Alexia Sinclair

Whispers in the Woods

2015-07-30T09:52:13Z

Whispers in the Woods © Alexia Sinclair 2015

"Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it"

No location has ever creeped me out as much as this one, and it's for that very reason it's so important to reclaim what it once was. To try and reshape it's horrible history into something more than just a forest of bones.

Over the past month I've ventured into the woods of the Belanglo state forest no less than half a dozen times to create this image. Those familiar with the name will need no further introduction. For the uninitiated, all I will say is that it's notoriety was gained through the heinous crimes committed there in the early 90s.

My Dance with the Macabre

I often talk about my love of chiaroscuro (the play of light and dark) and this painting style plays an integral role in the way I produce the look of my work. My play with light and dark extends beyond a visual style too. Telling a dark story in a hauntingly beautiful way is intended to leave a bittersweet sensation in the viewer, and this is clearly my intent with my latest creation.

Early in my career during the research for my series The Regal Twelve, I like many, became infatuated with the mystery surrounding the execution of the Russian royal family, whose bodies were only located almost a century later amongst the leafy outskirts of Yekaterinburg in southern Russia.

In search of a new location, I found myself wandering through the decaying old pine plantation of Belanglo forest. In truth, it's hard not to feel like you're being observed. That sensation that lifts the hairs on your neck also ignited my imagination with the tales of two influential stories of my past, the predatory fable Little Red Riding Hood and the folklore surrounding the disappearance of Princess Anastasia of the House of Romanov.

Bringing the who, what, where, when & why together.

With the character, location & story in place I'd need to produce a scene to visualise the similarities between them all.

The checklist included; fabricating a red hooded dress, a diamond encrusted Fabergé case depicting Nikolai Romonov, a wolf, and crow like birds.

Hooded Dress by Alexia Sinclair © Alexia Sinclair 2015

My love of symbolism made me determined to have a murder of crows in the scene, interacting with my character. Eerily, I haven't heard a single bird out at Belanglo so this would be composite.

Crows are very intelligent and not easily manipulated. So although I spent weeks luring birds into the studio setup in my garden with a smorgasbord of delights, the closest I could capture on camera were the equally beautiful native Currawongs.

Domesticated wolves are neigh impossible to come by (in Australia anyway) thus we look to it's closest relative in appearance the Siberian Husky. Unfortunately unleashed racing huskies are likely to race home to Siberia, so my hunt for a big bad wolf lead me to a cheeky pack of racing huskies that I photographed in a studio setting with lighting that mirrored that of our heroine in the woods.

Lighting the woods

We were about 50km to the nearest power outlet, so we'd need to rely on battery & generator for the lighting. We started with an overhead octa at about 1.5 stops under, our beauty dish would act as our key and two 1x4' strips would lightly separate our subject from the woods. For detailed placement of the lighting check the 360 degree panorama below.

Why documenting your work so important?

After every shoot I like to document the dress that I've created and used on the production. I can't stress this enough to those embarking on creating art for the purpose of exhibition. As a artist you need to establish every decision well in advance, and the best way to do this is by keeping a visual diary, fill it with references to your inspiration and most importantly document your decisions along the way.

Building a series.

People often struggle with the process of building a series of artworks. It’s really challenging to think about the bigger picture well in advance. Foreseeing the future isn’t for the faint of heart. Planning can seem to take the spontaneity and fun out of being an artist and can make the whole thing seem really daunting. But it’s well worth knowing what the future holds.

Some helpful things to consider when planning a series are: mood-boards / treatments, time-lines, budgets, audience, outcomes, research, themes, locations, costumes, props, sets, hair and makeup artists, gear, sponsorship and the one thing that everyone holds their breath over at that final moment… finding the right model / talent.

This probably sounds like a very commercial way to think about making art, but my experience from doing commercial work has taught me that it’s best to approach your personal work by considering yourself a client with a deadline and a firm budget.

Writing a proposal for your series, like I did for my Master of Fine Arts or any time I’ve exhibited my work in galleries, museums or festivals, I’ve had to submit a proposal. It’s so rewarding because proposals help you consider all of the things I have just mentioned. Proposals develop your ideas. Why am I making this? Who am I making it for? What am I making? Who am I? Haha, ok maybe not the meaning of life.

Who am I making this work for? You! So thank you for coming on my journey with me in my series Into the Gloaming. Thus far I have introduced you to my story teller who held the book of my stories in Into the Gloaming. My next character Titania led us into the magical world of make-believe as a gate keeper between two worlds in Kissed by the Moon. Now we get our first glimpse of the Grimm Brother’s Little Red Riding hood in Whispers in the Woods. I hope you enjoy all I have in store for you!

Photography / Postproduction / Costuming: Alexia Sinclair
Video Production: James Hill
Hair / makeup: Sarah Laidlaw
Model: Tallulah Richardson
Husky: Scout

Kissed by The Moon

2015-06-21T23:53:52Z

Kissed by The Moon © Alexia Sinclair 2015" title="Kissed by The Moon © Alexia Sinclair 2015"/>

Kissed by The Moon © Alexia Sinclair 2015

Leaving the studio

As much as I love set construction and working in the studio (it never rains), some things just can't be recreated on set, namely a gorgeous one hundred year old weeping beech tree. I scouted much of the Southern Highlands in NSW in search of the perfect magical tree and was drawn once again to the splendour of Milton Park. The gardens of this the esteemed country estate are home to some of the oldest Oaks, Elms, Beeches and Maples outside of Europe.

With only a week until the tree would lose all it's leaves (it's winter in Australia) we had to act fast to manifest this gateway between the real and the surreal.

Shooting on location is all about planning for that 5 minute window where the ambient intersects with the artificial and creates something otherworldly. With that in mind the only question that matters is: When exactly will the Sun be in that 5 minute window?... and then how do I make sure that everything is ready for that moment.

Set beneath those variegated leaves I went about planning the shoot "Kissed by the Moon". The scene would be inspired by Titania from Shakespear's A midsummer night's dream, and Titania queen of the faries would act as the medium between the two worlds.

Our scene needed to look moonlit, yet register all the detail in the shadows as an eye would. We'd be shooting at ISO50 on a Phase One IQ280, coupled with a reasonable shutter speed as to not register movement from the tree. We'd be using the sun to create artifical "moonrays" and strobe lighting to give my hero a dewy sheen. Couple all the above with a decent DOF and we'd need to time this just right.

Pre-production

Prior to embarking on this journey I needed a costume, one that would befit our nocturnal hero. Following on from chapter one's theme of printing upon the Belgian Linen that I would later sew into the costume; I settled upon the creature of the night that seeks the light. The humble yet incredibly beautiful (detailed) moth.

While I had photographed moths for artworks before, none at the detail I required to print a 2 square meter cape. I hired a Schneider 120mm Macro and set about lighting to capture the most intricate detail I possibly could.
With a makeshift focus stacking rail and an hour later my appreciation for intricate macro photography was well and truely realised.

Lighting the moths, two heads powered by a Profoto B4 with barn doors attached to prevent flare on the camera. Even power distribution.

Raw detail of moth wing through 120mm Macro

The final moth gown

My shoot crew

My search for the right model to play our hero Titania began with a desire to find an albino model. A strange desire you may think, but to me, a magical moonlit night seemed the right setting for someone whose fragile skin can't be photographed in full sunlight, whose sensitive eyes prefer the shadows, a nocturnal creature like my moth, someone who is "Kissed by the Moon". As fortune would have it, my model Lauren turned out to be a kindred spirit and she embraced her role entirely.

The extraordinary hair sculpture in this artwork was produced by my resident hair genius Sarah Laidlaw. Another kindred spirit, Sarah has been an integral part of my team for many years, bringing with her a suitcase of wigs and a hat full of tricks... and lots of chocolate and hugs.

Typically you'll see a large lad lurking in the shadows of my shoots lugging equipment around. James is my husband, my producer and my gear junky. He takes the stress out of the day with his technical finesse yet adds the stress to life with his demanding deadlines. James is my yin and my yang. Life is one big ticking clock!

With the majority of pre-production coming together at a frantic pace we turn to the intricies of the shoot day. Having used sunseeker the iPhone app to plot the location of the sun we knew we were on to shoot at 4pm. Of course that means rigged by midday, hair & makeup done by 3pm and the model on Location by 3:30pm, leaving us 30 minutes in reserve.

After spending two weeks in pre-production it all comes down to those 5 minutes when the model is in position. We threw in some smoke from our trusty smoke machine, backlit by the gorgeous Sun filtering through the leaves and with that we were done. Photographers get a bad rap for always saying "one more shot", but when you've spent so long planning an image it's hard to let the euphoria end, and that it will when the sun sets.

Into the Gloaming

2015-05-02T04:35:45Z

The full 15 minute behind-the-scenes documentary of the creation of Into the Gloaming.

For those not up to date on their old English. The gloaming is that time of day where the soft glow of dusk envelopes your soul. Where the nocturnal gatekeepers take control and anything seems possible. You can (at least I do) imagine secret doorways in the trunks of trees or toadstools the size of houses. It's easy to understand why it's commonly known as the magic hour, anything seems possible and that's where we begin.

Real mushrooms on the set of Into the Gloaming

The Set

This was probably the hardest part of the entire shoot to compile. I had never printed onto an adhesive material before, how would the inks react?, what dynamic range would I get?. We were entering completely new territory. Had it been a simple flat wall there would have been very little drama... However, as I like challenges, I wanted the image (which I had earlier composited) to wrap and warp around the book case, to merge the two worlds of inside and out.

Make sure you watch the behind-the-scenes documentary as you won't believe where I sourced the mushrooms (seen in the lower right of frame). In short they are grown in an 600 meter long decommissioned train tunnel which prior to mushroom farming held World War II munitions for the United States Government.

The Castle, made from MDF, plaster & dirt.

The Book of Fables

The book & castle are essentially the hero of the artwork. They are presented to us, handed down generation after generation, it's within the book that the series will evolve. Of course it's not a real book of fables, it's an old manuscript from the 18 century which I sourced on the cheap to build a model castle on. I had originally tried to source a commercially manufactured castle to save on time but as the French say it needed a certain je ne sais quoi. In the end we spent several days hand constructing the model castle I had imagined.

The Gown, Print on Belgium Linen

The Gown

The gown is one of those recursive metaphors. For the storyteller to be immersed in the artwork her attire needed to be the artwork. After brief flirtations with printing on fabric I had decided now was the time to construct something more elaborate. We foraged for local ivy and lilies, once we had the still life composed in the studio we photographed plates ready for printing onto a Belgium Linen with my large format (Epson 9900) printer.

It's crucial to look laterally to see how we can get the most out of our tools. Of course we use our tools to capture the final photograph, but why not use them for other things like prop, costume & set creation?

