"auctoritas non veritas facit legem" Model: Rachel Hase

That time we painted Sarah Louise with gold and glitter...

Some classic clamshell beauty shots of classic beauty @playful-hazel.bsky.social. I have seen people do clamshell lighting with a reflector, but I prefer two lights (there's a third edgelight here) for full control over balancing the shadows.

Shooting Lilli Grace in Upper Hutt, on a rare sunny day!

Melbourne star Haylee Adams, shot waaaay back in 2017

Cathy-Leigh Pereira, Wellington, 2016(!)

When your model is a Star Trek fan and you want to work it into the shoot! (With the amazing Bettie Pagan)

Making a mess of Nakita Fox, back in 2021.

This shoot was in a pool in an apartment building. The problem was that all the walls were glass and we ended up building a bit of an audience from the buildings either side! The model is the fabulous Venus Starr.

I've been slowly putting together a home studio. Recently, I added blinds to the windows, and today, I assembled a couple of benches. Now people don't have to put all their shit on the floor! Bonus!

One of my fave looks in the studio is moving the model well away from a white wall and putting lights close to them. It means the wall falls off to grey, without shadows. I really dig the clean look, especially if the outfit colours are kept minimal. This is Wellington model Mercy May, by the way!

Throwback to that time model Sophia Dainty got in a pool at 1am. I mean, it would be rude NOT to take photos, right?

Brooke, Wellington, 2016

From the first time I photographed Nakita Fox and she explained to me that she, "didn't know how to shoot with clothes on."

Had a shoot at Altitude Pole here in North Palms and shot 13 people in a row with lots of colours and energetic-looking moves. Here's an example of the sort of stuff shot - this is the amazing Jess!

@mathew1988ad.bsky.social requested some Nakita Fox, so here you go!

Sam Alexander, Wellington, 2022

Amber Appletini as the Bride of Frankenstein, with hair and make-up by Rachel Massey. This was a full DECADE ago. God, I've been doing this crap way too long!

Flashback to shooting @skylarleigh.bsky.social wearing black tape courtesy of MUA Robyn Holland. This was in a really cool studio space at Trentham Racecourse that I shot a lot in. It had all sorts of corners and floors and rooms that gave loads of options. I miss it!

Some Sophia Dainty for your weekend! Shot on Raumati Beach a few years back...

This shot of Instagram queen Sarah Harris was as simple as it looks - no lights, no modifiers. I was just on the balcony of the location, looked down at the pool and thought there was a good shot there! Fortunately, Sarah had a blue swimsuit with her, so we were good to go!

The incredible duo of @skylarleigh.bsky.social and @honeyblake.bsky.social shot at the beach last year - you know, back when the weather wasn't freezing like it is right now!

Another shot of Boxstara from last weekend, this time highlighting their second costume - Ann from PERSONA 5. #cosplay #cosplayer #annpersona5 #annpersona5cosplay #persona5cosplay #anncosplay #persona5

Fresh off the camera sensor - from a shoot with cosplay legend Boxstara on the weekend, as Ryuko from KILL LA KILL. #ryuko #killlakill #ryukocosplay #killlakillcosplay #cosplay #cosplayphotography

When I was going to shoot Jade Wang in Auckland a couple of years back, she said she might bring an outfit that was "a little different". Yeah, it was.

A bit more from Rachel Hase's birthday shoot - she always rocks up with the BEST outfits! Her suitcase weighed a tonne and I think most of it was metal chains, to be honest. This is a four light set up - including one hidden right behind Rach with a yellow gel on it for the sunburst effect.

It was Rachel Hase's birthday on Sunday, so we did a photo shoot to celebrate. She dressed as a nun in pasties. As you do.

This was for lingerie designed by Weta costumier Flo Foxworthy - the idea was a trio of forest witches. This shot was actually taken in the middle of a sunny day - the benefit of using ridiculously overpowered lights means you can stop right down and make everything dark!

This shot of Sophia was taken in my lounge at the end of a long shoot, when we were both exhausted. It was about 2am, but we were damned if we were going to stop without getting the Coke cup falling exactly the right way. It took AGES. It is now a long-running in-joke for us being fucking stupid.

"Dangeous Ideas" A conceptual shoot with model Nakita Fox. Who was trusting enough to handle weird direction like "now hold up this light bulb in the same spot". #art #artphotography #conceptphotography #photography

Book meeeeeeeee

Alexia Rose, shot in Wellington a few years back with my old nemesis...mirrors.

An amazing costume by design Charlotte Kelleher, shot a few years back in a studio that is now gone, like so many!

Promo shot for THE LOVE LIST, starring and Millen Baird (M3GAN) and Sibhoan Marshall (OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE). And yeah, we chucked a lot of paper around.

I like and hate shooting with mirrors - they give lots of cool options, but then there's the mission of trying to keep all of the lights (and myself!) out of the shot! (With Venus Starr)

Aussie model and absolute legend, Ashton Avenue, shot a year or so back in Wellington. This was actually in a community hall, where I set up a background - because locations are hard.

Sophia Dainty and Tails' Cosplay as Tiffany and Chucky from BRIDE OF CHUCKY

The queen with, uh, only..fans. It's @skylarleigh.bsky.social in a super-fun studio shoot.

A couple from a fave set shot with LA phenomenom, Sonja Century.

Amy Lee Summers, Wellington, 2016 Mixing flash with window light and, bizarrely, a blue reflector.

Tian Gan, in black tape by Robyn Holland. Because May 4th is getting close! #starwars #sexystarwars #starwarscosplay #sexysith

It's Sophia Dainty, preparing for May 4th in a couple of weeks!

One of my fave shots of model/performer/playwright Rachel Hase. I don't do a lot of desaturation in my shots, but sometimes - just sometimes - I think it kinda works!

Lilli Grace, Wellington, 2017? I think? This was in a building at a racetrack where the caretaker was a photographer and let me have the run of the place from time-to-time. A lot of good shoots were had there!

Still the most incredible costume I've ever photographed - by World of Wearable Arts Supreme Award Winner Nadine Jaggi. It's all leather and swarovski crystals and hand-shaded to create gentle gradients. And it's worth more than my car.

Throw waaay back to the time I tried an "Alice falling down the rabbit hole" shot. The idea here is that it was Alice's attempt to escape boredom, so the distractions become more modern as you look down the image. As for the shot - well, we just threw stuff around on a trampoline...

"I'd love my own studio space" I always said. Now I spend all my time caulking gaps and painting. One day it will be ready, but so far every shoot has included me saying, "sorry about the state of the place..."

Favourite bit about this is the date published.

Playboy model Sarah Louise shot with a bunch of glitter and...yeah, just a bunch of glitter. Look, it's hard coming up with concepts when I don't randomly own a bunch of women's clothes, okay?

Tails' Cosplay as CAPTAIN MARVEL, shot at an airport that let us pick a plane to shoot with. #cosplay #captainmarvel #captainmarvelcosplay #cosplayphotography