Previous Client Work: Bespoke Brand Photography for Travel Blog - Live Learn Venture

Just before finishing up our final year in South Korea, I had the pleasure of working with Natasha, the lady behind the popular travel blog Live Learn Venture.

Natasha had gotten in touch with me to work on her brand photography for her travel blog, and was in the middle of a rebrand. She needed beautiful, high resolution images for her to use on her blog posts, as part of graphics for the main layout of her website and also wanted some updated headshots. All of what she needed forms part of Creative Headshot package (click here for more info) and we got started straight away on the planning stage of her shoot.

I also worked alongside my stylist friend Samantha (find her over at There She Goes Again) who is incredible at what she does. I've worked on lots of styled shoots with Sam and always love the energy and creativity she brings to shoots. 

The Live Learn Venture brand is feminine and fun, but Natasha wasn't sure what her brand colours would end up being, and so we used the shoot to determine that for her. Using the backgrounds and textures of the various locations we shot at, it was very clear that shades of peach, grey and brown would form a big part of her new brand.  A big part of my work is ensuring my clients feel 100% comfortable in front of my camera, and this is how I am able to ensure I capture the personality and essence of each client and their brand. I loved working with Natasha, and I have loved seeing her brand develop and evolve since this shoot. She has put all of her new brand images to use on her new website, and it's incredible how the images have helped  her develop a wonderful cohesive style.

Below are a selection of the images I created exclusively for Live Learn Venture. If you're interested in finding out more about my headshot packages, then please feel free to get in touch. Each package includes a good mixture of styled stock type images as well as pretty portraits.

Enjoy!

x

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Find out more about working with me on your own brand images by clicking the button below. I'm so looking forward to hearing from you!

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Want to see more of my previous client work? I've worked with florists, skincare product designers, copyrighters, yoga enthusiasts, life coaches, bloggers and just about everyone in between. Click here to see more of my previous work.

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Wondering whether you need brand photography and how you would even use it?

Click below to find out more:

Forest Fairy Styled Shoot in Buan, South Korea

Last month I got together with Rachel from KIT Makeup to work on one more styled shoot before she left Korea to go back to the UK. Rachel did the beautiful bridal makeup for the Wild Flower Boho Bridal Inspired shoot I did a few months ago, and so I was very happy to work with her again. 

For this shoot, the initial idea was for a forest fairy using an inspiration board of cream, white and blues. Then our ideas changed when our gorgeous model (Rhea) mentioned that she had a black, lacy slip that she wouldn't mind wearing for the shoot and we decided to go for a darker, almost nymph like fairy. We then used the forest nearby my house as inspiration for our makeup palette and I am so happy with how it all turned out. I was very nervous about the light in the forest as I knew there would be a lot of shade and dappled light and I don't like using flash. The light ended up being much easier to work with than I had expected. We chose two slightly different looks and had so much fun playing with the ivy. After a near disaster (whereby I formatted my memory card without checking to see if I had backed up the RAW photographs first...blog post to come soon on the amazing recovery software I found!) here are the results of our collaboration.

If you're here in Korea and would like to book me for you own styled or themed shoot, please do get in touch! You can email me using the contact form above or using citygirlsearching(at)gmail(dot)com. 

In the mean time, here are the photographs of our Forest Fairy shoot.

Enjoy!

x

All photographs taken with my Nikon D700 and 50mm 1.4.

Edited gently in Lightroom.

Cherry Blossoms in South Korea

Spring in South Korea has got to be one of the most beautiful seasons, and my absolute favourite time of the year. Although, I must say that Autumn is also beautiful in it's own way with gorgeous red and yellow hued leaves falling gently to the ground (click here to see photographs of Autumn in Korea). It's Autumn right now, but it's Spring for everyone in back home in South Africa and so I wanted to share these pretty flowers with you today. 

These photographs are a selection of blossoms that I have taken over the last 2 Springs that we have had here in Korea. The gloomy & wet photographs are from an afternoon wondering around Gaeamsa Temple, just outside of Buan (Jeollobukdo, Korea) in the rain. It was pouring but I was really happy with the effect the rain gave to my photos. The last set of photographs are from the first day after that rain where the beautiful sunshine meant I was able to do a styled shoot with my friend Alysha. 

Enjoy!

x

Photographs all taken with my Nikon d700 and 50mm 1.4 & 85mm 1.8 prime lenses. Edited gently with Lightroom.

