These were from some of my first spectacular sights as i traveled through QLD. Much of the south was beautiful but not extraordinary. Once I reached Airlie Beach and began to explore the neighboring Whitsunday Islands the landscapes began to take your breath away time and time again.
First Adventures in Queensland
Melbourne Streets
With lockdown more or less over I began to take to the streets regularly. On my bike and on foot exploring and just taking photos of everything. It felt so good just to be outside. To document the city I’d come to love. The city that I’d been cut off from. These photos only capture a small amount of it, but it brings me back whenever I need it to.
I really miss Melbz, and I hope that I get the opportunity to return to a thriving metropolis and not a shell of what it once was.
April as I remember
Nearing the end of the first lockdown. Winter as odd as can be. Freezing cold, especially at nite and in the apartments. Doin your best to maintain your sanity, biking with friends, social distancing, watching movie after endless movie. Those big long tv series you’ve wanted to see forever. drawing, writing, at home exercise routines, just wandering taking photos of anything and everything out there. Things didn’t feel so harsh they just seemed distant. Awkward. Weird. Always unsettled. These photos may not show it but they represent the random uncertainty of that time.
My Trapped Creative Self
As a photographer locked in one’s room with no one or nothing to photograph staying creative and sane was a bit of a challenge. I can’t say lockdown was an easy change in my life. I’m by my nature a person who needs social contact regularly, but with a complete cut-off except for my housemates who were also spending more time together left me with a big gap. I felt oddly more isolated than I felt i should.
Like many I began to turn the camera inward in an attempt to capture portraits that reflected the way i felt inside. I scoured Pinterest for inspiration and experimented with long exposures, multiple exposures, timers, framing. It’s really quite difficult to take self portraits that feel honest and not too contrived. Not sure if I really succeeded, but I think as we grow and practice anything we learn to develop it better. Perhaps in 10 years I’ll look back on these with disgust. Or maybe it’ll foster new inspiration and a sense of nostalgia.
Getaway
When our lockdown rules began to relax my good friend Kyrié invited me on a little outing to the victorian countryside. Her sister booked an ArBnB and a little group of us got out for some holiday time. It was a really lovely escape into nature and togetherness.
The Big Drift
As lockdown began to wrap up, socializing and getting out of the city began again. This was one of my first trips to a place I’d seen in photos near Melbz called “the big drift” It’s a large bank of sand dunes that is part of an incredible national park called Wilson’s Prom, which I still have yet to see.
I went with a fellow photographer that I met at the place I get my film developed at named FilmNeverDie. (A place that does incredible work) Sunset was pretty on point and I’d love to go visit here again sometime for a proper photoshoot.
A lifetime ago
Well with the corona virus in full swing into so many life changes I’ve gotten really behind on uploading content here. This will actually be the first of many catch up posts as I have internet and ability to post. This shoot was with a friend of mine Adele who at the time I had just met and planning to meet up for a days shooting down in the peninsula. The edge of the Melbourne bay. It’s a beautiful spot and our first time hanging out together.
The day has some added importance to it as it was my 31st birthday, the day I lost my job in Melbz, and also the beginning of lockdown for me. It was a bittersweet day and in a way a foreshadowing of what was to come.
Redwoods in Oz
I recently bought a van. It’s the first step towards doing what I came here to do in the first place. Namely travel this enormous continent and photograph the shit out of it. Mountains, forests, oceans, deserts, animals, friends. There’s more than I’ll ever really get to see and experience I reckon, but I have to try. This little day trip to a man made redwood forest with my friend and fellow photographer Zem was its maiden voyage. It was quite trippy to see these trees in perfectly manicured lines like this. Beautiful and unnatural.
Loosening Up
After 2 and a half months the lockdown restrictions here in Victoria are beginning to be lifted. It’s a welcome but slow return to normalcy here in Australia. The world is in a frenzy. Fear, frustration, anger, despair, loss. The media is having a hay day. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed every time you open up social media. It’s an endless stream of frenzied extremes.
