MY STORY SO FAR
It's always interesting to sit down and attempt to sum up the journey that we have been on in our lives, this is my attempt to do so in regards to my photography.
"Being outside connects me directly to nature, it puts me in tune with it. This is how I re-focus, get centered and gain perspective. I am constantly in awe of the natural world and that is why I photograph it."
BACK AT THE BEGINNING
I still remember when I first started taking landscape photographs, it was some twenty two years ago now. I started with a Pentax SLR, it had one zoom lens and was a bottom of the range 35mm film camera. I had these high hopes and dreams with that camera, but first I had to cut my teeth and learn enough of the craft of photography to get the types of results I watched professional photographers achieve. It took me years and many rolls of film. Things were different at this time, there wasn't the revolution of digital photography like now, and the learning seemed quite a bit slower. During this time though, I made a real point of understanding the process and understanding the importance of light and I will always remember that first really special photograph. When I looked at the processed film I thought "This is it, I am starting to get there. Look at the colour, the composition, it feels like I am back there". After that point, I became somewhat addicted to that feeling and that type of result, it felt like perfection. We traveled some of the country with that camera, with its cheap single zoom lens, and I couldn't have been happier. I would rise every morning well before dawn, we would scope locations and really center everything around photography. Little did I know that this pattern is what I would use for many years to come.
STEPPING IT UP A NOTCH
A number of years past and I was taking photographs in Newcastle when I saw another photographer with a large format film camera, taking photographs on the beach. Safe to say I was pretty interested and started researching straight away. I was itching for larger format, it provided much higher detail and reproduction qualities, it was the answer to my needs. I ended up purchasing a Fotoman 617, a dedicated panoramic film camera and the day I received it was one to remember. At this time, my goal was to take landscape photographs for a living, to turn professional. This was a big step in that direction. I applied the same rules to this camera as with my Pentax, and after getting the hang of things, the results really blew my mind. The film was huge and the quality was just incredible. I soon learned that from these film transparencies, I could print to very large sizes, in excess of three meters wide. This was the start of the journey and soon after we traveled on a number of month long trips to places such as Victoria and South Australia. We started building a healthy portfolio and soon after, I started selling prints, to clients directly and through a small website that I built. These felt like the glory days and the stepping stones to turning professional.
GOING PROFESSIONAL
I was working a 9 to 5 job and running my photography business on the side, at night and into the early mornings. I worked hard to build a name, I published a book, took part in exhibitions and really built something I was proud of. Things were going well and I did this for roughly five years. Then, in 2012, I quit my job and, at Easter, opened my own gallery in Bungendore, not far from my home. I realised a massive dream by doing this, it was the culmination of huge amounts of hard work with amazing support from a few people around me. In those days I had a lot to learn, but we had made it to this milestone. We set about building the business up, working days in the gallery and then undertaking framing production at night. Over the years we hired staff to assist, the business grew exponentially. We started to travel further and wider and were able to head off for three and four month long trips. At that time, the business was well established and allowed us to travel to take new photographs to feed the needs of us and our clients. This was a golden set of trips that we will always remember. We traveled west, and then north and then south on three separate trips, covering a good portion of Australia as a family of four. It was priceless and the photographs were just this amazing assortment of gold from this beautiful country. We followed each trip up with a large exhibition in the gallery to share the experience. During these times we were selling framed and unframed prints all around the world. We started working with all sorts of companies including magazines, calendar businesses, Telstra, ARB, Cooper Tires, Tourism for many states in Australia, glass printing businesses, energy companies and the list went on. We were also running photography tuition and tours to some of the places in Australia I hold close, taking groups of people and showing them my process, teaching them how to capture the moment.
Things were going so well but it was intense. I was never at home during this period, I was missing out on my young family and it all started to get a little out of control, we did this for nearly six and a half years. During this time, I stayed true to my film roots, capturing all of my photographs on the same Fotoman film camera I purchased years prior.
THE OTHER SIDE
In 2018, we left the gallery and business proceedings in the safe hands of our six staff and traveled to Tasmania for six weeks. But something about this trip was different for me. The constant pressure was affecting my health and my family, and I had been wondering for some time who I was doing all of this for. I had stopped taking photographs to connect with the world and, instead, always had the client in mind. I had lost this connection I built up, this escape to nature I relied on so heavily to re-focus. We returned from that trip and my team and I looked at pro's and cons and made the decision to close the gallery down. It was one of the toughest decisions I have had to process through in my life, but I knew it was the right one. So in June of that same year, we closed the doors of the gallery for the last time, and started the next chapter in our lives.
SO WHAT NEXT?
Unexpectedly, after the dust settled, I put the camera down and didn't want to pick it up again, I didn't open the case for near on six months. I had lost my purpose with it all, I needed a break, I needed to re-establish my purpose with the camera. And I wasn't sure how long that might take.
And that leads me to today. Things are different obviously, but I have persisted and have been periodically using the Fotoman for a couple of years again now. We haven't traveled a lot, but we are still selling prints through the website and I often chase the seasons behind the lens, creating new work.
In 2023, we have another big trip planned, for four months. It won't be as intense as the previous outings, but be sure the cameras will be in our four wheel drive, ready to capture new places and some old.
