Michael and Philippa - Couple

We decided to meet on the sand of Bondi Beach late one afternoon. The light was beautiful and provided us with nice muted colours. After exploring the beach, we walked up the hill to view the ocean. At this time the sun was setting, bathing everything in a pink hue. We then had a surreal moment of witnessing a moonrise over the ocean. It was a joy to see and preserve for this wonderful couple.

This was a hybrid shoot where I used film alongside digital. 
See the resulting digital photos including the moonrise here!

Below are the film results.

If you would like beautiful photos with someone you love, say hello!

Madeleine Burke - Web Designer and Developer

Can you describe what you do for a living?

I’m a web designer and developer. I design and develop custom websites and blogs for people.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Usually my pug, sitting on my head! Laughs. Learning new things is what keeps me ticking. Whether it’s just how to bake scones without stuffing it up or learning a new piece of code. That’s probably what keeps me ticking day to day. 

What’s your favourite thing you’ve learned this week?

This week I am working on a big project so I learned a fair amount of javascript and animation that I haven’t used before. 

When do you feel most inspired to be creative? Have you experimented with what works best for you?

I’ve found in the last month that I’m definitely a morning person. I’m at my peak between 4am and 6am and then it goes all downhill. Laughs. I started drinking more black tea because it’s the highest in caffeine so that’s my go to now.

I feel the most creative when I work with other designers. I’m working with one of Sian Richardson’s designs at the moment so I feel most creative when a client challenges me to do something that I haven’t done before.

I’ve got quite an engineering brain in a way. I need to know how everything works. It doesn’t matter that I’m not building it myself, I just need to know how it works, why it works and then go from there. My creativity probably stems from my problem solving background more than anything else.

From what I’ve found, that’s the opposite to most designers who are visual people and terrible with maths. That’s interesting as it obviously leads to your developer side.

I did four unit maths and physics at school. I ate it up for breakfast. But I think whichever way you come to it, and whatever form it takes doesn’t matter, as long as there is a push to do something different. I don’t think nerds and techs that work in Silicon Valley are any less creative than a graffiti artist on the street, it’s just a different form of applying it. You can look at some websites code and go wow, that’s beautiful you know, but coding is just another language. Whether it’s painting, poetry or writing it’s just another form of creativity.

Yes, it’s just a different form of expression. When did you start freelancing? Have you always wanted to be a web developer?

I started learning how to code when I was 13. I grew up in this weird generation, when we had computers at 11, then dialup internet and we didn’t really know what it was. To me it was always just a hobby, so I went down the route of wanting to be a Psychologist, Criminal Lawyer or Teacher. It took me a while to come back and work out that I could actually make a living out of my hobby. So I switched from a psychology degree, to visual communication design degree and loved that. It was surprising that they didn’t teach me how to code for that degree, so teaching myself earlier turned out to be a good thing.

I started a freelance design business in second year Uni. I kept that going while working for a few studios but went full time two years ago. 6th September, 2012 was my first day of needing to pay bills with my hard earned money. Not that you don’t do that when you’re working for someone else but I was in total control of bringing that money in.

Let’s touch on Hyphen for a moment, which is the business you run with your partner Eivend Borgersen. How was that created?

I was really lucky that it got to the point where the business needed to expand, and being one person, there was only so much I could do myself. I do get hit up by a lot of overseas companies who want me to outsource stuff to them, but I don’t believe in that business model, so I chose not to do that.

My partner is also a design and developer, so the logical first step for me was to see if he was interested before I started looking for other people. He loved his job at the time as he was working at a great studio, but he was tempted to work with me so I latched on and dragged him out the door. Laughs.

We haven’t looked back. He’s learned things from me, I’ve learned a hell of a lot from him so it’s really good.

Can you talk about your different strengths/weaknesses and how they complement each other?

Since I had been doing the sole business thing for a few years already, so I brought those skills to the table. Everyday things like creating quotes, invoices and client management tasks. Since Eivend was working in a studio that had product managers for those things, he literally just had to do his role.

