His love for photography naturally brought him to capture the moments of ecstasy during endless raves. That carefree sensation of living the time of your life. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of what he was creating back then, but today, all that work has been put together in ’93: Punching the Light, “a book that is going down in history as a documentation of a subculture” published by Damiani Books. Simon was lucky enough to have a good mentor at school who constantly encouraged him to do better. So, with time, he decided to make his hobby his profession.
He moved to New York and worked alongside respected photographers such as David Sims, Steven Klein or Herb Ritts. What began as a way to escape reality turned out to be a source of inspiration that shaped his future path. Now, he has built a professional career and earned the respect of the industry. This is how a raver became a fashion photographer, and it makes more sense than what you might think. “Raves and fashion kind of go hand in hand. Fashion is music, art, culture. Raves were just that”, he says in this interview. After presenting his book in Europe and the US, and before presenting it in Sidney, his birthplace, we talk with Simon from a retrospective point of view to take a trip through his memories and get to know the book that documents Australia’s raving subculture.