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We can just start off easy.
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So just tell us a little about yourself
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and your photographic or arts practise.
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Okay. Well, I'm Leith.
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I'm from a sheep farm
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on the outskirts of a really small town
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in the Wheatbelt in W.A. it's called Narrogin.
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So my background is mainly in sound.
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I started my photography practise last year
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when I did my first series called SHEAR,
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which was about sheep shearers and rouseabouts
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and wool pressers in WA.
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Yeah, cool, so like I'm connected with your photo as well
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'cause I am from sheep country in Goulburn as well.
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So I have shone sheep and worked in the wool shirts
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and stuffing clothes already.
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Oh! Right.
So I was like, oh cool.
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Like country chick.
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Yeah, cool.
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So you did some rouseabouting?
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Yeah, and I mean, it was a long time ago,
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but like I was like, man shearers have changed since then.
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Yeah, well I think actually we've got our specific
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breed of shearers over here
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because when I did live in new south Wales for a while,
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I've had the idea of shooting shearers for a few years
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and I went around and had a look at some shearers
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in new south Wales.
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And I was looking for the dreadlocks and the mullets,
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and I was asking where they were.
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They said, "You've gotta go to WA for that."
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And I was like, "That's where I'm from."
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Yeah, so-
Yeah.
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The shearers I remember were more like
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the traditional blue wife beaters,
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big bellies and plumbers crack, but (laughs).
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You still do get that kind of aesthetic.
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There's definitely that aesthetic as well.
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I think it's mainly the younger guys that have come in
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in the past 10,15 years
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that have got this real punk shearer look.
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So you said this is sort of,
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you started your photographic practise last year,
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so is SHEAR your exhibition that the work came from
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is your first sort of showing?
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Yeah. Yeah.
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I have doubled in photography over the last few years,
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but just because I wanted to photograph shearers.
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So I've played around a little bit.
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But last year, I found myself living back at the farm.
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I was in the Pilbara and then when COVID happened,
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I went back to the farm and I was working from home
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and applied for a grant to do the shearing project.
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And that's how I ended up doing it.
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Got some funding from Regional Arts WA.
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Yeah.
That's awesome.
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So it was pretty handy timing.
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Yeah, all come together well.
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So with your photo mullet magic,
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did you just wanna tell us a little bit
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about that specific photo and how it came about?
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Yeah, so that photo is of three shearers;
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Kia, Brad and Mitch.
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They're all weight belt boys
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and they all shear around Narrogin.
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I've known them all for about five years,
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Brad a little bit longer.
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So yeah, they've all got slightly varying mullets
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and they're all quite good friends.
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They were all working on the same team at a farm
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just outside of town.
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And I went out to photograph the team.
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They were on their lunch break
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and I'd been photographing them for a while.
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And then I said, "All right, you three mullet guys
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come together, come and have a photo."
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And they were like, Mitch especially was pretty reluctant,
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but yeah, they let me take photos of them.
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And that photo mullet magic
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is when the other shearers were watching
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and teasing them and yelling and being like,
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"Show us your guns" and giving them a hard time.
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And so that's why Mitch is the one in the middle,
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he's yelling and yeah.
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Yeah, given a bit of lip back by the look of it.
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Yeah! Yeah!
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They're all quite reluctant to get their photos taken
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and then once it's happening,
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they seem to enjoy it
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and like being able to see it afterwards.
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So you sort of do real storytelling with your photos,
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like this series of photos and that one,
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you sorta get the vibe that you're part of the crew,
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like you're photographing friends
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in a story you know as well,
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which I think gives that sort of really like authentic.
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Yeah! Yeah thanks.
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I guess it is because they do know me and I mean,
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I did go and photograph shearing sheds
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but they didn't know me personally,
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but I think I always give off that vibe
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of being a country person
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and I know my way around a shed
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and that's pretty obvious I think.
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When I go to photograph shearers,
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I am at the shed for a few hours.
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So people, you know, get to relax around me
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and have lots of chats.
