Latest / Reframe / 17: Emma Kate Maggs, Wildfemmes & body positivity

Transcript

17: Emma Kate Maggs, Wildfemmes & body positivity · Reframe

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever wondered what truly fuels a creative mind, what ignites their passions and drives their creativity?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: G'day, I'm Dean McGuire, an Australian fine art photographer.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: From the moment I step into the world of photography, I have been captivated by the community and the stories behind the lens.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: Join me as we delve into humble beginnings, explore artistic visions, and discover how we as a collective reframe our minds through the power of creativity.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: Before we dive into this episode, I'd like to give a quick shout out to the incredible team at Nissy Filters Australia.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: MC offer low-class products like high quality filters with minimal cover costs, an impressive range of cinematic lenses, and various other accessories to fuel your creative endeavors.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Missy Australia actively supports the greater photography community through workshops, educational events, and live streaming webinars on YouTube and other social media channels.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: As I special trade, Missy Australia are offering all reframe listeners at all discount of five to send off.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: You can even combine this with our autos and other promotions for further discounts by using the code reframe podcast at check it out.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Visit mixyfilters.com.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you and welcome to reframe.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're speaking to Emma Kate Mags, aka Wild Femus, a prolific South Coast photographer who excels in embracing body positivity by the use of underwater photography, highlighting the beauty of her muse.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: It's been an incredible journey, I think, as most artists find coming to their craft, probably.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: I would say there's a good story behind everyone's.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, before we get really into it, um, I'd like to know a little bit about yourself before the art.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: So where you come from, but sure, you just said off uh um off record that you were a cattle farmer's daughter.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: I think like I'm a country girl with salt in my veins when I really think about it.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: I've always had a love for the ocean and to catch the train.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm from uh a town near the Yarra Valley in Victoria, and I used to catch the train down to Lawn or the Great Ocean Road when I was a kid.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it's always been there.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just it's funny when I look back now and I think about all these little moments that have led me to now.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, um, my dad's a cattle farmer, uh, grew up on a farm, horse riding, and yeah, went to an ag college.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately didn't follow in the family footsteps um as much as my parents might have liked me to, but they're incredibly supportive, thank goodness.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, and then I actually started working in tally straight out of school.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: I dabbled in uh radio and magazines first and then went into tally, and that's where I really found my rhythm in media.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: So you would have had to harden up as well in TV.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Lack of a better term, because that it's um quite a cutthroat industry.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think I um really developed my resilience bone, if that may Rudang.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think you need to be very flexible and adaptable and also just um have a good uh healthy lashing of true grit when it comes to that.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: So but it's in it's really great and like it's really nice to be able to create something, look back on it.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Although I would say I've probably not watched everything I've made, if I'm being completely honest.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't either.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't think that'd be possible if you're like creating so much content and you're in media, you're not gonna sit there and watch every single episode of every show you've made.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: No, and it was a good chapter of my life in reality television, and I mean Well you know, by the time you need to go back to By the time you finish one show, you're on to the next.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you don't have time to scratch your nose.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: So Yeah, exactly.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: So um your photography, well, where did that come from and how did you get into the uh whole photography and the stuff that you do now?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, thank you for asking.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: So as I mentioned, I've been working in um as a producer and director in the TV and content creation space for nearly two decades.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been really fortunate to work with some very talented DOPs and photographers.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: Spoils.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um in the water and out of the water.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I um and I've worked with really great brands like the World Surf League and Red Bull Surfing, and you know, it's this really great travel or um tourism and travel organization and brands that are very bold and innovative with the type of content they create.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I've And dedicated and dedicated, yeah.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so I've been so fortunate to be around these people.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: So my love of surf and water photography has always been there.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um and when this is quite a few years back now, um, I started mentoring a young girl by the name of Shannon Glassen.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: And Shannon is a surf photographer, she shoots big slabby type waves.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think when I started mentoring her, she was only 17.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: So she was, you know, she'd been profiled by Red Bull in Europe and the US.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: She'd she's really, really talented.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I was mentoring her for many years, and um uh leading into 2020, I was really starting to crave a new creative outlet.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm someone who enjoys that evolution and upskilling and learning.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I was craving a new creative outlet, and then 2020 came along, and it was quite a roller coaster um physically and emotionally for me.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it was also a year that I um had some personal experiences with my health and my body, and it gave me such adoration for the female form for what we can endure, but also what we can create.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, shortly after that year, I gave birth to my first daughter, Goldie.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I was just really proud of my body.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and in an age where we're constantly having to conform to what society thinks is the perfect looking body, it was nice to be just happy with who I am today, not platitudes of I'll I'll be happy when.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um so I sort of had this idea that I wanted to get in the water with inspiring women.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: I've always mentored um women around me, and it was something I'm really passionate about is empowering women.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I had this idea of getting in the water, and Shannon used to um jump in the water with me and let me use her housing.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: And when I had this idea, it started to sort of um visualize and come to life a little bit more.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my husband, who is has been really supportive, actually got me what's called an Access Go, which is like for your mobile phone.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for your mobile phone.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Aquatech maker, don't they?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Aquitech maker, yeah.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it was like a way for me to dip my toe in.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I wasn't always having to like, you know, um take up too much of Shannon's time.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: So Shannon mentored me a lot with the um camera and the housing and everything.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: And then I wanted to just dabble with the actual creative.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I got in the water.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: I asked one of my girlfriends, can you just get in the water with me?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: And at first, I'll be honest, I wasn't originally kind of I wasn't like strong and it always being nudity, but it really just It felt that way.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's just evolved.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: And the series originally it was just releasing a chapter each week.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I um, you know, I'm a storyteller by trade, and I would share a little bit of that person at like uh, you know, with ambigu ambiguity.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um so I would share a little bit about them what we chatted about, how we approach body image, that kind of thing.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: And it just like um it just really evolved so organically and it took on a life of its own.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it's something that I've become immensely proud of because it's not I feel like um sometimes I actually just don't I don't call myself an artist.