The Trailer

And don't forget to follow Alexia's daily updates on Facebook (http://facebook.com/alexiasinclair) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/alexiasinclair).

A Frozen Tale

2014-03-17T01:23:00Z

2013 began with an exciting email I received from The Royal Armoury (of Stockholm) inviting me to exhibit work in a exhibition they were curating. Christina of Sweden (from my series The Regal Twelve) would exhibit alongside a collection of artefacts en-route from the Vatican Library.

Next, an invitation from the palace arrived in the mail, formally inviting me to attend the opening of the exhibition, It also notified me that it would opened by the King’s sister (making it a truly aristocratic affair).

Let's just say, it doesn't take much to spark my imagination with fantasy...

What if I could photograph a Swedish Princess or produce a shoot in a palace? I couldn't imagine they would say yes, but then again it never hurts to ask! … I spoke with the team at livrustkammaren (The Royal Armoury) and they invited me to do a photo shoot in one of their most famous castles, Skokloster Slott. Heart racing, I clumsily googled the castle in my haste and excitement.

What followed whet my appetite for an epic Swedish adventure and immediately a story of castle life began to grow in my imagination.

Skokloster Slott is considered one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture in all of Europe. Described as a cabinet of curiosities inside a cabinet of curiosities, nothing could truly prepare me for the magnificence of each room and it’s collection. This 350 year old castle sits upon a frozen lake, and has ice running through it’s core (at least it did when I was there)!

Stuffed full of priceless collections of art, weapons and books, all completely preserved (from the sub-zero temperatures) Skokloster Slott is now a museum and exceptional example of life in the 17th Century. I started to think about artworks in a series that could be themed to each room.

I learnt early on that I had to sketch my thoughts and ideas or I become a complete insomniac. So I began the project as I do all of my projects… I had a theme and I could see a few examples of the rooms from the castle, so I began to study fashions and famous historical figures who had visited the building. I put together mood boards and planned shots. I put out social media calls for volunteers, searching for assistants and models of all shapes and sizes, all willing to lend a hand for what would become an epic swedish adventure.

I studied paintings of the period and got swept up in the works of Vermeer and his study of the middle class and common person and this is something I really focused on in the series. But I’m never too far away from the grandeur of regal themes and several famous aristocrats and historical figures who had visited the castle also became anchors for a central theme within the series.

When I’m building a series, I’m working on many themes simultaneously, and always linking these themes back together into a series. But I’m also thinking a lot about the style and feel of the series and how I can logistically bring this to life. What really moved me most about paintings of this period was the atmosphere and this was going to become a big part of my approach to building this series. Before the advent of electricity, buildings were filled with soot and smoke from open fireplaces and ovens and rooms were lit with candles and the sun that poured through the giant windows. This was the atmosphere I planned to add to my series.

Once things start to fall into place, I had a location, I had models and assistants, I had costuming and themes, I bring everything together into schedules, draw lighting diagrams and additional mood board treatments for my makeup team to follow. I began to ask for permission to have animals and smoke machines on location and this is where things became even more challenging.

Lighting the Cabinets of Curiosity

The first obstacle was that I was not allowed to have anything but lighting, and people in the building. We couldn’t touch a thing, couldn’t sit on a thing, and it’s really hard for a model to interact with an environment in they’re not able to touch anything. So I needed to organise chairs and books that were not antique for the models to interact with, and replace them in post production at a later date. When you look at The Armoury, you would naturally assume that the model is sitting on that chair, next to a dog, with a blue sash dropping to the ground. Not so, these are all elements that were restricted and required to be added afterwards.

My next obstacle was that I could not bring in the atmospheric components that I so desperately wanted to shoot in camera. I always prefer to shoot as much as possible in camera. But this is not a high budget film and this castle is not my property and rules must be obeyed. In The Feast, the water pouring from the jug into the tulips, the geese, the butterflies, all shot afterwards and added in post.

It’s much much easier to have everything on set, shot in camera and then grade an image in post production. But these were unfortunately elements I would need to shoot and add afterwards. Of course, this is something that needs to be planned for in the actual location shoot. I would need props as stand-ins for my models because they can’t sit in mid-air, and my models, who are all really only volunteers and fans of my work, who live on the other side of the planet and I’d never met, well they’d need to role-play the interactions with the elements that weren’t really there.

Another challenge was the discovery that the planned lighting (generators running from mains power) we’d organised in Stockholm was useless because there was no power in the castle… part of it’s preservation. This I discovered once we’d landed in Sweden and driven out through the woodlands to the frozen castle, arriving just as the sun set. We stepped into the icy Aladdin’s cave only to see darkness and be handed flashlights. Through the darkness we stumbled with little beams of light picking up small areas of various rooms. How on earth was I going to do twelve shoots here starting at 5am the next morning, when I couldn’t even do a recce? This rambling old building had so many rooms and even hidden rooms, within rooms, locked from the public and hidden by the dark night sky, and all I could do was hope that I could think fast enough on my feet to capture everything I wanted before flying back to Sydney.

We spent the next two days running from one incredible room to the next, I’ve never worked so fast. The story-boards and schedule went right out the window and I just had to think on my feet at every moment. I’d race through dozens of rooms, pick a spot, quickly speak to James about my lighting, and everyone would pack up the lights, race up and down stairs to the next location, and get set up before the incredible sun we were chasing had disappeared. I’d prep the next model and try to create an atmosphere that set the tone for the scene to unfold. There were so many magical moments and everyone involved was incredible.

Quite incredibly, we’d all made it through two enormously challenging and tiring days and we were on our final shoot. The scene was the library and this is something I’d planned from the very beginning. I’d read about a famous Italian diplomat who had visited the castle and written a controversial book about it’s inhabitants and famous visitors. I had hand made paper with Italian script printed on each page that I sourced from the period and stained each page to act as a central prop that would appear in each artwork. In this final library scene, my Italian would stand in the centre of the room, the assistants would throw the paper up in the air, to represent the anarchy he’d left behind when he wrote about Skokloster Slott. The crew threw the paper in the air like confetti to celebrate the final frame of the shoot… and it was then, from the corner of my eye, I spotted the room…

The Cabinets of Curiosity - Location Shot

The room was another library apartment, with a focus on The Age of Discovery. Any gentleman of the period would own a collection that would include maps and globes of exotic lands and the castle’s creator, count Carl Custaf Wrangel, was like a continental Prince who’d peacock his possessions for all the aristocrats to see. The room was extraordinary and I had to have it in my series.

My challenges had become too great to shoot a model on location… the laptop we were tethered to was flat, my card has 3 frames left, the sun was disappearing, my models had gone home, my crew were beginning to look mutinous to say the least… this would need to be a composite image. So, I set up my tripod and shot several long exposures with natural light filtering in through the window. Gleefully rubbing my hands together, I began to imagine the magic I could produce in this adventurous room.

Returning to Australia, I busied myself with sourcing and photographing all of the additional elements for the series, including the atmospheric smoky light to grade the series like the 17th century paintings I’d been inspired by when beginning the project. When I’d eventually completed all of the artworks we’d shot on location, it was now time to start planning my final artwork. Using the background plate I’d shot at the castle in Sweden, I sketched out the new costume to match the tonal palette of the room, and planned my studio shoot in Sydney. The style of the costuming and hair are indicative of the flamboyant 18th century styling found in much of my work, rather than the more conservative 17th century styling seen in the rest of the series.

Sketching / Pre-vis

The artworks that were shot on location are subtle and delicate in approach, and their stories are contained within the castle. In contrast, my aim with this final artwork was to produce a sensational image to serve as the hero image for the series. One that would capture the imagination of viewers and encourage them to look through the telescope also and come on an adventure to frosted foreign lands.

The Cabinets of Curiosity explores the theme of adventure and discovery. In many ways, the invented character in this work symbolises my own exploration of the castle set on the frozen Swedish lake.

The Cabinets of Curiosity by Alexia Sinclair

A Frozen Tale @ QCP

2014-02-04T22:59:21Z

My latest series, A Frozen Tale opens at the Queensland Centre for Photography tomorrow night (Saturday 18th of January from 5 – 8 pm). If you're in the Brisbane area, get down and take a look at the prints, printed luxuriously large on gorgeous canson edition etching paper.

The exhibition then runs from 19th of January – 16th of February 2014.

During the Swedish Age of Greatness in the mid 17th century, count Carl Custaf Wrangel commissioned a majestic castle to be built on Lake Mälaren, 80km from Stockholm.

Considered to be one the finest examples of baroque architecture in all of Europe, Skokloster Slott houses vast collections of paintings, antiques, tapestries, weaponry and rare books.

So famous was the count, that Queen Christina of Sweden was regularly seen visiting the powerful military commander at Skokloster Slott. Italian diplomat Lorenzo Magalotti even visited Skokloster, controversially describing Wrangel in his book "Sweden in the year 1674" as behaving like a continental prince.

During the colder months, the giant lake completely freezes over, and with it, the sumptuous contents of the castle have been frozen in time. Today, the castle has become a famous museum and quite remarkably, the preserved interiors have remained untouched for over 300 years.

"A Frozen Tale" weaves a narrative around some of the famous visitors of Skokloster Slott, such as Queen Christina and Lorenzo Magalotti. Other more obscure figures portray the background scenes of castle life as the ghostly inhabitants caught in quiet moments.

Raw brilliance from Phase One

2013-10-28T06:32:16Z

A raw PhaseOne IQ180 | Image @ 25% | Loupe @ 100% | Test shot for the hoods collection.

First to note, the above image is raw, apart from the various sharpening filters that you can't avoid when uploading files to social media, it's about as raw as you're going to get.

So why do I love digital medium format? About 6 years ago I picked up a 2nd hand Hasselblad H1 & PhaseOne P25+ from one of Australia's press outlets... To date, I had shot all my work on negative with a 645 Mamiya and slavishly scanned each frame. Obviously with digital, there was the time saved not having to worry about dust and scratches to the negative, but the real boon was the colour depth and oh so beautiful tonal range.

While I still own the PhaseOne P25+, I try to shoot all my new work on the IQ180/280. The colour depth of this camera is second to none. It's tonal range for capturing all the subtleties of skin is absolutely phenomenal. Simply put, there is nothing quite like working in post-production than with an IQ file.

Simply put there is nothing quite like working in post-production than with an IQ file.

If you think medium format digital is out of your budget then take a look around for some second hand systems. I've seen them popping up time to time from about $7K, there are even brand new systems from Phase One starting around $15K (if you live in the states).

While it seems like a lot compared to a 35mm DSLR. Consider it this way, you will probably replace your 35mm DSLR two to three times in a 10 year period. Compare that to my P25+ which is now 10 years old and still used as my primary mode of digital capture.

