1000 Portrait Project

Portrait 612/1000: Jason.

I don't think there are many folks out in the Yarra Valley who wouldn't know Jason Ball's name. For those not across it, Jason came out in 2012 in the national media and quickly became a figurehead for challenging homophobia in sport, particularly in local and national footy.

In 2014, Yarra Glen's Football and Netball Club hosted the first Pride Cup - a footy match where the 50 metre line was painted rainbow, along with player jumpers, with a pre-match function talking about the importance of challenging homophobic attitudes and comments. Pride Cup continues, expanding into other sports, and the AFL picked up the Pride Cup in 2016 on the national level.

Jason was the Young Australian of the Year for Victoria in 2017, and while working as a journalist at the Mail News Group in Healesville, I got to see the very very tangible ripple effect of Jason's story in the community. Whenever I spoke to clubs, they mentioned the shift in behaviour that had occurred in the years since as people understood the impact and the harm, and felt more empowered to call out awful attitudes.

I'm thankful to have met Jason a few times through my work at the paper. He always had a lot of time to talk and to promote the Pride Cup, and one of my earlier front pages at the paper was a photo of Jason and a teammate holding the cup aloft (from memory, I stressed out a lot about the lighting for that photo!!).

This photo was taken when Jason came out to talk to folks at my work, for a Midsumma event in Lilydale a few years ago. At the end of his talk, I asked if I could take his portrait for this project outside, and he very generously agreed.

Thank you so much for being part of this project, Jason! I hope you're going wonderfully.

Portrait 610/1000: Matthew.

Matt is someone I'm very thankful to have known for many years.

I have no recollection at all of the moment when we actually became friends - more a memory of seeing his face more and more often at events, at parties and in one-on-one conversations.

He's a fantastic skater and photographer - one whose commitment to shooting on film is something I've looked up to for a long time. But I think if you asked anyone about Matt / Boothy, the first thing that comes to mind is how kind and thoughtful he is - when you chat with him, he has so much time and so much interest and is just so nice. He's a genuine joy to be around.

I've been away for little day trips and longer stays with him and our friend group, and the photos he comes back with are always gorgeous. I'm glad to have been photographed by him more than a few times, but top of my list now I'm back in Australia is to take photos with him a whole lot more.

Matt's first photo for the project was years ago - he was sitting on our friend's decking in Templestowe in a Lost Boys shirt (one of his favourite movies). The photo is nice - and sticks in my memory because I broke one of the two cameras I brought with me *immediately* after taking his photo. Sad days. But I've taken Matt's photo so many times, I wanted to go with something more recent.

This one was taken at the start of the year, on a little beach weekend with pals. If I remember correctly, there's a photo of me and my then-new back tattoo outline against the same background that Matt took right before this.

This photo was taken using Lomography Lady Grey film (pulled one stop to 200iso). This was one of the earliest film stocks I shot with and it has a very special place in my heart - doubly so because this roll came to me from one of my best friends, who is actually just out of frame in this image.

I'm so glad to have you in the project, Matt. Thank you for being part of this. ✨

Loved catching up with the Lomography folks over here in NYC about portraits and travel and the project! A nice little read with some portraits I really love!! 🥰❤️

Portraits 602 and 603/1000: Tim and Aya.

Tim and Aya here are the duo behind Gatherer Media, who I had the pleasure meeting quite a while back - when they received a creative fellowship from State Library Victoria.

They received a fellowship for their documentary: Poynduk - The city that never was. The documentary explored a proposal to establish a Jewish settlement in Tasmania's remote wilderness, and the tragic circumstances surrounding the death of Critchley Parker Jr (who came up with the plan).

The pair work to use archives to tell interesting stories about the past, present and future. Tim is a documentary filmmaker and broadcast journalist. His graffiti documentary, Thrill + fury: The art of the tag (2015) is taught in schools and he's produced television for the ABC Melbourne.

Aya is a digital designer, who has worked at the ABC, Channel 7, HBO and with a leading museum design company; she uses motion graphics and interactive design using archival material, and both have worked around the world. The Gatherer Media page, for example, has some gorgeous photos from their work in Venice earlier this year.

It was a pleasure getting to take their photo at the SLV Fellowship event.

Thanks so much for being in this itty bitty project, Tim and Aya!