Hand-lettering with Leona Fietz.

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by an incredible, supportive and talented community of self-starters in Brisbane. My friend Leona is just one of these amazing people. These are some photos I took at her latest Hand-lettering Basics workshop, which runs monthly at Workshop Brisbane (usually around the same time as my Photography Basics workshop!). Keep an eye on the Workshop website or her Instagram for details.

Jessica Cruickshank.

While I was in Sydney last week I photographed the cute face and cute space of my friend, letterer & illustrator Jess Cruickshank. Jess and I met on Twitter about five years ago. Since then she's moved from Brisbane to Sydney, gotten married (to another awesome person, Tim), and left her full-time role at an ad agency to do this whole lettering thing solo—and what an incredible decision that was, because every year she produces something that makes me want to weep. I find her work beautiful because it is well-executed, colourful and detailed. I love seeing her trial new techniques and perform little personal experiments that she shares on Snapchat/Instagram—it gives you an insight not only into her process and personal development, but also the amount of effort that goes into making those beautiful, finished pieces.

Here's a little peek at where the magic happens. To see more of Jess' work, follow her on Instagram or Snapchat (@jess__cruicky).

Type By Hand: Hand-lettering workshops with Wayne Thompson.

Yet again, my design & photography worlds collide. If you're a designer & type-lover living in Australia, then you've probably already heard of Wayne Thompson's Type By Hand workshops. Teaching you to refine your hand-lettering skills through a range of techniques, you'll learn the art of blackletter, brush type and even how to make your own ruling pen from a soda can. These workshops are a must if you love typography or doing anything by hand, not to mention you get a lot of one-on-one learning time with some of Australia's best typographers.

It was such a pleasure filming the workshop (which I've been wanting to attend myself for some time now). I first met Wayne when I photographed Typism 2013; almost a year later, it's great to be able to work with Wayne after our brief chats about videos & photos at the conference.

If you went to Typism, you'll also notice Wayne's fellow speakers Matt Vergotis (attending as a helper) & Nicole Phillips (attending as a keen student) appear in the video.

Just quietly: plans are already underway for Typism 2015, so keep an eye on the website for the line-up and more news to come.

More photos from my day capturing Type By Hand below.

Jungle Heart Exhibition: raising critical funds for Borneo & the orang-utans.

Over the weekend I announced something I've been planning for the last 6 months: Jungle Heart, an exhibition of original artwork by Australian artists joining the fight for conservation in Borneo.

A minimum 15% of each artwork sold on the opening night will be donated to WWF Australia. The Bornean rainforests are one of WWF's high impact initiatives, and these funds will help them to:

• Create a giant 220,000 km2 network of protected areas and sustainably managed forests
• Provide the people of Borneo with real alternatives to illegal poaching and logging
• Protect and sustainably manage the remaining natural habitat within the Heart of Borneo

It's been really exciting to put together this group of amazing creatives. These are people that I respect and admire, a mixture of emerging & established artists in their fields. Most creatives I know are incredibly passionate about the environment and the natural world, so for us all to be able to do what we love whilst giving back to the planet and raising awareness of Borneo is a really special thing.

If you live in Brisbane or you'll be in Brisbane on Friday, June 6, please come along to the exhibition—entry is free and the incredible crew at Southside Tea Room make amazing food and drink so it's bound to be a great night! RSVP on our event page and invite your friends.

I'll be regularly posting information about the event on our Facebook page, including sneak peeks of all the artists' pieces, any updates to the exhibition as well as facts about Borneo and the endangered orang-utans. Feel free to head over and "like it" to read more over the next few weeks.

Big, big thanks: My very big thanks goes to Brisbane creative ladies Jasmine Dowling (who hand-lettered the logo) and Sophia Mary Mac whose artwork for the exhibition is in the background of all our Jungle Heart images! It's thanks to you that the branding for Jungle Heart looks so lovely.

Dominique Falla: Multi-Viral | Sneak Peek

A small preview of my last film of the year, working with Dominique once more. It's still in the works, but all going well, we'll be able to release it in January!

Typism Inspiration Conference 2013.

I was ecstatic and incredibly honoured when Dominique asked me to photograph Typism—the conference she founded, the very first typography-only creative conference in Australia. We were really overwhelmed by all the positive feedback from everyone who attended and it was great to know that we were part of something that inspired our fellow creatives.

Some of these photos will be up on the Typism Facebook page, including some photos from the after-party (I was too short and it was too crowded inside Cambus Wallace to actually get any photos of the exhibited artwork, I apologise), but here's my run-down of the day. Here's to Typism 2015!

