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An incomplete list of people I've seen before and during lockdown
Jesse Graham
Hey! I'm a portrait photographer and former journalist and photojournalist (now working in communications) from the Yarra Valley. I don't currently live in the Yarra Valley but doesn't it sound nicer than 'outer-eastern Melbourne'? I work in wedding, event, promotional and boudoir photography. If you've got ideas for photos and like my work, I'd probably love to work with you.
If you ordered a print edition through me, here's where I'll write you something cute
Legal stuff I guess? Look, I'm not too uptight about my work. But it is my work and I do a lot of my work with folks I know and love. Share this zine however you want - give it to a pal, share the free ebook at jessedgrahamphoto.com but like, don't photocopy it or do weird shit, please. What's weird shit mean? If you have to ask if what your doing is weird shit, it's probably weird shit. For example, don't be one of those creepers who shares other people's photos online pretending its their work because what's the fuckin' point? Just in case - the work in here is copyrighted to Jesse Graham as of 12 August 2020. If for some odd reason you want to re-use parts of this work outside of the copyright extempted reasons, drop me a bloody line at jessedgrahamphoto@gmail.com and we can chat about that. Drop me a line if you liked or hated this - I'll reply if you liked it, I'll spend nights laying awake thinking about your unanswered email if you hate it. It'll haunt me for years. That's a win/win, babey.
This year fucking sucks 2020 has been grim. There aren't many major wins I can think of when I look back between now and January. As I write this, I've been sleeping on the living room floor for about four months now, courtesy of some dodgy building works destroying our bedroom. I broke one of my toes by stubbing it on the couch in like May and it's still giving me grief which I feel isn't a good sign. Though I've been extremely lucky to keep working during this time (a huge silver lining), my plans for the year - finish my 1000 Portrait Project, travel to New York City, shoot some weddings, improve my photography and start freelancing more, improve my mental health - all have a COVID-shaped hole shot through them. Could things be worse? Abso-fucking-lutely, yes. Like you couldn't believe. The pinnacle of my worst times during lockdown would be the tip of a deep iceberg for so many others in different parts of the world, or living in different circumstances. But you can't brush off your worst days with the consolation that someone has it worse. If something sucks for you, you have to feel and process it. And this year certainly fucking sucks across the board. But, believe it or not, this little book isn't about that. This little zine/ebook is about the good shit - the people who I've been able to see when it's been safe to. The little moments that make you forget that the world is a little bit fucked. I hope reading this helps you take notice of the many small, beautiful moments that happen when you spend time with good people. Moments that etch themselves in your memory and remind you that things can - and will - get better. -J 12.08.2020
05.03.20
Sheryl Thai Founder, Cupcake Central, League of Extraordinary Women I had the privilege of meeting Sheryl at an International Women's Day event at Montrose Town Centre. My work organised the event, which included a morning tea, a panel discussion between women in leadership in local government and then a keynote presentation from Sheryl about how she started her business, her experiences and how she built her personal brand. I went along to take photos, but spent a good deal of time listening to what Sheryl had to say. Her stories about the moment when she was pushed to find her feet and a new career, after being made redundant during the Global Financial Crisis were intense. What resulted from that was Cupcake Central - one of the many little cafes I spent too much time in when I was at uni (with some of the best vegan cupcakes you'll find). After the event, I took Sheryl's portrait for my 1000 Portrait Project, keeping her just out of the rain but just in the good picturetaking light. I didn't know it at the time, but this was the last time I was in a completely full room of people before COVID truly hit Melbourne.
Clancy
14.03.20
Model, make-up artist and earring maker I met Clancy in March after chatting over Instagram about taking some portraits. She's a talented make-up artist and model and we first spoke about some grand ideas for a themed shoot with intense and heavy make-up, but decided in the end to keep it simple and shoot in her backyard in Carlton. Which was a great idea because this was such a lovely shoot! Clancy's backyard had some amazing little spaces - my favourite being a gigantic wall of plants that made for some cool portraits. They were exceptionally lovely, professional and easy to work with and I'm so glad we squeezed in this shoot before lockdown came about. It's always lovely meeting new folks, but it feels particularly nice knowing I entered the lockdown months after taking some really nice photos of a really nice person. Go check out Clancy's work at @cr_jubilee on Instagram and hire her for your projects when things are a bit safer.
p.s. she made these earrings!
