Catching up with Tim Harris

We recently caught up with Tim Harris, a Melbourne based photographer and member of the Uppercut Deluxe Collective.

We first met Tim a few years ago through Uppercut Deluxe Ambassador TJ Guzzardi when we were looking for a photog for a project. Once we got working with him, we never really looked back! Tim’s work regularly makes appearances on our Instagram account thanks to a mutual love of all things old with an engine. Check out his profile for yourself.

Get to know Tim a little more closely..

Tell us about how you got into photography?
I studied script writing at film school but I always envied how photographers didn’t have to rely on a full crew to get out there and do what they love. So about 6 years ago I bought my first camera and started a blog documenting artists and quirky shop owners. I’d take their portrait and a few behind the scenes photos of their craft. This eventuated into a bunch of small businesses around Melbourne reaching out and asking if they could hire me to shoot for them. I now do it for a living under the agency my wife, Clarissa and I started called True Tribe.

What's your favourite thing to shoot?
I don’t really have a favourite thing to shoot, I get more excited about shooting new environments and telling other people’s stories through images. It’s such an honour when people invite me into their space and I get to see them in a way not everyone else gets to see.

You work pretty closely with TJ, how did that come about?
TJ and his family are beautiful and have become very dear to our hearts! We met after I’d taken some photos at a motorcycle show in NSW and I had posted a photo of a rad old F-Truck. Somehow TJ came across the photo and reached out to me because he was looking for someone to document a truck he was painting at the time. I drove out to his workshop in Melbourne, shot the truck and we decided to do a spontaneous portrait shoot with him down a closed road not too far from his house. We got along really well and nowadays try to work together on any opportunity we are given. 

You shoot a lot of motorbikes and cars, is that a bit of a passion point for you?
My first motorcycle shoot was out in Mildura and a rider’s family owned one of the legit Interceptors from the Mad Max movies. The guys were riding Harleys drifting in the desert dust with the Interceptor chasing behind them. The shoot was burned into my memory as one of the funnest times I’ve ever had. I remember after returning home from the trip I was chasing the same feeling and have been shooting car and bike stuff with people who are passionate ever since.

Tell us about that shoot with the boys from Hunt and Co, and how on earth did you end up in a plane?
That was a fun one. The Hunt and Co boys live up in Moree and the only way to get there from Melbourne is by flying to Sydney then catching another plane the size of a school bus up to northern NSW. Jordan, who I had met at The Boogaloo a few years back, is a crop plane pilot and I’d always wanted to snap him just doing his thing at work. Luckily Jordan and Ryan (his brother) are amazing riders too so it was a no brainer when an opportunity came up to shoot some lifestyle content for Uppercut Deluxe.

What's next for you?
I have partnered alongside a prominent workwear brand this year which has opened up another bunch of doors to shoot some really cool projects. Other than that, we had a bunch of work and family trips planned for overseas this year but with the craziness of 2020 it has been nice to slow down a little and spend time with the family.