17/07/2026
The Final Frame.
The final whistle has blown, the crowd is filtering out, and the house lights are dimming. For the last two hours, as the clock ticked down through the final quarter of my final game, I watched the action through my viewfinder with a heavy but incredibly proud heart. Tonight, I packed my glass and bodies into the gear bag at the Eaton Recreation Centre without looking forward to the next home fixture. After 17 seasons, 440odd games ( I did the maths wrong in my head if you heard me say more... only human) including men and the ladies, hundreds of thousands of shutter clicks, and a lifetime of baseline memories, a massive chapter has closed.
Seventeen years is a long time to watch the world through a lens. When you sit few feet away from the hardwood for that long, at a perspective many don't get, you don’t just see basketball... you see the raw, unedited human condition. I have had the absolute privilege of telling the stories of circa 150 unique athletes who have pulled on the jersey during my time here. I’ve captured the trembling nerves of local teenagers making their debuts, the roaring triumphs of championship runs, the quiet agony of season-ending injuries, and the fierce, fleeting brilliance of overseas imports playing their hearts out in the South West.
It’s funny how a game can expand. Over the years, my lens became a bridge. The way I chose to see the game, to freeze the sweat, the flight, and the emotion, became the club's visual currency. The images created on this baseline traveled far beyond the borders of WA...they went across oceans, landing on the screens of agents, colleges, and pros worldwide. For nearly two decades, the international image of the Slammers relied on my eye to show the world that this regional club was a place of elite talent and explosive passion. It drew talent in from all corners of the globe because they saw, in vivid detail, the dignity and power of playing here.
A journey this long is never a smooth ride. Tonight, I want to extend my deepest, most sincere gratitude to the players, coaches, volunteers, and genuine club people who have been incredibly good to me over the years. You made the baseline feel like home.
But a legacy isn't built only in the easy moments. I must also acknowledge those over the years who chose to make things difficult, who threw up roadblocks, and who tried to dim the light on what we were creating. To them, I say thank you, too. Your friction only sharpened my focus. In the end, those who made it hard have moved on, fading into the background, while I stood the test of time. I stayed. I photographed. I prevailed.
None of this would have been possible without my ultimate team. To my partner Jodie and my two daughters, thank you. Thank you for coming along to the stadium, for sitting through endless quarters, and most importantly, for putting up with me when the stadium lights went out. You are the ones who endured the unseen side of elite sports photography: the late nights in the office, the endless glow of the editing monitor, the sorting, the tagging, and the grueling back-end work that happens long after the fans have gone home. Your patience allowed me to build this archive.
As I look at the final images captured from that closing quarter tonight, this is the end for now as it stands. While I am leaving this specific baseline behind, I remain open to being involved down the track—but it would need to be under a completely different structure to how things operate now.
For now, the stories are frozen, the history is written, and the archive stands as the definitive visual record of a generation of Slammers basketball.
Goodbye for now, . It’s been a hell of a view.
🏀
