An Afternoon of Jazz, Blues & Soul

by Mark Hudson

We spent a lazy afternoon at the my handle bar food and wine bar in Sydney Rd Brunswick. We’ll there to see a friend Julia play bass and sign in two bands that she’s currently playing in. We took the kids along and they enjoyed the variety of music set in a very cosy atmosphere upstairs were the bands play.

It was also an oppurtunity to test the high ISO capabilty of one of our newly acquired cameras Nikon’s D810. Very impressed with the new auto focus system and the low noise at higher ISO’s. Wedding season is about the commence and we’ll be looking forward to working with D810 this year.

We thoroughly enjoyed the music and inparticular the electric harp playing. Julia did extremley well fighting the flu. Her secret –
“oil 1L water together with 1 thumb sized piece of ginger sliced thinly and 1 nashi pear cored and cut into eighths. Leave the peel on. Simmer for 1 hour.
– sip the resulting liquid to soothe your sore throat.
I used extra ginger cos I like it that way and I got through ok. Not a cure, but certainly made me more comfortable”.

NCWF – Pandemonium on the Peninsula

by Mark Hudson

Earlier this month we travelled down to Rosebud West to cover the first Night Cap Wrestling Foundation event. The NCWF has a great set up for training and putting on live events. Wrestlers came from all over the state as well as Queensland to perform in front of a full house.

There next event Overdrive is set down for Sat September 5th. Unfortunaltley due to other commitments we won’t be there but wish the Captian and the rest of the NCWF the best for what’s set to be another great night of local wrestling.

Here’s a little bit of what took place.

Australian Terminal Cancer Foundation Gala Dinner

by Mark Hudson

 

On Saturday 15th August we attended the Australian Terminal Cancer Foundation Gala Dinner at Melbourne Park with the ladies from Stilttainment http://www.stilttainment.com.au While I was primarily there to capture a small amount of footage of the stilt performers it was obvious from all the guests attending they where having a awesome time raising money for a good cause.

It also gave us a chance to test drive our new digital video recorder the Datavideo DN-60 DV / HDV Compact Flash Card Solid State Video Recorder. Thanks to John from the Video Guys for all his help on getting the 32GB Kingston cards in at short notice and Roger Hagelaar from DiskTech Digital Australia for his technical support from Adelaide Airport.

Here is a short video from the night.

A little treasure

by Mark Hudson

Congratulations to Hafsatu & John on the recent birth of their baby daughter, born in mid March this year. In mid 2014 we (M&K Weddings) photographed and filmed their wedding day. In the speech at the reception, John’s brother relayed a message from his mum back home in Nigeria: make babies. So I guess they did.

We had the privilege of photographing this precious little one at their home a few weeks ago. Hafsatu & John plan to travel with their baby later in the year so mum can meet her new granddaughter.

Georgie returns

by Mark Hudson

She has a infectious personality and the willingness no matter what happens to her that when she falls down she get’s back up.  That’s why everyone loves Georgie.  I guess it’s been 23 months since we last shot Georgie which was for our 2012 biker babe shoot.

For this shoot we shot in Studio 1 and shot mainly lingerie.  With it being winter we had the heating cranked right up and over the course of a few hours shot a variety of outfits.  Here are a few favourites from our shoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birth Photography

by Mark Hudson

Having the birth of your child captured by a photographer is not on the top of everyone’s mind when it comes to planning the birth.  However there are increasing numbers of Australian families seeking a photographic record of the experience.

By calling in a professional, it means you can be guaranteed the important moments are not missed, and that they are also captured with discretion and professionalism. Photographers who work in this market need to be on-call and available as soon as Mum goes into labour, and to be sensitive to the needs of the family and medical staff. Be sure to advise your hospital well in advance of your intentions to have a birth photographer, and remember, it’s about the birth, not the photographer.

Stand down it’s my tree

by Mark Hudson

I’ve always noticed this odd looking dead tree in a paddock close to our studio in the Dandenongs.  Friend and film maker Jeff Osman from Carpe Diem Films in passing one day mentioned this tree, so of course I claimed it to be mine and we started a SMS war of who’s tree it was.  All this in jest of course, but what it led to was Jeff making an approach to the owner of the land and soon we had a fashion shoot organised at the property.  There were delays on the day costing us valuable time and the weather had turned nasty by the mid to late afternoon, not allowing for the aerial video we so wanted to capture, as the winds had increased to 15~20 knots.

With the weather getting worse by the minute we concluded our outdoor shooting and moved onto our next location, a beautiful home 30 minutes further into the hills.  We were able to get a few more images at this location and several of those images are shown below.  The perils of shooting in the great outdoors.  Some days the weather works for you and on others it’s best to let mother nature win.

You Are Real – Nellie Bell

by Mark Hudson

A few months ago, while performer Nellie Bell was in country visiting from London, I had the opportunity to meet and work with her on her latest music video, Are You Real.  Jeff Osman from Carpe Diem Films was the director of photography (DOP) and myself as lighting Director, barman, waiter and comedian.  Our MUA was Mishel V.

 

 

Jeff also edited the majority of the clip with some of the post production completed in the UK before final release.  Nellie was a pleasure to work with, even an impromptu jam session that took place with her on piano and myself on drums.  You can watch her music video here – you might even see yourself in it: