Personal Work

How to make personal work which will get you paid

Have you ever wished you could get inside the brain of a creative director? One that has hired countless photographers for high end brand campaigns? I’m thrilled to share that in exactly one week from now I have a real treat for you. Join myself and Billy Plummer for an inspirational online presentation, “It’s all

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The Kiss of Death

This weekend’s inspiration is a flashback to this time 4 years ago, when borders closed and we all found ourselves facing lockdown. Very strange times indeed. As an antidote to this, ex-advertising creative and top ad photographer Billy Plummer and I created an online workshop, taking 20 photographers from around the world through the process

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The Unknown Swimmer

Personal work can take you on some pretty interesting journeys. Apart from the process itself, the final work can end up in editorial stories, photo books, exhibitions, and being used in ad campaigns. In Melbourne photographer Jason Reekie’s case, one of his personal projects has become a chamber opera. At a Christmas party way back

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What would happen if it all worked out?

There are probably lots of things you want. Beautiful, challenging, meaningful briefs that align with the work you love making. An income which allows you to support those who need you, and which gives you the freedom to say no to the jobs which don’t float your boat. And space to create work for yourself

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Working like a mother

Today as we celebrate International Women’s Day, I want to shout out to all you fricken-amazing-rockstar-kick-ass women who have turned photography into a career. It’s hard enough in general to be a lens-based image maker but holy moly, the hurdles that women have faced over the years need no explanation. One of those hurdles has

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If you’re floundering or doubting

If you’ve been following me for a while, or working with me, you’ll know that I am obsessed with personal work as a vital part of a photographers practice. Not only because it’s a way to flex your creative muscles, push yourself harder and remind yourself why you did this in the first place. But

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Inspirational mind bombs

This is my phrase of the week. Credit for it comes from a photographer I work with, who was grumbling about marketing. “I hate marketing.” he said. “I just want to make great images.” (Which he does, a lot.) As I pointed out to him, if you’re a photographer, your number one marketing tool IS

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