My week, at Australian Fashion Week ‘26
Australian Fashion Week, 2026.
I spent the week moving between shows, backstage entrances, street style crowds, and dark corners of venues trying to catch moments before they disappeared. Some of the best images happened completely in-between the key moments for me this year; guests awaiting patiently in their seats just buzzing with anticipation, and models waiting in silence as they wait to walk replaying the music over and over in their minds.
One morning I would be on to capturing guest arrivals for my creative cup without any deadlines, and then the next moment I’d be capturing official backstage images making sure all of the sponsors got images of their products within a one hour turn around. It was equal parts for my soul, and for my clients.
My week looked like:
Monday: Landed in Sydney at 8.30am, checked in to my hotel at the Four Seasons, captured backstage and FOH moments at Maticevski, and then on to Carla Zampatti.
Tuesday: An early morning call time of 5am for Commas as their official backstage photographer, dropped film off at the lab, and then on to Hansen and Gretel in the evening (this ended up being a 20 hour day)
Wednesday: Shot backstage again, this time covering the Nagnata show, a same day edit and then off to dinner with some photography friends, with some more editing to follow
Thursday: Shot runway and guest arrivals for Christian Kimber, went and checked out some street style moments at Lee Mathews, popped in to visit some old industry friends at Chadwick, had a very exciting phone call and booking come through, and then had a quiet night in my hotel room with room service and some edits overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Friday: I shot some atmosphere shots at the Vogue Market, packed up, and then jumped on a plane
Shows: 6
There were so many moments of absolute chaos, adrenaline, sleep deprivation and excitement. This is my third Australian Fashion Week, but my first as a photographer. My first two experiences - much more glamorous. Would I change a thing? Absolutely not.
What stayed with me most after the week ended wasn’t necessarily the runway itself, though. It was the atmosphere around it all.
Fashion week exists in these strange contrasts. Extreme glamour mixed with exhaustion. Precision mixed with complete unpredictability. Hundreds of people trying to create something visually perfect while operating on very little sleep. Kudos to all of the photographers, videographers, directors, hair and makeup artists, stylists, designers, models, and everyone who is lucky enough to call Australian Fashion Week work.
[Photography]
