Mithra on the Streets of Paris

black and white photography, paris film noir, portrait photography paris, carla coulson, the bubble joy, mithra ballestros, portrait st germain des res, ile st louis, creative portraitsDear Folks,

I am so excited to share with you some of the photos I shot recently with the beautiful Mithra of The Bubble Joy.

This superstar collects and sells vintage deliciousness in her online shop known as Finder Not Keeper and she was a joy in every sense.

Cool, funky and fun and the ultimate pleasure for a photographer, she hands over the trust and was willing to play and play we did!

What a treat, a day in Paris that felt like I was hanging out with someone I had known for years and we had the honour of having a long her super husband Gary.

I am so grateful and fortunate that beautiful souls like Mithra find their way to my door and adore that we have so much in common, love for photography, beautiful things and life.

We roamed around Paris, drinking coffees and rosé (well just a glass) and Mithra shining her light for the camera and all the lucky passersby and folk we found along the way.

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black and white photography, paris film noir, portrait photography paris, carla coulson, the bubble joy, mithra ballestros, portrait st germain des res, ile st louis, creative portraits

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A special shout-out to Miloufar and the beautiful boutique Yveline Antiques in St Germain des Pres which is our favourite antiques shop in Paris…

Please check out Mithra and her work HERE and follow her on Instagram HERE.

Yveline Antiques HERE.

 

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

 

Huge thanks to Mithra for allowing me to share her photos with you…

Carla x

P.S. I have just had a shoot postponed so if you are feeling game and will be in Paris in July or early August I would love you to be my muse. Shoot details HERE.

Related Post: Wanna Be This Girl On The Streets Of Paris?

Carla Coulson, Carla Coulson Photography,Carla Coulson Coaching

When Do Your Photos Become Valuable?

Dear Folks,

The easy answer for this is the moment you take them. They are our memories, the proof of our lives, where we have been and what we found along the way.

The longer answer goes something like this.

So many of the photos I have taken during the last eighteen years were for pure pleasure on my travels or holidays and today I have 100,000’s of thousands of photos on numerous discs and negatives.

When I first started taking photos the concept of them being valuable didn’t enter my mind. I was so excited to take them and then rush out and take some more, like a wonderful addiction to life.

I was terrible with them, in such a hurry to print them and see them appear in the darkroom that I would hastily discard one negative for the next and often put them back in the wrong packet.

 

Carla Coulson, Carla Coulson Photography,Carla Coulson Coaching

 

Hence if someone today asks me for a copy of a photo in my first years, I will go into hot sweats and do anything to avoid promising that photo because I could lose a day looking for it. I would rather NOT find it or sell it than go looking for it.

When I started my blog back in 2008 I put up the photos I loved with little SEO tags of when and where I took them and now I have a steady stream of magazines, publications and interior designers asking me for my photos from my travels.

Coupled with the photos I continue to take, I have come to realize that our archives have an enormous value and they should be treasured, catalogued and easy to find.

So dear photographers, I beg you to look after your images and no matter where you are on your journey start improving your system today.

 

Carla Coulson, Carla Coulson Photography,Carla Coulson Coaching

 

Here are my top 5 tips:

  1. Right now today make sure you always have two discs of any series of images. One being an exact backup disc and mirror of the original disc and make sure they AREN’T stored together
  2. Number, date and name your discs and make sure they are marked clearly on the outside
  3. Categorise each shoot by date first, month and then name your project, person and place for each search reference. When you open your disc you should see a series of folders with specific jobs, subjects or travels.
  4. If you are super-organized start a file with the disc names and then sub folders on that disc. You could also do a hard copy reference book just for this for easy searching so if you are looking for ‘2013 Sifnos’ you know it is on disc 13 etc..
  5. Always keep your ‘hero’s’ in a 3rd place such as the cloud so if all things go belly up you have the best photos of your career in high resolution version.

 

I know so many of you are creating magic on a daily basis, look after your beautiful images as one day they will have an incredible emotional, historical and economical value.

 

Happy snapping!

Carla

 

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

Liberty

Black and white photography, italian photography workshop, travel photography, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, photographer, night photography, photographers life, florence, italy, photography

Dear Ladies and Gents,

This photo is an oldie but it’s a photo that has stayed with me, and I’ve called it ‘Liberty’. It was taken in Florence at 3 am on a summer’s night. At the time of the morning, the city was another world; barmen on their way home from a job, chefs giving us the best tips on where to shoot, and lovers feeling like Florence was all theirs.

