Defying labels

The quintessential Paris waiter

“What’s your specialty?” people often ask me when I say I’m a photographer. Truth be told, I don’t have a specialty. As I don’t earn my living as a photographer, I have had the luxury of trying different genres – landscape, still life, street, portrait – all with different levels of satisfaction. Photography brings me a lot of joy and even the odd award in a competition. I don’t feel the need to have a label to say what type of photographer I am.

I pondered this question again recently when looking through my photography catalogue and seeing all the different subjects I had focussed my lens on over the years. I didn’t really have time to take photography seriously until I was in my early 60’s when I no longer had the demands of a job nor a relationship to consider. I could do exactly as I pleased.

My first foray into street photography was at a couple of workshops in Paris and Normandy with a well-known French/American photographer. Looking back at those photographs now I realise how little I knew about the technical aspects of my camera but I still managed to obtain some good shots. Mind you, being in the streets of Paris it’s pretty hard not to get some good shots.

Paris and Normandy street photography

I pursued street photography for a while on my return to Sydney but I’m not keen on standing where the light is good waiting for the right person to walk into the frame. My version of street these days is what I call urban photography taken in the neighbourhood where I live.

My version of street photograpphy

During COVID I spent a lot of time at home, as we all did, and was lucky enough to have a room with wonderful light where I could set up items to photograph including flowers, old books and fabrics. I did a series of these which I called my “nostalgia collection”.

Nostalgia collection

Once I could travel again, I set off on a photography workshop in Tasmania and visited the Tarkine wilderness with its huge trees, moss and fungi, and the remote west coast with its wild seas and spent time focussing on the landscape. Even though I love the unique country in which I live with its vast open spaces, landscape photography can be challenging for a woman as I’m not comfortable hiking into wild places alone. It’s often easier to join a workshop or explore the old country towns.

Tasmania

These days I photograph whatever catches my eye. Perhaps the light on an old wall, the beauty of poppies when they unfurl their petals, my cat lying in the sun, a still life of old objects in an antique store or trees with their autumn leaves. They all make me happy.