I Love Wednesdays » A Photography & Design studio based in Sydney, Australia

I woke up on Valentine’s Day feeling a little worse for wear. I didn’t want to do anything and I didn’t want to move at all. Nick knew better than me and decided that the best way to coax me out of bed and to our planned day putt-putting was by making me pancakes. Anyone who knows me knows my love of food knows no bounds and that food is really the way to my heart and yesterday was no exception. I was up, chipper and off to putt-putt in no time.

It was fun to go back to our sort of first date place and hang out, though I have to say that those characters on the course look a lot less creepy at night when you can’t see their freakish smiles and poses properly.

And really, what better way to spend Valentine’s Day than eating and playing?

Hope you all had an awesome Valentine’s Day too and I leave you with this photo of Nick and I playing with sparklers. My attempt should be labeled more of a failure really, the heart looks more like a jellybean than anything else.

I was asked to do an interview for the amazing Ms. Penelope RED’s blog and newsletter. She is an amazingly talented fashion designer, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with her and her lovely garments on more than one occasion (more like three or four, but who’s counting) and she got me thinking about inspiration and what my inspirations are. It’s funny to say this, but I’ve always found that a difficult question to answer. I mean, you think about it, and it is anything and everything that’s inspiring, and most of the time it’s something very strange and almost completely unrelated to what you’re actually doing or thinking about.

What I realised was that the only way could answer the question of what inspires me without answering “everything!” is to tell you all that I love stories. Stories have a way of weaving themselves into your being. Everyone has a story; whether it is good, bad, funny, indifferent, filled with silliness; everyone has a story. My job as a photographer is to capture that story, and I am grateful for it every day. Sometimes I get to create my own story and other times I get to be a part of other people’s; to document intimate moments that are only really shared with closest family and friends. To be let into other people’s lives and their stories and see them unfold, really, how could you not be inspired?

I’m thankful for being able to share in people’s stories and to document them. It really is an awesome job.

My favourite time of day is just after the sun has set. Everything still has that slight warm glow and I swear it smells different to the day. Especially in summer, after the excessive heat of the day (which I am none too fond of) the dusk comes as sweet relief.

The dusk also brings with it the beginning of the night and a majority of my work day. I’m a definite night-owl, I swear it’s genetic. I’m much more productive when I don’t have emails and phone calls and the beautiful day that I want to be out enjoying distracting me.

However, there is one problem with taking photos after dusk is that you need to take a tripod with you, or in my case that little connector bit that you use to attach said tripod to your camera. I remembered both the camera and the tripod, but not that little connector bit.

With a little bit of leaning, and a little bit of slow breathing, I think I still did pretty alright.

Anyone else have a favourite time of day?