What a joy to see in Domain this past week the beautiful home interiors of superstar interior designer and co-host of TV sensation The Block, Shaynna Blaze.
I’ve lived away from Australia for so many years and had only heard about this show on trips home but when my Father was dying, it was one of the shows my Mum, Dad, and I watched each week.
I stayed in Australia for four months that year and became a The Block enthusiast so it was super exciting to see that one of my flower girls, Going Places, was actually hanging in Shaynna’s beautiful home!
Photo: Natalie Jeffcott
The clever folks at Domain created a little tour video of Shaynna’s home with lots of beautiful surprises, which you can watch here:
In Shaynna’s words, “A home should feel like an oasis as well as an adventure, with elements of fun, personality, and the unexpected.”
Here is a little preview of her home with photos by the talented Natalie Jeffcott:
Her iconic ‘Italian Joy’ and ‘Jeune Fille En Fleur’ photographs have become collectible items for fine-art fans worldwide. But it’s Carla Coulson’s azure-blue beach shots that have sent our wanderlust levels stellar. Now living in Paris, Carla Coulson has her eye set on snapping the Med’s luxury shorelines next. Here, she speaks to Nicola Moyne about following her heart, Leicas and the art of shooting beach life.
You had been running a successful business in Sydney before you started studying photography. What made you take the leap?
I had a camera and took photos, but I didn’t know how to use it on manual. When I started at photography school in Florence, I didn’t know anything about how the photography business worked. At that point, I was really focused on learning and the first time I developed something in the darkroom, I was obsessed. I would take my camera with me day and night and I adored shooting daily Italian life.
Atrani, one of Coulson’s most iconic Italian beach shots
Who has inspired your career and style of photography?
I had a teacher at photography school who was really passionate about reportage, so I looked to all the great humanist photographers of the 1950s, such as Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson. I spent hundreds of hours ‘learning’ by looking at images and discovering new photographers. Paolo Roversi set my heart and imagination on fire; I love the joy and fun in the photos of Ellen Von Unwerth; and Richard Avedon has an innate class that inspires me. Over the years, I have looked at so many different photographers but at the moment I am letting my inner voice speak. I had the great fortune to work with a fashion editor, Marta Innocenti Ciulli, who was the editor of Collezioni and she told me not to worry about the clothes but shoot images that were from the heart and full of emotions. She told me, ‘If the photos were beautiful, people would feel connected to them’. I think you can go on learning forever.
Monopoli: A colour choreography of beach umbrellas and beach toys on a background of turquoise.
Your fashion and travel photography is so immersive. How would you describe your style?
I am obsessed with life and all the nuances. I adore people and creating photos that have a connection. I get bored when there are no emotions so I work to create emotions in a picture even at first glance when there appears there are none. I would describe my style as emotive. I am inspired by Italy and the emotions of life. Where there is life, you will find me.
La Fontelina Beach in Capri
Poolside: Coulson’s bird’s eye view of Bronte Pool in Sydney, Australia
Do you have a favourite camera?
I love my old Leica’s, the M6 and M7. They are so small and unobtrusive and people almost don’t notice that you are taking pictures. I would like to go back to having a smaller digital camera that I can take everywhere with me like the new Fuji’s. I hear so many photographers – particularly women – who find the bigger cameras too heavy and cumbersome to take out on a daily basis and this is a problem with you like to shoot street photography and life.
Are you a fan of film or digital?
I love both and I think there is a place for both. The thing I love about film is that once you have stopped shooting your job is finished. With digital, we spend way too much time at a computer.
Parasol paradise at La Scogliera, Italy
What, or who, do you love photographing the most?
The beach and flowers. For me, there is nothing other than joy in shooting these two series. I adore selecting the flowers, picking them up and then trying to create magic… The beaches are my natural home – I shooting love the Amalfi Coast, including Atrani – I would be going anyway. I also recently shot Heidi Middleton formerly of Sass and Bide in a mini-castle in France. A spectacular person in a spectacular place.
Is your house filled with gorgeous photos? Paint a picture for us…
Yes, I have a lot of photos and art around. Not only mine, but those by friends and artists I admire. I love to be surrounded by images and have a wall behind where I sit with racks filled with images and art. (To purchase Carla Coulson’s fine art prints, visit carlacoulsonprints.com)
Positano from the water – one of the Amalfi coast’s prettiest cliffside villages
What advice would you give any aspiring photographers out there?
Follow your heart and don’t try and make money out of it too soon. There is an enormous value in letting your eye and style develop without the pressure of a job. It’s wonderful to let your heart lead you and see where it takes you. If you give yourself enough time in the beginning and develop a style and an opinion, it will ultimately make your journey to wherever you want to go shorter.
P.S. There is one place available on Heartland, a People and Spaces Photography Workshop this October, set in the beautiful Puglia, Italy. You can join the workshop HERE.
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.
I have been holding onto this beautiful beach for a while — it’s named ‘Floating in Polignano a Mare’ and so excited to finally share it with you for Mother’s Day.
Good news ladies, no sand here! It is a delirious celebration of summer, happiness and joy and this print is guaranteed to make you want to dive into it each time you glance its way and call the handsome beach boy to bring another Aperol Spritz quick sticks!!!
So dear mums, if you would like to spoil yourself this Mother’s Day, not only on this beautiful image but on all images shop wide, we have a little surprise of 15% discount with code LIFETIMESUPPLY
In Australia, the good folks at Forman Picturing Framing frame and deliver Australia wide… Woohoo…
It comes in 3 sizes, 20 x 30 inch, 32 x 48 inch and 36 x 54 inch and is printed onto beautiful Hahnemule paper.
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