This is one of my latest edits for my project exploring Suburbia. As an architectural photographer I’ve always been interested in the built environment in all its forms and locations and since the pandemic I’ve found great joy in the relative quite and calm of suburbia.
Read MoreImpermanent & Fleeting - Death of a Home
I often go for drives up random streets for a look around and for the inspiration it can so often provide for ideas and photographs. This time I was looking at the enormous mansions in the area when I decided to turn up this street to find the top of a partly demolished home. I had my phone with me so made some photos with it as the light wasn’t the best. It here was a high wooden fence that was still up being used as a fence for the demolition. I was able to stand on the side of the fence which enabled me to get my signature front on perspective I love so much. A few days later I went back with my camera in the hope it was still there and it was. I remember it was an overcast day but the weather was forecast for partly sunny by late afternoon. I wanted it to be a little sunny and for some cloud definition, but not too sunny that there would be harsh shadows. Turned out the lighting was perfect and I was able to fire off some photos of this once grand mansion. I found real estate photos of it when it was for sale and to say it was a grand Art Deco building inside and out was an understatement. It was massive and detailed with a front porch, tennis courts and beautiful interior details.
I’ve photographed several homes and other buildings in the process of demolition. It’s quite somber seeing them in a toppled state, yet at the same time it’s fascinating seeing ripped brickwork and timber all over the place. I always think about how people lived their lives in these walls and in a instant it’s gone forever.
Former Administration Building - Willow Court / Royal Derwent Hospital
This follows on from my previous post documenting the former Royal Derwent Hospital / Willow Court complex. It was the longest running mental institution in Australia operating for over 170 years. I documented the site after it’s closure and many of the buildings were in a vandalised and neglected state. This was the beautiful Art Deco Administration building which was badly vandalised and had an arson attack too. Thankfully it was recently purchased and renovated. My previous post showed the barracks building built in 1830, this beautiful Art Deco building designed some 100 years later. The site was a wonderful rich period of architectural designs that reflected mental healthcare practice of nearly 200 years
Willow Court // Royal Derwent Hospital - Documenting for Posterity
I have been remastering my photographs - going back through my archives and editing them to the standard I work to today. This photograph I made is of the former Willow Court / Royal Derwent Hospital complex in New Norfolk. It was home to the first purpose built mental asylum in Australia and pre dates Port Arthur. It operated for over 170 years when it closed down in the late 20th Century. The complex was vast and included a fascinating mix of periods of design which reflected how mental health care evolved over time.
Read MoreThe Great Australian Dream - What is Suburbia?
Australian suburbia is complex and varied. The Post War dream of the suburban home has played an important part in Australian identity but the stereotype of mowed lawns and hills hoist are anything but the norm as I experience as I take long walks exploring and documenting suburbia.
Read MoreIndustrial Giant
There is nothing I love more than documenting industrial architecture, it's one of my favourite aspects of documentary photography. The sheer size and scale is something to behold and witness and try and do justice to through the medium of photography. Here I set up my composition in near darkness, except for some slithers of sunlight entering through rusted and cracked windows creating lush shadow and light detail as well as depth to my final photograph.
These Walls of Memory - Southern Midlands Tasmania project
This is my latest edit from my Southern Midlands Tasmania project. The project explores the relationship between the built and rural landscape of the Southern Midlands and the region. The walls of these buildings and many like them are full of human memories - weddings, funerals, events, movie nights and sporting activities. They are powerful reminders of our built and social past. What will become of such places with once vibrant populations declining, its saddening to think that places could one day decay and no longer be with us.
Read MoreDreaming // Southern Midlands Tasmania project
The project explores the relationship between the built and rural landscape of the Southern Midlands and the region. I find the crisp and short winter days most conducive to capturing the mood of the landscape. I would wake up at dawn nearly every single morning for weeks in pursuit of beautiful light, fog and frosty conditions.