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's like it's like meaningful work and meaningful relationships.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: I know that sounds kind of funny, but um I like to create the art.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like I look at it and when it gets all blown up for my exhibits, I think, gosh, I could I still can't believe that that's me and my work.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um but I give more credit to the people in the water with me.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: So um but that experience of being able to be in the water and immersing yourself with someone in the ocean, which is like being it's funny that it's really funny that we're recording this in a church because I always say that being in the ocean is like my church.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: So when you said that, I was like, that feels appropriate.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: And um and you know, like people get in the water and you just shed emotionally and physically, like people just share their stories and what's weighing them down.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: There's no worries out there, is there?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, water is the great equality.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it has been such a really wonderful experience for you.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: I actually really do like your work.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I saw, I think I would have seen it around 2020, was when I first came across your page, to be honest.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I was picking a print up from uh Photo Mark.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, and I'm just I just saw this big print.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think it would have been about a 40-inch print, I believe.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: It was massive, and I'm just going, what is that?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because of black and white, I love black and white, and it just caught my attention.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I saw the guys working on it, and I'm like, Oh, that's so cool.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I just saw the ripples of light.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't even know what the subject was, I just saw the ripples.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: I knew it was underwater, but just that the way that you've captured the light coming in underwater, I think it was that might have been three girls on the side.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like three girls, maybe two, three, or something like that.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it's underwater, and I'm like, just the way the the whites with the greys and the blacks, it just looked unbelievable.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I had to really um work to find my kind of area of that type of photography, if that makes sense.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because I mean, I love that, you know, the deep diving women and those kinds of things, but I actually think my strength is shooting closer to the surface.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_04: I love the light reflections and the sun flares.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like I love that.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I always shoot with like sun directly.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, everyone's always like, are we shooting first thing in the morning?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, absolutely not.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's 12 o'clock in the day.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well, high tide, I need sun directly overhead.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so that it that's part of the experience as well, right?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's like finding your rhythm.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: And what ways and asleep in is really nice.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, definitely, it definitely works because uh like you said, I I think the ambiguity you add and it just it draws out all that emotion.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it and you do it so classy as well.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's nudely, but it's really classy and it shows the figure and the emotion and always, like you said, captures the light.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really interested, like how take us through your process when you're in the aura.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: Process.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: How do you create shot?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And like where do you see that?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like how do you pick out that shot?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because obviously you have a model as well.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a really great question.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a really big juxtaposition, probably from my producer director career, because when I'm a producer, everything is really planned out.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: But with my water photography, and I think this is why I had uh it was such a great challenge for me, is I can't control the elements.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I used to get really overwhelmed and stressed because I'd be like, oh, the white water clarity is a bit blurry and like murky and the sun's not it's gone behind a cloud.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like I used to worry about that stuff.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: And what I realized is, and this is probably the eternal lesson I'll have to learn over and over and over again, is that I actually just have to let it go and just go with the flow.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: So and it's a large factor of like the person I'm shooting with, because like quite often the woman that I'm shooting with is maybe doing it to like really celebrate a milestone, or um they're on the precipice of something either really big or you know, it could be serious.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: It could be, you know, so like they're really like in there for a reason.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: But so my process is always first and foremost is to get my gear, like the settings on my camera how I want them, depending on the light um and water clarity that I'm dealing with, and then to just make my muse feel really ultra comfortable.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know, the first thing that every woman always says to me and this breaks my heart is can you make me look hot?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: Or like, can you not shoot at this?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Cause like I feel really fat in this area.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, they it's they say it every single time.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I always just say that I'm gonna make you look like you.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: And they're like, oh and I'm like, no, it's a good thing.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's a really good thing.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the most favorite parts of every shoe is when I just happen to show them, even just off my camera, just a couple of frames, and I get so much joy out of seeing their reaction to seeing themselves.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's like they're looking at someone else.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's really, it's a really unique experience.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I just get my muse really comfortable and I actually just tell them to have fun.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like going for a swim.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: Go for a mermaid, like follock around, dive, like put your bottom out in the air, like, you know, just really like twist and turn and like just think.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I always like to think of the um imagery too as like quite ethereal.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like, think like really ethereal, long, graceful movements, and just like have you and I always ask them to like look online as well.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like, is there any reference, references or something you see that you would like to try?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I can't guarantee that I can replicate it, but uh, what I can guarantee is that we can make something really unique to you.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think it's a really fluid process.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's different every time, but from like a settings point of view, it's always just light and water clarity, and then getting magnets comfortable.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then just I kind of we laugh that it's actually a little bit creepy because I just like float around them quite a bit and like we chat and stuff, but like I'm just this like person that's floating around them with a camera.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: It must look really weird to anyone who doesn't know what we're doing.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um but yeah, that's the process is fluid.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I could short a bit.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Totally relate to the sense that it might feel weird or especially from someone like on looking.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because like trying to just do underwater photos myself, and that's just literally taking photos of stuff, not people involved as well.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's always like that whole other element of um just of challenge.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, the water's smashing me in the face right now.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, like you said, it's clarity or there's too many leaves in the water or that there's something.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then a wave comes over and smashes you, and you know, you're graceful anymore.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: You just get it.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's why when I saw the work, I'm like, it's uh it'd be such a challenge to just just to like even capture one photo, yet you'd like continue to pump out this crazy portfolio, which is amazing for all your customers.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for saying that.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's um like I said, it has been a really lovely challenge.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like um, it's healthy.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: I remember actually um I got my first, like when I first invested in my own uh can I use a cannon and an aquatech housing.