Chapter One

Welcome to the inaugural Aitken Photography Blog.

Whilst I normally have a lot to say, putting together my first ever blog has been a bit of a challenge. Writers block, creative slowdown, idea deficiency are technical terms I would love to use as an excuse, the truth however is the Super Rugby season has started, the Commonwealth Games are on and let’s not forget that the Supercars season is underway. I’m here now though, trying desperately hard to organise a thousand odd words in a fashion that reads well and makes me seem a lot more interesting than just being a photographer with a ‘sports watching’ addiction.

I’ve read a few books during my forty-one years hanging around and aside from the ones that have required crayons and colouring pencils I’ve learnt that chapter one should be about setting the scene and introducing the characters. That seems like a great way to start my blog as well. Future chapters will include behind the scenes footage and stories of all the colourful shoots I get to do but chapter one is my chance to sit down and embellish myself.

My name is Warren Aitken, whilst my story and journey into photography will never get a major movie deal, with a little creative license I could probably get a straight to TV movie deal. At worst it would make a dull animated short film.

Born and bred in New Zealand where we put jandals on our feet, duvets on our beds and beers in our chilly bins, I came to Australia when fuel had barely cracked $1 a litre. I’ve spent most of my life as a truck driver with a love of photography. Mid 2017 I had a bit of a ‘Lemony Snickett’ situation where due to ‘a series of unfortunate events’ I was left at a cross roads. With the demise of the company I worked for I could either accept a new job driving or I could follow my passion and jump head first into starting Aitken Photography. Now that I think about it that was more of a T intersection than a cross roads, but you get the image, right? So, with a little push from my lovely wife Rebecca (you’ll get to meet her too, she’s the one that adds in all the commas and full stops that make this blog legible. Oh! and she’s the one holding the second camera at all the weddings and family shoots.) I decided to become a full-time photographer.

Whilst working full-time my interest and hobby photography work had lead me to regular work with Australian Custom Trucks magazine, as well as publishing some writing in Scania Experience. My automotive photography had been published in Big Rigs newspaper, Cummins inhouse magazine, Truckin Life, as well as several NZ calendars and more than a few online sites as well.

The ‘less wheels more legs’ side of Aitken Photography had gotten me into an area I particularly fell in love with. Wedding photography. Whilst my workload in 2017 meant I had had to miss several wedding opportunities the idea of getting back into them was one of the driving forces behind establishing Aitken Photography.

A lot of photographers avoid weddings, yes, the stress levels are high and there is no room for error, but the rewards are ten-fold. The couples that we have been lucky enough to photograph and to document their special day have driven my desire for more. Seeing couples at their happiest and being able to deliver them photos that take them back to the joy and emotion of the day is extremely rewarding. If you’ve ever taken a bite of a NZ made custard square you would understand that feeling of bliss, honestly.

So where was I at with my waffling??? Oh yeah, I told you about what I was doing with my photography before my change in employment. So that’s the scene set, you’ve got a rough idea of what my character is like (I’m working on less waffle in person) and I snuck a little intro in of the other, more grown up side of Aitken Photography, my wife Rebecca. Let’s move onto where we are at now.

Aitken Photography has been up and running for over six months now. On the automotive side I’ve picked up some more freelance journalism work with a couple of publications. I’ve started doing some ‘New Delivery’ photography for a few major truck manufacturers. My regular clients that customize trucks and make them shinier than really shiny things are flat-out producing some great trucks, so I’ve got a lot to shoot there and I’ve just started getting into some car photography.

In the ‘Less wheels more Legs’ side – wedding season is approaching fast. We have several on the books.  Along with shooting the weddings we like to spend time catching up with our clients and making sure they are nice and relaxed, so we meet several times before the big day getting to know our clients, so we can deliver the best photos that capture who they are as a couple.

As well as weddings, we’ve had some gorgeous families through for family portraits. We make sure we capture them all together with mobile phones down, such a rare sight with teenagers.

Landscape wise the Nikons haven’t been ‘bush’ in a while but with a trip to Louisville, Kentucky just finished (The Mid-America truck show, that’s a whole new blog) and a few trips coming up I’m sure I’ll have a few more Canvas worthy shots up soon.

So, it’s about time to wrap this up, the deadline for Chapter One has passed by with sonic boom and I’m just waiving from the porch. A special thank you must included for Kimberley from Evoke Design Studios. Kimberley has worked for months getting my new website up and running. While I get easily distracted with photoshoots, articles, a little bit of relief driving and still trying to meet my husbandry requirements, Kimberley has pottered along in the background trying to keep me focused ( even now I’m losing time watching car racing…FOCUS WARREN)
So, I’ll sign off and start working on chapter two. Thank you all for reading, I’ll include more distracting photos next time to counteract my waffling, I promise.