​Tell us a little about yourself:

I'm Andy from Melbourne! I've been interested in photography for a year and a half now – one day I was thinking to myself, “I wish there was some way I could capture the awesome things I see everyday”. I grabbed my father's old Minolta camera, had a play, and I was hooked! Oddly enough I'd never considered photography before that. A strange way to find what I now consider my life's calling.

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​Are you an amateur or a pro photographer?

On that note I'm neither a pro (dirty word; wedding photographers are considered “pros”, no thank you!) nor an amateur. I'm just a guy who always has his camera with him. In that way, the camera is sort of like my journal/notepad; I record what I see in my daily travels.

 

What do you like to photograph?

​I love every genre of photography; I find it hard to pick just one type and stick to it. I guess I'm trying to explore every single niche photography has to offer! But if I have to pick a favourite (or two!) it would be macro and conceptual. I love telling stories with conceptual photography, but I also love the amazing macro world that the human eye can't quite see.

 

​What is in your photography kit?

I've got a lot in my photography kit and I'm constantly adding more! Most of it was bought cheap though. I'm using a Nikon D7000 and I have a bunch of lenses, also a brilliantly-portable tripod that's also extremely sturdy. I have lots of creative lens filters and a few props I've bought off Ebay for less than $5 each. And a syringe and spray bottle to get water drops exactly where I want when doing macro work!

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What's your favorite lens?

My favourite lens is my 50mm f1.8 – I have that on more than any other. It's nice and small, making it brilliant as an “always on” lens for walking around with. It also makes beautiful bokeh. But I adore my Sigma 105mm macro too.​

 

​Any favorite photographer(s)?

Ansell Adams for his brilliant landscape work and for his incredible post-production work. Henry Cartier-Bresson for the opposite: he's a purist who didn't like to edit or even crop his shots, not to mention I love his idea of “Be in the right spot and wait for someone to walk past.” And lastly a young conceptual photographer from Flickr called Kyra Elizabeth. She's the reason I even considered doing conceptual photography and at only 15, her work is an incredible inspiration. (Her work: www.flickr.com/photos/photopluto)

 

​Which is your own favorite picture?

Ahhh the dreaded “pick your favourite photo” question! I have a hard time liking any of my photos; as soon as I've taken and edited a photo, I'm thinking about the next idea. I rarely go back and look at them (and find it hard to listen to people say “Nice photo”.) I have a number of photos I think are fairly decent, so narrowing it down to just one was hell (thanks for that!)

Although other people would probably chose a different pic, for me my favourite is one called “In My Arms”, see picture below. I was walking home, talking to my girlfriend, when we passed by an alleyway. A father was carrying a sleeping child in his arms, gently singing an African lullaby to him as he slept. I stopped, whipped the camera up to my eye (I always have the camera turned on and the lens cap off!) and took a quick snap. I didn't have time to compose it perfectly or anything, and half a second later he turned the corner and was gone. Somehow I managed to capture the moment perfectly and it's one I'll never forget. That photo represents exactly why I got into photography in the first place: to capture the (fleeting) moments of beauty that are otherwise forgotten.

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What is your dream?

​As the Buddhists would say, to be happy. Also as the Buddhists would say, I'm already doing that :)
 

​Any advice or great tips to share?

Advice? Well what's served me well was to look at as many varieties of photographs (and photographers) as possible, work out what works (and doesn't work) for them, try a lot of styles myself and practice practice practice!

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