The Morning Post

I am writing this 20 minutes before I post

Good morning, everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start. It’s currently 6:38 AM, and I just realised that after a busy weekend of shooting and editing every day, I completely forgot to write my Substack. I made a promise a couple of months ago that I wouldn’t miss a single issue, so here we are.

This past week was chaotic, but it still had some wonderful moments I’d love to share with you. In between shoots, I attended a photography meetup in Fremantle, WA, where over 20 photographers came together to showcase their work and listen to talks from other artists. It reminded me how powerful community can be for creatives.

These days, artists often work in isolation—we spend so much time alone, thinking, experimenting, creating—that we forget how valuable it is to have others to bounce ideas off. Despite living in the most connected era in history, I don’t see artists collaborating or exchanging ideas as much as we could. Why is that? Fear of copying or stealing ideas? I don’t think so. You could put 20 photographers in the same room, give them the same subject, and the results would still be unique. We each bring our own vision and experiences to our work, and that individuality is key.

But even though our artistic output is deeply personal, the artist’s journey is not. We all face the same struggles—selling work, navigating the business side of art, finding connections, honing our skills. These challenges are universal. Yet, I don’t have a group I regularly meet with to share ideas, discuss what we’re working on, or explore why we’re creating what we are. A second or third perspective can be incredibly helpful when we’re unsure about our direction.

I recently heard that some famous directors—like Spielberg, Tarantino, and Scorsese—get together to watch each other's films. It’s not for critique or idea-stealing, but for the appreciation of art. That’s what a true art community is about. I want more photography community, maybe ill make one or find one?

Anyway, it’s now 6:57 AM, and while I’m not sure what I just wrote, I’m happy I managed to get it out! Hopefully, there’s something valuable here for you, my wonderful reader. See you all next week!

See below for some experiments I played around with light this week