His work has been used world wide by clients such as Coca-Cola, FIFA, Yahoo, Adobe, Oprah Magazine, Mariott, ArcAngel, Trevillion, PhotoNews Canada, and many more.
During 2013/2014 he worked exclusively with Coca-Cola and FIFA as the lead photographer and voice of social media on the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola where he travelled and photographed more than 80 countries over a 9 month period.
As of right now, the situation hasn’t been resolved. There is, unfortunately, a big divide within the art community and it will take time for the legal side of things to work itself out. I think it will take even longer for the ethics to be defined. Just because something is allowed or accessible doesn’t always mean it’s ethical. I truly don’t believe AI will replace creativity, in my opinion AI Art is an output that someone agrees with, it’s not a creation that exists because of emotion, or imagination, or desire to share a message. I view AI as an image, but not necessarily art.
I like to say that I’m a professional daydreamer. I’ve always given myself permission to day dream and try to give myself the freedom to believe anything is possible. Many of my ideas start as a single object or location or word and then morph into an expression of something I’m feeling or thinking about, using that item or object as a visual touchstone. I get ideas mostly from just allowing myself to be alone with my thoughts without any distractions.
This image has always been one of my favourites. I created it almost 10 years ago and for me it marks a definitive moment in my life. I took this photo right before I set off on a world tour where I was hired as a photographer. I was gone for 9 months and visited over 80 countries and during that time my entire life changed and this image always speaks to me of that moment just before everything changed. I remember creating it, it was a very calm evening and I was just alone with my thoughts and it felt like a dance creating it. Everything just worked exactly as I needed and it just fell together perfectly for me.
I created these cards during the pandemic. One of the questions I get asked the most is how I come up with ideas and the second question I get asked is what do I do when I get creatively blocked. These cards were my way of creating a tool that could help with both of those things. I often find that I create better work when I have a little bit of a constraint, a theme to create inside of. I designed these cards to provide that small amount of direction. They’re a helpful resource giving someone an opportunity to build a prompt that includes an item, a location, and an emotion and to create as story from the results. I started using the cards myself in 2021 and I’ve been using them almost weekly since, without fail they help me to find a new image to make.
I think for me the way forward is to challenge myself to learn new skills and to work on projects that are just outside of my comfort zone. Over the last few years I’ve taken on client projects that are largely within my skillset but often contain one or two things that I have to push myself to meet. This helps keep me learning and progressing and also thinking of new ways to share my work.
For me, I think a professional victory was last year having 3 different solo exhibitions. I was able to show my work in my hometown for a 4 month show. I had a month long exhibition inside Blenheim Palace in the UK and then had a weekend show in Vancouver. It was really reaffirming to me to be able to see my work printed, and sold
Photography and mental health have always been hand in hand for me throughout my career. I think that there is something truly therapeutic about taking emotions and thoughts and creating something from them. It allows us time to process them, to name them, to face them and to put all that energy into something that exists outside of our minds and I think that can be incredibly healing. There are so many ways that art can help us process things, and I really encourage anyone that is struggling with their mental health or having a hard time processing things, to try and show what it looks like. Draw or paint or photograph what it looks like for you and it can be really freeing and helpful.
I’ve always loved reading and I’ve found it be a great way to get lost in a new world for a short time. For as long as I can remember I’ve always loved Alice In Wonderland simply because it blends reality with whimsy and surrealism in a really original and creative way. I also really enjoy the work of TJ Klune, especially The House in the Cerulean Sea.
It’s a book that again blends magic and reality with heart and a message of hope. Books influence me because they’re like portals of magic, they’re simple objects but they contain entire universes inside them and I find that endlessly inspiring. I use the imagery of books often because I think of myself as a story teller, a visual one telling stories that could exist inside the pages of the books I use.
I would certainly like to keep using my art and my platform to champion social issues that I care about. This year I will be photographing a Pride themed series in my hometown, celebrating members of the LGBTQ+ community, I would love to be able to continue to use my work to uplift voices that need their stories told.
I love wandering and I love being outside (often by myself) so a lot of my locations are found just from me walking or cycling and finding an interesting spot. I’m always looking for good fields with nice clean lines, I like neutral locations that don’t have a lot of busy backgrounds so that I can make them feel like they could be located anywhere. But I also like using interesting one of a kind spots too, like castle ruins or old buildings to use a backdrop. I feel like it’s my way of adding to the lengthy history of stories told in those spots.
Don’t ever feel like your story isn’t worth telling. Our community is richer because of all the diverse voices that sing, dance, paint, act, sculpt, photograph, and share what the world looks like to them. You’re the only you we have, and we need you.
