Hey I’m Justin Castles!

Sometimes I still can't believe this is what I get to do every day of the week!

Photography started for me when I bought my first DSLR camera around 7 years ago.  After taking my first few images on that camera I was hooked!  While I haven’t studied photography at university, all of my nights and weekends during those first few years were dedicated to consuming every bit of information I could find about lighting, technique and creativity.  A photo nerd was born.

Why weddings?  Like any other new photographer, I took my camera everywhere (actually I still do) and this included weddings of friends.  Before I knew it I had been asked to photograph my first full wedding, and it was awesome!  Being trusted to capture this giant day, all of the moments, relationships, details and emotion.  Add that knowing that it couldn’t be done again, there are no second chances, that is what made me fall in love with shooting weddings.

Over the last 7 years I have also built a business that makes leather camera straps for photographers, it’s called Lucky Camera Straps. We proudly make the camera straps here in Bendigo and export them all over the world.

I live in Bendigo with my Dog Ted.  He is the best dog in the world!  Ted is with me almost all of the time, we walk together every morning before I start work.  I’m pretty sure he is very close to learning to talk!

Ted has his own pet, Pepper.  She is a crazy tiny black cat who acts like a honey badger and only likes affection when it’s on her terms.  Last year she went missing for 3 months, we had almost given up when she was spotted in Maiden Gully almost 8km from home!  The images below are from the first time she saw Ted after being found :)

I am hooked on adventure.  When I'm not behind the camera I'm surfing, rock climbing, wakeboarding or snowboarding.  Jim and I have been lucky enough able to go Japan snowboarding each year for the last few years and it is the best!

After Japan we also went to Cambodia to visit a good friend of ours Koky Saly.  Koky runs a company called the Bee Keeper Parade, they make backpacks and each one sold put a child in Cambodia through english classes for one year.  

Night Photography is something I love to do whenever I get a chance.  It's so quiet and so slow, sometimes I am out for hours and I only come back with one image but that image is always worth it!

Photographing adventure sports has helped bring my photography to another level.  Shooting out of a chopper doing over 200kph which is next to a trophy truck doing the same speed certainly tests your skills!  

This boat has almost 1500hp and I was in the passenger seat, that was a fun shoot! 

If you have scrolled this far then thank you!  I love my life and it could not be the way it is without the amazing couples that trust us to capture their weddings!  I'll leave you with a few more images from my world...