Annie Leibovitz talks about the art of photography, the transition from film to digital photography, and how the content of your photo is more important than the camera that you’ve used.

Above: Image by Gina Milicia, Magda Szubanski photographed for Foxtel magazine When I was 14, all the popular kids were getting mullet haircuts. I wanted to be like the popular kids, so I cut my waist-length hair to a mullet. “Business in the front, party at the back.” When I was 18, I wanted to be Madonna, so I bleached my hair. I spent the next 5 years foisting every form of chemical abuse onto my poor fried and battered hair. I took the same approach with my photography. I jumped on every cliche trend there was. I measured the success of my images by how similar they were to what the popular kids were doing. I soon realised, adopting every photography mullet and applying them to my photos was not going to make my work better. The effect was quite the opposite. My work looked like everyone else’s. My photos...

Above: Image by Gina Milicia “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.” ― James Clear  

“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run —in the long-run, I say! —success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it” – Victor Frankel

Above: Image by Gina Milicia I’ve combined my four great loves, photography, Sicily, travel and teaching to create the ultimate photography experience. I’m so excited to show you my beautiful Island of Sicily and share the lighting, posing and post-production techniques I use. I’ve partnered with the best Sicily tour guide in the world, Carmel Ruggeri of Sicilian Food Tours. We’ve been doing these tours together since 2013 and having a blast! Carm will take care of us during our stay and take us to authentic Sicilian villages and locations off the beaten track. Carm is a successful and much-loved restaurateur so we will be privy to some of the best Sicilian food and wine and hospitality. I can’t wait to work with you! Email Carm at [email protected] to secure your spot.

Cover Image 1950 Vogue by Erwin Blumenfeld “Erwin Blumenfeld is one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. An experimenter and innovator, he produced an extensive body of work including drawings, collages, portraits and nudes, celebrity portraiture, advertising campaigns and his renowned fashion photography both in black and white and color.”

Above: Image by Gina Milicia Coco Chanel, the founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, once said, “Before leaving the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” This advice can be applied to photography. It’s easy to get caught up in lighting and post-production techniques that end up overpowering an image. Next time you are adding props to a photo, lighting an image or retouching a shot ask yourself WWCD? What would Coco do? Do you need the extra light? If the answer is no, then try applying the Coco protocol and simplifying your image. Too many props? WWCD? One too many Lightroom presets? WWCD? A beautiful image doesn’t need diamond rings, red lipstick and high heels to stand out. Chanel wasn’t the only artist who believed in the importance of simplicity. Next time you are tempted to use the latest editing technique that all the cool kids...

“Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.” – Rocky Balboa Above: Image by Gina Milicia

Above: Image by Gina Milicia “The wise rest at least as hard as they work.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana Have you ever tried to work on a computer that has Lightroom, Photoshop, Capture One, Mail, and the 27 tabs opened in Google? It’s slow and crashes often, right? Have you ever wondered what happens to our bodies when we try and multi-task or continually overload our systems? The same thing, we slow down and if we’re not careful we burn out. To “burn out” means you lack the physical and mental energy needed to work efficiently. This state is caused by overloading the body with too many external stress triggers like stress, lack of sleep and too large a workload. Our bodies can still function but only at about 25% capacity and for those of us in the creative industry the first casualties are creativity and inspiration. Nurturing creativity and inspiration Creativity...

Above: Image by Gina Milicia “The creative adult is the child who has survived.” – Ursula K. Le Guin