Are you selling your Home or Property?
Are you advertising your commercial Accommodation?
Are you advertising your own Holiday House for weekend rentals?
Either way you will be advertising your property to appeal to the largest market you are able to reach. You naturally want to gain the maximum value from your property whether its higher sale price or higher occupancy rates. A picture tells a thousand words. Make sure your pictures are good ones!
Property photography company Top Snap ran a survey in 2012 and asked 600 Australian real estate agents about how they market their properties, and a whopping 99% said nothing beats professional photography. Agents said good photography attracts more buyers (89%), increases enquiries (79%), increased clicks to their online listings (68%) and also secured a higher selling price (52%). Attracting holiday makers to your accommodation properties would have very similarly aligned benefits.
Get in touch with my contact form for a personalised quotation to meet your property photography needs. For further details and my extended commercial photography folio see here.
He said: Will you marry me?
She said: Yes!
Another wedding proposal in the Grampians. What is it about this place? It’s pretty special isn’t it!
The Australian Professional Photography Awards #APPA2016 were a successful one for me this year. I managed to add to my collection of Silver Awards but more importantly managed to secure enough career points to be awarded Master of Photography! Woohoo!
Massively excited and it’s great reward for effort for a self taught artist from the country to rise from obscurity and get some national recognition amongst my peers. Well, now on with business as usual again. If you want a master photographer (haha) to shoot your wedding, next commercial shoot or take you on a landscape tuition session get in touch.
#masterphotographer #appa2016 #excitingstuff
Master Photographer – APPA2016
Just kicking back and relaxing in the Grampians after a stress free elopement wedding at Boroka Downs in Halls Gap. Life’s cruisey hey? Enjoy your weekend Leanne and David!
I’ve just got back from 6 weeks away in the expansive Aussie Outback. What a place!
I love the vastness, the simplicty of subject, the harshness of the weather upon the landscape, and the unique character of the towns and people that live out there. Naturally it was a little warmer than down here in Victoria too!
This shot was taken on the drive from Winton to Hughendon in Queensland. It’s very much a “less is more” type image that I love capturing. Stay tuned for more updates as I get the chance.
Less is More
{Business Photography} Yes I also do commercial photo shoots. Not enough people know. Why? Because I’m bad at publicising myself haha. But I’m good at making your business look great!!! If you need new photos for your business then get in touch. After all a good photo tells a thousand words!
{Exhibition Time} I’m looking forward to being Guest Artist at the Pomonal Art Show this long weekend. Come to the Grampians and check out some of my new work pictured here, as well as plenty of other brilliant work from fellow local artists. Percentage of all sales support the local community and it’s the very last show in the old town hall before its demolished. Don’t miss it! Share, share, share!! For details visit https://www.facebook.com/PomonalArtShow?fref=ts
{Winter Landscape Photography} Those that know me well will know I love the seasons, all of them, including Winter. The Grampians come alive with dancing clouds, fresh forest air, and the call of the Currawongs. The roads are quiet, the walking tracks empty, the coffee shops warm. What better time to come and visit Halls Gap!
{Awards} The last two days saw the Victorian Professional Photography Awards judged. Today was the landscape category to which I enter my personal work. I’m pretty stoked to have come away with a Gold Award, a Silver Distinction and two solid Silvers from my four entries. Will that be enough for Victorian Landscape Photographer of the Year? That’s the big question, but I’ll take a guess that I’m short of the mark, we’ll wait and see. Good luck to all the eventual category winners this year!
{Eloping is Fun} A sensational day in the Grampians yet again for another fantastic Wedding. Eloping for your wedding can certainly be fun at Boroka Downs near Halls Gap! What a happy, relaxed couple. Big congratulations Bonny and Stephen!!!
{Landscape Shoot} Wow I’m bad at updating things here regularly. Last weekend with a gap between wedding shoots I finally made some time to trek out and find the mystical “Hole in the Wall” in the Grampians NP. A total return trip of seven hours of off-track walking, with my bro for company, got us to the amazing but little known rock feature. The size of the void and vivid colours of the roof was impressive to say the least. Was it worth it? You tell me!
Sitting on the riverbanks of the mighty Murray before sunrise has to be one of my favourite places to be. The light builds ever so slowly through the dark, while the first birds awaken and call over the gentle sounds of slow moving water.
