Shaun Higgins

I can tell you where I was born (Dampier),where I grew up (Kelmscott) and what school I went to (Kelmscott Senior Highand Mt Lawley Tafe) and they all playedan integral part in creating the person I am today. It’s a little bit boringthough.

The people that are important to me, thethings I do and love are what define me.

Fresh off the boat from Perth and living inSydney without a clue, the thing I quickly learned from all photographers I metwas I really didn't know much about the photographic industry despite my fouryears of study. Sure I could load a film back but could I do it fast enoughwhen hanging out the side of a helicopter, hovering fifty meters over the oceannext to the cliffs of La Perouse? Hell no! It was a steep learning curve movinginto professional life and I learnt in that first six months how to run asuccessful photographic business and better ways to utilise equipment,techniques and processes that can only come with experience. I had greatfortune to have the guidance and experience of Alister Clarke, a fellowtransplant originally from Melbourne. One of the smartest and talented businessminded artists I have ever met.

Alister was my mentor, employer and friendfor over ten years. One of the countries most awarded advertisingphotographers. Alister was also a lot of hard work but damned if he wasn’t oneof the most enthusiastic people you would ever meet.

One of our favourite parts of every job weworked on, was the two hour wait for your clips to come back from the lab andwondering if you just screwed up a very expensive and time consuming shoot.This is not something the new generation of photographers may ever experience.It's also one of the reasons why I decided to leave the industry and pursueother interests. The rapid development of digital technology saw an end to allthe greatest parts of taking photographs. Cleaning out the lab shop of RDP IIItransparency film and polaroid before our neighbour and fellow photographer gotthere (didn't like him much), knowing what film you want to use, shooting thefirst polaroid, the list goes on. What literally felt like overnight, thoseexciting (some may say nerve racking) moments, were gone. After ten years Ifelt like a glorified Mac operator and lost enthusiasm. To all the new PhotoMedia majors out there, get out and shoot some work on film, you can't beat it!

Alister and myself also had many othercommon interests. Religious art was always a favourite topic, not becau