2013 | Page 2 of 3 | Carla Coulson

August 28, 2013

Moi by Loc Boye

It is easy as an adult to stop exploring. To arrive at a point in your life where your work and daily life routine takes over and the child and dreams within are forgotten.

It took some digging around, having time and experimenting for me to find the thing that got my heart galloping, photography.

I wasn’t one of those lucky ones that knew from the minute they were born what they wanted to do in life, in fact I thought I didn’t have a creative bone in my body. My parents weren’t artists and we didn’t have a connection with the creative world so I was never exposed to the idea of being a photographer.

But when I knew I no longer wanted to live the life I was living I made that list of possible things to try. I dug into the recesses of my brain looking for things I loved or thought I might love.

I knew at the time my career wasn’t what I wanted but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure about what I did want to do. I made a list (as I do). It looked like this.

Learn Italian

Work in the outback

Work for another company doing something I love

Take some time out to think about life

Go to Bali and check out options

Try a photography course

Find Love (thought I might as well write it down and let the universe know I was serious)

I decided to try as many things possible during a year to see if I could find what I was looking for.

Taken at Rawlinna and inspired by my time in the outback in WA copyright Carla Coulson

Working on a farm in Outback Western Australia was included on the list because I thought maybe it was city life that needed changing. I added working with a sports marketing team because I thought I needed to work with a different group of people than I had previously worked with, learning Italian was also jotted down because it was something I had always wanted to do. Photography had always been a passion so the list went on and on.

At the top I wrote Italy and of course included something else I was missing in my life, LOVE.

Through a friend I met ‘Doogs’ and I went to work on his farm in the outback in the heart of the Western Australian wheat belt. We were swapping skills, I taught him to use the internet and I fed his chickens who had been saved from a battery farm (never eaten a non-free range egg since). I thought maybe I might like to move to the country and city life was the problem so this was a test.

I arrived straight from the city with my jangling nerves and phone addiction and it took me a week to slow down and sit in wonder at the big open Western Australian skies. I loved walking around the property, jumping in the jeep to go fix a fence or drive a 100km to a friends for dinner. Going to town to get the post wasn’t to be missed and Kellerberin could have been Paris for all I cared. I loved wandering the shops, going to the Post Office (there were people there) or to Dalgety’s (more people there) to get some more farm supplies.

After a month I was another girl, full of Western Australian sunshine and big skies. I had one whole month to wind down, smell the ‘wheat’ and think about what I wanted in life. This experience was priceless and ‘Doogs’ was a kind generous soul but the isolation wasn’t for me.

Off the rocks Positano Italian Joy Copyright Carla Coulson

I packed my bags and headed back to Sydney to start another short term job. What I realised when I walked in on my first day was that I no longer wanted to work in an office anymore, the neon lights, the cubicles, the lack of privacy and no big skies – it felt like jail after feeding the chickens! I stuck out 3 months and then headed to Italy.

The first night I arrived in Florence I walked the streets, stopping in Piazza Signoria. I was on my own and everything felt like it was in slow motion. I hugged myself with happiness. I felt like I belonged.

After the month of Italian school was up I was meant to move on to the next experience on the list but I didn’t want to. I felt like I had barely learnt any Italian and what a shame to go now when I could cancel the rest of my plans and stay here.

It was my second daring decision – to go with my heart and not with my head, first was leaving!!

I had never felt so free.

I stayed on, I continued with my Italian lessons in the morning and in the afternoon I let go of a lifetime of living a certain way. The spontaneity that had been beaten out of me in Sydney by a lifetime of routine and responsibility came back. I said ‘yes’ to every invitation and let barriers that I had built up over years come crashing down.

Italian Joy Copyright Carla Coulson

In my heart I knew I couldn’t go back to my old life. I had seen another way of living. I still hadn’t found Mr. Right but it seemed inconsequential. I had found Italy. Six months in Italy had changed me, my old life looked even smaller and sadder than before.

Before I left to sort out my affairs, I found a photography school and enrolled. It was my pact with myself. It was a connection to Italy that would force me back. I gave myself three months in Sydney to sort things out and come back. I was convinced. And as they say “the rest is history”..when I walked into a darkroom almost 8 months later it was love at first photo..

Underwater friends Italian Joy Copyright Carla Coulson

Some of you will already know what you want to do in life. Lucky you.

