I spent four days documenting the biggest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere—the Ballarat Swap Meet. Held annually, the event’s dust covered walkways spanned 20-something kilometres of the local airfield. Numbers reached the tens of thousands. I’d meet traders who’d flown in internationally and others who’d been making the same journey for two decades. Some arrived with nothing but cash and an empty car. Within an hour of arriving, the landscape was completely transformed. I’d seen a desolate field become a metropolis for hawkers and collectors.
