I'm not your traditional wedding photographer.
More like a socially reformed photojournalist who after photographing news events for 19 years has had an epiphany about how important and precious our own intimate worlds are and the importance of having them documented.
When I started my photography career I told my Dad (as only a hot headed 20 year old can) that if I ever shot weddings he could sell my gear and force me to get a real job. Good thing Dad doesn't have the best memory because in 2013 I finally relented and photographed a wedding for a friend of mine. What I realised was that I was able to make images that were really important to the people I was photographing and that those images would become a cherished part of their lives. It was a real honour to record those interactions on such an emotional and historic day and needless to say I still LOVE it!
In the 90s when I made that brash statement to Dad wedding photography was super tacky and boring, very scripted and the cutting of the cake ranked in the top 10 of must get images. This wasn't for me (and honestly today I'm still not sure what that photo is all about). But through documenting my first wedding I discovered that weddings had all the elements that originally drew me to photography all those years ago. It was just the way it was being done that I didn't agree with.
When I decided I wanted to be a photographer I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer, travel the world and create images that would change peoples perspectives on it. But that didn't exactly pan out and instead I ended up shooting for newspapers, agencies and commercial clients in Canberra and then in Melbourne. Over the years I have been lucky enough to have covered huge news events, international sporting events and federal elections. I've closely documented 5 Prime Ministers, the comings and goings of Royal families, Presidents and other foreign leaders. I've created a portrait of Australia's Governor General for the Museum of Australian Democracy (in less than 3 min's but that's a story in itself) along with numerous advertisements for large companies, Government departments and magazines commissions. All work I really enjoy doing but lacks that real human emotion that can be present at weddings.
In 2014 I photographed my 3rd wedding, it was the wedding of my then wife's cousin Nadine. Her Dad, Glenn, was battling skin cancer and it was the most important thing in the world for Nadine to have her Dad walk her down the aisle, to see his daughter get married.
Glenn passed on almost a year to the day and this whole experience reinforced for me how important photographs are in our lives and that of our families. This is why I photograph weddings.