About — Alli Campbell

I photograph people who don’t like having their picture taken.

Hello, I’m Alli (she/her).

I’m a Bendigo based photographer of families, babies, weddings and local makers and organisations doing good things. I pursue imagery that is honest, unpretentious and aesthetically beautiful.

Real life in beautiful light. Photographs that are useful. No nonsense.

I’m based in Bendigo, in central Victoria, but work across Melbourne and regional Vic/NSW. I hate having my picture taken, and love connecting with and capturing people who don’t feel ‘natural’ in front of the camera.

Photograph by Ippei Janine in Tokyo 2019

I’m from a family of academics and artists, doctors and makers. I’m somewhere down the middle. I grew up picking grapes and bottling wine in our little family vineyard, endlessly arguing about politics, history, words, music, the arts, science (anything that wasn’t sport). I brought home the boy who sat next to me in the school jazz band and my family declared they liked him more than they liked me, even though he liked sport. I married him despite both of these obvious drawbacks (quite a few years later!).

I have a double degree in Media and Communications and Commerce, which was mostly an exercise in realising I wasn’t really interested in multinationals and the inner workings of politicians. I skipped the grad programs and we backpacked from Shanghai to Edinburgh with a bag full of camera gear. I came home and built a website, worked for a chance and peanuts, and found my groove.

Over ten years later and we are settled very happily back in Bendigo, walking distance to both sets of parents, after years of studying and living in Melbourne. We have two kids, a half renovated house, a big messy garden and not enough hours in the day.

I make a lot of bad jokes, swear like a sailor, and almost always have ink or paint on my hands. I hope you’ll find me warm and unflappable, and walk away thinking the experience was better than a tooth extraction (an admittedly low bar).

I am now based in Bendigo and have photographed people, weddings and businesses throughout central and regional Victoria/NSW and Melbourne for the last ten years. For locations more than an hour from Bendigo I usually charge a small travel fee, unless I can schedule another shoot on the same day in your location.
I started working professionally in 2013 under my own banner, after pursuing photography as a self-taught hobby for a long time.
Natural or ambient light is absolutely the ideal in many situations, but also comes with a huge amount of inherent limitations - it can be dull, overpowering, strangely hued, utterly absent or not reflecting the mood. I also use a range of speedlights, LED panels and modifiers depending on the situation to subtly enhance the ambient light, or make it jiggle on the d-floor at a wedding!
I've always shot Canon, and predominantly use prime L lenses. I always have a second body and a range of back up gear with me. My default is the Canon R5 with an EF 50mm f1.2.
YOU BETCHA I'm up to date with Pertussis/Whooping Cough, Covid19, Fluvax etc. I've got kids, my uni job was in a GP clinic, I'm surrounded by health professionals - I'm not mucking around.
I get it. Truly I do. You are my people. We'll be chatting, I'll be embarrassing myself, I'll be moving you into good angles and flattering light, I'm a dab hand at photoshop. I've got you.
Classic, intentional and full of light and shadow.
I try to keep editing classic and clean, with soft greens and a slight film feel, using my own profiles. I use retouching software (Lightroom and Photoshop) sparingly to remove distractions/enhance skin etc – you don’t need to keep pimples/scratches/undie lines for a photo to be ‘real!’
Unfortunately no. It wouldn’t be a good use of their time! I very occasionally have opportunities for paid assistants and/or second shooters and I’m always happy to chat candidly with anyone interested in the industry.