It’s peaceful, comfortably cool, with clean air, and it’s oh so relaxing for the weary traveller before another day begins.
{Wedding Day Bliss} One of the many superb Grampians landscape backdrops near Dunkeld yesterday for newlyweds Kirsty and Anthony. One of those days when everything just turns out spot on. Congrats you two!
The Australian Photographic Society’s annual Convention (APSCON) was held in Ballarat this week. For those that read my post from a fortnight ago will know I was invited to be part of this year’s line up of presenters with the presentation The Grampians – A Photographic Wonderland. No one fell asleep and I was assured it went well.
The guided Photography Tour of The Grampians (with yours truly) the following day was a raging success. All the attendees lucky enough to sign up for the day got to witness the Grampians first hand at its best on a sensational clear spring day. Due to the tight timetable the midday light wasn’t ideal photographically speaking but no one was complaining. The odd passing cloud helped compositions and long lenses were call of the day to capture that neat little landscape nestled within the broader landscape.
Thanks everyone for coming along and be sure to come a visit us again in the beautiful Grampians region. Here were a few shots I managed to sneak in on the day…
APSCON 2014 – Grampians Tour with Marty Schoo
APSCON 2014 – Grampians Tour with Marty Schoo
APSCON 2014 – Grampians Tour with Marty Schoo
APSCON 2014 – Grampians Tour with Marty Schoo
APSCON 2014 – Grampians Tour with Marty Schoo
You’ve found my Personal Photography blog. Its where you’ll find all my photography related News, Views, Reviews and Vistas. In other words you’ll find everything of a general photography nature here that’s happening in my professional life as well as my landscape work that I squeeze in between my client based work.
Because my photography work is of a broad nature my client based Wedding and Commercial photography posts can be found in their own blog categories which you can access via the drop down menu or links on the right. Enjoy!
Today was APPA day (Australian Professional Photographer Awards). Quite excitingly I somehow managed to score one of the highest scoring prints for the day in the landscape category! The image below scored 95 out of 100 receiving a relatively rare Gold-with-Distinction award. Exciting much? Sure is!
For those interested I shot the image in a single capture early in the year at Hollow Mountain in the Northern Grampians just 5 days before bushfire razed most of the forest in the foreground. The shoot location still remains closed today due to the damage caused. The image was converted from colour to a toned black and white, the aspect ratio was changed to square and contrast was selectively applied to bring some extra punch to the final result.
95 Gold with Distinction at APPA 2014
In just over a week’s time I’ll be guest speaker at APSCON 2014, which is the Australian Photographic Society’s annual convention, which this year is held in Ballarat, Victoria. The attendees from Australia wide are about to find out how fantastic the Grampians region is to visit and photograph. Bring it on!
The Grampians – A photographic Wonderland – APSCON 2014
The beauty of being a multi-genre photographer is the unique jobs that pop up out of the woodwork. It’s not my first band gig but this one was a blast! I don’t think a serious word was said amongst the boys during the whole shoot haha. The brief was pretty open with cruisy backstreet locations with natural light. Hope you like the shots as much as the boys did. If so, and you know anyone looking for their own publicity imagery then swing them my way peeps! Anyway keep your ears peeled for very talented Trevor Petrie and the War of Ideas!
Trevor Petrie
Trevor Petrie
Trevor Petrie
Trevor Petrie
Trevor Petrie
{Question}
If you could mix your own work with happy people, winter sunshine, rainbows, fun, great food, campfires, amazing music, and volunteering for a great environmental cause then would you? I certainly did over the last two weeks with a series of shoots for Project Platypus with their super-impressive themed “Plantouts”. Check it out!
When I’m out and about I’m always for the lookout for some dramatic weather. I just love drama like this (as long as its not during a wedding or commercial shoot haha). This little spot near Hopetoun was about to get very wet last week as we were travelling through.
Storm clouds threatening over the Northern Wimmera – Victoria
There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Even gloomy weather parts eventually.