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But yeah, I did grow up around shearing.
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So, and you know, those guys know my family
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and have shot it at my family farm as well.
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So yeah.
Awesome!
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So how are like Kia, Mitch and Brad
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sort of taking like all the media attention
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'cause there was, I mean,
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your image out of a lot in the exhibition
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has been shared so many times
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and internationally and like OSHA made a meme and-
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I know!
(Leith laughs)
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It's been amazing.
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I can't thank you guys enough
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for the amount of publicity it's given us.
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It's so cool.
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Like just to have, even just to get
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into the national portrait prize,
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like to have a photo of these three shearers in Canberra
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is really cool.
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You know, there's three Wheatbelt boys.
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They've been loving it.
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We're always like texting in our little group chat.
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Sharing like where it's been,
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where the photos have been shared.
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Kia, he's the youngest.
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He's really into photos.
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When I first started taking photos, he just loved it.
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To be able to have like
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all these fresh Facebook profile photos all the time.
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But this is like another level.
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Yeah, he's been loving it.
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He did a little interview with our local paper.
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Yeah. They were really excited.
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They were really hoping that we'd win
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the national portrait prize, but you know, it's okay.
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Next time (giggles).
Yeah.
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But it's interesting as well.
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Like the winning photo by Joel Pratley
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is also like touching on farmers and regional stories
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that don't usually get shared, like to that extent.
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And it was really wonderful,
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the amount of regional newspapers that shared that image
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and like people felt like they were seen
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and their story was getting told.
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Yeah, yeah I think that's really important
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because I think especially with shearing,
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that is an industry that doesn't get a lot of consideration
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and it is something that really helps Australia's economy
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and yeah, I think it's been really great.
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And it's been good for the audience as well
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to kind of learn a bit more about shearing
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and understand what it is a bit more.
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Yeah, I agree.
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So what do you reckon,
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like what do you think being selected for the prize
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will mean for your photographic career
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'cause it's a pretty mad day boo.
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I know! I'm still getting used.
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Like I'm still not comfortable
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with calling myself a photographer
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because I'm still so new to it, but yeah.
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I don't know, it's just elevated my career.
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Yeah. I guess I kind of consider myself
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like a bit of a storyteller through different mediums.
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So I think it's like been really good for that as well.
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But I guess personally, it's given me a lot of confidence
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in myself and my ideas and it's made me think,
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"Oh yeah, well maybe I can."
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It's given me the confidence to think I could do this again.
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You know, doing another photography project.
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And it's also really energised this shearing project
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just felt like it's made me
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wanna take more photos of shearers.
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I think it's been really cool for shearers to say
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that the photos that I took with them in the sheds
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have gone somewhere,
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you know, something's happened with them
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and I think that'll also inspire the shearers
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to wanna have more photos taken as well.
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Yeah, and you got into the Bowness Prize as well
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this year, which with the photo from the same series.
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Yeah. That photo again is a moment
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where they were being haggled by other shearers
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and they we're reacting to that and yeah.
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Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
I love that photo
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Thanks. It's good to get some female shearers out there.
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Yeah, for sure
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So like, I guess with you,
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how has lockdown and sort of all the changes
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going on in the world affected your practise
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and the way you approach photography?
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It's actually been really good for me
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because being in WA,
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we haven't really been affected by COVID.
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I was in the Pilbara when COVID first happened,
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working for an arts organisation and because of COVID,
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I had to get out.
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I was in a tiny little community in the Pilbara
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and so I went home.
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And because of COVID,
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there were more opportunities to grants and things.
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So I think that actually helped me
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because there was money around
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and I was able to get a grant to do this project.
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So I've been really fortunate
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being in WA hasn't affected me.
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Yeah.
Perfect.
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So one thing we all often get asked about
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is sort of like people are always interested
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in the equipment photography use and technicalities.
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So have you got a preferred style of selected equipment?
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I've just got this one camera that I bought second hand
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like five years ago.
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It's a Nikon D7,000.
