Sharon Leigh Photography

CERAMICS | PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

2015-06-13T19:56:00.002+10:00

I couldn't think

of a better place to photograph these beautifully fresh ceramic vases than

in the soft sunshine

streaming through my window.

The natural wood table I thought

worked well too by

adding

to the warmth.

JEWELLERY | CERAMICS | PHOTOGRAPHY

2014-05-24T11:12:00.000+10:00

Jewellery and Ceramics by local artist Marlize Myburgh

'Whenever you

are creating beauty around you,

you are restoring

your own

soul'

~ Alice Walker

xXx

PORTRAITS

2014-03-23T16:57:00.001+11:00

Because

I've moved my website

and am now using BlogSpot instead,

these images have not been uploaded on here before,

even though they were taken a while back. Due to me temporarily closing my

business while I study, it has been TWO MONTHS

now since I last picked up my camera and my withdrawal symptoms

are STRONG!

My palms are itching,

my shoulders are twitching

and my brain is screaming to switch over to the creative side for a while.

Even typing this, I have conceptual ideas flooding through my head that I'm going to have

to write down and keep for the holidays.

So in the meantime,

come rain, hail or gale force winds here in Melbourne,

I'm going to do some photo shoots next weekend!

These beautiful people below will just

have to suffice for

now as a visual

reminder....

XxX

TEXTURED

2014-03-01T16:54:00.000+11:00

Layering

textures onto an image can

intensify the atmosphere or story. One of my future

posts will show how to add textures for those that like the look... I definitely
use textures more subtly now than I did on these older images below, but I still like the look
and it's so easy to make your own textures by photographing items around the house.
I used my scratched up metal cookie tray for one of mine. There are

also plenty of free textures

online like at http://www.deviantart.com/resources/textures/

just check what the owners allow

you to do with

it first.

This is a magical beast ....
that holds the secret of light & shadow in a safe place in her heart & when it has been too long grey,
she starts to dance & laugh & cry & sing & the sunlight fills her up
& spills in wild abandon
back into the world
again.
~storypeople

♥

"I'm scared to sleep,
I'm scared to dream,
I'm scared to wake up in case I scream.
I can't breathe"
~ Lyrics - Gary Numan
♥

.... wrap my cold heart, my sorrowful soul,

my wasting being... with all the

warmth you can give-

you can share- you can care!

warm again- as you could, all that's

irresistibly comforting to hold....

~ Dimitri Marcellana

♥

The damaged girl just could not sleep,

because her thoughts were way too deep.

Her mind had gone out for a stroll

and fallen down a rabbit hole.

The End.

(author unknown)

Thanks to LesBrumes on flickr for the texture

♥

Tattoo of Roses

♥

BOTTICELLI'S MUSE

2014-01-08T21:47:00.000+11:00

Her face reminds me so much of Botticelli's muse....

...her soul is pure creativity.

.....and this is her handsome brother.

xX♥Xx

HEARTFELT

2014-01-08T20:59:00.001+11:00

I feel warm and fuzzy when looking at these images for no obvious reason

....well maybe the last one is obvious.

I have so many of these types of images that I couldn't possibly choose my best ones, so

I just quickly selected and uploaded, even knowing

that the emotions I feel for them are mine alone

....because these emotions are rooted in memories

....of the days spent splashing in the water or dancing on the beach

or flying across a field

or relaxing in the sunshine

or the twirling motion of limbs and sound of laughter

as we played outdoors.

Simple moments like these

are what makes my world

round.

♥

ATMOSPHERE II

2013-12-06T11:17:00.001+11:00

*
Model: Ashley Heiz

“Before we can see properly we must first shed our tears to clear the way.”
― Libba Bray

♥

This is the second in a series called "Atmosphere of Emotion."

“In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real. We’ve got to forgive ourselves that. I must remember to forgive myself. Because there is a lot of grey to work with. No one can live in the light all the time.”
Libba Bray
xXx

TEENAGERS

2013-11-22T10:19:00.000+11:00

The ages and stages

of friendship

can be fleeting or

remain bonded for a lifetime.

