Bigger Picture Vol.53

Bigger Picture vol. 53

We have evolved! This blog was originally created as a workshop during lockdown to impart knowledge and useful tips about photography. Our new approach is simply to celebrate all things photography: a feel-good, visual feast designed to uplift, inspire and leave you smiling. Amidst the doom and gloom presented by the media, I am so incredibly lucky to work within an industry that is privy to the best bits of life and humanity, reminding me daily that there is so much good in the world. With a new year upon us, I thought it was about time to relaunch our blog and share some of our positive stories to hopefully brighten your day. This is a personal project combing my love for photography and eternal optimism. I am not great with words, so with the exception of this intro, I will let the photos do the talking, after all: a picture speaks a thousand words! Workshop Wednesdays will now be presented as the Bigger Picture once a month, to bring you the very best photos and stories from around the world celebrating life, humanity and family; focussing on what is important to us and remembering the bigger picture, always. Enjoy …

Good News Story

The winners of the 2022 Dog Photography awards, chosen from more than 1,400 entries from 50 different countries

You know by now that we are animal obsessed! We love welcoming dogs (and all animals) into the studio and always looking for inspiration… Just had to share this with you too!

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Daniela Schmid is from Passau in Bavaria, where she captured this shot of a breeder holding a newborn puppy

Sophia Hutchinson. Amber the Dalmatian had undergone two serious leg operations as a puppy and this shot was captured in Leamington Spa in Warwickshire during one of her first off-lead walks since her recovery

Su Kaye attempted an original, unique shot of this dog in her studio, which prompts viewers to question what they see

Joanne Liu’s photograph of a Greenland sled dog curled up in the snow

Dalia Fichmann, portrait of an avalanche rescue dog. Fichmann accompanied an avalanche rescue team in Melchsee-Frutt, Switzerland. To capture the shot, she lay in an ice cave and let dogs search for her

Francesco Junior Mura. This shot was taken at the obstacle course at an agility competition in Italy

Iconic Photographer

Wayne Quilliam

“Aboriginal Artist Wayne Quilliam’s portrait Silent Strength 2021, depicting Aurukun man Eric Yunkaporta in ceremonial head-wear, has won the 2022 National Photographic Portrait.

Quilliam is a leading Indigenous photographic artist, curator and cultural advisor and describes the portrait as like capturing Mother Earth. “In its purest essence, the evolution of culture connects us to Mother Earth. My role as a storyteller continues to evolve and this capture is akin to a trickle of water merging into a small stream then into the ocean. This image of Eric Yunkaporta from Aurukun is Culture”.

In making their decision, the judging panel – award-winning press photographer Nick Moir together with Sandra Bruce, the National Portrait Gallery’s Director of Collection and Exhibitions and Associate Curator Rebecca Ray – said Quilliam’s portrait was a work of immense power and beauty.

“Everything about this portrait is exceptional. The composition, the contrast, the richness of the colours in the ochres and feathers, and also the sense of pride the subject is portraying – all of these layers and details carry such power in connecting the subject and his story with the audience.”

Please check out their website here!

Featured Family of the Month

The Turnbull Family (us!)

As I enter my very first year as a Mum as well as Photographer and Business Owner, I thought I would share an update on our little family before continuing the year showcasing the beautiful families that visit our studio every month. Those that have followed our story know that it’s been quite a journey getting to this point… I launched HP in 2012, met Nic the following year and after 10 years of capturing portraits for thousands of Brisbane families, I finally started one of my own in 2022! We needed a little help from the IVF doctors and were incredibly lucky that our first round was a success – resulting in the arrival of baby Xavier in December. The process was tough (even with a positive result) and not the way you dream of starting a family… however, one really fascinating thing to come out of the experience is the very first image we were presented of our embryo on the day it was implanted. How remarkable that this collection of cells slowly grew into our little wriggly human that we hold in our arms today. It simply blows my mind! The reason I wanted to share this is to give hope to those trying to conceive and to talk openly about IVF – it’s more common than we think. And also to marvel at the technology that makes these kind of images possible! 

Families start in all sorts of ways and ours happened to start like this.

The time is flying already and it reinforces why I love family photography so much… the moments go by so fast and it all feels like a blur… these photos help me remember and I can’t wait to show him one day…

Photo Tip for the Month

“Before you pick up a DSLR, you should have a basic understanding of the various digital file formats. Most DSLRs these days shoot both JPEG and RAW files.
A JPEG has a limited number of brightness levels it can capture as opposed to a RAW file. A JPEG records 256 brightness levels, while a RAW can capture up to 16,384!
Also, each time you edit a JPEG, you lose information. You can completely destroy the quality of a JPEG file by editing it a couple of times.
The beauty of a RAW file is that you can convert it to a JPEG, or another type of file like a PSD (Photoshop) file.”

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Best Wishes From HP!

Thank you for joining us on this blog and we hope it has brightened your day a little bit! Best wishes and big hugs from us,

Hannah, Olivia, Angela, Nic, Xavier, Charlie and George

The Hannah Photography Team