FANTASY JULIE CLYDE CREATIVES’ QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
WINTER 2021
Winter 2021 ADVENTURES
Coffs Camera Club JUDGING AND PRESENTING FANTASY ARTWORK
AreLIFE’S youLAST prepared? WISHES
Fantasy Sports Cards
THE WINTER SEASON IS UPON US AND OUR CARDS ARE BACK!
What did the judges say?
Silver Lining Photographic Awards 2021
Fine By Julie EXPLORING FINE ART
The Inner Warrior Project STORIES FROM STRENGTH
Fantasy Club
THE FANTASY CONTINUES
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elcome to the Winter edition of FANTASY magazine for Julie Clyde Creative. It’s a little surreal and so exciting to be putting together all of my work for the past three months into one place and get excited about what’s in store this Winter! I have loved collaborating with some of our special articles for this edition and hope you are encouraged to check them out yourself. I’ve been a busy bee with so many amazing experiences to share! I hope you love falling into the world of imagination with me!
About the cover this month:
This months’ cover introduces The Inner Warrior Project. Julie has been curating imagery and stories from some of her clients, and new ones to put together into something exciting... more on that later. I’m thrilled to introduce you to Michelle McFadyn, this months cover model. She is such an incredible human and one I’m thrilled beyond words to not only have in the Inner Warrior Project, but this month I’ll also be sharing her brand new business and what she’s been up to.
Are you ready to create your child’s very own tale as old as time?
Fantasy Portraits
Create memories, anytime of year.
Coffs Harbour Camera Club
It was such an honor to be invited to the Coffs Harbour Photography Club. They invited me to not only judge their portrait competition but also to speak about my work with Fantasy Portraiture. It was the first time I’ve been in front of a room of people in a very long time so I made sure I wrote down what I was going to talk about. I am happy to report I didn’t cry, vomit or die during the evening and I actually enjoyed myself in the process. For those who would like a little story, this is the speech I had written.
Good evening, I’m Jules and I turn people into superhero’s and fantasy characters. I began life illegally photographing things as soon as I could crawl by stealing my dads treasured SLR, and having kids of my own now, I can see how frustrating finger prints all over his lenses truly were. I bought my first camera when I was 8 at a garage sale for 50c and learned the value of my pocket money quickly. Film was around $8, developing was $15+ and I earned $1 a week if I did my jobs around the house. I quickly learned to help my brother do his paper run to earn a few extra dollars. He was a smart businessman, earning $15 for his round and paying me $0.50 for doing half of his. Through school I was introduced to black and white photography and developing my own film, and fell in love. In college I learned about dodging, burning and retouching with pieces of paper and ink filled paint brushes... Retouching looked so different back then. At university began my introduction to digital photography and the Adobe creative suite. Having spent countless hours in my first year developing blank films or images that didn’t Year 11 photography project year 2000
come out the way I thought I had photographed them, the digital age was a welcome but scary prospect. I studied industrial design for four years and wish I had been brave enough to jump ship across to graphic design, but I wasn’t brave enough to at that point in my life. I had been raised to finish what I started and that’s what I did whilst pouring my time into learning Photoshop and illustrator.
I started my business officially at the end of 2007 and grew a successful wedding photography business, but with the birth of my daughter in 2010, I wanted to be home more with her, and so I evolved into portraiture, leading eventually to Fantasy where I now love to work. Along the way I learned digital painting from Julia Kelleher and heather Michelle in the USA whilst living over there on a military posting, then I continued my learning of professional level retouching, framing, using textures and overlays and so much more which is now incorporated into the Adobe world of Photoshop. I had been creating what I called dreamscapes since 2010 which were dream like landscapes, but I never thought to put people in them until Brooke Shaden came into my life with her fine art course. None of my Portrait work had ever felt complete, I had never achieved the “omg I LOVE that image of my child” moment and I had been in the hunt for that since the beginning. The way she thought, composed and created her work felt like a huge puzzle piece in my world so I asked a local textile artist, Caroline Sharkey, if I could borrow her grandson one day for an idea I had with one of her quilts. She said yes, the rest is history. From here I started asking clients if they might be OK if I “made something” from their child’s portraits I was photographing and before the session I would get them to ask “if you could be anything in the world, what would you be?” My very first client’s response was “I want to be a baby elephant” and those responses have evolved from there. My favourite request to date is still “I want to be in charge of a chicken army”. That one makes me giggle every single time.