Borneo Through Photographs

For the last summer holidays Farmboy and I headed to Borneo. Before researching for our trip I didn't know too much about the island (did you know that Borneo is actually the second largest island in the world and is made up of 3 countries; Malaysia, Indonesia & Brunei). Along our travels we had a wonderful taxi driver who spent the hour we had with him telling us tales of pirates, folklore and other stories relating to the history of the Island.

We spent time in 3 different cities in Malaysia Borneo and their surrounding towns, all of which were very different from each other. We explored the concrete jungle of Kuching, the rain forests and lake surrounding Bantang Ai National Park and scuba dived amongst the reefs of Mabul Island. It was one of the most diverse travel adventures we have had and I look forward to sharing more with you about this incredible place.

I will be doing a full travel guide soon, but in the mean time here are a few photographs from our trip. 

Enjoy x

Kuching & Semonghoh Nature Reserve

Bantang Ai Lake & Visit to a Traditional Longhouse

Jungle Trek around Bantang Ai Lake & Rasa Risa Orangatun Rehabilitation Centre in Kota Kinabalu

Floating Palace in Kota Kinabalu & Mabul Island, Sabah.

Growing Up Jindo: A series of photographs documenting #ShadowTheJindo's first year

On a late evening In September 2014, Farmboy and I were driving home from work when we came across a tiny puppy alone on a dark farm road. As we pulled over, cars appeared from nowhere, and the little ball of fluff was narrowly escaping becoming roadkill. I picked him up, and so began the start of life with #ShadowTheJindo. You can read more about his rescue by clicking here. 

When we found Shadow he was around 2 months old and our local small town vet could only hazzard a guess as to his breed. We have since been told (and from our own observations of common dog breeds here in Korea) that he is a black & tan Korean Jindo. Of course we can't be certain if he is pure Jindo or mixed without a blood test but from his temperament and from the limited English information I can find on the breed, he is most definitely part Jindo; a breed of hunting dogs native to South Korea.

Since arriving in Korea in 2012, we had no intentions of ever having a pet due to the difficulties and costs associated with taking them back home to South Africa. We spent a great deal of time over the first few weeks of rescuing him, trying to make a responsible decision. We even had a wonderful home lined up for him in the US where it is much cheaper and easier to send pets from Korea. We would have had to wait until he was at least 4 months old before he would be allowed to travel, and I knew that I would never be able to give him away to someone else after caring for him for that amount of time. And so, after setting up a bank account in his name and starting the debit orders in preparation for taking him home in 2016, Shadow became a permanent part of the Hutton family.

I started this series of photographs to track his growth (thank you to my patient husband for being the one to actually take these photographs) and have loved looking back at them and watching his growth from tiny ball of fluff, to gangly teenager and finally to wolf dog.

I hope you enjoy this series and if you are inspired to do the same, please share your photos on Shadow's Facebook page, I'd love to follow along in your pets journey.

x

You can follow along in Shadows adventures on Facebook by clicking here.

Introducing Joie D'vivre Artisan Camera & Binocular Sling Belts {GIVEAWAY}

Today I want to introduce you to Joie D'Vivre, artisan camera and binocular slings manufactured in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.

Established in 2012, Joie d’ Vivre prides itself on the quality of their products, with individual attention given to each sling. Each sling is made from leather of the highest quality and the slings are finished with a protective solution to prevent everyday marks.

Being proudly South African, most of the fabrics have been carefully selected from local fabric houses and many have been sourced from offcuts, old clothing and interior items. Plain leather, Beaded and Nguni Hide options are also available

The camera slings fit a wide variety of cameras ranging from DSLRs & vintage film cameras to large Polaroid cameras. Joie d’ Vivre (meaning a strong love or enthusiasm for life in French) was established in 2012 by Courtney Jade Thatcher. A love for photography, fashion and a strong enthusiast of diversity may have inspired the brand, however a clear gap in the market is what motivated Courtney to develop the idea further into a product that can cater to almost any market within the sphere of photography. By personalizing the very tool used to represent yourself in society, we provide the opportunity to express yourself further. Young or old, conservative or liberal, celebrating the individual is the goal of Joie d’ Vivre.

Joie d'Vivre is giving away three of these beautiful straps to three lucky CityGirlSearching Readers. All you have to do is enter using the giveaway widget below. It's a very simple giveaway with very few steps. If you have any problems using the entry system please pop me a message by email or comment here on the blog.

You can gain an extra entry by sharing this giveaway on Facebook and Instagram. Just make sure to tag both @CityGirlSearching & @Joiedvivresa for Facebook shares, and @RoxyHutton & @Joiedvivrecamera for Instagram so we can track your entries.

