Power x M&N Campaign

I enjoyed working on this stills and video campaign for clothing label Mitchell & Ness that's just starting to roll out on social media. At the time of posting this blog, my photo is front and centre of the Australian Mitchell & Ness website.

The retro artwork plays tribute to the accomplishments of Port Power 20 years ago, mixed in with modern cuts and good quality fabrics, it’s no wonder that within the first day of their release, items are already starting to sell out.

The video work is by legendary videographer, Mark Tipple who I've worked with on a few projects with both interstate and local advertising agencies. We’ve mostly worked on wine related campaigns together so it was a bit of a change to do streetwear / sportswear fashion. It was interesting to see a professional camera rig set up specifically to record vertical video! Mark was getting pretty good at the tilting wrist action that was part of the brief.

It was also great to work with 2045 Agency for the first time and to bring their brief to life. Mark and I did a second shoot the following week which I will no doubt blog about once the social media campaign has rolled out.

Things are already selling out, so if you're a Port fan, get on it! Website: Mitchell & Ness

NFTs and serendipity

The last 6 weeks have been a mind-bending learning curve for me. I’ve jumped head first into the world of Cryptocurrency and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). WTF is a NFT? That’s a good question, and I’ll get to that.

After lunch with a friend who mines Bitcoin, and a chat with a client who’s invested in Ethereum, I decided that I needed to get my head around this confusing blockchain thing. My friendship group have been into it for at least 4 years but because the technology didn’t make sense to me, I just ignored it. Now I feel like it’s time.

Camel Fence - for sale on Foundation

<Tangent warning>

I believe in serendipity. Most of the positive things that happen in both my personal life and my professional life happen by chance; I’m not a planner. That’s also why I’m not a wedding photographer. I don’t like to book myself more than a week or two in advance, so the notion of having my calendar in 2 years full up does not appeal to me one bit. I thrive on spontaneity. I’m obviously meant to be a commercial photographer where everything is last minute and random. It’s exciting!

Just the other day I walked out of my house and bumped into a neighbour I’d never met before. She’s in marketing, communications, advertising, copywriting and public relations. Most of the work I do is with amazing people just like her. If I had not stopped by home to drop off shopping instead of going straight to work, had I not turned back to go inside because I forgot to put the washing on, and had I walked out 5 seconds earlier or later, we would not have had our 5 minute conversation where we identified that our businesses have so may synergies. There’s potential for life-changing work to be done here!

I recently created an account on OpenSea which is a platform to sell artwork as NFTs, and I posted about this on Facebook. This led to a friend sending me an exclusive invite to a platform called Foundation, so I joined and listed some work. What I found out later that day was that this platform is extremely hard to get invited to, and there are people that have been waiting for months to get an invite. I put out a post one day and a few hours later I get an invite. See, serendipity at work, again.

Anyway, I could go on about the serendipitous thing that have happened to me for days, but I want to talk about NFTs.

<End Tangent>

Chili Red - for sale on Foundation

What the hell is an NFT?!

It’s a Non-Fungible Token.

And what the hell is that?!

“A non-fungible token is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore not interchangeable. NFTs can be used to represent items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files.”

Thanks Wikipedia for that explanation.

“Fungible” is like a dollar coin that can be exchanged for another dollar coin; it’s interchangeable but is still the same value. A Bitcoin can be exchanged for another Bitcoin and it’s the same. “Non-Fungible” means that it’s unique, there’s only one of them in existence. So when you put an artwork on a platform like Foundation, it gets assigned a unique identifier, or a token, and also has the information of the artwork it’s attached to. Now your work is officially a Non-Fungible Token! This is done by “Minting” your work. Read a few paragraphs down about the Minting process.

So basically, an NFT is a way for my photos to be authenticated as unique, given a value, on-sold, but furthermore, if a collector or investor sells my artwork in the future, I will be able to receive a percentage of the sale price in perpetuity. When I’m dead and my work becomes super valuable, my children and their children will be able to benefit from these sales. It’s almost like having an agent or gallery working for me around the clock. It’s also a way for selected works to be immortalised because this technology isn’t going anywhere.