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But what I did get for the project
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was a brand new lens, a zoom lens.
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A Nikon lens.
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Yeah, and I shot digital.
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I would like to practise to film a lot more.
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Yeah. Is that what you were asking?
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Yeah! Awesome! Yeah!
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And I guess, so what would you,
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how would you describe your,
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what's your preferred style of photography?
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Like storytelling obviously is a big thing
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that plays into it.
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Yeah. I guess documentary style.
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I did study filming TV and journalism at uni ages ago
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and I was always interested in documentary
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and storytelling and I've made a few radio stories
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the past few years, which have been documentaries.
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So I am really interested in that style.
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You work for Big hART. Is that right?
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So we've got a sort of a shared colleague in April Phillips
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as well who's a bit of work with the portrait gallery.
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Yeah. She's always posting about the portrait gallery
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on Instagram.
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So what's your role with Big hART?
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What do you do there?
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I'm a digital producer and a youth arts worker.
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So I work with mainly teenagers doing digital art projects.
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So I'm mentoring teenagers in podcasting,
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filmmaking, photography and digital drawing.
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And I'm usually working in pretty remote areas.
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So that's why I was in the Pilbara before
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and then recently it was just in the Northwest of Tassie
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working in some like little farming towns
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with the teenagers there.
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That's awesome.
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Big hART have actually been so supportive of this project
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because you know,
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Big hART's all about telling invisible stories.
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And I was saying that shearing is a bit of
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an invisible industry because it's very specific
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to the country.
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And so it really aligned with Big hART's values
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and they let me, you know, do work on my grant
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and do work taking photos during work time.
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So, it's so amazing.
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Shout out to them and I think we're looking
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at some projects together in the future with big hARTs.
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So that'll be-
Oh really?
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Yeah. So one thing I guess
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like talking about your youth work and stuff,
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have you got any sort of tips or ideas
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for aspiring photographers?
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Especially young people that are, you know,
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look at your work and go,
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"Whoa! This chick's got this and that."
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Like share it all over the world.
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Yeah. Well I guess you don't, I don't know.
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I mean I wasn't trained as a photographer.
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So I guess don't feel like you need to have formal training.
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And shoot what makes you you.
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Don't shoot what you think you're supposed to be shooting.
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Shoot whatever you think is interesting
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even if other people don't.
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When I first started taking photos of shearers,
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one of the first people I told about it
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was my mom and my dad.
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And they thought it was a ridiculous idea because like,
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who would wanna see photos of shearers because, you know,
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shearers are just a part of everyday life to them.
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So yeah, just follow what you think is interesting
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and chat to your friends who do do photography.
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Don't be afraid to ask for help.
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I had a friend and mentor help me throughout my project,
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just supporting me.
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So yeah. Think about who you can ask and yeah.
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That's awesome.
(Leith giggles)
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No, that's awesome.
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So, do you have any photographers or artists
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that sort of inspire you or that you look up to?
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Well, actually when I start,
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when I was applying to the grant last year
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to do this project, my mentor Mellen Burns,
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she's one of my really good friends.
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She told me about Ingvar Kenne, and I didn't know who he was
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because I'm not very cultured in the world of photography.
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And I saw his book, 'The Ball'
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and I just thought that was amazing.
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And so that's about, that's also
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like you would probably know being from the country,
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but The Ball is about the B&S balls,
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which is where like these balls that country people go to.
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And it's just out in a paddock somewhere
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and it's really messy.
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He did a book on the B&S balls
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and I just thought that was amazing.
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And it was all flash photography and it was just showing
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this bizarre culture from the country.
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And so it kind of gave me a bit of confidence
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that I could show my bizarre culture
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from the country as well.
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One of his photos from that series was actually
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a finalist in NPPP one year.
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I think it was Gaggsy, Brad 'Gaggsy' Gallagher.
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And yeah, he's been in the prize a few times.
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He's a fantastic photographer.
Yeah, he's really cool.
