Purple Day

About Asher Mendigorin, Ana Costa, Brittany Dickson, Epilepsy, Epilepsy Action Australia, Purple Day March 26, 2020

Lay down…Keep as still as you can…Try to relax…It may feel a little tight…

These are words I would hear recurring as I grew up, a source of anxiety that still affects me today.

For those who I have not shared this with (and I haven’t shared this with many), growing up I was diagnosed with Epilepsy. This happened rather early in my childhood and although the symptoms have not affected me the way it has many, it continues to shape my life.

I can’t quite recall the age that it occurred but what I do remember is regaining consciousness from a seizure, and the sensations that came from the experience.

I had spent the night at my Aunty’s house, we had rented movies and games for my Sega Master System from a local Blockbuster. This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, I spent many Friday’s with my Aunty growing up. This time would be different.

As I awoke that morning, I was surrounded by my Grandpa (Tatay) and Aunty. It must have been early as it was still quite dark but I vividly remember the distressed expressions on their faces and as I tried to ask if anything was wrong I realised the voice in my head would not be made audible. I felt a disconnect, like the actions I wished to take would not register with my body.

As I tried to stand, I recall just being as flat as a plank and honestly it was pretty frightening. As I began to regain control of my body, I was helped up and we made our way to the local hospital where my parents had caught up to us. We sat in emergency waiting.

It was at the hospital where they checked my motoring skills, the kind of stuff you would see in The Simpsons growing up.

Touch your nose, walk a straight line.

I struggled, but I didn’t want them to think anything was wrong with me. I couldn’t mask the fact I could barely walk a straight line, string a sentence or have the co-ordination to even touch my nose. It would be about 3 hours till I felt I could control my actions. I felt that I was relearning how to be a human again, up to this point I had never experienced anything like it.

Upon leaving I was given a referral to see a specialist, and with this visit I was diagnosed with Epilepsy.

In the following years (8 years), I was medicated, sleep deprived, sent to do MRI’s and EEG tests (electroencephalogram). Through the years, I felt sluggish from my medication and during test I would constantly be told:

Lay down…Keep as still as you can…Try to relax…It may feel a little tight…

I would always hide my diagnosis, who wanted to be made to feel different? Especially in school… There were other students after all who had the same diagnosis as I did, who had it far worse than I did, who basically permanently wore helmets in case they would have a seisure.

I could see it all, the looks they got and at times the cruel jokes made of them. I would hide the fact I felt sluggish in my own body due to the Tegretol I was prescribed. Just a normal kid.

Fast forward to today, I’m always anxious in enclosed spaces and I feel claustrophobic all the time. I feel anxious in situations where I’m meant to sit still, and honestly it can be pretty limiting for things that should be quite normal.

Now at 35, I’ve found photography and I find purple is a colour I relate to. A colour that has become a big fixture in my palette when I shoot and style, a colour associated with Epilepsy. I’ve always wanted to do something for Purple Day, and what I didn’t know at the time is that lavender (light purple) also represented all cancers and it just so happened that I had already shot the perfect model to represent both sides of the shoot. Brittany.

Brittany is both a brain cancer survivor and ambassador, no one should have to go through what she bravely battled at a young age but she’s certainly come up on top. Through her struggles, she never allowed it to dictate her career, a career she is pursuing in animal bio-science while continuing to model. If you’re lucky enough to have worked with her, you would know just how beautiful of a soul and how positively radiant she truly is.

Our shoot together is for Purple Day to raise awareness, as I’m guilty of not knowing much about the diagnosis I was given. I just wanted to be normal. In contrast, Brittany embraces who she is and her affiliation to the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation so it’s fitting she’s in front of the camera and I’m behind it.

We are also truly blessed to have Ana Costa, such a talented makeup artist a long for a project so close to our hearts and have nothing but gratitude for her continued support.

To find out more about the amazing work Epilepsy Action has undertaken or to donate to a worthy cause head to https://www.epilepsy.org.au/

To find out more about the work Cure Brain Cancer Foundation to which Brittany is an ambassador for, or to donate head to https://www.curebraincancer.org.au/

Purpose

It was 2017 and up until I began to make my way home from work, it felt no different from any other day prior. This day would however change my life forever and without warning I awoke to find myself in a public place completely dazed and confused. The first thing that came to mind was that I had just fainted, I was rushed to hospital which came with the horrible realisation that I had experienced my first seizure. After hours of tests and an excruciating wait – the doctors discovered a brain tumour.

There had been no other symptoms or warning signs. All I can really remember is trying desperately to come up with another explanation. It didn’t make sense… it had to be some kind of mistake. To my horror the worst case had presented itself, it was cancer.