Wedding Photography preferences are often directed from the bride but I always ask if there is anything the groom wants captured as well on the big day. Here the groom and the boys were car guys and wanted some shots with the cars and the car theme. And why not? It was a super fun day. Here is the “poster” shot…
Because I’m a “fun-guy” I thought I’d share these three little squirts from yesterdays forest photo walk. The tallest Fungi here is only a tiny 3cm!
Often the simple things in life are the best. Who agrees?
Yesterday I went for a drive with a friend to one of my favourite spots… Wallaby Rocks. It got damp and miserable quite quickly and we contemplated turning around and heading back to a warm fire instead. We decided to continue the drive and made the walk to the top just as the weather parted and the eagles soared around us. I fired off about 15 frames and came home with one keeper. This one! Do you think it was it worth it?
Last week I managed to get out of the office and do a solo trip throughout the Victorian Deserts. I tried to avoid the bitumen as much as possible with the aim to capture the best of the remote open spaces of the region for my i s o l a t i o n project. This is Wembulin Track being lit with warm pockets of dawn light on the first morning. The track skirts Lake Albacutya and the surrounding wheatbelt.
Some more images for my ongoing i s o l a t i o n project. I’m getting closer to desert country by the hour now. Space to think, space to move. Love it!
A few friends encouraged me to enter the photography event at the wimmera’s ART IS… Festival running at the moment. The theme was “Layers of Time”. Turns out my photograph of Taylors Lake filling from flooding rains took out the top gong! For more on the festival check out the program right here at http://www.artis.wimmera.com.au/index.html
Just have fun and be yourself; My guarantee is for your wedding day to be awkward-pose free, just the way it should be!
Well VPPY (Vic Pro Photographer of the Year) is done for another year. My two fave entries managed strong silvers (84 & 83 for those in the know) which is nice and the other two missed silver by one solitary point each (79). I’ll take that for 2014. Now its time to sort out two new ones for APPA nationals later in the year.
My entries in Victorian Photographer of the Year (VPPY).
They sure can!
Many couples nowdays choose to have their portrait photographs done before the ceremony. It’s naturally a personal preference and doing so can certainly lead to having more time after the ceremony with family and friends when the party starts.
What’s more is that the first reveal of the bride to the groom can be a far more intimate and fun experience.
As a photographer I’ve never witnessed one wedding the same. Relax, be yourselves, and ensure the biggest day of your lives is done your own way.
Congratulations Emily and Sam! … Haha, mind the lipstick there Sam
I couldn’t keep this one to myself any longer. Congratulations Emily and Sam, your whole day was a blast from go to whoah!
How is this for a wedding venue peeps? TeePee marquee under the stars… WOW!
The amazing TeePee wedding venue
{Wedding Packages}
Leather leather leather. How good does it look!
All my albums are archival quality (100+yrs) with thick “lay-flat” pages and are expertly finished with one of 50 cover choices. Emma and Ben wisely chose the sumptuous Tan coloured Genuine Leather option which I’m sure you’ll agree has come up brilliantly.
They also chose the extra option of the memory vault containing a high-res backup of all their wedding photos. The vault is fire and water proof and is one of the few archival rated digital storage devices on the market. In my packages it arrives to you in a classy presentation box beautifully cover-matched to your album.
Emma and Ben were thrilled with the photography on their wedding day and were pretty stoked to say the least with the look and finish of their album package when it arrived.
Get in touch if you want to find out more on all the package options and see some more samples.
Most people when they see the photo below say to me “wow, fantastic, how lucky were you with that streaky sky”. When in fact on this day I had regular white fluffy clouds and I was lucky I had wind (lots of it) and that I brought along my ND filters.
On a windy day the temptation is to use a faster shutter speed to “freeze” the movement of tree foliage, clouds and anything else that is flapping and drifting in the breeze. On this occasion I used a ND3.0 filter to allow me to capture all this movement, in this case the high and low altitude clouds whizzing across the sky in two different directions. You might also choose to capture trees blowing or a flag fluttering.
So what is an ND filter and what does it do? ND stands for Neutral Density, meaning it is a dark shaded filter that is neutral in colour, or just simply put… translucent grey. Like putting on a pair of sunglasses for your camera. They are commonly available in various strengths (darkness) from a 0.3 through to a 0.9 which allow you to extend your exposure by 1 to 3 f-stops. By extending your exposure time you can capture movement with easy, think flowing water for example. If you dig around a little further you’ll also find ND filters that are super dark right up to the ND3.0 which is a full 10 f-stops darker. This allows for exposures of up to 30 seconds in the middle of the day…. Awesome!
