In August I had the immense privilege of being the official photographer for the Surf Coast Arts Trail. As someone who grew up a nerdy artistic kid in Torquay, Australia, who now photographs artists in their studios for a living, being able to do work that celebrates and amplifies the arts community here felt like a full-circle moment for me.
Bellbrae ceramic artist Lauren McQuade opens the Pit Kiln to reveal clay pieces previously decorated by Surf Coast residents
I gave an interview with Michelle Conn, who did much of the organisation of the Surf Coast Arts Trail, about my own creative process when it comes to being a local Torquay family and brand photographer. Here’s an excerpt from the interview, along with a few images from the 2024 Surf Coast Arts Trail. The full interview can be found here.
Featured artists in the images above, in order left to right, top to bottom:
Minerva Lamorghese, Mivart
Ian Westwood and Gillian Farrow
Sonya Zwolinski, Otway Card Co
What medium/s do you work in and why do you love it?
I’m a photographer working with both digital and 35mm film. I photograph creative women in business down here on the Surf Coast – primarily solopreneurs who are artists. I also photograph families and newborns and my aim is to capture these with honesty – I typically don’t style or pose, and I work hard to connect with my subjects so that their own unique personalities can shine through. Film as a medium is remarkably different to digital, and not just in its aesthetic but in the artist’s process. It’s easy to overshoot on digital, but film is expensive and you have limited frames on a roll, so intentionality is key. Something I’ve come to appreciate more about film is the post-session ‘and now we wait’ – wait to see if the shots worked out how they were in my head. Wait to see which split-second moments in time happened to be the ones my camera captured. On digital, it’s so easy to flick through frames to pick the one that’s compositionally stronger, with everyone’s eyes open – and there’s a degree of honesty that’s removed when we have the power to make this choice.
How would you describe your creative practice and process?
My sessions are usually quite collaborative with the person or people I photograph. It’s very important to me that we are honest in our storytelling, and this goes right down to making sure the space is reflective of them (i.e. not too styled if they’re a ‘brushes still in a yoghurt pot full of water’ kind of person), and even the way they are sitting or standing needs to be how this person would actually sit or stand. I embrace a lot of colour and mess, but (perhaps paradoxically!), my compositions usually aren’t cluttered. It’s a balancing act!
When I’m in the editing phase, I love to incorporate feedback from the artists I photograph. Typically, they have a strong unique aesthetic, and my job as their photographer is to give them images that feel cohesive to their own voice and style, to carry through particular colours and tones, so that when they use these images on their websites and socials, the photographs look and feel like them.
How would you describe your studio?
I always work on location for photography sessions, and then run my business and edit from my kitchen table, usually while my four year old is at kindergarten and my two-year-old naps! What a dream to one day have a studio – but in this phase of life I’m content to meet my clients at their own studios or outdoors. We’re pretty spoiled for choice with beaches and forests down here on the Surf Coast, so making everyone’s session feel unique to them is easy. I do many in-home family sessions around Torquay, too – and the challenge that every new space creates with its combination of light, architecture, humans and mess helps me weave together their story.
Have you always worked in a creative field? Can you talk about what has lead you to where you are today as an artist?
Photography and filmmaking have been the through-lines of my creative journey (film was my university major), and I’ve been a high school French and Media teacher for 15 years now. I think teaching is a very creative profession, particularly coming up with creative ways to help students learn difficult concepts, and connecting with my learners with empathy has no doubt shaped my ability to connect with clients in my business today.
Pictured: Gillian Farrow is the face of the 2024 Surf Coast Arts Trail. She is a textile and printmaking artist based in Deans Marsh. I had the opportunity to visit her studio in April 2024 to photograph her.
How does living in the Surf Coast region inspire or inform your work?
I don’t think I realised how much growing up on the Surf Coast inspired me until I was living on Canada’s West Coast. I took an abstract landscape-painting course with Susan Woolgar that emphasized colour theory. I attended with my father-in-law, Canadian artist Rory MacDonald, and we noticed how the colour palettes we gravitated towards were linked to landscapes we grew up with. The Rocky Mountains had ultramarines, the verdant West Coast had a spectrum of green hues, and I was the only person returning repeatedly to the phthalo blues and greens we see in our oceans here, contrasted with the oranges of the Wadawurrung earth and sky. These colours translate into how I edit my photographs, and there’s a lot of creative expression in the way a photographer edits their images. I also seek juxtaposition of texture – think gritty rocks like the cliffs of Jan Juc against a smooth calm ocean, and I adore negative space and our big skies and wide horizons give scope for play in this area.
The rest of the interview can be found here. Thank you for reading!
