The Last Stand

Anyone who has been in my company for longer than 5 minutes knows that I am a major Arnold Schwarzenegger fan. He has been my hero since I was a yay high. When all the other 5 year old girls were watching Bambi and Pippy Long Stockings I was watching the big man in all his awesome glory in Terminator 2 and Total Recall. I would laugh at his one liners and just be in total awe of this giant man with the biggest muscles I had ever seen who spoke like a cutie-pie. Could not stand Terminator 1 though, he could only ever by the hero, never the villain, except when he played Mr Freeze because lets face it that was great. 

Now The Last Stand... Arnie's comeback movie. I had the biggest grin on my face when I first saw the big man drive into his first scene. Utter glee and excitement filled me and stayed there for the next 107 minutes. Now Arnie hasn't been the leading man since Terminator 3 in 2003. So after 10 years he is understandably rusty. But that's fine, he'll fall back into the swing of things quickly enough. The movie was just your run of the mill action flick, entertaining enough but full of cliché's. Seriously... every character, the plot, the script and the action sequences were totally unoriginal so I really don't need to go into it more than that. BUT I loved it. Of course I did, Arnie was in it and that's all I need to give a bad movie a big Austrian thumbs up. 

The First 'I Do'

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On the 2nd January 2013 I was invited to photograph the lovely beach wedding of Chris and Jenna Holliday. My first wedding gig. I don't really get your typical nerves like most people. I don't get butterflies in my tummy or any kind of anxiety. My body's way of dealing with pressure is to go numb, which is a strange feeling. Well before this wedding I felt VERY numb. So, I knew was nervous. I am used to shooting fashion and beauty but weddings are a completely different ball game. You don't get to pose your subjects, move them into the perfect light, you can't just yell at guests to move out of your frame. You have to blend in and be on your toes the whole time. Plus, you don't want to be responsible for ruining the tangible memories of someones special day - the pressure is HUGE! But even so, I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed shooting this wedding. The sun was shining, the bride was beautiful, the guests were smiling - what more could you want really? I found myself exhausted but not wanting to stop. Every time I lowered my camera I would see another special moment almost disappearing before my eyes. Well into the reception - after watching the guests get merry on champagne, after seeing many a glass lifted after a warming speech and after snapping bare-foot beauties dance like nobody was watching - it was time for me to go. My job was done and in place of my earlier numbness was contentment. The photo's I took that day will now live in the home of Chris and Jenna and their daughter Jordy and every now and again they will look through their wedding album and smile, laugh and maybe cry as the photographs remind them how they felt that day. Seriously, what a bloody privilege to be a part of that...

Lincoln

Since I could remember, I thought I was going to grow up to become an actress. I loved movies, I loved the escapism and lets face it - I loved the spotlight.  But in my late teens I came to the very sad realisation that Martin Scorsese was not going to walk into my local shopping mall, "discover" me and offer me a starring role in his latest gangster flick. Well shit. Even so, my love of movies has never wavered. I go to the movies weekly, sometimes twice weekly, so I started doing little reviews on my instagram account which my friends seemed to enjoy so I thought i'd transfer that to my blog. So here goes my first movie review for ya'll....

Lincoln

OK, usually I love a slow meander of a film.  I love having the time to get to know the characters, to get lost in the script and float along on a slowly bubbling plot. But Lincoln was bloody slow dude. Even too slow for me. The script was so authentic that they mumbled and bumbled through America's civil war politics without any explanation or dumbing down for audiences. Some of you might say, "well why should it be dumbed down" which I usually agree with but in this case - an extremely slow, extremely long (150 minutes), wordy political film can be a little exhausting to follow. 

The performances are all impeccable, as you would expect from Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field but I felt absolutely nothing towards the characters. No empathy, no pity, no encouragement. I was excited however to see appearances from some of my favourite TV show actors from the likes of Madmen, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire and Breaking Bad. 

I guess I went to see Lincoln because it is blazing with nominations through the award season but in the end it was definitely not for me. I have seen far better movies this awards season with the likes of Silver Linings Playbook, The Master, Django Unchained, The Impossible and Zero Dark Thirty.  

So there we have it, I would love to hear your thoughts on Lincoln in the comments below. 

Happy humpday! xxx

Numero Uno

Heeelllllllloooooo out there!!!???

Like many bloggers across the blogosphere, I have started this here blog on a miserable, rainy day to liven the old spirits. BUT it has been on my to-do list for around 4 years now.... with such mad procrastination skills I wouldn't be holding my breath for blog post number 2. 

Now with a first blog post comes immense pressure - have I actually got anything interesting to say at all? Sure I do! Studio Flamingo is my love - a place to feed my creative hunger. A place where I can be myself without feeling (too much) pressure from outside influences. 

On the Studio Flamingo blog you will see and hear about my latest photography adventures, weekly movie reviews, fashion cravings and most probably a bunch of random musings that have no relevance.

So here goes.... welcome to Studio Flamingo.  

I thought i'd kick off this shin dig with an old test-shoot with Pocahontas-esque beauty, Nicole Hatu @ Paramount Models Australia.