About Darren Christie

My Background

I’m 59 years old.

I’m married to Marisa Quigley, a nurse and talented singer/songwriter. I have 6 adult children and 2 adorable grandchildren.

I’m privileged to live in North East Victoria, Australia, on a secluded and hilly 307ac property with spectacular views. Our property borders a national park. Although partially cleared, it contains a lot of natural bushland and large outcrops of granite. Grey Kangaroos, Wombats, Koalas, Echidnas, Goannas, and feral Samba Deer live in the surrounding bushland.

This is my ‘big backyard’. It’s also my ‘happy place’ where I love to wander through the bush, enjoying the natural beauty. It’s also a great wild space for a photographer to hang out.

We have about 50 Wiltshire Horn sheep and 8 Alpacas.

We live off-grid and are learning to be more self-sufficient.

I currently work 3 days a week as an operating theatre technician at a nearby private hospital.

I’m a musician. I mainly play guitar, bass and sing a bit with my wife. I also love to produce electronic music.

I used to be a video producer. I made many Veterinary education videos with my father in the 90’s using a large pro S.VHS.C camera and an A/B Roll S.VHS edit suite with a vision mixer and a titling computer. Now my phone and computer would do it all, at a fraction of the cost.

My Cancer history

In 1995 (I was 29) I went into hospital with suspected appendicitis. It was Colon Cancer. I woke up to find out I’d had 1/3 of my large bowel (ascending colon) removed. Following this I struggled on and off for many years with depression and anxiety. For the most part I’m doing pretty well now, although I still have my ups and downs, mostly with anxiety. More recently I’ve had to start back on the anti-D’s. Fortunately, the hard times have made me stronger and have had an overall positive impact on who I am today. My experience with anxiety and depression, combined with my love of photography, has led me to an interest in photography and mental health. More on this to come.

My Photography

I’ve loved photography for many years, starting in the 1970’s when I was in Primary School. I went through the B&W printing in the bathroom stage, dabbled in wedding photography (mainly videography), have owned a beautiful Hasselblad 500C and even did some Veterinary medical photography at one point. However, it wasn’t until I got my first digital camera and taught myself the basics of Photoshop that my real passion for photography was ignited.

Now, after many years of taking photos for myself, and at nearly 60, I’ve decided it’s time to do more of what I’m passionate about and have set myself the goal of being a full-time fine-art photographer by the end of 2025. I may NOT make it all the way there…but THAT’S THE GOAL.

My Style

While I love landscape and travel photography, my still-developing style predominantly focuses on ABSTRACT and STYLIZED NATURE images. I enjoy experimenting with techniques like ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) and multiple-exposures (both in-camera and in Photoshop). At the moment of writing this, I also mostly crop my images square.

My Tools

I shoot with both Canon APS-C and Lumix M43 bodies. I love post-processing and mostly use Lightroom. See my full ‘gear and software list’ here.

Online store

I’m still getting set up to be able to sell my work. My online store and connected printing service will be active soon.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my website.

Daz