Be happy also if you know what you ‘don’t want to do’ for the rest of your life. Rejoice in the fact that you are aware that there is another life made for you, even if you have to go and find it. This is a wonderful place to be because you have already taken the first steps towards your new life. You know what you don’t want to do.

Make a list and start exploring different creative fields. Remember not to panic if you are doing a job you don’t like today because you already making the moves to change your life just by the knowledge you aren’t happy.

Start exploring and you too like me may uncover a burning passion you never knew existed.

Write your list of all possible options that you think you might like to explore and start ticking them off.

I hoped you enjoyed this little insight into my journey to photography and I am wishing you loads of luckdust on yours.

“The law of work seems unfair, but nothing can change it; the more enjoyment you get out of your work, the more money you will make.???Mark Twain

PS; Please share with others on a new path..

June 17, 2013

in Uncategorized

by Carla

12 Comments

Me Bertday Prezent from La Contessa

Itz Avedon here again (FM az given me ze blog again)

I gotta prezent in ze post for me bertday from a spicy lady called La Contessa. I really like ze Contessa cause she has a hen house and lurves ze drama and ze beautiful tings.

When I woke up tree days after me bertday a package wit me name on it was next to me ‘croquettes’. FM and FD let me open on me own and I love to smell ze package for 5 minutes before I rip in open wiz me teeth.

Ze Contessa sent me a feather boa (I am saving now to go to see her at ze hen house). Zis Contessa lady knows me from afar and how much I love ze feathers…I really love ze feathers.

I really love ze feathers and zis new feather is very long and good to bite and wrestle.

Ze Contessa sent anozer surprise (she really loves me ze Contessa) and it has me painted on ze bowl. Everytime I eat ze croquettes I tink of Ze Contessa..Shez a really nice lady..

I also really love ze boxes, zis is the prettiest box I ave ever seen (I just can’t get me whole body in zis box).

Sometimez life is just too good, de present made me bertday de best day of me life (instead of second best day). .First bestday before me present was when i caught a real mousie..

I luv ze Contessa..

AVEDON.. MIAW MIAW

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.” Oscar Wilde

June 6, 2013

in Changing Your LIfe, Going Pro

by Carla

10 Comments

5 Things I Learnt From My Small Business and Applied to Photography

Private Portrait Copyright Carla Coulson

I know you have been dying to read this post for years!!

‘Cause this is one of the frequent emails that pops into my inbox ‘what did you learn from your business and take to photography?’

It’s a great question because the truth is I took lots, almost all of what I learnt good and bad (what not to do).

As a photographer whether you are a freelancer working for magazines, fashion photography or shooting for National Geographic, you are your own small business.

Today I am going to cover the Top 5 Things I ‘translated’ from my old business to becoming a photographer.

Private Portrait Copyright Carla Coulson

PRODUCT

Before you start any business you need a product and that includes photography. One of the things I learnt in my old business was that you don’t need to ‘re-invent the wheel’. If you offer a good product, good service and do what you say you can have a successful business.

So photographers whether you want to do travel, portraiture, fashion or weddings you need a ‘product’. Your work is your own ‘unique product’ and no-one else can produce it. It isn’t good enough to have 5 photos, you need a portfolio of work that will communicate to your ‘customer’ whether they are magazines, private clients or advertising agencies what you do.

So don’t be in a rush to get started just take the pics that you love and that will speak loudest.

Private Portrait Copyright Carla Coulson

WHO IS YOUR CLIENT?

Before you can start your fabulous marketing program (up next) you need to know who you are marketing to. When I started in photography I knew I wanted to be a travel photographer and for 11 years that is exactly what I did mixed up with interiors and portraits.

I knew from the beginning I wanted to work with magazines and books so my clients were magazines and publishers in Australia. I built a portfolio that would speak to my favourite magazines and eventually a publisher. Knowing who your client is is fundamental.

When I switched to portrait photography I defined who my gal was!

MARKETING

Ok, so you have your portfolio, you know who your client is, so the next step is you need to market to them. Marketing is just a word for communicating your work and that can be done in hundreds of different ways from making a call, an appointment, sending your brochure, business cards, posters, social media, website, exhibitions, launches and talking to the person sitting next to you in a bar, on a plane or at a function.

