This project wasn’t one that came to me during a bolt of inspiration, like some book concepts have in the past. This was a long and effortless burn. It was a project that fit perfectly into my life. It was a very intuitive process in hindsight. It started out by simply throwing in a few extra rolls of film in the bag as I traveled Australia on editorial assignments. I’d take pictures of things that really stood out to me as feeling significantly different from home. I’d archive them and do not much with them. Over time I’d pack more film and better cameras into my bag. I collected some frames I enjoyed as my archive grew. Australian Lustre started to take shape when I’d specifically go on trips to photograph for the project.

It wasn’t until years later and after reviewing images for an exhibition that I believed in a broader context for the images. I was retracing my childhood footsteps and recreating memories from today, it seemed—visiting places that I’d dreamt of going to and also ones I had been to, all on the road. The idea of making a book solidified when I recognized these patterns, learnt about my family ancestry, and created a small exhibition catalogue in 2016. With an overwhelmingly positive response from the show, I motivated myself to complete Australian Lustre in 2024. It just took a while.

After going through the process and having the book in my hands, the best way I can sum up Australian Lustre is a photographic road trip around this strange place we call home. There are some undertones in the work—studies of time, memory, and place. It’s a very ambitious page count for a typical photo book: 320 pages, 300 images. I wanted the viewer to get overwhelmed, lost, and exhausted while experiencing the book, just like you can on the road around Australia.

I just like making books. This is my favorite creative thing to do. And when I mean making books, I mean absolutely every step of the way. Conceptualizing an idea, working toward that idea with a camera, interacting with the world before me, observing, watching, learning, creating. Taking home these beautiful slices of time on film. Collecting them as souvenirs from life itself. It’s a wonderful and magical thing.

Then weaving through and reflecting on the pictures. Working at the pace of life. Not trying to do much. It’s why I love long-term projects. Printing the pictures and taking that same energy into the edit. Whatever works is the right answer because there are no right answers—it’s just pure doing and flow. I just do everything myself. I scan, edit, sequence, design, manage print production, distribution, and marketing. Everything. And I enjoy and embrace it all. I could really dive into this. I love making books. They’re unique and extremely special objects and an absolute joy to create and bring into the world.

With a particular focus on my family heritage, I learnt a lot about Australia’s past during the span of this project. I’m a First Fleet descendant, and I did a trip to Norfolk Island to learn more about my family. Anne Forbes, our 6th great-grandmother on my mother’s side, arrived to establish the first settlement there in 1790. She landed on the Sirius, which was wrecked days later on the reef in Slaughter Bay.

It was such a beautiful island, and it has a dark colonial history—the most violent and brutal settlement in the Commonwealth. It was a strange feeling to go there and feel a strong connection to the place and, in contrast, to have a direct bloodline back to the dark colonial past that broadly speaking, soils this land.

The more I learnt about my family history and the early generations that settled this country, the more unsettled I became about my own heritage. While doing the edit and sequence for Australian Lustre, I weaved in some darker undertones throughout the book. I wanted to weave in a sense of unease that I feel about Australia through a personal lens.

I think I see reflections of this project throughout my broader work, mostly in approach and tone. I love to keep things considered, effortless, and playful. That’s how I like to move through the world. I take what I do very seriously, but I love to have a great time while I do it. I love to work on good ideas with good people. Ideas motivate me more than anything.

Once I believe in an idea, I absolutely, to my core, love bringing it into the world. This underpins everything that I really enjoy doing—for myself or anyone else.

Catch yourself talking yourself out of beautiful and wild ideas. They’re all a gift from a place no one can explain—it’s life’s magic. Embrace it. You will deeply regret ideas you didn’t chase or complete, especially when you see people execute them many years later. Also, most importantly, do what you love without fear and leave everyone you meet feeling better about themselves.