Aussielicious

I’m going to be posting more at the one time now as I’m getting so many entries and I want to post them all before I disappear for about a week for xmas and a road trip!

This first shot was submitted by Jimmy D from San Fran showing the Bay Bridge. It’s a beautiful moody shot.

Next is fellow blogger Rob’s contribution with a shot of Provincetown at dusk. The colours are beautiful in this one.

Clayton has sent in this beautiful photo of Gladstone in Queensland looking all shimmery and sundrenched.

Over in Western Australia is the town of Cottesloe, captured in all it’s bold colour by Patrick.

Lastly for tonight is a beautiful shot from Randy in Pennsylvania!

This “favourite place” competition is proving to be one of the most popular I’ve ever run. Tonight I’m bringing you three more entries all from the U.S.

First up is regular contributer Matthew with his shot of a now dormant ride on Coney Island in NYC.

Second is James’ shot of Palm Springs. I had no idea that Palm Springs, renowned for being hot and naked, would have such a clear view of snow capped mountains, framed with palm trees.

Third we  have a submission from Fritz of a Cafe in NYC. Fritz submitted 3 shots and gave me the task of choosing which one to use. I chose this one because to me it shows the real NYC. And no, you can’t all send lots of shots to make me choose from!

Not since the early days of Aussielicious and the public nudity challenge have I had such a response to a competition. Some of the shots I’ve received are fantastic. Can I please just ask that people choose a single image to send in? Also for those that asked me to choose out of their images, I take no responsibility for you not winning! I have chosen the image I like best.

First up is Evan’s amazing sunset shot of Little Burke St in Melbourne, Australia. The warmth and happiness in this image is fantastic.

Secondly is another Australian entry from Mitchell in Brisbane. It is taken just below the Kangaroo Point Cliffs.

The third and final entry that I’ll post tonight is from Richard. He’s sent in a beautiful shot of kayaks in Provincetown being stored for Winter covered in snow.

I’ll be posting more entries over the next couple of days. Keep them coming in! Email them to brenton.parry@gmail.com

After a very restless sleep on Thursday night, wondering if I was ready for it, I photographed my first model for my next exhibition. Willi is a fantastic young guy with a really generous spirit and a great energy.

We got to Obelisk nude beach on the north side of Sydney’s iconic harbour at 6.30 am and the clouds had all vanished leaving us with beautiful blue sky and gorgeous morning light. Before I’d even had to ask, Willi was nude and ready to go. I love a model that isn’t shy.

This shot isn’t going to be used in this exhibition but I wanted to share something from the shoot with my lovely readers!

Well the first two entries are in for the latest competition. If you haven’t dropped in for a while, I’m having a competition to submit a (hopefully beautiful) photo of your favourite part of your city or area.

First we have a submission from Peter with an image from Moscow which is very cool. Next up our Hawaii nude beach reporter David is back with a photo from Joshua Tree National Park. Keep the entries coming in. Email them to me at brenton.parry@gmail.com

The last time I had a competition I had several beautiful entries, self portraits taken by readers, some who are a touch exhibitionistic, others just creative.

Curtis, by popular vote, won the self portrait competition with the photo above. This time around, the theme isn’t a self portrait, but rather a photo of your favourite place in your city. It could be on your window sill looking over the city, in a local park you love or something you see on your way to work every day.

What’s the prize? Curtis has kindly agreed to give a print of his self portrait as the prize. I’m trying a pay-it-forward system of prizes here on the blog for upcoming competitions. So when you are taking your photos for this competition, make them beautiful and make them good quality for printing because if you win, it may well be the prize offered up in the next competition.

So, get shooting in your favourite part of your city. The deadline for this competition is 31st January 2012. Email your submissions to brenton.parry@gmail.com

This video really captured my attention when I saw it yesterday. I’ve posted in the past that I love dance photography. Taking movement and freezing it in a visually pleasing way is really hard to do but when it’s done well at just the right time, it’s gorgeous.

I have a vague concept of how this might have been done, but that’s as far as it goes. However it’s been done, I love it. Water and moving bodies nearly always look beautiful and this is no exception.

