Lilli Kad Photography

09/09/2026

In a surprising turn of events, my calendar is starting to require advance notice.

October is full. (With some exceptional projects I might add)

I have room for one more session in November, and I’ll be back in Sydney from 17 December to 18 January.

I’m putting the dates here now so nobody can tell me in January they didn’t know.

You know where I am if you want to make it happen!

08/09/2026

08/09/2026

Not too long ago, I used to think brand photography was boring.

Not mildly boring either. I genuinely could not imagine standing in a studio day after day photographing different people in slightly different versions of the same setup.

Laptop. Coffee cup. Nice chair. Next.

The funny thing is, I once thought exactly the same thing about wedding photography.

The weddings I knew felt very prescribed to me. Then a friend asked me to photograph hers because she wanted something completely different, and I got involved in far more than taking the photographs.

I got interested in the people, the place, how the day should feel and what would make it unmistakably theirs.
That eventually took me to weddings in Iceland, Morocco, Greece and all sorts of places I never expected photography to take me. No two were remotely the same, which was exactly why I loved it.

It took me a while to realise I could do the same thing with brands.

I do not particularly want to photograph a consultant, an economist or a photographer according to what somebody in that profession is supposed to look like.
I want to figure out what this person’s world looks like.
Sometimes that will be a beautiful interior. Sometimes it will involve a plane, a ridiculous alarm clock, water, wind, walking through a city before it wakes up, or standing somewhere so enormous that for a minute everything else feels very small.

And that is when this work becomes exciting to me.
Not because the location is impressive.
Because we have made something that could only really belong to the person standing in it.

02/09/2026

When everything is still quiet, the cold wind is ruffling through your hair and the first light is catching the city skyline behind you, you know you are somewhere pretty special.

The huge sails of the Opera House are towering above us and, apart from a few very committed runners, we pretty much have the place to ourselves.

By seven, it belongs to everyone again. So we had to be there before.

Marina and Dennis flew in from Austria to see Australia and to be photographed by an Austrian. Yep, I know how that sounds.

Two brands, two slightly different briefs, one very narrow window of light.

The shoot itself was the easy part.

Weeks of thinking came before it. Values sessions where premium, cheeky, high tech and visionary somehow all had to live in the same world. Styling that had to support both brands. Locations chosen for where the sun actually lands in August, not where something looks nice on Google.

And then eventually all of that thinking disappears.

You are just standing there in the first light, looking at the back of the camera, and something that had only existed as an idea suddenly feels completely real.

That is probably the part I love most.

Not just making a beautiful photograph, but creating something that could only really belong to those people, in that moment, for what they are building.

And getting to do it underneath the Opera House before most of Sydney has had coffee is not a bad way to spend a morning either.

29/08/2026

There is much talk about meditation these days as form of regulating the nervous system and all sorts of other benefits. It seems there are a lot of different opinions of what is meditation. I do the classics body scan mediations as well but I also often notice that exploration (or as it’s often called - location scouting) has a very similar effect for me. It’s calms me and it make me totally present. I notice the smallest things angles the way the light highlights structural elements. Add water to it and the experience is very restorative and calming.

What calms you? Do you believe in meditation and if so what is your way?

29/08/2026

For the last five months I’ve been busy repositioning my business. Starting from scratch in many ways. Learning, implementing, creating. It’s been a whirlwind of emotions. At times I questioned myself, my strategy and my goals.

And no this is not a post that ends into how I found my why and the lesson I learned. Sorry Insta world - if I don’t follow Insta social etiquette!

Of course I know why I am doing all of it. Yes I know my Why! And perhaps one day I will even let you in on it.

The hard part on the last few months was the fact that I had a hard time switching off. Racing thoughts when I go to bed, waking up to the same racing thoughts. The to do list and the hours spent putting a structure in place and building a team that supports this business of mine so I don’t burn out!

Ironically doing all this not to burn out almost burned me out! 🫣

So when my lovely friend came up to visit, I had a forced reset. Entire weekend of playing, exploring, good food even better conversations and great company. Raw and real!

Turns out I needed this weekend more than I realised.

If I’m serious about building a business that works with my nervous system instead of against it, weekends like this can’t become the exception. They have to become part of the design.

07/08/2026

Yep, better late than never but I finally figured it out!

An empty hour feels like falling behind, so you fill it straight away. A phone call, a quick post, one more thing crossed off the list or even a quick scroll - I mean it’s research after all right?!!

A quiet hour is something else entirely. It asks nothing of you, and it just holds you for a while. Ah absolute bliss!

And yes this matters as most overwhelm comes from never being off duty. Even in bed, even on a walk, some part of you keeps scanning for the next thing that needs you, and that constant scanning wears you out long before the to-do list does.

In a quiet hour, that part of you finally stands down. Your breathing slows down. Thoughts arrive one at a time again, and none of them are demands. Somewhere in there, your best thinking comes back, because it finally has the room.

You do not need a week away. A quiet hour, taken without apology, will do more than you expect.

I literally can go for a walk in the morning and have no recollection of it afterwards because my head has been busy with thoughts of what I need to do rerunning conversations in my head and generally just not being present. Finding the quiet hour has been my holy grail and when I do, it is absolute bliss!

Meditation, breathwork and training def helps me get there. What do you do to get there?