Portrait of an artist- Alec Morris
Canberra, Portraits Jenny Wu Canberra, Portraits Jenny Wu

Portrait of an artist- Alec Morris

A couple of weeks ago I took some photos of a friend of mine- portrait photographer extraordinaire and all round great guy Alec Morris. Here's a little bit about his work:  

"Alec’s work centres around documentary portraiture and fashion; on the one hand inspired by a good story and the power of the portrait, and on the other the creative freedom of building an image from the ground up. Some of his recent projects include an essay on femininity and womanhood in Central Java, and a study of education initiatives for remote and at-risk communities in Western Australia. He is also the photographer behind Forty-Two Cakes, and the current CSIRO Artist-in-Residence." 

See his work at alecmorris.photo , and his work for Forty-Two Cakes at @fortytwocakes. 

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HYPEBEAST HB2 inspired/ SAVAGE 2 Lightroom Preset- Street style, Portraits, Editorials
Post Processing/ Presets Jenny Wu Post Processing/ Presets Jenny Wu

HYPEBEAST HB2 inspired/ SAVAGE 2 Lightroom Preset- Street style, Portraits, Editorials

VSCO x HYPEBEAST Preset collection (HB1 and HB2) was created by the fashion and lifestyle collective HYPEBEAST. With it's clean highlights, blocky crushed shadows, and bluish cast in shadows, the collection has a very street style, editorial vibe- great for street photography, fashion blogging, urban landscapes, and editorial style portraiture. HB2 has a grittier, grainier look compared with HB1, and warmer skin tones (comparison photos between the two at the bottom of the post, and my HB1 blog post can be found here.) 

The VSCO Cam filters are designed for mobile photography. In my HB2 preset, I am emulating the tone curves and colour shifts that gives HYPEBEAST HB2 it's look- at high resolution.

Both presets available at my StraightNoChaserPix Etsy store

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Leah & Rael: NGA Sculpture Garden Wedding
Weddings & Engagements, Canberra Jenny Wu Weddings & Engagements, Canberra Jenny Wu

Leah & Rael: NGA Sculpture Garden Wedding

Leah and Rael had their wedding ceremony at National Gallery of Australia's Sculpture Garden. It was an intimate gathering of a small group of family from the UK - I felt honoured to be part of capturing such a special day. 

I love the National Gallery of Australia because there are so many beautiful areas for portraits, some of them tucked away in secret little nooks. After the ceremony Leah, Rael, and I went for a bit of a walk and explore, with lots of portraits on the way.

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Portrait of a photographer: Sam Broomby
Portraits Jenny Wu Portraits Jenny Wu

Portrait of a photographer: Sam Broomby

Sam Broomby is an incredibly talented photographer currently based in Canberra (but will be Montreal based as of next year). He has a compelling and evocative photographic style and is a constant source of inspiration for me. 

Sam kindly agreed for me to take his portrait last weekend. We spoke about the past and the future I was grateful that he allowed me to capture some of the raw emotions in these portraits. 

See his work at www.samuelbroomby.com

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Safari diary part 1: Masai Mara
Travel Jenny Wu Travel Jenny Wu

Safari diary part 1: Masai Mara

I went to Kenya on safari for our honeymoon in October - it was an incredible experience and I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to describe it. Seeing zebras, elephants, wildebeest grazing together in their natural habitat; seeing massive herds of animals crossing the road infront of us, kicking up plumes of the African dust, sometimes so fast that I barely have time to get a photo with the right framing; seeing predator and prey in the wild- it's nothing like a day out at the zoo. 

I thought the fact that stepping out of the vehicle could result in me being quickly and unexpectedly eaten by a lion also made the safari oddly exciting- we're not in Kansas anymore. 

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Souqs, Falcons, and dunes: 48 hrs in Doha
Travel Jenny Wu Travel Jenny Wu

Souqs, Falcons, and dunes: 48 hrs in Doha

We chose to do an overnight layover in Doha on our trip from Sydney to Kenya, and another night from Cape Town to Sydney. It was a great way to split up the journey and do a little bit of exploring in a new place without actually spending any more money on airfare. 