Sos
14.03.20
Director, writer, actor, singer I actually took this portrait more-or-less immediately after taking Clancy's. Sos was so lovely in volunteering to have her portrait taken for my 1000 Portrait Project - and it just so happened that her theatre group was rehearsing the same day that I was out-and-about taking some photos. She very generously took a few minutes' break from directing to take some nice portraits under some trees at EV's Youth Centre in Croydon and though it seemed like she was having an intense day, it was a quick and fun little portrait break. These two photos above were taken with some very different lenses the photo on the right was taken with a Sigma 85mm Art lens, which is a gigantic and gorgeous autofocus lens for my digital camera. The one on the left was taken using a Helios 44-2 lens, a Soviet-era manual focus lens made in Ukraine. Manual-focusing with my shoddy eyesight is a challenge at the best of times, but the lens can take some gorgeous portraits! Thanks for having your photo taken, Sos!
Bianca
22.03.20
Actor, gigantic Taylor Swift fan, extremely patient model Bianca and I went up into the Dandenong Ranges on what ended up being my last photoshoot before lockdown began. The RJ Hamer Arboretum in Olinda is a fantastic little photo spot so we took some portraits in amongst the trees. The thing I hadn't quite factored in? It rained maybe seven times over the few hours we were there taking photos - and it caught us every single time. Thankfully, Bianca didn't mind and was okay with running back to the car every five minutes to wait for the next break in the weather. It gave us plenty of time to talk about the important things in life - Taylor Swift, Animal Crossing and photos. These are some of my favourite portraits I've ever taken, hands down.
Grant
15.05.20
Barista, Empire Beans Monbulk Did you spend the first few weeks of lockdown thinking about all the things you'd catch up on, only to never do any of them? Same. However, I did get to catch up on one big thing for work that I hadn't had the time to do - photograph trees. A whole bunch of different trees. Those photos will go into a document all about inspecting trees for safety and the many, many different factors that go into tree health. I was *extremely stoked* to drive around with a camera after two months of lockdown. What does this have to do with Grant? Well, I swung by Empire Beans on my way through Monbulk and we had a really nice chat about how things had been going for him, as well as the ~general state of things~. Grant makes a brill soy latte and agreed to have his mug featured in the 1000 Portrait Project. I really appreciated his time and talking to someone new in a period where that...isn't exactly a common thing.
Here are some of those tree photos, if you were wondering about them.
Janelle Beer enthusiast, big ol' game and movie nerd, wonderful person Janelle is one of the many fantastic folks I'm proud to call a friend. She's got this intense upbeat energy that just takes you along with whatever's happening and a brilliant knowledge of cinema and game bits and bobs to boot. Through her hospo work, she knows a whole ton about good beers - for someone who grew up in Healesville drinking sweet fruity lexia and now needs to adjust to the finer things in adult life, that's a great quality to have in a friend. My partner and I caught up with Janelle for a nice, socially-distanced hang out on her back deck, back when that was a thing you could do. We drank a beer, caught up on those early days of lockdown and probably talked a whole bunch of nonsense. Since then, Janelle and have been playing Red Dead online, where her character stabbed mine in the neck. So we're all handling lockdown differently I guess. In all seriousness, Janelle is an absolute joy to have as a friend, our hangout was a lovely, rainy day during a bleak time and I took a few little instant photos to mark the occasion. Here's one of them.
Mel
18.05.20
Data analyst and bassist Mel is one of the many brilliant folks I'm privileged to work with. She's a data analyst and if you've got a bunch of data from a survey you don't know how to interpret, Mel's ya gal. She's also a fantastic bassist, playing with The Clever References and an all-round lovely person. We took advantage of the relatively-relaxed restrictions at the time and took a socially-distanced coffee walk around Boronia in May. We talked a lot about music (I bought a bass guitar in March so I could live my emo rockstar dreams in lockdown), a bunch about work and a bit about the whole trajectory of the world. We were cautiously optimistic that things would turnaround quickly and safely. Writing this during Stage 4 Restrictions, I don't think we were exactly spot on, but it was lovely to catch up and muse on things a bit.
Maddy and Dominique
20.05.20
Co-workers, pals, great folks I think the last few months has pushed the importance of a whole lot of different things to the surface. Mental health? Absolutely. Hanging out with good people? It's always been important but holy moly it's all the more so now. I had a work-from-home day with Maddy and Dominique in May - just all of us working at the same home - and it was such a nice way to change up the working day. I can't say it was more productive, but it was a fantastic day with some equallyfantastic folks. Of course, I brought a camera along and snapped these at the end of the day - I think I like the photos all the more for the time they were taken but, regardless, I really like these photos and the folks in them.
