Smartset were the official photographers for the recent Kardashian visit to promote their handbag range.
 
We attended all accredited events on this tour which included a glamorous red carpet cocktail launch at up-market Hugo’s lounge in Kings Cross, and two ‘meet and greet’ style events at David Jones in Sydney and Westfields in Miranda. All events were massively attended and attest to the huge following the Kardashian sisters have in Australia. All events had their own peculiarities and were heavily laden with juicy tid-bits for even the most scurrilous of gossip mongers. However, it was the arrival of the Kardashians at the airport which caused the most food for thought – and this had nothing to do with the Karashians in the slightest.
 
It all started ordinarily enough as the media throng assembled at the international terminal at Sydney airport, hoping to record the first glimpses of Kim Kardashian after the announcement of the split with her husnand of 72 days, Kris Humphries. Photographers and camera crews exchanged polite nods as they sought out the best vantage point to capture the action.
 
Kim’s plane was due to land in half an hour but it  became obvious that this landing was going to become a bit of a media circus. A celebrity of Kim’s stature rarely comes through the main gate with the other passengers, and so it appeared on this occasion when three black Audi 4WDs were parked at the back entrance just next to the loading dock exit (which is often used to quickly and quietly ferry out well-known people).
 
I was later met by the head of the security team handling this event, who explained this was indeed so – she would be coming out the loading dock door. He took me to where the cars were parked and introduced me to the relevant security there – explaining to them I was to be allowed in next to the cars as Kim was approaching, and then allowed to get into one of the cars to head off with Team Kardashian. This was after I had provided excellent footage of Kim coming out and then being photographed by assembled media and paparazzi. Hopefully everyone would keep a respectful distance and everyone could happily do their job, get what they needed and be on their way.
 
Of course, the best laid plans often go slightly awry, and so it was on this occasion.
 
It soon became obvious to all cast members where the Kardashians would be exiting, so the media pack, now numbering about 100, started to stake their individual territory. Although I was given dispensation to stand at the front of the pack, I still had to endure the changing rhythms of this forever evolving formation. What started out civilly enough, soon became a huge tug of war as all parties competed for best position. Everyone was knocking into everyone else and names and cat calling became the general mode of communication. A false alarm, or maybe pure artifice, saw a number of media personages start running toward another exit , thus luring other members away from settled position. This worked in part and the re-establishing of positions started in earnest again – as did the cat calling and tension. On more than one occasion federal police had to come and calm everyone down.
 
A casual observer could have been forgiven  for thinking they were witnessing a modern version of ‘Lord of the Flies’: the federal police represented the conch shell, doing their best to maintain a level of civility as these competing parties tried to hunt their own ‘beast’ or prey, of course represented by the Kardashians. Assembled media unfortunately, didn’t seem to have enough Jack or Simons to out muscle the disproportionate number of Jack Merridews. The media pack’s final descent into savagery was fully realised when the Kardashian pack finally exited the loading dock – a full two hours after the plane had landed.
 
Whilst heavily shielded by a slew of federal police, bodyguards and security, the short walk of less than 50 metres became one of the most farcical events ever witnessed by Australian media. Perhaps the only person who maintained any level of dignity in the ensuing mayhem was Kim herself, who was the veritable ’eye of the storm’ in this whole debacle, showing an inner calm as she walked unflinchingly her head down, mouth pursed and eyes wide open.
 
The chaos around her belied belief – photographers who were pushing to get too close were being pinned back by security, equipment was being dropped and smashed, a federal police officer fell over and was stomped on and there was push and shove everywhere.
 
After my own physical struggles with unidentified persons, I eventually forced my way to the front Audi and was whisked away. Only then was I able to look at the very messy footage I had captured – almost all of which were with camera held in one hand far above my head; this is not typically considered textbook method but in this situation, the only option.
 
So Don, “Did you get everything?” I was asked by the head of the PR team once I was inside the car. “Umm, I’m not sure. Sort of.”
 
