It's always there when you take the time to look.

It's a late one today and it's been an interesting week. We have left our first real office, that has been our home for the last 7 years this week and started our new office in Annerley. It has been non-stop for the last few weeks and that still wasn't enough to get it all done in time.

Like most things, it takes a deadline to get it done. We're now moved in, not fully organised, but in the building.

I had a photoshoot for a new client campaign today, for a wonderful company called the Byron Bay Pizza Co. We met with them recently and the needed some marketing assistance. Byron Bay and Pizza, what's not to love? I'd also consumed a significant number of their pizzas over the years, so felt like we had distinct product knowledge.

Getting to Byron today was a comedy of errors. I left home at 7am, thinking 2 hours would be plenty of time, I said I would be there by 10am. I had an hour buffer. Totally got this.

A few things I failed to factor. It's raining in Brisbane today. We don't get a lot of rain here. When it rains, the roads go bonkers. It's like people take their brains out, then drive twice as fast. So there were crashes everywhere. As I'm sitting in another bright red section of stopped traffic on Google Maps, I have a terrible realisation.

I'm leaving the state, they have daylight saving there.

Crap.

I call the client to let them know that not only am I now running late, but I'm an additional hour late thanks to forgetting about the time difference between states. This is really not a great start, this is part of our first project for the client and I wanted to make a good impression. Whoops.

When I'm still at least an hour away, they called me. The dough had already been rolled and they had to keep production moving. They asked me if I wanted to just head back to Brisbane.

Not a chance.

If you know me, I'm stubborn to a fault. Once I've decided I'm doing something, good luck trying to stop me. So it's now pouring rain, traffic jammed and I'm watching the ETA get further away. Any reasonable person would tap out.

A two-hour drive ended up taking me 4.5 hours. After a brief chat at the absurdity of the morning, I got to work. We had planned to do some styled shots, but with the lack of time, I just jumped in and did what I do best, solve the problem.

I have years of experience in documentary-style, photo-journalism. It's one of my favourite things. To simply be in a space, watching an activity unfold and looking for opportunities to document it and make it beautiful. So I did that. There was no time for flat-lays or setups, so I just leant into what was possible.

What ended up happening was some of the most beautiful, off the cuff images that represented the true hands-on,m family nature of the business. It was actually one of the most enjoyable shoots I've done recently and I was absolutely delighted with the images.

I've been noticing a common thread in my writing this week. Positivity and persistence. It's how I approach my life and it's how I approach the work for my clients.

It would have been so easy today to take the easy option and simply reschedule. By persisting, we ended up creating a photoshoot that I think is going to set the tone for our entire marketing campaign.

It's a real honour to be welcomed into a business and to assist them with developing their public persona and not something I take lightly. It's a massive responsibility to hold in your hands the creative direction of someone else's vision.

That's why I put so much care into what I do. It's not just a job or just a photo shoot. It's a culmination of their life's work.

To my mind, it would be disrespectful to give it anything less than my all. Creating beautiful work is why I started all this in the first place and it's something I will never lose sight of because I am so grateful for the opportunity to help, each and every time.

When it comes to any campaign, if you work first and foremost to make it beautiful, the results can be surprising.

tpr.media