About

Tim Elias.

Photographer, printer, occasional writer. Based in Fitzroy, Melbourne — working across Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific.

Portrait of Tim Elias
Portrait of Tim Elias in his Fitzroy studio
A short introduction

Photographer working in the slow lane.

I shoot mostly on film, mostly on assignment, and almost always in Melbourne. My work sits somewhere between documentary and quiet portraiture — patient, available-light, a little melancholic. I look for the moment just before, and the texture of the moment just after.

I'm available for editorial commissions, weddings, brand campaigns, and longer-form architectural and documentary projects.

Work with me
12
Years working
240+
Commissions
68
Editorial features
9
Solo exhibitions

The longer
version.

I grew up in Brunswick, on the inner edge of Melbourne's north, in a house that always smelled faintly of darkroom chemistry. My mother developed film in the laundry on weekends. I was the kid who carried the tripod.

At sixteen I bought a Pentax K1000 for forty dollars and lost the next two years to it — the laneways behind Smith Street, late trams, the slow city before sunrise. I studied photojournalism at RMIT and freelanced through the back half of the 2010s for The Saturday Paper, Broadsheet, and a handful of small magazines that no longer exist.

Since 2018 I've worked as a full-time independent photographer. I split my time between editorial assignments, wedding documentary work, architectural commissions for studios across Melbourne, and long-form personal projects that nobody asked for.

I still shoot mostly on film — a Leica M6, a Mamiya 7, and a tired old Hasselblad 500C — and I still print every personal frame myself in a converted bathroom in Fitzroy. I think slowness is a feature.

A short history

Twelve years, briefly.

2014

First commission

Hired by a small inner-north magazine to shoot a story on the closing of a thirty-year-old record store. Bought a developing tank with the cheque.

2017

Graduated, RMIT

Finished a photojournalism honours year. Final project, Last Trams, picked up by The Saturday Paper.

2019

First solo exhibition

After Hours — a hundred-frame study of Melbourne between 1 and 5 AM, shown at Collingwood Yards over three weeks.

2021

Moved to a studio in Fitzroy

Set up a small workspace on Brunswick Street. Built a darkroom in the back. Still there.

2023

Architectural commissions

Began ongoing work with three Melbourne architecture studios documenting completed builds across Victoria.

2025

Brunswick After Dark, published

A six-month editorial project on the city's quieter hours. Released as a small-run monograph and exhibited at Tinning Street.

Selected
clients.

  • The Saturday Paper
  • Broadsheet Media
  • Frankie Magazine
  • Monocle
  • Architecture AU
  • Aēsop
  • Marriott & Co.
  • City of Melbourne
  • Cucina Hospitality
  • Collingwood Yards
  • Sibling Architecture
  • Studio Esteta

What I
shoot on.

Film — Leica M6, Mamiya 7 II, Hasselblad 500C/M, Pentax 67.

Digital — Leica Q3, Fujifilm GFX 100S for commercial.

Stock — Mostly Portra 400 and TMax 400. HP5 when the light gives up.

Print — Hand-printed silver gelatin in a Fitzroy darkroom; Hahnemühle Photo Rag for digital.

Let's make something.

Get in touch