I really enjoyed Doha. We stayed in the Souq Waqif area both times which made it easy to explore the massive Souqs to my hearts content, get lost in the labyrinthine alleyways, walk back to our rooms for the midday siesta, and then wander around some more at night. 

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Portraits at the abandoned Tooth's Brewery Mittagong
Portraits, Editorial & Fashion Jenny Wu Portraits, Editorial & Fashion Jenny Wu

Portraits at the abandoned Tooth's Brewery Mittagong

The old abandoned Tooth & Co Brewery in Mittagong (otherwise known as Mittagong Maltings) is a big of a photographer's wonderland. When you climb up into the higher levels- the light coming through the roof, the geometry of the beams, the colour of the wood- at the right time of day it is just magic. 

A group of us went on a little road trip a couple of weekends ago to do some shooting and scouting- myself, Sam (another photographer), Amaliah (model), and Kirstey (MUA). 

 

Model // Amaliah Cornelius

MUA // Kirsty Anderson 

Photography // Me 

Colour images edited with LIFE//STYLE Lightroom Preset, Black and Whites edited with B&W Filmic Fade preset.   
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Introducing LIFESTYLE: a clean, modern preset for LR and ACR
Post Processing/ Presets Jenny Wu Post Processing/ Presets Jenny Wu

Introducing LIFESTYLE: a clean, modern preset for LR and ACR

LIFE//STYLE is a preset with a clean and modern feel. It is a versatile preset that works with a large range of portraiture and lifestyle photography from couples portraits, family portraits, interior photos, still life,  and the plus (+) form is great for editorial work.  As with many of my presets, I developed this to create flattering skin texture and tones - aiming to reduce the retouching time in Photoshop. 

L//S is not a one trick pony- in higher key (brighter) images, it creates a clean bright airy look typical of lifestyle photography; in lower key (darker) images, it gives a rich, cinematic feel to the colours. 

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Portrait Session: Samantha
Portraits, Editorial & Fashion Jenny Wu Portraits, Editorial & Fashion Jenny Wu

Portrait Session: Samantha

Had the pleasure of hanging out with Samantha last week and shooting some simple 2 flash back lit portraits. The unforgiving Canberra weather has encouraged me to start shooting with artificial light, and I wanted to see whether I could create that soft enveloping quality of light that I like with only 2 speedlights and 1 umbrella. Hope you like the set!

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VSCO Cam Legacy 05 inspired Lightroom Preset
Post Processing/ Presets Jenny Wu Post Processing/ Presets Jenny Wu

VSCO Cam Legacy 05 inspired Lightroom Preset

The Legacy series is a re-release of the original VSCO Cam presets- from #01 to #10. 05 is my favourite- I love the soft velvety-ness of the tones, and way it suits a wide range of image types from portraits, moody landscapes, and still life. 

I've crafted a Lightroom preset which emulates the look of VSCOCam Legacy 05 in 3 different strengths- a regular version, a minus - version (subtle edit) and a plus + version (more dramatic edit), mimicking the intensity slider on the VSCO Cam app. 

Available for download at my Etsy Store

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Portraits in abandoned spaces // Megan
Portraits, Editorial & Fashion Jenny Wu Portraits, Editorial & Fashion Jenny Wu

Portraits in abandoned spaces // Megan

There's something poetic about abandoned buildings. Often there's enough left behind to give you clues about what it was like in the past, and without realising it you naturally fill the space with your imagination. 

This vacant nursery is just beautiful to photograph portraits in. The ivy creeping over the windows have grown through little cracks in the wood, so a little bit of the outside has made it's way indoors; and on a nice day the light filtering through all the windows is soft and glowy. On the day of the shoot, it was rainy and so dark I wasn't sure whether I was going to get any decent images  (hello Canberra winter!)- but after looking at the back of my camera, with images shot wide open at 1.6, it was like my camera could see what my eye could not. Check it out!  

Model: Megan Dawson 

HMUA: Madeleine R Makeup Artistry

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