When did you first fall in love with photography? It’s a bit of a boring story, so bear with me. I first picked up a camera nearing the end of 2010. I was an apprentice mechanic, and doing an absolutely terrible job at it. At that point ANYTHING to distract me from the horrors of the apprenticeship would have been nice. My friend was selling an old camera he had and I jumped on it. I haven’t been in love with photography since forever, and my grandad didn’t give me his camera he took to the war when I was growing up. I hadn’t even thought about photography before that, but I’m glad I bought it as it has turned into a full-time passion for me and something I live, sleep, eat and breathe every day.
Talk us through the most magical photo you’ve ever taken. Hmm, tough question. Every time I go to the beach I end up digging the heck out of the shots I get. I don’t know if I’m bias or just incredibly lucky, but I am of the belief that the sunsets we get around here are better than anywhere else in the world. Mind you, I haven’t been to that many places in the world, but I stand by my belief. So back to the question. When I’m at the beach with my camera, it always ends up being pretty magical. Here is one I randomly chose.
Why do you shoot? In the milliseconds it takes for your camera to take a photo, rays of light have come millions of kilometres down from the sun. Those rays of light then bounce off the surface of the subject you are shooting, and into your camera. Those rays of light then keep moving into oblivion, gone forever. What you have just captured is a 100% one of a kind. It will never, ever be able to be replicated exactly the same again. For me, that is such a rad feeling and why I continue to take photos everyday.
What equipment are you using? I am currently rocking two canon bodies. A 5Dc and a 5Dmk ii. As far as lenses go I have a 135L, 35L, 70-200L, and a 50 f/1.4
Describe the first photo you took. If I remember correctly, I think it was raining when I bought my camera, but I really wanted to take some photos outside. So it was a photo taken of my car parked on the street from inside my garage. I think I went and applied some super radical Photoshop filters to it afterwards and uploaded it to my ‘photography’ album on Facebook. It’s fair to say I’ve come a little way since then.
Describe the last photo you took. If we take into account iPhone photos. I believe the last photo I took was of myself wearing my broken glasses that had been run over by a car the night before. That’s a whole other story in itself though. For the purposes of this, the last photo I took with my camera was a portrait of myself to put on the front of my University portfolio. Everyone had super serious photos, so I went with a bit of a different approach.
What photographers do you admire? Matt O’Brien who lives just around the corner from me is an awesome surf photographer and a pretty big inspiration for me.
What’s the most useful photography advice someone has ever given you? Not necessarily about photography, but great advice in general. A tutor at university once told me the key to success is to simply turn up. I like to apply that to everything in life. If it’s taking photos, or trying to find a job simply turning up will get you a whole lot further than sitting on the couch at home wishing you could be out taking awesome photos, or have an awesome job.
What is your visual definition of summer? Sunsets, sand, waves, cold drinks, pretty girls, and of course a camera in my hand.
The 2012 Photo of the Year and respective category winners will be announced in December, after which The Lipton Ice Tea Virgin Cocktails Summer Exhibition Tour will kick off in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