All of what you see on the screen behind me, and in print around the room, did not happen over night. This photographic addiction of mine has been a life long adventure and one I have worked solidly on for over 13 years professionally. It wasn’t until we nearly lost one of our son’s whilst on holidays in 2019, that my life really made a hard right turn towards Fantasy Portraiture. I had been running three businesses and I really wasn’t enjoying life anymore. Whilst successful, I wasn’t enjoying those successes. Having such a major impact to our family whilst having people demanding things from me made me step back and drop all of my battles, then only pickup ones I truly wanted to continue with. I sold my skincare business, ended some other business ventures I was part of to focus only on creating again. I’m thankful for the universal wakeup call as I am now loving my work- even though I don’t sleep much and I’m constantly brimming with ideas. Every season I release my Fantasy magazine which showcases not only my work, but other local businesses and families I interact with also. I strive to update my skill set constantly which I share in the magazine as it helps to continue my own education, but lets my clients know I am always striving to be
better for them as well. Two years ago I created Fantasy Club where children come once a month, for 12 months and we create Fantasy Portraits customised to who they are, what they love, what they’re learning or what makes them giggle. I have found that as it’s evolved into its’ second year, my creative kiddos are now drawing me their backgrounds and ideas before their sessions. I have around 16 kids and an adult creating with me this year, which has been amazing. This year I added a fantasy bubs club where I’ve been fortunate enough to be photographing a 1 year old and a 6 month old. Both of these bring new and exciting challenges to my work but I have learned one thing from the two of them; I LOVE watching them grow and develop every month. You’ll notice as you sit here, that I brought a lot of print work with me. It’s partly because I couldn’t decide which images to bring, and mostly because I LOVE seeing tangible prints. How fun is it when you find old photographs in a draw? That’s why I print, because your client can relive their experience over and over again each and every time they view their work. From a business point of view, it’s a great way for new clients to see my work and get to know me without my presence. At the end of the day, nothing beats holding brand new, fingerprint free images fresh from the prolab.
I touched really quickly earlier on the process of becoming a fantasy portrait photographer. It’s a long road to where I am now but it’s taught me a lot along the way. My style hasn’t inherently changed too much, but the way I finish images has. There’s certainly nothing better than someone loving what you’ve created, it really feeds my inner child and helps me in some ways relive parts of my own upbringing in a really fun way. I applied for AIPP accreditation so many times over the years. The first time cut the deepest when I was turned down. I had prepared my portfolio and I thought they were the best images ever... I was rejected, but thankfully had a local member sit down with me and gift me with feedback. Fast forward life to 2020 and I not only was I accredited but I’ve even begun entering awards again. For me award pose a massive creative challenge and my goal is to better myself every entry. They are debilitating at times- but the feedback is so beneficial that I can’t think of a reason not to jump in. If you’re looking for a challenge and a way to get some really helpful feedback, I can’t Silver Linings Photographic Competition 2021 recommend entering enough. With any passion, if you stick with it, it can take you to some incredible places. I’ve been fortunate enough to work in America and Australia, and create Fantasy Portraits for people across the globe. Covid for me meant my business blossomed as I was able to create digitally for all children worldwide; how cool is that. Thanks so much for having me.
Life's Last Wishes
Michelle McFadyen is a real warrior. With ancestral roots in the Nordic and Viking cultures, she epitomises the Warrior Goddess, in these images and in life. Michelle is a writer, an adventurer, a corporate executive, a strengths and conflict coach, a storyteller and founder of Life Support and Life’s Last Wishes. Alongside a business degree, and all the other qualifications you’d expect with a professional career, Michelle is a qualified Counselor, and a Positive Psychology Practitioner. She is also an accredited Strengths Profile Practitioner for both individuals and teams, and a trained Conflict Management Coach. Michelle adventures whenever she can; she loves trekking and to honour this she annually guides groups across the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea, she has summited Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mt Kinabalu in Borneo and trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. A 920km solo pilgrimage across Spain on foot kept those fires alive along with a trek along the Kumado Kodo in Japan. Recently Michelle launched a project she’s been working on for a few years, Life’s Last Wishes, one that came about through grief and despair, and through her survival of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake that killed almost 9,000 people. You can read about the earthquake and her other adventures on her blog at: www.lifesupportaustralia. com.