"Being outside connects me directly to nature, it puts me in tune with it. This is how I re-focus, get centered and gain perspective. I am constantly in awe of the natural world and that is why I photograph it."
BACK AT THE BEGINNING
I still remember when I first started taking landscape photographs, it was some twenty two years ago now. I started with a Pentax SLR, it had one zoom lens and was a bottom of the range 35mm film camera. I had these high hopes and dreams with that camera, but first I had to cut my teeth and learn enough of the craft of photography to get the types of results I watched professional photographers achieve. It took me years and many rolls of film. Things were different at this time, there wasn't the revolution of digital photography like now, and the learning seemed quite a bit slower. During this time though, I made a real point of understanding the process and understanding the importance of light and I will always remember that first really special photograph. When I looked at the processed film I thought "This is it, I am starting to get there. Look at the colour, the composition, it feels like I am back there". After that point, I became somewhat addicted to that feeling and that type of result, it felt like perfection. We traveled some of the country with that camera, with its cheap single zoom lens, and I couldn't have been happier. I would rise every morning well before dawn, we would scope locations and really center everything around photography. Little did I know that this pattern is what I would use for many years to come.
STEPPING IT UP A NOTCH
A number of years past and I was taking photographs in Newcastle when I saw another photographer with a large format film camera, taking photographs on the beach. Safe to say I was pretty interested and started researching straight away. I was itching for larger format, it provided much higher detail and reproduction qualities, it was the answer to my needs. I ended up purchasing a Fotoman 617, a dedicated panoramic film camera and the day I received it was one to remember. At this time, my goal was to take landscape photographs for a living, to turn professional. This was a big step in that direction. I applied the same rules to this camera as with my Pentax, and after getting the hang of things, the results really blew my mind. The film was huge and the quality was just incredible. I soon learned that from these film transparencies, I could print to very large sizes, in excess of three meters wide. This was the start of the journey and soon after we traveled on a number of month long trips to places such as Victoria and South Australia. We started building a healthy portfolio and soon after, I started selling prints, to clients directly and through a small website that I built. These felt like the glory days and the stepping stones to turning professional.
GOING PROFESSIONAL
I was working a 9 to 5 job and running my photography business on the side, at night and into the early mornings. I worked hard to build a name, I published a book, took part in exhibitions and really built something I was proud of. Things were going well and I did this for roughly five years. Then, in 2012, I quit my job and, at Easter, opened my own gallery in Bungendore, not far from my home. I realised a massive dream by doing this, it was the culmination of huge amounts of hard work with amazing support from a few people around me. In those days I had a lot to learn, but we had made it to this milestone. We set about building the business up, working days in the gallery and then undertaking framing production at night. Over the years we hired staff to assist, the business grew exponentially. We started to travel further and wider and were able to head off for three and four month long trips. At that time, the business was well established and allowed us to travel to take new photographs to feed the needs of us and our clients. This was a golden set of trips that we will always remember. We traveled west, and then north and then south on three separate trips, covering a good portion of Australia as a family of four. It was priceless and the photographs were just this amazing assortment of gold from this beautiful country. We followed each trip up with a large exhibition in the gallery to share the experience. During these times we were selling framed and unframed prints all around the world. We started working with all sorts of companies including magazines, calendar businesses, Telstra, ARB, Cooper Tires, Tourism for many states in Australia, glass printing businesses, energy companies and the list went on. We were also running photography tuition and tours to some of the places in Australia I hold close, taking groups of people and showing them my process, teaching them how to capture the moment.
Things were going so well but it was intense. I was never at home during this period, I was missing out on my young family and it all started to get a little out of control, we did this for nearly six and a half years. During this time, I stayed true to my film roots, capturing all of my photographs on the same Fotoman film camera I purchased years prior.
THE OTHER SIDE
In 2018, we left the gallery and business proceedings in the safe hands of our six staff and traveled to Tasmania for six weeks. But something about this trip was different for me. The constant pressure was affecting my health and my family, and I had been wondering for some time who I was doing all of this for. I had stopped taking photographs to connect with the world and, instead, always had the client in mind. I had lost this connection I built up, this escape to nature I relied on so heavily to re-focus. We returned from that trip and my team and I looked at pro's and cons and made the decision to close the gallery down. It was one of the toughest decisions I have had to process through in my life, but I knew it was the right one. So in June of that same year, we closed the doors of the gallery for the last time, and started the next chapter in our lives.
SO WHAT NEXT?
Unexpectedly, after the dust settled, I put the camera down and didn't want to pick it up again, I didn't open the case for near on six months. I had lost my purpose with it all, I needed a break, I needed to re-establish my purpose with the camera. And I wasn't sure how long that might take.
And that leads me to today. Things are different obviously, but I have persisted and have been periodically using the Fotoman for a couple of years again now. We haven't traveled a lot, but we are still selling prints through the website and I often chase the seasons behind the lens, creating new work.
In 2023, we have another big trip planned, for four months. It won't be as intense as the previous outings, but be sure the cameras will be in our four wheel drive, ready to capture new places and some old.
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