It's the End of the World, sorry year.

It feels fitting that my last post on my own blog was at the end of 2020. The year that it everything did feel like it could end at any moment and yet somehow I feel like we’re worse off but have run out fucks to be bothered with it. But please sign up to my Patreon, slide over to shop button or better yet lets shoot. Regardless, I do want to reboot my blog and maybe update my website at some point.

Partly so I have more control of my work and partly because I feel the current state of social media is just as fragile as the rest of the world. And what better way to do that then an extended Top 9 breakdown from 2022 (decided by likes on instgram) as healthy dose of post nihilistic irony. So hear you go, in no particular order.

This is photo of my partner, Jordyn in the Kitchen at 15 weeks pregnant with our now 15month old, Patti. So many of these simple little moments really helped ground what has happening, for me anyways. The waiting and not really knowing was just as weird as it was lovely, embracing that everything was about to change for us.

This is actually a shot from my first shoot of year with two lovely, creative people who became fast friends and collaborators. Featuring Sona and Heth/Heather who braved the pouring rain of a relentless La Nina season to stomp around the bush with me and open up the year. I rarely get to work with couples but was so honoured to have kicked off the year with these two. I highly recommend seeking out there work here and here or book in for a couples shoot.

From an ongoing collaborative project between Rene Danika and myself titled ‘Double Entendre’ where we explore themes of kink culture, religion and scenes of grief. Adorning our personas and stepping in and out of our creative practices to challenge each other’s work and juxtapose ideas. It’s a safe space we’ve created to push each other and ourselves without being entirely accountable for the work we make. More from these sessions is up on my Patreon.

From left to right; Pep, Patti and Jo under the fan last January on a particularly hot Summer’s day. Our rooms been re-arranged since but ultimately remains the same albeit with a few more of Patti’s toys scattered. No doubt this scene will recreate itself as the days heat up again and we hide from the midday sun together.

Halloween is not only my favourite time of year but I’ll take the firm stance that it’s the best time of year. Why you ask? Well allow me to retort not only is it anti-colonial and therefore a punk Holiday it’s also a day for many people to safely embrace themselves out in the world. Especially in a regional town, it’s the only time you can freely express yourself and walk down the street with out the fear (well reduced) of being accosted for it. Anyway this was this Halloween self portrait attempt, also available on Patreon.

One of those real, honest moments from somewhere in the middle of week long stint in hospital around eight weeks after Patti was born. It felt important to capture because without a couple of amazing, female doctors we never have really gotten the help needed and Jo would’ve pushed through under guise of ‘that’s natural’ and ‘you’re just new to this, you’ll get used to it’ when something serious was really going on. Shot on 35mm and devloped and scanned by Your Local Film Lab.

I miss this, here’s three of my favourite people in one photo. Three of my favourites to collaborate with, come up with dumb ideas with and to ultimately run a muck with. We’ve gotten busy, PeachKreamer moved to Melbourne and it’s been a minute since the ‘Four Hotties’ creative collective worked together but looking at comeback in early 2023!! Featuring left to right; Cook, Self, PeachKreamer aka Hanz and Blair. Full sets from these shoots on Patreon.

A somewhat contrived moment for a very practical reason, those early months of having Patti it felt tricky to leave the house unless we had too. So it was backyard haircuts, inflatable pools and walks to the corner store until we slowly got a rhythm going around how we leave. The hair’s gone now and the scissors have been replaced by clippers.

And here’s nine of nine for 2022, surprisingly it’s another self portrait. If I’ve learnt anything from the last couple of years it’s been that people connect with my self portrait work, why I’m not 100% but I’ve got some guesses. I wove in self portraiture for years before having the confidence to really share them let alone pose and work with other artists. It’s been a slow process and I’m still not entirely comfortable with it which is also part of the reason I keep working on them. Full self portrait sets are up on Patreon.

Here’s to 2023, with some exciting stuff already in the pipeline I wanted to say a quick thanks for everyone’s support over the years. None of this exists without everybody else and I’m always honoured to be trusted to work with you all.