Both are to be treasured for what they are and enjoyed

in the moment.

These

girls seem to revel in their differences and similarities

and I witnessed

obvious natural care between

them.

♥

This

quote came to mind when

thinking how complicated we can allow friendships to be

how simple....

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”
― Linda Grayson

ATMOSPHERE

2013-11-19T12:47:00.000+11:00

'Beware!

The Big Bad Wolf is lurking there.'

This is the first in a series for 'Atmosphere of Emotion.'

Model: Ashley Heiz

BOOK COVER

2013-11-19T10:23:00.000+11:00

I can finally show you!

This is the image of mine that

publishing house Hardie Grant Egmont

chose for their book cover, designed by Michelle Mackintosh

The book is part of a series called 'Girl V the World'

...pop over to their site to check them out or just to see their other available books.

My daughter, family pet and I feel very proud to be part of this beautiful series of books!

JEWELLERY

2013-11-14T17:15:00.000+11:00

Jewellery Portraits for jewellery designer Marlize Myburgh.

I photographed many of her stunning pieces

for her website

and promotional prints

and hopefully she'll have them up

in time for Xmas gifts.

I can't wait.

For the curious find her website here.

model: Lize Myburgh

jewellery: Marlize Myburgh

SUNLIGHT

2011-10-21T15:18:00.000+11:00

The flowers of late winter and early spring
occupy places in our hearts
well out of proportion to their size. ~Gertrude S. Wister

SMALL STUFF

2011-10-18T22:03:00.000+11:00

Well today I couldn't be confused with someone who was focussed....

I was planning a productive day at home,

catching up on some card requests

which led me

to take this photo.......

......which led me outside for different light.

This led me to stop and stare at our garden which

needs a weekends work...

which made me notice a fly sitting on an Arum Lily

and after trying to swat it away

to no avail,

I lifted up my camera and took a photo of it...

as one does of course with flies....

and because it still didn't move, I decided to try harder

and get a better macro shot....

again as one does with flies...

of course.

Well I was very surprised at the detail I got, hand held.

This switched my brain to macro mode

and I thought of all the beautiful

Dandelion shots I had seen before

and never had the time (patience) to try ....

so I went and found a Dandelion.

...but of course, because I'm me, I couldn't leave it there.

I felt inspired by the beautiful macro images I had seen, with a single drop of water
sitting on top....

which led to test my patience for the next hour. I got this....

and this.....

I have new respect for macro photographers. My body

had to contort and twist to catch the right light, bokeh and flare...

but it all led to a feeling of satisfaction....

or is that a feeling of new challenges? ...

or my aching back telling me to leave it to those who know how!

A GIRL AND A CAT

2011-09-23T13:53:00.000+10:00

These two have such a strong bond.

It's so strong that her cat is more like a dog with how

she responds to a call or a pat on the bed. Miss J picked her out

over seven years ago, she was the little runt

of the litter of course,

and they have been best friends ever since.

This bond has its concerns.

Her cat has heart problems and has a low life expectancy so

you can understand how dreadfully heart broken Miss J

will be when the time comes. We have tried from the beginning to teach her that

animals are not like humans and have taken her with to vet visits

to hear the vet talk about it but I can see the defiant denial in her eyes.

She is willing her precious friend to live forever.

So we wait and she simply enjoys their time together as she should.....

I saw them lazing in Miss J's bedroom

in the sunshine

and I have very few photos

of them

together so I grabbed my camera,

threw a throw over her bright flowery duvet cover so

the focus would be on them and proceeded to catch moments.

These are not thought out images or correctly posed either,

they are just moments telling a brief story

of a girl and her cat lazing on

her bed in

the

warmth of the sun.

♥

And they were on the move,

out the door, dress thrown on the bed,

I suppose because there was no more room

left on the messy floor.

This is why I love photography.

These moments have to be captured and treasured.