So in this situation pictured I had some gnarly rock, some recently bushfire-burnt trees (that due to no foliage weren’t moving in the wind), and lots of fast moving white clouds. With a ND3.0 filter I managed a 20 second exposure to achieve this result.
Long exposure with ND1000 filter to slow shutter speed down during daylight hours
{Kate and Kevin}
What can I say about Kate and Kevin besides fun, fun, fun!
The whole day revolved around doing the things they enjoy in life and the mood was infectious. I didn’t hear the word “serious” once… seriously!
There is a lesson for us all in that… just have fun in the sun Grampians Wedding style.
In conversation photographers often get asked what sort of photographer they are…
Wedding photographer? Commercial photographer? Landscape photographer? All of the above?
For me its all of the above but I don’t see photography as a job title, but more so, I see my photography work as an extension of the way I live my life. One way I look at it is that every day in life starts as a blank piece of paper, ready to be written, like the pages of a book. What sort of book, how many pictures it has, and how good it reads is up to all of us as individuals to choose. Those choices for me are summed up perfectly by a clever bloke named Gilbert Chesterton…
The traveller sees what he sees… a tourist sees only what he has come to see. – G.K. Chesterton.
Some photographers operate as the tourist, seeing and capturing only what they came to see, what was pre-visualised and pre-planned, and what fits within the realm of the sort of photographer they are. That’s all fine, but for me as in life, and as a photographer I’m much more the traveller, also seeing and capturing what happens, as it happens, natural and unrehearsed, flash-free, filling blank pieces of paper with fresh experiences, fresh ideas, new perspectives, and often unexpected moments in time. This way of working is often referred to as documentary style photography.
So… that’s what sort of photographer I am.
This week the 2013 Victorian Professional Photographer of the Year (VPPY) Awards were judged in Melbourne.
After entering for the first time this year I’m pretty rapt to have some success at this years event with 5 of my 8 entries receiving the much sought after award grades with 2 silver distinctions and 3 silvers.
The Australian Awards are up again next (APPA) so bring it on I say haha!
Do you know someone that’s engaged and due to be married in the next year or two? Yourself, a family member, a friend? Share this with them and send them along to meet me at the 2013 Grampians Wedding Expo at Seppelts Winery in Great Western. Anyone booking their wedding photography with me from this years expo will get a free premium album upgrade worth up to $200!
More info on the expo can be found at http://www.seppelt.com.au/en/News/2013/05/Seppelt-Wedding-Expo.aspx
The winners have just been announced of the prestigeous nationwide Headoff Landscape Prize which means I can finally take the wrappers off my big news for the last month or two. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the 20 finalists for the prize with my image of the Grampians Bushfires earlier this year. (pictured below)
My hat goes off to the prize winner Tim Levy, congratulations! My photograph along with all the finalist images will all be on exhibition at the State Library of NSW in Sydney for the remainder of the Headon Photo Festival. For more details on the festival visit http://headon.com.au/
Wow I’m bad at keeping myself updated on here. I’ll make up for it now with a more extensive blog on last weekends Guided Photography trip. I took the Williamtown Camera Club out for a few days to see the best of the Grampians National Park… my backyard.
Before I get into what we got up to I’ll quickly put it out there for clubs, groups and individuals alike that are interested in personalised photography guided tours to contact me for a some locations, options and prices.
Well we kicked things off on Saturday afternoon by walking to the Pinnacle. The walk is diverse, adventurous and the view ever-changing and spectacular.
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| The Pinnacle |
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| Dead tree standing over the landscape |
From there we went up to Reeds lookout in time for the sunset. With near on 360 degree views at the top, we needed to be scanning all round for the best light and photographic opportunities as they arose. Light changes quickly during the “magic hour” around sunset.
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| The jagged peaks of the Serra Range as we arrived |
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| More photographers arriving to soak up the wonderful light |
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| With the sun nearly dipping, capturing every angle becomes a challange |
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| The last sun rays softly lighting the distant ranges |
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| Last light. Lake Wartook lies beneath the peaks of the Mt Difficult Range |
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| Long after the sun has set the light is often at its best. |
After a senational dinner in Halls Gap and a good sleep we awoke early to ensure we arrived at Boroka Lookout before sunrise. Well was it ever worth it, we managed to witness a Grampians sunrise at its best with everyone in the group taking home some ‘keepers’.
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| Soft hazey morning and incredible colour with Lake Fyans in the foreground |
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| Lake Lonsdale dwarfed but an incredible sunrise sky |
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| Camera club members capturing their photographs |
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| The first sunrays softly bathe Mt William |
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| My tele lens allows me to capture Mt Rosea warming up nicely |
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| With the sun now up the colour spectrum is still changing. What a morning! |
After our sunrise treat we moved along to MacKenzie Falls. It’s the largest and most spectacular waterfall in the Grampians and the photographic experience for the group didn’t disappoint.
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| Mackenzie Falls. 30sec @f8 |
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| Camera club members in the process of capturing their photographs. 30sec @f8 |
If you’re keen to capture the best photograhic spots in the Grampians and witness them at the right time of day contact me for a guided tour. If requested I can also provide tips and techiniques to improve your photography. Contact me, Marty on info@martyschoo.com.au or phone 0427790783.
The best thing about being a regional based photographer is the job diversity. A lot of jobs just aren’t work if you know what I mean. Does carbon neutral merino wool suits exist? You betcha! And I was there to capture another tree planting initiative on a country Victorian property where it all begins.
Eve and Tim had a fantastic wedding day only a few weeks back in down town Melbourne CBD. Preperation in the “Queens Room” and the ceremony in the majestic Council Chambers in the historic Melbourne Town Hall. Followed up with a laid back reception at a classy inner city pub and you’ve got yourself a pretty special wedding day. Congrats Eve and Tim…
Last weekend saw me at a Wedding in the Melbourne CBD. With great weather and great company Eve and Tim had a blast. Here is a sneak peak photo. More to come…
Weddings aren’t all I shoot. Construction is always a bunch of fun getting amongst the action. Last month I had another three day commercial photography shoot for an Engineering and Construction client of mine in the Hunter Valley. At the end of the day people and place photography is what its all about. All three sites revolved around water supply infrastructure. The weather was great and the shoot was a success. Great results equals another happy client.
(Click on each image for larger and sharper)
Concrete Water Resevoir:
Water mains from within a dam wall:
300m within the wall the lighting conditions can best be described as challanging 🙂
Heightening of dam wall:
A big wedding isn’t always what every couple wants. Some couples choose to have only direct family and the dearest of friends. And then some couples decide to elope and share their wedding day with only the person most important to them… their partner.
Julie and Aarron did exactly that recently in the Grampians in Western Victoria. The weather gods were fantastic, the Boroka Downs setting was sensational, there were tears, there was laughter, all the good things, even the best of local sparkling wine.
The result? One happily married couple with two happy and supportive families finding out the next day. Congratulations!
(Click on each image for larger and sharper)
Canola fields always remind me of the start of spring. Bright vibrant colours, blue sky, spring rains and fresh air (if you’re up wind for anyone that’s smelled canola). In my recent travels for a commercial assignment in NSW they featured everywhere and I thought they might brighten up you day as well 🙂
In the Thai culture its a big thing to have a great pre-wedding experience together including the photo shoot. This way it takes all the pressure off on the wedding day. May and Ryan are soon setting off to get married in Thailand but before they left we undertook the pre-wedding photos at a place that is dear to them. With a mix of sun, water and peaceful tranquility saw us playing in the central Grampians, canoeing and playing in the trees, and sipping champagne. What an adventure, what a day!
(Click on each image for larger and sharper)
Wow! After a few months off over winter to renovate our new little house in Halls Gap I’m back on deck and its been busy busy busy.
The last little while in no particular order has seen me at a few weddings, a Thai style pre-wedding shoot, a few interstate commercial shoots and finally I attended the big AIPP Event for photographers up in the Hunter Valley in NSW.
A few updates on my last shinanigans will pop up this week and I’ll do my best to keep things updated a little more often in between gigs in the coming weeks and months. They year is flying past!
