John Forrest National Park

It’s been a while since Ivy (the SAAB) and I went chasing waterfalls, and Hovea Falls was flowing wonderfully at John Forrest National Park yesterday.
The shot I am most proud of is of the waterfall itself, I finally figured out how to do that smooth water effect.

I have long wished to find a cave behind a waterfall, common in fiction, but remarkably rare in reality, at least in Western Australia. I discovered Hovea had a tiny cave of sorts. The roof of it was an unsettling abandoned hive, possibly once belonging to wasps. I also marvelled at the black rock with the silver streak on it, it appeared that at some point in the past, there had been two waterfalls here. Impossible to say when that was, but the rock is forever stained by it.

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Life Finds a Way

The vines growing across my balcony have all died out for the winter, except for this one branch. I couldn’t believe my eyes at first. That has to be fake, it looks like someone hung an artificial garland onto the dead vine. But, no, it’s real, surviving and thriving and somehow looking absolutely flawless.

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Belmont PAPG Shoot

Here’s last weekend’s shoot with Perth Amateur Photographers Group at the Ruth Faulkner park. I don’t spend much time in Belmont, so I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful park and fancy new library. I’m always happy to see a waterfall.
I think this is my first shoot on an overcast day. I know some photographers prefer it, but I found it difficult to work with. I’ve since bought a speedlite, let’s see if that improves my next shoot.
This is also my first time working with male models, and my first time using my 50mm lens. It’s much easier to get that shallower depth of field with the right lens, turns out.

My absolute favourite photos from that day were the photos of the bird. Before we began the photowalk, one of the photographers was telling her young daughter to not become too distracted reviewing the photos in her camera, instead she should keep her eyes up, ready for the next photo opportunity. “You never know what you might miss. While you’re looking at your screen a big…hawk could come along and you would miss it”.

Not five minutes later, I heard an unusual call coming from the pine trees. I took out my 250mm lens and zoomed in. No freaking way, she had summoned a hawk. Or at least, we think it’s a hawk, possibly a falcon. Damn it, Jim, I’m a photographer, not an ornithologist.

Models:
Chey @chey_wynn
Sanj @sanj_ranasinghe
Kris @purvo28
Elle @xiellene

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Perth Zoo, September 2024

This was my first attempt at animal photography, it was very challenging, especially at a crowded zoo during school holidays. But hey, a free ticket is a free ticket. At the time, I felt the need to connect with my spirit animal, the rhinoceros; thick-skinned, and fearlessly charging through life.
This was my first time visiting the zoo during school holidays. The experience I was accustomed to was a quiet, meditative one. Not so during school holidays, I felt sorry for the animals. Both parents and children were loud and obnoxious, screaming, and banging on the glass. Dreadful.
The staff, at least, were all lovely.
Thankfully, people would get bored with each animal quickly and move onto to inflict themselves on the next. Meanwhile, I sat with the rhino and tiger for hours waiting for them, observing them, getting to know them.
The rhinos wanted to spend most of their time with their backs to the humans (don’t blame them), and marking their territory. The tiger was extremely challenging to shoot. Although he was an old fella and a long-time feature of the zoo, he was so elusive, I had never actually laid eyes on him. I almost believed the tiger enclosure was empty. But after waiting a while he emerged and began pacing. The windows were all covered with decals of trees to give him some privacy. So I was shooting through that and trying to get past the crowd that would spontaneously appear every time he did.

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The Incident Anniversary Artwork Collection

Here’s my artistic and psychological evolution over the past four years.
It’s interesting to reflect on my changing attitudes and approach to the same subject matter. Through it all I remained brave and kept my sense of humour, even when I fell into despair.

Immediately after my near-death experience, the head trauma gave me vertigo and made the world all wonky, so my artwork looked wonky too. The reality of the situation hadn’t entirely sunk in.


One year after the incident, my artwork depicted me brushing it off, ready to move on with life, I was unprepared for the continuing battle ahead of me. This piece was super rushed, I hate the look of it now.


Two years later I was in a very dark place, I had unsuccessfully attempted suicide. I was angry and lonely and in constant pain. But I remained determined to rise above it. This is one of my favourite illustrations.
Now I’ve run the entire gamut of post traumatic emotions. I feel like I’ve reached an equilibrium. This is another illustration that I am proud of.

It feels good to look back on the tremendous growth my art has made in a few years. I just reached a point where I was ashamed that I was in my 30’s and my art had barely improved since high school. Now I can clearly see progress.

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The Incident Third Anniversary

July 22nd, it’s been three years since I nearly died in a hit-and-run. I still live in the aftermath of that incident, but it was also a moment of rebirth for me. I’ve learned a lot, about myself, about pain, about trust, about people, and society.
I will always carry this anger, but it is a good anger. It is not the kind of flame to destroy, but the flame to forge and strengthen.

I wonder if this will be the last art piece I create to commemorate this day. I wanted to capture where I am now. I am in a much better place than I’ve possibly ever been. It was fitting that I latched onto Kazuhira during my recovery, as he too is a character who falls to similar depths and later drags himself out of Hell.
We will never be the same again, but we now have a new equilibrium.

(I’m still waiting on that damn insurance payment!)

I’m always trying to push myself to broaden my skills. I’ve become quite a fan of watercolour as of late. This is the most complicated things I’ve ever done in this medium. It was scary to paint those shadows in. But I think it worked in the end.

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Rolloways PAPG Shoot

Here are my top shots from the Perth Amateur Photographers Group (PAPG) shoot at Rolloways rollerskating centre last month. It was extremely challenging, low lighting, fast movements, plus an unexpected children’s party being held at the same time!
I took a lot of bad photos, and these good ones have a lot of flaws, but they demonstrate how far I’ve improved in the three years I’ve been a part of this club. I have a stronger intuition for the manual settings and my lenses. I know about shooting and editing in RAW. Let’s see where I’m at in another three years.

Thanks to the models:

Lauren Miles

Misty Eligon

Kiara Roberts

Chenta Zaballos

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Dark Knight Rises Catwoman

From the archives, 2012

Costume and make-up by Courtney Coulson

Photography by Luke Milton

I made this costume to wear to the opening night screening of the Dark Knight Rises. 2012 was a wonderful year for movies, I have many happy memories going to opening nights in costumes with my mates, usually preceded by a pre-screening party; Batman, Avengers, Men in Black 3, Prometheus, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dredd. I don’t know what it was about that year, but the blockbusters were big and fun and coming in rapid succession. I haven’t been that excited about modern cinema since then. Or maybe there’s just something special about that time of your life, being in your early 20’s, in university, particularly an arts university. We had the time and freedom to turn little things like going to the cinema into big events.

The bodysuit was made by me, the gloves and boots I already had. The mask was a fun challenge. It was made from leather that I engraved myself. The head mounted goggles were constructed from Lego pieces with the assistance of my father. It’s the one time he ever worked on a costume with me.

These photos are stunning, some of Luke’s best. They’re my mother’s favourites too, they’re still in her bookcase.

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