JAMES FEAR PHOTOGRAPHY SYDNEY PRESENTS - THE 2025 MONO AWARDS

The Mono Awards 2025

This was another milestone in 2025.

Before 2025 all of my previous awards had been in the categories of landscape, places, and travel. It wasn’t that I didn’t take photos of people (I had previously done weddings in 2007, and had been working in and out of studios since 2009), it’s just that I had never entered any of my new work into contests.

So it was a bit of a big deal for me to place in any category or receive any kind of acknowledgement from the Mono Awards, especially the Tarot shot which previously nearly killed me (however that is for another time).

People – Highly Commended.

People – Commended

People – Commended

People – Commended

Mono Awards 2025 Highly Commended -Folk musician Michael, outside the Enmore Theater- shot on a Sony RX1Rii

Mono Awards 2025 Commended - Sequel Studios owner Alison posing for a 90s style shoot in Enmore

The Mono Awards 2025 Commended - Performer Mimi Martini shot in Enmore

The Mono Awards 2025 Commended - Mick , shot in Enmore.

The Mono Awards 2025 Commended - Temperance, this shoot almost killed me and I apologise to everyone I drove crazy having to help or listen to me.

JAMES FEAR PHOTOGRAPHY SYDNEY PRESENTS- THE CAPTURE AWARDS 2025

I am a big fan of photography competitions, but not for the reasons many would assume.

Receiving acknowledgments is always lovely, placing or winning in competitions is even nicer, however it’s knowing that my work is on the right track, and that my fine art work is developing over time. It’s a tough ask to put yourself out there, but it’s the acknowledgement that complete strangers rate your work highly that provides you with a sense of satisfaction.

James Fear Photography Sydney was only born a few years ago. Even though I have been taking photos of people since 2005, I haven’t entered any photography competitions since 2018 and took 3 years off. Previously (and in another photography life), my entries in categories such as landscape, nature, and urban entries all place highly (both, but the Capture Awards was one of the first People style contests I had ever entered.

Very Proud to have received the following

Portraits and People – Finalist

Portraits and People - Highly Commended

Portraits and People - Highly Commended

Art and Conceptual – Commended

The Capture Awards 2025. People, Finalist: Juno with a wall of red pockets behind her and every luck cat I could find.

he Capture Awards 2025, Highly Commended : Alison posing for a bit of a fantasy style shoot.

The Capture Awards 2025 - Highly Commended: Master Kwon from Master Kwons Martial Arts Academy doing the “ Vann Damme”.

The Capture Awards 2025 , Commended: Juno in the second half of the shoot doing the YOKAI

JAMES FEAR SYDNEY PHOTOGRAPHY PRESENTS - CHINESE NEW YEAR (PLUS FUJIFILM INSTAGRAM FEATURE)

Model : Juno

Makeup : Makeup by Ruby

Client: Personal

Theme : Chinese New Year

I love Chinese New Year!

It’s a big deal where I live in Sydney, and it’s one of the most exciting times to discover the city and embrace one of the best celebrations in town.

For this shoot, I was very much inspired by Chinese New Year and wanted to create a shoot that combined the colours, culture, with a bit of mysticism in the form of a character - in this instance the idea of a fortune teller.

To pull this off a giant red pocket background was created (none of that AI garbage) , every lucky cat I could find, as much of the colour red I could get, and an outfit that worked with the lovely Juno.

This shoot was a challenge but highly rewarding. It was featured on the Instagram account of Fujifilm Australia as a Fuji GFX 50s with a 63mm 2.8 prime was used for this shoot.

JAMES FEAR SYDNEY PRESENTS - MEDUSA PHOTOSHOOT

Medusa

Model : Mimi Martini

Shoot: Medusa photo shoot

Work Type: Personal Project

So every Halloween I like to do something a bit different, and last year was no exception. I always loved the myths of ancient Greece as a boy, so when I had the chance to put this together, I jumped at it.

This shoot is divided into 3 parts.

Part 1: Using silver mylar as the background and using a beauty dish at the front. The Mylar is meant to reflect the shield that Perseus used to view Medusa in his shield.

Part 2: Using an optical spot to create a contrast high shadow look. This was meant to be a play on the classic horror movies of old.

Part 3: Using gels and high colour to create a 70s European horror style look.

I am always up for doing something , if you want to book me in for something out of the ordinary let me know.

JAMES FEAR PHOTOGRAPHY SYDNEY PRESENTS - SYDNEY BALLET PHOTOGRAPHY

Client : Sequel Studios Alexandria.

Work Type : Website update

Type: Health and Fitness Photography Sydney.

Sequel Studios is a fantastic new dance studio based in the inner city suburb of Alexandria (right across the road from the new Metro Station).

Alison (the studios owner) were in discussions about how to promote her new ballet classes and wanted to create a series of high end fine art style photos that could be used for social media, the website, and at the studio in order to promote her classes.

For this look I worked with two of her very talented instructors Amber and Jade in order to create a find art style of shoot that focused on the art, skill, and creativity of ballet.

This shoot is done with 2 flashes, one is at ceiling height pointed at a 45degree angle and the other is a strip box directly to the side of each dancer acting as a fill. The material used in this shoot is designed to create a bit of drama and to add further movement to the shoot.

You can check out more behind the scenes on the below YouTube video.

JAMES FEAR PHOTOGRAPHY SYDNEY PRESENTS - MODEL PHOTOGRAPHY SYDNEY

SHOOT: Model Photography Sydney

LOCATION: Alexandria Sydney

MODEL: Marta

TYPE OF PHOTOS: This shoot was comprised of three different looks.

Look 1: High end vivid photography portraits using LED Lighting.

Look 2: Black and white portraits

Look 3: Fine art studio look.

For this shoot featuring the lovely Marta it was divided into three different looks.

The bright LED look is a combination of 2 LED RGB Soft boxes “stacked” on top of each other. Each light is positioning horizontally as opposed to vertically in order to split the light (again so to speak) and to create a little bit of a gradient style of effect.

Look 2 is a classic 90s style portrait inspired by one of my many heroes Peter Lindenburgh. The setup for this shoot is very simple; it’s a single LED light with an optical spot fitted and a few different gobos (things that make the pattern – used to be called Cookie Cutters if you are old like me). This effect isn’t hard, but it does require some patience.

Look 3 is something I have been refining for a few years now. It’s a black and white stylised editorial look using cloth backgrounds and materials. I think this look works best and with the unique look that Marta has, creating an urban look was very easy.

Its all done with one flash on the left hand side with a 120cm Octobox.

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