My Why

If you have also found yourself growing up thousands of kilometers away from your family you may have noticed that this becomes a great foundation for character building, or, a minor identity crisis haha. Like many who have been in this situation (specifically in the 90’s, when phone calls were expensive), my connection with my family was partly built by sifting through photos. I began to invent ideas in my imagination which helped me form an idea of who my family were, looking through the images, I was always more drawn to the disposable film, rather than posed images. And when I became an adult, I realized, the reason was because you can actually FEEL the relationships through a candid photo. You can almost FEEL how important some people are too. The reason moments of authenticity and “realness” are almost absent in a lot of images these days is either because of a) you have chosen a standard portrait session, or, b) because time simply doesn’t slow down often enough for us to remember to capture a candid moment.

Everyone always says that having photos is important.. But I would like to add that, whether it’s a photograph, a painting, or an abstract drawing, having an image with context, with good vibes, with love, where the “good” sibling is pointing the finger at the “naughty” sibling, where mum is shocked dad is mooning the family like he does at every family gathering, where the kids dog-pile on top of mum and everyone bursts into hysterics. Authentic imagery gave me a connection to my family. And this couldn’t have been achieved with standard photography. I want to infuse your session with experience, context, truthfulness where the images speak for themselves like my family albums do.

where I am from

Although I am based in Auckland, New Zealand, I actually grew up in Toronto, Ontario. I have endless memories of trips to Vancouver and Calgary, the wildlife and the wasp bites. I learned to make fire, forage for medicinal herbs, canoe, and address a bad case of duck itch there. I then moved to Auckland, where I was initially born, in 2007. Fast forward to 2015, I moved to Melbourne, Australia while I practiced with my photography and hair & makeup degree. Then in 2016 I was lucky to adventure taking travel images for a few months in Europe. In 2018 I returned to the Hibiscus Coast, New Zealand where my family live and have never looked back.

favourite things

I love a strong coffee in the morning, Wes Anderson films, warm summer nights, fresh food truck tacos, mac and cheese, listening to birds in the morning, finding secret nooks and crannies in new cities.