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So yeah, he's inspiring and it makes me wanna,
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I wanna make a book too now.
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I think that's an awesome idea.
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Yeah. Thanks, yeah.
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And what about,
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can you remember the first photo you ever took?
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Yeah, it would probably would have been of a shearer
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three or four years ago
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when I was dabbling with a film camera.
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Ah! It was actually with a disposable camera.
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But do you mean the first photo of my whole life?
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Yeah. Either or both are interesting stories.
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I think both are good stories.
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Go with the shearer and then
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you can go back through time and-
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Well, yeah.
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The first photo I took of a shearer
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was with a disposable camera
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because I wasn't very confident in using cameras
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and I was just thought film was cool.
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And it was of Kia actually who's in the mullet magic photo
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and he's looking like a little punk
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standing next to a sign that says,
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that has some graffiti on it.
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(Tara laughs)
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And yeah, that was one of the first photos.
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That's awesome.
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Can you remember taking any photos as a kid, do you think?
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Yeah, actually I remember using a disposable camera
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when I was a kid as well.
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I had a disposable camera.
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Yeah, 'cause I grew up before digital cameras.
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So yeah.
Yeah.
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I remember taking photos of my pet sheep a lot.
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We had goats and sheep and I know
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that there's albums mum was forced to keep,
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which is just like blurry photos of sheep and goats.
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Like stand still sheep (laughs).
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Yeah.
That's awesome.
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What about, like this one's a bit different,
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like a dream subject or scenario
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or some something you'd like to shoot in the future?
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Well, I wouldn't mind shooting punks
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that I've seen and know around cities like Sydney,
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because I actually feel that punks
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have a similar aesthetic to sheep shearers.
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And I always thought it would be cool to do some kind of
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combined project of sheep shearers and punks
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because there's the same kind of aesthetics.
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The hairstyles and the black, skinny leg jeans
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and kind of similar attitudes, yeah.
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At the moment I just feel like
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I wanna keep shooting shearers mainly.
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Not finished yet.
Yeah, yeah.
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Cool! So that's pretty much almost it,
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but I was wondering if you had any sort of shout outs
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or thank you you wanted to share with people.
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Thank you National Portrait Gallery.
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You've been amazing.
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You've made me feel really,
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you've really validated me as a photographer and my work
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and it's been really great for my hometown
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to have all this publicity and the shearers.
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I'd like to thank my mentor Mellen Burns.
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She's a good friend of mine.
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She lives in Calgary and she was always on the phone.
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I was always like, "What does this mean on the camera?
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This thing's flashing. I don't know what that means."
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Yeah, and my work Big hART, always supportive.
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Pretty amazing having.
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We had creative Fridays
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so we can pursue creative things on every Friday.
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So that kind of helps this project become possible.
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And Regional Arts WA for the grants, the resilience grant.
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And my hometown has a little arts,
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they're called Arts Narrogin,
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and they volunteered time for my first exhibition in town.
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And were really supportive with that as well.
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So lots of people to thank.
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I feel like I had a lot of support.
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Also my family, sorry to go on and on.
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No! It's your time.
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My brother-in-law Darren.
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I'd never set up an exhibition or anything before
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and he has done that kind of thing a lot.
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And he put in a lot of time,
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like showing me how to hang the pictures.
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And thanks to my dad
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who kept referring to the pictures as paintings.
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(Tara laughing)
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It made me call them paintings.
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That's so my dad too.
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Yeah.
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Like I do martial arts, I do Muay Thai
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and like still 10 years later my dad's like,
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"How's your karate going?"
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And I'm like, "Yup, same thing, cool.
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It's great, thanks dad."
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(both giggling)
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He thinks everything I do at work
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is just to do with them pictures.
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It's so good.
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What about, and this one's voluntary,
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just Leith's parting words of wisdom.
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Words of wisdom for everyone?
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Anyone, anything you wanna say.
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Just know that you're amazing.
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All of you are amazing and unique and talented
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and you all have something to offer
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and don't stop believing in yourself.