Featured Street Photographer – Zoe Mongey 2.0

Zoe Mongey is one of my favourite street photographers – I have been following her for some time online, and interviewed her as part of the coverage for the 2016 SITHOM exhibition.

You can read the original article here.

Let’s ask her some questions about how she has continued to develop over the last couple of years to see what we can learn!

Shot In The Heart of Melbourne is an annual street photography exhibition featuring local artists. It is an absolute must see if you love candid street images.

SITHOM Exhibition details

Where:  Victorian Artists Society
430 Albert Street, East Melbourne VIC 3002When: Thursday, 11th – Monday, 22nd May, 2017
Weekdays:  10am – 4pm   Weekends:  1pm – 4pm

How about a comparison of your previous images, your new images, and how your creative vision has changed / developed since 2015?

I think my creative vision has always been similar. My images range into different genres but my eye always looks for interesting lines and creative composition. Most of all I love an interesting story within an image, maybe a it’s a message, maybe a question, but I always aim for something that makes the viewer want to look again and enjoy the image for a little longer.

What things have you done in the last two years to continue your learning / development?

In 2015 I did various development clinics with Master photographers and I did my first ever exhibition with ‘Shot in The Heart of Melbourne’. It really opened my mind to the excitement of exhibitions and the opportunities it offers you to strive for and then showcase your best work.

Last year I was part of 5 exhibitions …..
‘Square Market’ – The Atrium, Federation Square, Melbourne
SITHOM 2016 – Victorian Artists Society, Melbourne
Mixed Media exhibition – Red Hill Bake House Gallery, Mornington Peninsula
Sofitel SITHOM exhibition – Sofitel Melbourne
The Doug Moran Contemporary Photographic Exhibition 2016 – Sydney

I found working towards exhibitions very challenging and inspirational as I was always trying to discover new images and consider how I wanted to present them. I love working with different mediums to display my work, as you can see from my website, sometimes metal or acrylic or reclaimed wood frames. Each image requires a different style of presentation. It gives me so much joy each time someone chooses to put my work on their wall.

Thinking back to 2015, what advice would you give yourself if you could go back in a time machine?

Competitions are a great way to get exposure but you have to select your competitions wisely. Find ones with great exposure to get the most out of all the hard work that goes into entering a competition.
It’s great to look at other peoples work and see what other photographers are up to but always remember that you have your own style and only you see the world through your eyes so trust in your creative eye and back yourself!

Have you gone through any creative hiatus periods, or struggled to keep motivated? What do you do to “get going” again?

I do sometimes struggle with finding the incentive to carry on shooting when I have 1000’s of images already. I absolutely love getting out with my camera whether its a sunrise, sunset or street shoot but to inspire myself I have to think of a project, a meaning for the shoot or a goal. Maybe it’s an upcoming exhibition or an upcoming competition. If there isn’t a specific goal on the horizon I remind myself that each shoot is a new opportunity to discover my new favourite image, my next best shot and that they all add up to create the body of my best work.

Thanks for spending some time with MSP, Zoe!

You can find more of her work here :

http://www.throughlifeslens.net/

https://www.instagram.com/zoemongey_photography

Let’s check out a few of her images…

Zoe talks about getting out during the “golden hour” of sunset and sunrise – I wish I was so disciplined! This image makes full creative use of beautiful light conditions to give a surreal glow to the image. I particularly love the simplicity of the subject at the top of the leading line which goes straight up the middle of the image. Again, the subtle light reflecting off the lane walls is just fantastic. Shots like this make me want to pull out my colour film instead of the black and which I usually go for…

A lovely, simple image that is immediately striking. There is a real tension created by having the subject so close to the edge of the frame. Usual composition rules would say to move the subject in a bit from the edge, but it really works in this image to create interest. The light falling off as you move to the upper left of the image really draws the eye to the subject. The subject, and shadow have an excellent figure to ground ratio (I hope I got this phrasing right!)…

The technical phrase for this image is “winner, winner, chicken dinner”. I love it! The strong use of light funnels and the delightful angles make this a favourite of mine. The intersection of the light sources on the subject is just… wow.

It is wonderful to see how much Zoe has continued to develop as an artist. Well done.