Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

It seems like only yesterday I was finishing commissions and getting ready for Christmas and here it is almost the end of January already!  I was a bit shocked to realize today that the kids go back to school next week and I am no where near organized for that yet.

The time has probably gone so quickly because so much time and effort has been put into re-designing my photography website South West Photography.  It has been a mammoth undertaking, and there are still a few things that need tweaking here and there, but I am really pleased with the results.  The pricing  and products for both event and portrait  photography have been re-structured with new options added (both prints and digital file downloads), and my photographic art prints and products available for sale through Redbubble and Zazzle can now be easily seen on the website (although the Photography For Sale section is still being added to).

Although the plan is to re-design this website, especially in regards to creating a similar design for my painting and drawing prints on Redbubble and Zazzle, I am really looking forward to being able to focus on re-starting the children and family portrait photography.  My portrait photography has has been on hold since we moved away from the city, so if anyone living in the south west region is interested in having portraits of their children or family, please feel free to contact me for a chat and to find out more about the special offer I currently have for portrait sessions.

This is a screen capture of the new front page – although the images are set to rotate to show a different selection of images every few seconds.  I’d love to know what you think about the new design!

I went along to Harvey Dickson’s Rodeo down here at Boyup Brook to get some reference photos for some western and rodeo inspired paintings that I have planned.  I can understand where the origins for many of the events lay – calf roping, bareback and saddle bronc…even the steer undecorating, but I really have to wonder who on earth first thought of trying to ride a full grown bull that would rather kill you?  LOL, must have been a man with more bulls than brains;)

Here’s a few of my favourite shots.

Junior Steer riding © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Junior Steer riding © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Junior Breakaway Roping © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Junior Bull Riding © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Junior Bull Riding © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Junior Barrel Racing © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Bull Riding © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Thats going to hurt! © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Bareback bronc riding © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Saddle Bronc event © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Rodeo Cowboy © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Steer Wrestling © South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Harvey Dickson's Guitar Man

The full set of proofs for the rodeo are available to view and purchase online at South West Photography.

Today was a rather auspicious day – its been a long time coming, but I am very excited to finally be setting up my studio gallery:)  I had planned to just move the boxes in, but got a little carried away and started unpacking everything.  I felt like a kid at Christmas unpacking all of my art supplies, books and art magazines – many of which I havn’t seen for well over 18 months!  My mind is racing with all the things that I want to paint and draw, I really don’t know where to start first – oils, acrylics, colour pencils or something in graphite.  I’d really like to have a go at some plein air oil paintings – all I have to do is step outside my studio for inspiration in every direction, from the beautiful landscape to the baby lambs and calves that are being born on all the farms around here – including ours, but thats a subject for another post, as I really need to catch up on posts that I meant to add last week but ran out of time to!

Following on from my last post with photos of the Clydesdales from the Dardanup Heritage Park Heavy Horse Show, I thought I would share some of the photos of the Team Australia Liberty Horse display performed by brother and sister team, Sam and Sasha Watson from Horses and Horsemen.

The performance shows the willingness, agility, intelligence and responsiveness of these magnificent animals and the incredible relationship that can be created between man and horse.  The display involved a number of different and often very difficult maneuvers, with the liberty horses following instruction and direction from voice and subtle body language cues.  What I found most amazing and awe inspiring was the willingness and enjoyment all the horses displayed, they were clearly enjoying the performance as much as the audience was, even the six month old weanlings were eager and willing to perform even with the noise and distraction of the large crowd and bright orange safety fences!

I was specifically taking photos for reference material for future paintings (and have already flagged a number of shots that are going to make a wonderful new series of paintings) but here are a few shots of the performance which I can *highly* recommend as a must see for anyone who loves horses!

