Over the past few months, I have been embarking on a long-term project that showcases the lesser-known parts of Melbourne.
For the longest time, I had felt that, in the eyes of people photographing Melbourne, we have naturally gravitated to its inner core. Behind the lens of your average Melbourne photographer is your CBD alleyways, your Brunswicks, your Fitzroys, and so on.
While many of our fellow citizens denigrate the ‘boring’ or the ‘shithole’ suburbs — your Broadmeadows’, your Sunshines, your Frankstons, the questions I have always asked are, what is it really like on the ground? Are there interesting things to be found here?
And the answer to the latter is always, yes.
In the spirit of the project, I have to sort of exclude myself from photographing certain areas, especially in the inner city. How do you define the ‘inner city’?, I hear you asking.
To answer this question, I broke it up into three categories, based largely on council / local government area boundaries.
Category 1 (Excluded)
This is the hard exclusion category, I cannot use pictures of this area in this project.
- City of Melbourne (excl. Kensington & North Melbourne)
- City of Merri-bek (excl. Hadfield, Oak Park, Glenroy, Gowanbrae, Tullamarine)
- City of Port Philip
- City of Stonnington
- City of Yarra
Category 2 (Plausible)
This is the soft exclusion category, I will likely not do these LGAs, unless I get a very good request for a certain suburb within these places.
- City of Boroondara
- City of Glen Eira
- City of Hobsons Bay (excl. Altona and surrounds)
- City of Melbourne (Kensington & North Melbourne only)
- City of Moonee Valley (excl. Niddrie, Strathmore Heights, Essendon West, Avondale Heights, Keilor East)
Category 3 (Ideal)
Any urbanised suburb / locality / LGA within Greater Melbourne not aforementioned in the above two categories.
There are also ways to suggest suburbs for this project - please fill out the Jotform link with your suggestion.
In terms of the release of these pictures, I have released the first set of photos to my Instagram account, which have been set in Belgrave & Westmeadows.
However, to get the latest posts, please subscribe to my Patreon for AUD$3 a month. This includes the ongoing collection of images that can be bought as a bundle on Patreon.
Subscribing helps pay for the raw costs of undertaking this project, especially the transport costs, as they are difficult to purchase in a cost of living crisis.
I’ve come a long way after a few years as a largely amateur / hobbyist photographer, and I deeply thank the people who have supported me - and I hope you enjoy what I have in store.
