It was an absolute pleasure to model for Rob Harris in this utterly gorgeous location in the north of Australia at the end of last year. This was the last shoot of my month(ish)-long visit down under, so I told him the pressure was on not to mess up a very successful and enjoyable visit… 🙂

I’d spent most of my trip haunted by the (very real) possibility of crocodiles, due to the far-north region I’d been in immediately before this day (I’d been avoiding water-holes and beaches throughout my trip, which had felt quite restrictive despite plenty of other great locations), so I have to admit it took me a while to relax into this shoot and actually feel OK in the water (sorry Rob!). It was a case of ‘mind over matter’, a bit like when you inhale underwater for the first time when snorkelling/diving. I actually pride myself on getting good shots from the first click (this is my profession after all) – I don’t normally need any kind of ‘warm up’ and I’ve even had several occasions where the first couple of images from a shoot have gone on to be very popular, but in this shoot I did have to give myself a little private talking to at the beginning and I still found myself glancing over my shoulder in a panic whenever I heard a ripple or plop of a creature squirming about in the water. I make it sound terrifying, but this is the power of the mind when you’ve been so nervous for the previous few weeks and strictly avoiding water due to recent (horrific and very sad) deaths and the expanding territories of this jurassic beady-eyed monsters!! As one local had put it, ‘it’s really no way to go’. *Shudder*

Anyway, having set the scene…

Rob was wonderfully reassuring and patient, explaining the impossibility of the crocodiles being poised to chomp on me in this particular location, and quite quickly we did get some beautiful images. I love these and am grateful to be able to show them off. I am really in my element in water – so what a relief to explore it for this shoot! – and I love the reflections, tones, curves, light and femininity in these. Rob certainly succeeded in finishing my trip on a high! 🙂 I must say, he also wins the award for ‘most organised, speedy and thoughtful image-sender’ in that he labelled different types of images for all eventualities and included his own name in the file names (this is appreciated when you receive so many images from shoots, even when your folder system is as organised as mine; would hate to lose any of my memories!).

I had mentioned to a few people that I thought this was going to be my last big trip to this part of the world, but I suspect I was inadvertently talking nonsense, as I love Australia so much I have already been persuaded to return for 2018… Looking forward to my next visit!

P.S. I still have tons of amazing images to share here from my Australia trip – as you can see it’s all a bit unchronological. More soon! 🙂