Brother and sister band bugGiRL are two people I’ve had a lot of history with; Clinton (perhaps the nicest man in the world) is the drummer and he was the drummer in my old band. The singer/guitarist Amber’s old band supported us at our EP launch and I’ve known them for ages. bugGiRL have been based out of the USA for a few years and have returned to Australia to record and release a number of EPs. Amber is currently playing with the all-girl Hell’s Belles, described by Angus Young as the world’s best AC/DC tribute band.

This shot is one I took for them about two years ago that has been sitting in my archives waiting to see the light of day. So here it is!

I still love doing this kind of work but I’m a bit fresh in Melbourne so if you can hook me up, go on ahead! There’s some interesting times ahead for me and doing some work like this every now and then would make sure that I won’t go to sleep dreaming of weddings.

I never settled into Brisbane properly, I didn’t make many friends and it was missing something, a certain je ne sais quoi… It just never felt like home as much as I tried to make it over the 3 years I’ve been here. Meeting Kristen however was the shining beacon of my time in Brisbane and it was only pure chance that put us in the same place at the same time, so far from home and from our ideal environment.

I love cold weather. I love music and bands. I love markets and vibrant culture. I love being able to be impulsive and go to do something without planning. Brisbane has some of these things, but not enough for what I wanted. There was only one place where I felt I could get all of this (and what else we needed) and that place is Melbourne.

Kristen works in a sector that has most of its work based out of Melbourne so it made sense that we would be favourable to it and having visited there over the weekend to help her settle into our new apartment, it already feels like home. We’ll be living in the inner city suburb of Brunswick which is home to coffee shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs and live music venues, something we missed so much living where we did in Brisbane. I’m so excited about being there and I’ve never felt this way.

But the fear still sits there. This is the first time in my life I will be somewhere with no idea of where I’m headed and I hope that Melbourne accepts me with its warm arms and gives me happiness. It’ll be an interesting ride so I guess I have no choice but to dive on in and give it a go. Come mid-March, I’ll riding off into the sunset to become Lakshal Perera, Melbourne Wedding Photographer, the newest, hippest and most awesome dude to come to your southern shores.

See you there, we’ll sip some lattes on Lygon St.

It’s slow and patient work uploading this at 10kB/sec from the middle of the forest near Sigiriya in Sri Lanka while we travel around with our friends, but I figured Kristen was too lovely to not show off to everyone.

This was Kristen the other day, I’m a very fortunate man.

A lot has happened since then but in 4 hours, we leave for Sri Lanka to be surrounded by our family and friends to celebrate. I will have a wife and Kristen will have a husband.

See you soon.
x

“No, it’s just for the morning” Verity replies. “Why?”

“I really like it, it looks very elegant.” I did actually mean it, I thought it looked lovely.

Verity looks at me with a genuine smile and says, “I’m kidding, I’m going to be wearing it all day, I just wanted to see what you thought.”

It’s moments like this that make me love what I do. Here’s someone I’ve just met, treating me like I’m their friend and someone they feel comfortable enough around to crack jokes like that.

These two people trusted me and said, “Just do whatever you want.” So I did.

The first few emails with Carly and Jeff were a little hesitant I thought. I got the feeling they liked my style but I also sensed it was important for them to have someone they clicked with, someone that made them feel comfortable. One dinner at a local restaurant later, I was their wedding photographer. We were on the same page, our creative streaks seemed to overlap. When I suggested a paint engagement shoot, it was serendipitous; Carly had thought of exactly the same idea earlier in the week and at that moment, we both knew that this made sense.

Carly actually was researching another extremely well known Brisbane based photographer to shoot her wedding, but I imagine he would have been booked out well in advance and someone on a forum had suggested that I was a good alternative. While I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with this comment, I think the next bit of what I have to say is important.

I delivered the images to Carly and Jeff last week; minutes after Carly saw them, I received an SMS.

“You were the perfect man for the job.”

I guess it goes to show that understanding each other and spending time getting to know each other does pay off. The expectations they have of you, and the expectations you have of them match up, which makes everything click and you end up with something that looks a little like this.

Kristen and I spent 5 days away relaxing at an amazing little hideaway resort in Koh Lanta before heading across the bay back to the hustle and bustle of Phuket where we were met by Eugene’s amazing family. Immediately we were one of them; we were halfway across the world but we felt at home. It reminded me of my family. We’re all rather different, we’re spread across 3 continents and some of us can’t even communicate effectively with each other because of language barriers. We don’t see each other often, but there’s something distinctly wonderful about it that is refreshing and reinvigorating. You feel that sense of community, and something families that all live nearby take for granted, that sense of togetherness.

Both Kristen and I felt wonderfully privileged to be part of this experience, but as I said, it had nothing to do with where we were. The people make the wedding and in this case, Eugene, Belle and their welcoming, generous families were single handedly responsible.