Last week I was lucky enough to be asked to fly to Melbourne to watch Chumba shoot with the rockstar photographer Andrew O’Toole. I arrived at the Ozdare Academy bright and early to meet Carl Keeley, Artistic Director for Chumba Concept Salon,  and his talented team. They were: Belinda, Karl’s wife and a AHFA Colourist of the Year finalist 2009, Tania (Pakenham), Marcus (Chapel St), Peter and Kate.

These guys were so amazingly prepared and organised!  It was a real pleasure to see their creative process from start to finish. It also made me realise how disorganised I can be, and how much smoother a shoot goes with proper preparation. Good storyboards and delegation makes all the difference on shoot day.

And don’t get me started on the technical skills. I watched Belinda colouring a model’s hair – full head bleach on the day of the shoot on a pro model!  I was so impressed by her placement and toning ability.

Unless you have been living in Antarctica for the past 10 years, you have probably heard of Andrew O’Toole. He shoots a lot of hairdressing collections, from the UK to Australia.  And is probably the most winning of all hair photographers. He definitely looks the part of the superstar photographer, but when I met him he was lovely. His team worked really efficiently setting up lighting and it’s easy to see why he’s the best.

The magic happens on shoots when all the elements some together, and on this job it definitely did. Carls’ team did a beautiful job on the hair, Letitia Dare is an amazing stylist, Kylie O’Toole’s makeup was spectacular and the man Andrew behind the camera doing his thing. It was organised, but there was a great frenetic energy in the studio. I think the secret is creativity and preparation, and the results were stunning!

Big thanks to the Chumba team for having me, to Andrew and Kylie O’Toole for chatting with me and giving me some great insights into their success. Can’t wait to see the final shots during the awards season this year!