Athol Hill

I’m a photographer living on a small island in Australia called Phillip Island (Population 12000).

My roots in photography started with sports. I was a keen kite surfer, and with no one around to take photos of us riding, I took it upon myself to help.

With the arrival of my children, my time and opportunities for sports dried up, so I added portraiture to my genres. I wanted to document the best of their years growing up, and it seemed like a natural progression into model portraits.

While I prefer deeper emotions in my portrait photography, sports still holds a big part of my photography. As a result, I think I’ll still be doing sports photography long after I get too old to participate in it.

My adventure in blogging occurred in the early days of Fujifilm mirrorless. For those who joined mirrorless in the early years, there was very little supporting information on the web to help with problem-solving. As I learned new things, I started blogging and putting together “how-to guides” on elements like autofocus to dispel some of the myths.

Blogging extended into my foray with Sony, where I continued to try to understand how to get the best out of the system, blogging my experiences on issues like flash photography or getting the best colours out of raw files.

Photography gear reviews have allowed me to extend my love of gadgets (and infatuation with camera bags). In addition, it gives me an excuse to play with new toys.

Whilst I could have taken on photography as a career, I’ve preferred photography as something more personal. I like being able to take photos when I’m inspired and put down my camera when I am not, and a career in photography doesn’t offer me that flexibility.

It gives me the chance to balance my time the way I want to, which helps keep me inspired because I am doing photography on my terms. It does help that I live in a world-class surf location. I can drive 7 minutes to the other side of the island, go for a surf and climb in the water with my surf housing while I am at it.

When I am not taking photos or spending time with my family, you’ll find me out surfing, kitesurfing, playing on my drums or riding my retro-style motorbike, most of them badly. I’d like to think that being a husband and dad is one of the few things I get right.