Derek
22.05.20
Journalist, Communications Officer, photographer, northerner Derek has been a close friend of mine for a few years. We've worked together when he did comms for Healesville Sanctuary, then when he worked with me at the Mail News Group and bonded a lot about photography and nonsense in those years and the ones that followed. We took a drive through the Dandenongs in May, taking photos at the George Tindale Gardens, the arboretum and a few forest-y spots around the hills. I've always been more keen on portraits than landscapes, but I tried my hand at some nature photos and absolutely loved what I took. The drive we took was a wonderful catch up that covered everything from mental health to photography to sharing stories from years back. This was the second-last time I saw Derek before he moved up to Queensland for work (the last time was a little farewell the day before he hit the road) and it was a great way to send off a truly lovely and talented person. Also, good timing on Derek's part I guess.
Emma
24.05.20
Graphic designer, generally-marvellous person Emma's someone I've had the pleasure of knowing for so many years now. She's a brilliant friend - the spend-hours-walking-aimlessly-andchatting-until-you-realise-the-whole-day-is-gone kinda friend. And we did exactly that while wandering around Fitzroy and Collingwood. At this point in lockdown, a bunch of our chat was a check in on how the other was going - and that's a pretty important conversation at the moment. I know the message is pretty well saturated now, but please do check in with your friends, family and loved ones if you have a second. Everyone's having a pretty rough one across the board and though venting all of your angers and misfortunes in a message or over a call doesn't always solve them, having someone listen without judgement always helps. Anyway, it was fantastic seeing Emma and catching up on all the things in our world in the brief window before restrictions tightened up, and we took a bunch of photos throughout the day.
04.06.20
Jess and Simon Sustainability Coordinator and Executive Officer, Yarra Ranges Council
I took some more photos for work in early June, for Jess and Simon's Team at work. They had just put together a Draft Liveable Climate Plan. But what's that when it's at home, I hear you asking? Well, it basically spells out exactly how the Council will reach net zero emissions by 2040 by switching to renewable energy and replacing bits and pieces (cars, lights, equipment), and the financial savings that come with it. I met up with Jess and Simon, and the Mayor, to take a photo out in Healesville, at the old landfill site. One of their goals in the plan is to use old landfill sites as solar farms. Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, I took their portraits when we wound up for the morning. They're wonderful people and seeing them was a lovely break from working from home.
Andrew
05.06.20
Guitar teacher, aspiring pinball champion, 3D printing enthusiast Andrew is someone I've had the pleasure of knowing for more than 10 years now. He was the singer in my friends' band when we were growing up and going to gigs all over the outer eastern suburbs. He's always been a super charismatic, open and enthusiastic person, the kind of person whose energy just sweeps you up and all of a sudden you've created a backyard fighting ring where pizza boxes are weapons. Anyway, he dropped me a line and we had a big day of catching up, talking about music and games and photography and playing pinball. It had been a few months since we'd spoken properly and I left feeling so refreshed and happy to have spent my day with him. I took this quick photo of him in his backyard before the day wrapped up.
Chantelle
07.06.20
Government worker, pilates instructor, cancer survivor Chantelle is one of the good folks I used to work with - she's since moved on to work at Casey Council, but thankfully we've stayed in touch on social media. She's a trained Pilates instructor, too, and is just a great and lovely person to know. We met up, got a coffee and caught up on all of our goings on - including a brush with thyroid cancer about a year ago. It was a really great catch up and a very honest chat about life and its little ins-and-outs. I also brought several cameras with me because of how much I've been wanting to take photos and portraits during lockdown.
Eve
08.06.20
Corporate Social Responsibility expert, aspiring lockdown baker, long-term vegan Eve is another person who I've known basically forever. I think our introduction to one another was at a teenage party, where I'd just caused a minor explosion in a bonfire. I'd like to say that's the energy that our friendship has carried over the last 12-or-so years but, luckily, Eve is much more sensible than I and we spend a lot of our time walking about or enjoying ridiculously nice food. That's exactly what we did on a sunny June morning in Doncaster. I had just broken my toe (and had yet to seek medical advice about it) but had a good few kilometres of walking about and talking about life, lockdown and what was next (tessentially, who bloody knows what's next?). I took this photo as a little updated headshot for her and a nice lil' portrait for me. Eve's got one of those extremely vibrant personalities that just lights up the time you spend together and this is probably the closest I've come to capturing that in a photo.
