New Work: Surfing and Lifestyle Portraits
I've done some new work with Brett from Bella Management, playing with ideas I've had for a while about shooting surfing portraits and some exercise/sports work. We lucked out by having one of the most beautiful sunrises at Maroubra Beach I'd ever seen.
New Work: Lifestyle shoot with Justin and Amelia
I've been shooting some new work lately and have been doing some shoots with some of the talent from Bella Management here in Sydney. I had approached Bella Mgmt with some ideas and one of which was about a couple on a roadtrip, dirty and sweaty from days on the road in a crappy car and they're lost in the middle of nowhere. I don't really do very much work that falls into the fashion realm so I tend to want to mess up their hair and clothes and make it feel more real I guess. I was kind of surprised they went for it and ended up loving the shots. Can't wait to do more of these.
New Portraits with Rough Cast Talent Agency
A few weeks ago I was thrilled to discover that there is a new talent agency in Sydney called Rough Cast Talent. It's a great idea- it focuses on featuring models that are unique, unusual or just happen to look like every day people and are great in front of the camera. This is a great new resource to have here in Sydney and I've been waiting for years for something like this to show up. When I lived and worked in Chicago I used to use "real talent" casting agencies and casting scouts all the time. I loved it because I felt like there were times when a project really needed to have models that gave the images a sense of authenticity or relate-ability to the viewer. Traditional modeling agencies never really worked for me because their talent were just too good looking and perfect or what the advertising industry would call "too aspirational." I'm really into the "flaws" that make a person who they are and those unusual details that can sometimes be character defining in an image.
When I saw that Rough Cast had opened up shop I immediately got in touch with the owner Chris Mayer-Plummer to see if I could shoot portraits of some of their talent. They needed portraits of their talent to send out for castings and I really wanted an opportunity to start shooting some of these fantastic faces that Chris has access to. It is FUN. I've met street performers, burlesque dancers, a Catholic energy worker/healer, a Satanist energy worker/healer (I didn't even know that existed), comedians, labourers and just normal people who want to be in pictures. I can't wait to do more.
TV interview with Kirrilee Edwards' mum
I was interviewed the other day for the tv program Studio Ten by Sarah Harris and the legendary Ita Buttrose about my prize-winning of image "Family Loss". I shared the couch with Kirrilee's mom Jo Edwards and we spoke about the experience.
Winner of the 2014 Head On Photo Festival Portrait Prize
I was thrilled last night to learn that I had won the grand prize for the 2014 Head On Portrait Prize for this image:
The image came from a story that I shot for Good Weekend Magazine about the children's hospice organization Bear Cottage and some of the families who rely on their resources and care. This image in particular came as a result of a wonderful experience meeting the family of Kirrilee Edwards. I felt really welcomed to be with them, to feel their warmth, their sense of humor and love. The Edwards family is a big family and they faced a profound number of struggles because of Kirrilee's devastating illness, but what I saw was an incredible closeness. I felt the best way to give the sense of this family was to show how closely connected they were to Kirrilee and each other. A few months after I shot this image Kirrilee passed away.
I feel an immense sense of gratitude that the Edwards family would let me into their home, welcome me in the way that they did and allow me to be a part in telling their story. For that reason I'm giving half of the prize money that I've won to them. I'm including information below to make donations to Kirrilee's family and Bear Cottage.
Make a Donation to the Edwards family via direct deposit: Troy Edwards Commonwealth Bank of Australia BSB: 062 601 Account: 103 506 78 Memo: Kirrilee
Make a Donation to Bear CottageInformation on Bear Cottage
You can read my original blog entry here about Kirrilee, the shoot and the other families: http://www.joewigdahl.com/sick-kids/.
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.
New Zealand Surfing Day Trip
I recently had 2 huge jobs which both happened to bring me to New Zealand for shooting. We had a brief day with my fantastic assistant Maxy where he took us to an incredible black sand beach north of Auckland and we took a break from the crazy job and spent the evening surfing. I suppose it's a bit of cliche now to say that New Zealand is place full of lovely people and beautiful landscapes but it just is.
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.

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.