I didn’t start with a camera in hand. I started with adjusting light on a screen. A toggle, a tweak, an adjustment, and an attempt to make an image look better than it was.
In 2014, I moved to Adelaide, and instead of changing light, I started chasing it. I found capturing images more stimulating than merely editing them.
Before 2014
I joined the Royal Society of Arts in South Australia (RSASA) and worked there as a designer at first, creating invitations and logos for their art exhibitions. Somewhere between helping the gallery design other people’s exhibitions and market them, I began putting up my own pieces onto the walls. That was when the passion for exhibition was born.
At one opening, I met several photographers who recommended I study at the Centre for Creative Photography in Adelaide. I enrolled, thinking it would complement my graphic design degree, but soon, I found myself completely captivated by photography and never looked back.
One of my first photographs was of a koala and kangaroo aboard a train in the Fleurieu Peninsula. That was my debut piece in an RSASA exhibition.
Chasing the light
As my skills in photography grew, I moved away from digital collages and began experimenting with light, framing, and my perspective on the world. A significant turning point came during another RSASA exhibition when someone purchased my image titled ‘Inside Out’ — a semi-mirror effect of an antiques shop I was passing by. The sale was a huge moment of validation, and it inspired me to go deeper in the field.
Chasing the light in nature became my next challenge. To capture the perfect shot, I would stay overnight in near-freezing temperatures, setting up my tripod before dawn, and waiting for those few minutes when the world turns gold. It wasn’t comfortable, but the reward of capturing that perfect light was incomparable.
After becoming a mother, chasing light under difficult conditions became challenging. With a newborn, my schedule became more routine, and my focus shifted to studio photography. The ability to create light at any time I wanted became a huge draw for me within the precision and control it offered.
Gradually, my family became part of my creative journey. My son became my muse. Sometimes, my assistant. We’d spend afternoons in my home studio, not just taking photos, but making them together.
In my “Fruit Splash” series, he’d gleefully throw water at the fruit while I captured the chaos behind the lens. Forty hours went into each shot. Six months for the full series from concept to final exhibition.
The biggest lesson I realised about exhibition photography was that the final image is not just the result, but the culmination of numerous experiments to get it just right.
Curating the exhibition was the final step, and an art in itself. It involved ensuring all of the images worked together cohesively in a space, nothing too high or too low, but hanging at just the right height to speak for the viewers.
On opening night of the exhibition, all six of my pieces sold. It was a moment of triumph and fulfilment, and a testament to how far I had come — from editing someone else’s light, to finally capturing my own.
