My earliest memory of photography is backpacking around Europe in my 20s and shooting the whole thing on disposable cameras. It sounds romantic but I was horrified when I saw the results. So I figured I’d best learn how to take proper photos and enrolled in a short course. Seven years later, I'm still learning.
My first assignment for Reuters was covering the reactions to the death of Osama Bin Laden at Ground Zero in New York the day after the Al Qaeda leader was killed. I had been working at a newspaper in a rural town in Australia before moving to the USA, so to suddenly be covering a news story of global significance for a major wire service was incredibly exciting.
Covering the Occupy Wall Street protests definitely left the biggest mark on me. Day after day I would go home and look at the high level of imagery photographers working alongside me were producing and was constantly astonished at how good they were. It was hard at times to see how far I had to go, but I'm so glad I stuck around. I’ve grown so much since then.
I love working alone in communities of people that are very different to the one I come from. There’s a mutual trust that has to be developed between myself and my subjects and I think that makes the world an ever so slightly better place.
As a foreigner living in New York, I really do consider the outsider’s view of this city. Realising that minutes after shooting an image it will potentially be seen around the world, I try to incorporate the foreigner’s eye into my work and present things that locals might take for granted.
I make my best images when I have a very positive attitude and have an open mind. It’s excellent encouragement to be an overall better person!
I have tremendous respect for photojournalists across the globe, who in spite of increasing danger and tighter deadlines continue to create astonishing documents of our lives and these times.
