Friday 13th November was more red than black out west in Scarborough this year.

The Australian College of Beauty Therapy’s Diploma of Fashion, Theatre & Media Makeup students hit the popular tourist beach; armed with sunblock, brushes, latex, adhesive…. & a few bottles of stage blood!  Council & surf life savers forewarned & at the ready, the girls & their models trekked from as far as Toodyay, Rockingham & Roleystone to Perth’s best-known beach with the sole plan of doing some gore-some makeup & having fun in the process!

Heads turned & questions were asked,  the students assayed the public’s fears & let them know it was all makeup.  A couple of friendly boarders were willing to join in one makeup shoot & pose as the rescuers (left), all the while yelling, “Help!  Life guards!  Shark!”  & waving their arms.

The Diploma girls proved that no one was safe from shark bites when they didn’t stay between the flags; victims ranged from a 6 year old boy, through to adults in their mid twenties – even a washed up mermaid.

Working covered by shirts, hats & numerous reapplications of sunblock, they remained working under the shade of the gazebos until each makeup was complete but for the final, location reliant, touches.  Preventing burn & staying hydrated was forefront in everyone’s mind.

After a hearty barbecue lunch, complete with a variety of salads, the girls packed up, cleaned up & headed home, their presence at the beach no more than memory & captured photographs.

Thank you very much to the Rangers & to the Surf Lifesavers at Scarborough for making the day possible!

To view the full set of photographs, click here or the class (photo above) to be taken to the gallery album.

Lately it seems almost everyone I know has at least one pair of “Chucks” or a fake.

For my shoes book  it’s starting to look like the good old Converse Chuck Taylor All Star (”Chuck” for short) are going to take up a chapter to themselves.  Now, believe me, I don’t mind that at all… but I figured if there’s going to be a chapter on them, then I want serious amounts of words strewn in there amongst them too as to why there is an entire chapter on just one shoe design in so many flavours.

I’ve done up a little questionnaire for people to answer with regard to this shoe type & have hosted it on my Livejournal account.  I’d greatly appreciate it if you could take the time to answer the questions – even if it’s just to tell me that you don’t own any & why!  Pass the link to this questionnaire around to your friends & anyone else you know who might be interested in taking part. The more answers, from the most diverse range possible, the better!

In addition to this, if you live in Perth, Western Australia (or near enough that you can travel here) I’d love to photograph you in/with your Chucks.  There are a number of shoots being lined up later this month & over the next few after that, that are centred entirely on this single model of shoe.

Some of the photographs from my recent trip to China are beginning to trickle through the processing & reach the site.  There’s just under 5,000 photographs to get through, though some of those are my holiday shots so will end up printed for my albums & wont be going into the gallery.

First to go up are the photographs from the Mu Tian Ya section of the Great Wall of China.  Mu Tian Ya is about a 2.5 hour drive from Beijing, though that’s certainly dependent on the time of day & amount of traffic. Peak Hour in Beijing is second to none.

It was beautiful up there; sunny & hot, roughly a 34 degree day (that’s 93.2 fahrenheit for those of you not using the metric system) but the shade inside the guard towers was at least 10 degrees less, the ancient stones keeping the cool. The smog/haze wasn’t the greatest, but certainly wasn’t as bad as Beijing was 6 days later.  The Chinese characters painted on the mountain [apparently] read “Honest Mu Tian Ya” – while I can speak a little Mandarin, I cannot (yet) read it.

Mu Tian Ya has been open to the public for 12 years. It’s not overly touristed, like Ba Da Ling is, but it’s definitely getting there. Read the rest of this entry »

While I was in Cambodia, November to December 2007, I spent some time at the village of Chong Khneas on the Tonlé Sap lake. I’ve finally finished putting together the book about the village & its life.

The book, Life on the Lake, is 10″x8″ (25cm x 20cm) which is not quite A4 in size, landscape in orientation & hardcover. There is no dust jacket, the cover itself is directly printed onto the hardcover with a durable matte finish. There are 60 pages & around 63 photos (though I can’t say I’ve counted the exact number of photographs).

For a preview of some of the pages & the cost to purchase, click to read the rest of this entry.

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Zig Zag Community Arts are at it again.

Seeing a gap in the Bush Dance market – the last one at Whiteman Park was in 2006 – they’ve gone out on a limb & brought them back.  With the great excuse of raising funds for the Madjitil Moorna Halls Creek Project, they brought Stirk Park, Kalamunda, to life yet again; this time with a range of musical sounds from performers NumGuts, Black Chook Chutney & Madjitil Moorna.

Dances were demonstrated by Jenny, flautist of NumGuts, & called by Tony & Kevin, & the crowd picked them up quickly.  Audiance participation wasn’t limited by age or height or job – even the videographer, Matt Dekoning, got in on some of the dances!

Photographs from the evening are available to view within the main gallery.

Keep an eye out & an ear to the ground – it’s not long before the annual Zig Zag Formal Ball, Bella Noche, 23rd May 2009!

Photos of Perth metal band, Dethlahem, performing live at the Castle on 28th February 2009 have been uploaded to the gallery.

Click here to view

I have a shoot happening from 5pm until [roughly] 8:30pm on Tuesday evening, 10th February; modelling shoes & outfits.

Evening Stars

Erin will be doing make up, however you will need to bring your own (& come with your foundation already applied if you can).

The shoot will be happening outdoors, so it would be a good idea to wear something beneath your outfits such as bathers that you don’t mind being seen. I will be bringing a large sheet to hold around you during changes, though the under outfits are a great precaution & addition to this.

The location will be advised on RSVP. I’d like to keep this as participants only.

I can be contacted on draganin@dragancaor.net

This is a ladies only shoot.
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Welcome to the website of Perth based photographer, Gillian B.

If you are looking for a photographer to capture your memories for print or if you are looking for something special to mount on your loungeroom wall then please, take a look around.

To view a portfolio of Gillian’s work, click here & browse by categories such as music, places, events, people & landscapes.   Gillian has work on display at DeviantArt, Flickr & RedBubble also; their links can be found to the right.

If you are looking for prints or photographs from a specific event or style, please contact Gillian direct & arrangements will be made.

This site is undergoing maintenance at present.  Any links currently not functioning correctly should only be a temporary issue & your patience in the interim is highly appreciated.

- Gillian