 
 

Smartset has again made use of the wide open  spaces within the Midnight Shift’s upstairs nightclub as it recently shot some of the posters promoting its  dance shows. Like many such places, it has a very different look and feel during daylight hours when one is of clear head and mind. I have already extolled the virtues this place offers the photographer in a previous blog so will refrain from doing so here.

These posters have been heavily re-touched and are shot against a white roll and thus make no use of the multi-layered backdrops contained within. Instead, any  character contained within  them probably stems from the personalities themselves- ladies who go by names such as Charisma Belle, Joyce Maynge, Tora Hymen,Minnie Cooper,Conchita Grande and .Carmen Geddit, and the re-touching skills of Richard Hughes, who designed the posters themselves.

Published studies on human behaviour invariably account for standard deviation and make good use of bell curves as they make conclusions from the data. Unfortunately, however, the freely given opinions of people about other human beings are often devoid of such latitude of experience, and therefore, invalid. To come to the conclusion that some celebrity is a great human being based on your five-minute experience with them, is just as stupefying as saying they are a bitch.

Be all this as it may, most of us would like to believe that our opinions have been calibrated accurately and are worthy of professional accreditation. I, of course, am no different. Having recently shot a David Jones collection at Bondi’s iconic Icebergs featuring Megan’s new swim wear range, I became an unashamed fan. Shrugging off the strong paparazzi presence which had followed her in her car and were later shooting me shooting her and her models, she put on a brave face, held her head high and displayed a friendly and polite dignity throughout, and showed herself to be a truly good sport. She even stepped in (unasked) to hold the reflector when the work experience girl who I had asked to perform this role didn’t show the necessary dexterity required of this complex task. Good on you Megan- the light shone from you in just the right direction- you can hold my reflector again anytime.

Much thanks to Sydney’s friendliest paparazzo Kirk Powell for the action shots 

You can add only one book on page

This iconic gay venue, known for its extravagant shows featuring the cream of Australia’s gay,lesbian and transgender performers, has no doubt seen its fair share of weird and wonderful ‘situations’ play out over the years. And so it should, as the Pork Star brand is an ode to all things slightly wacky, wholly wonderful and just a little ambiguous.

Replacing the aforementioned performers were some of the brightest new things in Australia’s dining scene, and perhaps its brightest young star Dan Hong, of Miss G’s and Lotus fame. The upstairs nightclub area near the back staircase served as the backdrop for the hero pic for the main Pork Star shot, whilst the club Pork Star shot made use of the main stage and its elaborate velvety curtains. Individual portraits of each of the chefs were also taken, and given the dizzying array of plush lounges and wallpapers, there was no excuse for repeating oneself in order to get an interesting result.

Many thanks to all chefs, Mitch and Kylie from Australian Pork, our hair and make up artist Sim and stylist Tracey. A massive thank you also to the licensee of ’The Shift’ Michael Bourke for use of this fantastic venue.

Whilst footage involving Tim was shot in Manchester, England, the buildings within the CSIRO facility in Lindfield, Sydney were the backdrop for scenes shot of Brett.
The resulting advert will apparently see the two sport stars spliced together within the same scene. Smartset were hired in a secondary role to shoot the stills footage (so how this is done and how it will eventually look we couldn’t say but the huge crew of about thirty people and at least five fully rigged up trucks suggested it was a large operation).

Having said this, Smartset’s role was fairly straightforward, and involved shooting Brett in a variety of poses whenever he was allowed a break from filming. Thus, a few moments of frenzied shooting in between long periods of waiting around. Brett is a dab hand at this sort of thing, and his professionalism made our job very easy- just a few frames of each pose were required to ensure we had the necessary images. For a very standard shoot such as this, particularly when a large film crew is waiting around, time is of the essence. Just as our own role on this day was secondary to that of the film crew, creativity must make way for precise and efficient capture of all shots on the brief.

