WHAT THIS IS

I’m Tony. By day I run a family photography business here in Hamilton. This, Inkytones, is the work I do purely for the love of it.

It’s not a business and there’s no session fee. It’s a hobby, and it’s a collaboration. I work with people to make dark, moody, striking images, the kind of thing I’d hang on my own wall, and so would you.

The old way of thinking about this was “book a shoot.” This isn’t that. This is two people deciding to make something together and figuring out the how as we go.

HOW IT WORKS

Someone has an idea, or I do. Sometimes I’ll have a project in mind and put a call out. Sometimes you’ll have seen the work and have something of your own you want to make. Either way, we talk first.

The questions I care about are simple. What do you want to make, and why? What’s it saying? That conversation is where we decide the look, the wardrobe, the mood, all of it, together, before anything is shot.

There’s no cost. You get all the edited images to keep and print yourself. If you ever want prints, albums or framing through me, you can pay for those, but that’s just a convenience, not the point. The point is the work.

One thing to be clear about up front: there are no private sessions. Showing the work is part of the deal. I give my time and craft to make something, and in return, I get images I can share here, on Instagram, in my portfolio. If you’d need this kept completely private, this isn’t the right fit, and that’s okay.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Two kinds of people, mostly.

People who already have something, a look, a craft, a presence, a point of view, and want striking images to match. You bring the raw material and the idea; I bring the eye and the craft to realise it.

And people who’ve looked at this kind of image and thought “I’d love to be in something like that.” You don’t need to arrive as a finished artist or know what you’re doing. If you’re drawn to the work and up for making something, that’s enough. The rest is my job.

WHAT IT MIGHT BE

I don’t have a fixed menu, and that’s deliberate. It might be an intimate, quiet boudoir idea. It might be a vintage character, old Hollywood, film-noir, a siren in a black gown. It might be a portrait concept that doesn’t have a name yet.

Whatever the form, it lives in the same place: quiet, moody, a little cinematic. Light and shadow doing the work. Beautiful in a still way, not a bright one.

INTERESTED?

You don’t have to have it all worked out to get in touch. If you’ve got an idea, tell me about it. If you just like the work and want to be part of something, say so and we’ll find the idea together.

I read every message myself.