Hi, I'm Rick.

Photographer. Educator. And someone who's still ridiculously excited about making pictures.

I picked up photography in the United States more than a decade ago. These days I call Brisbane home, but the reason I carry a camera hasn't changed much. I love the moment when something ordinary suddenly becomes a photograph. Sometimes that's a person finally forgetting there's a camera pointed at them. A family laughing when nobody was supposed to be taking the picture yet. The nervous excitement before a Year 12 formal. The energy of an event unfolding faster than you can plan for it. And sometimes it's just me wandering somewhere with a camera because the light looked good.

That's probably the simplest way to explain what I do: I photograph people, I chase interesting photographs, and I teach other people how to do the same.

When you're in front of my camera

You don't need to know how to pose. In fact, I'd rather you didn't. I'll give you direction when you need it, but I'm much more interested in getting past the “I'm having my photo taken”version of you and finding the actual you. That's how I approach portraits, families, formals and events. There will always be a place for the photograph where everyone looks at the camera Grandma deserves that one but some of my favourite images happen immediately before or after it.

When you're behind the camera

I take much the same approach to teaching photography. Cameras have become incredibly capable and incredibly complicated. It's easy to spend so much time thinking about settings, lenses and menus that you forget why you wanted a camera in the first place. So I teach photography the way I wish more of it were taught: practically. We'll talk about aperture and shutter speed, absolutely. But we'll also talk about where to stand, how to recognize good light, why one composition works better than another, and how to make decisions without constantly wondering whether you're doing photography “correctly.” The goal isn't to memorise your camera.

It's to eventually stop thinking about the camera.

And when nobody is paying me…

I'm probably still taking photographs. Wildlife. Landscapes. Street photography. Whatever catches my attention. I write about photography, make videos about the gear and techniques I actually use, experiment with new things, occasionally buy cameras I absolutely did not need, and generally remain fascinated by this ridiculous little craft. After more than a decade, I'm still learning too. I think that's important. Whether you're here because you want photographs of the people who matter to you, need someone to document an event, or you've got a camera sitting at home that you'd finally like to understand—

I'd love to help.

— Rick