Oh and the little guy in the pupil, that's my technical producer James, whose 20/20 vision I can always rely on when we're working with depths of field in the millimetre range.

For those in Australia, you may want to checkout L&P's second hand selection.

Photoshop Workspace

2013-10-20T04:39:07Z

Alexia's had a few requests for her workspace preset. We've bundled it up here for you to download. Along with a little how-to install photoshop workspace's video by yours truly.

Jenny Kee - Waratah Queen

2013-10-19T06:30:20Z

Jenny Kee - Waratah Queen – © Alexia Sinclair 2013

Something extraordinary happens when a body is busy making new life. My hands and feet are bloated in this hot Australian spring and the side effect of carpel tunnel numbness is making my postproduction work a challenge. Yet, I spend hours awake each night possessed by an imagination more vivid than ever, obsessively building new artworks to the most minute detail, and filing them away into a stockpile of to-do's.

Seven months pregnant is about the time most people call it quits and start nesting. I should have a room ready for the arrival of our little girl. Instead, the sewing machine, boxes of costumes and props flow from this room and continue to feed my desperate burning desire to make more and more art, though the body is an unwilling participant!

It's as though I need to squeeze every last drip of creative juice out of my body before our little one becomes the centre of my world...

Recently, with the roaring fires of the Blue Mountains, I felt compelled to spend a day on the hot and smoky mountain, building a set of Australian natives and wildflowers for a portrait of famed Waratah Queen, Jenny Kee. With every leaf and petal in place, it withered in the fiery heat before the next was in place. This sense of hardship is quite at home in the dry bushland of the Blue Mountains and this latest shoot became a challenge that required unremitting perseverance and hope as I muttered... we haven't done a single easy shoot this year!!!

Music for cinematic inspiration

2013-10-11T22:11:46Z

First up... you’ll want to hit the big play button, then scroll to bellow the playlist to read the rest of this article.

Let me state emphatically, music and specifically the right music is essential to everything I (and most likely you) do as a photographer & artist... and I'm not speaking figuratively!

It's well documented that music has an effect on our emotions. Athletes use music to raise their adrenaline production, sending them into a trance like state ready for competition. Equally there has been research into the effects of music on animals, particularly those in welfare or captivity.

So it comes as no surprise that if you’re photographing a portrait, and you’re not getting the right emotion from your subject, chances are they’re not listening to the right music.

The playlist you’re listening to right now isn't one I crafted for pre-production or production (it’s probably not up tempo enough for a shoot) but it's a selection of songs that I will listen to (usually on repeat) during the post-production stage of artwork creation.

I use this music or similar tracks by the same artists (usually film scores) to send me into a cinematic trance if you will. In such a trance I feel inspired, I feel like I can creatively solve difficult post-production problems, I feel energetic, and I will easily find myself working productively for hours.

If you're not getting the results you’re after, try changing up your playlist.

Let me know your results on twitter, facebook or google+.

A day in the life

2013-09-28T05:00:47Z

While exhibiting at the Davenport Regional Art gallery, The gallery asked some questions in relation to the day in the life of Alexia Sinclair. This is the final video they produced. I believe it's airing on ABC News 24 at various times throughout the day.

The Dissection of Alexander

2013-07-17T22:22:06Z

This is a 30 second video I've been presenting at conferences lately, I thought it'd be nice to share with everyone. It's a dissection the predominate layers that go into making the Alexander artwork from The Royal Dozen.

A Swedish Affair

2013-05-15T11:11:10Z

Last year I received a very exciting invitation from The Royal Armoury in Stockholm, to be part of their much anticipated exhibition Images of Christina.

The exhibition is based on the fascinating life of Christina of Sweden, the rebellious 17th Century Queen who became a favourite of the Vatican. Remarkably, Queen Christina is one of only four women to be buried in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, alongside the remains of the popes. The exhibition includes rare artefacts from the Vatican Library, along with a collection of Christina's portraits, including my artwork Christina of Sweden – The Androgynous Queen from The Regal Twelve series.

My next exciting invitation arrived by post, to attend the inauguration of Images of Christina in the State Hall of the Royal Palace in Stockholm. Speakers included Sweden's current Princess Christina, The Prefect of the Vatican Library and the Swedish Minister of Culture.

Thirty hours of flying later, we had the pleasure of attending the inauguration, where we were treated to opera performances and a session with the amazing cellist Linnea Olsson.

Inside The Royal Armoury we got to experience the exhibition we'd travelled so far to see. I felt so honoured to be a part of this collection!

Here's a little treat we made for you, a 360 degree image we shot so you can experience a small part of this extensive exhibition.

To see this exhibition in person, it is open to the public from 19th April, 2013 – 5th January, 2014.

The Royal Armoury
Slottsbacken 3 (The Royal Palace)
Stockholm, Sweden
http://livrustkammaren.se

Step inside the gallery

2013-05-17T07:14:55Z

I'm receiving lots of enquiries from those who missed out on seeing my new artwork La Coiffure Oiseau in the group exhibition at 10x8 Gallery Don't fret! This artwork is part of a new body of work I'm currently producing and there will be lots of opportunities to see this work in person, in the future.

In the mean time, here's a digital experience instead. Recently, we've been playing with shooting 360º panoramas for a top secret project. Naturally, as the group exhibition came to a close, we documented the show so that you can experience this exhibition.

Artists from left to right: Raul Canibano, Alexia Sinclair, Andrew Quilty, James Brickwood, William Yang, Stephen Dupont, Rennie Ellis, Donna Bailey, Marco Bok.

10x8 Gallery group show

2013-04-07T04:34:03Z

La Coiffure Oiseau - Alexia Sinclair - 2013

Please join me at 10x8 Gallery for the launch of a group exhibition on Saturday 13th April.
I will be featuring work from my new series, Pictured above "La Coiffure Oiseau" will be on display for the very first time.

The public opening will be on Saturday 13th April 2pm – 5pm
The show runs from 11th April – 11th May, 2013

RSVP is essential for opening: rsvp10x8@iinet.net.au

Address:
10x8 Gallery
Level 5 / 56 - 60 Foster St
Surry Hills NSW 2010

Casting Call - Interesting people

2013-03-18T22:04:43Z

I'm in the midst of pre-production of a photo shoot which will take place in an incredible castle in the magnificent country of Sweden.

So with that in mind, we're on the hunt for anyone who's preferably living in Sweden or will be in Sweden in mid-late April 2013.

We require:

Actors, models and acting/theatrical enthusiasts. (aged: 18-80, sexes, shapes and sizes).
Makeup and hair artists.
Stylists.

For crew please get in touch with me via info@alexiasinclair.com.

For casting please get in touch via the casting page! https://alexiasinclair.com/scout/casting/new.

Hope to hear from you!!

Casting Call - Fair Ladies

2013-01-02T02:04:00Z

Detail - Marie Antoinette - Alexia Sinclair - 2005

I'm on the hunt for new faces for my current fine art project! Right now I'm looking for someone with a fair complexion who's blessed with youth.

Could you be my next Marie Antoinette?

Specifics:

18 - 26 years old (approximate).
Blond hair (longish).
Pale clear skin.
No height requirements at all.

Interested? Please send me some clear natural photos that show you without makeup. How? Complete this easy casting form at https://alexiasinclair.com/scout/casting.

Talent is required to reside within Sydney or willing to travel to Sydney at their expense for a 4 hour shoot sometime during January - February 2013.

I love seeing different types of faces and races for my portraits. I keep everyone in a private archive and should the right project pop up, I'll be in touch with you.

Don't be shy!

Highlights from 2012

2012-12-11T07:43:36Z

Li Cunxin – Alexia Sinclair 2012

With the opportunity to work with Li Cunxin and Queensland Ballet, I couldn't resist photographing the master himself. I chose to portray Li's contrasts through a classical portrait. His intense gaze softened by surrounding black ballet tulle. If you haven't seen the film (Mao's Last Dancer) based on Li's life, please do. Its superb.

To see this image in full and the rest of the highlights from 2012 then checkout out our newsletter here, if you'd like to signup for our newsletter head to the contact page.

Queensland Ballet

2012-09-27T13:06:09Z

The Nutcracker – Queensland Ballet – Alexia Sinclair – 2012

Several years ago I watched the inspiring film Mao’s Last Dancer. This adaptation of a best selling autobiography is a true story about the remarkable life of Li Cunxin. Born into a peasant family in an impoverished village in China, Li went on to become one of the world’s most famous dancers.

After dancing for the Houston Ballet for sixteen years he fell in love with an Australian ballerina and moved to Melbourne. Becoming the principal dancer with the Australian Ballet, Li later began to live a double life as both a dancer and a stockbroker. In Li’s next chapter, he left dance behind and rose to become a senior manager at one of the largest broking firms in Australia. Until now…

After a fifteen-year absence from ballet, Li has just returned as the newly appointed Artistic Director of Queensland Ballet.

Enter Alexia! I grew up in ballet shoes and I love dance with every inch of my body. Picture me sitting on my couch watching Mao’s Last Dancer and sobbing at the moment when Li’s parents finally see him perform for the very first time. It’s only natural that working with ballet legend Li Cunxin was at the top of my bucket list.

Serendipitously, I received an invitation from Queensland Ballet to work alongside Li Cunxin to produce their 2013 Campaign imagery. It was one of those opportunities that offered me the chance to work my arse off for several months and have the honour of art directing exactly what I wanted.

To add a little fuel to the fire, ABC’s Australian Story filmed Li during our photo shoots. You may just see a little behind the scenes action.

Australian Story - Episode 14 - Leap of Faith airs on ABC 1 8.00pm Monday 1st Oct 2012.

Giselle – Queensland Ballet – Alexia Sinclair – 2012

Cinderella – Queensland Ballet – Alexia Sinclair – 2012

Li Cunxin Studio Series – Queensland Ballet – Alexia Sinclair – 2012

Branding 2013 – Queensland Ballet – Alexia Sinclair – 2012

Casting Call - Faces

2012-05-29T07:56:44Z

This is a casting call for all women aged 18-35 interested in participating in an upcoming fine-art series I’m shooting.

The shoot will only encompase the upper body and face and therefore has no height restriction. We are ideally looking for women with long hair, medium to full lips, clear skin (freckles are fine). Talent is required to reside within Sydney or willing to travel to Sydney at their expense for a 3 hour shoot sometime during July - August 2012.

Interested? Please complete the casting form at https://alexiasinclair.com/scout/casting.

Female
Age: 18-35
No Height Restriction
Medium - Long Hair
Medium to Full Lips
Clear Skin (Freckles are fine)
In Sydney during July - August 2012

Radar: Pre-Raphaelites

2012-06-14T23:20:24Z

Veronica Veronese - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

In my second year of art school in 1995, I discovered the Pre-Raphaelites. This discovery was the turning point for me as an artist, it was my eureka moment. Quite literally, I remember the penny dropping. All of the things I’d been trying to say in my art suddenly made sense. I was a romantic. I was a storyteller. I loved detail.