In all of this the ability to see friends and family. To travel and go camping. To eat at local haunts has restored somewhat the fabric of what we all came to take for granted before this unprecedented world shattering affair. Who really knows what the future holds, but hopefully in the long run this destructive pause gives people the chance to progress a little.
Mornington
These photos are from my first day trip out to the Mornington Peninsula. It feels like a lifetime ago looking at these photos pre Covid-19. Life was so easy and carefree at the time.
Climate Rally
These were taken awhile back at the Melbourne CBD climate rally. It was pouring rain and I really didn’t have the right gear to stay dry or protect my camera. I managed to get both soaking wet but it felt good to be there and document.
Vintage with Zem
I recently got to shoot with another photographer here in Melbourne. She’s incredibly talented. I mostly model’d for her but I took a few shots of her as well. Her friend runs a vintage shop here in brunswick and we styled some of the clothes from there.
Her IG:
@cremedelazem
"The Gr e a t O ce a n Roa d"
My first real trip into Aussie nature. Took a trip out of Melbourne with my friend Jess to get away from the fire and smoke choking the city. Our route took us along the Great Ocean Rd and past it. Hoping to make this happen much more in the future once I’m more stable here. I have yet to find solid work and I’m concerned about paying bills. Someday though I hope to have a car again here and more adventures out on the open road.
Melbourne
In November I moved my whole life over to Australia. After working for a music festival known as Strawberry Fields I settled in the city of Melbourne. This place has captivated my heart. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a city. Lively, beautiful, endless nightlife, and people fluid in style, gender, and sexuality. I’ve been wandering the streets exploring the city and it’s gardens. There’s so much more to come from this place I’m sure, but here’s a taste.
Chinatown Mornings
Edit* I’m actually reuploading this shoot. Wanted to choose some different photos and reorder them.
I got to collaborate with one of my favorite artists again. In a rush me and Anna met up before sunrise in San Francisco and spit balled outfit combos and mood. It was freshly raining and our first few shots were in almost full darkness with drizzle coming down on us and the camera. We tried not to get too singing in the rain, but barefoot and in black and white we trumped around the early hours of the city. Think we made something
Mari Mari
Before I left for australia I managed to do a few shoots. This was one of them. Unfortunately it’s long past due but I got wrapped up with moving across the world. It was a rad time and different from my usual. It was a spectacular sunset and all around positive vibe.
Hardly Strictly
Right before I left the bay area I worked and helped out with the free bluegrass festival known as Hardly Strictly. I did a bit of drone shooting for the event, but kept a camera on me on the ground. It was short and sweet spent with a few friends seeing a few bands.
Strawberry Fields
I spent the last month here in Australia in a place called Tocumwal. A tiny town 4 hours north of Melbourne. On Nov 3rd I packed up everything I owned except for some clothes and camera gear. Put it all in storage and flew across the ocean on a work and holiday visa to move my life to Melbourne. For the first month however I called the bush my home and the crew of Strawberry Fields Music Festival my family. It was a pretty incredible experience I’ll never forget. I had no idea I’d meet such an incredible group of people and spend my first days in Australia in one of the most beautiful locations ever.
Anyways not to get too corny with it, but I love them all. Here’s a mix of film and digital photos I took. The landscapes and people, the music and art, just the magic of it all.
Denim Dreamy
My friend Marissa and I don’t go way back but we both have come in this city in our own ways. We share roots in the restaurant industry and have a mutual love for art, music, and beauty. Fun, fashion, and dreamy moments are something we both search out in earnest. I’m leaving town soon and she tapped me with the concept for this shoot. It’s something she’s wanted to do for awhile and I was stoked to create with her. We’ve both grown so much in the last 5 years. Happy to call her my friend and sad to leave her and many others behind.
old friends
My friend Christina has been a traveler as long as I’ve known her. She’s a unique human with all kinds of drive and spirit. Sometimes she’s around sometimes she’s gone and that is it’s own kind of constant. She’s moved back to the bay area for a short stint. She’s never any one place for too long it always seems. We caught up in the early morning before work and wandered in her temporary neighborhood looking for moments to capture. Here’s what we came up with.