But he has brought over a lot of his studio experience, in terms of productivity and collaboration options when working on large projects. Before it was just me working on things, so it didn’t matter if nobody else could access that code or understand it. It was like having a messy desk when only you know where everything is, but now it’s a lot more structured and organised.

We are now essentially a little studio, so everything is setup as it would be in a larger studio. Since he's Scandinavian his design aesthetic is really different to me. It’s good because we can work with more varied clients on big commercial jobs as he has that experience but we can also do the small to medium sector as well since I have that experience. Working together just adds that extra breath of experience.

What would you consider to be your greatest achievement so far?

Oh I’ve had some pretty big OMG moments that have been pretty cool. I can get so much satisfaction out of putting up a simple website. Sites which I’d never get awards for or people in my sector would ever see, but it makes a massive impact for the client. That’s my job at the end of the day, so those moments of “yay it’s launched” and getting their feedback is a big one.

Getting published in Cosmopolitan magazine was pretty cool so I could show my Mum. To be featured with people that you admire is nice. Some of the clients we are getting in now are quite cool, and you have to think to yourself “wow this girl from Cessnock is now sitting across the table from these people”.

But in saying that again, it’s usually the smaller jobs that I get the most satisfaction out of because they’re a bit more creative and flexible. Every job has its blessings really.

You talked before about getting up early to stay productive. How do you stay motivated? 

I’m one of those people who will just work until I crash. So for me it wasn’t so much about being motivated as it was about finding ways to work smarter, not harder, and finding that balance. It has taken me a while to realise that sitting in front of a computer for 16 hours isn’t really benefitting anyone.

In what I do, people tend to want their websites now. They don’t understand that it is a process that takes time. So the pleaser in me always wants to say “yes sure, we can do that” but you always end up with some half baked product or I get sick from overworking. Nobody is happy in the end. Finding the balance of hours in which you are most productive so everyone benefits is what matters in the end.

At your craziest, what kind of hours were you doing, and what is that refined to now?

Some of my craziest weeks have been a 4am start and then a 1am finish. Yeah, you do go a bit crazy. Working weekends and not leaving the computer is full on. You get so tired and overwhelmed that you end up having to re do everything again.

I still like to get up early and get working, but usually it’s working till 11am, go on a break for a couple of hours, come back to do a few hours in the afternoon before I clock off at 4pm. I then have the night to myself to read, cook or watch TV. I try to have strict hours to myself now and don’t work overtime unless there is a valid reason to do so. With deadlines, it’s great to meet them but it’s not life or death.

What’s your favourite part of the design process? 

It changes from project to project. You can get some that are really interesting with how they are going to be structured and function. With those it is the wireframing and sketching stage that is interesting as that’s essentially when you can be the most creative. Others it’s purely about “how can we make this look awesome?”. Then the dev phase is, “this looks awesome, how can I make it work?” That’s why I like being able to do design and dev, I don’t get bored as there’s always something to push me.

Which is closer to your heart, development or design?

Oh, ask me Monday and it will be design, ask me Tuesday and it will be dev. I go through phases where one week I’ll be doing heaps of dev and hate it, then the next week I’ll be doing a lot of design work. I suppose dev is closer to my heart, because I’m doing a lot of it, learning heaps and getting that satisfaction back. But then I’ll do a design and say “oh yeah, go me!” Laughs.

What’s something you haven’t achieved yet that you’re aiming for? What are your current goals?

I don’t have a list of what I need to do to be satisfied. I’m just going on the ride and enjoying it. If you work hard, do a good job and love what you do, success is going to come along with it. You can’t work hard and love what you do without having some success come your way.

There’s a famous quote that comes to mind “The harder you work, the luckier you get”. (attrib Gary Player).

That’s so true. I always say to Eivend, oh we are so lucky. He says, yes we are but we work very hard, it’s not all down to luck. But I like to think that I am still a bit lucky.

What’s coming up on the horizon?

I started my own blog recently The Daily Mark. It’s going really well so it has my heart and soul at the moment.

What are your favourite places online?

