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Quote: “The best photos come from the heart, not the camera.”

Above: Image Gina Milicia Fuji x100F “A lot of photographers think that if they buy a better camera they’ll be able to take better photographs. A better camera won’t do a thing for you if you don’t have anything in your head or in your heart.” – Arnold Newman  

Get Inspired!

Photographer Mary Ellen Mark is one of the most respected and influential image makers of our time.  Her work photographing diverse cultures across the globe has become iconic in the field of documentary photography and portraiture. Mark has received a Cornell Capa Award , the Infinity Award for Journalism, the Photographer of the Year Award from the Friends of Photography; the World Press Award for Outstanding Body of Work Throughout the Years; the Victor Hasselblad Cover Award; two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and three National Endowment for the Arts awards. Her photo essays and portraits have exhibited globally, featured in such publications as LIFE, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair, and published in eighteen books. In addition, Mark has photographed advertising campaigns for Barnes and Noble, British Levis, Coach Bags, Eileen Fisher, Hasselblad, Heineken, Keds, Mass Mutual, Nissan, and Patek Philippe.

Who cares about your images?

Above: Image, Gina Milicia. Women in Red. South Africa 5D MK 4 “When people look at my pictures, I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.” – Robert Frank I love this quote by Robert Frank. It sums up the way I feel about photography. I want people to care about my images. I want them to feel something when they look at them.  What’s the point of creating art that nobody cares about? Often we are so hung up with technique and megapixels and postproduction that we forget the real reason art exists in the first place.  Great art is visual storytelling, and great storytelling evokes a reaction. I feel something when I look at an image.  I can still remember the first time I saw the work of Rodin, Van Gogh, Mapplethorpe, Fan Ho, or Herb Ritts. ...

Get inspired by the amazing work of Diane Arbus

“My favourite thing is to go where I’ve never been.” – Diane Arbus Click the image below to watch the documentary.

My 5 best photo editing tips: You can’t make a Filet Mignon with tinned ham

Above: Image, Gina Milicia, I realised that many of the principles used to create amazing meals can also be applied to the way we edit our photos. I’ve been binge-watching cooking shows during the summer. Nigella, Jamie, Anthony and Man vs Food (don’t judge me) are a few of my faves. Food porn is awesome. I watch in a Homer Simpson style stupor “Mmmmm doughnuts…” and the great thing about these shows is I can gorge on them all summer long and still fit into my jeans at the end of it. So aside from learning how to make custard filled doughnuts using a brioche pastry (the secret to a good brioche is chilling it overnight) I also realised that many of the principles used to create amazing meals can also be applied to the way we edit our photos. Above: The thing that all great chefs agree on is...

Love this quote about being different

Above: Image, Gina Milicia “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs

How to stand out in a saturated photography market

Above: Image, Gina Milicia If you place a diamond in a sea of caca, it will stand out, right? But what happens if you take that same diamond and put it in a sea of diamonds?  Our little diamond has now lost its sparkle. Standing out in a saturated photography market is difficult if you are a diamond in a sea of diamonds. Your work is excellent, you may be technically proficient and know how to shoot in a style that all the cool kids are using.  You study the lighting, posing and editing techniques of your peers and your work is just as good and sometimes your work looks better. The problem with this approach is that your work may be great, but you become a diamond in a sea of diamonds. Your work looks just like everybody else’s. Don’t get me wrong here, looking like a diamond is...

Passion + practise = success

Above: I photographed this young student of the Japan Karate Association (JKA) Australia using my canon 1DX and 85mm 1.2 lens “Passion for something leads to disproportionate time practising or working at it. That time spent eventually translates to skill, and when skill improves, results improve. Better results generally lead to more enjoyment, and more passion and more time is invested. It can be a virtuous cycle all the way to extraordinary results.” The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Resultsby Gary Keller

Check out this very cool filter in Lightroom

Ever taken a shot that looks great but is missing detail in a certain area? Yeah, me too! This filter is awesome for selectively adjusting areas like skies.
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How to direct and pose like a pro

About Gina

About Gina

Gina Milicia is one of the most widely known and respected photographers in Australia. She is the master of capturing that ‘magical moment’... READ MORE

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