I had the honour of photographing Dicko recently, in creating a set of imagery to be used for Watercooler Talent and Media, a company which he co-founded. Although Dicko is probably most well know as the “bastard judge” on Australian Idol, I could not have worked with a more friendly and easy going person. To top it off he later told me I shot some of the best portraits he’s ever had. This is one of my favourite photographs from the day.

I’ve shared a few of these images before, but with the new site design and a proper project section in the works I’ve finally got a place to put them together as a set! These are a few portraits from a fun personal project I’ve been working on and am hoping to start up again here in Melbourne. The series looks at the comically tragic stories behind a number of teachers from around the world. See the full series (to date) and their back stories, here (or click through on their photo).

I teamed up with the good people at Underbrand to create the photographic content and food photography for Sofitel Brisbane’s magazine, Enchanté. Here are a few of my favourite photographs and tear sheets.

This is Paul, a friend and photographer based out of Chicago. He’s a photographer that never fails to inspire me with his knack for creating stunning photographs with a certain beautiful simplicity that will have you kicking yourself, wondering why you never thought of it first. I photographed Paul as a part of my photographic series called, “In Their Shoes“, which looks at these honest moments of distraction that get captured before, during and after the “main” photographs have been taken.

I’ve been a big fan of Creative Mornings talks since seeing the inspiring Laura Miner, founder of Phoot Camp, speak on the topic of “Why We Work“.  Last week I was asked to capture the Melbourne event, featuring Beci Orpin, who spoke about happiness and running her own race. Here are a few of my favourite moments from the event. You can check out the full set on flickr, here.

I just got back from a short trip to Melbourne and surrounds where I’ll soon be making my new home. I’ve put together a few images from the trip, in chronological order. Taken on both my DSLR and iPhone, this is what I saw.

It’s been such an incredible year, with fun new projects, exhibitions, new friends, travel and amazing new clients. I’ve put together a wrap up of my top 12 from 2012. And of course, I had to post it on 12.12.12 at 12:12.

Matt Tucker – I helped Matt Tucker document his beautiful tattoos by renowned Japanese tattoo artist, Horiyasu.  The final product was an incredible large framed print on metallic paper.  It was truly rewarding to work on this passion project with Matt and produce something that he truly loved.

New Zealand - My birthday weekend was spent in Auckland, New Zealand, taking photos and playing tourist in such an incredibly photogenic country.

Phoot Camp 2012 – I caught up with old friends and made many new ones at Phoot Camp 2012  followed by an exhibition in New York. It was truly one of the highlights of the year, with a trip to San Francisco, Chicago and Boston thrown in!  The trip also inspired a new personal series of mine, titled “In their shoes“.

Darren Lockyer – Rugby league legend Darren Lockyer sat for his portrait for an editorial piece I photographed for WISH magazine.  It was inspiring to work with someone so accomplished, yet so humble and authentic in character.

Finders Keepers Melbourne – I’ve started to focus on working out of both Melbourne and Brisbane. The Finders Keepers Markets, which I also shot in Melbourne a few years back was impressive in scale, as was the beautiful light that hit everything inside the venue.

IPPA award – My obsession with capturing moments on my phone actually paid off  (well, slightly), with two of my Instagram photos getting two honourable mentions in the 6th annual iPhone photography awards.

Mark Visser – Sand filled my camera gear as I spent a morning on the beach photographing big wave surfer Mark Visser, most notably known for his death cheating big wave ride at night, which earned him the nick name “Night Rider”.

Von Vintage – I took my Von Vintage work on a road trip to exhibit at analogue gallery, Strip of a Lifetime, in Newcastle. This is a video from opening night.

Go Health – Billboards around the city started to fill up with my work with Go Health Gyms and Big Fish. Seeing work appearing larger than life always invokes an odd, giddy feeling of excitement in me that never gets old.

Foot Locker – I worked on a few Footlocker campaigns in Melbourne and Brisbane with the Famous Group.  I ws thrilled to see this Summer campaign finally hit the stores and I can’t wait to see the results from the other shoots.

Sofitel - I worked with Sofitel and Underbrand to create imagery for their new magazine, Enchanté.  I shot some delicious looking food photography and got some great city views.

Seven with Another – I teamed up with talented “Maker”, Adam Head, to collaborate on a project for art exhibition, Seven With Another. We created a large spinning cube that would fill the room with light when triggered by the flash of a camera. I’m working on a side project with this piece, which I’ll share soon.

Stay safe and have a great holiday season everyone! I’m looking forward to an even better 2013!

I had the honor of photographing Mark Visser for an editorial piece for United Airlines’ inflight magazine, Hemispheres.  Mark is an Australian big wave Surfer, most notably known for successfully riding at the infamous ‘Jaws’ break in Maui… at night.  It was truly inspiring to meet and work with such a highly motivated athlete.  The assignment was to capture a range of images documenting Mark’s intense training regimen, which I could barely keep up with, with a camera! This was then followed by a range of portraits both in the water and on the beach to cover a good range of options to use in the editorial. Here are a few of the images from the shoot as well as some of the magazine itself.

Here is some footage of Mark Visser riding a big wave at night:

Many thanks to Cody Austin, who generously sent me copies of the mag, all the way from Texas. Thanks so much!

I’ve been photographing the Finders Keepers Markets since they first came to Brisbane in 2009. It’s always fun to spend a day walking around checking out what people have been creating and saying “hi” to a lot of familiar faces. Earlier this month, I flew down to Melbourne to photograph their Spring markets in the very impressive Royal Exhibition Building.  Here are a few of my favourite shots from the weekend.

You can also see some of my photos from the first Melbourne Finders Keepers. Or see the full set of images on the Finders Keepers Facebook page.

It’s been a busy, but fun few months with a lot of travel, exhibiting and exciting new jobs. One of my recent highlights was working with The Famous Group to shoot this summer campaign for Foot Locker. The shots are now up in-store promoting Foot Locker’s latest summer collection.

Art Direction and Post Production: The Famous Group
Hair and Makeup: Rokstar

It was great to see the posters up in-store the other day