Whilst they are in very different stages of their career, both are internationally recognised as players who possess a special dynamic that typically has them labelled as the danger men of their team. Whilst Dwight’s flamboyance on the field seems to be an extension of his life in general, this could not be further from the truth for Tim; who is a committed father of three young children and has recently married his long time partner and mother to his three kids. Tim’s trip has included his attendance at a charity dinner at Rooty Hill RSL which served as a fund-raiser for the Tim Cahill Cancer Fund for Children.

In between attending training and the numerous media and charity events Tim is aligned with, he was able to devote a couple of hours to Sanitarium, a brand he has endorsed for many years. Smartset were contracted to shoot the latest Weet-Bix commercial, with the stills to be used on its packets, and as life size point of sale cardboard cutouts. Apart from standard type images of him eating and standing alongsideWeet-Bix products, a series of  ‘action shots’ were attempted specifically his famous flying scissor kick. Whilst necessary precautions such as a crash mat had been put in place, the capture of such a shot within the confines of a studio is not without its difficulties. Principally, that each time a ball is thrown to Tim and he exerts the necessary effort to complete this highly technical manoeuvre, the photographer is allowed but one frame per go (the relatively slow flash recharge times on studio flashes render the cameras motor drive irrelevant in this situation).

After a few goes, however, Tim was timing his scissor kicks pretty sweetly and I had got my timing right. The general rule for me was to click half a second before I thought I should, and I then had half a chance of getting some boot on ball. Yes, technical stuff.

A couple of hours of this sort of thing and we were done. Besides a couple of signed jerseys he left for us, we were left with a feeling that Tim was a superstar without the ego or attitude that one often associates with football superstars today; a man more interested in spending time with his kids and family than more commonly associated trappings of fame.  In an era punctuated by an endless supply of untalented reality TV divas and their posse of obsequious hangers on, it was a refreshing change.

The message is clear – Eat Weet Bix.

You can add only one book on page

Sound Stage 7 at Fox Studios was the unlikely off-site venue chosen to accommodate Perry’s grand vision of staging Australia’s largest ever fashion show, as part of Rosemount Australian Fashion Week 2010. As house photographers for this event, Smartset arrived at the venue at the allotted call time of 3.30pm, many hours before the scheduled show time of 8.30pm. As such, we were witness to the radical transformation of an enormous, dark and cavernous space that looked like it could have been used as an aircraft hangar for the German Luftwaffe pre WWII, to an elegantly laid out space that seemed entirely appropriate to house his 1400 guests and show off his Arabian princess inspired creations.

Behind the scenes, Perry also enlisted a couple of other ‘Greeks done good’ mates to help backstage, with Napoleon Perdis working his magic with the make-up brush, and Renya Xydis in charge of hair. All three are acknowledged masters of their craft, but are equally adept in front of the TV camera and wielding the microphone- which was just as well, as they seemed to be everywhere at this show. Mr Perdis in particular showed amazing dexterity in his ability to conduct multiple interviews and  pose for pictures yet never wavering in his  attention to the girl before him being impeccably made-up. It really was an orderly chaos as the models were  prepared  amongst the slew of photographers, tv crew, PR people, make-up artists, hair dressers and that recently invented term-stylists (what they do I still don’t know).

At a fashion show, if you are running an hour late, this is considered on time, so the mood in the minutes leading up to the eventual start time of approximately 9.45pm was fairly calm and considered.  When the show started, Perry’s vision was brought to life and was a study in his signature brand of elegance- tall slender models sashayed up and down the 150 metre U-shaped runway- the strategically placed down lights and enormous space combining to create a beautiful moody lighting and an unmistakably exciting, tense and  almost surreal atmosphere.

Ffiteen minutes later and it was all over, and Perry himself sashayed down the runway, signature sunnies perched atop his head, to the expected rapturous applause from all present. A very generous delivery time of 8am the next morning was suggested by the PR for delivery of pictures, so the real fun for Smartset begun now as we began sorting  through/editing  2000 plus files to deliver key shots by the allotted time.

