Real estate photographer, Inner West

What we shoot across the Inner West

The Inner West is really four markets wearing one name. The Canada Bay peninsulas carry waterfront apartments and full-block family homes with river light; Balmain, Rozelle and Annandale are worker's terrace country, narrow and character-rich; Leichhardt, Haberfield and Ashfield hold federation homes and california bungalows, including Haberfield's heritage conservation streetscapes; and the Marrickville to Dulwich Hill corridor mixes art deco unit blocks with renovated semis along the light rail.

Each of those markets photographs differently. A terrace needs the rooms opened up and the courtyard made to count. A peninsula home needs the water and the aspect. A federation street needs the front garden and the period detail. The gallery has to answer the question the buyer is actually asking in that pocket.

Light and timing in the Inner West

Morning river light off the Parramatta River is the region's gift: it fills the peninsula suburbs with soft, reflected light that suits both interiors and hero exteriors. Terraces are the opposite problem: narrow frontages and shared walls mean darker interiors that need careful fill so they read bright without looking artificial.

We schedule exteriors to the facade's aspect rather than the diary. East-facing streets shoot in the morning, west-facing in the afternoon, and the tree canopy on the older streets rewards shooting when the sun is high enough to clear it.

Permit parking, strata blocks and short notice

Being based in Wareemba means most of the Inner West is minutes away, and short-notice bookings usually fit. The practical knowledge matters as much as the proximity: permit parking around Balmain and Newtown, lift bookings and strata notice in the older apartment blocks, and the school-run windows on the narrow streets are all planned around before the shoot day, not discovered on it.