Dudes have been getting unjustly pigeonholed with character-defining
labels since forever: Ride a motorbike? You’re a Bandido. You like wearing singlets? You can most certainly bench press your mother. Not into eating meat? You’re a bloody un-Australian tree-hugging hippy. Sure, sometimes dudes are dead-ringers for their society defined
stereotype but there are a bunch of multi-talented men who refuse to
follow convention and have more layers than a cake – hell, even an
onion!
Bespoke brew purveyor James Squire is dedicated to breaking down these stereotypes with Rogue Tales, a series of short films that showcase some of Australia’s most charming men who defy pigeonholing. Take Fritz Schwarz, for example. A dude who grew up fixing boats with his family, like many guys he one days wants to sail around the world. Not just skilled when it comes to hulls though, Fritz has built a hut in the woods and isn’t adverse to getting his lumberjack on, cutting down a tree or two to craft something unique. Fritz’s main forte however, is making wooden glasses frames. Stemming from layering wood when working on boats, Fritz decided to give the intricacy of framework a try and you know what, he’s really rather good at it.
We know Fritz isn’t the only dude out there with hidden talents. Taking
inspiration from James Squire’s Rogue Tales, Pedestrian went out onto
the streets in search of men who are more than just what meets the eye.
Armed with our own bearded man ex-surfboard shaper and
vagabond photographer Ted O’Donnell, we stepped outside our office ready
to capture these men in their natural habitats. On the hunt to uncover
Clark Kent types, we quickly realised we didn’t have to look far – turns
out men with roguish charm and a diverse – and unexpected – range of
talents are easy to come by. Take a look at the men we met in our own
backyard.
Meet Carl Dziunka. An electrician by trade, Carl put down the
multimeter four years ago to finally give his passion of photography a
red hot go. After spending 20 years working the night shift, six nights a
week (plus another 10 years being a general sparkie on top of that)
Carl decided to chuck in the overalls and head back to uni after seeing
some photos of a tram and thinking, “I can do better than that.” 99%
finished his degree, Carl’s worked on some weird stuff – including some
rockstar surrealism that caused his lectures to question whether or not
he was on drugs – but his favourite would have to be photographing his
idols at Bluesfest. Straight outta school Carl was told to get a real
job and do a trade but now, 30 years later, he’s sticking it to his
parents and doing what he loves.
Meet Nick O’Neill. We noticed him at Single Origin Roasters, making a whole swarm of people their morning pick-me-ups. While he was making our cappuccinos (none of that orange mocha frappuccino junk) we learned that he’s got quite the green thumb. Nick’s veggie patch is his own little oasis – it’s where he heads when the 7+ cups of coffee he drinks a day start to make him just a little bit jittery. You’ll find it filled with all sorts of common or garden variety vegetables and herbs – but you won’t find garlic in there. It’s just too damned hard to grow.
Meet Hamish McLachlan. A junior doctor at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Hamish studied biomedical science and pure math (as opposed to impure math?) before settling on the life of helping people. Whilst trying to impress a resident doctor a year ago, Hamish said he could swing dance (he couldn’t), she said ”take me dancing, bb” and he was all “uh oh”. After heading along to a class, Hamish was soon hooked (on the dancing, the girl, not so much). Now, when Hamish isn’t at the hospital, he’s driving around Melbourne in search of places to swing. He’s even heading overseas next year to dance and in the section marked Why on his annual leave form, Hamish wrote: I’m now a competitive swing dancer, biatch (or something slightly less gangsta).
Meet Mick Rennie. A man of many Previous Jobs on his resume – including comedian, tailor and over-the-phone tax accountant – Mick has now found his calling teaching children, specifically third graders. Always liking the idea of teaching but not liking the lack-of-pay-for-people-shaping-our-future-leaders, Mick found himself jobless a few years ago and figured he didn’t have anything to lose. Now rather than being surrounded by #fashun types and covered in lose threads, Mick hangs out with kids who say the darnedest things while covered in finger paint.
These brilliant shots were taken by Ted O’Donnell.