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: And when I invested in my own kit the first time I took it out, I flooded it.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: And straight away, you know, that imposter syndrome kept in.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh, I've made a horrible mistake.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: I have spent all this money and I'm actually a fraud.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's actually funny you say that's funny you say that because I've heard that happen in my life.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't fully flood it, it was just in the lens pot, but you do when you just like Yeah, you like well, you get that sense of oh, what have I done?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because I remember Warren Keelan, I remember when I first met him, years he's amazing.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: I was still gonna say, I love um underwater photography, but I just never did it because I'm like, I'll just admire everyone else's stuff while I go do my own thing.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I was talking to him about getting a house, and he's like, what you've got to do is prepare yourself of when you're gonna flood it.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's not if it's when.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what I laugh at.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: So it happened straight away.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I had just had my baby, so I'm probably sleep deprived.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I just remember turning to my husband, like sobbing, going, I've made a mistake.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, it's okay, we just need to tighten it.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's cool.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it's like, yes, that's it.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: So, anyways, it was quite a it was quite a process, but um now I have two kits, and the reason why I have two kits is one of them is because I'm lazy.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: So it looks after the other.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: You get a babysitter full time.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, no, I I hell it was that easy.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_03: I have one with a dome port and one without a dome port.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: So two complete kits.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: One has a dome port already set up, one doesn't.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: And the other reason is because when I travel overseas, are that if something breaks, I've got it back up.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Dome ports can always go underwater, so that's fine.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, so I've um I've learned to be a little bit savvy in some of those areas.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, do your kids get into the photography with you?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: Well, my daughter's only a two.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: So she's a little young.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: She does have a little wooden camera she likes to take around and um take photos, and she is really, really um I realised quite early on with toddlers that they don't always smile for photos.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: So I have a strategy, is where I get her to fake laugh.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so she is she.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: So now you're like fake laugh.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and in every photo she's like, you know, smiling from ear to ear, um, which is quite funny.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: So now she tells me to fake laugh and she takes my phone, like she likes to pick up my phone now and take photos.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, that's the that's the trick to toddler photography.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: I know, I probably shouldn't admit that, but yeah, she she thinks it's really funny.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: I know exactly what you're talking about.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: I have a two-year-old daughter as well.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I yeah, I I don't know if she'll pick up a camera, but she does really enjoy getting my mobile phone and taking photos with that.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_02: So don't I know that too?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I often find a lot of reading freedom wonderful photos of me in the morning in bed, like you know, yeah, looking all that's battering.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Oh thank you.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's up my nose.
• 16:59
  unknown: Yeah.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: With your um models, is do you do any prep work before you go out into the water?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Are you having a coffee or having lunch or to to ease their mind a little bit or are you just heading straight out?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: So it really depends because if it's people that I know that I'm curating a concept for an exhibit, like a collection that will go into the gallery.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um I generally know them.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: I don't usually shoot with people I don't know before that.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: So I've either shot with them before or we're really close.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I feel pretty comfortable just throwing in the water and be like, this is my vision.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's a bit weird, but just go with it, right?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: Still pretty daunting even if they did know in a way.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: It could be.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like um, I have been told that that I make people feel really comfortable, which I think is um, I guess like with um the challenging niche that I've chosen, yeah.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um is a good thing.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um but if it is, I haven't really been doing private commissions in Australia because um full transparency, I think like giving that up for criticism.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like if someone else is booking me to shoot them to create artwork, I'm opening myself up.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas when it's my own artwork, there's some kind of like safety around it.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: No, I know that sounds it's like a weird thing to say.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um but I am as of November opening up private commissions in Australia, which is a really big step that I've been working towards um and I'm really excited about um because I have really lovely people reach out to me almost on a daily basis asking about it.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I just had to, I think, work through the steps in my own head so that I could do a good job for them.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Because I really like I have a I really want to make sure everything I do is of like the highest quality and the right emotion attached to it.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um but I have done private commissions in the retr women's retreat space.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been really fortunate enough to connect with a retreat called Cheer Volves.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and the women at it's like a um, I say, I'm not sure what the founder Sierra would think of me referring to it like this, but I call it like a filial cut whilst leveling up experience.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: So it's um not like a business retreat, but it's it's like there's a bit of woo-woo, there's a bit of like entrepreneurial aspects or nuances to it, um, and a lot of personal self-development.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I love it.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm really into that um area, health and wellness, and um, you know, just like personal development.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I've shot with a lot of the women on those retreats because they're there for the right reasons.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it really works.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I also um just recently went to Montenegro with um Samudra Collective, which was incredible.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm kind of broken now.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like the water clarity over there is so insane.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's I've just never experienced anything like it.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think I saw like a photo of a packed beach.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So is that from that trip?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: That was Petrovac in Montenegro.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: So basically, you have these like rugged mountain Alps that like kiss the edge of the Adriatic Sea, but you go from this calm serenity to the absolute European chaos on the beach where it's just all pebbles and just umbrellas just touching, like there's not a space on the beach.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: But at the start, if I'm being completely honest, I didn't love Montenegro, but the grittiness and the chaotic um energy of it actually started to grow on me by the end of it.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but um that's actually forming um my new collection now that I'm currently curating that I'll be exhibiting in December.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Were they being colour or black and white or national?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this exhibit's actually going to be a little bit different.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: So far, I've only exhibited works in black and white that are just the Muses underwater.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: But um Montenegro was such an incredible experience that I felt I needed to tell the story as well.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I'll be sharing some of the cultural landscape photography as well, as well as the water we shot in the Adriatics.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you showing that?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_03: I'm in the process of locking it all in at the moment, so I'll be able to share that all with you once it's um 100% locked in, but it should be early December.