reel time | Meet your creator
How important is personality compared to production quality in 2026? Authenticity matters far more than perfect production. People connect with genuine enthusiasm. I would rather watch someone who is passionate about what they’re sharing than someone who has produced a flawless video they clearly don’t care about or one that feels like another overdone, trendy and click-baity Reel. No thanks! What is your workflow like? Are you still a solo creator or working with a team? I’m a solo creator. I photograph, edit, write, film, manage my social media and respond to my community myself. I enjoy having that direct connection with the people who follow my work. I wrote my book, I shot and edited the photos, I designed my website. My book was published by Quarto, however, and they did heaps of work designing the layout and are amazing, so I would be remiss not to shout them out. If somebody was to start creating content tomorrow, what would your advice to them be? Create what you love. I genuinely think there’s an element of luck in finding your audience, so you may as well enjoy the journey. If you’re creating something that excites you, the right people will eventually find it. And if they don’t, you’ve still spent your time making something meaningful.
Seeing is believing Get close enough and even the smallest creatures and plants reveal breathtaking complexity, with every tiny facet contributing to incredible natural designs
What camera, lighting or audio kit do you rely on most for your work? For my photography, I rely on my OM System macro kit. I use the OM-1 Mark II and the 90mm f⁄3.5 Macro IS Pro lens. Religiously. I use a Cygnustech diffuser with a Godox V860III-O TTL flash speedlight or just natural light. For video, it’s usually just my phone camera because it’s quick, convenient and always in my pocket. I’ve found it makes very little difference to how content performs, so I would rather spend my energy creating than worrying about carrying and setting up the gear. What is one investment you’ve made that genuinely changed the game for you? Time spent outdoors. More than any camera or lens, it’s the countless hours exploring forests and slowing down enough to really notice what’s around me. To learn what grows and hatches – and where and when – what the rain brings, what a drought does. You can’t buy experience, curiosity or patience, and those have shaped my photography far more than any piece of equipment. Although, my OM System camera and lens combo is absolutely boss.
How do you balance creating for the algorithm with creating content that you really care about? I don’t balance it because I don’t create for the algorithm. I genuinely don’t pay much attention to it other than being annoyed by the ever-increasing sameness of everything. I post when I want, share what excites me and hope it finds the people who’ll appreciate it. Life’s too short to spend it trying to work out what Instagram has determined is worthy of reach this week. I personally find all of the trends deeply cringe, and I refuse to play the game. My 126,000 followers is fine. Five hundred followers would be fine. I’m here to make art, make friends and be inspired. What is the biggest mistake you see new creators making? Trying to create for everyone instead of creating something they genuinely love. If you focus on making work you’re proud of, you’ll enjoy the process regardless of the numbers. But I’m sure there are lots of people following trends and getting boatloads of followers. I’m just not into it. My content is so incredibly niche that my expectations have always been low to non-existent.
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September/October 2026
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