Hair of the Dog 2016

I was very honoured to speak at the Australian Institute of Professional Photography’s Queensland division annual conference, the Hair of the Dog conference, this year. I’ve been coming to Hair of the Dog for the last five or so years, listening to pretty incredible speakers and learning about image execution, different genres of photography, business and marketing, and many many ways of finding inspiration. To be asked to speak in the first place is massive – but putting together a breakout session with legends Darren Jew and Ian Poole was even better. Ian, Darren and I put together material to help new and experienced photographers with APPA award prints. “Preparing and Producing Award Images” was one of the best-attended breakout sessions from the 2016 conference.

Truth be told, it wasn’t my first time on stage at Hair of the Dog. In 2015 I was ‘volunteered’ to join Alanna McTiernan on stage for what was probably the. worst. game. of. Charades ever played. I set the bar pretty low.

For this session though, I spoke about some of the steps I’ve taken to make sure the images I’ve entered in AIPP competitions at a state and national level are the strongest they can be. My first time entering in 2012 was a shocker; it’s not as simple as submitting prints that your clients love – you need to find ways to lift images well past that. In the session I went through some easy faults to avoid, the importance of narrative and story, understanding the award rules and conventions, and how I go about getting feedback on images before submitting.

It was an absolute treat to be able to talk about the conception and production of some of my recent images, including the evolution of Sleepless, and some of the detours that happened with Generations. It isn’t very often that we as photographers get to do that.

In the end, I met my personal criteria for success – I did not fall of the stage, and no fruit was thrown in my direction. So that’s a good thing.

After previous conferences, from time to time I’ve emailed/messaged/accosted presenters before to tell them how what they said made it through to me, or inspired me in some way. I was on the receiving end of one of those emails this week, and that was a pretty spectacular feeling 🙂  I’m surprised to find that I’m looking forward to doing it again sometime.

Thank you to Bambi Gosbell (Photography by Bambi) and Shane McCaffery (Shane McCaffery Portraits) for their photos! And of course to the Hair of the Dog committee, particularly Michelle Kenna, for the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and speak on something that I’m passionate about, and to Ian and Darren for welcoming me in to the partnership.