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, we'll have to get it.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be there too.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be doing one down on the Colcoast and I'll be doing one up in Sydney as well.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: So amazing.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: I look forward to seeing that work when it comes out.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's um it's it's really special actually, and I just really love that there's such a nice story behind it as well.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: So it'll be nice to share that with everyone.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love to touch on um being a mother and a and and having two children.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: How do you find juggling the the the parenthood and having your husband and and work life balance with that?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: I know I struggle.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm always curious to know.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: By two children, do you mean my dog Wags as well?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a Oh, you say this through?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a f no, I've only got one child.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you're saying yeah, no.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: Wags is like a child, though.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: He's he's like a toddler.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: One um he's as big as me.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um Balance.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know that's a really great question?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: I talk about this a lot, actually.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_03: I believe that balance.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Is a myth.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's more about prioritizing what is necessity at any given time.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: At the moment, I have the luxury of not uh I'm only working on wild films at the moment.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: And I have my daughter nearly full-time at home at the moment before she starts daycare next year.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm able to balance that a little bit easier than some.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I understand how much of a luxury that is.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: But when I was working full-time and, you know, me and my husband were juggling Goldie and a little couple of days of daycare in there.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is really, it is really hard.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: But I think it's um I think that's the lessons we learn from having children.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: Because, you know, I saw this jumper the other day and it had on the back motherhood.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: Some days I rock it, some days it rocks me.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Either either way, we're rocking.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, that is either perfect.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I actually bought that jumper because I was like, that is so spot on.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_03: It is so spot on.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: Some days you're like, I've got this.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: I am awesome.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then other days I'm like, I'm a terrible mum.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: I suck at my job.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like you have those moments.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I do think it's um it's not so much about balance of all the things, it's just about uh balancing of yourself, actually.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's um it's a tricky one.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's something I'll probably have to work on forever.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_03: But I definitely think Goldie is teaching me a lot about myself and about life.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm unbeknownst to her.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I struggle with the prioritizing at the moment.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I get a slap in the back of the head from my wife.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: And rightly so.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, You need to do this or do that one.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, fair enough.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Put your phone down and mulch up something.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is really hard though, isn't it?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, tricky.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: Because you want to get one thing done and it's like I want to get that done before I can do this, and then I have friends that have multiple children who are like CEOs of businesses and they can just multitask and do and are such great parents and could do so much.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm just I can't multitask like that.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: I have to be really like singularly focused.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I was always able to do Wildfamps on the side of my producer directing, but um like if I'm around Goldie, like I just really like to be around Goldie.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't want her sitting with me while I'm on my laptop on my phone all the time.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's so hard though.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's so hard.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's because like it's right there.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and she loves Blueie.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like she's obsessed.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: Blue is fantastic.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I love Blueie as well.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'd love them to make a new series soon so that I can keep watching the same episodes over and over again.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, so speaking of Wild Femmes, let's talk about that.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so um Wild Femes, yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: So basically Wild Femmes is the it started off as that creative outlet, but I I think it's really evolved into a community that is all about celebrating women holistically um and you know, and celebrating the female form, celebrating who we are today.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so the series Wild Fams is purely just um it is that like it was just um this glorious celebration of women and their stories because I really truly believe every single person has a great story, um whether it be sad or happy.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's equally as important.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, so Wild Fans celebration of the female form through ethereal underwater imagery with strong and feminine muses.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a series, and I have also an interview series to accompany it with um I've done a series one of that so far, which is um I've interviewed 10 women who are really blazing the trail in their own unique ways and defining sex, defining success um that is uh authentic to them.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, which I really love.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, we talk about emotional mastery, we talk about the ups and downs, you know, work life, you know, life hacks, biohacking.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like we talk about so many different great things, but at its very core, it's about how to stay wild.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: So for me, it's about, you know, how do we find those moments to be authentic, um, to keep feeling like alive and joyful?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think that um project is definitely the timing is is perfect.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: We live in a world at the moment where everything's just so chaotic that yeah, it will help put uh a lot of women's minds like well, not at ease, but it would help them along their journey for sure as well.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Is there's all these interviews through a a podcast?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is that how you do it?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: I do I do it like a um I do have a YouTube platform, but I'm not as um I'm not as diligent with the YouTube platform as I probably should be to allow it success.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I have a really great um my co-producer and editor, Jonathan Martin, is brilliant and he's very well nuanced in everything from platforms to algorithms, but also um minority groups and um society nuances.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like he's just this incredible human and he's an amazing filter to run my, you know, discussion.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm a producer by trade, but I find it very hard to produce myself.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really nice to have this kind of very like um we have a really beautiful candor between us.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um but we make it we make it video, but um, I should record that on Riverside so that I can drop, you know, the um separate audio tracks for him, make him happy, you know, give him a little bit of stuff that he can work with.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um but yeah, typically it's just on Spotify and the other, yeah, you know, wherever you love to listen.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: So what banner does that come under?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: What do you call it?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um Wild Femmes.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Wild Femmes, yeah.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Wild Fem's within.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: It is like that.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing's super cool.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I definitely think um, so I'm not sure if I actually mentioned this to you.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: So Wild Femmes, the name and the type of imagery that WildFemmes is actually breaks all forms of community guidelines.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: So um Is that on social media?