At the time of writing this blog post, my 4 works on the Foundation platform are registered on the Ethereum blockchain, which means that they can be bought for Ethereum cryptocurrency. You’ll need to buy some Ethereum to buy my work.

I’m really excited about this NFT business because it’s not like investing in crypto or mining it. It’s just so much more relevant to me and it’s also inspiring me to go through my photography archives and collating my best creative work to put up for sale.

The first step to listing a still photo on Foundation is to upload file, give it a title and a description, then you have to Mint it, then you list it. What is minting?

“Minting an NFT is how your digital art becomes a part of the Ethereum blockchain–a public ledger that is unchangeable and tamper-proof. ... Your digital artwork is represented as an NFT so it can then be purchased and traded in the market and digitally tracked as it is resold or collected again in the future.”

Thanks to Foundation for that explanation.

There you have it. Clear as mud, right?

I’m still very new to this but this blog is about my understanding of it. I have a long way to go, and there are a lot of things surrounding cryptocurrency that I’m still learning about, such as the environmental impact etc but for now I’d love for you to check out, enjoy, share and buy my work.

Head over to my Foundation profile https://foundation.app/@benizm

For further reading, I would suggest the following:

NFTs on The Verge

NFTs on Wikipedia

NFTs on Forbes

Tribute to Mojo

Almost 11 years ago to the day was when this image of Mojo won an award that also happened to be the first photographic award I’d ever won. It was also when I was just starting out my career as a professional photographer. This image has featured on two of my business websites ever since and a gorgeously framed photo hangs proudly on the wall of my studio. It’s been exhibited a number of times, been published in news articles, has appeared in almost every speech or presentation I’ve ever done, and randomly went viral from my business Facebook page a number of years ago. It’s also my highest selling limited edition art print of all time.

It was by chance that I spotted him on the stair case, all confident and brave, cleaning up after having a snack to eat. You wouldn’t pick how timid or camera shy he was by looking at this picture.

This post is a tribute to Mojo, the most photogenic, triangular and shy cat I’ve ever met. He was a great house mate for the couple of years we lived together, and an excellent companion for his owner, John.

At the ripe old age of 15, Mojo has bravely walked over the rainbow bridge.

Rest In Peace, little big guy.

AIPP South Australian Documentary Photographer of the Year 2019

So this happened recently! I proudly and humbly accepted the trophy and title of 2019 AIPP South Australian Documentary Photographer of the Year with my folio of 4 documentary images that were photographed during various stages of surgical procedures by neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo. I feel so honoured to not only have witnessed it but to have been able to photographically document these procedures. Each of the 4 individual images received awards over 2 days of a rotating panel of 5 judges judging hundreds of prints, one by one. 

Thanks to Joanna and Richard Collins for making this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity a reality. Thanks to Dr Charlie Teo for having me there and also thanks to my partner Deanne for allowing me to be there 😬

To the AIPP crew who put the SA awards on each year, you are the best. The AIPP council, both locally and nationally, the best. The volunteers, judges, entrants, viewers - you guys rock 👊 

Thanks to all the sponsors and particularly to Sony for sponsoring the Documentary category and especially to Epson for their continued support of the state awards over so many years. Thanks also to Malcolm from Marden senior college for providing the venue! 🙌

 
To everyone who helped me with my entry, thank you! You know who you are. I asked a lot of people for opinions and advice when selecting these images, but also throughout the preparation and printing phases too. Thanks for all your time and words of encouragement! 🖨 

Printing my own work was so liberating but scary as anything. These awards aren’t judged by digital image; a physical print is scrutinised in fine detail by 10 industry experienced eyes and if your printing is bad, you’re finished. Having the judges comment on print quality has given me confidence that it’s not brain surgery 👀

 
Congratulations to all the category winners and finalists and especially to Mark Zed for the overall win. You deserve it my friend, because not only is your work A-grade but you are undeniably a selfless and irreplaceable asset to the photographic community in Australia.

