Just 6 months after attending Do Lectures USA and less than a year since my first Do Lectures Australia, I think it’s safe to say that I’m totally hooked on what a fellow Do’er simply referred to as “TEDx, but bush”. A 7 hour drive from Melbourne, Do Lectures Australia once again took place in the beautiful Victorian high country in Glen Valley at Payne’s Hut. It’s a land without phone reception or internet access, and a sky with seemingly more stars than negative space. I couldn’t have been happier being back in the thick it all to photograph for another 6 days of incredible people, great conversation and a good community. This is what I saw.
This year brought a number of exiting new experiences, both professionally and personally. I walked 100km, photographed under the stars of the Californian desert and surpassed my record for the most number of shoots in a year! It felt so fast though, and I’m still struggling to understand how I managed to pack it all into a year. Here is my top 14 from 2014 in photographs:
Graze – There were a few new additions to my playful food photography series, including some hot potatoes.
Shotkit – I was asked to photograph and talk about some of the gear I use, organised neatly, so I put together a little timelapse video of the process:
360 – Melbourne Hip Hop artist 360, was the subject of an “Ink not Mink” campaign which I photographed for PETA.
Do Lectures Australia and USA – I photographed Do Lectures Australia and also made my way to Do Lectures USA where I met some great minds. I came back inspired and ready to make some big changes.
Oxfam Trailwalker – A painful and exhausting experience, but a truly rewarding and memorable one was training with a group of friends to walk 100km in 34 hours, to raise money for Oxfam Australia, and we did it! Registrations for Trailwalker 2015 is closing soon, get in quick!
Scott Spark – Scott Spark released his new album, muscle memory, which I had photographed the album artwork and promotional photography for. I had taken some playful photographs on a Nishika 3D lenticular film camera during our shoot, which I scanned and turned into this gif:
Peter Berner – I worked with Australian comedian and TV personality Peter Berner, on some new promotional imagery and finally got to use the yellow backdrop that I had been wanting to use for months!
…And I got in! I photographed this night portrait of William Wilkinson, late at night in the desert at Phoot Camp.
PDN Cover – One of the most incredible things that came out of the Phoot Camp experience was this collaboration with Nate Bolt, who flew his drone across the desert as we captured it’s light painting. We ended up getting the cover of the January 2015 issue of PDN!
Travel things – I tacked on a few extra things to my US trip, which included attending Do Lectures USA, a Creative Mornings summit in New York, catching up with colleagues, friends and family and going to Sleep No More (if you’re ever in NYC, it’s a MUST). This is a summary of the experience in one photo:
Squam Lake – Between events, I spent a day out at Squam Lake, New Hampshire. Exactly what I needed to see me off on the last leg of my journey to New York. I also put a photo essay up on Exposure, which you can see here.
Handy Series – Although still in it’s early days, what started out as a series on gang signs, soon turned into a series on creatives and the work they do with their hands. I’ve got a bunch of people lined up to take part in this project so stay tuned for an update!
And for a special bonus 15th, I wanted to share my favourite gif with a bunch of new friends from different Creative Mornings chapters, getting down and attempting to moonwalk at the Summit After party (photo by smilebooth):
Have a great holiday season everyone and all the best for 2015!!!
7 hours from Melbourne in Victoria’s remote North East is where you’ll find Payne’s Hut, a beautiful getaway for city dwellers and tourists all year round. Over the long weekend, Payne’s Hut hosted Australia’s first ever Do Lectures, a one of a kind gathering of like minded individuals, ranging from passionate change makers to social entrepreneurs. With just 70 attendees and 20 speakers spending 3 days together, camping and attending talks and workshops, it’s well described as “a microcosmic community that eat, sing, meet, learn but most importantly, get inspired.” I couldn’t help but draw parallels between Do Lecturers and the “Edgeware” community I was involved with in Brisbane, who even held a conference called “DO Well”. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the DO community and be inspired by some brilliant minds. This is what I saw:
And of course, you can’t have a Do Lectures without using every last bit of energy sending everyone off with full body waves:
Wow. I’m amazed at how fast this year has gone by. I moved to the beautiful, vibrant and creative city of Melbourne, made new friends, watched a billion comedy shows and worked with some incredible new clients. Here is my annual wrap up of my top 13 from 2013.
Michael Doneman – One of my favourite portraits of the year was of Michael, a friend and former business coach.
Bay of Fires – I worked on some editorial photography for a story on “Walks of Australia” One of the most beautiful walks we did was the Bay of Fires, in Tasmania. It was stunning.
Banana shoot – My new business cards will have “Fruit Balancing Expert” written on them. I worked on a few playful food photography images for a personal project.
Chrissie Swan – I worked with the beautiful Chrissie Swan for some imagery to promote her new book. I also worked with her on a different shoot, but more on that in the new year! 🙂
A New Von Vintage Print – A few old negatives were unboxed, scanned and I finally released another print for my film photography project, Von Vintage.
Semi Permanent Melbourne – Semi Permanent in Melbourne had me on my feet for two crazy big days, photographing the event and also shooting video. I saw some great speakers and came away totally inspired. This is a portrait of fellow photographer and speaker, Magdalena Wosinska.
Dare Iced coffee – On a caffeine high, I photographed some product and lifestyle shots of Dare Iced Coffee’s new cold pressed coffee range at St. Ali in South Melbourne.
Dicko – I had the honour of photographing Dicko, in creating a set of imagery to be used for Watercooler Talent and Media, a company which he co-founded.
iPhone Photography Awards – In the cold of winter, I received a few honourable mentions for some of my Instagram photos submitted into the iPhone Photography Awards. This was taken during a Melbourne heatwave, and had me wishing all year for that warm weather to come back around again. Still waiting, Melbourne!
Otway Harvest – Travelling with a group of international journalists, I worked on capturing the food culture of Melbourne and surrounds. The highlight was shooting at Otway Harvest, the beautiful ocean side truffle farm of chef, Steve Earl. I’ll put together photo essay of this trip once the story is published in the new year!
The White House – I photographed a fewbusinesses at their amazing shared work space known as “The White House” for Est Magazine, home to extraordinary ethical businesses like Small Giants, Dumbo Feather and Tom Organic. It was such a beautiful space to shoot in, I want to live there.
Earlier in the year I photographed Field Trip Melbourne, a creative conference primarily for artists, illustrators and designers, brought to fruition as a collaboration between Australian Infront and The Jacky Winter Group. What I loved about it was the strong focus on practical demonstrations, rather than just slideshows and presentations that you usually get at most creative conferences. It was one of those days that left me totally inspired and had me constantly distracted by what the speakers were actually creating on stage. We heard from the ever inspiring Jacky Winter artists: Ben Sanders, Eamon Donnelly, Luke Lucas, Madeleine Stamer, Mimi Leung and Oslo Davis. With the next Field Trip event coming up at the end of the month in Sydney, I thought I’d share a few of my favourite photographs from Melbourne.
Field Trippers got some nice goodies from the sponsors. I love my Mail Chimp shirt. It’s so soft.
A long time inspiration of mine, Eamon Donnelly was one of the speakers. I shot this candid portrait of him during an interview with Saxall. It’s probably my favourite from the day:
I met Jeffrey Phillips, at the after party at Strange Wolf. He had drawn a bunch of people he came across that day, including one of the speakers, Madeleine Stamer:
If you’re in Sydney, you can check out the line up and get tickets to the next event on 30th August, here!
