Rob Bennett 5/3/21 Rob Bennett 5/3/21

May1st 2021- Studio B

I’ve shot at Desk & Studio several times - some of my best shots have been taken in that lovely space over the years. Kristine, Valentina and Nat all had their first studio shoots there.

Well recently , they have had a new studio located nearby to allow social distancing during COVID - it’s a darker , narrower space but still very useable and now that the danger has receded they are closing it down and were offering it at half price rates … the cheap-arse Scot in me came out and my photographer mate Neville and I decided to have an open shoot - anyone was welcome to come and get a portrait - we sent out an invite to a few dozen friends and regular models. Now in sessions like this, Nev is normally my ‘Pimp’ … I plan the shoot , bring the gear and set it all up - he provides the warm bodies to shoot … ( I warned him to expect that unless you tie time slots down they all arrive at once)

So, 9am comes I have the keys and I’m shuffling back and forth from my 4wd moving 150kg of lights , clothes , backdrops , fabric , spare cameras , batteries boom stands sweating to make sure I have a setup ready for the first subject …

9.30am Neville appears …tells me that we should have a few of his family and some dancers from Soul of Sydney and maybe three or four other people …

10.30am No one

11.00am No one <sob!> Nev mentions that the tattoo place next door might be run by an old friend of his and goes to check it out (by this stage we are both thinking the day is a disaster )

11.15 Nev comes back with this beauty and we have a lovely hour shooting Amber!

(He has offered the Tattoo studio free shoots for any clients or staff that want them!) This is stunningly effective and we were flat out the rest of the day getting shots of all types of great people.

I have seen many Artists interviewed , talking with great conviction about the duty of an artist to express himself through his art without thought to the consequences or society’s discomfort with his subject matter. At the same time I see the spouses/offspring of these Provocateurs and Enfant Terrible’s dying from Heroin Overdoses , squabbling over the artists estate and generally displaying all the signs of a deeply unhappy childhood. This may seem an odd place to start a photography blog but bear with me …

Coming to create this website has led me to reassess what kind of photography I want to do and also how I should show it to people. The ‘Artist’ in me says be brave , make your photography about what you want, show it far and wide and damn anyone who looks askance at what you choose to shoot … Sadly I have people in my circle of friends and extended family who assume that any Middle-aged (old?) man who takes photos of women is a cross between Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein (and of course this can have consequences for those close to me) . These people sniping don’t notice that many (if not most!) of my models have shot with me many , many times over a long period of time.

Sofia Fatima , Summer , Ella, Gertrudis , Borana , Inma , Nayanee, Melissa , Kristine ,Valentina, Tina, Brittini Rae, Shiho and many others have done multiple shoots and hopefully will do more in future - these wonderful subjects listen patiently to my insane ideas and spend hours of their own time to make my (sometimes awful) ideas into a gorgeous photo. - My humble thanks to all of you.

May1st 2021- Studio B

May 2021

The idea behind the name change , new website and Instagram page is to partition off my photographic endeavours from my personal life and family.

Will this work? Time will tell.