I realized very early on that the computer could be used as a creative instrument as well as a tool for crunching numbers.

While still living in Sydney in the mid-80s, I set up a home studio with the first dedicated music computer (an Atari 520ST, with a MIDI port!). I also started experimenting with early sampling tools and music sequencing software.

This fascination for new technologies followed me to New York, where I started using non-linear editors (the Avid and the Video Toaster) while doing post-production for indie films and music videos.

I also got swept up in this thing called the internet, and embedded myself in the early dotcom world, which was bubbling under (and soon to erupt) in New York in the mid-90s.

That pull towards the internet kicked off my digital career as a Creative Director and Experience Designer for the next two decades.

I worked at agencies like Razorfish, GREY, and Agency.com on marquee brands such as Sony, Nike and Ford, winning multiple awards along the way. And I also worked on the product design side, for NBC, ITVS and SiriusXM.

Then, in 2015, I was at a StoryCode meetup and someone strapped me into an Oculus DK1, and I was introduced to a whole new way of seeing the world.

I saw immediately how virtual reality could enable a completely different paradigm for engaging with digital content. And with augmented reality in the mix, also a new way to blend the virtual and the physical worlds into a coherent experience.

I got deeply involved in the New York VR community, attending the monthly NYVR meetups, teaching a class on Cinematic VR at the New York Film Academy, and participating in a lab run out of New York University’s Tandem School of Engineering (where I developed a VR storyboard template that has become an industry standard).

Although I was passionate about the possibilities of virtual reality, I was also keenly aware of its limitations, including the clunkiness of the hardware, the low resolution of the available headsets, and the lack of really engaging content (especially in the area I was most interested in, Cinematic VR).

The release of the VisionPro in 2024 went a long way towards addressing those limitations, and I’ve spent the last two years deeply embedded in the VisionOS ecosystem, both as a consumer and a creator.

And, in keeping with my long obsession for Cinematic VR, I’ve become fixated on how the fidelity and presence of Apple’s Immersive Video could allow for a whole new way to present narrative fiction.

As I continue to explore these new possibilities, I've also started writing about them in my Substack, Watch This Space.

From using a computer to record music in the 1980s, to using an immersive camera to “record reality” now, my creative career has been guided by two enduring questions: What does this medium want to become? And how do we get there?