Damian Aimers, Deliberation (People and Portrait 2018)

I have always been an artist. I spent many years hand painting portraits and have formally studied fine arts. Then I stopped to focus on being a businessman. Life was stressful so to balance I decided to get creative again. I brought a camera! I shoot everything from animals, landscapes (which I have entered here previous years) and my main love, people. I often shoot my own children to try new ideas. This series was about capturing them today. I sketch out and plan each image and do everything myself. I paint my own backdrops or as in the family shot; I composite landscape images I have taken. I am particular on the details and dedicated to getting the right shot. I use strobes, v flats and my own workflow with post to ensure the images have what I believe is my style. Silver eyes- is more a glamour shot, his eyes are grey so I used my wife's scarf to balance the tones and color grade with his half Polynesian, half Caucasian skin. The blacka nd white shot was done straight afterwards where his big ears kept annoying me with the old hat. I needed to add some further textures and needed to frame him better so used a rabbits head (all about the ears). My daughter loves all creatures. Her nickname is "Bug". The butterflies are composited. Our family shot shows both kids personalities, my son would rather be playing than doing another photoshoot for his dad. My wife drives me nuts with her "need" to do her makeup before she checks the mailbox. Me, I manage a 60 million dollar a year business. I am always intense, even when relaxing I try to make sure I do it to the best of my abilities. The backdrop on this image is from an old house where we picnic regularly and the sunset from our front door. I shoot a lot of animals and landscapes that I composite into my images. Weather I am in a museum or driving 4 hours west of Alice Springs, I am always looking for subjects I can use.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.