Christ in the house of his parents - John Everett Millais

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English artists and poets founded in 1849. The three driving figures of this movement were William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Their objective as a group was to reform art by ignoring the conventional Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo (hence the term “Pre-Raphaelite”). Rejecting the Mannerist’s mechanical and artificial painting styles, the pre-Raphaelites preferred classical poses in complex compositions with an abundance of detail and rich colour.

To me, the Pre-Raphaelite’s made paintings look so perfect, it was as though they’d composed a photograph. This was partly the reason I came to love photography above all other fine art tools. Complex narratives formed the themes of their work. Appealing to my fragile teenage character, the Pre-Raphaelites often focused on tragic heroines from famous poems and literature. I’d been story telling in my work for some time, but I lacked an understanding of the employment of symbolism. This was something the Pre-Raphaelite’s introduced into my world. Telling a story with detail and symbolism can be a powerful tool.

Ophelia - John Everett Millais

There’s an engrossing drama serial about the Pre-Raphaelites called Desperate Romantics. Makes for a good lazy Sunday and you’ll wakeup inspired on Monday. A nice way to start your week.

The Death of Chatterton - Henry Wallis

Interview with Trey Ratcliff

2012-06-19T03:49:45Z

Radar: Melvin Sokolsky

2012-05-18T08:52:11Z

Image © Melvin Sokolsky

American photographer Melvin Sokolsky came onto my radar at the end of the 90’s… around the time that I was transitioning from analogue to digital photography.

This transition was primarily a move from set construction in the studio to construction in Photoshop. Essentially, I was attracted to the idea of seamless sets, a digital world where my fantasies could run wild. I still shot everything in the studio, but now some of these photos could find their way into unlikely scenarios.

My constructed tableaux took on a new laboured process. No more hand cutting, sanding, rearranging and rephotographing my hand-printed photographs. I gave up my scissors and wet lab for a neg scanner, vector pen, geek glasses and colour profile.

Inevitably with age (or maturity as we thirty-something’s like to call it), nostalgia kicks in and we revisit out roots. My process today involves a combination of analogue sets and digital painting.

My inspirations often have nostalgic roots too.

Image © Melvin Sokolsky

If you haven’t discovered Melvin Sokolsky, you are yet to explore the works of one of the godfathers of fantasy fashion photography. He was initially attracted to becoming a professional photographer for the large sums of money that advertising campaigns can offer and advertising takes up most of his portfolio. However, this legendary photographer’s most celebrated works were shot for Harpers Bazaar and Vogue in the swinging 60’s. His ‘Bubble’ series defies logic as floating fashion models are suspended in clear bubbles throughout Paris. He often worked in the studio with models suspended on cables and montaged, in the darkroom, into new locations. Models could be seen floating above diners and above city streets, long before the invention of Photoshop.

“In the world of photography various forms of image manipulation have evolved over the decades and most recently into the powerful tool called Photoshop.” – Melvin Sokolsky

It was only natural that Sokolsky would gravitate towards Photoshop. I’m sure the good people of Adobe had artists like Sokolsky in mind when they invented Photoshop. When asked about the use of Photoshop, Sokolsky responds “cavemen used a primitive version of Photoshop when they reworked their drawings on the walls of caves. Through out the history of art, artists have made great efforts to individualise their images. If a painter doesn’t like the shape or size of a face, with a few strokes of the brush they can change it”.

Image © Melvin Sokolsky

Radar: Erwin Olaf

2012-05-18T08:42:14Z

Erwin Olaf - Royal Blood, Sissi 1898

I consider Erwin Olaf to be one of the great photographic Masters of our time. Our romance is a long one and I’m very loyal to his cause.

I remember first noticing this Dutch master’s work in Black + White magazine, possibly around 2000. For those too young to remember, B+W was essentially a photography mag that focused on edgy fine art photography with S&M overtones. It was probably the ideal introduction to Olaf as I was yet to discover his even more erotic fine-art photography.

Erwin Olaf - Liberty - Plague and Hunger during the Siege of Leiden

The series that captured my imagination was titled Royal Blood, a brutal series of portraits using royalty as a framework and their scandalous deaths as the subject. Blond teenage models were cast in the roles of various well known figures and each dressed accordingly.

Olaf’s success behind the Royal Blood series is clearly the juxtaposition of the grotesque with high-key fashion and design. The series is incredibly morbid in concept, and yet alluring in its polished execution. Royal Blood was Olaf’s first exploration into working with post-production artists and it’s clear that this style of work has been shaping his career ever since.

Erwin Olaf - Fashion Victims, Yves Saint Laurent (Self Portrait)

Vivid Ideas Exchange

2012-05-29T07:36:01Z

MCA Vivid Ideas Exchange

I’ll be participating in a FREE talk at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney this Friday, 1st of June, 2012 bookings are essential

Date: Fri, 01/06/2012
Time: 18:30 - 19:30
Duration: 01h 00m
Hear Alexia Sinclair, Fiona Wolf, Ginette Snow and Jon Lewis speak about their practice. Moshe Rosenzveig, Director of the Head On Photo Festival will introduce and lead the showcase. Alexia will present her journey through her celebrated collection HOMAGE. Currently showing at Customs House, Sydney. Read more @ HeadOn information

Exhibition: HOMAGE at Customs House

2012-05-29T08:00:09Z

Homage Exhibition Invitation

Customs House are proud to invite you to a free exhibition by Alexia Sinclair. Experience the delights and surprises of Homage as part of the Head On Photo Festival.

Here’s what to expect?

The ground floor of Customs House has been transformed into an immersive multimedia space.
An installation of an internal palatial gardens surround the work.
A selection from The Regal Twelve adorn the pillars of the main atrium.
A selection from The Royal Dozen are on display in huge gilded frames.
Homage for iPad is available to play with on 6 iPads throughout the space.
A 16m light box media wall is covered in an ivy wall Alexia shot in a convent in France.
Behind the scenes videos are playing through the media wall on 7 separate screens.

Homage: The Regal Twelve (2004-2007) and The Royal Dozen (2008-2010)

Princesses, warlords, dandies and divas take the stage to form two highly complex fine art series titled The Regal Twelve and The Royal Dozen.

Through the study of nobility in history and portraiture, Alexia Sinclair has produced twenty-four innovative artworks formed from thousands of photographs and illustrations.

Forming a collection titled 'Homage' Sinclair pays tribute to the historical figures that form these series.

Legends of the lives of the nobles continue to captivate us today, from the pampered decadence of Marie Antoinette to the epic legend of Alexander the Great. Other rulers who also form these series are less renowned yet equally intriguing. An unusual blend of Royalty, their selection was based on their contrasts in leadership, their flamboyancies and their enduring influence upon society.

Travelling the globe photographing architecture and landscapes, Sinclair returned to Australia to hand make bespoke costuming for each portrait. Photographing actors, props and sets, she then meticulously stitched together each component in postproduction along with hand illustrations.

In the style of the renaissance painters, Sinclair weaves a myriad of delicious symbols and motifs into each portrait, allowing each story to unfold.

Exploring the complexities of the famous, the infamous and the obscure, these portraits celebrate historical realities within the guise of contemporary fantasy, a kind of conversation between the past and present.

Great Emotions

2012-05-27T07:42:48Z

My heart beats like a drum - The Zurich Chamber Orchestra

Sometimes an advertising campaign comes along that stops you in your tracks. The Zurich Chamber Orchestra series Great Emotions did just that for me.

This is not the typical irrelevant noise that’s designed to simply grab your attention. The message conveyed in this campaign is clever and clear. The whole series is thought provoking and utterly stunning in its execution.

If you’re a lover of great music, you will appreciate the effect that powerful music can have on your body. Great Emotions brings tears to my eyes, gives me goose bumps and makes my heart beat like a drum. The emotion of the ad campaign and the Chamber Orchestra is in perfect harmony.

You bring tears to my eyes - The Zurich Chamber Orchestra

Goosebumps - The Zurich Chamber Orchestra

Produced in 2009 by Euro RSCG Group Switzerland, Zürich. Executive creative director Frank Bodin, creative director Axel Eckstein, art directors Rob Hartmann, Isabelle Bühler.

Anatomical illustrations by Andrea Ullrich and Nadja Stadelmann of Descience.

Radar: Tim Walker

2012-05-18T08:29:03Z

Image © Tim Walker

Tim Walker has been a source of inspiration for me for over a decade now. Walker is a wildly successful photographer (and thus a businessman) who walks with his feet on the ground and head in the clouds.

Using models such as Lily Cole as his muse, primarily for her renaissance-esque qualities I suspect, Lily is frequently the star of Walker’s seductive show. With a swag of commercial fashion clients, you can also see him in British Vogue as a regular contributor, where he cleverly weaves romantic couture fashion into his playful fairytale sets and fables. Walker is principally a fine artist who incorporates fashion into his theme simply for the solid framework it affords him.

Fashion is the dream department of photography.

His main source of inspiration (like so few people today) is drawn from his own imagination with all its creative genius. A strict disciple to his unique vision, Walker considers his unmistakable style to be a result of his “scrapbooks”

Image © Tim Walker

To me, my scrapbook is more a place to let ideas simmer, until one day they’re ready to be released into the world. Without artist journals, I’d go mad with ideas and always preach the importance of a central place for your ideas. Evidently, the same is so for Walker. His volumes of treasured scrapbooks combine his fragmented fantasies for later reference. His journals filled to the brim with collages of arbitrary clippings of popular culture and fanciful scribbles.

What resonates most with me are his quotes regarding his scrapbooks:

The scrapbook for me is a cupboard full of ingredients … It’s a completely random ingredient that I draw on to bake a photograph that makes sense to me.

Although Walker’s elegant photography is undoubtedly a style and league of his own, it’s the underlying familiarity within this work that makes it so successful. He’s not trying to reinvent the wheel; he’s just faithfully building the wheel in his exact style. Using familiar themes and motifs as a foundation to each series allows Walker to use them as a playground for his imagination. Boldly introducing his own layers to the mix, Walker has fun with these themes.

Image © Tim Walker

Often playing with scale, Walker introduces huge props for the models to play with, transforming them into the characters of each theatrical tale. As though the models have been shrunken into the whimsical sets, these surrealist images are like alternate scenes from Alice in Wonderland. Using sets in a similar way to Eugenio Recuenco he continues to enchant the masses with every frame he delivers.

Image © Tim Walker

... In this video produced by the International Centre for Photography, Walker delivers some exceptional words of wisdom that any upcoming or veteran visual artist should heed.