That IS what it's all about.

So clichéd.

So true.

Yes girls will be girls.....

I cannot begin to describe the tornado of mess my two leave behind them....

They are both old enough to clean up their own mess so my job is to just nag them...

and take a photo

of course.

Girl In Her Red Dress | Melbourne Photographer

2011-09-09T20:58:00.002+10:00

We had planned to do a fifteen minute mini session to mark her turning Thirteen, but the park was so quiet and the light so yummy, we decided to make the most of it and got a few more poses in. I can't believe my first born, my baby, is now officially a teenager! Where did the years go? I still see her as a little curly headed girl, always full of questions, constantly talking. So when she sweetly peeked around the tree like this I had to snap the moment....just as a reminder that although she is growing up, she still has so much of that playful, cheeky child in her.

Colour or black and white. You choose. I couldn't.

She is a natural poser, maybe it has something to do with being in front of my camera so often, but her natural clowning can't be contained for long and when I get this expression I know something is brewing behind those eyes.

Yip, there it is. Cartoon time. The funniest thing for me is how hard she laughs at her own clowning. I mean it literally takes minutes and minutes for her to stop laughing hysterically! Of course we are all laughing so much by then none of us can carry on until she calms herself.

There it is again. A jogger jogged behind her just as I took the photo and she found this incredibly funny for some reason. The giggles continue...

I couldn't decide between the black and white so I again put both versions up. These are my favourite because I can see her eyelashes and freckles. You see....she's still my baby!

I adore her so much. Can you tell? Happy birthday sweetie pie!

EXPRESSIONS

2011-09-05T13:32:00.002+10:00

..... of the facial kind.

I had to laugh the other day when a friend commented on my daughters very intense expression.

We have known each other since our kids were together in first grade

and I wondered how she had missed seeing it before.

It made me think about it though

and how I always got that comment when I was spotted in my car driving....

except I get told I look angry.

So I made a concerted effort to relax my facial muscles so as not to send the wrong signals.

So here we are with life repeating itself,

except reminding her to relax only makes the frown deeper.....

and in anycase on her I find it interesting.

It happens when she is miles away in her own thoughts

and I wish I could tune in.

Or maybe

I should be careful what I wish for...

after all she is a teenager!

And then she registers my camera

but only her lips change instantly to tell me to go away:)

Her full thoughts haven't returned to the present yet.

I love the mood of this next pic,

to me it shows the relaxed,

hazy day we had on fathers day,

with just a suggestion of hubby with his hands in his pockets

pretending to stare at the ocean

but actually listening to

the conversation of

his girls and

having his mind slightly curdled.

DAY OF SUNSHINE

2011-08-29T21:08:00.003+10:00

I keep on having to look at these just to prove the sunshine wasn't just

a figment of our winter weary minds.

Sunshine, warm wonderful sunshine....

My heart skipped a beat and my hand got camera itch for the first time in weeks.

Even Miss J couldn't wait to soak up some sun fun

so we headed up the road to the cherry

blossoms where we mostly played

and squished our toes through grass and mud.

Eventually I was allowed

to capture a few sweet

moments...

The best part of the afternoon for Miss J though was when she made

a new friend with a girl and her horse,

happily riding through the orchards till the sun set.

Needless to say her heart went to sleep happy but

her mind also kicked into scheming gear

on how to convince us to buy her

a horse of her own and

keep it in our backyard!

"But mum, I just HAVE to have a horse. I feel it deep in my HEART!"

And I know she does......

SIBLINGS

2011-05-31T16:57:00.001+10:00

I couldn't have asked for more photogenic children to photograph.

They were so relaxed in front of the camera and up for everything, even sitting in slushy

mud and wet long grass.

Thanks guys for a fun afternoon and for being such great sports!!

On a side note my cameras high ISO capability is now worth its weight in gold.

Melbourne autumn/winter sun starts setting at 5:00pm and light runs out quickly after 4:00pm so my after school sessions have had to be very quick.

