Photography has been important to me for as long as I can remember. I remember being captivated by two books when I was around 7 or 8 years old, called Khaki and Green and Australia & The Pacific War. Both books belonged to my grandfather and showed photographs of Australian soldiers and their lives in WW2 serving in the Pacific. I would look at them for hours, never glorifying what I saw, but always thinking it was remarkable that someone was able to take these images and show the atrocities so that future generations would not repeat those mistakes, or so I thought.
My mother was always the family documentarian, photographing all important events with her Nikon FG-20 which she purchased on her honeymoon. I always watched as she would organise people and take light meter readings. It was her that purchased my first camera for me, which came in an “Action Man” magazine, and was promoted as a “Spy Camera”. I always liked the idea, not of spying, but of taking a photograph without being noticed, as to not disturb the goings on in front of me. I then progressed to a Ricoh point and shoot at age 11 and used it to photograph my friends, pets, flowers, and people.
During high school, I didn’t have a particularly good time, and wasn’t a particularly good student. I failed most things, spent the majority of my time outside of the classroom for acting out and was frequently suspended.
A photography teacher at the school, after watching my work in photography class, asked if I would like to join the school’s photography program, which I said I would very much like to do. This was seen as a privilege and the other teachers at the school were unhappy with that decision as I had displayed no behaviour worth rewarding, however the photography teacher persisted with them and they allowed her to take me on in a probationary role, which I firmly believe changed the course of my learning and, without sounding too dramatic, life. I went from being constantly in trouble, to being constantly in the darkroom. I finally found something I was good at, and that I enjoyed doing that didn’t get me in to trouble.
My interests moved around as I grew, music being the big one, both playing and especially recording music, however I never felt as though I excelled in either of these things, and neither ever felt like they conveyed what was inside of me the way I could with photography.
I ended up touring as a stage technician and tour manager after studying Audio Production. I have never been a party person, so I would spend most of my mornings alone without a hangover, exploring a new place on tour. I don’t remember when or why, but I decided bringing a camera on tour would be a good idea to document what happened, and have been documenting everything I have done in life since.
I believe in photography, and believe in it’s democratic nature. There’s skill involved of course, but almost everyone who is blessed with sight is capable of photography, especially now with smart phones.
I believe, even still, in an image saturated world with shortened attention spans, a single photograph can capture and hold someone’s imagination in a way that no other form of expression is capable of doing. (This is by no means intended to take away from any other form of expression, and they capture imagination in other incredible ways, however I truly believe photography is unique in its ability to convey a message.)
I would describe myself as a naturally shy and introverted person, who has trouble looking people in the eye when they talk to me, and just about always feel awkward and out of place in almost all social situations. When I have a camera with me, something about those situations is immediately disarmed, and I feel more at ease with this tool that I can use nearly as a shield between me and the world. I find deep purpose in capturing the world as it happens, never changing anything or setting anything up, but allowing it to unfold as if I were not there, and as if had I not been standing where I was, everything would have happened exactly the same way. But I was there, and I found the need, and I don’t even know why, to capture that moment.
The incredible photographer Judith Joy Ross once said something that resonated with me so strongly, and so beautifully describes how I feel about photography in a way I could never do.
”…It’s not that I want to be their friend, it’s that I see their life and it’s amazing, and I want to put it in an image. It’s a short but deep connection. Then I go back to being alone but have one more lightning bug in a bottle. One more piece of evidence as to who we are.”
I think I will keep collecting evidence of who we are, and where we live for my whole life, and I think I will be greatly satisfied doing so.
