Anna and Chris - what gems!
It's not every week you get invited down to one of the most beautiful parts of Victoria to shoot, be greeted with some nice red vino, and watch a beautiful couple let go of their inhibitions like these two did.
As part of getting to know Anna and Chris before their wedding day next March we teed up a little evening shoot in Airey's Inlet along Australia's Great Ocean Road, and as soon as they stepped out of the car down the stairs to Eagle Rock Marine Sanctuary, Anna and Chris lit the place up. We stayed on at the beach until the sky turned a deep blue, and as a final bit of awesomeness they bravely jumped in for a post sunset swim in the very frosty water.
Massive shout out and thanks to Chris and Anna for being so awesome to work with and getting me back to Australia (along with a few other couples) next March for their big day. I can't wait!

-Mathieu

Me - "Looks like it's going to be raining for our shoot. Are you up for a bit of getting wet?"

Sophie - "Oh yeah that's not a worry at all! We're from Ireland and England- we're not afraid of a few raindrops "

YES! YES! YES!

I had the pleasure of working with Sophie and Ritchie last week only days before they were set to venture off to the UK to be wed. For this shoot it quite literally rained, hailed and shined for us and these two embraced the elements with pure devotion. Running in and out of the scarce cover from the rain for various snaps was such a blast, and Sophie and Ritchie absolutely shone throughout it. You really can't beat their two smiles, right?

Thank you for an incredible photographic experience, Sophie and Ritch!

Welcome to the final part of my posts from Brasil!
If you haven't already seen the previous two posts from this trip you can check them out here.

For my fifth visit to Brasil (my wife's home country) Nat and I chose to visit a very unique part of the country that is greatly overlooked and unknown by most foreigners. Chapada Diamantina is a national park situated ~400kms west of Salvador, Bahia. It is known for its old mining towns, incredible panoramas, stunning waterfalls, and numerous ancient sandstone caves. To sum it up, it's the best kept secret from foreigners visiting Brasil, in my opinion.

Traveling to and staying in Chapada Diamantina is very easy, but you'll have to plan carefully as there are only 2 flights to the region each week, or otherwise be prepared to sit on a bus for 7-8 hours.
We were fairly budget minded for accommodation, as we wanted to make sure we could comfortably pay for transport around the national park and its many sites. We stayed with Tatu Do Bem in the town of Lencois, which was an exceptionally comfortable hotel, run by Shirley and Eduardo. They put on a fantastic breakfast (included) everyday, and also run really great personal tours throughout the Chapada. Eduardo knew of all the best places to check out, which often meant that secluded waterfalls and caves were left for us to experience independently of other tourists!

We only had two full days to explore Chapada, but we still managed to do a lot of exploring!
On Day 1 we visited Mucuguezinho River and Poco do Diabo (waterfall), Caverna da Fumaca (cave), Pratinha (turquoise river), Gruta Azul (river cave), finished with sunset at Morro do Pai Inacio.
On Day 2 we visited Poco Azul (river cave) and Cachoeira do Mosquito (waterfall).

Enough with the chatter. I hope you enjoy the snaps!
-Mat

The eyes of the world are on Rio.
Welcome to the second installment of my travels through Brazil, covering our time in Rio De Janeiro and Salvador. Both are places that are like surrogate homes for me and of course, my wife's childhood home that much of her extended family still resides in.
If you've not already seen it, go check out my post covering the Streets of Rio with the XF35 F2.

For this trip I packed a comprehensive but compact FujiFilm kit, comprising of my XT-1, XF16, XF35 F2, XF 56 1.2, and the XF90. Much like it was during our travels in Vietnam earlier this year, the XF35 spent the most time attached to my XT-1 because of its discrete size, speed, and excellent image quality. If the upcoming XF23 F2 and 50 F2 are close to the 35 F2 in overall quality and performance, they'll certainly be making their way into my kit.

What about post-production and editing? These are all RAFs that have been edited in Lightroom using a familiar preset I've crafted and modded for this trip specifically and exported as JPEGs. Of course there's things that happen in-camera before all that, such as a bit of underexposing and careful use of spot-metering. Ultimately, it's something that comes as a result of the Electronic View Finder (EVF) and the ability to get what I want from the shot at the time it's shot. I must confess though, there are photos from our time in Salvador that were shot on my iPhone 5S when my XT-1 ran out of battery and I didn't bring a spare. A good eye should be able to pick which ones they are.

Stay tuned for my 3rd post from Brazil that's devoted to the incredible Chapada Diamantina.
Special thanks to all our amigas who got their pose on for the camera.

Cheers!
Mat #rio2016

On one of our walks from Copacabana to Ipanema, my wife made a stop in a shop to 'browse' and well, I had to make the most of my time so I asked the sales girls if I could take their snaps whilst I waited. In a way, these photos cost us $500 because while I was busy shooting, my wife was busy shopping. As we often say here in Australia - happy wife, happy life!

Well, it's been 48 hours since I arrived back in Australia from my 5th visit in ~10 years to Brazil and I've got 100gb+ of images to work through from my 2 weeks in the country. It was my first time visiting Brazil with decent photography skills and of course, my first time with my FujiFilm kit.

Leading up to this trip was a bit different than previous times, in the sense that recent media chatter about the country being 'terribly unsafe' and rampant with Zika had, for the first time, left me questioning my safety during the visit. Had Brazil suddenly changed? Did its beautiful, rich culture and warm-hearted populace change in a matter of 3 years since my previous visit?
Thankfully, no. Brazil is still as I remember it from my 4 prior visits, and its sociable and outgoing way of life is still very much intact, with people who frequently go out of their way to say 'hello' and 'good day'.
Like every country though, Brazil certainly has its issues, but I'm not going to get into that here.

Ever since my first to Brazil in 2006, I have been fascinated by the overtly social manner in which Brazilian people go about their lives. I still vividly remember the Tuesday morning bus ride in the outer suburbs of Rio that created this feeling as I watched the day come to life, which sadly, was contrasted with a drive by viewing of a recent murder scene.

Leading up to my recent visit, I was determined to try and capture my vision of social interaction and daily life in Brazil with a focus on Rio in particular. This meant I had to be observant and discrete, which is where my essential Fuji kit came into play. For this first post of what I am estimating will be 4 posts in total from this trip I have focused solely on the streets and beaches of Rio using my XT-1 and XF35 F2.
I hope you enjoy my perspective.