But for now, let’s chat with Michelle about Life’s Last Wishes. Tell us about Life’s Last Wishes Life’s Last Wishes is really a passion project of mine. I’ve been working on it since my Dad died and, to be honest, more fervently since I survived a devastating earthquake in Nepal a few years ago. One of the hardest things I found when Dad died, was not having an understanding of what his last wishes were. I know for many of us, me included, talking about our own and our loved ones death is uncomfortable, to put it mildly. So uncomfortable, that mostly I’d always ignored it. But I can say for sure, it’s not as uncomfortable as sitting deep in my grief and having a thousand questions fired at me when my brain was mush and my heart was broken. When I was in my most vulnerable state, crying, sobbing and barely recognising myself, let alone others, and still….having to come up with responses to questions I didn’t, and never will, know the right answer to. That’s what it felt like when Dad died. So, he died, and sobbing, grieving, barely functioning – I, along with my siblings, were faced with question after question. Bury or cremate, church or not, private or open, what type of coffin, readings at the service, who would do the eulogy, what music would he like played …this list went on and on. Where was his will? Who did he bank with? Who was he – at his core? What did he value most? If he had the chance to leave me a message, his life learnings – what would they be? Did we get it right? We will never know because well….we will never know. And that eats at me still to this day. So it was after this experience I vowed never to put my loved ones in the position I was in. I remember on the way home from the funeral, scribbling my wishes on a piece of paper.
When I got home, I opened my computer and started, in a very disorganised manner, to write down everything I wished for as my last wishes. It became a large document over time and, in a way, to leave my own legacy, I developed from those scribbles, this gift called Life’s Last Wishes. It’s taken me a few years, and I’m really proud of it.
What is it?
There’s plenty of information on the website but in essence it’s a customisable online product that will guide you through a process of considering and documenting your last wishes. It allows you to document information around your wishes in regard to your funeral and end of life ceremony. It includes sections for your wishes around your eulogy, burial, memories you want to leave with others, a few of your favourite things, social media and email account instructions, and much more. Life’s Last Wishes also offers you the opportunity to share your life’s lessons, your values, thoughts, hopes and dreams with your loved ones. It’s your legacy. It’s about how you’d like to be remembered. You can even record messages to loved ones – and if you want – go out with a bang and provide a video message to be played at your service (look out for mine at my funeral). Or you can do the basics – it is entirely up to you. What I do know for sure – is that every decision we make now, relieves our loved ones of having to guess – and trust me – that guessing in the midst of grief – is a tough place to be.
How does it work?
Well it’s online and it’s simple. I’ve kept the costs low because this is so important, and there are no ongoing hosting fees or hidden extras. You sign up for $67AUD and then get 60 days to work your way through it. You can go in and out as much as you please during that time to complete it and at the end, you get a beautiful document that you can then save and share as you wish. You can also come back in a year, 5 years, whenever you like, and for $30AUD, get
another 30 days access to your data to update as you wish.
So this is your legacy – something you’re providing in to the world – based on your own experiences? Yes. I want to share Life’s Last Wishes with the world – because I never want to see anyone, in their grieving, have to go through what I did when Dad died. And, to be sure, I think it’s pretty cool to stop and contemplate – what is it I would like once I’m not here anymore – how do I want to be remembered, what do I want my service to look like? What messages do I want to share with my loved ones? There isn’t much I know for sure, except that we’re all going to die and we are all going to leave behind people who love us. My wish is to not make that grief any worse by leaving them with the burden of having to make copious amounts of decisions about what we might have wished for. Instead, I created Life’s Last Wishes. I created it for me, and I created it for you and the people who love us. It’s my living wish that Life’s Last Wishes will provide a vehicle to open up conversations with loved ones, provide an avenue for self-reflection, and help you and others to leave a legacy. It is really the greatest gift you can give yourself and your loved ones.
Where can we find out more?
You can go to the website www.lifeslastwishes.com and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Life’s Last Wishes. You can also download the “Ultimate Guide to Leaving a Legacy” from my website for free – it’s full of tips on the various ways we can leave a legacy.
