Finding Direction

How to get paid to shoot what you love

The other day I had a bit of an Aha moment. There I was, trying to think of names for my new 8 week Bootcamp. I was endeavouring to come up with all sorts of clever ways to explain how I uncover photographers’ essence, help define who they are, show them how to them reveal their own authenticity, and change their

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The power of commitment

Working in a beautiful and inspiring environment is something I have always strived for, so working from my leafy courtyard in Venice, California, where I’ve been based for the last month, has been amazing. Whilst here I’ve met with some of the photographers I’ve been mentoring. Some of them live here (and what wonderful hosts

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Build it and they will come

Just before Christmas a car crashed into my house. The driver lost control on the bend, over corrected, narrowly missed three terrified joggers, ploughed through our front garden taking with it a mature Camelia, a Daytura, an old rose and a 12 ft Nikau Palm before hitting the wall of the room in which I’d

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Pictures in Your Head?

It’s a pretty well known fact that many photographers suffer from varying degrees of dyslexia. Lesser known is the number of photographers (let alone adults in general) negotiating the complexities of life with Aspergers, a higher functioning form of Autism. Yet every time I run a workshop, and at most association meetings, there is at least one photographer in attendance

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6 Steps to Cracking a new Market- Case Study #1

Just over a year ago I met one of my top ‘students’. John (we’ll call him that) is an Australian photographer. He had just turned 50 and was shooting local editorial and below the line (read budget) jobs. He earned much of his income from his rental studio business. After some initial planning we established that

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Coffee and Connections

This morning I am decompressing from a workshop I ran yesterday here in Wellington, New Zealand. During the workshop I was assisted by a lovely young lady called Summer who generously offered to collect me from the airport when I arrived. ‘I’ll be the Japanese girl wearing African braids’ she said. Funnily enough, I had no problem

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Who the Bloody Hell are You?

At the recent AIPA Image Nation Conference in Auckland, photographers were asked to submit questions to a panel of advertising creatives and art buyers. One of the questions which raised eyebrows and had some of the panellists squirming in their seats was:  ‘Why do ad agencies fly in high-profile photographers from Australia to shoot big budget

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