When I started as a travel photographer my ‘marketing plan’ was to meet art directors and have my work published as quickly as possible. I simply picked up the phone, told them I was a photographer living in Italy and had some stories to show and they allowed me to visit. I rang as many of the magazines I wanted to meet with and repeated the same thing. When Marie Claire eventually published my story they too were ‘marketing’ for me. They printed my name alongside of my work that reached up to 100,000 readers and other art directors in the industry.

Social media is a wonderful way of getting your work out there as well as starting your very own list of contacts.

PRESENTATION

In my old business we sold a good but unexciting product (corporate clothing). But one stroke of genius we did do was to hire a fashion photographer and great models and we photographed the product like an editorial story. This was my first glimpse backstage at a photo shoot (needless to say I lurrved it) and we gave our product an edge. We spent a lot of money at the time on an amazing catalogue designed by a great graphic artist and off we charged ahead of our competition.. Why? Because our presentation spoke of good quality, product and service because it looked better than the competitions by a country mile (for the Aussies).

Presentation is a vital part of a small business, it says who you are, whether you are into quality or not and it can make or break the deal. When I presented my images to my publisher for the first time for Italian Joy I took in A3 images on fine art paper (cost a bomb) but they looked so much better than 10 x 15cm pics.

Think hard about your presentation, invest in professionals to get the look and feel that helps communicate your product and services.

Super Francesco by Moi!!

MORALS AND ETHIC

I packed the same morals and ethics I had in my small business and took them in a suitcase to Italy!! It was always my intention to do the right thing by my customer even if sometimes it meant losing money.

Once I made a fatal area and when to the wrong airport in Paris (drrrrrr) and realised too late that I need to be at CDG and raced across town to miss the plane by 5mins..

I had the option to go home and let me client down or spend 800 Euros and get on the next plane to Venice and do what I promised. I spent the 800 Euros (which really hurt at time) and went to Venice!! I never told my client (a magazine) but they continued to use me for years to come because I delivered on time and did what I said I would do.

Always try and keep your word, trust is important..

And always have fun..

I hope these tips give you a little incite and how they can work for you.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

Please feel free to share to others who this may help. xx

If you want to learn how to take/create your body of work and sell it online, join my Free Training by clicking above.

April 25, 2013

in Going Pro, Photography Tips, Travel Photography

by Carla

7 Comments

Your Personal Photographic Vision

Natalia Vodianova by Paolo Roversi

Photography is a personal vision. It is an individual way of looking at the world and capturing a photo that tells a story. Your particular taste and vision will set you apart from other photographers and this is your precious gift. So have faith in your style!

A photographer’s vision can be seen repeated in their photos over and over again, like a brand. Fashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth produces splendid images of sexy girls having lots of fun in wild colours and high contrast black and whites.

Photo Copyright Ellen Von Unwerth

Paolo Roversi creates soft focused dreams with his large format Polaroid camera and Richard Avedon was renowned for his simplicity, elegance and his famous white background. Ansel Adams searched for silence, perfection and majesty in his landscapes and Helmut Newton’s black and whites have come to symbolise strong sexy women.

Paolo Roversi’s said this about his style “When I look at my pictures from 20 years ago, even when the technique of the light is very different, I see a kind of unity, and this surprises me. Even in my book, Nudi, the photos look like they were taken in the same place, in the same light, on the same day. But they were taken over the course of 10 to 12 years, in New York, London, Paris???

Photo Copyright Paolo Roversi

One thing that all these photographers have in common is that you can easily recognise their work without seeing their ‘byline’ (byline is a photographers or a journalists name printed alongside of their story in a magazine). Their work is their byline.

They all have their own vision, their own style of lighting, emotions they wish to portray, their own presentation of their photos, mood of their work, personality and their own special way that they communicate with their sitter and this shows in the photos.

So don’t ask yourself why you take the photos you do just take the photos you love! And try not to be influenced by everyone around. Believe in yourself.

“Be yourself, the world worships the original.” Jean Cocteau

April 4, 2013

in Photography Tips, Travel Photography

by Carla

20 Comments

Black and White Photography – How and Why We Use It

I love black and white photography, it is part of how I take photos and I couldn’t imagine photography without it. A frequent question I am asked is how and when to use black and white. So I thought today we could have a little chat about black and white in photography.

My fabulous printer in Paris ‘Toros’ of Toroslab, in an interview in Paris Tango said “Black and white is an attitude, a different way of looking at things. I knew many photographers like Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau who preferred to work in black and white. There is an indescribable magic in black and white that is impossible to explain, it is the shadows and the highlights, in the details and in the mystique. Black and white treads that fine line between reality and fantasy.”

