What is beauty? I think everyone has their own idea of what beauty is. I know I certainly do and I am pretty sure you do as well. Before I go any further I would like to ask you a couple of questions? How do you perceive what beauty is and how does society see it? Two totally different questions when you think about it and here is what I think what beauty is and in a way should be. 

What is beauty? is it a Australian size 8-10 long hair, blue eyes and drop dead gorgeous or is it what goes on in the inside of your mind, regardless of if you are a female or male. The media portrays the first hands down, just about every image that is advertising something has a pretty decent looking person in it. Why do you ask?? ........because that is what society wants us to see. We don't want to look at a over weight person or someone that is not easy on the eye do we?? ( Or though plus size models have been around for a while now, but I willleave that for another blurb ) We want to look at a beautiful person who has nice feature's and is something that we would all want to be like and that is physically beautiful. But it is what goes on the inside of your mind is what really makes a person beautifully. More to the point how they project there beauty that they have on the inside to the outside that will really make them beautiful. This is how I would like to see the media portray beauty but unfortunately it doesn't.

So I ask you this, the next time you meet an attractive person regardless if it is a male or female, do they project there beauty across to you? 

Swimwear brands-Allerton & Bella Swimwear
Photographer-Geoffrey Chuah
​Model-Louise Pollard

lets talk about, the female body and social media shall we? I am not one to put down a woman's body no matter what shape or size she is but there are a lot of people who do that ....unfortunately a lot of people judge a book by it's cover. Which can be somewhat disturbing considering you should always try and get to know the person first before you make a call. Unfortunately again this happens a lot, especially on social media. Something that I have had a love and hate relationship with personally.

I see it way to often influencers super charging there bodys to make them self look very very unattainable. I always think the idea of a good influencer should be to educate their audience so that they should live a healthy and clean lifestyle no matter what size they are. Yes I know that in the fashion industry we all use size 8 and 10 models and everything gets photoshopped, some images more than others. But that is on a commercial level where the brand is trying to sell their products to there demagrapic. The influencer shouldn't be using lightroom on there phones and smoothing there skin out and making there boobs look bigger etc. I think they should be leaving everything as it is shot to show their true self.

Yes I photoshop my own images some more than others, the reason for that is to make everything look easier on the eye and bringing it to a level of professionalism that the industry is not only renowned for but expects. 

So on that note this swim editorial for LaMode, the first of what will be many shoot in Australia in the coming months, namingly in the Gold Coast, Sydney and anywhere else I can travel too, showcasing Australia's amazing swim brands and to die for models.

Swimwear-Allerton
Photographer-Geoffrey Chuah
Makeup Artist-Holly Fraser
Model-Brooke Finato

When I travel to new places in Sydney or anywhere in Australia for that matter. Photography for me should be about capturing the vibe of the place you have just experienced. So when I shoot culture editorials for LaMode that is what I am aiming to do as well as create amazing eye catching photographs, or that is what I would like to think I am doing.

Sydney has so many hidden little gems, that you can discover when you want to find something new and exciting to explore. I did that today by travelling a hour on the train north of the CBD, Sydney. Where I  found the Hawkesbury. It is mostly a fishing town by the river. The water is not as crystal clear as it should be for this part of Sydney but hay isn’t that what makes each and every part of Australia unique?

I love any chance I get to be able to create new images. I also decided to shoot some of the images in black and white, something I haven’t done for a while. That has a lot to do with me shooting sunsets and at a time of day where you really want to create a certain kind of mood, you can check out that editorial via my last post. Anyway with Spring having come upon us and Summer moving close behind it, that means Summer shoots on the beach.

Sydney has so many hidden places you can check out on a beautiful sunny day, I know that is a cliche thing to say but it's true .....you only have to bring up a map on your phone or device, and see how vast Sydney. 

I was thinking about what to shoot for my next editorial post for LaMode and I really wanted to shoot something that was for my culture section of the magazine.I hadn't done anything for that section for a while, and I came up with the idea of finding a couple of remote locations that aren't that obvious to the everyday traveler. Both are close to the water and public transport. While searching, I found Como and Rhodes, Como isn't that common a place to most people even in Sydney but I think Rhodes is. When I document these places I like to shoot it in a way that is a little bit different and and most definitely eye catching. I waited till late in the day to shoot both locations as I wanted to catch the sunset and I also wanted to create a mood that was not only eye catching as mentioned in the last sentence but I also wanted to show you how beautiful the sun set is.

So the next time you want to explore Sydney, close your eyes and pick a place on the map of your phone and see where it takes you.

Do you ever think about what you need in your life and what you don't need? Or more to the point, stripping  your life back to the basic necessities. Well I sort of did that about a week ago, by booking a trip to the Gold Coast and getting away from my life in Sydney for what was way not long enough. But in the time I was away, I managed to shoot an editorial for LaMode and take in a different part of Australia, and give myself some time to think about what I need more of in my life and what I don't need and the conclusion I came up with, is that, if you live in a city or rat race as we sometimes like to call it. You definitely need time out and some of us need more time out than others. And for me it made me realise that this is something that I may have to do more often and that is take  trips like this more often and do two things.
A: Re-charge my batteries 
B: Allow myself  to reflect and re-plan what I need to do for the next 3-6 months, thats if things aren't going to plan of course. 

And that is what life is all about right ....planning.

And on that point I was so lucky to work with the ever charming and beautiful Louise Pollard for this shoot. Who would of thought that you can shoot swimwear in the middle of Winter? Well only when you are in the Gold Coast, and only when you have "Winter Fever"

Photographer-Geoffrey Chuah
Model-Louise Pollard