Matthew & Stephanie

Matthew & Stephanie

Matt & Steph got married on Steph’s family farm at Old Koreelah, a beautiful area of wooded hills and grassy valleys just west of the border ranges, at the juncture of New South Wales and Queensland. The country is straight out of a Tom Roberts painting: brown hillsides hung with eucalypts, creeks cut through sandstone gullies, cotton-wool clouds floating in the burning sky. Kangaroos and cows and horses and every type of bird you’ve ever heard or seen, gossiping in the branches of the trees, everywhere we went. And of course the people are what you’d expect to meet out there: warm, friendly and authentic, with the dry humour that seems to be baked into everyone who makes their living in the country.

As always, I couldn’t quite believe my luck that I’d been invited to be a part of this wedding, and as usual, I tried to capture the day without altering it, to distill that feeling I had when I was there into photos, to try to mesh the landscape and the people into one story, of one day. It’s always an impossible task, but half the fun is trying.

Emily & Chris

Emily & Chris

I grew up on a farm, and I always appreciate going back to the country, especially to take wedding photos. I say it often enough, but I can never quite believe my luck that I’m invited to these places to do what I do.

Sometimes I shoot weddings at pretend country venues, with hay-bales hired from stylists and cow-sheds built with distressed timber, and all the extras rung-in and ordered up and manufactured – all perfectly nice and lovely for what it is, but at the end of the day, a tiny – tiny –  little bit contrived.

But this country wedding was the real deal. A bona-fide, genuine, fair-dinkum, country shin-dig. On a real, authentic, working farm, in a proper working community of people (most of whom, it seemed to me, were at the wedding).

Saraniya & Vishnu

Saraniya & Vishnu

Saraniya and Vishnu were wed in Sydney, over two days. The first day was a traditional Tamil Hindu wedding with 400 guests and all the bells and whistles: traditional floral styling including marigold and roses, Hindu mandap and pillars, and of course amazing Sri Lankan Tamil food.

Nicole & Ben

Nicole & Ben

Nicole and Ben were married at Port Stephens, a beautiful notch in the east coast of Australia, not far from Newcastle. Everything about the wedding was beautiful, not least the bride (and groom). For the photos after the ceremony I took the couple to Stockton, where we climbed amid the giant sand dunes, and where we were lucky enough to watch the sunset and then, only a few minutes later, a beautiful moon-rise. It was photo heaven.

An Evening at the Currumbin Alley

An Evening at the Currumbin Alley

A big storm came through this afternoon, and when it started to settle I decided to head down to the Currumbin Alley. I was either going to have a surf or take some photos, depending on what looked most promising. It turned out that the surf was pretty average, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and went for a walk.