Hi, I’m Dan. I have been given the opportunity to contribute to the work of my friend Manny. There are a lot of photography-related things that I could talk about, but I think I’ll start with the foundation of my photography. Capturing moments and making memories.
When most people think about photography they think about inspiration, motivation, discipline, personal style and equipment. Don’t get me wrong, these are all vital components to why we do what we do. But for me, simply capturing moments and making memories comes first.
I may not have the most interesting life or live in the most photogenic place (hello NYC?). But I love what I have and I have what I love. I love my family and every little moment we have together. Whether it’s sitting having dinner together or out exploring our city. I love my new home, Canberra, which is one of the smallest ‘cities’ in Australia. I love its charm. It’s a city surrounded by mountains. Calm, clean and beautiful. I also try and take as many opportunities as I can in pursuit of photography and my daily life. That includes reaching out to Manny and my new friend Houman in Sydney on a whim, resulting in meeting other like-minded photographers for the first time and making excellent friends.
All too often I hear people with regrets. Not doing that thing they always wanted to, not seeing those friends or family enough or not driving to Sydney to make new friends. Then one day it’s too late. They’ve missed the opportunity, they’re too old or the moments passed. What happens when your memory fades? We can’t possibly remember everything.
This is what shapes my photography.
Everyone sees things differently. I want to capture what I see and do. I’ve always loved the idea of photography but had never really committed to it. It wasn’t until I realised how important the little things are that the two came together. And now I feel like I’ve figured it out. With a foundation set, I can now incorporate inspiration from other photographers, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to go out and shoot and the discipline to put it all together with a piece of equipment I love to use. Hopefully adding all of that up will result in a personal style for my work. But like many, that’s something I’m still fine-tuning.