Jason, the head honcho, writes a once in a while editorial

I joined the Studio in the late 1980s, when Sydney was riding high on bicentennial fever. We had four camera kits for seven photographers. The Studio was a quarter of the size it is now; hidden in a little alleyway in Pitt Street. We had three dark rooms and everyone learnt film processing, we did our own printing. Hand printed, no less.

When the studio opened in 1967, the photographers used to have a Graflex Speed Graphics camera that only loaded sheets of 5×4″ film. At each shoot, they could only take six (really good) images.

Shooting with film was completely different to using a camera today, we used a light meter all the time. We used medium format Bronica film cameras when I came on board.

These days, it’s a lot quicker to take an image and change things around relying on the LCD screen at the back, although we still use light meters at most shoots.

We had to dress more conservatively for our corporate clients but that’s changed with time. We’re not expected to dress corporately, it’s expected that we’re not cut from the same cloth.

The technology for cameras is literally moving in leaps and bounds. Each year, the advancements in camera bodies and Photoshop is pretty amazing. Because of this, photography as a communication is getting more advanced every three months.

Our work in the 80s now seems dated. Even work from the early 2000s ages quickly.

Photography as a field is at a really interesting point right now.