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I've never been able to promote it.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: So everything I've done has been purely organic, which I I I think is like a it's a really great achievement.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's a great thing.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: But I would love to reach more people and um be able to promote it.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: So um every time someone likes, as you would know with the podcast, like every time someone just listens to it who you don't know and likes it, shares it, it's like that's so nice.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's you appreciate it so much.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully we can reach a few more people in a cross promotion with you so you can get a few more hits there.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that would be great.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I've yeah, so it breaks all form of community guidelines.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: So um I get flagged on a weekly basis.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: People report me all the time.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, like just recently I won a photography award and I shared that and someone reported the image that I won the photography award for.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's like it's it's a really um Karen's.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_03: I did not choose the easiest.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I didn't choose the easiest space.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's strange because I don't see anything negative or um like a yeah, I don't see anything wrong with what you're posting.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: I have seen some work recently of somebody, and I've just gone, that is not right.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like that should be, but it's allowed on there or what you're seeing, some of these videos that some people are making at the moment, it's just full on.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: So how is that allowed?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: But something that you're doing which is artistic and you're not seeing anything.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think the filter that I always run apart, like, would I be comfortable with my daughter seeing it?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, too.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the answer's always yes.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, I'll post a photo of Goldie and then I'll post a wild firm scene.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's because I just feel like part of my motivation for wild fans is Goldie.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I want her to grow up thinking that loving our bodies and empowering women, all walks of women around us, is as simple as grabbing a cup of coffee every day.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like I want that material.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Your photos aren't like overly sexual though, at all.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: No, not compared to other things I've seen in photography petitions or it's just what the average punter is even posting on their own page every day.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like I wouldn't even like I've sometimes been associated with like a boudoir shoot.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like very similar.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Same crap.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_03: I don't even think I'm as sexual as a uh it's for me, it's not sexual at all.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like I that's not like I want um one of the images that has probably been my most sought-after image is called Come Glide With Me.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it's of a woman swimming away.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: But when I look at it, I just want people to feel free and like liberated and just like a sense of calm.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think if you have that on your wall in the middle of a hectic work day in your office or at home and you're busy or whatever, just be on look at that and just go, but it's it make you feel like you're swimming.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's an emotion attached to it.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's not meant to um But I know I know that photo, I've seen it, and it is, it's very much like it's a natural, it's you you're in your natural essence in a natural habitat.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so what what more can you how can you say that's sexual?
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's just yeah, it's just freedom.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so that that has been an interesting challenge, and I think um I think I'm slowly kind of like working ways like so.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_03: When I started, that's actually why I brought it up, is sorry, I went off onto tangent.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: This is the first one.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: This is my mum brain now.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: So um the reason why I actually started the podcast is because uh producing an interview series like that comes quite naturally to me, and I was using it as another marketing tool to promote the artwork.
• 31:03
  unknown: Yep.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: So having it with the namesake.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but now the podcast has also taken on a life of its own.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, which I'm definitely not mad about.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's really great.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I would never complain being able to connect with such wonderful women and learn their stories.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_03: And like I actually just learned so much from them.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like, like hearing people's stories and how they navigate life is like one of the true um, you know, beautiful experiences that we can, you know, it's better than school almost.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_02: Has um the people's story, like the women's stories when they're talking to you and having a conversation, has that changed the way you approach some of your work as well on the day or in your own?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, you definitely like some women who might have suffered disordered eating um and body dysmorphia.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um you know, some people might have suffered domestic violence abuse.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I I think each person I shoot with, it's really nice to get a little backstory of why they're shooting with me so that I can sensitively navigate that with them and make them feel like I want them, I want everyone to get out of the water feeling like that was just truly beautiful.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like I would hate for someone to get out of the water and be like, I don't want to see the photos, or like that was uncomfortable.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know what I mean?
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like I I don't want that emotion or energy attached to it.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it is nice to know if people feel comfortable, they can share the the inner workings of the why.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's really nice.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_03: But it's only just so I can make their experience like better.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know what I mean?
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: That that's a total skill being able to make someone comfortable, especially in that sort of situation.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because obviously people uh majority of time naked.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: So photographing these.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like you must be in an ink, like a a quiet section of the beach or something.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I I I like to find a little sec like a little cove or somewhere that doesn't get a lot of traffic.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um I typically we're very stealth.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like I've gotten very stealth with the you know, we go in the water at UNAW swimmers.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like we strip off on the beach.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I don't strip off.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, like we do do it very um uh elegant.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: Elegant.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we try to be very like supportive of you know the environment that we're in.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: So um and that makes them feel more comfortable too.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like well, that's that's what you need and what you require, right?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: You have to do that.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I probably would love to find a local like swimming pool in the district that I could like rent off the owner for days when the water clarity isn't great.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_03: Because like having a private pool would also just be really nice for people to go real, maybe a little bit more shy.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: But um that's probably just something I'll I'll work towards eventually.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_03: One day when I build my dream house, the pool.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: The the pool will just be.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the pool will be the main the main piece.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: There's plenty of pools down here on the hill or okay.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't know exactly.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: I need to go on Google Maps and just like hone in on someone and be like, Yeah, door drop.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, how's it going?
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I reckon someone would be up for it if you like paid them like a small fee to use their pretty cool.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm pretty quick as well.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: The shoots are really quick because there's only so long you can make someone stay in cold water around here.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I was gonna say, yeah, like you and you probably wear a wetsuit, right?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then your your models are not not protected.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: So don't be freezing in about 10 minutes for like Yeah, actually, one of my um the feature collection that I exhibited, I shot that when I was maybe like 39 weeks pregnant.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: And there's this hilarious photo.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: So Shannon Gason, the surf photographer, had to come with me because I was scared I wouldn't be able to um I I was scared I wouldn't be able to shoot properly.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, she might need to back me up, like support me in this.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: She had to source me like an extra large men's weddie because when you're that it was the middle moving time, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: I shouldn't be in the water for too long.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: So she sourced me this massive weddie.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: I had to get two people to squish me into it.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_03: They had to like hold my arm and walk me out into the water, but I was so buoyant that I couldn't actually submerge myself.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I was doing a lot of just like yeah, I don't viewers can't listeners can't see what I'm doing right now, but I just like holding the camera under the water with my head sort of perched up so I could get it down as far as I could.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then there's this photo where I've like crawled onto the beach and I'm sitting there with this giant valley in my water housing, like panting on the beach, and I've got these naked women behind me.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: And the photo is just so great.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's one of my fondest memories of like of that milestone.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: Makes sense.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um the group shoots are really fun though.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: They're really it's all in the name of art, right?