Karina Photographer extraordinaire, drone pilot in training, Karina is one of my close friends, who also happens to be an exceptionally-talented photographer and a genuinely lovely person. We organised a catch-up on a Sunday morning in Fitzroy - just a little coffee, catch up and a wander about. However, we then added several kilometres of walking to that little wander so we could visit the photobooth at Flinders Street Station to get some photostrips taken. The photobooth is one of my favourite places to go and, judging by the pile of photos in my drawers, the place I send the most money. Anyway, we took some photos around the Fitzroy gardens, talked about drone photography and travel plans for when this is all over and had a fantastic time not watching the clock and just letting the day breeze by.
14.06.20
Me
12.06.20
Communications guy, photographer, slight mess I'm not too huge on self-portraits. I've never been too keen on the results and it's always felt a bit daggy and awkward to set up all the camera equipment and strike a pose. I spoke to Karina about this a bit when we caught up - she's taken some fantastic self-portraits during lockdown and mentioned that it's an interesting way to learn about lighting and posing. It definitely makes it easier posing other people in photos if you know how to pose comfortably and naturally. Plus, self-portraits are a nice little bookmark in time - as a photographer, I have a bunch of photos from right throughout my life since picking up a camera. But I don't feature in most of those. It's nice to have something to look back on and see myself as I was (even if the photos are cringey to look back on - and I promise I have so many of those). Along with my general anxiety about everything going on at the moment, I also haven't been the biggest fan of how I've looked this last year. Spending an afternoon taking photos of myself felt indulgent at first but was something really nice and helped me to feel a bit better about myself. I also spent my in-between-lockdown time getting my chest tattooed, so I felt I needed to commemorate that in a photo. Brace yourself.
now available for post-covid modelling work
Casey, Kyle and Molly New family Casey is someone I've known for a bundle of years now. She's an excellent and passionate journalist, now editor of the Star News Mail newspapers in the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. When I worked at the paper a few years back, Casey is one of the lovely folks who showed me the ropes in local journalism and answered roughly a trillion questions I had about working at the newspaper and the many hairy situations that come about as a result. She's always upbeat, always enthusiastic and just a lovely person to know. She and her husband, Kyle, welcomed Molly into the world late last year and I spent a lovely afternoon hanging out with the three of them (and their gigantic and affectionate dog, Hazel) and taking some little photos for them to share.
28.06.20
Carly & Bilbo Writer and banker & over-excited toy poodle These two have been one of the best parts of lockdown life. The last few months have thrown up so many challenges - to mental health, to the logistics of day-to-day life and to just about every plan you could have for the future. But between waking up to Bilbo curled up against you (or looking deeply and unsettling into your eyes) and being able to navigate all of those challenges with Carly as your supportive and understanding partner, life is pretty alright. I can't emphasise how much both of their presence has improved everything about life since March. There's been a lot about the year that's been crappy but having good people (and dogs) around you is something truly wonderful, no matter what else may be going on. This was taken on a recent walk - holding Bilbo was the only way to get a clear photo, but he also quite likes it up there.
Wrapping up I have heaps of fun putting together little ebooks like this. It's great going back over old photos and sharing more than the one or two I pop up on social media. It's also nice taking the time to relive the days when they were taken. The little moments and conversations that come back are a lovely reminder of why we're in currently in lockdown here in Melbourne - so we can all get through this. So that, months down the track, we'll be able to hug and sit in packed cafes and restaurants and drive and sing and go to gigs and be with one another in every sense of the word, without putting other people in danger. Reminiscing isn't the only way to have a good time in lockdown, of course. Reading books, playing games, video-calling mates, trying out new recipes, rewatching a show or a movie that you adore, listening to music that you know by heart but had forgotten about, taking a walk and enjoying the fresh air, drawing, taking photos inside and outside, making plans for the future or making an ebook - it all helps. I hope this book has helped you in some small way. I made this using canva and Google Photo Scan - both are free to use and if you need some help, please get in touch. Thanks for reading! Stay safe, wear a mask, be kind to other people and take care of yourself. To the pals who I saw, who didn't feature here (Andrew, Dan, Nikki, Boothy, Ashlee, Kirsty, and Sarah, to name a few); I love you folks but I either forgot to take your photo or lost your instant photos because I sometimes use them as bookmarks. I'll get ya sorted in volume two.
Resources I mentioned at the start of this lil' book that this year was a bit of a crappy time to be living through. Stress, anxiety, sadness and depression are normal things to experience. I've been speaking to a psychologist about my anxiety for a couple years now and though talking can seem hard, reaching out for help is always worth it - whether that help is from a friend, a family member, a co-worker you're close with, or organising a Mental Health Care Plan with your GP. Talk about your feelings. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14 in Australia if you need to talk to someone but you're not sure who to go to, or visit lifeline.org.au