I shot this on a Leica M6 using 3200 film with the girl doing lots of movement. It was shoots like these that I learned to master movement and lack of light, and the magic of that dress and the words we whispered to her were captured in the energy and emotion in this photo. Each time I look at the movement, it makes me smile.

For me, this photo embodies the sensation of freedom, of the feminine spirit taking flight in the direction that she has always meant to go in.

I am launching this photo as a Limited Edition Fine Print, and it comes in 2 sizes: 20 x 30 inch and 32 x 48 inch, and it is printed onto beautiful Hahnemule paper.

You can own a print by clicking HERE.

Related post: Wanna be this Girl on the Streets of Paris?

carla coulson, carla coulson coachiong,Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy,

Wanna Be This Girl On The Streets Of Paris?

Dear Lovers Of Paris and Photography,

I am happy to announce I have opened up 3 spaces for my all-time favourite portrait session in Paris for June, July and September where you get to be the rockstar.

This isn’t any regular portrait session, it’s you caught in your own cinematic Paris film!

 

Paris, carla coulson, carla coulson coachiong,Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy,

Slip into the noir of Paris like a movie-star on set, un-observed in quiet moments in cool bars, shot through the window unobserved. It’s for lovers of Paris and photography that want something a little more rock-n-roll, you caught in a whir of blur and the only thing in focus is your beautiful face.

carla coulson, carla coulson coachiong,Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy

 

Celebrate being fabulously single at 30 or 40, celebrate you and motherhood and coming out the other side of the toddler stage and finding yourself again. Celebrate being in love or getting divorced but most of all celebrate YOU, YOU, YOU.  You are fabulous just as you are today, not SOMEDAY and I love nothing better than celebrating you in Paris in the coolest way possible and creating images that will become part of your story and your families story.

If you would like to make some magic with me click HERE to read more.

Related post: Why Photography is Good for your Happiness

Heidi Middleton in Harpers Bazaar

Carla Coulson Harpers Bazaar Heidi Middleton in Harper's Bazaar Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, travel photography workshop italy, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy, photography workshop puglia, beginners travel photography workshop, photography

Dear Friends and Photographers,

I know many of you purchased the recent copy of Harpers Bazaar in Australia and have seen this shoot but I wanted to share this beautiful fairytale with those who haven’t.

People often ask me after 17 years of photography do I still love it or do I get excited and inspired? Well folks, the answer is YES, YES, YES!!

I had the chance to photograph Heidi for Gourmet Traveller last year and had an instant girl crush, I adored everything about her, her warm generous spirit, being so very present and her beautiful fashion.

Carla Coulson Harpers Bazaar Heidi Middleton in Harper's Bazaar Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, travel photography workshop italy, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy, photography workshop puglia, beginners travel photography workshop, photography

So for me doing this Harpers shoot was like the night before Christmas, I knew Heidi would have all the elements that make photographs magic but she certainly exceeded my photographer’s dream.

There were her daughters (arrrrrr) you just wanted to hug them on first sight, the house, the calm, the clothes and of course the magic Heidi. And I had the good fortune to have the world’s best folk working with us, Eliza O’Hare and partner from Harpers, Veronique Marot and Loc Boyle and Kellie Hush and the team that put this magic together!
Carla Coulson Harpers Bazaar Heidi Middleton in Harper's Bazaar Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, travel photography workshop italy, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy, photography workshop puglia, beginners travel photography workshop, photography

This shoot and the good times and memories will be in the memory bank of shoots for the rest of my times and I can’t express how fortunate I feel to have had the chance to spend a day with people so clear, warm, generous and loving as Heidi, her family and the creative team on the day.

Carla Coulson Harpers Bazaar Heidi Middleton in Harper's Bazaar Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, travel photography workshop italy, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy, photography workshop puglia, beginners travel photography workshop, photography

 

Carla Coulson Harpers Bazaar Heidi Middleton in Harper's Bazaar Black and white photography, photography workshop, italian photography workshop, travel photography workshop, travel photography workshop italy, portraiture, fashion portrait, movement, carla coulson, creative coach, creative entrepreneur, photographer, photographers life, italy, photography workshop puglia, beginners travel photography workshop, photography

In case you don’t believe, creative dreams do come true! You can follow Heidi Middleton on Instagram HERE

Sending love

Carla x

Ps: There were a lot of ladders involved and holding big cameras and balancing like a trapeze artist at the same time trying not to fall off..

Related Post: Backstage Secrets to this Harpers Bazaar Shoot