The Art of Winning Photography Awards

2012-05-22T01:26:18Z

Image © Jeremy Blincoe - Projections 2010 Winner

The old cliché saying is true: You’ve got to be in it to win it.

I often get asked about what I think of entering awards. What are the judges looking for? Is it worth the effort and the entry fee when there are so many photographers? What’s the point of it all?

It’s certainly not as simple as uploading your photo and entry fee to a website. Entering awards is a complex process that can be like entering a lottery. But the great thing about that is that although you’re gambling by entering, the rewards can be far greater than the actual prize.

Yes, I think there are lots of questionable judges and a whole lot of industry politics that I morally don’t agree with. But there are also judges like me with an open mind, who painstakingly select a winner based on skill and originality.

Awards are amazing for you in so many ways. Ok it’s very cool to finally win something, after years of entering and soul searching. Even being a finalist in an award is a really big deal. But when the excitement wears off, you’re left with an achievement that will be anchored to your artwork forever.

Truth be told, awards looks great in your CV and they strengthen your artistic brand. When your award is promoted in the media, this will broaden your horizons like no actual prize can do.

Be excited, share it with the world and definitely celebrate your successes. But don’t let it go to your head. Yes, we artists get kicked in the face a whole lot and it would be really nice to gloat. But gloat in the shower, when no one else is watching. Let’s face it, you might be awesome at what you do, but it only takes one other person to be a fraction more awesome, and they’ll be winning your award.

If you keep losing, learn from it and don’t take it too personally. Remember, there’s only one winner and every other person feels like a loser too. I’ve felt the range of emotions… bitter disappointment, anger, frustration, rejection and sadness. But what I’ve learnt is that art awards are subjective; there are no right and wrong answers.

It absolutely takes the right recipe to win. The industry has to be ready for your style of work. Your work has to be the best you can do and fit with the style of award. The judge has to personally think you’re the best and like your style.

There are lots of things to blindly overcome just to win one little award. But sometimes the recipe is right and you’ve got a good shot at winning. This says to me that winning is a numbers game. If you only enter one award, there are too many variables to winning and chances are, you won’t. So enter lots of great awards with great images and your stars may just align.

Image © Christopher Ireland - Shoot the Chef 2011 Winner

I’ve judged lots of awards and I’m often amazed by the lack of entries, particularly in student categories. Once again, I’m pleased to be joining the judges of SMH’s Shoot the Chef competition as part of Crave Sydney.

Prizes are yet to be announced but last year’s winners received two return economy flights to South America flying LAN Airlines. More importantly, their work was printed in the SMH along with the finalists. Take a guess at the SMH’s readership?

I get rejected most days because I try new things most days. But sometimes I do win and it’s worth all of the trials and tribulation. So I say to you, find a chef and shoot them. What’s the worst that can happen? You get off your bum and shoot something great for your folio?

Shoot the Chef | Competition Entry | 2012 T&Cs

Cat exploded... make good art

2012-05-19T00:58:00Z

Take the time to watch this inspirational address by Neil Gaiman to the University of the Arts Class of 2012.

Radar: Eugenio Recuenco

2012-05-15T08:41:42Z

Eugenio Recuenco: Artist, Photographer, Director... Visual storyteller

Image © Eugenio Recuenco

Eugenio first popped onto my radar somewhere around 2007, and it was love at first sight. Every image he’s produced since has seduced me with that perfect blend of sex, death and romance.

Working with a visual narrative, the Spaniard’s themes often include references to dark European fairytales, historical allusions and pure fantasy. Each theatrical cinematic moment feels frozen in another time. Weaving these rich themes into fashion and beauty campaigns, his directorial talents are obvious.

Much of the believability of each story falls to the flawless styling, elaborate set-design and cinematic lighting. It’s only natural that a photographer with such strong storytelling ability would begin to work in film. Although I miss my weekly fix of his sumptuous fashion shoots, I’m lapping up his moving images with a goose bump inclination.

You’ll definitely want to take a look behind-the-scenes.

Image © Eugenio Recuenco

It’s no wonder he’s one of Vogue’s (Spain) most celebrated photographers. His relatively recent foray into cine is a match made so clearly it’s a wonder that he hasn’t shot a feature. I wait in anticipation!

Now go lose countless hours while perusing his endless portfolios of vogue editorials and enticing commercial campaigns.

Homage for iPad

2012-05-01T00:46:30Z

Homage for iPad, is an application for art-collectors, historians, students, photographers or anyone who wants to take a closer look at Alexia Sinclair’s intricate work. The App which is better described as a fully immersive interactive book contains brilliant high resolution images allowing the user to explore each artwork in glorious detail.

Along with sumptuous imagery you can read about the symbolism behind each work and catch up on all the salacious gossip that entwined these 24 nobles to begin with.

For those interested in what it takes to produce each artwork, Homage for iPad contains six behind-the-scenes videos, pre-production sketches and even lighting diagrams. Allowing students and photographers alike an inside perspective into how Sinclair get’s the look she’s most celebrated for.

Wacom Intuos 5

2012-03-01T06:01:24Z

This is my story behind the new Wacom Intuos 5 Tablet/Stylus.

About three weeks ago Wacom (Australia) approached me to see if I wanted to retouch live at one of their upcoming product launches. Obviously my curiosity piqued and I accepted the invitation. Not long after (the next morning infact) a brand spanking new Intous 5 tablet was hand delivered to my studio door. Quite fortuitous really as I had recently spilled tea all over my Intuos 3 and had been borrowing my partner's Intuos 4 since.

Now, any creative with any sense will tell you that the tools they use are a vital component in the production of their work. Michelangelo's David would hardly be one of the world's great masterpieces if it were carved out of concrete with a fork. So it's always nice when a new piece of technology comes along that makes our lives easier (think a Dremel in Michelangelo's case).

With a background in Fine Arts, I'm used to using my hands to shape my work. Becoming seduced by the dark arts of the digital world, I had no idea what a technical journey I was embarking on. Being a digital retoucher these days isn't just about making Photoshop your bitch, it's about understanding technology, from RAM to Colour Depth, Spectrophotometers to Tablets, technology keeps evolving and you need keep up.

You can play with inferior products, but you'll just be adding to tablet landfill. My experience and advice is to save your pennies and skip anything below Wacom's Intuos Line (Beg, Steal, Borrow a Intuos 3 if you have to). I've often credited this tool as being one of the defining components in the style of my work.

That's the background now here's my experience with the Intuos 5.

It's just a shallow visual thing, but the first thing I said when I hooked up my new Intuos 5 was "Stealth". I don't want to sound like an erotic novel, but frankly, this thing is pure sex. The Intuos 5 is smooth and sensual and it precisely targets your pixels with every sensitive pressure stroke.

Stealth: This sexy tablet is so graceful in appearance. No chunky buttons, no multi colours. The low profile matt black surface is one fluid skin and is so Darth Vader on my work surface.

Sensual: The geniuses at Wacom are keeping up with the times and this should interest a few coding geeks out there. Put down your pen and let your fingers see some action. Although the multi-touch technology has been around in Wacom's entry level bamboo tablet for a while, it's now a seamless feature of Intuos 5. As an iPhone and iPad owner it's a nice transition for me giving me options for scrolling, pinch-zooming and general navigation.

Smart: The buttons hidden under the surface can be programmed to suit your every need. You can even design personal shortcuts inside Photoshop and automatically switch to new shortcuts in other programmes. Personally, I've been using Photoshop shortcuts from the get-go but I can see the new kids on the block harnessing the power of the shortcut buttons.

Freedom: Cables? Mehh... This is one of the improvements that's got me excited! I take my Wacom to all my photo shoots, to the classroom to lecture, and to clients studios. Cables to be frank are just a pain in the ass! Now with the Intuos 5 you can install a little radio thingy (not bluetooth) and whip out the USB dongle that lives snugly inside the tablet's USB hideaway. It's speedy, no laggy bluetooth business, and the battery lasts 9+ hours, more than enough for a day's shooting.

In summary, there are loads of other new features but these are the main ones for me. But why use a Wacom tablet at all? All in all it's pretty simple. People frequently tell me they've briefly tried to use a tablet but find a mouse easier to use. But after much insistence by me, the next time I see them they've had the Wacom epiphany and there's no turning back. What do I say? We're born with the desire to crawl and taking those first few steps to walk feels uneasy. Spend some time on your feet and try going back to crawling.

Pre-visualise your lighting

2011-12-19T08:23:47Z

Lighting sketch – Alexia Sinclair

When I started making complex composite images I struggled to understand how to make my artworks look believable. The learning curve on producing artworks from multiple locations and shoots is steep. And once you've jumped most of the technical hurdles, you may still stop and ask yourself why your image just doesn't look quite right. It may not bother a lot of people to the degree that it bothers me and that's probably a blessing. To satisfy my personal hunger for complex image making I've always pushed myself beyond my natural ability (comfort zone). For every moment of teary frustration there are moments of euphoric elation. Like any creative process, the journey is one big roller-coaster ride.

If you're prepared to take the ride and commit yourself (to the craft, not an institution) it's likely you'll have eureka moments. My journey has been filled with many of these moments but none more so than my understanding of light.

One of these moments followed hours of retouching with the frustrating question "Why doesn't it look right?". This is a question I now find solves most of my problems in art making. That day I really learnt to 'look' at the world around me and really 'study' light. After all, aren't photographers observers of the world around them?

I realised that in order to make a believable world in postproduction I would need to study light in the real world in preproduction. Suddenly I began to see everything in a totally different way. I imagine this is how painters naturally see the world but it's something that this photographer had to teach herself.

Sometimes I'm working with a sun lit background and I need to mimic this light on my subject in the studio. I need to consider the way light in a landscape moves through a scene. Sometimes it's warm in the highlights and cool in the shadows. The highlights form a natural bounce onto surrounding forms and the colours dance and weave magical reflections throughout the image.

I may be making a 2D image but working in Photoshop, we're using layers and that means I need to think about everything like it's a 3D world. So I simply mimic the world around me.

Understanding this three dimensional world meant I needed to rethink and polish my skills in lighting to follow these rules, or even to bend the rules. Whichever the case, I'm always trying to own my light rather than let it intimidate me as it once did.

I can't control the weather or make the sun and elements do what I'd like. But I can pre-plan for most conditions and I can plan with lighting sketches and tests to get it right on the day.

An added bonus to the technical age we live in are things like the app "Sun Seeker" I have on my iPad… this app lets me know where the sun is at different times throughout the day. This helps me to plan my shoot around the elements.

Pre-production location scouting – Alexia Sinclair

Sketching lighting setups is a crucial part of planning a complex composite artwork for me these days. I always need to think several steps ahead when I'm working with different light sources. I find it helpful to think about my postproduction in preproduction. I don't want to sit down at the end of a shoot and worry about how I'm going to make everything work. I'm pretty Zen these days.

