A little about myself / how did I get to this point

Being a photographer is no easy business. It takes a true artist to capture the emotion of the moment and take pictures that will make people smile for years to come. Oh, and of course it also requires an amazing camera and a lot of other expensive gear.

My interest in photography began while serving in the Australian army back in the late 80's. The exercises we participated in often had the most incredible backdrops and due to the nature of our profession, also amazing drama. I was never far from my camera and over those early years took some amazing shots, however with a cost of approx $14 per roll of 36 negatives, my passion was soon lost.

Mid 1990's and along comes a computer program called Photoshop. Being a small business owner of a roof restoration company, I thought it a good idea to learn this handy graphic designers tool for logo and other graphic applications. It was about then that I purchased my first digital camera being a small Ricoh RDC-2 in 1996, thus realizing my new found photoshop skills as extremely helpful during the processing stage of developing digital photos and re-sparking my love for photography.

1998 and a work opportunity inspires me to sell up and move to the Gold Coast. Being around 30 years old and up for new challengers I didn't hesitate, however things don't always go to plan. I gave my under-paid and over-worked job plenty of time to turn it self around but to no avail. 

September 11, 2001, some lunatics fly some plans into New York's World Trade Center and The Pentagon. I remember watching it all unfold at about 11pm. Reading the News Paper the next day I stumbled across a classified advert from a company called Central Casting requesting interested ex military guys for a 2 week shoot on location at Bribie Island. Coincidentally it was an American war movie called The Great Raid. I believe in fate so I couldn't pass up this opportunity. Best thing I ever did. Lucky for me I was chosen as a featured extra and military adviser to a select group of very well known actors. Working on that movie for a very intensive 11 months, seeing a Hollywood film crew in action setting up shots throughout the days and nights during those months and picking the brains of Pier the set photographer (who took me under his wing), was easily the best training and introduction into serious photography a person could ever ask for. Central Casting looked after me for the following 12 months with rolls in the movies Peter Pan, Gettin Square and a couple of TV shows all of which I assisted the set photographers on. What a great opportunity. Christmas 2003, the AUD is strong against the USD meaning no new movie shoots in Australia. It was great while it lasted but you gotta know when its time to move on.

It's mid 2000's and although I'd like nothing more than to drop everything and put all my time, energy and resources into a photography career, experience tells me that the smart way to approach this is to operate a small successful business that's time generous allowing me to build on my real passion of photography. The following 12 years of photography have been a joy of not only learning the art but also implementing the skills of this wonderful passion.

Present day