Hi and welcome to my blog where I discuss my life as a photographer, writer, father, and partner. In recent blogs I’ve talked a lot about my recent exploits in photography and creating content for the clients that I work with. I’ve been pretty busy, or at least I’m good at keeping myself busy. It reminds me of a joke we used to have when I worked in my corporate phase of life. We joked that if you walk briskly with a serious look on your face, while holding a sticky note in front of you, others would believe you were super busy and leave you alone. Note sure how successful it was at fooling people.

I rarely think about my days as a manager in a corporate environment. I mostly worked in call centre leadership and made my way up the ladder. I was a bit of a workaholic in those days – early starts and late finishes. Looking back I can see that it wasn’t worth all those extra hours or stress. After Isobel’s death, and as I get older, I have realised that life is far greater than just the job you do. And, it shouldn’t control or define you in such unhealthy ways. Now, as a creative, I’m far happier than I ever was as a manager. Sure the money isn’t anywhere near as good – but the work/life balance and sense of self fulfilment is massive. I also have far more time for my family – that’s priceless.

Speaking of my creative work, I’ve had a few things on the go this past week. If you read my last blog, you’ll have seen that I received a big case of Fujifilm X and GFX cameras and lenses. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with the Fujifilm X-T50 and XF 16-50mm F2.8-4.8 lens. It’s a brilliant camera however I’m not a fan of the zoom as I typically shoot with prime lenses. After time I’m sure I would get used to the zoom and there’s no denying the optical performance. Last week I pitched a new photography article topic to Shotkit.com. Inspired by the work of my mate Ian Tan, I wanted to write an article about Cosplay Photography as a growing genre.

They agreed and so I spent last weekend following Ian as he worked with his regular cosplay clients at Melbourne’s Comic Con. It was held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and we met there Saturday morning. While Ian worked his magic photographing the very talented cosplay artists, I worked behind the scenes to capture images of Ian doing what he does best. It was very humbling to watch one of my photography mentors at work. It was especially wonderful to see just how warm, approachable and professional he is with his clients. I also interviewed Ian to gain a greater understanding of his process and to determine just how big a geek he is! Turns out, he’s a massive geek. Stay tuned for the upcoming article including the full interview when it lands on Shotkit.com. I took the X-T50 and XF 16-50mm lens and used it to capture images for the cosplay article.

Aside from the Fujifilm X-T50 and kit lens, Fujifilm Australia also sent out the brand new, yet to be released, GFX100S II large format camera and the whopping GF 500mm F5.6 super telephoto lens. It’s a truly massive, and incredibly expensive combination. The weather here in Melbourne has been cold, wet and windy so the opportunity to get out and about with the GFX kit has been limited. I managed to head out once on a short walk to test out the lens. This weekend the weather is still cold but at least a little nicer so I will be taking the GFX and 500mm lens out to capture some bird life in the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are not far from where we live and I hope that The Doctor will join me for the outing.

The Doctor is an academic and has just finished up her work at one university and is taking a break before she starts at a new uni next week. While on her break, we’ve been spending more time together and going out when we can, taking daytime naps together, and doing stuff around the house. We had grand plans to paint some walls and hang some new shelves but the time has slipped away and we haven’t gotten to it yet. I’m glad she has taken the time to rest and recover from what was a crazy first semester for her. The cold and flu season is pretty bad here in Melbourne at the moment and most of us have, or have had, the sniffles and sore throats. That I can handle. As long as it’s not Covid again then all will be well.

The other update I have to share is that I’ve been invited to help host a podcast about all things photography. Justin from Lucky Straps has asked me to help reignite a podcast that he had running in the past. I’ll be hosting along Justin and his mate Jim – the two operated a wedding photography business together. We are in the early stages of planning and throwing around ideas but I’m really grateful and excited to be apart of it. I’m also working on a weekly guest list so that we can invited photographers onto our podcast to share their experiences. Justin has sent me a bunch of Rode gear to help me get set up for the podcast. I will be rearranging my desk over the weekend to fit the boom and mic.

I hope that you have a great weekend and that, regardless of the weather, you find the time to do something creative. G