If winter continues this way, earlier weekend sessions

might be my only option.

The photos from this session moved from ISO 500 to ISO 6400 in the space of an hour!

Mr J is a budding photographer and already has a very creative eye

and is so tech savvy for such a young age.

We had some very interesting chats about photography!

Miss M is just herself in front of the lens, just the way I like it.

Look at her beautiful naturalness!

This is one of my favourites from the session.

It's unposed,

just a moment

caught when she spotted the berries.

I adore

the colours and

her

gentle hand.

She had brought her umbrella along because of the weather

but instead of rain,

we got a stream of sunlight when the clouds parted.

Her favourite thing to do was to chew on sweet,

short stalks of grass.

Another favourite of mine. The colours are gorgeous and I love how the branches frame her.

Thanks again guys.

I'll see you again in the summertime:)

♥

FRIENDSHIP

2011-05-08T21:58:00.002+10:00

"There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same

laughter & noise."

~StoryPeople

And then you get those photos that don't work on a technical level but are full of spontaneous fun and laughter...

And then you get moments like these, where their unique individual beauty and gentleness shines so clearly through the most simple of shots.

HIGH ISO

2011-04-10T14:46:00.001+10:00

It seems odd to talk about the relationship I have with a particularly weighty lens of mine,

but it led to a very pleasant discovery.

It's a good lens, an excellent lens, and I dislike it intensely.

I should love it, I was hoping to love it, and it was because I was trying to love it again

that I rediscovered my love for my camera.

Because this lens is so heavy and because it was darkly overcast,

to ward off camera shake

I had to set my ISO to 2500!...

.I really was expecting

to have noise issues with these images,

after all my previous camera threw in the

towel at ISO 400,

but see for yourself.

Very little noise/grain right?

So two thumbs up for my Canon 5DMark II

and a special thanks to my 24-70L...may I grow in strength to hold you steady!

IN THE PARK

2011-03-16T12:47:00.004+11:00

What can I say, these two siblings had bounds of energy and the park setting allowed them to freely express this... often in a rough and tumble kinda lovin' way:) The sun was just an hour from setting when we started and the light was beautiful and warm but still quite sharp which is typical for this change in season time of year. I've posted just a few from our session, mostly in black and white, with a couple at the end to show their gorgeous colouring.

MISS J

2011-03-08T09:35:00.000+11:00

It was close to sunset on a mild day and we got some very warm, sweet photos.

This is a new location and we had so much fun "finding the light"...

not easy when the park was full of walkers and dogs off lead.

They were fascinated (the dogs that is) with Miss J

and managed to leave a huge amount of slobber

on our clothes and my reflector.

Note to self...BRING WET WIPES!!

After taking some photos amongst the trees, we saw these huge, sticky spider webs...

needless to say we moved far

far away to a more grassy open area by the water...

And just in case Miss J's serious expressions fooled you, I've added

just two of the many funny poses

she struck at every

possible opportunity,

yes she is one serious clown at heart!

♥

MISS A

2011-02-28T15:18:00.001+11:00

It was overcast

and rainy

but

despite that

had a lot of

fun.

She was a real trooper and put up with the creepy crawlies

even after seeing the spider webs run thickly from tree to tree.

I was so glad we never actually saw the size of its maker, urghhh.

She did not feel like smiling,

which was fine with me...

I like her serious expressions.

AFTER SCHOOL

2011-02-25T13:51:00.001+11:00

We had a wonderful ten minutes together for photographs.

She wanted

go out with her friends

and had spent all her pocket money,

so she earned more by cooking us

a lovely dinner of chicken with mushroom sauce and veggies and

while that was simmering away on the stove,

she sat for me

so I could test the light!

She earned every dollar don't you think?..

.and I'm loving that late afternoon light that comes through our sliding doors.

Next time I hope to try it closer to sunset!

LOVE

2011-02-14T12:27:00.000+11:00

..."this word is not enough but it will have to do."

~ Margaret Atwood