JOSHUA – How he ‘got into’ photography

A young woman I trained at World Youth International about twenty years ago recently sent me a message – the first in almost as many years – and acknowledged Joshua’s website and photography.   She went on to say that her own son was interested in becoming a photographer, and she wondered how Joshua had navigated his pathway so successfully.

 I told her that he had gone to Macquarie Uni where he completed his first degree, a Bachelor of Arts, and then did his Masters in Writing for the Media.  I told her that he got into AFTRS after his third application.  I told Joshua this is how I replied to her question.  

 He responded with this: 

“No - it was completely separate to AFTRS and any of my film studies.

 The long answer -

 Before I went to Africa for the World Cup in 2010 I bought a good camera for the first time in my life to take photos of soccer and animals. When I returned, I didn't use it for almost 3 or 4 months and I felt bad about having such a professional piece of equipment and not using it.  I made a new years resolution to use it ( at least ) every month in the following year. Then, by chance I entered a competition in one of those free magazines ( one of those 15 words or less question things ).  I won two tickets to go and see a band ( The Temper Trap ) play in a church in the middle of Newtown for a television show.  I took my camera to the show thinking that they would make me put it in the cloakroom but when the lady saw me coming with the camera around my neck she said, "you must be media you need a media pass," and I kept a straight face and agreed.  She gave me a media pass and led me into the green room where the band were to take photos of them and then set me up at the front of stage with an unobstructed view of the entire show.  By the end of the show I had lots of terrible photos but I also had a handful of decent ones.  I sent them in to a few music publications that I found online saying that I was a photographer and these were some of my "recent work," and could I shoot for them for a few months for free and if they liked me and I liked them we could continue on a paid basis.  I've been shooting for that same magazine for the last 10+ years.

 Short answer -

 I'd recommend getting a camera and start taking photos.  Build a resume.  Fake it till you get there.  Make mistakes.  Lots of mistakes.  Learn from them.  Watch tutorials online.  Get better.  Enter competitions.  But most of all - just start doing it.  The photo resume comes first.  Be undeniable. 👍 “

 I so love this response, it’s generous and demonstrates his passion and his unstoppability and his incredible capacity for hard work.   We are so proud of our son.