A new home for my hobby photography and documentary work

Click Baty - 1st blog post

After five-plus years as a full-time photographer, it's about time I had a proper website for my own-personal work. I've procrastinated long enough. Too many excuses, I don't have enough time, my photos aren't good enough, any reason not to commit.

I've had some health challenges over the last decade or so. I discovered photography to be a very comforting form of exercise, both physically and mentally and a way of documenting my mundane life.

I've since found that looking at my "mundane life" with childlike curiosity is quite liberating and a camera is my portal to that state of mind. Adulthood made me numb to the world around me. Photos have the power to make me appreciate things and that is proper canny.

The photo below was taken on a mundane boring day, I was super tired from a long weekend of wedding photography. My nephew wanted to take my photo and his reaction to using the camera makes this moment amazing for me. Just a little moment that I'd probably not remember due to being drained if I didn't grab a snap.

In the beginning...

This is the first photo I took, that I couldn't stop looking at. I have this framed. I like this photo. It gives me that little motivation to keep going and see what happens. I was just lucky, right place and most importantly. I had my camera. A pocket camera with a whopping 7 megapixels.

Taken on a little old Kodak C743 on a flight to skydive during a visit to Franz Josef. An amazing experience and they're still going strong https://www.skydive.co.nz/franz-josef/

How I ended up Here...

I love the idea of a photo blog a scrapbook, but one that focuses on the photos, posting with little or no context. So I am going to get this back story and context out of the way now 🙌

I'm at my happiest when out with a camera and I want this site to be a long-term home where I can see my progression, or regression as may be the case. A lot of the things I love about photography, aren't that interesting to other people, at least that's what I've found on social media these days. I've been taking thousands of photos that I never share, or even edit! Sometimes, all I need is the photo walk, clear my mind and take some pointless photos for the fun of it.

I've wanted to reinvent (or more accurately) rebrand myself as I felt pigeonholed as "just a music photographer". That journey was fun but ultimately unrewarding creatively. It became boring. As one person stated "just photos of people with guitars", that stuck with me and aye, that they are, without the context of being at the show they're so empty and void of any meaning. I also made a huge misstep in heading into the world of music video production. I regret that so much, I think that decision held back my photography and became too much of a distraction. Long story short, it wasn't for me. The whole experience was so creatively unfulfilling. I came to this conclusion when photoing one of my favourite bands of all time... PIXIES. They were fucking awesome, yet I was bored. I retired from music photography about a month later. You do live and learn, as the say. I have zero regrets. That was a fun period of my life but that chapter ended 5 years ago.

WHAT'S NEXT...

My quest for technical perfection peeked around lockdown time. Switching from a lifelong Canon shooter (using a Canon R5 and R6 everything worked as I wanted it, but it was too easy) to a Fuji shooter for my wedding work. It has been a game changer as they say and I've fallen in love with photography all over again 📸

The older I get, the more fascinated I find myself at the behind-the-scenes photos, documenting life, workplaces, families and friends. For example, I spent the best part of a decade being obsessed with music photography and getting technically perfect in-focus shots of performers. Nowadays I would be far more interested in the backstage crew and the audience. And that is exactly what I aim to do. Documentary projects, focusing on behind-the-scenes and telling a real story.

This site will also be a place for clients to get in touch and hire me for projects, specifically documentary projects. I'll have private online galleries and all the bells and whistles.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy the photos to follow 💜 I promise that's the first and last long-winded post