January - Weekly portraits of Summer on film.

This year I've started a personal project of my dearest little girl, at least one portrait per week. I've made it very challenging by using my Dad's Nikon EM film camera. It's a very cheap camera (the body goes for $20), it's manual focus (so hard with a running toddler) and annoyingly it's aperture priority so it doesn't give me full control.

This project was inspired by many mums, I've seen it initially with Jodi Wilson from http://www.practisingsimplicity.com/. Elsa Campbell did a wonderful project of her kids last year (see her highlights of 2016 here). But it was Amy Oliver who put together a group of us this year and encouraged me to finally start. So thank you Amy!

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Film lately.

I still love film but it's incredibly challenging to find the time between motherhood and wedding season. Whenever I'm facing a creative block I turn to film. It makes me think about each image, it challenges me and it reignites whatever it is inside me that loves this photo gig.

A few raw scans below, various films used with my mamiya.

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Featured on Nouba Wedding Blog

Hi all,

Here's another feature of one of my weddings of good friends Dan & Kate and their cute little wedding in Kyneton. If you're a fan of coloured shoes and 60s style wedding you'll adore this.

Thanking Nouba for the feature.

Check it out here http://nouba.com.au/intimate-kyneton-wedding-farrah-allan-photography

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Featured on Hello May

So nice to see this lovely wedding at the Pop Up Veggie Patch featured on Hello May! Thank you to Cheryl & Tim for having me.

Do check it out :) Click on the link below.


http://hellomay.com.au/article/cheryl-tim-veggie-patch-co-wedding/

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Featured on Polkadot Bride

I've been so blessed with amazing couples to work with and the chance to capture their beautiful weddings. One thing I haven't really been on top of is sending my weddings to blogs, since I've changed careers so quickly in the last couple of years as well as my traveling obsession.

It's nice to finally see some of my work featured. Here's Mel & Adam's wedding featured at Polkadot Bride yesterday. So lovely to see this wedding again. A beautiful country style wedding shot in Nundle, New South Wales.

Thank you to Mel & Adam for having me be a part of their wedding.

Check out the blog post here http://www.polkadotbride.com/2014/06/rustic-country-wedding-2/

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Back from Mexico

Glorious wonderful Mexico, and we only saw a tiny glimpse of it. We want to go back for sure!

Here are highlights from my Instagram. www.instagram.com/farrahallan

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Counting the days until Mexico. Hola!

Mexico Mexico Mexico Mexico Mexico Mexico
Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos

A few more days until I leave for Mexico with Wayne. I'm shooting a wedding there of the most wonderful couple Jess & Damien, they are really really wonderful, so wonderful that they're happy to have me bring along my husband to the wedding. YES. This means that he can be the bag carrier (insert evil laugh).

I just received a big package from B&H of all the glorious film that I'll be taking there with me. I promised myself that I must not come back with any unused film. EEEEP so excited.

Meanwhile, I am working my butt off trying to get as much work out of the way as possible which means late night sleeps. I'm actually looking forward to the plane ride so that I can do nothing but chill.

The photos below were taken in San Diego in an area called Old Town which has heavy Mexican influences.

Kodak 120 Portra 400 - Mamiya m645

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Guangzhou on 120 Film | Kodak Portra 400 | Mamiya M645

A few film snaps on my Mamiya from my trip to Guangzhou!

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Cheryl

A little sneak peek from Cheryl's glorious wedding day. This is one of her many outfits :)
You wouldn't know that this beautiful flower field is in the middle of the CBD!

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Sarah & Jimmy | A quiet moment.

A quiet moment for Sarah & Jimmy during their ceremony while their pastor prayed for them. I love how they both have a smile on their face.

These are two separate photographs. I took it knowing that this is exactly how I would lay it out in a blog or an album.