Read MoreHome is but a Memory - Southern Midlands Tasmania Project
This is my latest edit from my Southern Midlands Tasmania project. The project explores the relationship between the built and rural landscape of the Southern Midlands and the region. I get very reflective travelling around the vast open landscape of the midlands and think about the old abandoned houses and the lives of people who once called these places home. For me these abandoned homes are so important to document before they literally decay, crumble and are lost to memory. They provide a visual identity to a time when country areas flourished in Tasmania. View the project here
The Importance of Photography in Preservation
Whenever I am documenting a space or place its important for me to capture from as many perspectives as possible to provide a narrative of a place. This home in Launceston stood for so long, some might have said for too long. It's funny how when something stands abandoned that its as if the entire community knows about it and its often referred to as an eyesore. This home stood for many years decaying more as the years went by - I documented it over many years wondering every time I did so if this would be the last time. This space is now but a memory and its as if it never existed, but it was a home for people, memories were made here and lives lived... The photograph though lives on forever and its what drives me to document the everyday so that there is a quality record of our past for posterity.
2020 Mono Awards - Highly Commended & Commended Awards
I am thrilled to have received a highly commended and commended awards for two of my photographs in the 2020 Mono Awards. The Mono Awards is Australia and New Zealand’s largest competition dedicated to the art of monochrome and black-and-white photography run by Australian Photography magazine and Capture magazine.
Read MoreThe Best Camera is Your Imagination and Creativity
I provided myself with a challenge, to make photographs by having a walk in an everyday location. I often do these walks as they provide me with inspiration and new ways of seeing familiar places. It also emphasises my belief that it doesn't matter what camera you have with you, that good photos are made by seeing the ordinary and mundane and finding inspiration from them. Looking for the quirky, light and shadow as well as strong colours and shapes. All these photographs were captured within a few blocks of everyday suburbia as well as some spontaneous moments in the city on a 2 hour walk.
Blue Magnolia House, Hobart - MGArchitecture.Interiors
I was commissioned by MG.Architecture to create a portfolio of photographs capturing Blue Magnolia House. Located on the fringe of Hobart central business district, the design is an addition to the original heritage listed stone building built in the 1840s
Read MoreRaymond Priestly Building - Architecture Inspires Me
This is one of my favourite buildings in Melbourne, The Raymond Priestly Building at the University of Melbourne. It's a real inspiration to me on many levels - the details are amazing from the grand open space underneath the building held up by angled pillars and the use or orange brick - a lot of orange brick! For me buildings are my open air gallery, they inspire me and teach me so much about the built environment in which we live. I remember many years ago when I first visited Melbourne University I was totally inspired by the architecture, it really elevated my enthusiasm for architecture and design, especially those styles from the Modernist period of the 20th Century. The Raymond Priestly Building was designed by Architects Douglas Alexandra and Raymond Berg in association with Rae Featherstone in 1969. View my ongoing project documenting Melbourne 20th Century Modernism here
Raymond Priestly Building, designed by Architects Douglas Alexandra and Raymond Berg in association with Rae Featherstone, 1969
Architecture Photography showcased in The Annual - Capture Magazine
I am thrilled to have found out that my work has been showcased in the Nov/Dec 18 issue of Australia's top selling professional photography magazine, Capture. The Annual edition of Capture magazine is "a showcase of the year's best and strongest work from Australian and international professional, emerging, and student photographers.'' The current November/December issue is available now in newsagents and online
I enjoy the process of putting together a portfolio of my architectural photographs together. It allows me to reflect back on the year and create a set of 6 images that not only are strong individually, but work well as a set of images. These are the 6 photographs I submitted for the competition, click on each image to view larger size.
Architects Residence & Horse Stables
I was recently commissioned to capture photographs for Daniel Ash Architects of his residence and horse stables in country Victoria. Every project is unique and different, its what I love about my job - the diversity of projects and subjects I get to document. Here are a selection of photographs delivered to the client.
