Hi, and welcome back to my blog, where I unpack my life as a photographer and writer.  I apologize to my regular readers for the gap in blog entries. I’ve been a little busy and a little demotivated in recent weeks. We’ll get to that in a minute. It’s still the middle of winter here in Melbourne, Australia. Average daily temperatures hover around 12-15 degrees Celsius. We’ve also had a lot more rain in the past week than most of July. Nights are very cold, and it gets dark early. The 2024 Paris Olympics have just begun and I have absolutely zero interest in any of it. Sports are not my thing. 

From a work front, things have been steady and busy. I love what I do for a living, as it gives me a lot of creative freedom and autonomy. I was chatting to a friend the other day who is also a photographer who works in concert photography and reviews. I love his work, and I’m actually in the process of interviewing him for a blog on Shotkit about his work. Anyway, we were both lamenting over past careers where we worked office hours and had to report to other people. Now, we work for ourselves and pursue our creative influences to document, both in words and images, the things that we love. We both admitted to enjoying flexible working hours and having the ability to achieve a sustainable and healthy work-life balance. Don’t get me wrong, I miss the money that came with a corporate job. But I’m far happier now than I ever was working for someone else. 

With regards to Shotkit, I’m still writing regular articles for the site about everything and anything to do with Fujifilm. I recently researched and wrote an article about the history of Fujifilm. You can check that out here. It was a lot of fun and really interesting to research a company I have so much respect for. Understanding the brand’s history and groundbreaking ingenuity has enhanced my respect and given me greater insight into its products and services. I’m currently waiting for some products to arrive from Fujifilm Australia so that I can play, test, and review them. I’m also making enquiries into reviewing some street style cameras from another brand. I’ll fill you in more when it goes ahead. 

I’ve been very busy with Lucky Camera Straps. I’ve been writing a couple of articles a month for the team to add to their website and newsletter. In the past months, I also spent time contacting a bunch of Victorian camera clubs to offer a collaboration with Lucky Straps. I really enjoy the process and admin side of coordinating such a collaboration. I’ve been given the go-ahead to branch out and work with camera clubs across Australia to make a similar offer. I’ve just made a start with NSW clubs. I’ve noticed that a lot of clubs have closed in recent years due to the impacts of Covid and dwindling membership. It’s sad to see, and it inspires me to work harder to reach out to the clubs that still exist and offer some level of support. Community is a really important part of the Lucky Camera Straps brand. And I’ve talked about the importance of a photography community for me in the past. 

Another big project I’ve been working on is a new podcast. The Camera Life podcast consists of myself, Jim and Justin from Lucky Camera Straps. The podcast airs weekly on Thursday at 9am AEST (Australia). We live stream the show to The Camera Life and Lucky Straps YouTube channels. My role is to organise weekly guests, conversation topics, and current photography-related news. It’s a lot of fun and the podcast runs for up to two hours – that time flies by. I love talking shop with Jim and Justin and whatever guests we have on board. I also feel really proud to be part of the team and support Lucky Camera Straps’ building upon their solid brand. I’ve linked the most recent podcasts here in case anyone is interested. They are long-form; however, we are looking at moving to an audio podcast platform before too long.

I’m heading to Bendigo in regional Victoria at the end of this week to catch up with Justin, Jim, and Yelana from Lucky Straps. It will be great to catch up with Justin and meet Jim and Yelana for the first time. We have a few plans for the two days, including visiting the Lucky Camera Straps HQ so I can capture some behind-the-scenes images of Lucky Straps for upcoming blogs. We also hope to head out for a photo walk at some stage. Other than that, we have a team dinner planned. I’m training over to Bendigo from Southern Cross Station in Melbourne and will be staying the night before catching the train back the next day. I just checked the weather forecast for Bendigo, and it’s currently 1 degree Celsius at 7am. Must pack extra thick socks. 

As for my own photography, I’ve still been demotivated. The Melbourne weather hasn’t helped at all. I wrote about the impact of seasonal conditions on motivation in a recent blog. However, I seem to be making peace with the notion that now is not the time for me to be pushing my own photographic pursuits. I hope to get lots of shots in the upcoming trip to Bendigo – some for work and some for the fun experience of being out with mates. Aside from that, I continue to take photos for my clients’ blogs and articles. For now, that’s enough photography for me as I often spend one to two days a week preparing, taking, and editing photos. If I’m out and about and I have my camera in my bag, I might grab a shot or two. But often, I see the shot and choose to walk away as I just don’t have the drive. That’s fine. It will change in time. Happy shooting.