2013 in review

i'm a terribly disorganised person when it comes to keeping a blog. life gets in the way a lot of the time and, with a heavy load at Uni as well as regular work, it's hard to keep up to date with things. sometimes, because of it, i start to feel as though i'm in a rut because i can't remember the things that i overcame and achieved throughout the year. for this reason, i think it's important to stop every now and then and retrace your steps. look at what you did, who you met and how that shaped you.

2013 started for me with many collaborations with internationally based designers. in the first shoot of the year for paris boyfriend, i worked with my friend nicole ainsworth and made friends with hmua jade lee and stylist emma amies, who since became my regular collaborators and people that i became close to even outside of 'work'. for me, this was the point when i wanted to push myself as a photographer.

on one of what was arguably the hottest days of the year, i shot some work for dbleudazzled and ebony rose. myself, sophie crenigan, emma amies and jade lee came together again to work on this just days after our previous shoot. hiding in the comfort of the indoors, we explored the beauty of wealth, luxury and romanticism. for me, it was my first time shooting indoors which opened me to trying new locations and, of course, is making different weather conditions work for me.

this year also marked my first ever collaboration with black milk clothing, shot on a drizzling day that i don't think i will ever forget. we made things work by exploring our surroundings and dashing out in between the rain. working with tara lawrence as mua and spencer blake as stylist (assisted by laura cave) and hair done by the amazing royals ahir & beauty, this shoot was absolutely adored online and even led to my first online feature.

it was only the beginning of february but it felt like i was developing and moving so quickly.

to keep myself inspired, i came to work with emma amies again for a valentines themes photoshoot. it was here that i met my friend martha mok (from MMMA) and model megan emmett who traveled so far to shoot together!

it was a beautiful day and i was assisted by my god sister, sally, who had wanted to see behind the scenes of my work for ages so, if you're reading this, i hope you learnt something and had fun, sally, because having you there made a world of a difference.

soon after came my work with jv selections, based in surry hills. working again with my friend lisa ma who was one of the first models i had ever worked with, martha mok and caitin orlena were also on the team. once again, it was a ridiculously hot day trudging through the city, but brave lisa here put up a good fight, even dressed in a knitted, long sleeve dress.

working with my friend nicole ainsworth and caitlin orlena again for Go East Art's lookbook shoot, i spent a good amount of time location scouting for this and ensuring that we had the go ahead from the game arcade owners for our project.

with my first semester at UTS starting, the number of shoots that i took part in became smaller. it was an intensive course and a big change for myself but i still wanted to be behind the camera more often.

i was honored with the opportunity to work with august storm, a musician that i knew from my years at music college. with a photo shoot that, thankfully, fell together on the day, we spent a day laughing and exploring, as well as catching up.

this year, i also had the opportunity to shoot for onor fashion, meeting my friend daniella serret and spending the day on the beach, in the water and laughing at the splashing of the waves on our face. 

one of the most beautiful garments i had the opportunity to shoot this year is a beautiful vera wang bridal gown, provided by dweddingstation and worn by the lovely kirby delaney. when i worked with kirby, she was just getting back into modelling and we spent a long day together. we almost drowned in beautiful gowns and remarkable butterfly head pieces.

shooting again for blackmilk clothing, i worked with megan emmett again who showed me the beautiful places that she had passed every day on her way home back when she was living in sydney. it was another rainy day and we feared that we wouldn't even be able to complete the shoot. along with that, our stylist had some trouble picking up garments as well.

it was a difficult day but we pushed forward, our passion for photography propelling us forward.

moving on to june, i did my first official studio shoot for lovita hilman. with time, experimentation and lots of music, our team created some beautiful images that lead to another online feature on undercoat.

our editorial 'haunting' featured dear bec talty, a beautiful girl who had approached me about doing a test shoot. what resulted was some truly haunting images that told a story of a young girl's descent into darkness and, most notably, my first image to have been featured on vogue.it!

the shoot that nearly fell apart because we were unable to find the appropriate model, i learnt to toughen up and push myself. we found bethany seddon here who was lovely enough to come on board even on super late notice. inspired by storybook wonders and peterpan, this editorial was featured in lost freedom magazine. 

braving the wind and the ridiculous cold on the day, our team, which consisted of emma amies (stylist) and hmua hayley dutton, worked hard to bring magic to my lens.

realizing that i hadn't worked with many male models before, i was so happy to have been approached by josh here to do a test shoot. in fact, we got along so well that he's now one of my top recommended models. having a fun, albeit short, day roaming the streets, we found mutual interests in music which has led to so, so, so many entertaining conversations since.

after one of my shoots were cancelled because of the rain, and the fact that sand is no fun after that, my friend lisa here came to me for an impromptu test shoot which made me want to work spontaneously more often because things came together so amazingly well.

skylar mae was a girl who i'd been in contact with in my first year of shooting but never got the chance to. taking it now, i teamed with up el papas (ellie in the sky) and leah taylor (hmua) to work on my surrender editorial which was featured in XOXO magazine.

it was an terribly raining day and we had to move the shoot location from the beach to a warehouse home owned by el's grandparents. irregardless, we set up the scene and worked with what we had - in the comfort of a sheltered home.

