It’s 70 laps around the sun for me.
I’m retired, if it were not for my mentor and my good friend the late Brain Brandt I would not be as comfortable as I am.
I met Brian at an Australian Institute of Professional Photographers conference in Melbourne back in the early 1980’s. Brian and I became great mates.
Being part of a professional organisation is important especially a National one, you meet and share things with like minded people who are not your competition.
I was very busy at the time and Brian gave me some great advice, “I know a lot of photographers who make a shit load of money in their 30’s the only ones with any left in their 60’s are the ones who buy a building to work from, rather than pay someone else rent, pay the Bank a mortgage”
That was 1985, I came back to Adelaide and bought a building.
Sold it a few years ago, it’s now my self managed Super Fund.
I was on the original Mentoring Committee started a few years ago by the AIPP, mentored quite a few other Photographers including Peter Barnes a great Adelaide Architectural photographer who I still catch up with. The Wine Communicators of Australia have a mentoring program. I mentored Ben MacMahon as part of that.
More recently I mentored a group of young photographers in the Onkaparinga Council area in a project ‘Shoot the South’ which became ‘Nurlungga’ a very successful exhibtion held at the Port Noarlunga Arts Centre.
In my retirement I am very interested in still being involved in Photography.
As I often say “Photographs are important : The current International “Black Lives Matter’ movement would not have been so far reaching, if someone had not photographed the murder of George Floyd.
Many other photographs have led to major changes in people’s view of the world.