AFS Construction

A few months ago I was contacted by the firm Strategy Design & Advertising about shooting some reportage-style imagery for a company profile booklet for their client, AFS Construction. The goal was to make an ordinary, heavy-duty construction site feel like something interesting and dynamic so that they could really showcase what was unique about the equipment and crew of AFS. I had only 4 hours to get as much imagery as I could and it was my first time on an Australian construction site so I was pretty surprised when I had to spend the first 2 hours of the shoot in safety and regulations training, multiple waiver and release signings and pass two mandatory breathalyzer tests before I was allowed to even step foot on the site. While I was learning about evacuation points  and procedures during fires, chemical spills and natural disasters I was watching the sun move and I was losing light. I was relieved to finally get on site with 2 chaperones and less than two hours left and was luckily able to get quite a good range of images. I was thrilled to see the final designed booklet and website that Strategy Design had come up with and these are the results:

After the shoot was done I was left a little exasperated by what seemed like an overabundance of caution. After thinking about it a bit more I had a change of heart when I started to realize how little caution was exercised on similar shoots I had been on in the U.S. When shooting on top of a skyscraper under construction in Chicago a few years ago the site foreman handed me a helmet, said, "Just don't fall off the side and you'll be okay," and then let me roam around on my own for several hours.  I've been on work sites where I've seen fork lift operators drinking vodka before a shift at 7am, contractors rewiring a room with bare hands on live wires, and my own (unwise) safety decisions like shooting in a helicopter in the beginning of a massive electrical storm. The more I thought about how the Australians approach workplace safety the more I'm surprised that Americans seem so laissez-faire about safety- especially with the cost of healthcare and number of lawsuits there.

Project Credits: Agency- Strategy Design & Advertising.

Creative Director/Designer- Dan Mercer. Designers- Geoff Courtman & Christina Perry.

Photos of booklet and website courtesy of Strategy Design & Advertising.

Sick Kids

Good Weekend had an assignment for me a few weeks ago to cover a story about several families with children who are critically ill and have terminal illnesses. In two cases the children were born with a devastating disease that made it unable for them to develop mentally and physically as a normal child would. In the case of the third child, Kirrilee had led an active, vibrant childhood and then when she was 12 suddenly suffered a mysterious brain illness that left her profoundly impaired and gravely ill for the last 6 years. Her illness requires 24 hours of constant observation and care, most of which is provided by her mother. Update: a few months after writing this article Kirrilee sadly passed away.

Often when I'm asked to shoot something for an assignment it doesn't occur to me how odd it is that I'm a total stranger that people let into their homes. I chat for a while, maybe set up some lights, take some pictures and then leave. It's rare that I get to read a story before I have to shoot for it so I often walk into a shoot situation not really knowing exactly what it is I'm covering. Usually the people I'm taking pictures of aren't familiar with shoots so they don't have a lot of time set aside for me to take pictures and it's pretty hard for me to impose more than an hour or two of shooting so I often have to work fast and thoroughly while trying to keep the subject relaxed.

In each case when I met the families for this shoot I knocked on the door with a sense of apprehension about what I was walking into. How sick would the child be? What would the families be like? Would they be sad? Angry? Would I have to tiptoe around certain subjects? Do they really even want me to take pictures?

As I walked through the front door I was thoroughly surprised at how welcoming and loving each family was and I immediately felt a warmth that I don't often get right away when walking into a stranger's home. I heard stories about 24 hour care, constant trips to hospitals, emotional turmoil, exhaustion and alienation but I also witnessed deep love, acceptance and thriving senses of humor. I was surprised at how often the parents and siblings of these sick children were saying things that had me cracking up.  They seemed glad to have me come take pictures so that other people could learn about their stories. I felt lucky to get to meet these families and I really wanted to hang out all day with them. I've posted a video of a Kirrilee's brothers performing a dance routine that they do to keep the family entertained.

http://vimeo.com/39806546

At the end I felt like it was a tough story to shoot because my wife and I had just given birth to a daughter a few weeks before and we had been going through all of the ups and downs of new parenthood. We were dealing with the massive adjustment in sleep loss and lifestyle change and that feeling that we had no idea what were doing. I know that both my wife and I would look at our little girl and feel an enormous sense of love, responsibility and hope for the kind of parents we would be and the type of person our child would become. Seeing these sick children made me think about how families adapt when plans suddenly change and how they deal with the bumps and bruises of a life they didn't expect.

All of these families have needed the professional and medical support of Bear Cottage, an institution in Manly, NSW Australia dedicated to serving children and families of children with life limiting illnesses.  Donations to Bear Cottage can be made here: https://support.bandagedbear.org.au/donation-bear-cottage

For more information about Bear Cottage, please go here: http://www.bearcottage.chw.edu.au/

UPDATE 21/05/2014: Several news outlets who have picked up this story have erroneously stated that Kirrilee was dying or on her deathbed when this image was taken and this is not true. She was at home and healthy at the time of the photoshoot. It is true that a few months after I shot this image Kirrilee passed away at Bear Cottage.

Good Weekend Magazine crew rowing story

A few months ago I was asked by Good Weekend Magazine to go down to Canberra and shoot images to go along with a series that they were doing about a few writers trying their hand at training for a day in an Olympic sport.  I followed writer Mark Dapin as he went through a light version of the incredibly intense daily workout regimen and technique routines of the crew rower.

Good Weekend Cover and Story

A story I shot a few weeks ago for the Sydney Morning Herald's weekend magazine, Good Weekend, just appeared this past weekend as the cover story. It was one of those happy instances where printing on matte newspaper stock made the pictures look fantastic and I was really happy with the end result.

Cover and leading story for Good Weekend

I shot the images for the cover story of this past weekend's issue of Good Weekend, a major Australian magazine distributed in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age every Saturday. It's Australia's equivalent of the New York Times Magazine. I'd like to say it was a challenging shoot but getting teenagers to look like they're playing video games is just about the easiest thing in the world. It was my first Australian magazine cover and my first time working with the people at Good Weekend and I had a great time.