The Accidental Influencer: When Your Photography Side Hustle Turns Into Laughs and Giggles for all.
First of all, that title was very click bait. I don’t see myself as an influencer, nor do I even like the term Influencer. I prefer the term “A person of influence” or even better “Hey, you’re that guy with the funny videos”.
It’s been a wild ride over the past 3 years since I first started to post random videos that I thought was hilarious in and among my passion of taking photos of our wonderful city and beyond.
During that time, I’ve since became a father of twins and what a wild adventure that has been thus far. (I salute the parents of multiples, ya’ll are MVPS)
And with that my priorities have changed from being able to take photos to now taking photos of my kids are they achieve multiple milestones each month it seems which is certainly enjoyable!
I’ve still been creating content, just a little different and not as frequent as I’d like to, but I thought I’d share a bit about how these ideas come to me.
More recently I’ve had a lot of friendly interactions with people as I’ve been walking in the shops or out at events about my videos that made them laugh and that is so strange yet enjoyable to hear from others. Because it’s what I’ve wanted to do - to make people laugh, distract them from the drudgery of what life is sometimes and take a serious situation into a not so serious, funny 10 second clip that’s relatable.
“Do you work for the APS?”
The answer to this question is no. But, as most people who have been in canberra long enough, you will always find yourself having a friend or family member who’s in the APS.
And listening to their conversations about work provide me enough insight and key terms to understand how funny some situations are that they go through.
And honestly, that is kind of how a lot of my ideas come to me - things that are painful, annoying, challenging, or even personal and painful experiences I’ve been through, they are often translated from real life experiences to 10 second “LOL THATS SO TRUE” clips.
Given how our city is so small, it’s quiet easy to relate to them, especially for those of us who have acclimatised to the “Canberra bubble”
The Canberra Bubble Is Real (AI Generated Picture)
Personally, I love making fun of myself and also some aspects of our city. I only did it because everyone in Australia makes fun of this city, and if there’s anyone that’s going to do it well. It’s someone who lives here.
Equally, I want to show that living here is not just a government infested, questacon-sliding roundabout driving city. We’ve got so much good going for us and we should be shouting it from the roof top! Weather, scenery, multicultural aspects, great food scenes etc. What’s not to like! (Some comments and aggressive DM’s will say otherwise but poo poo to them.)
The Real MVPs: You Beautiful Legends
But here's the thing – none of this would exist without you absolute legends who decided my random brain dumps were worth your time. When I started posting these silly videos, I genuinely thought, “I think that’s hilarious and i’m going to post it because its just funny, and if someone likes it, great.”
To all those who follow along – you're not just numbers on a screen. You're the new Canberran that says “I thought I was the only one that thought this about canberra”. You're the public servant who nearly choked on coffee laughing at the "APS 6 vs Action EL1" video. You're the Canberran who moved interstate and said my content makes you homesick for our “boring” city.
Every view, like, and comment means something real. When life gets heavy and adulting is hard, knowing a 10-second video can brighten someone's day keeps me going. You've turned my procrastination into purpose.
The fact that I can walk through Civic and have someone say "Hey, you're that guy with the funny videos!" still feels surreal. But what gets me is when they follow up with "Thanks for the laughs, mate. I really needed that."
So this isn't just my journey – it's ours. Thanks for letting this slightly unhinged dad with a camera be part of your day.
Keep being legends, Canberra. The algorithm might be unpredictable, but you mob are absolute gold.