I recently told you all that I have finally got the concept for my next exhibition sorted and I’m really looking forward to shooting the images over the next 5-6 months. The exhibition was going to be in February next year but I’ve moved it to the middle of the year as I just wasn’t going to be ready and the last thing I want to do is rush it.

So you had all better keep Wednesday 19 June – Tuesday 3rd July 2012 free to come along, and bring your money. Now I just need to lock in all the models, shoot dates, locations, props and all those other bits and pieces.

One of the hardest things when you are an amateur photographer is trying to find people willing to model for you. Gay men always seem to want more time to get into shape. Even the guys with god-like bodies want more time and say they are too fat.

LeBeau Foto is rebelling against the airbrushed and retouched perfection in his new project. He is shooting guys in natural, available light only and is not retouching a single thing on the models. The result is a set of images that are natural and elegant and honest. The guys still look fantastic but aren’t intimidating or unattainable about it.

This coming Saturday evening in Sydney, for one night only, a photographic exhibition will be on display from Sydney photographer and blogger Luke Austin called “How do you want me?”

The concept behind the exhibition is that all the subjects have been photographed free of any of the social armour they put on to face the world. They are photographed straight out of the shower.

Despite Luke getting a lot more participants than expected most of them were still a little shy and wanted some modesty, provided either by a hand, a towel or some other safety net for them.

If you are in Sydney this Saturday afternoon, head along to Fraser Studios, 10 Kensington Street, Chippendale from 4pm – 8pm. I know I’ll be going along.

Well the votes are in on the Self Portrait Challenge and you all surprised me with a fully clothed self portrait taking out the competition. Curtis’ beautiful haunting self portrait has taken out the prize with 21% (141 votes) of the 665 votes over all.

Curtis has told me he rarely photographs people, but I would say he might need to do it more often as he does it so well. As his prize, I’m sending Curtis a signed and numbered print from my exhibition, “Matteo 2″ above. Congratulations Curtis.

As some of you would know, I’ve been struggling to nail down the theme for my next exhibition which is tentatively booked for February 2012. Today an idea that has been germinating in my head really came together for me and ideas for specific shots have been popping into my mind.

The last exhibition was all about hiding or putting a mask on or a filter between you and the world to feel secure. This next exhibition is all about feeling completely free. So I want to know, what is it, or when is it, that you feel completely free?

I have asked the same question on facebook and lots of people said similar things with a couple of distinct recurring themes coming up which coincidentally were already at the top of my list.

When Natsumi Hayashi started her blog, like a lot of people it had photos and stories about her daily life, but one day she posted a photo of her levitating. Now don’t worry, Natsumi isn’t some miraculous superhero, just an aspiring photographer with a sense of humour and a lot of energy and patience.

Sometimes it can take Natsumi over 300 jumps to get the shot that looks right. Some days she uses the timer and others she asks a friend to push the button for her. Either way, it’s a fantastic effect. Read the full article here.

Andy has appeared on the pages of Aussielicious several times over the years. I’ve shot him a number of times and he’s one of the easiest guys to shoot. He’ll try anything and he’s clearly not shy. He’s doing some stripping again after a bit of a hiatus and needed some shots to send to agents. So I had him on the roof of my building over looking a very busy main road, naked as the day he was born. Love it.

Every now and then you see a fashion editorial in a magazine that just stops you in your tracks. There is a lot of great photography going on in the fashion world, as well as a whole bunch of rubbish. Having only done a couple of tiny bits and pieces of fashion photography myself I know how hard it is to get something original and it’s a very competitive field.

The whole point of getting a celebrity involved is to add something extra to a shoot. A name like Nicole Kidman adds star power and credibility to a campaign. When that celebrity is someone like Tilda Swinton, you know it’s going to be different.

Tilda is one of those actresses that people love or loathe. She played the Ice Queen to chilling perfection in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, and has reveled in offbeat roles for years. This fashion spread in W Magazine was clearly a true creative collaboration between photographer, stylist and Tilda. They are edgy, creative, interesting and just a little bit mad. Not mad in the sense of Gaga where she might staple an albatross to her breast while doing trapeze above bubbling lava, but interesting fashion driven dramatic creativity. Gorgeous.