Fantasy Sports Cards are back!!! I am thrilled to announce that our Fantasy Sports Cards are BACK! After a fun season creating them last year, it will happen again in the 2021 season. Created in studio or out on the sportsground, the Fantasy cards are a great momento as your kids grow up through their sport. To book your spot please email Jules; Jclydecreative@gmail.com
Entering awards in this capacity was a rollar coaster of fear, frustration and a few tears. Entering awards means that I am challenged beyond my normal creative means. Utilising my treasure trove of purchased stock images, overlays and textures is not allowed and each last editing must be created by me. This then changed the way I shot, edited and presented my work into this competition. It’s the first one I’ve done of it’s kind so being able to receive feedback from some of the best in the busienss was priceless. I chose to photograph the subject of homelessness on the coast here. We have a 12 year waiting list for emergency housing and regular rentals are having 50+ families showing up to the open homes not knowing if the property has been rented before the open home. There are families, kids, living in their cars and on the streets. Rental prices have skyrocketed as well leaving many without access to food and other basic needs. I wanted to create a piece that made the judges stop and consider the image. I knew I wouldn’t create the perfect image just yet as I have MUCH learning to do, but being able to tell a story was always my first and only goal. After hitting submit on the image I cried for a short time and stepped away from creating for a day or so. It’s hard to see your own child like this. The following comments were made on the image over the page: * Interesting story, This image could be improved with a stronger narrative to engage the viewer, the cleanness of the surrounding atmosphere does not complement the story. * Hauntingly real narrative brought through the use of a garish colour palette and great yet simple styling. I would suggest toning down the highlights, especially on the teddies head and girls left arm to great accentuate her expression. * A well styled and lit portrait, it has a more staged than realism feel to it. Be careful when processing the whites of the eye not to make them too white.
AIPP Standard Scoring Range Entry score 76 / 100
Fairy Day 2021 Fairy Day 2021 was a success with many local kids coming to be a part of the special day. I loved creative for each and every one of them and hope they bring special memories back each time they see their pictures.
Fine by Jules Fine by Jules was created as I was learning new skills and wanted to practice them outside of my everyday Fantasy work. I wanted to continue to tell stories and share feelings in a space but away from my work with children. I wanted to explore ideas and concepts in a way I hadn’t previously felt able to. I wanted to continue to share stories and slightly more traditional portraits, but in a way that didn’t bore me or stagnate my love of Fantasy.
Thief of time: concept
Their way or yours?
The Brainstorm Whilst most of the images here have been concepts (ideas) and skill tests for myself, they are slowly building confidence and a style away from Fantasy portraits. I have always found my imagery snapshots a moment in time for me, allowing me to unpack feelings and emotions. Some images wont be for everyone, but that’s ok because they’re my feelings I carry.
Inner Child: Concept
The Inner Warrior Project
Strong women aren’t simply born. We are forged through the changes of life. With each challenge we grow mentally and emotionally. We move forward with our head held high and a strength that cannot be denied. A woman who’s been through the storm and survived. We are warriors! -anonymous
This is the poem that sparked The Inner Warrior Project. It has been evolving over the years through my portrait work and I’m excited to see it starting to evolve. I hear so many amazing stories through my clients and women around me that I have said all too many times that their stories are simply incredible and need to be shared. Apparently I was telling myself all along to be the one to do just that. The aim of the project is to photograph women how they feel on their strongest day. As they feel if they could imagine themselves as a warrior or goddess. Their accompanying stories will be shared through poetry, stories and short quotes and phrases; depending how each woman chooses to share. Each image and headdresses are being hand crafted for each warrior so there is a little creating going on at the studio right now.
The making of the Ocean Goddess headdress
Each piece is being crafted and developed from old and broken jewellery, rhinestones. Most have been purchased by me, however I have been recently fortunate enough to receive donations from Caroline Sharkey Textile Art and one of my Fantasy Club families, Leigh. Both donations have been lovingly received and I’m so thankful for the support. If you’d like to be part of the project, please contact Jules.
#warriorinspo
Fantasy Club
Current Projects: Fantasy Portraits:
Capturing memories all year round in the Bonville studio. “What would you be if you could be anything in the world?” To book call the studio on 0423 777 275
The Inner Warrior Project: I want to photograph you as your own warrior; however that looks for you. What has shaped your past to make you who you are today? Who are you on your strongest days? For more information go to www.julieclyde.com
Impressionable Kids Coffs Harbour:
Jamie is now taking bookings for June, July and August 2021. Her spaces fill up quickly so make sure you get in quickly to secure your spot. Her first day back in the JCC studio will be on 9th June. To book contact 0413 656 728.
Spring Fantasy Magazine Due out September 1st 2021
The Inner Warrior Project www.julieclyde.com
‘The Local Shop’ was created to support Mid North Coast Artists by displaying their creations in our Sawtell Kitchens/Ashton Designs showroom. All uniquely handmade, we sell local homewares and art including; ceramics, artwork, photography, jewellery, tea towels, macrame, candles, skin care and lots more.
Thanks to our local community for their ongoing support. Here are some of their business’ to check out. Everyone deserves a little sweet treat
BENITA FARRELL Memory Maker
Home based- Urunga NSW Find us on Facebook
WWW.JULIECLYDE.COM
