Contact

Best for

• Wedding, elopement and portrait photographers: whole rolls instead of a highlight reel, hours planned against the day's moments, packages, dates, and plain words on who owns the photos (see "Photographers: what we build in")
• Anyone who sells time against someone's day or project, with a body of work to look through: wedding bands and DJs (Night Owls, the night's moments), architects (Formwork, project stages in months), videographers, celebrants, event stylists, hire companies
• Audiences: people comparing a few suppliers closely, who want to see real sequences, know what they're paying for and whether their date is free

Less suited to: bright retail (Polish, Pebble); clinical services (Remedy, Lucent); anything that needs a lot of colour.

Personality and voice

Quiet and honest, like a good photographer at the first coffee: here's a whole roll, here's what six hours gets you and what it misses, and the photos are yours.

• Headlines: "Your day, as it was." · "How many hours, which moments." · "Is your date free?" · "Yours to keep, in writing."
• Buttons: "Check your date" · "Circle it" · "Send the enquiry" · "Portfolio"
• Microcopy: "Tap a frame for the loupe; circle the keepers." · "Missed: speeches, first dance." · "Free dates can be held for a week."

Colour

Measured contrast (WCAG): ink on paper 16.7:1 · muted on paper 6.1:1 (on well 5.5:1) · ink on the marker 11.2:1 · paper on ink 16.7:1. Darkroom: ink 16.0:1 · muted 7.4:1 (on card 6.9:1) · ink on the marker 12.5:1 · safelight 6.9:1. Example markers: stage pink (Night Owls) and timber (Formwork) carry ink text at 7:1 or better; eucalyptus mint (Silver Gum) 11.5:1.

Typography

• Display: Gilda Display 400: a calm, high-contrast serif for headlines, names and prices.
• Body: Karla 400–700: plain and warm.
• Labels, frame numbers, times: Overpass Mono 400–700, in caps with wide tracking; buttons too.

The signature move: the promise at the end of a headline is swiped with the marker, slightly askew, like a note on a contact sheet. In Darkroom it becomes marker-yellow text with a thin underline.

Layout

• 1240px wrap, gutter max(20px, 4vw). An ink top line with a marker label; a sticky header ruled in ink with mono caps links.
• Hero: copy left, the contact sheet right. Then the coverage planner, packages, the calendar, a dark "your photos" band, visit facts and FAQ, and a darkroom closing card under a safelight glow.

Shape

• Sharp: --r-s 2px, --r-m 4px, --r-l 6px. Thin ink rules and outlines; no rounded pills except the segmented control.
• Strips are black film with sprocket holes and edge print; frames are 3:2; the marker circle is a slightly lopsided ellipse with a tick.
• The brand mark is one frame of film with a marker dot.

Motion language

• Developing: when the sheet comes into view the frames turn from negative to positive (1.6s), one after another (90ms apart).
• The loupe opens over a dimmed page (360ms); the marker circle draws itself around a circled frame with a small bounce.
• The coverage bracket slides and stretches (420ms) as you change the hours and the start; the moments inside turn to ink.
• The promise is swiped with the marker as the hero loads (1s). The closing card's safelight breathes.
• Reveals: 16px rise and fade, 700ms. The phone menu drops in.
• Motion switch in the footer ([data-motion-toggle], html.calm, remembered as site-motion, default from prefers-reduced-motion). Calm shows the prints developed, the swipe drawn and the bracket jumping straight to place.
• Darkroom switch ([data-theme-toggle]), remembered as site-theme; theme-color follows.

Imagery and illustration

The frames are drawn stand-ins printed in six tones; a photographer swaps in their own work as images inside each frame (3:2, any colour, the sheet keeps them in order). Whole sequences beat a highlight reel. Only show people who've said yes, and say so.

Signature components

• .sheet[data-sheet] › .sheet-head ([data-sheet-count]) + .strip[data-edge][style="--n:4"] › button.frame[data-title][data-note][data-no][aria-pressed] › svg.scene (or your image) + .no; .sheet-foot.
• dialog.loupe (made for you if absent) › [data-loupe-view], [data-loupe-no], [data-loupe-title], [data-loupe-note], [data-loupe-circle], [data-loupe-prev], [data-loupe-next], [data-loupe-close].
• .coverage[data-coverage][data-from][data-to][data-unit][data-tick][data-hours-word] › .seg[data-cov-hours] > button[data-h][data-price], input.range[data-cov-start] ([data-cov-start-out]), .timeline > .ev[data-t] > span > b + .bracket, .cov-out ([data-cov-window], [data-cov-len], [data-cov-price], [data-cov-in], [data-cov-miss]).
• .calendar[data-calendar][data-booked][data-held] › .cal-check (input[data-cal-in], output[data-cal-out][data-empty]), .cal-months, .cal-key.
• .pkg (.feature), .card, .facts (.stack, .own), .notice, .section.ink, .topline, .faq, .licence, .close-card (--close-em), .grid-4.

Multi-page kit

• Phone menu: .menu-btn[aria-controls] opens .site-menu (links with data-no); Escape, outside click and links close it; Tab stays inside while open.
• Current page: aria-current="page" (a marker underline).
• Inner pages: .page-head, .crumbs, a .tag and a smaller .h1.
• Fields: .field, .fields, .field-wide, fieldset.field-set, .check, .form-card, [aria-invalid="true"]; form[data-template].
• Tiles: .choices › label.choice > input + span > b + small. Segmented control: .seg (filters work on [data-tags], including whole sheets).
• Gate: [data-gate] with button[data-show="panel-id"].
• Slider, switch, tables, layout: input.range, .switch[role=switch], .table / .table.stack, .r, .grid-2.lean.
• Events and helpers: circle (detail.title, on, count), coverage (detail.start, hours, price, covered, missed); Contact.status(calendar, date) returns free, held, booked or past; Contact.refresh(root).

Photographers: what we build in

• Who owns the photos, in plain words. Under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 35(5), photos commissioned for a private or domestic purpose, which includes weddings and family portraits, belong to the person who commissioned them unless the parties agree otherwise. Many contracts quietly agree otherwise; Silver Gum says it doesn't, and the site says which, before anyone books.
• Portfolio use by permission: an optional tick box on the enquiry, and a line that everyone shown said yes.
• Coverage that shows what's missed, not just what's included, and a price per package with GST.
• Dates: free, on hold and booked, with the nearest free dates when yours isn't.

These notes are design guidance, not legal advice; commercial and business photography follows different rules.

• First ownership of copyright, Queensland Law Handbook
• Copyright Act 1968 s 35

Do and don't

• Do show whole rolls, in order, not just the best frame.
• Do say what the hours miss.
• Do say who owns the photos.
• Don't use the marker for text in Proof; it sits under ink.
• Don't show anyone who hasn't agreed to be shown.
• Don't fake reviews or "as seen in" logos.

Accessibility

AA contrast throughout (measured above); the marker always carries ink text. Skip link and a 3px focus ring. Every frame is a button named with its number and title; circling is a pressed state the loupe toggles and announces in the count. The loupe is a native modal dialog: focus moves in, arrow keys step, Escape closes and focus returns to the frame. The coverage planner's results are announced politely in words; on phones the timeline becomes a list with covered moments marked. Calendar days are buttons named with the full date and their state; the date check answers in words. Forms label every field, mark errors with aria-invalid and say what's missing in an alert. Responsive to 360px; tested with motion on and off, in Proof and Darkroom.

How to make it yours