I get lots of requests from people wanting to know the way I work and in particular, my lighting. So I've decided to post my sketches for you.

In a recent job for Marie Claire, lighting is something I needed to really plan for. We had three shoots to execute during sunny daylight hours (when the talent was available), only the problem was that the Art-Director wanted the look to look like dusk/twilight.

Here's the first shot of the series of three, following which is a little how-to/behind the scenes of how we accomplished it.

Asher Keddie & Ricki Lee Coulter – Shine a Light – Marie Claire - Alexia Sinclair

We set up the lights with a rather cinematic approach and had the camera locked in place from 2pm - 8pm so that I could use layers from different times of the day. One key light lit both ladies on their left, another light through a scrim filled the shadows but with a stop of separation so that the lighting wasn't flattened out. The light coming in behind and through the tree branches added a hair highlight and came from the direction of the faux 'natural' light.

Once the ladies had climbed out of the tree and most of the crew had left, my team and I did dozens of exposures. As the sun set and disappeared behind the mountains and dusk became night, our lanterns began to bleed into the darkness. The tree became the colour of the lantern light and the field became the colour of dusk.

I don't think that I light in a complex way. Each light is very valuable and I need to spread my small budget over a great array of tools and treasures. To me, I'm trying to mimic the sun; our one, astonishing, all encompassing sun. Along with a few clouds and rainbows - Packed neatly into a few zipped bags and pelican cases.

Editorial: Marie Claire - Shine a Light

2011-12-01T23:55:02Z

Asher Keddie, Ricki Lee Coulter by Alexia Sinclair

OUT NOW: MARIE CLAIRE JANUARY 2012

Marie Claire (Australia) approached me to shoot a campaign on mental depression. Designed to lift the stigma attached to this condition, they invited Australian celebrities to shine a light on depression by talking about their personal experiences in a campaign titled Shine A Light.

The creative brief described complex scenarios capturing the stars in darkness, beautifully illuminated by a set of lanterns and fairy lights. Our aim was to produce a whimsical atmosphere of dusk throughout the series.

Jessica Rowe, Charlotte Dawson, Samantha Armytage by Alexia Sinclair

Working with the busy schedules of celebrities can be challenging. Not one was available during the evening, yet every shot was to have a dusk or twilight look.

We needed to get crafty, and crafty we became! All the scenes we shot in mid afternoon. Fortunately Shining a light on the issue of depression was a wonderful technical challenge and a chance for me to play with a variety of light sources.

Ada Nicodemou, Zoe Tuckwell-Smith by Alexia Sinclair

We shot several exposures and in postproduction, I used layers from each exposure. We exposed the celebrities with our soft fashion shoot lighting, the ambient light with the available sunlight and long exposures at night for each lantern, candle and fairy light.

This is the kind of series and challenge I revel in! I hope you enjoy.

Shine A Light also aims to promote awareness of depression through an interactive website and you can see this, the stories and more behind the scenes action here.

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/marie-claire/features/shine-a-light

Sass and Bide

2011-08-20T07:49:16Z

Sass & Bide by Alexia Sinclair

Years ago I fell in love with a fashion label that I felt reflected my own personal style and attitude. Hence forth, I placed my tush and faith in the denim of Sass and Bide. Recently Myer did the same, paying the two inspiring founders of Sass and Bide $42 million for a 65% slice of their business.

Naturally, I was thrilled to be commissioned to photograph the beautiful designers behind Sass and Bide, Heidi and Sarah-Jane in a cover shoot for the ACP business magazine IN THE BLACK. August 2011 Issue.

With haste I began building a huge nest in my studio that would house the two inspiring women and symbolise their ‘nest egg’. Serving as a stage for our shoot, it was decorated with scissors, ribbons and tape measures as though the little birds had collected the trinkets of their trade.

Sass & Bide by Alexia Sinclair

Whitehouse Campaign

2011-06-15T08:10:09Z

Whitehouse Campaign by Alexia Sinclair

Earlier this year my team and I shot the campaign imagery for Whitehouse institute of design, this stunning creature now graces their prospectuses, billboards, website, collateral and numerous australian lifestyle magazines.

Editorial: Marie Claire - Exotic Birds

2011-05-06T03:49:13Z

Jaqui – Exotic Birds for Marie Claire by Alexia Sinclair

Exotic Birds is an editorial spread I shot for Marie Claire late last year. It Juxtaposes the flamboyant with the everyday, we spent one week shooting Australia's best Burlesque dancers in their everyday environment.

You can see the full spread in Marie Claire's June 2011 edition, out now! Grab em while they're hot!

Qantas Frequent Flyer - Watch your points soar

2011-05-05T21:18:25Z

Qantas Frequent Flyer - AMEX - ANZ – Alexia Sinclair

Late 2010, My team & I were commissioned to create the imagery behind M&C Saatchi's latest campaign for the Qantas Frequent Flyer program and American Express Cards.

The images ran in National Australian newspapers, along with double page spreads in the glossies and Qantas' inflight magazine The Australian Way.

National Photographic Portrait Prize

2011-03-29T23:06:15Z

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2011
25 February - 26 April 2011

The NPPP exhibition is selected from a national field of entries. The annual exhibition, now in its fourth year, reflects the distinctive vision of Australia's aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects. The exhibition will tour to selected venues across Australia.

Napoleon from the royal dozen is still exhibiting (until 26 April 2011) in the National Portrait Gallery along with a beautifully curated selection of NPPP finalists. If you find yourself (or live close by) in Canberra, then we'd love to have you drop by.

Graphis 100 Best in Photography

2011-02-09T08:38:37Z

Macbeth for NZ Opera by Alexia Sinclair

It's my pleasure to announce that Macbeth has been selected as one of the top 100 photographs as selected by Graphis. The book, 100 Best in Photography (2011) is now on sale.

The Royal Dozen: Lorenzo de' Medici - The Magnificent

2011-01-16T22:10:23Z

Lorenzo de' Medici - The Magnificent by Alexia Sinclair

Lorenzo was a key member of the House of Medici, a powerful Florentine family. Nicknamed the Godfathers of the Renaissance, de Medicis began their days as common merchants and seductively wove their way into political power through a combination of violence and patronage of the arts.

Lorenzo, a patron of the arts and humanist learning, supported Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo and spurred the renaissance.

The artwork depicts Lorenzo in a forest setting. Often enjoying the hunt in the rich Tuscan countryside, Lorenzo can be seen day dreaming on the forest floor, with a fox resting over his shoulder. His costuming laced with pearls and gems symbolising the rich merchant history of de Medici family.

Fig Leaf Censorship

2011-01-06T00:16:43Z

Fig leaf censorship is an age-old concept referring to Adam and Eve and the covering of their 'nakedness' with a fig leaf. Its literal practice by the Church can be seen stretching as far back as the conversion to Christianity in the Roman Empire where masterpieces of antiquity were literally covered with a fig leaf or cloth or flora. Its pejorative metaphorical use is to hide that which is considered shameful or sinful. In modern times we commonly reflect on the use of a fig leaf on artworks of antiquity as vandalism, particularly as many of the works the Church manipulated have been scarred forever more.

In recent conservative times, we can see the tightening of morals, particularly in the arts. You may be surprised to learn that fig leaf censorship is something that has also affected me personally. Following the lynching of Bill Henson via the seizure of his exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney in 2008 (for which he was later found innocent of pornography offences and his works were formally given a PG rating) another prominent gallery in Sydney felt fearful of a backlash to any nudity within my own works from my series The Regal Twelve. Even though my own artworks do not display any adolescents and only partial breasts were visible. Rather than risking being stoned on the steps of the gallery, I complied and we selected works void of any nudity for public display.

Untitled #8, Bill Henson 2007/08

I'm very grateful to the professional Internet blogger who elegantly displays my work with insightful commentary. However, much to my horror, I often see censored versions of my artworks on the Internet disfigured by amateur bloggers who crudely blur out or cover the breasts in my work. This offensive vandalism is modern day fig leaf censorship void of copyright permission by ignorant Internet troglodytes.

I had felt that given Henson's success in clearing his name, this meant we may have matured a little and moved past this kind of unjustified criticism. However, today I sadly learnt of a similar case in which the photograph donated to the Sydney Children's Hospital charity by artist Del Kathryn Barton has been rejected and deemed "Inappropriate". Whiffs of troglodyte mentality right? I am a great fan of Barton's work, which in 2008 won the Archibald Prize for a self-portrait that also including her children. Barton's paintings often depict the naked female form and explore the naked form of children. This "inappropriate" portrait of her topless son also seems conservative in its subject matter, given the usual approach within her work.

Del Kathryn Barton 2010

Fine Art Photography regularly comes under scrutiny for often the most absurd reasons. I am constantly critiqued about my choice of a model, my over or under manipulation of a figure; my choice of subject matter that often stems from reality and yet dares to go beyond that which we already know and have documented. Work that explores imaginary themes and yet has a foundation built on reality is what defines me as an artist. It's my alchemy and my choice! My imagination does not practice fig leaf censorship because it's an absurd concept to me.

Del Kathryn Barton - You are what is most beautiful about me, a self portrait with Kell and Arella

Surely it's my right as an artist to choose the themes and characters of my work, for it's my own devotion. How ridiculous to think an artist should be void of an imagination, surely imagination is what defines a person as an artist. There seems to be (for some) an amazing inability to see the photograph as anything but the documentation of something that is real. Which is funny to me, when my own work is often the result of hundreds of layered photographs and hand illustrations rather than the wonderful (and yet entirely juxtaposed) form of image making known as documentary photography. It's simple - Two different crafts, two different intentions, one similarity - the camera as a tool.

My concerns particularly stem from the realisation that there is a double standard in Fine Art that allows differing levels of artistic license to painters or sculptors to photographers. I don't imagine Barton has encountered many questions such as 'why don't your figures look exactly like their model'? This hypocrisy is unfortunately something that a phenomenal painter such as Del Kathryn Barton, has been forced to realise by choosing to depict her thought provoking and layered art through a photograph, rather than through acrylic, gouache, watercolour.

Shortlisted National Photographic Portrait Prize 2011

2010-12-05T22:27:33Z

Napoleon – The Royal Dozen – Alexia Sinclair

The National Photographic Portrait Prize is an annual event intended to promote the very best in contemporary photographic portraiture by both professional and aspiring Australian photographers. The exhibition will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery from 25 February to 17 April 2011 and tour to selected venues throughout 2011.

