children and families of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Help Portrait Brisbane have been busy planning an event on a much larger scale.
On December 5th a group of local Brisbane photographers, assistants, editors, makeup artists, printers and volunteers will be participating in Help Portrait, a global movement of people who are using their time, equipment and expertise to give back to those in need this holiday season. In a collaboration with Lifeline – Disability Services, Red Cross and Wesley Mission, the team will be giving free portraits and prints to the people of these charities. Since the event last year, I’ve been inspired to organise a number of different “Help Portrait” styled events, providing portraits to people with disability, terminal illness and the homeless. The power of something as simple as having a portrait taken always seems to bring a bit of happiness to their days, particularly to those that don’t have the opportunity to do so.
But we need your help. Through donations collected by the public we hope to also provide professional printing on site to give to the guests on the day. We’re hoping to cover a few inevitable costs that go into such events, such as printing paper, ink, snacks for guests and venue expenses. If you can spare a few dollars, it would go a long way in giving someone a beautiful portrait and making sure events like this can continue to run in the future.
How can you help?
Click “ChipIn!” below, or follow this link to help us fund the cause! Any donation large or small is appreciated!
MORE ON HELP PORTRAIT:
Initiated in 2009 by a call-out by American photographer, Jeremy Cowart, Brisbane’s collective of Help Portrait photographers hope to establish an ongoing community of hobbyist to professional photographers interested in not just the act of ‘taking’ but also in ‘giving photos’.
For more information on the global Help Portrait movement visit www.help-portrait.com.
I was in Melbourne on the weekend as the photographer for the Finders Keepers Markets, a rapidly growing bi-annual event held in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. It was the first Finders Keepers held in Melbourne and was probably their biggest yet. I think it’s says a lot about the creative community in Melbourne. Here are a few of my favourite shots:
I’m currently expanding to base myself out of both Brisbane and Melbourne so don’t hesitate to get in contact for any portrait, commercial or wedding photography in the area!
Late last year I was the photographer for Brisbane City Council’s bi-annual Homeless Connect, which provides a much needed range of services to the homeless population of Brisbane. Included in the services are medical and legal services as well as covering the most basic of needs through accommodation referrals, clothing and food. Last November, I covered the event in a mostly candid and documentary style, but soon realised that combining it with some ideas from another event we organised last year, Help Portrait, would allow us to give much more to the guests on the day and in a more direct way.
This year, I teamed up with the amazing Lynda Evans and Toby Scott, to shoot, print, laminate and even burn images to disc. We hit the ground running and had no chance to break until it was all over, with people eventually starting to congregate around the booth, checking out their photos and waiting for their turn to have their portrait taken. We shot portraits for about 170 people and gave the equipment, kindly supplied to us by Epson, quite a workout! We met some amazing people and heard some moving stories of how people were going to use their photos, and who they were going to give them to. It seemed like everyone wanted to have their photo taken to share with another friend or loved one that wasn’t there. We heard about people wanting the photos to give to their mothers for Mothers Day, family overseas and a mate on the “inside”, some just wanted portraits of their children or with friends. There was a couple wanting pregnancy portraits and even some people who wanted to have “before and after” haircut shots! When I first thought about bringing a portrait space to Homeless connect I really wasn’t sure whether it would work or be something that was needed, but after seeing the joy that something as simple as getting a nice portrait taken can bring, it really re-enforces my belief in the power of “photography for good” and the impact it has on people.
Many thanks to Toby, Lynda, Epson Australia, Brisbane City Council, Volunteering Queensland, all volunteers and service providers for making this kind of event possible. I’ve shot a few “Help Portrait” inspired events since our first one last year but am hoping to make it a much more frequent and sustainable way to give portraits. If you know anyone keen to support, through printing supplies or in any other way possible, please let me know! For more information on Homeless Connect and how to get involved as a volunteer or service provider in the next event in November, please visit:
Early this month, Brisbane hosted it’s very own community run TED event or “TEDx“. It was one of the most inspiring local events I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of. Modeled after the Long beach based annual TED conferences, the day included talks from a diverse range of prolific thinkers and doers. Co-hosted and organised by Paul Fairweather and Carl Lindgren, with the help of a number of sponsors and volunteers, the day was buzzing with inspired conversation and the ‘spirit’ of TED. As a photographic sponsor, I had the honour of shooting some inspiring speakers and captured some great moments in the lead up to the event. A massive thanks and congrats to the organisers and everyone involved. Here are some of my favourite shots from TEDxBrisbane. More images can be found on the TEDxBrisbane flickr page .