Image Copyright Carla Coulson My French Life

SEE YOUR PHOTOS IN BLACK AND WHITE

Not all photos look great in black and white and one of the arts of photography is ‘seeing’ how the image will look before you take it.

When converting colour it is important to have different tones in the photo so your subject will jump out of the background or surrounds ie.. there needs to be contrast in the image. Often if the subject has the same tone it can look a little flat in black and white.

When converting images from colour to black and white make sure you don’t have any strong colour ‘casts’ otherwise the colour cast will be converted to the same grey tone and applied generically to your photo.

WHY USE BLACK AND WHITE?

In film photography you needed to decide prior to taking a photo whether to use black and white film or colour but we now have the luxury with digital photography to choose to convert a colour image into black and white.

The art director on a book once said to me ” a colour image is only valid when the colour is great colour.” Hence if the colours jar, or they are not harmonious or are distracting that is when I convert an image to black and white.

I use black and white often when an image is graphic (like in the fashion pic above), when the photo has been taken in a ‘reportage’ or ‘lifestyle’ way and I want to make this image stronger (like the family in Naples), when I want to cut to the core of a portrait and let the person stand out not the colours like in the first picture in this post.

Image copyright Carla Coulson Italian Joy

GOOD SUBJECTS FOR BLACK AND WHITE

When you take away colour you are taking away one of the primary ways the viewer can ‘read’ your image. Therefore there needs to be strong dimensions.

Tone and Contrast – The photo subject will work best when it has a varied range of blacks, greys and whites. Always look for dark and light areas in your images as this creates tone and contrast.

Lines, Shape and Form – Images that have graphic elements, strong lines, geometric shapes or form make wonderful subjects for black and white especially when the image has good contrast between the elements. Always look for lines that run diagonally, horizontally or vertically through the image and try and create interesting compositions with them.

Textures and Detail – All details in photos add to the message and depth of a photo. Black and white works well with textural walls such as brick, sandstone or whitewashed stone especially when the subject is of a contrasting tone. Strong skies and clouds also are wonderful subjects (check out Sebastiao Salgado’s work). A person or detail strongly lit can make a wonderful subject in black and white.

Portraits – People and the environment you find them in make for strong subjects in black and white particularly when there is good contrast in their clothes, the background and surroundings. Look for interesting hats, clothes or textures in their environment that would make a strong portrait in black and white.

Reportage/life photography– Storytelling of an event albeit sporting, religious, musical or cultural can be strengthened using black and white and add to the weight and message of the photo.

WHAT BLACK AND WHITE SAYS ABOUT YOUR STYLE

In my interview with Toros he discusses the character of a photographer depending on his taste in black and white. ‘There are some photographers that come to me and say “Toros, I want my photos very dark, very black and deep. There are others they tell me “I don’t like grey; I want black and white without details.” This says a lot about their characters. Once Cartier-Bresson told me, “Toros, don’t print my photos with too much contrast, don’t print them too dark because my character is soft and light.”

Have a look at the following photographers style of black and white and let me know in the comments what you learn about the differences in the style of black and white and what it says about their styles and how it enhances their photos. (sorry you will have to google as their sites are under construction).

Ellen Von Unwerth

Paolo Roversi

HOW TO ACHIEVE YOUR BLACK AND WHITE STYLE?

Film photographers would choose a type of film based on it’s effect. Low ISO films produce fine grain and strong contrast and the higher ISO film produce prominent grain and generally a softer contrast.

With digital conversions we have the choice over contrast and how we want to manipulate the image afterwards. I use a program called DXO filmpak and when I bought it I spent almost a day going through every film option on a series of photos to see the effects that I like. I arrived at a couple of favourites Kodak Tri-x 400 and Ilford Pan F Plus.

These are just my personal preferences but I would encourage you always to try all options and find your favourites as this is part of your photographic style.

I hope this helps you make some decisions about your black and white photography.

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” Henri Cartier-Bresson

Check out my Portrait Lightroom Presets here.

An Untold Chapter In Finding My Way To Photography

Me Bertday Prezent from La Contessa

5 Things I Learnt From My Small Business and Applied to Photography

Your Personal Photographic Vision

Black and White Photography – How and Why We Use It

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