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China Wedding | Guangzhou

I'm in the process of editing a wedding I did in China, Guangzhou. A long week of constant photography which was awesome but has created a huge back log of editing. Possibly another post coming of my glorious experience, this job is certainly a dream. Learning about new cultures is my favourite thing in the world. Sigh.
I've never been to a wedding where the bride got ready at 4:30am in the morning, it made for awesome dawn shots by the window that's for sure.

xx
Farrah

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Flagstaff, Arizona - Kodak Portra 400 | Mamiya m645

I loved having a car in Arizona, I made my husband stop a few times on the side of the road so that I could take snaps like these. I actually was very scared to takes these images, there was lighting and it was so loud. As soon as I took the close up of the flower I ran back to the car immediately screaming. Initially I thought the close up shots of the flowers would be out of focus because I rushed but so glad it worked out :)

One thing I'd like to do again in the USA is to see less of the major cities and more of the in land towns. Such beautiful landscapes. I'm so glad we included Arizona in our trip.

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Brendan & Rose - FIND workshop | Hunter Valley, NSW

A few months ago in July I had the privilege of attending Jonathan Canlas's film workshop. Having heard so many wonderful things about his teaching, I decided to go knowing that I would definitely benefit for it.

Jonathan's Film Is Not Dead workshop focuses on how to use film and the benefits of using it.  Then we apply our learning using our own Film cameras and practice with wonderful real-life couples and families with Jon's guidance. To put it simply, it was really amazing. I learned a lot and I met some great photographers. We had endless late chats and laughs while eating great food prepared by Nicole Spears. I'll never forget it!

The timing of the workshop itself was perfect. I've been at cross roads with my photography, not  knowing exactly where I was heading. Do I continue working a 9-5 job? or do I take the risk to pursue photography full time?
My obstacles with photography has always been with finding my own voice. But towards the end of the workshop we were all in tears by the overwhelming realisation that who you are as a person and what defines your voice begins at home. I certainly want to take that journey, begin at home and photograph what I love most.

After the workshop, I was off to the USA and was so inspired to shoot completely in film and throughout our trip I was thinking of personal projects that I wanted to start. I also thought about taking the risk and quitting my day job to focus on photography, and I made that decision. Thanks Jonathan Canlas!

To start of with I've shared some photos of Brendan & Rose below, one of our lovely couples who modeled for us.

Photos developed by Raw Digital & Film Lab

xx
Farrah

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New York in B&W | Acros 100 and Ilford 400 | Mamiya M645

Hello!

In August, my husband and I had the opportunity to go to my cousin's wedding in San Diego, USA. This was an amazing chance for us not only to see my relatives after 20+ years but to also get some rest and for me to get my travel photo fix :)  So we decided to go and make the most of the 14 hour plane trip and travel to a few other major cities. Our first stop was New York!

From our previous travels to Europe I learned my lesson on what kind of camera gear to bring with me. When we were in Europe I was trying to take digital photos, film photos and iPhone, crazy right. This time I was sensible and mainly used my film camera Mamiya m645 as well as occasionally my iPhone for instagrams. It was much easier to focus on the one camera and dealing with less frames to edit. Also I feel like I experienced a lot more because I took less photos.

What to say about New York? Pretty amazing. We stayed in Dumbo, Brooklyn which stands for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Our Airbnb apartment was right under the bridge and we had some spectacular views. We loved our neighbourhood because there was always something happening. We had an Italian movie filmed next door, as well as White Collar TV show, a Japanese music video, a country music video and we almost ran into some sort of a zombie movie scene.

We mainly used the New York pass to see the major attractions, it was really worth the money you just need to be organised with the itinerary, it includes many tours too and even things like renting out bikes which was a lot of fun around Central Park.

Of course you don't go to the USA on a diet, so we had some of the best fatty foods like cheesecakes, burgers, pizzas and the best NY steaks from St Anselm in Williamsburg.

Our favourite tour was the Seinfeld tour with the real Kramer, he was as hilarious as the Kramer character on the show and he took us to parts of NY that we wouldn't have seen otherwise including a visit to the real Soup Nazi.

The only museum we had time for was the American Museum of Natural History, mainly to see the dinosaurs :) and that was pretty awesome.

Lastly, I was the happiest human alive when I visited B&H Photo - heaven for all photographers with a huge stock of film and all things cameras. A must visit for all photographers.

More photos to share, but here are a few B&W's taken on my Mamiya.

xx
Farrah

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