The Camera
The craft of shooting, which is a subject in its own right in the early years. A GoPro, then a drone, then Premiere Pro, then short edits he was proud enough of to post about. Watching the equipment and the ambition change is one of the clearest arcs in the archive.
Part of Jai's journey
44 moments in this segment.
- - A rare photo of me floating in mid air. "Here's a rare photo of me floating in mid air, pretty cool huh."
- - Upgrading to Premiere Pro. "Hyped to share this short edit with you all. I just upgraded to Premiere Pro and this was a huge step to my editing game. So ready for 2017."
- - First run with the GoPro Hero5. "Its a whole new world with the #goprohero5." He adds a shout out to the girl in the background who looked about to be sick.
- - Taking the drone down south. "Took the drone for a spin the other day during our trip down south, here's a cheeky little edit." Shot on a DJI Phantom 4.
- - GoPro selfie. "Selfie game strong." A short caption on a GoPro self-portrait.
- - Vlogging the move to a remote island. "My family and i relocated to a remote tropical island and i have begun vlogging our new life. First video is up on youtube." This is the post that announces the move.
- - A vlog from the number one beach in Australia. "New vlog from the #1 beach in Australia is up now on Youtube." Cossies Beach on Direction Island had recently been named Australia's best beach.
- - New video up on YouTube. "Ayoo new vid up on Youtube." The track is by his friend Lee Tonn, recording as Flying Aster.
- - Underwater shots from the surf. "Playing around with underwater shots from the surf today." Shot on a GoPro.
- - Moon flips off the jetty. " Shot on a GoPro.
- - First post to a thousand likes. "Hit my first 1k likes on a post yesterday. I know i don't say it enough but thankyou all so much for your support. Here's an impromptu edit."
- - The first drone crash. "Not long before the drone crashed (don't worry it survived)." He tags it as his first crash.
- - Another day, another angle. " A drone frame.
- - New board, waiting on the surf. "New board arrived on the weekend and i can't wait to take it out, just need the surf to clean up a bit. 3 metre close-outs are fun until you take one to the head."
- - Carrying all the equipment. "It's not easy being the big gun and carrying all the equipment. There are times when i just can't deal with @flynn_howitt's laziness and my composure breaks momentarily. This was one of those times."
- - Turtles in the paddle out, spotted on the footage. "This was taken just seconds before a couple of turtles accompanied us in the paddle out. We had no idea until we re-watched the footage later that day. This island is incredible."
- - Land surfing in the rain. "What do you do when it's raining outside? Land surfing duhhh." Shot entirely on a GoPro Hero5 with a mouth mount.
- - A 360 camera out of the cupboard. "I've had this 360 camera sitting in my cupboard for months and yesterday i finally took it out for a test run at our local surf break. We're heading off to another island to camp tonight."
- - Frame grab from an edit in the works. "Frame grab from a pretty sweet edit i've got in the works. Keen to share it with you all soon." The photo is credited to Taj Powell.
- - Fifteen thousand followers. "15k baby. Cheers to every one of you legends who have been following along with my crazy adventures. Here's one of my favourite shots from this year."
- - Stranded on an island until the tide rises. "There's something relaxing about spending the day stranded on an island, knowing nobody can come or go until the tide rises again and there's enough water to boat back." He was filming a lifestyle video with his sister and her partner.
- - A project he calls raw and heartfelt. "Working on a huge project with these two crazy humans. Something very raw and heartfelt, revolutionary to my progression as a content creator. I want people to see my life as i do and live it with me, not just from behind their screens."
- - Drone shot of where he first stood up on a board. "One of my all time favourite drone shots from the very first place i ever stood up on a surfboard. So good to see the local groms still kickin it and having fun out there."
- - A grainy phone photo from a night camped out. "Here's a grainy, low res photo i took on my phone from the time we camped (stranded) on one of the smaller islands in our atoll. I figured it's not about the quality of the photo but the quality of the memories that are made."
- - Go back to a place you have already shot. "Really starting to see this place from a new perspective. So many hidden gems that i've just overlooked and underappreciated. If you're a photographer and you're reading this, i challenge you to go back to a place you've already shot at and get creative with some new angles and ideas."
- - Shot on an old Canon with everything on auto. "Thank you to this unknown paddle boarder for steezing out on the small 2 footers and letting me capture the moment. I took this on my old Canon camera, with all auto settings and barely any idea what i was doing. Goes to show you don't need the best gear to take the best photos."
- - Colouring someone else's shot while the drone is down. "Pretty bummed that my drone is currently out of action, so i've been flicking through some other photos and decided to bring a bit more colour to this epic shot." The original is by Taj Powell.
- - Second thoughts about posting Kelingking. "This place was genuinely just as breathtaking as it looks. After seeing so many instagram photos I actually had second thoughts about posting my own, but man this spot deserves all the publicity it gets." He mentions infected reef cuts on his bare feet and rain turning the descent to mud.
- - Shooting through a tropical downpour. "It's pretty hard to tell from this photo, but we were actually in the middle of a tropical downpour, huddling together with a towel over my camera and tripod, wiping the foggy lense every so often in an attempt to get a clear-ish photo. Turns out the dehaze setting on Lightroom is my new best friend." Aling Aling waterfall.
- - Taken and edited on a phone. "The waves may be lacking but the early morning views are certainly making up for it." He notes the photo was both taken and edited on his phone.
- - The drone comes back after six months. "After 6 long months, DJI have answered my prayers and finally fixed my old drone pal. We're heading off on a sunset beach date as we speak but here's a shot from yesterday just after the bird made it back into the sky."
- - A sunrise workout shoot for the portfolio. "I figured its about time I explored further with my filming and start opening doors into the health and fitness scene. Luckily for me I happen to be bunking in with a couple of vegan fitness fanatics who were happy to become models for a day and shoot this short video."
- - Time to bring back the videos. "I'm feeling like it's time to bring back the videos. For the raw moments that a picture can't always capture. Yay or nay?"
- - The camera gear was stolen. "As most of you know, last week my camera gear was stolen from our villa while we slept. I was weirdly calm despite losing the thing that has shaped my life, and over the next few days I found myself more inspired than usual." He looked back through the first months of footage from that camera: "most of the shots were over-exposed and poorly timed, but it made me realise how grateful I am."
- - Creating for the sake of creating. "Creating things just for the sake of creating things. The best times." A carousel posted in May 2020.
- - Life currently. " October 2022.
- - Five hundred film photos never shared. "I got lost for a moment there. I thought I was treading water when really I was exactly where I needed to be, learning the lessons I needed to learn. At some point I remembered my 17 year old self, so full of blind faith that it'll work out in the end." He adds that he started shooting film that year and has more than five hundred photos he has never shared.
- - A busted Toshiba laptop and a house of nine. "I grew up in a house with 9 people. A childhood of hand-me-downs and a cluttered home taught me gratitude for the things that I did have, like a bed to sleep in and a busted old Toshiba laptop to edit my first videos on." He writes about how much environment shapes what he can make.
- - Shot some film out east. "Ventured East and shot some film to remember bits and bobs." December 2022.
- - Recharging lately. " April 2023.
- - Life is beautiful isn't it. " May 2023.
- - Images from lost phones and undeveloped rolls. "An assortment of images captured between lost phones and many rolls of undeveloped film."
- - The art of living. " July 2023.
- - A dystopian life. " February 2024.