Edit: It was amazing to see my video work for Aurelie and Dominique on the big screen! If you would like to watch these videos again, or view some more of my video work, you can check it out on my Vimeo.

Aurelie Maron: Chalk Lettering for Design Montage

Related: Aurelie Maron for Design Montage | Sneak Peek.

I was pretty very excited when Aurelie contacted me to produce a video of her working on her latest chalk lettering piece for Design Montage. Upon seeing her work at the QCA graduate exhibition last year and being in absolute awe of her serious type skills, I knew she'd be one to watch. Currently working as a designer for Tusk Agency in the Gold Coast, chalk lettering is still something Aurelie does frequently outside of her typical work day. When she produced her first chalk-lettering piece as part of a typography assignment at uni, she had no idea it would very quickly turn into something everybody would clamour to have—she still gets many requests to create pieces like this (for very good reason).

Check out Aurelie's Design Montage type project on Behance

After watching the film of Aurelie doing what she does best, I hope you'll walk away with a newfound appreciation for just how much attention to detail and hard work is required to produce such a gorgeous end product—it definitely doesn't just happen overnight.

Aurelie designed the logo for the Typism Inspiration Conference (which I will also be photographing!) and will also be a speaker on the day. If you haven't already gotten your ticket, be quick! Head over to the website for details.

Check out Aurelie's Typism Logotype project on Behance

Analogue/Digital Creative Conferences 2013

I have attended at least one creative conference every year since my second year of uni in 2009. When Analogue/Digital came around in 2011, I walked away pleased that it was different from the other conferences I had been to, in the sense that most of the speakers were local, down-to-Earth creatives who had interesting and real stories to tell instead of showcasing people who were already "global" and a "big deal" and had spoken at a dozen other events already.

This year Matthew Haynes went above and beyond, bringing us a phenomenal two day line-up of brilliant speakers, a lot of whom were from Brisbane and the Gold Coast which was incredibly great to see. The conference sold out and many came from interstate to attend—most were pleasantly surprised to discover that south-east Queensland has such a strong creative culture compared to what those coming from Sydney or Melbourne might have assumed. Analogue/Digital 2013 was better than that of 2012 and 2011, and better yet, steadily kicking the arse of most of the other creative conferences I've been to. Well done to Matt and the Analogue/Digital team for making this happen!

I have a renewed sense of purpose, energy and drive after hearing so many of the speakers talk about things I so strongly believe in or things I have already experienced for myself. Knowing that I'm doing a lot of the same things that they are can only mean that one day, in good time, all the hard work definitely will pay off, and that sometimes what you think is quitting and failing can end up being the start of better opportunities in disguise.

More photos after the jump.

Aurelie Maron for Design Montage | Sneak Peek.

Here's a little look at what I was up to for almost the entire weekend with Gold Coast's favourite chalk-letterer and designer extraordinaire, Aurelie Maron. I filmed her working on a beautiful piece for Jenica of Brisbane-based creative hub Design Montage, who I was also filming for just a few weeks ago. If you're attending Analogue/Digital Creative Conferences next week, you'll get the finished postcard version of this in your conference pack! Be sure to say hello to Aurelie, Jenica or myself if you see us around. Can't wait to show you the final videos from both of these shoots soon.

Dominique Falla: Tactile Typographer.

Related: Dominique Falla: Tactile Typographer | Sneak Peek.

Many of you were so very keen to see the finished project behind many of my teaser Instagram images (like this, this, this and this) whilst working on this piece with Dominique. 15 hours of filming, over 1,300 videos, many hours of editing and probably a little bit a lot of RSI later, I bring you the final video that will give you an insight into just how much goes into making one of Dominique's fantastic string art typographic pieces that she is now so well-known for. I mean, the amount of times she's been reblogged around the Tumblrsphere is intense.

Just in case you couldn't get enough of it, Dominique has founded a creative conference for all typography nerds called Typism, that will be held in the Gold Coast in September. The line-up is looking fantastic already (and Dominique herself is speaking), so I'd urge you all to like the Typism Facebook page and keep in the loop with the event's news, including the launch of the website and speaker announcements. It's going to be great!