And finally, I’d like to share the first TED talk that introduced me to these “ideas worth spreading”, soon after they started releasing the TED talks online. It was Jeff Han’s presentation on multi-touch technology. From touch pads on laptops to the Apple iPad, it’s crazy how within 5 years of this talk, it has become so common place. As Jeff says, this technology will “Change the way we interact with machines from this point on”, and it has.
Brisbane’s creative community can feel like one big happy family at times, so shooting for Finders Keepers this weekend was lots of fun. An event originating in Sydney, the Finders Keepers markets supports local designers and artists through a two day independent market. I spent most of the day strolling around, listening to music and chatting to stall owners about their creations and the ideas behind them. It’s really left me feeling re-inspired to focus a bit more on my side projects like VonVintage, and the BNE project, to bring more to a photograph than just a print on a wall or an image online. Here are some of my favourite stalls and shots from the day. More images can be found in the Finders Keepers gallery.
Every year, cities around the world participate in “Global Illumination” to raise awareness of Breast Cancer, through the bold pink lighting of buildings, monuments and well known landmarks. Affecting 1 in 8 women, including those in my own family, breast cancer is a disease that touches so many of us in one way or another. This year, in support of the Breast Cancer Month and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, I got behind the Brisbane Global Illumination Cocktail Party as their photographer. It was a night full of entertainment with hosts Camilla Severi from b105 and Lidia Box “Brisbane’s Leading Gender Illusionist”, fire twirlers, a 12 piece soul band (SoulZu), auctions and an after party at Cloudland.
Some photos from the event can be found below and in the following web gallery: www.marklobo.com.au/nbcf
If you were there and would like some photos of yourself, please feel free to contact Rachael Moni –
For more information about Global Illumination and to support breast cancer research through the National Breast Cancer Foundation, please visit their website: www.nbcf.org.au
Last night I attended the preview opening of ‘Underexposed’ an exhibition showcasing some amazing live band photography from Brisbane Photographers. With well over a dozen photographers, such as Dane Beesley, Kylie Keene and Elleni Toumpas showcasing their work, the walls were filled with hundreds of images over the last 20 years of music history. It was great to finally meet some photographers who’s work I have seen through various street press, online and social media. With local music from local bands and musicians the atmosphere couldn’t be more fitting. Underexposed opens tonight at Joshua Levi Galleries in Wooloongabba and will be featuring live music in the gallery every Friday and Saturday until the end of the show. More details and gig dates below.
Pecha Kucha Night – Volume 10 was held as part of the Brisbane Ideas Festival on the 27th of March. I had the opportunity to present at the event and speak about some of my work and projects.
Pecha Kucha is an event where any designer, artist, architect, interactive media or alike, are given the soapbox to present their designs, thoughts and ideas. Each presenter gets 20 seconds to showcase and talk about 20 slides of their work.
This is a video of my presentation. Lots of “umms”, I know, but with a packed crowd of 300 in the room, 200 on the 2nd floor balcony, and another few hundred on the ground floor watching the live feed, I was pretty nervous!
This Tuesday, over 175 cities around the world will be hosting ‘Twestivals’ in an effort to help raise money and awareness for charity: water, a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. The event will bring together the world’s online Twitter “micro-blogging” communities for an evening of music, art and entertainment. Brisbane will be hosting their very own Twestival this Thursday the 12th February at 6.30pm at Metro Arts in the city. For those interested, be sure to check out the Brisbane Twestival Website, where you can donate and also buy tickets to the event. There will be live bands and entertainment as well as a live auction for which I have donated the two images below. Hope to see you there!
Artwork by Brisbane Artist Kylie Farrelly - The River City
In a month of events that celebrate the city of Brisbane and all it’s offerings…Brisbane Riverfestival, Brisbane City Romp, Bridge to Brisbaneand theValley Fiesta to name a few, Joshua Levi Galleries will be joining in the festivities with their next big showing of Brisbane themed work. Featuring the colourful works of Kylie Farrelly, appropriately titled The River City, the opening will be accompanied by the sounds of Brisbane band Dan and Dilmah. As part of the exhibition, I will be showing portraits of inspirational Brisbanites from my recent BNE project! Joshua Levi himself will also have a range of stunning Brisbane imagery on the walls and in addition, two more of Brisbane’s talented photographers, Darren Tuer and Dustin Osbourne will also be showing their city scapes. The River City and the photography of Brisbane will be showing at Joshua Levi Galleries from 4th – 30th September.
