Making the choice to invest in my commercial business and personal work in 2023 instead of a masters, and also settling into my studio space has been really fulfilling and a good choice. Being able to start various projects and if they don’t feel right or fall flat, it’s OK to ditch or put to one side, vs studying where after a few weeks into a concept you are locked into it.
As part of this energy shift I’ve finally, after sorting through FIVE drives that covers all of my work with commercial and personal – I now have a dedicated drive for personal work. This means I’ve been able to start sorting out projects and printing them into zines and books. Talking of which, I captured the final image (below) and just completed my latest project ‘Safe and Effective‘ with an accompanying limited print zine. To say I’m excited to print my work again is an understatement, and now with better organisation of my archives this will be a more regular part of my studio process.
I’ve been guilty in the past of ‘taking to much on’ when it comes to commercial and personal projects, and I noticed very quickly that creating a business model around my photography mentoring and tuition was going to be to much for me. I am actually tutoring a range of students right now who include photographers at the NZIPP, but a new website/ brand and marketing it all – well- it felt too much of a distraction and responsibility. So i’ve decided to just keep it simple and take on a small number of students as time allows, and not to over complicate it. Being a commercial photographer and artist is enough and I like the life balance it offers me. For all mentoring enquires visit here.
As for image making, I’ve captured a few more artist portraits (Dan, Max and Sharon) as well as getting back out at night into Christchurch City to add images to an ongoing project that focusses on buildings and places at night that are away from the everyday habitual route I take most days. This is now year 2 of that project and I do love how early it gets dark now so I can shoot a roll and be home for dinner! I’ve also been spending time again in Hagley Park amongst the beautiful trees at night for another project in its second year. I’ve added this project ‘Amongst the Rākaus’ that aims to be completed this Winter over here.
Another project exploring the Craigieburn region that is so close to my heart is still ticking away and I’m really happy with the direction of the photographs too. I recently discovered the work by Toshio Shibata and i’ve found it really inspiring towards the direction of this body of work, and in particular his take on the modern landscape that’s free of sky related to scale.
Last week I met a wonderful lady of 86 who likes to be known as ‘classy’, and we started a body of work that aims to document her story after losing her husband last year. Inspired by the Christchurch documentary Project – ‘A Place in Time‘ and a motivation to preserve peoples stories in Christchurch through photography, it feels like a worthy focus. I’ve shared one photo below of classy- with more about this project in the coming weeks.
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