• Twitter – It’s a curation of totally different people really which means I see really good content. 
• Refinery 29 – I'm enjoying Drew Barrymore's content at the moment.
• Pretty Fluffy – A blog for dog owners – I got do the development of their new design!
• Mashable – Social media news.
• Buzzfeed – Social news and entertainment.

Thank you for your time Madeleine.

Interview and photographs by Jason de Plater.

Anne Marie Taberdo - Ice Sculptor

Anne Marie Taberdo, 28, is the head ice sculptor at The Icebox, London. I caught up with her in Wollongong on Sydney's south coast where she was creating a piece for a wedding.

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Can you give us the backstory on how you came to be an ice sculptor?

Well I was struggling to find work as a full time sculptor but I previously got a break to work at the British Museum as an intern making replicas of their objects in the museum. That was an incredible job for someone who completed a degree in the National Arts school in Sydney and had moved to London to finish their post graduate degree.

I spent a year working with the replication specialist at the British Museum and he taught me some really amazing things about moulding and casting objects. That lead me into a job with Madame Tussaud at the wax museum where I made the bodies of famous people. People like John Farnham, Michael Jackson, Madonna etc. That was a great experience to use my moulding and casting techniques I had practiced the previous year.

Before I got into Madame Tussauds, I had written numerous letters to various sculpting firms and film companies employing prop makers to try to use the skills I learned in art school. One of them was an ice sculpting company. Naturally I hadn't thought about ice sculpting previously, I just knew that it happened. Ice just.. gets.. sculpted laughs. So I thought that it has got to be sculpted by someone, I don't know who that is, I had never an ice sculptor before, so I thought I'd just write a letter to an ice sculpting place to find out.

A year later they got back to me when I was already at Madame Tussauds. This company called The Ice Box asked if I was still interested in ice sculpting because they had interviews coming up for the head sculptor position. So I went for the interview, never ice sculpted in my life, and had to carve a block of ice in front of them for the first time. Within 3 hours I had sculpted a female figure, as that was what I was comfortable with due to the wax works experience. I got the job.

That's amazing how the first time you sculpted ice was at the actual interview. What did you think of your first piece? Were you shocked that you could do that straight off?

To be honest I was quite shocked at my first piece for the interview. I thought there was no way I could of come up with something in 3 hours. But I quickly realised how fast it is to sculpt ice as the material itself is so soft, like carving butter. It's a good way to see what you've learned because it is such a fast outcome as you're sculpting as you are able to see what you know about the subject and just trust your artistic instinct.

How forgiving is the medium?

It's as forgiving as you are I think, if you get stuck on little details you're going to have a hard time with ice sculpting. Although you can make really detailed sculptures, the material is always changing because it's melting. Especially when you're carving live, you always have to re-adjust the design.

When you think of your greatest achievement so far, is there something that comes to mind?

The London Ice sculpting Festival of 2014 in Canary Wharf is a really amazing occasion where 10 different international teams come to compete. I got to represent the United Kingdom this year. It was the first time I've ever done an international festival and carved in front of people. We had 500,000 guests come to see the festival over a 3 day period. My teammate Mike Kerslake and I ended up winning the public choice award, which in my eyes was the best award you could win so I guess that is my greatest achievement.

Well it doesn't get much better than that, representing the UK and winning an award! Can you tell us how you ended up living in London?

I was born in the UK, so I'm a British citizen and I grew up in London and North East of England. When I was 13 my family and I migrated to sunny Australia. I think it was a bit too cold for us in England. I spent 9 years in Sydney where I continued my High School studies, then went to the National Art School in Darlinghurst, Sydney. I think it's one of the best art schools in the world, I'm a little bit biased but I think it's true. My art education started in Campbelltown Performing Arts High school where I had really great teachers in the Arts department so that's really where my art education began. That helped me continue the love that I realised I had for art when I was much younger, still living in England.

After Art School I decided to do further study but return to London. I was a dual citizen now so I took the opportunity to study in London at an adult level. I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts specialising in sculpture from the National Art School, then I got a Post Graduate Diploma of Fine Art Sculpture at the City & Guilds of London Art School. Masters is still on the horizon but at the moment I am quite comfortable in the working world.