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: And especially if you if you're doing it with a group of friends that are really comfortable around each other, it's so great.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's such a fun thing to do because um it's like it's like cementing a memory in time that you can have forever.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: And you've got a photograph to produce.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's really nice.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's really nice.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: How how much processing do you put in your photos?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Is it like really minimal or do you like doing the work to them?
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: I don't like to really alter, I don't really alter the photos if it makes sense.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_03: I just deal with the light.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um I, if there's like seaweed in shot of a shot that I think is like really great, I'll edit the seaweed out.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: But other than that, like I haven't ever really like I don't like to mess with them.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, keep it as natural.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: I like the natural element of it.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like they're in their natural element, like, and I just like to manipulate the light a little bit to make that black and white really pop.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: But other than that, I don't I don't really like to mess with them.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's why it I think it does shine through because it looks very natural when I look at your work.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that's what I like it for.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and also like because of all the white refractions, it would be really hard for me to do any kind of crazy editing without um messing that up.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_02: Especially in black and white.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: Black and white, you can mess it up very quickly.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: You end up matching all the tones together.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, oh, yeah.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not like, like I said, I'm a self-taught um photographer.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I like my skill sets in regards to editing, I probably not like I probably need that's probably something I really need to like upskill on.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_03: But at the moment, I'm in a really nice space of my craft.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_03: So it's working right now.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: But um, you know, in Montenegro, it was really great because I got to shoot.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the water was so clear that I could actually step back a bit because I shoot quite close, like I could actually go back a bit and get some of these beautiful shots of the women like diving up towards.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they look like champagne bubbles and mermaids like swimming up through the top.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_03: It was just, it was really beautiful.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_03: So um, I'm excited to share those um all blown up.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: It'll just be it'll be the models that you use for that, for the for that work, were they local or did you take them over with you?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: No, well, that was um so the retreat's called Samudra Collective, yeah.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: And the retreat itself was all about women and their connection to water, and that's kind of how I came into Illumina's orbit.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so these were attendees on the shoot.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I was chatting with the um retreat founder, and we were talking about like people could have shot with me while they were there, but she was also saying, you know, it'd be great if we could contribute something.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, well, why don't I do a group wildfam shoot?
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: And she was like, I think they'd really love that.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: Literally, it was so it was one of the funniest experiences.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: We had these Montenegrin boat, we had two boats, little boats with two Montenegrin men, and we're in the water, and I said, Okay, only if you're comfortable, but would anyone like to be part of the Wildfam series?
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like, should we do a big group shoot?
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I was trying to be very like, no pressure.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: Before I even finish the sentence, these girls have their bikinis throwing them at these boat guides, and I just remember looking at the boat guides' faces being like, what the hell going on?
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_03: So what is happening?
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_03: What is going on?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: And they couldn't speak a lick of English, and it was just so funny.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_03: I just remember that moment so clear, and when they had to get their bikinis back, they were just throwing them back in at people, and I just thought, there's such a great memory to attach to that shoe.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: So they were attendees for some mood job, which is really nice.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_03: So I think they'll be really stoked to see, yeah, they'll be really stoked to see the imagery um all blown up as well.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: Your work would look amazing in a coffee table book, I reckon it.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: I said, I I have thought about that a lot.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: I need to like, I probably just need to um I think I'm working towards that.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: I think like I'm not quite there yet, but I'll blank up to it.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'll bring up a coffee table book to a lot of guests because I love I love photo books.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's I've got so many as well.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because I love them.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because you it's putting a big print on some on your wall is great, but sometimes you can't afford a big print.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_03: Also, you've only got so much wall space, right?
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, new houses have massive, massive walls.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, true, very true.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean like a little little um coal miners cottage.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_03: But um fantastic.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: That would be that would be a nice thing to do.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think maybe next year I would look at that.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um I've got like some things that I'm working on at the moment um that will probably get released next year, but that would definitely be something I would like to work towards.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it would be lovely to see it like that.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: So just to touch on a little bit of the technical side, um, you said you used Canon.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: And was it Aquatech Housing?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Aquatech housing.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: So we touch a little bit about the gear that you're using.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, look, I'm very simplistic with my gear.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I have a Canon, um, I have a Canon 5D and a Canon 7D.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I use uh 40 mil lens and a 50 mil lens.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I have a dome port on one camera and I have a just a flat port for the other.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um and that's really it.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's really simple.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: But what I do always take out with me is I have such a love for that access go.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: I always just loop it over my shoulder as like a safety.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: Because I always just feel like you just never know if something might go wrong or if I'm not happy with all the photos.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: It'd be good just to have a backup, but I also like to shoot some video off that as well.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I always just take out the access go as well.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, have my little squeegee that um Shannon made me out of like an old shower squeegee, you know?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: You do it over the front, but um, yeah, Shannon, Shannon actually, I encourage everyone to like, you should actually interview Shannon.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_03: She is amazing.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_03: She's a good friend of Warren Keelan's as well.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, so she's taught me a lot of like tricks of the trade.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and every now and then, if I'm having like a like if something's not working, I'll call her and be like, Shannon.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: What do I do here?
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: This isn't working.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: What can I like?