This giveaway is only open to South African readers. Entries close at midnight on the 26th October. 

Here is a small selection of the designs that you can win:

Good luck! 

Highlights of Beautiful Bali

Farmboy and I have just got back from our summer holiday in Bali. One of the major perks of living in Korea is the opportunity to travel South East Asia, as places like Indonesia are easily accessible.

We were in Bali for 12 days and tried to see as much as could in the time we had. I will be posting a full travel guide soon, like I did with Vietnam (click here) but for now I'll leave with a visual feast of colour.

I traded in my trusty Nikon D300s a few months ago, for a Nikon D700, which I used to take these photographs. As I now shoot full frame, I have to invest in full frame lenses (and these do not come cheap!) Currently I have only a 50mm prime lens and this is what I used for the entire trip. No fancy zooms (I had to make do with my feet) and no wide angle shots. It can be a stressful process trying to find the 'perfect' lenses to take with you on holiday, and you often feel you need to have ALL the things to take perfect photographs. But, what I soon came to realise is that all you really need is a little patience and practice to train your eye to capture your subjects in new and interesting ways.

We loved our time in Bali, spending 4 days in Ubud, 5 days on the Gili Islands (3 days on Gili Meno & 2 days on Gili Trawangan) and then 3 final days in Ubud. We stayed in a variety of accomodation, from fancy villas overlooking rice paddies, to bamboo huts on the beach. What our time so memorable was the people we met throughout our stay. We had a wonderful host and tour guide for our first few days who taught us so much about the people and their way of life in Bali.

But more on that to come in another post.

For now, the photographs.

Enjoy!

Zoey and Jasper...an overdose of cuteness

I stumbled across something last weekend that made me smile. And I can't keep it to myself, I have to share it with you. If you love photographs of sweet little ones, and you love photographs of the furry variety then this series is going to rock your socks off.

Grace Chon is a delightful lady who responded to my email right away, asking if I could feature her work here on my blog. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, little boy and two rescue dogs (Maeby and Zoey). In her spare time, Grace photographs homeless dogs looking for their forever homes and donates her photography services every year to multiple dog rescue groups in Los Angeles (see I told you she was lovely!). Grace has also been photographing her son (Jasper) and Taiwanese rescue dog (Zoey) in a series of adorable 'twin' photographs that are bound to make your day that much brighter.

The story of Zoey the rescue pup is a happy one, although it didn't start out that way. Zoey started out life in a gutter in Taiwan, after being abandoned along with her brothers and sisters. A school girl walking by scooped up all the puppies and carried them to her home where she later contacted the Taiwan Animal Rescue Team.

'A kind volunteer at the Animal Rescue Team, Joy, found foster parents for all 5 of Zoey’s siblings, but decided to foster Zoey herself because she was the runt and the sickliest. She also gave her the name she came to America with - Star. Joy fell in love with Zoey and said she might have kept her, had she not been moving to China for a new job.

She says she never knew what happened to any of the puppies, and all that she knew of Zoey was that a Korean girl in Los Angeles had adopted her. Joy says she’s been waiting for 7 years to hear more about the puppy she fell in love with. As the photos of Zoey and Jasper broke around the world, Joy saw them in China. She had a hunch that it might be the sickly little 2.5 pound dog she nursed to health in Taiwan - and she was right.

Joy has been sending Grace photos of Zoey - from the first night she was at her apartment, to the final photo they took of her with a China Airlines stewardess before she boarded her flight to Los Angeles' (Zoey and Jasper).

I hope you enjoy these photographs as much as I do, and that you make you smile.

Happy Friday everyone!

x

"About Zoey:
Zoey is a 7 year old rescue mutt from Taiwan. She loves hiking, playing fetch with her toy squirrel, eating crumbs off the floor, and Jasper.

About Jasper:
Jasper is a 10 month old Chinese-Korean mutt from Los Angeles. He loves going for walks, eating pancakes and meatballs and yogurt and oatmeal and cereal (sometimes all together), and his best furry friends Zoey and Maeby. 

Zoey and Jasper’s mom is a commercial photographer specializing in animals, lifestyle images, and celebrities with their pets. When she isn’t furiously editing photos during Jasper’s nap time, she likes to garden and watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." (Zoey and Jasper)

Instagram: @thegracechon #zoeyandjasper

Facebook: Shine Pet Photos

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegracechon

Web: www.gracechon.com

Jasper & Zoey on Tumblr: http://zoeyandjasper.tumblr.com/