After removing a cyst from the brain, world renown neurosurgeon, Dr Charlie Teo stitches each layer of flesh together with as much skill and care as he used to make the first incisions 2 hours prior.

The tumour behind the patients eye took Dr Charlie Teo and his team 3 hours to remove. It was once the size of a golf ball but now drained of its source of blood, it’s only half the size.

With just grunts and single words, Neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo communicates to the nurse, his second set of hands, who carefully places the requested tool in his hand. The video feed from the microscope is shown on 4 screens so the rest of the team can follow what’s happening.

The patients head is clamped still with 3 spiked metal points for 3 hours while the golf-ball sized tumour is removed by world renown Neurosurgeon, Dr Charlie Teo. After the final stich is tied, the clamp is removed and replaced with a cushioned head-rest moments before the patient regains consciousness.

Australian Photography Awards 2018

I’m excited to be a 3 x finalist in the Australian Photography Awards in the Documentary category this year. The diverse finalist gallery consists of 50 photographs that’s really worth looking at.

I’m still in awe of what I witnessed a couple of months ago when I had the rare opportunity to photograph Dr Charlie Teo operating on 4 patients needing brain tumours and cysts removed. All 3 of my images are from this day.

Congratulations to all the other finalists and especially to David Dare Parker for taking out the category.

Check out the gallery here

Dr Charlie Teo performs life saving brain surgery.

After a couple of hours in surgery, the brain tumour behind the patients eye is finally removed by Dr Charlie Teo and his team. Originally around the size of a golf ball, the tumour now without a blood supply has shrunk.

These are the final stitches after each layer of flesh is stitched up following the removal of a brain tumour behind a patients eye. Dr Charlie Teo skilfully and confidently applies each stitch with as much care and precision that he took to make the first cuts at the beginning of the procedure.

Self-Portrait-A-Day

An ongoing project where I photograph my own face each day and sometimes people photo bomb me. This award winning project began in November 2012. 

2 minute slow motion video of buddhist temples in Asia

Finally put together a short video of my recent trip to Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. I found myself visiting a lot of temples throughout the trip and just because I could, I recorded a whole bunch of slow mo footage at 180 frames a second on the Panasonic GH5. Had a blast playing with the new camera... before it went for a swim in the bottom of my bag during a massive downpour that I got caught in 2 days before my trip ended.

A mesmerising video shot in slow motion of Buddhist temples in Kota Kinabalu, Chiang Mai and Siem Reap. Captured with the Panasonic GH5 with the 180fps variable frame rate setting.

2017 APPA Award print #1

I may have stumbled across a fool-proof technique to win gold awards for photographs: Use a broken light, make the image really quickly and present it wrong.

So in the recent Australian Professional Photography Awards I somehow scored a 90/100 for this image which was actually mostly a mistake. The original images of body builders turned out how they did only because my main light failed to fire on occasion, leaving only the rim light at the back to do it's thing. I eventually just ran with it and had planned to create some abstract images from them at some stage, just for fun. Further down the track and 45 minutes before the South Australian online awards entries were to close, I only needed 1 more image to complete my 4 image folio. So I whipped up 2 versions of this image and decided on the one you see here. I had it expertly printed that week and brought it to my framer to have it mounted. In the state awards it achieved a Silver Distinction award with a score of 88 out of 100. I sent the exact same image to the national awards where it scored two points higher. It wasn't until it was hanging on the wall under the 'Gold' sign that I realised it was mounted sideways.

NB: I accept no responsibility for loss or damage cause by following my amazing fool-proof technique.

APPA 2017 Award print #2

A lot of the photography jobs I get are referrals from colleagues in the industry and this particular client, an elderly fellow who loved his garden, was one such recommendation.