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: You need to teach me so does.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: I still lean on her quite a bit.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_03: I always say to her, I mentored you for years.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's this is your time.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: You need to mentor me.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm a really big believer of mentoring.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think it's really nice to be able to have people that can help you um level up and upskill and that's it.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_02: No one's ever better than you.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: And you're never any better than somebody else.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the whole the best thing of community.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: So they can lean on your friends and people that you've met along the way.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I what I get really like OCD though is about um keeping the lens ports clean.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's really hard, especially when you start on a beach with sand.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, really.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's become like my I'll clean it and be like, no, it's not clean enough.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: I've got to clean it again.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's become like a thing.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: So if I can start not on the beach, I actually really prefer that.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, that's you know, we live in a place which has the most beautiful beaches in the world.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: So how do you prep your lens your lens uh ports?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um I actually keep this might be just because I'm lazy also.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: But I actually um keep my lens ports all screwed on.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I leave the back plates undone when I'm just at home.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: But when I travel with them, I do them all up with the camera just to keep it all compact.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: But um I keep everything together.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I just go around and re-tighten and like clean the um the O-ring.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_03: The O-ring, yeah.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, yeah, you've got to put the spit on there and stuff beforehand.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: I I did it once without the spit, and like you said, I flooded it because I did I got one grain of sand on the A-ring.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it was like I was like, put it in the cat.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: And do you know what though?
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_03: I like I would say this.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: If you had me shooting out in the channel shooting surf, like I probably would have flooded my camera a million times.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: I think I'm really lucky that I shoot so close to the surface because I feel like it doesn't the pressure's not there to flood it as much.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I think that's one of the really amazing and it's not getting smashed around.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: Not getting smashed around.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like, do you know when I first bought the kit?
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, this is really funny.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I have a giant grudel that looks like a human in a teddy bear costume called Wags, Mr.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_03: Wags, and um keeping in mind this was postpartum as well, so I was probably not very tolerant or like um, you know, I was probably sleep deprived and a little bit more emotional than usual.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember I had done a shoot and I had taken it all apart, the housing and everything, and I had everything dry.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_03: I washed it and had it all drying because like um it's nice to clean it all, otherwise all the buttons and stuff get a bit sticky.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_03: And I left it down the ground in my studio, home studio, not realizing I'd left the deck door open and Wags was he was maybe like a year or a year and a half.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Old or something.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_03: Anyways, I came back in and I was gonna put it all back together and I was missing the extender, like which is the bit that goes between for listeners' home, it's just like the little bit that goes between the actual front lens port uh the lens and the housing.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, where is it?
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like I just need it.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's so weird.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I go out in the yard and Wags is chewing it, throwing it in the air.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I'll be that time.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, no, like this.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: Anyways, and I took it back to Aquatec.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I said, Hey, um, can you service my housing?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: He goes, What happened to it?
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_03: I said, My dog chewed it.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_03: And he thought it was a joke, and I was like, No, really.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_03: My dog chewed it and he was like, Okay, so my 5D housing has a chip out of the extender, yeah, and they've pressure tested it to 10 meters, and it's fine.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but I just don't completely trust it.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm sure if I was in like big surf jumping off boats with it and smashing, I'm sure that it would come apart at the sea.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_02: One little rattle and one good thing.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_03: My delicate, gentle swimming and floating around that I do, and like, you know, mermaiding, it seems to be working really well.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_03: But um, so I'm really lucky.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I'm like, there's definitely lots of little tricks of the trade that um you you think aren't important that are so important.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like the licking the o-ring is like like licking your finger and like very opening.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: First thing, right?
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's been crucial for me.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I just always triple check my like my extent or my lens point is always like screwed on really well because somehow they just unscrew themselves.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know yet.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they get loose, but it's between the hot and cold, I reckon.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely pressurizes and pressurizes the changes.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it loosens up.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I um like going to Montenegro, I had uh like a pelican case and a camera backpack and I was determined not to have to check any of that.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, I will not be checking this camera kit.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I then strolled on and yeah.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I managed to take it all on carry-on.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: But if they had to touch the pelican case, it was it was yeah, it I was it was a bit cheeky.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: But um I was like, I I will not risk old glass in this on um getting checked in.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_03: But I remember going through the security customs and it because the camera's in the housing, they can't actually see what it is.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_03: And the guy just opened it and was like reefing things out, and I just remember the sheer panic that was coming over me watching the just they're not, yeah.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_03: Please, sir, please can I do it for you?
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_03: And he was like, You can't touch it.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, please, like, let me let me do it.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: How much it's gonna cost him.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_03: I just thought, oh my god, I haven't even made it to Europe yet, and it's already gonna be busted.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, we made it there, safe and sound, thank goodness.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: But uh what what would you say your highlight of your photography career has been so far?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: Good question.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's a powerful question, actually.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_03: Can I have two answers?
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: You can.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so I think the highlight is the connections I've uh forged with such incredible women of all walks of life, from you know, cultural ethnicity from age, from body shape, like just these beautiful connections, hearing everyone's stories, the vulnerability that they show me, um even just getting in the water with me.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like I have such appreciation for that.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I think as I get older, it's super important for me to have meaningful work and meaningful relationships.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_03: And Wild Fans really gives that to me.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: Like I feel really lucky in that sense.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_03: So that would probably be the first and foremost highlight of my career.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_03: And the second one is just seeing my work blown up like that.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like I remember the first exhibit I did.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_03: I was really like, is that really my work?
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: I just couldn't believe it.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: It just seemed like a bit dreamy.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and my last exhibit sold out in like an hour.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I just, I couldn't believe it.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: I was so shocked and so grateful.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_03: Was that 55 parrots?