The next couple of months were a whirlwind. I was lucky that I didn’t have to do it alone, that my family was there for me every step of the way. I hated seeing how scared they were and just wanted to tell them I was going to be okay and believe it, but there was no way to know. For the most part I kept my health hidden from everyone else because I never wanted to be felt sorry for or be treated any differently.

I had brain surgery, the results revealed I had a Grade III anaplastic astrocytoma, also known as high grade brain cancer, which is considered to be incurable – with a 1 in 6 chance of survival after 5 years. My brain was and still is pretty much a host to a game of Russian Roulette. Luckily, the surgery was a success, however due to the high chance of recurrence it was best I continue with radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments.

During the 6 weeks of radiotherapy (and dealing with the heartbreak of losing my hair). I made it a mission to turn my pain into power. I revealed the diagnosis to my friends and online following by joining the Cure Brain Cancer Foundations #Walk4BrainCancer. My incredible team raised over $11000 to further the foundations research, advocacy and awareness work. It’s truly one of my proudest achievements to date – today now having raised nearly $20000.

I had a rocky start when I began 12 months of chemo. I suffered my second seizure alone on a sunrise morning beach walk. It was terrifying. I felt the convulsions travel from the soles of my feet all the way up to my head, I tried to scream but no noise came out, I fell to the sand, a high pitched ringing in my ears, and my vision went white. I was so damn lucky that a kind stranger found me and helped me home.

I bounced back and did my best to keep the positivity rolling, offering an ear to other recently diagnosed patients from around the world through the magic of social media, continuing my support the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and also appearing on the News to talk about advancements my surgeons team made in the field of brain cancer research.

It’s coming up to 3 years since I was diagnosed with brain cancer and (despite my doctors advice to take it easy) – I’m working full time with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, am somewhat of an ambassador for the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and enjoy dipping my toes into the world of modelling when I find meaningful projects like this!
– Brittany Dickson

Grassland – LYUN Cover

Cover, Curve, Fashion, Kirsty Barrett, LYUN Magazine January 20, 2020

Publication: LYUN Magazine
Photographer: Asher Mendigorin
Published: 17/1/2020
Editorial: Grassland
Model/Stylist: Kirsty Barrett

After a not so long hiatus the start of 2020 has come with another cover, this time with fashion magazine LYUN.

I had told myself leading into December that I would put down my camera and spend more time with my family as the kids were on holiday.

With the dry conditions and the recent bush fires my usual end of year road travel was cancelled, and for the most part I kept true to not shooting a frame. That was until the 27th.

Due to the lack of activities we were able to do and the extreme heat of the Australian summer, there was little I could do outside of sitting at home with the kids in air conditioning. That’s when I received a message from model Kirsty (from my editorial in 2019 All Eyes on Me), “I am feeling super creative and would love to do a shoot”. Why not, my shutter finger was feeling itchy and its hard for me to sit still without clicking a frame. We discussed makeup and wardrobe and by 1PM we were out in the harsh sun shooting away.

For me, it was a great opportunity to practice shooting more fashion and to get out of the studio where most of my shoots are geared towards beauty.

On completion of the shoot, we sent our submission and within the hour, the editorial had been accepted. It’s always a good sign when they are promptly accepted, it may not mean it is a cover but it does usually mean you’ll get some good coverage. This would be for their February Plus Size release.

On the morning of the release I woke to the email, and at first I didn’t read it correctly as I was a little groggy having only woken up. On clicking the link, I was greeted with Kirsty’s face on the front cover and I re-read the email “CONGRATULATION, your editorial has been published in LYUN magazine. And of course, you are on the LYUN Cover”.

I messaged Kirsty to give her the good news, I’m glad she asked me to shoot that morning her timing could not have been better. As there were many family events during that period, she managed to get me on my only free day.

Fragments – SALYSÉ Magazine

Cover, Del Woods, Magazine, SALYSÉ, Shiksha Matabadul January 8, 2020

Publication: SALYSÉ Magazine
Photographer: Asher Mendigorin
Published: 7/1/2020
Editorial: Fragments
Model: Shiksha Matabadul
MUA: Del Woods

It was April of 2019, I was at the time shooting a baby gender reveal and had basically been ignoring my phone the majority of the day to insure I had not missed a moment.

When I was finally able to attend to my phone, I was met with a shoot request by a UK model was was currently studying acting in Australia. The Model was Shiksha, a Mauritius model who had previously been crowned Miss Mauritius International in 2014.

