Waiting for rain. Highway 22, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2020
The Lens-Artists challenge for this week is to look back at 2020 through our favourite photos.
These are not an attempt to make sense of the year (as in last week’s Changing Seasons), but to consider my journey as a photographer.
I love photographing landscape, but not the picturesque and panoramic landscapes of travel blogs and brochures. More and more, I want to capture the back roads, the mundane, the damaged. I love how small changes in light can render the ordinary, if only fleetingly, extraordinary.
Don’t look back. Ararimu Valley Road, Auckland. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Water, especially the sea, has always been a focus for my photography. But again, I’m interested in the quiet places, the cloudy days.
Not even the fishermen. Wharf, Island Bay, Auckland, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Beach walk. Kariotahi beach, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Shooting indoors, I find myself again drawn to the quiet, liminal spaces.
Echoes. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Rest. Image: Su Leslie 2020
I started 2020 with the intention to take more portraits, both to improve my technical skills and to make me engage with people more. With hindsight, yeah, I picked the wrong year.
Windows on the soul. Image: Su Leslie 2020
The guy above asked me to take his photo. He thought I’d be interested in his moko (tattoo), and I was. But I was way more interested in his eyes.
In the middle of lock-down, and lacking human subjects, I shot a “Portraits of the Mundane” series. The goal was to play with lighting, but I enjoyed the results too.
Whisked. Image: Su Leslie 2020
All that remains. Image: Su Leslie 2020
As in the past, my photo archives are overflowing with images of food and flowers. With both, I think my skills have improved over the year, but (perhaps because the field is so crowded) I don’t have any real favourites — except perhaps this.
And probably because it’s one of the few flower shots I’ve captured that I think works well in black and white.
After the rain. Image: Su Leslie 2020
Zimmerbitch 