A look inside the magic of fashion week

Backstage at VAMFF is a whirlwind of volunteers, stylists, hair and makeup artists and frantic models. Not to mention the designers doing last minute patch ups and alterations. The lighting is unpredictable - it literally changes year to year, show to show - and you kind of have to do the best you can in the few seconds you get as each model walks off the runway and shimmy's into their next outfit.

Well, not every outfit, but pretty much all the good ones...

Ah, Melbourne fashion week, where influencers, b-grade celebs and people with too much disposable income pretend that the humble little #VAMFF competes with the glamour of Paris Fashion Week.

A portrait series featuring Luke Toniolo.

When you photograph commercially 99% of the time, sometimes it is nice to step back and actually craft an image instead of capture a moment, which I have since learned are two very different ways of shooting. 

When people find out what I do for a living they always tout back with something like, 'oh my sister's boyfriend's cousin wants to be a photographer but is finding it so hard to make a living off it!' 

My reply as of late has been: stay away from Instagram.

On a mid-November day, I boarded a flight that would take me to the other side of the world, literally. Finally, I was heading to Europe. After years of dreaming, wishing and fantasising, I was on my way. 

While some people thrive off being organised superstars, I'd rather do my work and think about where I'm going to file the paperwork later. This hasn't worked so well over the last year... so here's how I'm trying to stay organised in 2018.

I kept telling myself that it was okay. That I needed to finish university, satisfy what everyone thought I should be doing post high school, continue to grow a life with my boyfriend and eventually it would happen. Inside however, I was plagued by the feeling that the longer I left catching a flight to Paris, the more the city felt like a dream world that my mind had made up to escape from reality.

When I travel somewhere new, I like to do the least amount of research possible. Partly because I am in fact lazy, but also because I prefer getting tips off friends, locals, and sometimes even my barista.

I thought to myself, I could live here. In the middle of nowhere so far away from civilised society where the ocean meets the dense mountains. Where the water is crystal clear and blue where the birds can be heard and the stars seen. This is where I could live. 

The fact that I visited New Zealand ten months ago is shocking. The fact that only now am I sharing my photos from my time there is alarming. Sometimes I do this thing where I work so hard on my client work that I forget that I have other images I need and want to edit. Finally however, I've managed to power through my files and release these into the wild (yay!).

I've always wanted to photograph/film something based off a song or album that particularly resonated with me. So the fact that I actually pulled this one out from my head and into the world makes me so deliriously happy.

It's not as if I don't have content. In actuality, I have content coming out of my ears, for use of a better term. There are hard drives of untouched, unearthed content just waiting to be shared with some kind of internet audience. No longer will these shoots be gaining dust because I'm promising to myself - and you guys for that matter - that I'll be posting them here.

The hardest thing about having a creative and entrepreneurial mind is that not every idea hits you at the right moment. So much stuff gets in the way of my ideas: money, work, lack of time, resources. But it's important to keep chipping away at the mould until you eventually break through - persistence is key.

It's been a while since I've done a portrait shoot. This is mostly due to the fact that I've been too busy climbing mountains to spend some time shooting some more *~fashion~* images, but I've also been feeling a little uninspired in this department.

Working remotely might seem like a dream, but often it’s more hard work than one would imagine. Sure, you get to travel and earn a living simultaneously, but you also need to put in the hard yards before, during and after your trip. Keeping clients happy whilst you are also traveling is tricky. Time zones, adventures calling your name, and an endless to-do list can be hard to navigate – but also very rewarding! 

After shooting for six years, I've found that my hunger for creativity and ability to harness inspiration passes me by faster than the days of the month. Everything comes and goes so quickly that I often don't get time to react. 

The ultimate Australian backpacker's guide to visiting O'ahu, Hawaii. How to save money and live your best life whilst enjoying everything that the island has to offer.

We were prepared to have to turn back and attempt the hike another day, but we weren’t prepared for the beauty we were about to encounter as we ascended.

From buying followers, paying for automation and features on other accounts, utilizing comment pods and, heaven forbid, the Instagram mafia, people are finding new ways to up their following and boost their engagement rate in a desperate bid to seem more credible and steal market share - and people are angry about it!

Last year I was interviewed on the radio, (I know, I still can't believe they let me broadcast my thoughts LIVE for everyone to hear either) and one of the questions I was asked was, 'If you could give a TED talk on any topic at all, what would you pick?'

My answer was, 'How to be fucking motivated!'