Directors Residence
Horse Stables & Dressage
Photographing the finer things in Life
I love nothing more than taking photographs of landscapes and nature, especially capturing photographs of the smaller things in life, the everyday moments we might pass normally - bring on some macro photograph. Going out and capturing details of plants and flowers not only provides me with wonderful alone time, the process of making photographs of natural and often ‘‘chaotic’’ scenes (stray leaves, branches, background distractions) is an enjoyable challenge and one which I feel I can apply to my photography in general, the process provides me with a sharper eye for details in all my photography. So here are some photographs captured over a few hours, spring is here! Click on photographs to view the entire image.
Read MoreABC Radio Interview - Tasmanian 20th Century Modernism Project
On Wednesday 8th May I was on the ABC radio program ‘‘Drive’’ talking with Helen Shield about my Tasmanian 20th Century Modernism project and why I think its a special part of Tasmanian history. You can hear the interview here, its 38 minutes and 40 seconds in.
A Journey through Suburbia
The entire journey through suburbia was for this scene I’d observed on a previous trip
For my creativity I love catching public transport and walking. It's a calming process (when it's not busy) and provides time to escape from reality and to imagine. Trains take routes that commute through the less desirable areas. Industrial precincts, sprawling residential developments, and the various deposits of rubbish, graffiti and weeds. These spaces are real, yet nobody goes there unless you work or live nearby. For everyone else they are part of a city that they pass by to get to their destination. Weeks before on a journey I had seen these scene out the window, I made a mental note of it and knew I had to go back.
These spaces hold a sense of fascination. There is a strange sense of beauty and rhythm out in the ‘’middle of nowhere’’ in suburbia. Walking for kilometres through suburbia I hardly see another soul and am intrigued with how all the houses look the same with their pitched roofs nearly touching the neighbours. It’s a metaphor, they are reaching out to one another in this silent empty suburbia, they just want a friend and to be told it's all alright.
These spaces hold a sense of fascination. There is a strange sense of beauty and rhythm out in the ‘’middle of nowhere’’ in suburbia.
Getting off the train I'm greeted by a scene out of a painting, perhaps a Geoffrey Smart vibe, a lone winding concrete footpath with security cameras pointing at me, assuming they are there for safety yet they only add to the feeling of being watched and isolation - I am just a number, I don’t matter. The only signs of life are people washing their cars and a cat eating noodles thrown onto on the verge. I can hear people and children talking and playing, but it's only sounds that emit from dark reflective windows and locked fly screen doors. You can only hear sounds of human beings. I’m being watched from the inside. Such moments lead to my inspiration and creation of my photographs. These physical and emotional experiences provide location context to what I'm photographing.
I see tall fences looming like fortified walls shielding suburbia from incessant freeway noise. The fences cut harshly into the landscape dividing Utopian suburbia from the outside world. Strewn on the outer wall is mangled metal, rubbish which includes washing machines, couches and domestic rubbish. International planes constantly fly overhead, reminding me of the temporary fleeting moments most people see of suburbia. After 5km walking and feeling like I might have got lost but I finally make it to my destination - a concrete wall. Feeling like I'm in the middle of nowhere, isolated and the dead yellow summer grass beneath my feet (I've been told it's yellow because it's sprayed to minimise mowing). These places might not be where anyone goes unless you have to. But for me they are oddly motivating, places to reflect and be creative.
This photograph forms part of my ongoing project titled Utopia. You can view Utopia here
10 Murray Street - Good Morning
A landmark block of 20th Century Modernism - Hobart, Tasmania
As I post this image it’s 7.30am and I’ve just made this photograph of 10 Murray Street Government Offices basking in golden light just before the world wakes and the commuter rush begins. The silence the solitude and the beauty of being up early to witness these beautiful moments and capture a lost fleeting moment in time forever is what makes me get up at 5am in the dark - the silence, solitude and beauty of the light. The 10 Murray Street project has been an immense undertaking logistically, emotionally and photographically. I have amassed a large library of photographs I have still to process, documenting the exterior and interior spaces for over the past decade. Join me on my journey of a Modernist landmark. View the project gallery here