Team Australia Liberty Horse display © 2010 South West Photography

Team Australia Liberty Horse Display © 2010 South West Photography

Team Australia Nine Horse Liberty Display © 2010 South West Photography

Team Australia Two by Two Liberty Horse Display © 2010 South West Photography

Liberty Horse Display © 2010 South West Photography

Roman Riding Liberty Horse display © 2010 South West Photography

Next post will include some photos from the tent pegging display by 10th Light Horse Bunbury Troop.

All images from the Liberty Horse display can be viewed on the Events section of my South West Photography website.

x Michelle

Michelle Wrighton: Animal, Wildlife & Landscape Fine Art & Photography

SOUTH WEST PHOTOGRAPHY: Portrait, Event, Landscape and Fine Art Photography Prints

FACEBOOK: Michelle Wrighton Artist

TWITTER: artistMichelleW

BUY CUSTOMIZED ART POSTERS, ART PRINTS, T-SHIRTS & GIFTS: Zazzle

BUY CARDS, PHOTO PRINTS, CANVAS ART AND FRAMED ART PRINTS: Redbubble

I was lucky enough to attend the Dardanup Heritage Park Heavy Horse Show on  June 6, 2010 to watch some  magnificent Clydesdales in action and obtain reference material for future paintings.  There was also a riding and tent pegging display by the 10th Light Horse Bunbury Troop and the most amazing liberty horse display by Sam and Sasha Watson of Horses and Horsemen – a performance that every horse owner should see to get a glimpse into the incredible communication and willing relationship that is possible between horse and man – even with foals as young as six months of age!  As a horse owner, the liberty performance was both humbling and awe inspiring and something that you could never tire of watching.

I have hundreds of photos from the day that I havn’t finished sorting through so I will make a couple of blog posts to include a few from the Light Horse and Team Australia Liberty performances as well as the Clydesdales.

Clydesdale horse in harness © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdale in Harness © 2010 South West Photography

Traditional Clydesdale and cart © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdale team and wine cart © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdale team and single axle cart © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdales in harness © 2010 South West Photography

Proofs from the Clydesdale Show will be uploaded and available for competitors to purchase prints from my photography events website South West Photography next week (the 10gig limit per month wireless internet is never enough and we have been shaped back to dinosaur dialup speed until next week:(

x Michelle

Michelle Wrighton: Animal, Wildlife & Landscape Fine Art & Photography

SOUTH WEST PHOTOGRAPHY: Portrait, Event, Landscape and Fine Art Photography Prints

FACEBOOK: Michelle Wrighton Artist

TWITTER: artistMichelleW

BUY CUSTOMIZED ART POSTERS, ART PRINTS, T-SHIRTS & GIFTS: Zazzle

BUY CARDS, PHOTO PRINTS, CANVAS ART AND FRAMED ART PRINTS: Redbubble

The Mayanup Campdraft is an annual event that I was so pleased to be able to go and watch this year. Despite the dust which made shooting very difficult at times, and the odd cow that decided to try and jump the arena fencing right where I was standing, I managed to get some pretty good shots of the action. Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend.

Mayanup Campdraft ©South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Mayanup Campdraft ©South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Mayanup Campdraft ©South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Mayanup Campdraft ©South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Mayanup Campdraft ©South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Mayanup Campdraft ©South West Photography All Rights Reserved

Mayanup Campdraft ©South West Photography All Rights Reserved

All photographs from the Mayanup Campdraft can be viewed and purchased from South West Photography

SOUTH WEST PHOTOGRAPHY: Portrait, Event, Landscape and Fine Art Photography Prints

Yesterday I had a session with very cute 71/2 month old Jack.  What a cutie-pie, but oh-so serious when it came time to take his photos:)  Thanks to his very sweet mum, K for letting me come to your home and photograph your gorgeous boy!  I hope you enjoy this sneak peak at some of his photographs!

Baby Portrait Photography ©South West Photography

Baby Portrait Photography ©South West Photography

Baby Portrait Photography ©South West Photography

Baby Portrait Photography ©South West Photography

Portrait photography session information is available on the portraits section of my South West Photography website.

