For Aidan Williams, photography has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember, from using disposable cameras at age five to owning his first camera at age seven. “Photography was something that I always did,” Williams says, “taking photos of my brother playing sport on weekends and exploring what was possible through a lens.” By age 16, Williams knew that combining his love for photography and for sport was something he hoped to make a career out of.
Obsessed with photography, Williams says that he was lucky to have great mentors who pushed him in visual arts as part of his HSC. Following high school, he went on to study Photo Imaging at TAFE. Williams gained invaluable experience at The Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph, and Getty Images before booking a one-way ticket overseas to pursue slacklining, a sport that he says he fell in love with instantly.
Shooting professionally for the last four years, since the age of 19, the main theme of Williams’ work is slacklining, a sport that involves someone walking across a one-inch piece of flat webbing anchored between two fixed points. The elevated version, highlining, takes the webbing hundreds of metres into air. “I love the idea of having an amazing, vast landscape, then taking a tiny person who appears as if they are balancing and walking on thin air, showcasing how beautiful the landscape is, along with the ability of the athlete.”
Williams has a number of national and international prizes and accolades behind him, including PDN Adrenaline Action/Adventure, Aperture Top Emerging Photographer Sports winner, International Photography Awards – Extreme Sports 1st place, and Aperture Emerging Photographer 2019.
Going forward, Williams has his sights set on pushing both his personal limits and the adventure/sports photography industry, “hopefully inspiring others to chase their dreams as I do every day”. In terms of dream clients, one day he would love to shoot for National Geographic. “The beauty of photography is that you never stop learning,” Williams says. “I have a long way to go, and hopefully a lot more improving.”
www.aidanwilliamsphoto.com
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