Skip to main content
Menu

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Alyssa, 2006

by David Knight

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2007 Finalist

The sitter for this portrait is Alyssa Braithwaite, a journalist at the Australian Associated Press, and a friend and colleague of my wife's. I first met her a couple of years ago and was instantly struck by her. She does not conform to the traditional notion of beauty, yet she is one of the most beautiful women I know. She has the most beautiful and engaging eyes, and an almost sad, melancholy expression. She has that certain naivety of an uncorrupted soul. With this image, I wanted to capture that beauty and innocence and stripped the shot down to the bare minimum. We scrubbed away any semblance of makeup and framed the shot to include no reference to clothing. We also pulled back her hair to further simplify the image.

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2007

Other NPPP photos from David Knight

My Two Sides, 2016 by David Anthony Knight
2017 Finalist
© National Portrait Gallery 2024
King Edward Terrace, Parkes
Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

Phone +61 2 6102 7000
ABN: 54 74 277 1196

The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency