It's always a bit of a jarring transition, going from a house filled with naked ladies shooting photosets to sitting in my office working on someone's house plans... so let me just redux it all for you. The Brisbane shootfest was GREAT. Very different to Sydney. I'm not sure if it was just because @exkyu and I shot fewer sets or if it was something else (the open plan of the spaces, the fact that you didn't have to run up and down stairs 'looking' for people, the hot tub, the fact that everyone arrived with makeup done so we didn't have crowds in the bathrooms, not sure) but it was so much more relaxed. SO much more relaxed. Like, I can't even begin to explain how chill it was compared to the franticness of last time.
I flew from Sydney and by a stroke of luck, I was on the same flight, in the same ROW on the plane as @aubrey, @ambra and @exkyu which was amazing. We were fellow jetsetters! Once we were in Brisbane, we caught an Uber from the airport to the house @kyla was shooting in. I've not done a lot of Ubering before, but now that I have, I'll NEVER use taxis again. The app is so useable, you can see exactly where the car is coming from and how long you'll have to wait (the wait was never more than about 4mins). The drivers all come in their own cars (all less than 10 yrs old), most of them offer you bottles of water, sometimes even mentos or gum or whatever. They are friendly, they WANT to be there and it's cheaper! If you want to give it a try, check on the website and see if they're in your city yet, and if they are use this referral and you'll get $25 off your first ride.
The house @kyla was shooting in on the Friday was an actual honest-to-goodness Queenslander house. Up on stilts and made of weatherboard. I shot a set with her in the bedroom there and it's going to be amazing, I can just tell already. Also at the house was @emmameow, @opheliah, @shark, @camisado, @twitchling and not long after we arrived, @christina was there as well! There was a fair bit of catching up and photography going on and it all looks excellent. I'm going to pilfer a few pics from @kyla's blog and the sg_australia instagram to show you all because the photos look amazing...
Once a few hours had passed, we headed off to the main shootfest house to check ourselves in. The main house was incredible. It was a two bedroom apartment with it's own private courtyard, but it was also so much MORE than that. It had it's own secure entry area with an intercom (complete with camera) so we could buzz people in as they arrived, there was a huge foyer space, stairs up to the main patio area and then bifold doors that could be opened right up into the main living/kitchen area. It was a really lofty space with loads of highlight windows. The two bedrooms came off the kitchen and had walk-through robes and their own ensuites. Then, there were more bidold doors that led out to a separate study (also with bifold doors that opened right up) and another outdoor space with a hot tub. Oh gosh, let me just show you and you this gopro video by photographers @frankndame and you will be able to see a bunch of the spaces:
And that's EXACTLY what it's like to shoot at a shootfest! It's funny, the photosets look so lonely once they're all edited up and finished. You can't see people milling about just outside the frame, but that's absolutely the way it is. Busy and exciting and fun.
@exkyu shot a set of me (so I did two all up) the preview is up the top of this blog post. I don't think you guys will see that set for a while. I'm still stewing on the 4 sets I have in Member Review right now. One of those needs to be picked up first. @Exkyu also shot sets of @peggysue @bane @diessel @emmameow @opheliah @peggysue @pugsie @sammysiren and @twitchling.
They aren't all prepped yet, but here are a few that are...
@opheliah this one nearly didn't happen, fuck I'm glad it did, though. LOOK AT IT. The fact that this girl is still a hopeful is an honest-to-goodness CRIME. I mean it. What the fuck @suicidegirls. What the fuck. Look at this fucking amazing woman. Just look.
@peggysue we're naming this one sex kitten, but it's casually being referred to as the 'boner town' set because of obvious reasons. I think we're going to submit this one into the MR queue within the week too, which is exciting!
@pugsie the newbie! She doesn't even have an account on the site yet, but she will once this set is in the queue. She was so fun to shoot. She'd never modeled before, but she took to it like a duck to water. She has a really good instinct for posing.
And a bonus preview of @aubrey who didn't shoot this with us in Brisbane, this set was shot earlier, after the Sydney shootfest, but it's going into the queue soon and it's amazing. Another one where I'm like WTF SG WHY IS SHE NOT PINK, LOOK AT HER! SHIT!! look at this woman, she needs to be on the front page of suicidegirls i need help I'm getting emotionally compromised by her hotness HELP.
Right. Where was I?
Shootfest! Basically it was awesome. Thank you so much to all the ladies that came along, especially all those newbies that we managed to wrangle into our little circle. Welcome to the family, @arachnie @maddisonnrose @ghost @tautou @opaleyes @missbloodlace @blubell (I think that's everyone with accounts already, sorry if I missed you, eep). And remember, you're here forever. One of us. One of us. One of us.
I have started thinking about making a book featuring all @exkyu's shoots languishing in MR. Called 'Girls on the Internet' and including stuff like sg_australia's posts on Instagram and their comments, girls talking about what it means when you get hate or what made people first start building their social media platforms. Tweets, retweets, emails, blogs, the whole thing. A photography project, but also a better look into our little community. I need to think about it a bit more and see what I can and can't include. I'd definitely pursue conventional publishing rather than self-publish. I know what I'm doing. I'm trained in graphic design, I'm a writer. I can do it. I guess this whole Richard Prince thing has sort of inspired me a bit, instead of pissing me off. I mean, it pisses me off too, but SG was in THE GUARDIAN today so um, probably a good thing all up?
Here's @ambra @maddisonnrose @aubrey @emmameow me, token warm-skinned pale-olive complexion person haha @ghost and @vixenn in the aforementioned hot tub. I can't believe how WARM that water was. Also how warm the weather was. I think it's good to shoot when it's warm, but not hot. Sydney shootfest was far too hot (in more ways than one HAA).
And a few more behind-the-scenes shoot pics:
YEAH.
While I was at the shootfest, I did my personalised photoshoots for all my dudes over at patreon. A big thanks to Cliff, Chris, Billy, Brendan, Cameron, James, Jesse, Michael, Shane and Tommy for being legends and supporting me this month. Your prints are all in the mail and I'll email you all once this post is done. xx
ALSO super exciting news! Aussie @hylia is a suicidegirl now! Congrats to you! I am excited to meet you hopefully soon, so glad to see a set of @atlanticlungs getting picked up too, it really gave the shootfest a little something extra knowing that you guys had just had something get picked up! :D
I think that's all for now, xx.