I rang the doorbell and eventually a small, crooked man by the name of Hubert greeted me at the door of his tiny 2 bedroom apartment. He had just finished preparing his oven baked chicken breast for lunch and was letting it cool as he showed me the artwork around his house. It didn't take long to see all 5 or 6 small painted artworks on his walls before we went to the small courtyard at the back of his house. His pride and joy were his daisies. They brought him so much joy every day when he wakes up and looks out the window. He wanted to have them photographed and framed so it would increase the value of his house when he put it on the market so he could travel around Europe. I suggested a more artful approach to producing a picture of his daisies rather than just a simple snap; I wanted to capture the life cycle and photograph them separately on a black background. He hadn't thought about that and was hesitant at first but eventually trusted my skill and creativity. I collected three flower specimens that represented the start of the flower's life, brought them back to the studio and using a long exposure light painting method, I utilised the torch on my iPhone to light paint each individual specimen. Then with Photoshop, I combined and blended each of those images together, multiplied them and kept on going until finally this piece happened. Hubert opted for a more simple version of the flowers where it was just simply the 3 stages of the flower coming to life, but it was the daisy wheel that won Silver Distinctions at both the state AIPP awards as well as the nationals.

Canon Light Awards promo video

Following on from the blog entry below, Canon did a short promo video that included my shoot in it. You can view the video beliw and I appear at about the 30 second mark. 

Make the world a better place

I created this image for the Canon Light awards in Adelaide as part of a brief following a master class presented by Toby Burrows, a Sydney based commercial photographer. 

The brief was to create an image to advertise a new line of bottled water without being too obvious or literal about it. So using a single light source, a fish bowl, blue paper, water and a cordless drill, this simple image eventually came to life and was expertly finished off by some powerful words quoted by my colleague Peter Barnes. Although he may not actually be a professor on paper, his words still suited the image perfectly and were profound nonetheless. 

The technique was simple - create a vortex of water with the drill and shoot it, freezing that movement. The hard part was choosing the right image out of over 300 pictures. I didn't want to see bubbles as they would give away the sense of scale; I wanted to give the illusion that this was a large mountain or iceberg against the sky with the sun rising behind it. 

So here it is, an image I'm proud of accompanied by a quote that we should all consider.

Hybrid World Adelaide media event photography

Wanna know what the future holds? From Wednesday 4 October to Sunday 8 October, 2017 you'll want to be at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct for South Australia's first Hybrid World Adelaide event. HWA is basically a 5-day tech festival that explores how the real and digital worlds are intertwined.

I'm a bit of a tech fan myself and was lucky enough to get a glimpse of what's to come while being the official photographer at the media launch event last week.

Below are a handful of images I photographed at the launch. You can get more details at https://hybridworldadelaide.org

See you there!

Stinky's Tribute

19 years and 1 month ago, mum came across a kitten in a pet shop that had a price tag of $25, which was cheaper than the others because this little cat had long fur. Being rather young and inexperienced at being a cat, she didn't yet know how to clean herself properly and was aptly nicknamed 'Stinky'. Her real name was Mepus which is a name that was given to the cats in our family at any given time. When I was growing up, we had a cat with a curly tail named Mepus. We adopted a stray into the family that we named Mepussycat, because you couldn't have 2 cats named Mepus at the same time.

It is with great sadness that we had to put the latest Mepus to sleep this morning. She had a good innings and was loved by everyone who met her. Here are a few pictures I've captured of her throughout the years. 

New website

Welcome to my new website. It may just be a temporary placeholder for the time being until I can get a more comprehensive site built but it's got all the essentials: Contact details, pretty pictures, a little story about me, my CV (bragging rights) and this blog. Simple but (hopefully) effective. 

2012 NPPP Finalist

An image of a cattle station worker by the name of Ned was selected for the finalist exhibition in the 2012 National Photographic Portrait prize in 2012. It was exhibited on the prestigious walls alongside some amazing Australian photographers, and I am absolutely honoured to be included. 

The exhibition opening in Canberra was amazing and it hit me then just how powerful and important photographic portraiture is in this day and age. Recording our lives and people around us is something I strive to do a as a professional photographer in Adelaide because long after we're gone, future generations will only have images and video to truly depict what life was like today. 

As one of 46 finalists chosen from a selection of 1500 entries across Australia, I can truly say that this is one of the biggest achievements of my photographic career to date. 

Ned