More Questions Than Answers · Episode 3 · 7 July 2026

Michelle Grace Hunder: The Career Crossroads That Made Her Australia's Top Music Photographer

Episode notes

Michelle Grace Hunder is one of the most trusted and in demand music photographers in Australia. From Genesis Owusu to Tkay Maidza, Hilltop Hoods, G Flip and Jim Jefferies, she's captured the faces that define Australian music culture. She's behind landmark projects like Her Sound, Her Story and Rise, has two separate portrait series at the National Film and Sound Archive, and has spent nearly 15 years building a career that started with zero photography experience at age 31.

On this episode of More Questions Than Answers, Ron Haryanto sits down with Michelle Grace Hunder for a conversation about the moment that changed everything, the creative risks that redefined her work, and what it actually takes to build a career in an industry that keeps moving the goalposts.

Michelle didn't pick up a camera until she was 31. She had no formal training, no industry connections, and no plan. She had a failed business behind her, a husband who'd just bought her a camera for Christmas, and a hometown friend named Briggs who was making rap music that blew her mind. Six months later, she went professional.

What followed was full immersion. Every hip hop show. Every artist. Every night. Between 2010 and 2015, if there was a show in Melbourne, Michelle was there. She inserted herself until she became part of the furniture. That's how Rise happened. That's how Her Sound, Her Story happened. That's how the career happened.

But it wasn't just about showing up. Michelle came from a business background in sports marketing and event management. She understood punctuality, deadlines, invoicing, delivery. The things that separate working photographers from talented photographers. The things that keep a career going when the passion runs out.

And she was terrified of the studio. For years, Michelle called herself a natural light photographer. It wasn't a style choice. It was fear. So she forced herself into the studio for a year and learned everything. That decision changed her career, the standard of her work, and what was possible.

Now she runs Got Next Studios in Melbourne with her husband Jarvis. It's named after a basketball term, it's soaked in hip hop, and it's become a space for the next generation of photographers to learn, make mistakes, and build the skills that actually matter.

Inside the episode

• Picking up a camera at 31 with zero experience and going professional in six months
• The catastrophic business failure and the dishwasher moment that changed everything
• Full immersion in the Australian hip hop scene and becoming part of the furniture
• Creating Rise and Her Sound, Her Story and the impact of those projects
• Being terrified of the studio and forcing herself to learn creative lighting
• Hitting the ceiling in Australian music and the decision to stay instead of going to America
• Opening Got Next Studios and building a space for the next generation
• The business skills that separate working photographers from talented photographers
• Finding your people and building relationships that champion you when you're not in the room

More Questions Than Answers is a monthly podcast where Ron Haryanto sits down with Australian artists, songwriters, producers and industry leaders to talk honestly about creative careers. Powered by The Mentor Academy.

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