Now that you're in the working world as an artist. Can you give us an idea of what a typical week is for you at The Ice Box and how many pieces you create? 

I cycle 8 miles to work through London going past some of the most epic buildings in the world. That's a great part of my day because it keeps me warm which is really important since I am working in a -8 degrees celsius freezer. Over a length of time it can get quite cold! It tends to get to your bones quite quickly.

On Monday I have a meeting with all the staff to get briefed on upcoming jobs for the week ahead. We plot our week out which requires I work in the freezer with another sculptor called a machinist who cuts ice using a computerised drilling system. I will then hand finish the pieces he works on but I also start pieces from scratch myself.

In a day I could be making up to 3 sculptures, standard size which is about 120 kilos worth of ice for each sculpture. Each week is so different because ice is connected to the event industry mainly and these events are often last minute. Especially decoration, which ice falls under is often left to last.

How do you stay motivated and inspired? What is your favourite part of the process?

I just love sculpting. It's hands on with tools, chiselling and chainsaws. What gets me through the big weeks is the fact that I get to sculpt. Whether it's ice or not, the bottom line of it all is that I am still sculpting. I teach ice carving every now and then and ask people when they first carve how it feels. They always say that it's therapeutic and much more relaxing than they thought. That's what I've found, especially when you get in the zone. I often put my earphones in, listen to music and get on with it.

I wouldn't of picked that it would be therapeutic to work with a chainsaw.

Laughs, well most people I teach don't get to use the chainsaw, but with the chisel it's the simplest method of carving ice and it really is a nice feeling. It's something to do with the sound of the chisel I think too.

Do you have a favourite piece of work that you have created to date? Or is it always, whatever is the next piece?

The one I am most proud of is a Canon camera actually. It was for a camera exhibition in London and was a mixture of the computerised drill, and me hand carving all the details. So it was a really beautiful, detailed piece and quite big too at 1m wide x 0.5m high. I was really happy with that.

What's next for you with your creative pursuits?

At the moment it is to continue ice sculpting, I am really enjoying the medium. I want to keep doing it till I can't do it anymore physically, because it's quite hard work. I've got ideas of traveling the world with it one day too as you do with things that you love. There's an ice sculpting world tour that I'd like to be part of and represent the U.K. or Australia ice carving in competitions from Canada to Russia. There's an Ice Hotel Sweden that I'd love to design a room for, so hopefully that is in the pipeline if I knuckle down. But I'm enjoying working in London, it's a great city.

 

I understand there are very few female sculptors in the world. How does that make you feel?

Yes, I've been told that I'm the only female commercial ice sculptor in the U.K. which I think is an impressive feat. I think I understand why because it's a really hard and physical job. I was initially scared of applying for it actually. I'm happy about that claim though, if it's true. If there are any others I'd like to meet them, I know there's quite a lot in America but it's quite a niche job all around.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I always listen to music while i'm sculpting and I choose the album depending on what kind of sculpture I'm making. At the moment I'm listening to some classical music, but also electronic music. 

Recently I'm inspired by sand sculptors and other sculptors that are working in a medium that is very temporary like ice is - how it melts away. So whatever you create today, is gone tomorrow. With sand sculptures it's quite a similar feeling so I am really inspired by artists that are able to let go of their work. That's quite a hard thing to do for a lot of people due to the amount of hours you spend on one piece but in a way to me, it is much more free to create work that is of the moment. I am really inspired by Andres Amador at the moment and I will leave you with a quote that really resonated with me.

“Immediacy is one of the main messages of my art. Life can’t be postponed, it’s now or never. So many people in this world spend so little time inside these experiences. I think we crave it, I think we massively crave it - the immediacy of life happening. I hope that through my works, in the moment, someone is inspired with a sense of awe or wonder or appreciation and hopefully at a larger level, people are inspired to go big, to be bold, to be whimsical.”

— Andres Amador, The Collective Magazine

The completed ice sculpture by Anne Marie Taberdo.

Thank you for your time Anne Marie.

Interview and Photographs by Jason de Plater.