As she offered variety to my portfolio and was happy to shoot one of my concepts, I advised that we would organise a shoot once I had come up with a concept we could shoot together.

After some discussions, we had agreed to do a glitter based look. We set a date, but due to Shiksha’s travels and the MUA’s availability the date would continue to push back. Shiksha, also expressed interest in a shoot I had done a couple months back and had dreamed we would get something special and that in her dream she would be red like the editorial “Immersion” (so I kept the red theme in the back of my mind).

After the original MUA became no longer available, I approached Del to see if there was interest in the glitter shoot. Del indeed was, but wanted to use bio-glitter which meant the date of the shoot would once again be pushed back to allow for the delivery (this time to the 9th of November).

During the shoot, I made sure I would shoot part of the set in a red theme. The cleanup from the shoot was ridiculous at times and even now I’m finding glitter here and there.

I sent my submission to Salyse as they were now accepting for their December glitter issue and was surprised when the submission was swiftly accepted.

In December, I received a notification I had been tagged into a post by the publication. The red themed portion of the shoot took the cover! My final editorial for the year, capping off the year on a high note. After 25 publications and 2 other covers, this was the perfect ending; in the end the wait to shoot together was worth it. Shiksha’s dream became a reality, just not in the shoot style she was expecting but still covered in red.

Prism

Cover, Like A Lion Magazine, Magazine, Paula Cuyugan December 2, 2019

Publication: Like A Lion
Photographer: Asher Mendigorin
Published: 1/12/2019
Editorial: Prism
Model: Paula Cuyugan

A few weeks back I wrote an article about my return to film which featured model Paula Cuyugan, during this shoot we shot an editorial which I titled “Prism”.

The editorial would be shot using coloured gels and lens filters to create unique in camera effects rather than post production to achieve the final looks.

Heading into Christmas I’ve limited the amount of shoots in order to spend more time with the family during my weekends, so waking up this morning I was surprised to find there would still be one more cover in-store before the end of the year.

Experimenting has always been a priority in my shoots and I’m always willing to fail in order to succeed. What is the point if you’re not learning something new right?

So when you’re rewarded, it feels so much more satisfying!

Post-OP Barbie

Abby Lee Cremonini, Alternative Model, Beauty, Inkd Australia, Xpressions Magazine November 20, 2019

Publication: Xpressions Magazine
Photographer: Asher Mendigorin
Published: 19/11/2019
Editorial: Post-OP Barbie
Model: Abby Cremonini
MUA: Abby Cremonini

Back in May of this year, was the first time I had shot with Abby. This was a collaboration shoot between myself, Ana Costa and Bridget Cure in which we published our editorial “Untamed“.

After the shoot, Abby and I discussed running a separate shoot as she herself was a self taught SPFX makeup artist. It wouldn’t be till about September when these discussions would continue.

We had planned a lingerie shoot, and although everything was up in the air and it wasn’t certain we would be able to fit it into Abby’s increasingly busy schedule. I was still disappointed when I was not contacted to confirm she would in fact be unable to make the shoot.

Abby since our initial shoot had branched out and become fearless, baring more skin was not for every model; she embraced it. I found Abby like me just had a passion for what she was doing and just enjoyed trying new things.

So when she eventually messaged me back with an idea for a reverse beauty shoot where she would do her own makeup, I said my peace and agreed to the shoot. I can always appreciate those who like to try and expand and better their portfolios and are willing to fail to get something different.

Her idea was to do a shoot where she would look like she had gone through plastic surgery but instead of being beautiful in the end she would look like a disaster.

Because I like to shoot with a story in mind I thought it would be fun to first shoot her looking her most beautiful on the ground, at her lowest point along with a chaotic background to show how she viewed herself before the operation. This would eventually become the post-OP look where she viewed herself being at her most beautiful where the background would be pretty but would emphasis her being less than her beautiful starting point.

The set was published in Xpressions Magazine with only the last look being printed. Xpressions Magazine was actually the very first publication for me with bodyscapes I did with model Daphine Darling but equally relevant, Abby actually competed in Miss Inkd Australia and was the finalist for NSW of which they sponsored.

D Minor performs on Australia’s Got Talent

Competition, DMinor, Musician, Rapper, Unpublished August 12, 2019

Big ups to D Minor for absolutely representing what he stands for on Australia’s Got Talent

I had the pleasure of shooting with him on a few occasions and what you see on stage is exactly who he is. Keep killing it, cheering you on from the side lines!

If you missed his performance, it’s certainly a must watch: https://7plus.com.au/australias-got-talent

To support his charity head to Musicians Making A Difference – MMAD for which DMinor represents.