Julian Kingma | Photographer

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Client: Julian Kingma

Business: Freelance Photographer

Julian started his photography career at The Herald newspaper in 1988 as a cadet, eventually becoming the Head Features Photographer for The Sunday Age for 10 years. Since going freelance he has worked for various national and international publications including Gourmet Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Harpers Bazaar, Rolling Stone, and the best of the country’s weekend magazines such as The Australian Magazine and The Goodweekend. Julian has also forged ongoing working relationships with The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Penguin books. He has a working association with publisher Hardie Grant who produced the book IGNI, a collaboration between Julian and chef/restaurateur Aaron Turner, which received international acclaim. They recently published their follow up book, The Hot Chicken Project.

Julian has been awarded Quill Awards for Best Portrait and Best Picture Story in addition to Australian Nikon Photographer of the Year. His work is regularly exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra where his work has been steadily acquired for their permanent collection.

Since picking up a book about Arnold Newman when he was 15, Julian, a long-time drawer, discovered his true love. Working for the most part alone, just himself and his subject, he has never wanted to do anything else. He is at his happiest bobbing around on his surfboard in the early hours at Bells Beach, Victoria, near his home on the Surf Coast.

 

We recently chatted with Julian and asked him a little more about his life, work and running a business with the help of our team at STS…

 

What do you love most about the Surf Coast?

I love the sense of peace & calm when I return home at the end of a big shoot day in Melbourne..

We moved down from Melbourne when our kids were little in 2000 – I’d never go back.

 

What has kept you here?

Again I think the peace & quiet… not to mention its extreme natural beauty

Plus our boys had so much space growing up… not something we would have had had we remained in Melbourne.

 

Apart from the Surf Coast, where is your favourite place to visit?

This is hard to answer as I’ve been so fortunate to travel far & wide for my job. It’s a bit of a cliche – but Paris has always been a soft spot for us all. We’ve been lucky to return there often with & without our boys. A beautiful city.

 

Your images are incredibly moving, what emotion do you find most inspiring to capture?

I’ve spent a lot of years photographing the Australian Ballet both here and overseas, I think that the emotion of dance is possibly my favourite…just incredibly moving.

 

From what I’ve read you followed your photography dreams from a young age, why did you choose to become a freelance photographer?

I started as a cadet ( an intern in today’s language ) on The Melbourne Herald Newspaper when I was 18 & having spent many years in newspapers I desperately wanted a change and had a desire to work on magazines. So to go freelance was the only way to achieve that.
What advice can you offer others about following their dreams and running their dream business?
As a creative this is an ongoing battle – I guess to try and stay ahead of invoicing.. it seems like a simple piece of advice but keeping the income ticking over is so important. And try and treat every day as a workday , have a routine & avoid trips to the fridge!

And in regards to your business on a practical level, what led you to choose STS Accounting Group and how long have you been a client?

I had a less than great experience with an accountant in Melbourne & a friend put me onto STS, about 10 years ago, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
Both Liz & Kim have been incredible with their support to me & my family through some very rough financial times. And continue to do so.. they are calm and are always finding a solution for my freelance world which is fraught with uncertainty. To say they are lifesavers is an understatement.

The COVID19 pandemic has affected so many businesses over the past two years, and obviously your ability to travel would have also diminished, if relevant, how have you evolved or adapted your business to survive the changing environment?

Covid was such a scary time for my workspace. It still is in many ways…I guess I started to look at small businesses that needed photographic collateral – ones closer to home & I tried to cast a bigger net outside magazines & travel. In some ways it was beneficial – it made me more proactive.

 

And finally, do you have a favourite photograph?

That’s like asking me to choose a favourite child…..

 

Pictured above is Julian and he captioned” A very serious me was taken by a friend on assignment in Nashville with my camera gear.”

Thanks for sharing these insights Julian!

Visit https://www.juliankingma.com/ to view some of Julian’s incredible works.