Kellie North

Hi, I’m Kellie, a Photographer and Visual Artist from Gold Coast, Queensland. My passion for photography started in my early 20’s while travelling. I earnt my stripes on a film DSLR camera, which today I am so thankful for.

My travels took me to some ‘off the beaten track’ places and provided me with incredible photographic opportunities, some of which were photographing stunning landscapes in the mountains of South America, shooting among the hustle and bustle in the colourful streets of India and discovering the everchanging diversity of Turkey and Georgia.

I adore landscape photography but what I found intrigued me more were the people of these countries, their faces, their homes and their stories. Which lead me to the type of photography I practice these days – conceptual and storytelling. (See guide to fantasy photography here and composite photography here.)

I combine both landscape and people to create images that are somewhat surreal in nature. Working with images I photograph and digital art to create a piece that would sometimes not normally be able to be captured.

I have always worked with a limited amount of gear, typically one camera body, one or two lenses, a tripod, remote, and maybe a filter or two. These days my kit hasn’t changed much other than recently I upgraded cameras from my Canon to a Sony.

Investing in your equipment is just something we have to do as photographers, as the cameras keep getting better and better hopefully so do our images.

Cameras

Sony A7R III is currently my camera of choice. I researched for months before making this purchase but am so glad I did.

I chose the Sony A7R III for the Full Frame Sensor and high pixel count at 42 megapixels. My photography is predominantly landscape and portraiture and I create images which I blow up quite large for clients and exhibitions, so the high pixel count was key for me.

I love the dual card slots and the tilt touch LCD screen coupled with the 10 fps allows me to take pictures of the kids at sport on the weekend. Video wasn’t a feature I focused on nor was I desperate for intimate specs but when I do want it, this camera allows 4K HDR video recording with great colour information.

Canon EOS 60D has been my workhorse for years but wanting to print my images larger, I needed to increase the speed and pixel count. A great camera but by no means any comparison to my Sony A7R III. I still use this camera for some headshots with my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens.

(See our Sony a7R III vs a7 III comparison here.)

Lenses

Sony E-mount 55mm f/1.8 Zeiss – This lens is proving ideal for my portrait work. When I am not creating art images I like to shoot headshots for musicians, artists and corporates and this lens is fantastic. She is an optically superb gem.

Sony FE 24-70mm f2/8 GM – This lens is a part of the G Master lenses from Sony. I knew this was a necessity in my kit. The flexibility of this zoom lens and the edge to edge sharpness even at its widest aperture, allows me to cover both genres of landscape and portraiture with one lens.

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art – A standard prime lens with a minimum aperture of f16 and a maximum of f1.4. This is a beautiful lens that I still use sometimes for my headshots on my second Canon camera body.

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS – This Canon lens was great while I used it. It was the lens I took on the road with me while travelling in the early days to save space. I was able to get the images I wanted with the large focal length and range. Today it doesn’t get much of a workout.

Lights/Triggers

Hahnel HL -CAPTUR-S remote for Sony – I love this remote control and Flash Trigger. I had one for my Canon and only recently purchased a new one for my Sony. Having researched remotes I couldn’t go past this one mainly because of its 100m wireless capability.

I am a self-portrait artist so being able to move up to 100m away from my camera and still trigger the remote is awesome.

Bags/Straps

WANDRD – PRVKE 21L Backpack – Another piece of my kit that I researched forever to find and am thrilled to have made the purchase. It was important for me to find a durable ‘backpack’ style camera bag to wear on my back allowing me to scramble up mountains or in creek beds if need be.

There are so many great features of this pack but to point out a few are: the quick draw side access, laptop/tablet sleeve, removable customisable camera cubes, weatherproof material and weather-resistant zippers, hidden passport/cash pocket, SD Cards organisation and rainfly make it for an all-purpose, all-terrain vehicle… I mean camera bag. It’s awesome.

Tripods

Jobi Gorilla Pod 5K Kit – A tripod I purchased to hang from tree branches, mainly to get a different perspective. With its strong, slightly ridged yet flexible legs that are pliable, I can wrap them around tree branches or logs when I am out on location and know it will be secure.

Also, it has been great as a low-level tripod for landscapes and for when I take video on my DIJI Osmo Gimble.

Hardware & Software

To edit I use Adobe Lightroom CC and Adobe Photoshop 2020. I bring all my photos into Adobe Lightroom CC, this is where I rate, batch and tweak them slightly, then I open them and do my main work like compositing, shading, texturizing and toning in Adobe Photoshop 2020.

I use SanDisk SD Extreme Pro Cards, always reliable.

Misc.

I always keep a cleaning cloth, my Giottos AA1900 lens cleaning brush and rocket air blower, spare SD Cards, small microfibre towel (for when I get wet), costume, wig, a piece of fabric, sometimes extra props like flowers, extra lens cap, water bottle and nuts/trail mix for snacking.

I am predominantly a self-portrait artist (see guide to self portrait photography here) and becoming this really only happened out of necessity. The fact I didn’t have enough money to hire models, and also because we travel and camp a lot and the locations where I want to shoot doesn’t allow me to call on a model at a moment’s notice.

So I thought, why not do it myself, so I did, and now I am both model and photographer and I love working this way.

However, it has put me in some precarious situations more often than not, nude or semi-nude, freezing cold lying in rock pools running backward and forwards to the camera to see that I am getting the shot I have envisioned.

The moral being, don’t let anything or anyone get in the way of your vision, just get out there and start shooting and never ever stop.

www.kellienorthcreative.com.au | @kellienorthcreative