Early Days

When I look at this picture I can see I was always going to be a portraitist.

I shot this image in the studio during my second year at Uni. I don’t remember the unit requirement but I decided to do portraits of people without the metaphorical mask they present to the world. It all had to do with Greek tragedy.

She was a biology major also doing part-time modeling to pay her way through Uni. Her name I found difficult to remember even then, without the distance of the years, and in those days I never kept shoot notes. One thing I learned from those sessions: everybody has a story to tell if they find someone willing to listen.

Hers was one of a harrowing escape from the wars that had ravished the Balkans. A tale of hardship and hope. A story of a young refugee who was alone in Australia  making a life for herself who despite her beauty and intelligence was not blind to the many problems that lay  ahead.