The highlight of last week for me was a wonderful session that I had on Saturday with Mitchell and Kaden, two gorgeous little boys who were loads of fun and had me cracking up all over the place with their antics!

I know their lovely mum is anxious to see their sneak peak, so here it is – thanks so much Jackie for letting me photograph your beautiful boys, I hope they had as much fun as I did:)

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography ©2009 South West Photography

Portrait photography session information is available on the portraits section of my South West Photography website.

Please note: Free photo sessions finished in August 2009! Current Child and Family Portrait Photography information and prices can be viewed on my photography website South West Photography

Are you interested in a Free photo session for your child, aged from newborn to teens?  I am currently building my portrait portfolio and I’m looking for enthusiastic Perth parents who would like a Free Portrait Photography Session of their child.

In exchange for use of photographs from your child’s session in my portfolio and for promotional and advertising purposes (print and internet)

You will receive:

FREE Photo session of approximately 1-2 hours (time required depends on child/children)

FREE online private gallery (password protected) to view all final images (between 20-35 images)

Two FREE 6″x8″ professional photo lab prints of your choice selected from your private gallery plus web resolution (600px @72dpi) copies of these two images for sharing by email, facebook etc)

You are under absolutely No Obligation but may purchase prints at a heavily discounted rate (Christmas presents for Grandparents?) and will receive web resolution digital images of any additional prints that you do purchase.

Location: Portrait sessions will be held on location at a local park, garden or playground – a nice location where your kids will feel comfortable, can have some fun and be themselves  rather than posing for the camera.  Locations SOR/hills preferred due to time constraints.

Day/Time: Most weekdays are available for booking up to two weeks in advance, limited weekend sessions left at this time. Flexibility may be required due to inclement weather.

Portrait style: Natural light/lifestyle/candid/casual style (not formal studio shots)

If you are interested in having a Free photo session, please send me an email with your child’s details, the most suitable times/days for you and a contact telephone number.

I particularly require baby, toddlers and pre-schoolers and can accommodate a portrait ‘party’ for larger groups of children.

For additional information and to view galleries, please visit my South West Photography website.

Cheers

Michelle

Gorgeous three year old Tatum was a joy to photograph, and was particularly helpful when Dora and Boots were hiding inside my camera lens;) I will have to work on reducing the number of final photos to somewhere between 20 and 30ish, but as a mum myself, I found it really difficult to not include all the really cute ones!  We did this session at a local park which provided a lovely range of backgrounds…and dozens of ducks to keep Miss Tatum amused!

Children's Portrait Photography © 2009 Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © 2009 Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Or should that be “I am Facebook Clallenged”?

I’ve finally decided that I need to give these social networking groups a go, so I have joined Facebook and Twitter.  I guess it would be showing my age and number of years online if I said that I really prefer the old discussion forums (which of course still exist, but there seems that there has been a mass exodus away from the ‘old fashioned’ discussion boards and now everyone spends more time Fan and Tweeting).   And I will grudgingly admit that it looks like a better way to actually get to know the people you are talking to online, so I guess it can’t be all that bad!  I don’t need any other distractions though, so I am not going to be dragged into any food fights or barn yard antics;)

I’m actually thinking that it might be a good way of instantly notifying friends and in particular clients when photos from events are uploaded to the proof gallery…at least in theory, and this is where the challenge comes in…I’m not quite sure that I am using Facebook properly, well no, thats not what I mean, I have figured out (mostly) how to use it, but everything new that I want to add to my busines page seems to be adding to my personal page instead.

For example, my photo albums…I wouldn’t have thought that I needed to add them to both, but maybe I do.  And I can’t figure out how to favourite pages from my business page.  LOL I am sure a few more hours playing with Facebook should improve my skills;)

In the mean time, this is the Facebook Page that I have started for South West Photography andyou can find me at SouthWest Photo on Twitter

And this is a little logo that I made up this morning.

South West Photography Logo