With the generous support of VISA, the Gallery is offering a prize of $25,000 for the most outstanding photographic portrait

I'm thrilled to tell you that I have been shortlisted to exhibit Napoleon I - Emperor of the French in the NPPP 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia (Canberra). It's such a great honour for me to exhibit both in this photographic prize and in this magnificent museum. Fingers and toes crossed for the prize too!!

http://www.portrait.gov.au/site/nppp.php

The Royal Dozen: Marquis de Sade - The Sadist

2010-11-28T22:35:45Z

Marquis de Sade – Alexia Sinclair

Sade, known as the Marquis de Sade, was an aristocrat, revolutionary and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle. Frequently incarcerated for his writing of smut and for cruelty and debauchery, many of his erotic novels were in fact written from within the walls of his apartments in prisons and asylums.

The term Sadist is derived from his name.

The artwork revels in portraying the incarcerated Marquis in all of his powder-puffed glory, surrounded by the decadence of his era. Publishing from prison resulted in Sade having his papers and inks confiscated. As a consequence, Sade is said to have written a novel with his own blood onto the very suit he wore and had this published in place of paper. This story inspired the writing of Sade's French novel onto the costuming within the artwork whilst his narcissistic handcuffed self portrait hangs on his wall.

View more of The Royal Dozen at https://alexiasinclair.com/the-royal-dozen.

The Royal Dozen opens at the Australian Centre for Photography

2010-11-21T23:21:06Z

The Royal Dozen @ The Australian Centre for Photography – James Hill

6-8pm, Thursday, 25th November Free Admission, no rsvp required

At long last, I am exhibiting my highly anticipated series The Royal Dozen A sequel to my seriesThe Regal Twelve this time it's the boy's turn to take the stage.

The Royal Dozen is part of the group exhibition Sumptuary, including artists Alexia Sinclair, Garth Knight, Deborah Paauwe, Farrell & Parkin, and Robyn Stacey.

Twelve magnificent historical men await your inspection!

The Royal Dozen: Pope Alexander VI - The Borgia Pope

2010-11-21T22:21:53Z

Pope Alexander - The Borgia Pope – Alexia Sinclair

“Now we are in the power of a wolf, the most rapacious perhaps that this world has ever seen. And if we do not flee, he will inevitably devour us all” – Pope Leo X said of Alexander Borgia

Spanish born Roderic de Borja (Italian: Rodrigo Borgia) was one of the most controversial Renaissance popes. His surname became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era.

A famous account documents an orgy Alexander hosted along with his illegitimate children Cesare and Lucrezia at the Vatican named The Ballet of the Chestnuts.

The artwork takes its inspiration from two stories. It is rumoured that Lucrezia was in possession of a hollow ring and goblet that she used frequently to poison the drinks and meals of the Borgia enemies. The ring and goblet are symbolised within the ornamentation along with the chestnuts the pope is fondling in memory of The Ballet of the Chestnuts. In the background the walls are adorned with paintings of seductive women, below the dome of the Pantheon.

View more of The Royal Dozen at http://alexiasinclair.com/the-royal-dozen.

Art Nation on ABC

2010-08-08T08:32:00Z

In case you missed it here's Art Nation's segment on my work and the upcoming series The Royal Dozen.

Workshops with Alexia Sinclair

2010-04-07T22:03:00Z

I receive lots of queries regarding the techniques behind my work (particularly The Regal Twelve) the truth is my digital work spans from beauty retouching to composite imaging, harnessing far too many areas in photoshop to answer quickly in a single email.

While I'm just gauging interest right now, I'd like to run three small classes (maximum 10 students each) in the near future covering the tools and techniques behind my work.

Hopefully in the not to distant future we'll publish all the details on a spanking new website, meanwhile here are the tentative three classes, things are bound to change so register your interest here

The first: a six week long course comprising of one 3-hour evening session per week, for those who want a beginners introduction to Photoshop and digital image enhancement. This is aimed to be fun and open to everyone!

The second: a six week long course: comprising of one 3-hour evening session per week, focusing on beauty (portrait) retouching in Photoshop. For a variety of industry requirements.

The third: a masterclass running over a weekend comprising of 4 hours each day, this class will be aimed out those who have had experience using photoshop and want to take their post-production to the next level.

The classes will be taught by me, in the heart of Sydney (Australia), with the latest post-production equipment.

If you're interested in these workshops, head on over to the workshops register interest page.

A Sneak peek into the Royal Dozen

2010-03-02T01:37:00Z

A Sneak Peak into the Royal Dozen

We are well and truly in the depths of 2010 now and lots of people are wondering what I'm up to. The short answer is that I'm in the thick of production on my current fine art series The Royal Dozen. This is a series of male monarchs, mirroring the themes of my Queen series The Regal Twelve.

When I begin each artwork, I research the history of a character, their life and their flamboyancies. As my work is usually based on a narrative, it involves imagining characters who role-play within the drama of each piece.

I study the fashions and flavours of the historical period and consider the symbols that may help build each tail. I begin to build up a style, a theme, a scenario and I try to remain true to my own style and interpretation.

To keep myself sane, I try to document as much of this as I can, or my head may simply explode with ideas. I begin by drawing elements to help me design the costumes before jumping on my sewing machine and throwing my studio into a chaotic treasure trove of flocks and pearls.

My weapon of choice for this highly creative pre-production stage in the process is water colour pencil and ink. Here's a glimpse of some of the drawings that flavour the series that will consume me for the rest of this year.

The Five-ways theatre

2010-02-18T01:24:00Z

In early January my partner James Hill began a project conveying Australian contemporary life in the heart of our beautiful Sydney. The location, a bustling intersection in the midst of Paddington made for the perfect backdrop that would become James' theatre.

The Five-ways Theatre - by James Hill

James has helped me countless times on my projects so it was time to give back and collaborate on something special. My role was to be James' eyes and ears on the ground relaying messages by walkie-talky, while he directed from the opposing rooftop (some 15 meters above the ground).

Check out the behind-the-scenes video James put together of the shoot!

For the full sized image and a breakdown of the event head over to James' site at http://iamjameshill.com/the-five-ways-theatre.

PHOTOQUAI 2009 - Paris Photographic Biennale

2010-01-02T09:02:00Z

Late last year my series The Regal Twelve - Phantasia was privileged to represent Australia in the Paris Biennale PHOTOQUAI. (Phantasia is a touring exhibition containing The Regal Twelve organised by the Australian Centre for Photography).

My Regals have travelled far and wide, and often I sadly miss out on my own exhibition openings. However, Paris was too hard to resist! We saved our pennies and packed our bags ready to attend the opening of Phantasia, housed in the Australian Embassy, Paris.

Giving an opening speech to a crowd of Parisians proved a delight and the Phantasia works were met with much enthusiasm. The Australian Ambassador David Ritchie and the director Harriet O'Malley were warm and welcoming and shared our excitement about the collaboration.

In Paris we hired a car and drove through the Loire Valley staying in farmhouses and travelling daily to a different château to shoot background plates for my new series The Royal Dozen. This countryside is abundant in magnificence, soaked in history and picturesque locations and is a richly rewarding part of the world to explore. Even if it was the year of scaffolding, the French can seduce you into believing that a scaffold is a charming addition to a château! Seriously!

Inspiration in Illustration

2009-12-30T10:21:00Z

People always ask me who my favourite photographers are and I often respond with a list of painters instead. It's a strange concept to me that photographers may only be inspired by photography.

Some of the artists that have been tickling my fancy lately are fantasy artists, primarily illustration artists working in digital programs. These artists, like I, employ a stylus pen as their paintbrush and redefine the contemporary painted portrait. Where we differ is in our approach to reality.

I’m interested in combining photography and illustration to enhance the reality of an image with fantasy components that blur the lines of reality and fantasy. My subjects are usually based on reality. These artists use fantasy as their subject and this allows a different kind of expression because we accept that when reality releases its grasp on fantasy, the rules of reality no longer apply.

Ray Caesar

Sweet Victory - Ray Caesar 2006

Ray Caesar is an English born 3D artist working in a digital program called Maya producing dreamlike imagery that may look like traditional paintings but in fact use pixels as paint.

Caesar spent 17 years working in the art department hospital documenting sick children through their medical and psychological treatments. Caesar sites this background as being the foundation for the subjects of his art explaining:

“I often awake in the middle of the night and realise I have been wondering the hallways and corridors of the giant hospital. It is clear to me that this is the birthplace of all of my imagery”

Caesar's surreal and haunting portraits of children and animals are emotional and disturbing whilst alluring and beautiful and continue to push the envelope of what is considered art in the contemporary world.

http://www.raycaesar.com

Anna Platten

The Journey - Anna Platten 2008

Anna Platten is an Australian painter working in oils and charcoals in the traditional sense. I discovered Platten in Adelaide earlier this year as we both gave artist talks together at Samstag Museum for our shows 'Phantasia' and 'Colliding Worlds'.

Platten considers the themes and motivation of her work to be the same in her adult life to her childhood. The artist explains:

“As I imagine for most children, drawing was for me a means of tangibly exploring, possessing and controlling the world around me”

Producing artworks rich with symbols and narrative, Platten's staged fantasy works are typically themed as self-portraits. Her attention to detail is reminiscent of a painting style almost lost in contemporary times that transports audiences back in time to painting movements that focused on producing work with such details that they appear almost photo real.

http://www.evabreuerartdealer.com.au/platten.html

Linda Bergkvist

Don't wisper into the wind - Linda Bergkvist 2003

Linda Bergkvist is a Swedish illustrator and digital fantasy artist. Working in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter, Bergkvist focuses on producing fairytale artworks with believable figures.

A highlight in Bergkvist's career was working as a conceptual artist on the film Golden Compass. The artist also produces books and merchandise of her digital paintings and is at the forefront of online tutorials and forums. Bergkvist described her style and tastes:

“I love the visual element of fairytales. Things that are fantastic and unnatural and not quite real fascinate me to no end. I suppose I am in love with old, cruel tales and the wickedness that comes wrapped up in lovely forms”

http://www.furiae.com

Maggie Taylor

The Herald - Maggie Taylor 2006

Maggie Taylor is an American artist who produces digital imagery by scanning photographs in a flatbed scanner and layering them in Adobe Photoshop to produce narrative based fantasy works of art.

Taylor's work has featured in Adobe Photoshop's Master Class and she has produced a series of fantasy books including my favourite, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Taylor's work is described as surrealistic montage and is void of many of the constraints of reality and photorealism, the artist opting instead, for a painterly and textured quality. Taylor's charm lies in her approach, her awkward compositions and mythical characters transport our imaginations back to our childhood where scribbling outside the lines was part of our magic.

http://www.maggietaylor.com

The bones of displaying fine art photography

2009-12-02T10:17:00Z

Phantasia opening June, 2008. Photo Courtesy ACP

Anyone who thinks that making art is as simple as working alone on a project and sending it out into the world with a packed lunch is greatly mistaken. There are some things one must rely on other professionals to do.

