… a kodak disposal.. you know, those cheap little plastic one-time use ones. I was 13 years old, had no money and didn’t want to ask for money to a buy a silly camera, since we were a low income family... so I stole it from the supermarket (sorry Mum). I’d document my days while at, or skipping, school (sorry Pa), and when I ran out of film, I just went back to the supermarket and took another one. Any coins I managed to save up would go towards getting the film developed.

Looking back at old family photos, my love for photo and video started long before I stole that first camera. Papa always had a camera on him, he took so many family photos with his SLR and we still have all the video tapes of family events from his camcorder. Then there’s the photos of me as a kid holding cameras and camcorders, documenting family parties and holidays.

From family events, to street photography to eventually finding fashion photography in Japan (that’s a whole other story), today I have my own cameras (all purchased with my own hard earned cash). I also recently dug up one of Papa’s camcorders from the shed and have started using it again.

I grew up in the 90’s on the Western suburbs of Melbourne. I went to school but almost everything I learnt about photography is from being on set and assisting some of Melbourne’s most talented photographers.

I admire the fearlessness of Tyler Shields, Tupac Shakur and Jack Bridgland.

I don’t condone shoplifting.