Dominique Falla: Tactile Typographer | Sneak Peek

Over the past few weeks I had the absolute honour of filming the queen of tactile typography, Dominique Falla, working on a piece she was commissioned to do for the corporate rebrand of a pharmaceutical company based in Paris, France. I was lucky enough to be taught by Dominique during my years at the Queensland College of Art, who also founded the We Heart Collective. If you've started seeing string art like this pop up on the Internet, it's because she inspired millions when her entry for the Positive Posters competition, titled We Are All Part Of The Same Thing, got reblogged all over the place. Since then, Dominique has pretty much developed RSI working on commission after commission on these ridiculously time consuming string art pieces!

Keep an eye on my Facebook page for updates: the little work-in-progress video will be coming soon!

Related: Dominique Falla: Tactile Typographer (Final Video).

Ella Johnston.

Late last year I got to photograph the work of one of my fellow Queensland College of Art graduates, graphic designer Ella Johnston. Ella has been doing some fantastic branding work for several lovely cafes and businesses down at the Gold Coast, and asked me to photograph not only her work but also their interiors, to better capture the ambience and communicate simply past the designed collateral.

We Heart One Way | Surfers Paradise Festival.

Over the past month, the We Heart Collective have been working on the ultimate design challenge: create a physical piece of art for a one-day exhibit at the Surfers Paradise Festival. After what has been quite a gruelling few weeks for all of us, with some having to create pieces within only a few days after having returned from overseas trips, we were finally able to show off our work on Saturday for the One Way Street Party.

You can read more about our large scale letter project below, or you can skip the words and get on with the pretty pictures. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay for very long, so I don't have any photos of the entire wall when it was finished, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

A Love Affair with Melbourne: Part Three

Part Three brings you our weekend around the city, stopping by Little Cupcakes and visiting the ever popular Degraves Street. We continued our culinary education at Lindt Cafe and Haigh's Chocolates, enjoying mochas, hot chocolates and macarons. Sunday brought us to Federation Square for Mark-It Designers' Markets, where we marvelled at the handmade, intricate and eco-friendly creations from some of Australia's best designers and made plenty of purchases.

Our last night in Melbourne and Martin's birthday were celebrated at the famed Cutler & Co, where we thoroughly enjoyed an 8 course degustation together with a brilliant wine matching. There was a surprise pre-dessert course thrown in, followed by one of the most brilliant mochas I have ever had.

After packing our bags on our final morning, we took a leisurely stroll along Albert Park and Chapel Street, having a quiet lunch at Morris Jones, taking in the chilly air and the scenery one more time.

To complete our Melbourne posts, I made two separate videos: one for agIdeas and one for Melbourne in general (the general Melbourne video just has a lot of food in it. Sorry.). The Melbourne video isn't as in depth as I'd like it to be but that's pretty much because we only had time to eat our way around town. Next time, it'll be different; hope you've all enjoyed the series.

Part One // Part Two // Part Three

A Love Affair with Melbourne: Part Two.

Part Two brings you the second and third days of agIdeas, the coldest Melbourne May day in a decade, lunch at The Bridge and The Boatbuilder's Yard, and the best burgers we've ever had at Huxtaburger.

Part One // Part Two // Part Three

A Love Affair with Melbourne: Part One.

Last Tuesday, Martin and I began our love affair with Melbourne, to attend the renowned international creative conference, agIdeas. Albeit both being first timers to the city aptly named the capital city of graphic design in Australia (to which we have both frequently received a chorus of "and you call yourselves creatives?!"), I didn't have a doubt in my mind that I would love Melbourne. I just underestimated the extent to which I would.

The colourful cacophony of street art; the cosy, bustling laneways; the chilly air; the visually impressive boutiques, cafes and restaurants; the autumn leaves that reminded me ever so much of my first home away from home, New Zealand—I did all I could to take it all in, so fast-paced and fleeting, stopping at every moment to record it through the lens, my eyes searching hungrily for the next brilliant thing.

I took my 40,000th photo on my 5D MK II (only one and a half years old) in Melbourne, recorded 1,310 videos and took 922 photos. Video is still yet to come: after only having returned on Monday night, I haven't yet even had a chance to take a look at the videos. There may appear to be a lack of photos from agIdeas itself, but a majority of my video will be dedicated to agIdeas.

In the meantime, enjoy the first chapter of our journey through stills. Our journey began with our 5:55am flight, our first Melbourne brunch at Dukes Coffee Roasters, our first Melbourne tram ride (during which I got caught between the tram doors), and ended with the first day of agIdeas, visiting The Hungry Workshop's wonderful Melbourne studio, and having delicious Middle Eastern pides with them at The Moor's Head.

Part One // Part Two // Part Three