I’m stubborn and unwilling to share my workload in many of the areas of my art making. I rummage through my draws filled with hammers and nails and sticky tape to build props and frequently sport a thimble to sew ruffs and corsets and do so, because I love the process of producing art from beginning to end. But there’s only one of me and only one life and if I’m going to hand over the rein to someone else, they’d better be bloody good at what they do. I’m not interested in being a curator, a gallery owner, a magazine editor or a framer but these are all things that I must consider in my art making process.

Believe me, exhibiting is not for the faint hearted and above all else, quality must prevail. What’s the point of working an image to perfection only to have it printed poorly or shown with inconsistent lighting and a mismatched audience?

You can’t put a price on the value of working with people who are perfectionists and masters in their field.

I’m regularly asked who I can recommend for printing and framing and my years of experimenting has allowed me to find people who are unquestionably at the top of their game and I’m happy to put my name to.

What compelled me to talk about this? A little overnight package appeared in my PO BOX this week. Titled attention: Alexia Sinclair, the package contained two sample prints and a thoughtful little note from my print contact at Trannys in North Sydney.

It would appear that a paper I’d enquired about a few months back was now available and my printer remembered my enquiry, then took the time to send me a sample. Life shouldn’t be difficult and when people do things properly, it can be very easy in deed. I can upload my images to their site and courier my work to my framers without ever leaving my studio.

We all know the problems involved in archival framing. When I go to a framer, I don’t want to hear about how difficult my framing may be. I want my framer to be a craftsman who is excited about the possibilities and the prospect of framing artworks that they value. My framers, Graphic Art Mount, show as much respect to my work as I, their attention to detail is second to none and without fail, they know who I am, what I want and above all, my taste.

My philosophy is you just can’t put a price on quality and professionalism. Don’t cut corners or the throat you’re cutting is ultimately your own.

NZ Opera: Behind the Scenes

2009-11-24T06:27:00Z

Here's a timelapse screen cast of the photoshop required for Figaro, and below the final image!

photographing the far far east

2009-11-12T02:21:00Z

2009 has been packed with lots of travel goodness, early on saw me speaking in Melbourne, exhibiting in Adelaide and then speaking again in Auckland for the fantastic Semi-Permanent conference.

These trips were but the entree to what would become a mammoth expedition through both the far east and then the west.

Our journey begins with the Pingyao International photography festival, located roughly 700km South-West of Beijing. One of UNESCO's world heritage sites, Pingyao is an intriguing fortified city. Built in the 14th century it was bound to have plenty on offer and as such we booked in for a week with the carefully slippery floor.

Bathroom floor in a Pingyao Motel - 2009

They say the dead travel fast but not as fast as Pingyao's Cat-ear noodle soup!

Arriving in the medieval fortified city of Pingayo was truthfully an exhausting experience. If your well-travelled travel agent hasn't heard of it, it's definitely off the beaten track. We flew from Sydney to Shanghai to Beijing to Taiyuan and then a long drive to Pingyao and then joined the bumper-to-bumper human traffic of spectators filling every inch of the festival I was exhibiting in. Nothing in the world could have prepared us for the mammoth week ahead; attending exhibitions, lectures and events and shooting the dusty fortified city that housed the enormous international photography exhibition.

The exhibition in Pingyao was overwhelming in scale and popularity. The number of photographs in the show was staggering and this was only matched by the masses of spectators viewing the shows. Daily we set out to check out a variety of shows and find something that inspires. After all, we're all searching for inspiration everywhere, all of the time!

Horse drawn coal carriage to heat Pingyao - 2009

I found inspiration in a verity of photographs. In particular, I loved two photographer's exhibiting figurative works.

Wangfei

Mongolian photographer Wangfei had a series of B&W portraits of Mongolian's in their native landscapes (Image pictured below). Although their subject and environment is not unusual, what was unique was the drama contained within each image. Maybe it was the stripping back of colour or the simplicity of a landscape containing one person, the large scale rag prints or the detail captured in their subject, whatever the cause, the effect was a series of highly detailed staged portraits that somehow seemed to contain soul.

forwarding by Wangfei

Oleg Dou

Another photographer who made my heart flutter was DOU The Russian artist presented a series of portraits that were quite repetitious in their theme and subject and yet were so beautiful that they continued to entice me to walk up close to the work to marvel at each new image.

The haunting porcelain skinned subjects were void of detail other than the intense eyes, textured lips and precious objects contained within each desaturated piece. The contrast between the flawless airbrushed skin and the highly detailed features is what makes these works so powerful.

Both series appealed to me for similar reasons. Both were intense staged portrait series that captured emotion and were also technically delicious but what separates their approach is that one photographer shoots like a purest and the other, like a postproduction junky. This is the kind of diversity one can find in the strange and unique festival in Pingyao.

What's really lovely about the show in Pingyao is that it's filed to the brim with photographers and artists from the show. The result of this is that you meet a staggering number of exhibitors, curators and directors; in fact, you all just hang out for the week under the strangest circumstances. You sit around drinking beer together and chatting about bodily functions and laugh about the fish and cat-ear noodle breakfasts and finally, you get to discuss each other's work and what inspires us all.

How did we construct or capture our work? What's hot right now? Where are we all headed? Where do we stand in the world?

NZ Opera: Behind the Scenes

2009-11-03T10:44:00Z

In mid 2009 I was commissioned to shoot the 2010 campaign imagery for New Zealand Opera's upcoming performances. Here's the behind the scenes footage from the Macbeth shoot. We hope you enjoy it!

ACP on the Pingyao International Photography Festival

2009-10-08T15:19:00Z

Australian Centre for Photography releases press release for the Pingyao international Photography Festival.

On 19 September, the Australian Centre for Photography opened exhibitions by three Australian photomedia artists at the Pingao International Photography festival.

The artists - Alexia Sinclair, Trent Parke and William Yang - each presented a distinctive body of work for this internationally acclaimed festival.

The festival has been held since 2001 in the ancient walled city of Pingyao in Shanxi province - the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back over 2,500 years. The festival has become one of the world's largest photo exhibitions and attracts a large and enthusiastic audience. This year's festival showcased more than 20,000 photography works by some 1,200 photographers from 46 countries and regions, including those from China. Among 150 various themed exhibitions, 38 were from overseas. The ACP exhibitions were shown alongside presentation by the Aperture Foundation, New York, The Art Academy, Moscow and Galeri Image, Aarhus, Denmark.

NZ Opera behind the scenes video

2009-09-24T12:10:00Z

Well it looks like NZ Opera are gearing up to unveil their upcoming season! The NZ Opera team have released their behind the scenes footage from the campaign shoots we did back in August have hit the internet, it's only 50 seconds but it'll show you a little of what we got up to.

Idealog Interview at Semi Permanent

2009-08-21T05:08:00Z

An interview by idealog magazine at semi-permanent last week. If the video doesn't work below, works on some browser head over to: http://idealog.co.nz/tv/creative-regal.

Behind the Scenes 1

2009-08-17T09:19:00Z

Here's the first of many behind the scene shots to come! We're on location here in Auckland shooting the latest ad campaign for NZ Opera, due to go public in October this year.

Behind the scenes on Location

The Semi Video

2009-08-13T22:38:58Z

Semi-Permanent Self Portrait – Alexia Sinclair

For those not here enjoying Semi-Permanent, I put on display four days of post production squeezed into just four minutes. Here's the video that that tracks the evolution of the image displayed above. Hope you enjoy(ed) it.

Only days until Semi-Permanent

2009-08-11T08:23:09Z

The excitement grows with only days until I take the stage at Semi-Permanent. I'm sitting here in my studio, adding the final touches to my ahem let's say interesting talk that I'll be giving on the opening day of the conference.

It's just occurred to me that here in Sydney we're two hours behind of Auckland, that means come 9am when I deliver my talk to fifteen-hundred chic Aucklanders my body will be aching for my not so sophisticated PJ's and a strong double shot latte.

Alas, no time to dwell on such dilemmas. I'm booked to shoot NZ Opera's latest advertising campaign in the days following Semi-Permanent (more on that later), how does one squeeze in their stilettos around the lappy and blad? Surely Eugenio Recuenco doesn't have this problem!

Tomorrow you'll find me on the other side of the Tasman.

Phantasia at the Samstag Museum

2009-06-30T09:33:00Z

ABC Sunday Arts Show - Phantasia

2009-06-14T09:30:00Z

Alexia Sinclair

Whispers in the Woods

My Dance with the Macabre

Bringing the who, what, where, when & why together.

Lighting the woods

Why documenting your work so important?

Building a series.

More from the series

Kissed by The Moon

Leaving the studio

Pre-production

My shoot crew

Into the Gloaming

The Set

The Book of Fables

The Gown

The Trailer

A Frozen Tale

A Frozen Tale @ QCP

Raw brilliance from Phase One

Photoshop Workspace

Jenny Kee - Waratah Queen

Music for cinematic inspiration

A day in the life

The Dissection of Alexander

A Swedish Affair

Step inside the gallery

10x8 Gallery group show

Casting Call - Interesting people

Casting Call - Fair Ladies

Specifics:

Highlights from 2012

Queensland Ballet

Casting Call - Faces

Radar: Pre-Raphaelites

Interview with Trey Ratcliff

Radar: Melvin Sokolsky

Radar: Erwin Olaf

Vivid Ideas Exchange

Exhibition: HOMAGE at Customs House

Great Emotions

Radar: Tim Walker

The Art of Winning Photography Awards

Cat exploded... make good art

Radar: Eugenio Recuenco

Homage for iPad

Wacom Intuos 5

Pre-visualise your lighting

Editorial: Marie Claire - Shine a Light

Sass and Bide

Whitehouse Campaign

Editorial: Marie Claire - Exotic Birds

Qantas Frequent Flyer - Watch your points soar

National Photographic Portrait Prize

Graphis 100 Best in Photography

The Royal Dozen: Lorenzo de' Medici - The Magnificent

Fig Leaf Censorship

Shortlisted National Photographic Portrait Prize 2011

The Royal Dozen: Marquis de Sade - The Sadist

The Royal Dozen opens at the Australian Centre for Photography

The Royal Dozen: Pope Alexander VI - The Borgia Pope

Art Nation on ABC

Workshops with Alexia Sinclair

A Sneak peek into the Royal Dozen

The Five-ways theatre

PHOTOQUAI 2009 - Paris Photographic Biennale

Inspiration in Illustration

Ray Caesar

Anna Platten

Linda Bergkvist

Maggie Taylor

The bones of displaying fine art photography

NZ Opera: Behind the Scenes

photographing the far far east

Wangfei

Oleg Dou

NZ Opera: Behind the Scenes

ACP on the Pingyao International Photography Festival

NZ Opera behind the scenes video

Idealog Interview at Semi Permanent