It's beginning to look a lot like Formal season

I think seeing each new generation of kids finishing Year 12 always makes you feel old. Earlier this year, one of my friends from Barcaldine contacted me and asked if I could take photos of her sons Year 12 formal. I can remember this kid from before he was even in primary school, so to be taking his formal photos, wow!

To make it the drive worthwhile, one of his friends Emmanual signed up for his formal photos as well. When I met his family on the day, they were one of the most genuine and friendly families I have ever met.

I’ve never really spent much time in Emerald in a photographic perspective, so I relied on the locals knowledge and we agreed that the Golf club would be nice spot with a beautiful backdrop. They were right, however, the sun was in the wrong position to use any of them!

Good thing I was taking photos of the people, not the backgrounds! The Golf club enabled lots of different looks in one location.

Emmanual was dressed super snappy and looked beyond his years! His family and partner were all amazing in rich, striking colours. I always try and get one amazing photo of each participant and During a photoshoot, I always try and make sure I grab one amazing photo. Emmanual’s ride turned out to the best photographic element to incorporate into such a photo.

Emmanual said he has a job as an apprentice mechanic and will be running with that once he was finished school.

Then it was time for the reason I had travelled to Emerald. A quick last minute change of location meant that I was heading to the Sunflower Park in Emerald. You know the one – with the giant portrait of sunflowers in the middle.

The new location posed new environmental challenges. The way the sun was positioned I had to shoot towards the car park, however I was able to blur and crop most of the cars out so you wouldn’t even realise. There were a few less photographic options at the park, but nothing we couldn’t handle.

Zayden’s family was massive – he brought along aunts and cousins and I wouldn’t be surprised if the nurse that delivered him was there haha! Zayden’s stepsister was his partner, so I decided to ask her to tell some embarrassing stories of Zayden as he was growing up. Let’s just say there were probably some things shared that mum shouldn’t know about! It did provide some great photos however.

It was so easy to capture photos of Zayden and his cool, casual vibe really resonated through the photos.

I love photographing kids for their formals – it really pushes me to my limits of creativity within tight time constraints. Next month I will be photographing a few kids for the Barcaldine School formal – stay tuned to hear more about that!