I arrived at one of the best wetlands areas in Australia (Coorong) not long ago and was given a brilliant display of acrobatics from the amazing Little Terns that feed in the area. I managed to capture a series of images but ultimately decided on two images that i liked best. Here are those two images and the near frames that I was also considering. What I was looking for was the one image that tells the story of a Little Tern feeding. In the end I couldn’t decide between these two and thought together they tell a better story.

The Little Tern glides on the shore breeze of coastal estuaries looking for small fish. Once they find a fish to feed on they twist in the air keeping their eye on the fish and make a dive into the water. Sometimes successful, sometimes not.

On this occasion the Little Tern was successful. I like this shot and the above shot as it tells a complete story of the Little Tern feeding.

It’s not until you experience the uniqueness of Lake Mungo that you realize the extreme beauty and isolation of this incredible and culturally historical area that has played a major part in shaping the country Australia as we know it. From aboriginal and cultural artifacts to European settlers prospering in the 19th and 20th century, Lake Mungo has no shortage of history, dating back 3 times older than that of egyptian times.
Lake Mungo is at the top of my list as the most spectacularly beautiful places you can experience in Australia. The Walls of China come alive as the sun sets in the west, showering the centuries old clay formations with golden sunlight.

I sat at the Walls of China for 10 hours soaking up every element on offer, from Funnel Web spiders making homes in the rest area to Emus grazing through the dry underbrush of the lake itself. I sat within the clay formations as the sun was setting and almost forgot to take photos as I became engulfed as the walls turned from stark shapes to lively golden brown life forms.

This is my series of Walls of China. A series of prints created on one magical day at the Walls of China.

I made a decision almost 20 years ago to follow the dollars. Whatever creative career I chose from graduating with a BVA (Bachelor of Visual Arts) was going to be the one that would pay the most or had the most commercial value. So this meant not pursuing solely a creative career but a career based on income around my skill set and evolving from there.
While I don’t regret the ride that has followed this decision I do regret chasing the dollars as I am now fully realising how much that damaged my creative spirit and never in the true sense made me happy. My main reasons for taking the commercial route was due to the fear I had for being able to achieve anything purely as an artist. It felt horribly insecure to think of how I was going to provide a living as an artist. Well guess what? Nothing has changed in that regard. I’m still scared as all hell about that prospect but i’m comfortable in one other aspect now and that is I know that aiming for the career chasing dollars does not equal happiness. My goal now is to follow my creative heart and hope to hell that appeals to a small percentage of you so I can continue my creative process.

I Made The Decision
In the middle of 2011 I made the decision to change my life. To remove myself from what was making me most unhappy and changed my thinking completely. I have since sold most of my possessions in order to aid me to help re-find and sustain and artistic profession, rather than chalking up pay cheques and paying for the next big thing on the market.

My Artistic Roots
I am looking to get back to my artist roots, to find, photograph and create unique images that tell stories through fine art and journalistic photography. Photography has become an amazing creative outlet for me over the last 4 years and it’s brought back my creative passion in a big way and has since become my expressive tool of choice in my artistic endeavours. The beautiful thing is I have always had a passion for photography and in the last 4 years it has come to the forefront. Having had broad experience through illustration, paining and design it seems like the capturing of an image has been more of a natural step. I can compose and visualise just as I have done in previous art forms, which has helped me naturally transition to this new tool set.

On The Road
The last 4 weeks on the road have allowed me find where I left my creative side back in the day. It’s not like I am saying that the 1000′s of websites I have designed and developed over the last 14 years have been a waste of time. That has also been a creative process, but not a free creative process like the one I once enjoyed as an illustrative artist before entering the working world.
In a sense the last 4 weeks I have removed myself from the trappings of everyday life, freed my mind of major worries and allowed my mind to clear and to just focus on creating beautiful art.

The Goal for 2012
The hope is to be on the road and making my way across far out places to capture amazing images and tell some unique stories. It doesn’t require a lot of money to do that. I’m not interested in living the high life like a tourist. My aim is to immerse myself in cultures and experience these cultures from the locals perspective to allow me to make the connections to be able to tell their stories. This could mean as little as $5 – $50 per day depending on the country i’m travelling in at the time.

So it’s clear that 2011 has become life changing for me. I’ve made the creative jump that I couldn’t make almost 20 years ago. It’s as scary as all hell, this could be a big failure and I might even end up with absolutely nothing and be living on the street. But i’ll be damned to regret to give it a try, and try I will.

Brusca xo