I snapped photos of these quokkas smiling and the internet went crazy.
Here is what the internet was designed for. Cute animals to excite your happiness.
I'll explain my story after these photos.
Happy emotions come running into your head.
That's the aim of photography, to pull an emotional string to compel people.
Of course, animals are a great subject matter. Especially if they're adorable. But I had stumbled on something different, un-tapped quokka knowledge. There was very little quokka content on the internet in 2013 and unbeknownst to me, I opened up the flood gates.
Firstly, what in the world are these little animals?
Quokkas are small little marsupials found on Rottnest Island in Western Australia. Unfortunately there are only around 12,000 left in the world meaning they're registered as vulnerable species.
Think of them about the size of a cat, with the body structure of a kangaroo with the face of smiling bear. Crazy cool.
Being nocturnal, they love the night. It's the best time to come out and look for food. But you'll see them during the day chilling out under the shade of bushes, trees and shelters.
If your photography adds value and helps people you're on the right track.
I took the photos for fun, uploaded some and the emails started rolling in. What company could possibly want these photos? Well it turns out they are very valuable to Tourism Australia. Showcasing an adorable animal exclusive to Australia could drive people to Australia. That's the tourism board's main job, get people to travel to Australia.
The internet has your photos now, anything can happen
The images were featured by Tourism Australia and then reposted over countless Instagram accounts. Distractify and BoredPanda then featured my quokka selfies. People were over joyed to find out such an animal even existed. More and more people started sharing the photos across social.
It was a tidal wave of likes and comments
People were messaging me to say how much joy quokkas bring them. How it made their day and put a smile on their face. Now that's cool, I'm very grateful to know that it has brought joy to peoples lives.
Although it got to a point where I had to turn off push notifications.
I started uploading even more quokka photos to continue spreading smiles.
Buzzfeed interviewed me about my experience in Western Australia.
Of course highlighting quokkas.
An Onboard Flight Magazine - JetStar
A welcoming billboard in Perth Airport
Thanks to Joey Kavanagh for spotting this one.
Even Japanese TV shows.
I have no idea what they're saying.
I was astonished at the effect which these photos where having on the world.
People now associate me with quokkas. I have become this animal guy by uploading a few high quality images and the rest is history. The internet made the decision for me. It was obvious, I had to go back to hangout with the quokkas to capture even more content.