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: At 55 parrots.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: It just went so quick.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I just thought, gosh, that is so lovely.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're underside.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_03: Also, yeah, really affirming that okay, yeah, I'm doing good.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like keep going, keep like blazing that trail and keep forging ahead.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that was a really special moment.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I think it's yeah, it's just affirming knowing that I'm doing a good thing.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: That selling out that quick that's gotta feel good.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I got there to before I even got there, two of the pieces had sold, and I I was so confused.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_03: I thought she was joking and she was like, no, it's sold.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like they don't think.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh it's interesting when there's red dots before you even arrive at your own exam, yeah.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_03: Totally, totally.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think by the end of the night, I think there was maybe one or two pieces left, but they were just very small.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um one of like the really big ones sold straight away.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_03: And it was someone I didn't know.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's a really good indication when it's someone that doesn't actually know you from a bar of soap.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: Never understood that saying, um, who bought it genuinely just because they love it.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's so special.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_02: It would have made those drinks at the at 55 Parrots even better.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, indeed.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm very grateful to Max.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_03: Max is um, she's Max from 55 Parrots, she's always been such a wonderful supporter of um artists in this area.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really cool to um just have that opportunity to be in such a beautiful space.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, she gave me a crack there as well.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh even though I don't live technically on the Illawarra coast, I'm 25 minutes inland.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, she she um gave me a go.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't unfortunately sell anything, but um but no, it was But it's part of the experience.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that was the first time I'd exhibited in in something like that before.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I'm already daunting.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: It is like I'm only fresh to it, so because I'm I'm um I've got OCD with my work, so even if it's not ready, I'm not happy with it, it's not going anywhere.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a it's a shame that it's it's shut down though, because it was a good uh good intro for a lot of uh artists.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_03: I think there was a lot of artists that were sad about that, but I'm knowing Max, she's always working on something really special.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm sure that we'll see more opportunities coming from her.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because I yeah, I reached out to say, Oh, can I oh oh can I have another go?
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'll have another crack.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_02: I've got some new work to put in there, and she's like, Oh, we're shutting down.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she I think she's blowing up online that.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think she's she's gone all online.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it looks like she's doing quite well actually.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, she's yeah, she's um she's got a great energy, Max.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_03: I can't imagine her not being busy, if that makes sense.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like she's always she's I think she's in uh Asia or somewhere at the moment, sort of seeing more incredible artists and goods.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm sure we'll be hearing lots more from that.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's more people like that in um in the world and that you now industry definitely helps as well.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_02: So it's all about like 100%.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: What's next for Emma?
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: What's next?
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: What's coming up the next year or so?
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: A book.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: A book.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where is it?
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you have to make a book out.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_03: But copy table book, obviously.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um just one, just for me.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_03: Just one.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_03: So as I mentioned before, I've I'll be exhibiting um the collection that I shot in Montenegro in early December, which I'm really excited to share with everyone.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um next year I have um some really great retreats booked in.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um one in Byron Bay, one in Fiji.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh sorry, one in Byron Bay, one in Bali.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm in talks with um one in Italy at the moment.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_03: So, and New Zealand, actually.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I was actually late for this meeting.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry about that.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's got anything to do in New Zealand.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_02: I can I accept I can accept that.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, good.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it goes against my grain being late for anything, but it was um it was a really great chat.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so some really great retreat opportunities and um uh collaborations for next year, which is really exciting.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm developing a couple of products as well to come under the Wild Femes brand, which is really nice, or under I guess WAFEMS or MMA's brand.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I've been asked to do a lot more public speaking, which is really nice, um, which has been really great.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_03: I recently spoke at Sydney Creative Mornings, which is a really brilliant community of creatives that meet together for a lecture series every month.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I felt really chuffed to have gotten asked to speak at that, which is really lovely.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um so doing a lot more public speaking, um yeah, and launching private commissions in Australia, which I'm really excited about.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I think, you know, um that will be a really amazing opportunity to connect with more women and create more artwork for them.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: I just think there's nothing more special to create a piece of artwork that you're in.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but still be ambiguous about it.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's really beautiful.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so that will be happening.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_03: I launched that tomorrow, actually.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_03: So this might go out after that.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I launched that 1st of November.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um and more producer directing, hopefully making great films and content and um working with great people.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I might see you on a TV set somewhere.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe, maybe.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm still trying to figure out, you know, you're talking about that balancing.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'm still trying to figure out how I can work on a TV set and have a toddler at home.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm I'm still in the midst of figuring out life, but I'm getting closer, I reckon.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm getting closer.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I know all the dads like and the mums that I work work with, they've all said, I don't understand why these companies don't have crashes.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_02: I mean that would be put a crash on because every single like a lot of the high-end producers Because they would be in the crash for about 17 hours.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but then someone come pick them up after work.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, hopefully, yeah.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's my other thing.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm still trying to figure out the whole um how to balance life thing.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um that'll be.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's a constant for everybody.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good way to put it.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: Reassessing what needs your attention most.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_03: And I think just um a really big focus for me is after a really long time working in television and content and working a lot of heavy hours.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_03: For me, now that I've had a daughter and I've got this incredible platform and compute community that um and series that I have the opportunity to work with, it's designing a life that works for me and my family.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: And that makes me happy.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I think we don't put enough focus on that uh life design.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think it's so crucial.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um agreed.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but that's that's a really big focus for me, is um, you know, I'm not afraid to say I like money.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think any should we have fear of money.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I really like money, so I want to figure out how to make enough of it to live the life I want to live.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_03: So um while still being creatively fulfilled.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think I think the challenge is um making the money doing something that you love.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's the hardest thing.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_01: Really, that's amazing.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you're gonna be six very successful.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you so much.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for inviting me.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's been fantastic having you on the show.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, like I said, when I saw that exhibition at um 55 Parrots, and I I didn't get the chance to get down there, but like we've got to have a chat with us.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's great.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_03: I really appreciate your time.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's been lovely to chat with you both.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh thank you very much.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: And um thank you everyone for listening, and we truly appreciate your time.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_02: And jump on Emma's work, we'll have her uh details in our show notes, and believe me, you will not be disappointed.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks everybody, and we'll catch you on our next episode.