"As I grow older, I stray further away from binaries and labels. My taste and sexual attraction widen year by year, and I find beauty in so many different types of people."
I’m a film photographer and creative director living and working on Gadigal Land, Sydney. I was born in Cambodia, where I lived for seven years before moving to St Lucia, Papua New Guinea. When I was 13 my family settled in New Zealand. I went to an all-boys boarding school, then studied fashion design in Auckland. As I got deeper into the course, I realised I loved making the images more than the clothes, which led me to take up photography full time. I learnt how to use a film camera in lockdown, and I guess it just picked up from there. I like hiking, swimming and anything to do by the ocean. Jumping off cliffs into the water, rock climbing, reading. I like to challenge myself mentally and physically so hiking and outdoor activities are my go-to.
To my memory, I learned about sex through older friends in primary school. They would talk about it, I would ask questions, and they would tell me. When I was younger, I was very rigid when it came to my sexuality. I thought I could only be into a certain kind of man. When I left high school, I realised I was drawn to so many different types of people. As I grow older, I stray further away from binaries and labels. My taste and sexual attraction widen year by year, and I find beauty in so many different types of people.
"I enjoy capturing love and intimacy; it transcends sexuality."
When it comes to my work, I am much more than my sexuality. It does not dictate what I can or can't shoot. I have the ability to create a closeness and relationship with a subject, which allows them to feel a connection to the camera. That being said, being a predominantly gay man, I shoot other men through a gentle lens. My work is all about capturing the gentle, innocent, and playful sides we rarely see.
I capture women through a queer male gaze, and that comes through in an intimate and tender way. A lot of my work is shot through a voyeuristic lens, capturing something that feels private. I enjoy capturing love and intimacy as it transcends sexuality. When it comes to capturing the erotic, I just want people to be respectful of the subjects. My work can be suggestive, but that does not warrant inappropriate comments about the people in the imagery.
My recent photographic book, 'I’m Going to Miss You,’ documents long and nostalgic summer days, shared with beautiful men. It explores brotherhood, sensuality, and the act of playing, for to play is to be vulnerable. It carries through themes from my earlier book ‘Come Back to Bed’. I don't think too much about my sexuality. To me, it is another facet of myself. I feel most connected when I am holding someone I care about in an intimate and sexual way. When it comes to sex, my greatest lesson is that there is no such thing as too much lube.
