Portrait session with Angie Watkins
Angie Watkins, former contestant in Season 4 of Asia’s Next Top Model, pictured here in Melbourne in 2025. I’m in the process of prepping all portrait images for (book) print: image above is a draft spread.
In portrait photography terms, Angie Watkins is an extraordinary subject. The power of her. The emotion in her eyes. The presence. Every picture of every one is an attempt at story but Angie conveys, or give the impression that she conveys, hers better than most.
She’s formidable.
These photographs of Angie Watkins were taken at the La La Land space in Hardware Lane in Melbourne’s CBD. La La Land is available for hire by photographers so a quick word: it’s an interesting space. It’s dark, cluttered with furniture, and has lots of different-temperature lights – both real and artificial. It’s a white balance nightmare. It’s a great bar, for a drink, but it’s a difficult space for photography purposes; some of the (large) window throw good light but but otherwise, a proper lighting rig is required.
The shots here were taken with a Harlowe Pro 300W with a Harlowe Optical Light Lens with Gobo employed. I didn't play around with this light much and I have a love/hate relationship with gobo lighting but on this occasion, no complaints. The above (and immediately below) was taken with the Harlowe Pro 300W employed.
On the day I was shooting with two cameras, both Sony – A1 and A6700 – and two lenses: the Sony 50mm f1.4 and Sony 24mm f1.4. This is my most-used combination for any portrait session where I’m unfamiliar with the shooting space.
It is because I swap the lenses between the two cameras. The A1 is full-frame; the A67)) is APS-C. I effectively then have the 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 75mm ranges at my disposal (or thereabouts), all at f1.4.
This image of Angie below is with the A6700/50mm combination. The autofocus on the Sony A6700 for standard portraits is as good or better than the autofocus on the Sony A1, by my experience, which is interesting. That is, the APS-C camera has better AF than the flagship full-frame. Newer tech of course but, still, interesting.
(In video it’s a different story or it is in low light; video autofocus on the A6700 in low light is poor where the A1 pretty much keeps on keeping on.)
Back to the portrait of Angie. It’s hard to fake moments like this. It always amazes me how the off-hand or fleeting moment is often the one. Angie works the camera beautifully but that one little moment is the killer.
Angie Watkins portrait, gobo (fake window pane) light employed.
Angie Watkins, incidentally, has 100K followers on instagram and was a star of Season 4 of Asia’s Next Top Model. Kudos to Angie.
Above: Angie Watkins, 2025, Melbourne. Sony A6700, Sony 24mm f1.4 taken at f1.4.
As much as I like close-up portraits, environmental portraits like the images below are where my true heart lies. Both these were taken with a 24mm lens on a crop sensor. I don’t own a 35mm FF lens but it’s remarkable how many of my favourite images (from this shoot and others) are with that combination.
Above and below: Angie Watkins, 2025, Melbourne. Sony A1, Sony 50mm f1.4 taken at f1.6.
Angie Watkins can also be seen in the video (from the same shoot above) here.
