Page 44 - APH_Feb21_Special

WINNER
MOBILE
SHADOWS AT PLAY
CAMERON MEACHAM
@cmeacham_photography
Cameron Meacham is no stranger to these pages, tak- ing out the Black and White category of Photographer of the Year back in 2018. Since then, he's kept his enthusiasm for black and white, but shifted his focus to photographing his daughter Gracie, 3.
His series, captured in Melbourne, explores a day in the life of his daughter – both during and after lockdown and managing the restrictions of the 5km limit around his house.
“When the parks finally opened up, Gracie and dads (my) life soon became park life,” he explains. “Every day was a new adventure, finding a different park within our 5kms. The ‘Shadows at Play’ series evolved while capturing the incidental moments she experienced along the way, while encompassing the shadows of what life had felt like within the COVID months.”
For our judges, his use of shadow and light made his portfolio a real standout – and proof that chasing the light is key to great photography, not the tool you use to do it.
WHAT THE JUDGES’ SAID
RYAN DOMENICO: This portfolio immediate- ly jumped out at me. The creativity and use
of light is executed perfectly. Each image tells a beautiful, individual story, yet they fit together immaculately as a portfolio. The compositions are fantastic and each image draws the viewer into the story. Beautifully simple and captivating work.
DOUWE DIJKSTRA: A beautiful, funny and candid series. The heavily cropped and zoomed in compositions give this unique series an al- most abstract look and feel, despite it depict- ing an everyday scene. Using shadows here is a clever and creative way of revealing or suggest- ing what is occurring, without actually show- ing the main subject creating the scene.
TIM LEVY: While most things are looked at face value, we often miss a lot of day-to-day interesting imagery that without photogra- phy, it’s almost impossible to ascertain or re- member as the moments are so fleeting. The ‘shadow play’ and geometrics of Cameron’s images are great and force the viewer to do a double take of what we are looking at.
| 62 | FEBRUARY 2021 | AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM