I got to the hotel at 9.15am, fifteen minutes early, coffee going cold in my hand while I scoped the place out.
It's one of those Circular Quay hotels where practically every hallway window has the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge competing for your attention. I walked the floors looking for something quieter. A corner the public couldn't wander into. I found it near a glass door, morning light spilling in at a decent angle, one guest chair sitting there like it had been waiting for me. Fired off some test shots, liked what I saw, sent them to Trisha's manager, and waited.
By the time I looked up from my phone, the lobby had turned into something closer to a stakeout. More photographers than actual guests. A couple of hotel guests stopped to ask me if there was a film shoot happening.
Then the manager came down and the whole plan changed twice in one breath. First: there's a delay, can we push this to after the event. Then, before I'd even processed that: how fast can you actually do it? I said five minutes. I meant it. They were already running behind and I wasn't going to be the reason it got worse. She checked with Trisha. Two minutes later I was in the lift.
Up in the room, I had about ninety seconds to make a call that mattered. Window one way meant the Opera House in frame, but the light would hit her from behind and I had zero time to rig a strobe, they'd asked for minimal gear going in. Turn her the other way and I'd lose the skyline but get clean, workable light straight off the window. No contest, really. I tested the setup on her manager first, adjusted, and had it dialed in by the time Trisha walked through the door.
She had this unbothered warmth about her, like the chaos downstairs hadn't touched her at all. We shook hands. I told her I shoot almost entirely on natural light, and that photography is actually my second job, my day job is running clinical trials as a project manager. That got a genuine laugh out of her. She said she'd already looked through my portfolio and loved a set of outdoor portraits I'd shot around Sydney CBD, and that she wished there'd been time to do something out in the city instead of a hotel room.
Five minutes, exactly as promised. She looked at the shots on the back of the camera and loved them. I packed up fast and walked back out past the same wall of photographers, trying not to look as pleased with myself as I felt.
Later, watching from across the lobby, I saw her stop for a few fans on her way to the car, sign something, smile for a phone or two. Then, right as the car pulled off, she turned and waved. At me.
That wave is the part that stayed with me longer than any of the frames did.
Creative team: HMU by @makeupandhairbypris and @rachelstylesmith, styling by @ekalakhani, jewellery by @esmecrystals, footwear by @aands_official, connected via @ascend.rohank.
Looking for a Sydney photographer for your portrait, event, or brand shoot? I work fast, I work with what the light gives me, and I make five minutes count. Get in touch or view my celebrity portfolio.