You can add only one book on page

With this in mind, Austereo commissioned Smartset to shoot its Grill  team of Mark Geyer, Gus Worland and Stuart McGill in ACDC garb, with a view to recreating the spirit, energy and fervour  the band famously conjures up in its live sets. Such an atmosphere is unapologetically loud and rambunctious, punctuated by a sweaty and masculine air.

It was curious to note; as soon as the talent got changed into costume and the shutter started clicking, they transformed, almost as method actors would do. Familiar tales were shared free and easily by reminiscing tongues. It could be argued that the Smartset team had skillfully engineered such a scenario- the very colourful nature of the banter contributing to the authenticity of the shoot and its ensuing images.

Whatever the case, a lot of laughs were shared between a great bunch of guys in a most convivial atmosphere. We hope you like the resulting images

Smartset recently covered an interesting event in Sydney held at The Wharf Restaurant with international guest chef Fergus Henderson. Fergus is known for his awesome ability to use all the parts of the pig, and not just the obviously tasty ones. Guests experienced the Fergus Henderson celebration of the pig from nose to tail with 3 inspired courses at the skilful hands of Tim Pak Poy, Aaron Ross, Adam Shepherd and the Wharf team. You can check out the video of the even featuring a couple of our shots from the night  HERE.

Wet, grumpy and bleary eyed at having to drive through peak hour traffic in pouring rain to make the appointed 8am media call at the Southee Complex, Olympic Park in Homebush, my disposition was not improved when I was subjected to a mandatory pat down by a police officer with a sniffer dog by his side.- this was a scene that would be repeated in a few days when I would be trying to gain entrance to a long weekend dance party, I thought to myself. The difference, however, was that such measures were put in place to protect his Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama who was speaking to the assembled media on one of his favourite topics-the principles of meditation.

Despite the weather and traffic conspiring against me, I had fulfilled my end of the bargain: I had managed to get to the venue on time. Where was the bloody Dali Lama? Another 20 minutes had elapsed – and still no sign of him!

It was at this point that the representative from a PR firm announced to the media pack: “His Holiness is on his way and won’t be too long,” prompting a colleague to turn to me and ask, “Are you hoping to gain enlightenment from today Don?”

I replied off-handedly that I had experienced all the enlightenment I would ever need when I finalised my divorce twelve months ago. Whilst my glib, off-hand remarks got a bit of a giggle from colleagues (mostly male) in my immediate vicinity, it did get me thinking: Am I really this cynical? My immediate answer was a resounding yes, but I forced myself into a more rigorous internal debate.

Having some Buddhist friends, I am well versed in the rhetoric of his Holiness; indeed, I agree wholeheartedly with many of his ramblings, particularly those centred around the search for truth and compassion, the need for more religious tolerance, the virtues of motherhood and his calls for Tibetan autonomy – issues he touched on whilst standing two metres right in front of me.

My cynicism, moreover, did not involve what he was saying; the issue was rather whether I – your typical inner city living, vain, pretentious, materialistic guy of 35 years – could take something from these teachings and become a better person. Of course not, and I severely doubt whether anybody else in the room could either. Sure, he made us all feel good – in the same way those freaks that lob to Anthony Robbins type seminars hold hands, tell each other they can feel the energy, and thus buy ‘temporary enlightenment’ – are able to feel good.

However, the heart of the Dalai’s mantra revolves around putting away our materialistic instincts, in adopting a ‘being’ mode as apposed to ‘having’ mode. Indeed, he is not the only person who proposed such a theory: Erich Fromm, in his well regarded critique on modern man ‘To Have or to Be’ spruiks a very similar mantra.

The irony with all these guys – Erich, Dalai Lama et al saying similar stuff – is that they are all well regarded, revered and honoured as wise and great men. But society as a whole chooses to merely put them on a pedestal, rather than live their lives according to what they preach, or take from them those values that just legitimize their pre-existing lifestyle. Such is the human condition!

For my part, I was just happy that his holiness is well rehearsed in the art of holding a pose – something that many of Sydney’s current A-List could learn something from.