Welcome, I'm RO

My photography journey started with a tiny Nikon Coolpix my mum bought me in 2010. A simple little point-and-shoot with a built-in lens, nothing extravagant, but to little ol’ me, it was everything, and it came with me everywhere. I traipsed around the garden taking photos of plants, my dog, bumble bees in flowers, the clouds in the sky. Every car ride, dinner, and beach walk was documented. Absolutely nothing and no one was safe from being captured by me and that little Canon.

Where love becomes legacy

Fast forward to my early twenties, after graduating with a diploma of film and media, I was blessed with opportunities that allowed me to further pursue my love for wildlife photography in some of the most remote parts of the earth with Jarrad, an Antarctic guide, captain, avid adventurer, and my wonderful life partner. Together we continue to chase these wild expeditions on and off, always dreaming up the next one. My love for the wild, the rugged, and telling the stories of nature has become one of the greatest passions of my life. 

I often think of the days of old, long before digital cameras, when the bride and groom stood front and centre surrounded by their families, the photographer beneath the dark cloth carefully adjusting the camera, the long pause before the pop and bang of the flash powder. That single photograph would become more than an image. It would become a memory. Decades later, the bride would pull the photograph, in its golden frame, down from above the mantlepiece and hold it in her wrinkled hands, and she could still remember exactly how she felt that day. The joy, the love she had, and still has, for her husband, how they danced all night until their feet hurt, and how she would do it all over again if she could.

Returning home in a more permanent way in recent years, I realised I wanted to photograph in a way that mattered deeply to people, both personally and individually. And well, I absolutely love love. I mean, who doesn’t? I love the yearning and devotion, the butterflies, the joy of being loved and giving that love right back. What is life without love of some form, right? 

As more years pass, that one photograph is handed down from daughter to grandson to great-granddaughter and so forth. The bride’s granddaughter pulls the photograph from the dusty album for her own granddaughter to look at, and she tells her the story of them, about their love and their life together, about where she came from, her heritage, and the love that led to her life.

You see, the importance of documenting this day, documenting your love and your story, is no small thing to me. It is something I hold with enormous care and reverence. I take so much pride in this art form and in the art I create. It is truly an honour to play even the smallest sacred part in your day.