Sharon Louise – Wilderness photographer

Sharon Louise

2-3 June, 2012

Studio:
Artist in Residence, Binna Burra Mountain Lodge
Binna Burra Rd, Beechmont
Ph: 0404 293 933
www.theographic.com

What you’ll see:
Sharon Louise is a wilderness photographer who finds beauty in the shapes and patterns of the natural environment surrounding her home at Beechmont. Sharon is compiling a coffee table book of her photography and poems and has a particular interest in the incredible biodiversity that exists in the Scenic Rim. “We have this World Heritage listing and when you start to piece together our history you realise that it’s a big epic story. I like to take photographs in areas that are untouched, I like to see what was there before people came and touched things.” During Open Studios Sharon will be the artist in residence at Wallaby Ridge Retreat, Canungra. As well as talking to visitors about her photography and displaying her photographs she also plans to go walking through bushland surrounding the retreat to take photographs with anyone who is interested.

Wilderness photographer Sharon Louise says she feels at home outdoors among nature. She’s adventurous at heart and loves nothing better than being tested by the environment. In return she photographs what she sees – nature in its original state – as a way of preserving it for generations to come.
“It’s my passion, it’s where I feel comfortable,” says Sharon.
“I don’t feel comfortable being in an urban environment, that’s why I live in the Scenic Rim. It’s not just the peace, it’s also the connection to the earth.
“I love the extremes of the weather, I love camping in a blizzard, I love it.
“My photography focuses on land that’s untouched, I like to show what was there before people cam and touched it.”
Sharon began her professional life as a graphic designer. She lived on the Gold Coast for 20 years and ran an art gallery at Robina Town Centre, providing a space for artists to display their work.
A few years ago she closed her gallery and retreated to a new home at Binna Burra to focus on her photography.

She developed an idea for a coffee table book of her images and her poetry, called Remnant, and is in the end stages of making that a reality.

“In the Scenic Rim we have some of the most incredible biodiversity of any region in the world,” she says.
“The remnant forest which exists in the Scenic Rim – the Antarctic Beech Trees – live between this narrow band between cold temperatures and the tropics. They only live above 800m and they need to be constantly in mist and in a very humid environment with volcanic soil.
“It’s amazing that these pockets have been preserved and it’s one of the reasons why we have this World Heritage listing.
“I have been piecing together this story and the history … it’s a big epic story.
“With the book I’m specifically targeting that species but generally I don’t have anything in my mind when I go out to take photographs.
“I want to be the observer, the bower bird. I go out and get treasure, I want to show people the treasure that they often don’t see for themselves.
“My work is pretty abstract … I always come home with something.”

Sharon says her work features the vivid colours naturally occurring in the landscapes.
A purple sky, an orange horizon, a lime green leaf, a yellow flower slimy moss.
“I don’t Photoshop my images, I take what I see, that’s why there’s a lot of abstract,” She says.
“My mind sees the pattern. It’s a training of the mind to observe. When people come out with me I’ll take photos and show them when we return. They’ll say, ‘Where was that, I didn’t see that.’
“The camera is really an immortalisation of that moment.”
www.theographic.com