shooting again for paris boyfriend, whose lovely designer Monica has been so kind and friendly to me, i met another model who travelled quite far to work with us. having on board leah taylor (hmua), emma amies (stylist) and the beautiful model sheri young, we started to play with light. 

standing in the parking lot, i was blessed enough to have gotten numerous ant bites on my foot as well which, although wasn't the most fun, did teach me one vital lesson in life - look at where you're standing because nature will attack you, even if you're just trying to focus a shot.

channelling rebellion, i also got the opportunity to work with sammy weigang and bekka handley on an editorial that was, again, featured on vogue.it. we had a day of playing with hair chalk and the amazing amount of clothes that bekka had brought to style with.

in 2013, i also had the honor of shooting for chinese-australian magazine, The One, landing their main editorial and cover not just once but twice! it was a new experience, working with their reader models and, in the shoot above, i also had some input in styling. most of the credit for this though, goes to emma amies who styled the shoot even though she was unable to be there on the day and my lovely friend martha mok for her ever amazing make up work!

working in studio again, i was able to collaborate with william utama, who is a remarkably talented upcoming designer, on his resuscitation project. this was the most creative and awe-striking garment i had ever seen, with each piece made from paper and painstakingly put together by william over numerous sleepless nights.

model elizabeth pearson was great enough to come on board on fairly short notice, as was hmua michelle bui who was assisted by amy laws.

i also had the opportunity to meet and photograph upcoming sydney band what it's worth who has been absolutely wrecking havoc on the sydney pop-punk scene. the band was so fun to be with and their comfort with each other shone through perfectly.

michelle bui also did a great job on make up as well as following us around the streets of redfern.

working with the girl who i've come to love, megan emmett, again i also shot some stunning pieces for three sunbeams. with gowns provided by dweddingstation and make up work by bell lin at dmakeupstation, the day was an absolute blast. we started early and didn't finished until the set was setting, the light absolutely golden on megan's hair.

finally with the sun shining again, i did my third collaboration for black milk clothing with my new friend, stylist el papas from ellie in the sky. teamed with lisa ma (model) and martha mok (hmua), it actually astounds me sometimes the number of good friends that i've make over the last twelve months. they are all people i've come to love and trust so much.

test shooting again with my friend nicole ainsworth who i felt i hadn't seen in the longest of times, i was able to try something darker and moodier with the use of limited lighting. it was a short day in which we had also done some more work for paris boyfriend, but these are the images that i loved the most.

 another test shoot was done with my friend sarah jane, who i'd been meaning to work with for a long time but somehow plans just kept falling apart. with my sudden urge to shoot, everything was planned quite last minute but came together perfectly.

we spent a day covering her in glitter, pushing her into flowers and bushes. surprisingly, the day ended with her in a bath tub full of milk and myself standing in the shower with the smell of burning candles in the air. i realized how much i loved photographing and that one of my favourite techniques was to actually utilize and work with strong, harsh lighting. this revelation was like a turning point for me.

studio shoots felt like they were getting more common by the end of the year, with my shoot for jade lee as well as my fashion editorial 'the leaders'. the editorial was published in freque magazine and i have my amazing team (on both shoots) to thank for that.

in jade lee's shoot, we had the help of claire parker and amy liu, who i met at the grand opening of the MMMA just a few weeks before hand.

for the editorial, which had a korean vogue theme that me and joshua had been talking about in our previous test shoot, we collaborated with emma amies, hayley dutton and daniella serret again.

i was approached by sophie crenigan, who i'd worked with earlier in the year, to shoot a summer editorial. jumping on board immediately, we called in the help of el papas (ellie in the sky) as well as ali stadler (hmua) and ashleigh atkins for a fun day in the sun. it was a dreary morning but eventually things became drenched in sunlight.. and swelteringly hot!

this year my friend emma amies, who i feel like i've known for a lot longer than just one year, launched her online magazine allusion which featured a lot of my work. she had also asked me to shoot the cover image for it, which we did while incredibly short on time. in fact, we completed the shoot in record time, even beating our own estimation.

emma wilson (model) was another lovely model who i met, and loved immediately for her wicked sense of humour and ridiculous obsession with a joke she'd seen on facebook. hayley dutton worked her magic once again, and even had the amazingness of having brought a bandaid on set.. since i had unsurprisingly cut myself on a rock.

wrapping up a year of shooting, i worked with the recently launched australian label, mr mysterious, on their first lookbook for their sunglasses range. back in the studio we spent a fairly long day channeling the wealthy kids of gossip girl and the hills.

looking back, 2013 has been a fairly long but fruitful year of shooting and making friends that i will continue to be working with in 2014. although i've never been good at seeing my own process, it is through posting things like this that i'm able to see how far i've come. while the journey is still long and i'm still looking for my own artistic voice, i'm proud of the steps i've taken this year.

for 2014, my aim is to work harder, shoot more, get more publications interested in my work. i also hope to travel at least once this year, taking photos of new places and to develop myself as a graphic designer too. i'll have a resolutions list, but that will be something more personal for myself.

thank you for being with me on this journey, everyone.